Daily Current Affairs Update 16th November 2014

1.    Turkey to host G20 Summit in 2015 & China in 2016

• China will play host to the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit of the emerging economies in 2016. The decision was announced by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 16 November 2014 in Brisbane.
• Turkey took over the presidency from Australia and will host the event in Antalya in 2015. In 2014, G20 Summit was hosted by Australia.
• With China being selected for the 2016 presidency, the G20 troika would now consist of Turkey, Australia and China.
• The leaders of the Group of 20 also announced a plan to boost global growth by more than 2 trillion US dollars over five years.

Note:

•  To ensure continuity, the presidency is supported by a “troika” made up of the current, immediate past and next host countries. During Australia’s presidency, the members of the G20 troika are Australia, Russia and Turkey.
• Previous hosts of the G20 Leaders' Summit were the United States (in 2008 and 2009), the United Kingdom (2009), Canada (2010), the Republic of Korea (2010), France (2011), Mexico (2012) and Russia (2013).

2.    Klaus Werner Iohannis elected new President of Romania

• Klaus Iohannis won Romanian Presidential elections and for the first time in its history, Romania has one president of foreign (German) origin. Iohannis will replace the incumbent Traian Basescu.
• Having a German president, might actually help this poor Balkan nation to form some sort of political alliances with Europe’s mightiest economical power: Germany.
• Romania is one of the poorest nations in Europe alongside with the likes of Bulgaria, Albania and Moldova, competing with some of the world’s poorest nations from Asia and Africa.
• Shortly after the fall of communism in 1989, Romania has been haunted by limitless political corruption with dozens of years passing by and with only little been done throughout the years, however all of this might soon change.

3.    PM addresses Indian diaspora at Sydney

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that it was his good fortune to be the first Indian prime minister to be born post-Independence.
• It is my good fortune that I'm the first prime minister of India to be born post-1947," Modi said at a massive gathering of the Indian diaspora at the Allphones Arena.
• At the gathering, which was attended by over 16,000 members of the Indian Australian community, Modi dedicated the respect and ovation that he was getting in Australia to the Indian people.
• The last Indian prime minister to visit Australia was Rajiv Gandhi.

4.    India and Republic of Korea signed MoU on Technical Cooperation in the Railway sector

• India and Republic of Korea signed an a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate technical cooperation in Railway sector between the two countries.
• The MoU was signed between the Union Ministry of Railways of India and the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) of Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• The MoU will facilitate technical assistance and cooperation between the Railways of the two countries on areas such as High Speed Rail, Modernisation of Rolling Stock, Railway Operations, Modernisation of Signalling, Construction & Maintenance technologies and in development of Logistics Parks/Terminals.

5.    Centre to include GST compensation in Constitutional Bill

• The Centre has agreed to include compensation to be paid to states for GST rollout as part of the Constitutional Amendment Bill.
• "The compensation structure would form part of the Bill. It will be paid in tranches to the states," an official said.
• A consensus on this crucial issue will make it easier of the Centre to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the ensuing Winter session of Parliament beginning November 24.
• The GST will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front, besides local levies.
• The GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2011, had lapsed and the NDA government will be required to come up with a fresh bill.

6.    SAIL Chairman CS Verma received IIM- JRD Tata Award for Excellence in Corporate leadership

• Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Chairman CS Verma  was on 14 November 2014 conferred with the IIM- JRD Tata Award for Excellence in Corporate leadership in Metallurgical Industries for the year 2014.
• Verma was presented with a scroll of honour along with a cash prize of 5 lakh rupees by Union Minister of Mines & Steel Narendra Singh Tomar.
• He is the first Chairman from SAIL to receive this honour and is among those who have been conferred with this award earlier including Ratan N Tata and Dr. E Sreedharan.

7.    CRY launches project to end child labour

• With an aim to end child labour and encourage children to go to school, Child Rights and You has launched 'Project Unlearn' on the eve of Children's Day.
• The campaign will help 28,588 children in labour across CRY supported projects in the country to be able to free themselves from shackles of labour, go back to school and be hopeful of a bright future, an official statement said.
• With Project Unlearn we aim to spread awareness about this issue and shake people out of their indifference towards this grim reality that India faces.
• We are hopeful the people will extend their support to us in ensuring that these children get out of the clutches of child labour and unlearn the skills that rob them of their childhood," said Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY.