Current Affairs – May 25, 2018

S.No Topic Page Number

1 World News 2 - 3

2 National News 4

3 State News 5

4 Banking & Economy 6

5 Sports 7

6 Awards & Honours 8

7 Appointments & Resignations 9

8 Science & Technology 10

9 Obituaries 11

World News

India 145th in Healthcare Access, Quality, Iceland Tops: Lancet Report

 India ranks 145th among 195 countries in terms of quality and accessibility of healthcare, as assessed in a Global Burden of Disease study published in The Lancet behind its neighbours like China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan,  The Global Burden of Disease study, however, mentioned that India has seen improvements in healthcare access and quality since 1990.  The study used an index based on 32 causes of death that should be preventable with effective medical care. Each country was given a healthcare access and quality (HAQ) score between 0-100. India’s HAQ score is 41.2, up from 24.7 in 1990.  The global average HAQ score was 54.4. Iceland and Norway top the list with a HAQ score of 97 each.

Nepal became the 1st country in south-east Asia to eliminate Trachoma

 According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia region to eliminate trachoma, world’s leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin.  Trachoma was the second leading cause of preventable blindness in the Himalayan nation in the 1980s.  Trachoma is a chlamydial infection which happens due to lack of hygiene, unclean water supply and can spread by contact with eye, nose, or throat secretions of a person suffering from the disease or indirectly via flies. The infection is particularly common among children.

Nima Jangmu Sherpa scales 3 highest mountains in single season; sets world record

 Nima Jangmu Sherpa, a Nepali woman created a world record by scaling three highest mountains in a single climbing season.  The 28 year old Nima Jangmu has become only woman in the world to climb three highest peaks in Nepal above 8,000 meters in one season within 25 days.  She had successfully scaled Mt Everest on May 14 and Mt Lhotse on April 29 and her historic ascent on Mt Kanchenjunga, third highest peak of the world on May 23.

Pakistan hosts first ever SCO-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure meeting

 Pakistan hosted the three-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) meeting in Islamabad. This is the first time that Pakistan hosted the meeting ever since the country became a member of SCO in June 2017.  Legal experts from the eight member states, including India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, as well as representatives of the SCO and RATS Executive Committee participated in the meeting.  The main agenda was to talk over the issue related to terrorist threats in the region and how to overcome them.

National News

Netherlands Becomes 64th Signatory Member of International Solar Alliance

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is in India at PM Modi's invitation held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and international issues at the Hyderabad House.  The Netherlands has become the 64th signatory member of the International Solar Alliance. PM Modi noted that the first Indo-Dutch Centre of Excellence CoE in Vegetables had started in Baramati, Maharashtra. India also welcomed the Netherlands as the Partner Country for the TechSummit in 2019.  According to data from 2016-17, the Netherlands was the fifth largest foreign investor in India. Globally, the Netherlands is India's 28th largest trading partner. Within the European Union, the Netherlands is India's sixth largest trading partner.

Niti Aayog ropes in Sushant Singh Rajput

 Actor Sushant Singh Rajput will promote 2 major initiatives of NITI Aayog – BHIM app & the Women Entrepreneurship Platform.  BHIM is a payment app that lets users make simple and quick transactions using Unified Payments Interface.  Women Entrepreneurship Platform is a unified access portal which brings together women from different parts of India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations.

PM Modi, Hasina inaugurate Bangladesh Bhavan

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan at Vishwa Bharti University, Santiniketan, West Bengal.  The inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan in Indian University symbolically highlights the warm bilateral cultural ties between the two countries. It has been built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores  The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore’s association with that country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

State News

PM Modi unveils projects of Rs 27,000 cr in Jharkhand

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 25 laid the foundation stones for developmental projects worth Rs 27,000 crore from Sindri in Dhanbad, Jharkhand.  During his visit to the state, PM laid the foundation stone of various projects of Central and state governments, including Ranchi City Gas Distribution Project, All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Deoghar, development of Deoghar Airport and revival of Sindri Fertilizer Project.

Rajasthan launches ‘Nidaan’ software for disease monitoring

 Rajasthan government has come up with a new software named ‘Nidaan’ for presumptive diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and non-communicable diseases as well as the trends of ailments found in the specific areas.  The software would help strengthen tele-medicine services in the government hospitals of the state as well as formulation of specific action plans for control of diseases.  “Nidaan” will facilitate online entries of as many as 46 diseases and health care services available for their treatment in different institutions.

Banking & Economy

Fifteenth Finance Commission constitutes a High Level Group

 The Fifteenth Finance Commission has constituted a high level group consisting of eminent experts from across the country in Health Sector.  Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, New Delhi will be its Convenor.  It will evaluate the existing regulatory framework in the Health sector and examine its strength and weaknesses for enabling a balanced yet faster expansion of the health sector keeping in view India’s demographic profile.

SIDBI to Extend Direct Funding Facility to VLEs in CSCs

 Common Service Centre (CSC) SPV and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed a MoU for providing financial support to CSCs across the country in the presence of Minister of Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad.  Through the MoU, the SIDBI seeks to extend financial support to the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of CSCs, with minimum one year of operation, under the Direct Financing Window of SIDBI.  Through the MoU, both CSC SPV and SIDBI seek to work together to bring more citizens under the ambit of financial inclusion.

Sports

WHO, Russia Launch New Campaign for Football World Cup 2018

 A new video campaign launched targeting football fans on the occasion of the World Cup 2018 to promote healthier and more active lives.  The series of videos produced jointly by World Health Organization (WHO), Russia’s Ministry of Health and the 2018 World Cup Russia Local Organising Committee.  It is one of many joint activities that will be implemented around the month-long World Cup starting from 14th of June.  The campaign consists of 3 videos, each tackling key health risk issues of Tobacco use, excessive salt consumption, and physical inactivity.

Awards & Honours

Biodiversity award for Arunachal reserve

 An NGO, Singchung Bugun Community Reserve, won the India Biodiversity Award 2018 in the category of ‘Conservation of wildlife species’  The NGO bagged the prize for its unique endeavor & contributions towards conserving the rare wildlife resources of that area.  The prize was presented by Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change & was conferred by National Biodiversity Authority.

Poland's Olga Tokarczuk Is This Year's Man Booker International Prize Winner

 Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for fiction for her novel Flights.  Flights beat five other finalists, including Iraqi writer Ahmed Saadawi’s horror story Frankenstein in Baghdad and South Korean author Han Kang’s meditative novel The White Book.  The prize is a counterpart to the Man Booker Prize for English-language novels and is open to books in any language that have been translated into English.  The 50,000-pound ($67,000) award is split evenly between the writer and her translator, Jennifer Croft.

Appointments & Resignations

Chandramauli appointed as Chairman of PCI

 Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, who was the former Supreme Court Judge has been appointed as the Chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) for the second time.  The decision was taken by a committee of three members, headed by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.  Justice Prasad had taken over from Justice Markanday Katju in November, 2014.

Dena Bank, Punjab & Sindh Bank, Central Bank of India get new chairpersons

 The finance ministry has appointed non-executive chairpersons at Punjab and Sindh Bank, Dena Bank and Central Bank of India, as part of its agenda to reform public sector banks.  The government appoints Charan Singh, Anjali Bansal, and Tapan Ray as non executive chairperson of Punjab & Sind Bank, Dena Bank and Central Bank of India, respectively.  Charan Singh has served at IMF as senior economist and at Reserve Bank of India as director.  Anjali Bansal is founder of Spencer Stuart's India and had worked with McKinsey and Company.  Tapan Ray has served as Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Lt Gen Devraj Anbu is the new Vice Chief of Army Staff

 Lt. Gen. Devraj Anbu has been appointed as the new Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS).  He is presently GOC-in-C (General Officer Commanding-in-Chief) Northern Command.  He will replace Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand who retires on May 31.  Lt. Gen. Anbu is expected to be replaced by Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh who was the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) at the time of surgical strikes.

Science & Technology

1st drone-carried meteorological data monitor

 China has successfully tested its first drone-carried meteorological data monitor to undertake atmospheric observations.  Dropsonde also known as meteorological data monitor will gather data such as temperature, humidity, and wind direction and transmit them to ground receiving devices in real time.  Dropsondes can be widely used in meteorological emergency, disaster & ecological monitoring.

North Korea dismantled its nuclear test site

 North Korea has carried out demolition of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in a series of huge explosions.  Destruction of the nuclear testing tunnels at Punggye-ri is a tangible step toward denuclearization goal that Kim Jong-un agreed to at the 27 April Panmunjom Summit.  North Korea permitted a group of journalists from Britain, China, Russia, South Korea and US to watch the destruction.

Obituaries

Veteran Gujarati writer, humourist Vinod Bhatt Passes Away

 Eminent Gujarati writer and humourist Vinod Bhatt died following a prolonged illness at the age of 80.  Bhatt’s body was donated to a city hospital for medical research study as per his wish.