16th November, 2021 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

National
India allows quarantine-free entry of fully vaccinated foreign travellers from 99 countries

India has allowed the quarantine-free entry of fully vaccinated foreign travellers from 99 countries.
Although travellers from the 99 countries have been exempted from mandatory quarantine, they will be required to follow certain norms that remain the same for all travellers.
The government only requires such travellers to monitor their health for 14 days after arrival. Travellers from these countries have to submit a self-declaration of their fully vaccinated status on Air Suvidha portal, and also produce a negative RT-PCR test report, not older than 72 hours.
India shares an agreement with some of these nations on mutual recognition of Covid vaccination certificates of nationally recognized or the WHO recognized vaccines.

PM Modi addresses first Audit Diwas at CAG office premises

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is a key part of the country's development. He said the institution played an important role in productivity and efficiency.
Addressing the first Audit Diwas at CAG premises in New Delhi, he said, there are very few institutions that become stronger, more mature, and more relevant with the passage of time.
He said, most institutions lose relevance after some decades, but CAG is a heritage and every generation should cherish it. PM also said it was CAG versus Government earlier, as Audit was associated with fear.
Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Murmu said this day has been chosen to be the first Audit Diwas.
He said, on 16th November 1860 the first Auditor-General took charge and from now onwards Audit Diwas will be celebrated on 16th of November every year.
On this occasion, Prime Minister also unveiled the statue of SardarVallabhbhai Patel at CAG office.
Audit Diwas is being celebrated to mark the historic origins of the institution of CAG and the contribution it has made to governance, transparency, and accountability over the past several years.

Centre to release over 95 thousand crore rupees as tax devolution to States this month

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Centre will release 95 thousand 82 crore rupees as tax devolution to States in the current month after including one advance instalment to help them push their capital expenditure.
Briefing media in New Delhi after interacting with Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers of States and Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories, Ms. Sitharaman said, with this, states will have more money and they can consider spending it for infrastructure creation.
States requested that it would be helpful for them if the tax devolution is front-loaded, she added.
The Minister further adds, the context of the meeting was that after 2nd wave of Covid-19, the country is witnessing robust growth and it is the time, the Government is looking at ways to sustain growth and take it to double digits.
She said States should leverage this opportunity to scale up investments and growth. Also urged states to help India become the fastest growing economy in coming years, through facilitating investment attractiveness and expediting ease of doing business measures.
Replying to a query, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said, the devolution was done in 14 instalments. He said, states had high cash balances at 2.66 lakh crore rupees as of 30th October, but four states had negative cash balances.
During the meeting, the Finance Ministry dismissed the States concerns that the recent excise duty cuts on petrol and diesel will be from the shareable pool of taxes.
Replying to a media query at the press briefing, Mr.Somanathan said, the entire reduction of 10 rupees and 5 rupees per liter of diesel and petrol, is from the non-shareable portion of excise. He said it means the entire reduction is borne by the central government and there is no revenue loss to the States because of it.

Economy
RBI directs NBFCs to appoint Internal Ombudsman within 6 months

Reserve Bank of India has directed Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) to appoint an Internal Ombudsman within 6 months.
Deposit-taking NBFCs with more than 10 branches and non-deposit-taking NBFCs with an asset size of a minimum of 5 thousand Crore rupees have been asked to appoint an internal ombudsman within 6 months. It will be an apex of their internal grievance redress mechanism.
All complaints that are partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC will be reviewed by the Internal Ombudsman before the final decision of the NBFC is conveyed to the complainant.
The Internal Ombudsman will not entertain any complaints directly from members of public.
NBFCs not having a public customer interface have been excluded from the requirement for appointment of an Internal Ombudsman.

International
Sixth-edition of Indo-France joint military exercise 'EX-SHAKTI 2021' begins

The sixth edition of Indo France joint military exercise 'EX-SHAKTI 2021' is being conducted at the French port town of Frejus.
The 12-day long bilateral exercise, will conclude on the 26th of this month.
Defence Ministry said exercise SHAKTI will focus on Counter-Terrorism operations in the backdrop of semi-urban terrain under UN Mandate with an aim to enhance military cooperation and inter-operability between the two Armies.
A platoon strength of a Gorkha Rifles Infantry Battalion is representing the Indian Army in this 12-day bilateral exercise. Whereas The French side is being represented by troops of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade.
The last edition of Exercise SHAKTI was conducted at Foreign Training Node in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan from 31 October to 13 November 2019 in which Counter-Terrorism operations in semi-desert terrain were practiced and validated.
India and France carry out three biennial training exercises namely, Exercise GARUDA with Indian Airforce, Exercise VARUNA with Indian Navy and Exercise SHAKTI with the Indian Army.

U.S. President Joe Biden virtually meets with China President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a virtual meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
In their first face-to-face meeting virtually since Biden took office, President Xi said, China and the United States shouldrespect each other, coexist in peace, and pursue win-win cooperation.
He also stressed the need for a sound and steady China-U.S. relationship for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment, including finding effective responses to global challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statement by the state news agency said, President Xi expressed his readiness to work with President Biden to build consensus and take active steps to move China-U.S. relations forward in a positive direction.
President Xi also said, as the world's two largest economies and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China and the U.S. need to increase communication and cooperation and work together to advance the noble cause of world peace and development adding that this is the joint mission of Chinese and American leaders.
Mr. Xi was accompanied by some of China’s top politicians and diplomats, according to the pictures released by Chinese state media. He pointed out that both China and the U.S. are at critical stages of development, and the global village of humanity faces multiple challenges.

Published date : 16 Nov 2021 05:08PM