Morning Current Affairs: 7 November 2017

Guinea ratifies International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement
The Republic of Guinea on 6 November 2017 ratified the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement.

The instrument of ratification was handed over to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Guinea’s Foreign Minister Mamady Toure, who was on his 4 day visit to India from 3-6 November 2017.

With this, Guinea became the 15th country to ratify the agreement. The other 14 countries are India, Bangladesh, Comoros, Fiji, France, Ghana, Mauritius, Nauru, Niger, Mali, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan and Tuvalu.

Surat wins Best City Bus Services Award for attracting 87% of private vehicles users
Surat Municipal Corporation was on 6 November 2017 awarded with the ‘Best City Bus Services Award’ by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for attracting 87 per cent of the private vehicle and auto rickshaw users to use city buses.

While, Mysuru’s Public Bicycle Sharing won the ‘Best Non-Motorised Transport’ Award and Kochi (Kerala) was chosen for the ‘Best Urban Transport Initiative’ Award for completing its Metro Rail Project in a quick time.

The H-TRIMS of Hyderabad, the Traffic Integrated Management initiative,  was awarded with the ‘Commendable Initiative Award’  under ‘Best Intelligent Transport Project’ category. On the other hand, Chittor was chosen for the ‘Commendable Initiative Award’.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia appointed as Finance Secretary
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia was on 6 November 2017 appointed as the new Finance Secretary. His appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). Adhia is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

The post of Finance Secretary  has been lying vacant since October 2017 following the superannuation of Ashok Lavasa.

As per the rules of Union Government, the senior most Secretary in the Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.