Current Affairs Pocket PDF Current Affairs Pocket PDF – April 2018 INDIAN AFFAIRS Cabinet Approvals On April 4, 2018, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following initiatives: • Cabinet approves closure of loss making Burn Standard Company Limited - a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) • Cabinet approves rightsizing the Competition Commission of India • Chairperson and Six Members (totalling seven) to One Chairperson and Three Members (totalling four). • Cabinet approves the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 • Cabinet approves revised cost estimates of the scheme of updation of National Register of Citizens, 1951 in Assam. On April 11, 2018, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following bilateral agreement and initiatives. • Cabinet approves revision of pay and allowances of Lieutenant Governors of Union TerritoriesThus, with this approval, pay and allowances of Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories too has been revised from Rs. 80,000/- to Rs. 2,25,000/- per month with effect from January 1, 2016. • Cabinet approves Headquarters (Host country) Agreement between India and the International Solar Alliance. • Cabinet Approval to boost ‘Ease of doing Business’ in Petroleum and Natural Gas sector • Cabinet approves framework for Coal Bed Methane Extraction by Coal India Limited (CIL) and its Subsidiaries On April 25, 2018, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following bilateral agreements and initiatives: • Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding between India and Sao Tome and Principe for Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy It is to be noted that Indian Government has already signed similar MoUs with Malaysia, Trinidad & Tobago, Hungry, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Mongolia and Iran. • Cabinet approves MoU between India and Sao Tome and Principe on cooperation in the field of Medicinal Plants. • Cabinet apprised of the Memorandum of Agreement between India and World Health Organisation represented by its Regional Office for South-East Asia acting through its Country Office in India • Cabinet approves MoU on cooperation in the field of regulation of medical products for human use amongst the medicine regulatory agencies of the BRICS countries • Cabinet approves Long Term Agreements for supply of iron ore to Japan and South Korea through MMTC Limited • Cabinet approves declaration of Scheduled Areas in respect of Rajasthan under Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India 1 | Page Follow Us - FB.com/AffairsCloudOfficialPage Copyright 2018 @ AffairsCloud.Com Current Affairs Pocket PDF On April 25, 2018, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved following initiatives. • Cabinet approves Minimum Support Prices for Raw Jute for 2018-19 season • Cabinet approves restructured National Bamboo Mission. Mission will be implemented in limited States particularly in the North Eastern region and States including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. State Wise National News Andhra Pradesh • On April 12, 2018, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the IRNSS-1I navigation satellite aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C41.It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre located at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.It is part of Indian satellite navigation system ‘Navigation with Indian Constellation’ (NavIC) that was earlier known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). • State of Andhra Pradesh is constructing a world-class city in its de facto capital Amaravati. Nearly 3840 apartments in 61 towers are under construction in the Amaravati capital region.Towers being built by Shapurji Palonji and L&T are at Nelapadu village while those being built by Nagarjuna Construction Company are at Rayapudi village. • On 23rd April 2018, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security Operations Center (APCSOC) in Amaravati.APCSOC is an initiative taken by Andhra Pradesh Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (IT and E&C) ministry. • On 28th April 2018, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) K E Krishnamurthy initiated Andhra Pradesh government's 'Bhu Seva' (land hub) project aimed at offering integrated services related with land.As per the Bhu Seva project, each land parcel will be given a Bhudhar Number. The Bhudhar Number is an 11 digit unique number. Assam • On 7th and 8th April 2018, the Assam Spring Festival was held at the Manas National Park, in Assam.The Festival was organized by Indian Weavers' Association and the Swankar Mithinga Onsai Afat. The aim of the festival is to promote the local food and culture.It covers five districts of Assam: Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang, Udalguri and Barpeta. Goa • Goa State Government has decided to launch its own app-based taxi service at some key tourist destinations across the state.In which they invite the taxi operators to register with it. All taxi operators, who hold licence to run cabs in Goa, are eligible to register for this application-based transport service. • Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu said that, Central government along with state government and private partners is working to promote Goa as a tourism destination and a cargo hub.He said that, Mopa airport will start operations by September 2020. Dabolim Airport will continue to operate along with Mopa Airport. • On 28th March 2018, a Multi Modal Logistics Park was inaugurated by CMD Konkan Railway Sanjay Gupta and P K Agarwal, Director, Container Corporation at Balli Station on Konkan Railway route, near Madgaon in Goa at a cost of Rs 43 crore. Gujarat • Gujarat is to set up India’s largest 5,000MW solar park .It will be established on 11,000 hectares of land along the Gulf of Khambhat in the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR). Gujarat state government has also planned to set up a 200MW wind park in DSIR. It would attract additional investment of Rs 1,400 crore. • On April 11, 2018, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), in Gujarat launched 6th edition of Heat Action Plan (HAP) aimed at protecting city dwellers from scorching temperatures during 2 | Page Follow Us - FB.com/AffairsCloudOfficialPage Copyright 2018 @ AffairsCloud.Com Current Affairs Pocket PDF summer.The plan has been designed and will be implemented in partnership with Gandhinagar- based Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) and US based Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) along with other groups and NGOs.Ahmedabad is the first city to prepare and implement heat action plan. • On 16th April 2018, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched 'Pocket Cop' project to improve crime detection rate in the state, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.Under the Pocket Cop project, smartphones having data of people with a criminal background will be given to 4,900 police personnel. The smartphone will contain four different applications for passport verification, tracing criminals, finding missing persons and for stolen vehicles. • On World Haemophilia Day (17th April 2018), Gujarat assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi launched 'Haemophilia Jagruti, a magazine to create awareness on haemophilia, an inherited bleeding disorder.It aims to share knowledge and the research done on Haemophilia. Hemophilia affects over 6,000 people in Gujarat. • On April 26, 2018, Swedish-Swiss multinational giant ABB announced commissioning of India’s first industrial solar microgrid at its factory in Vadodara, Gujarat.Microgrids with integrated battery energy storage is primarily setup to ensure continuity of work during planned and unplanned Power outages. • Surat railway station (in Gujarat) will be the third in India to be developed as a world-class facility under Railway Ministry’s station redevelopment programme. Estimated cost for redevelopment of Surat Railway Station is Rs 5000 crore. It is expected to be ready by 2020. India’s two world-class Railway stations — Habibganj (in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) and Gandhinagar (in Gujarat) — will be ready by the beginning of 2019. Haryana • Central Government’s ‘Gobardhan Yojna’, a scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste into manure and biogas, will be launched nationally from Karnal, Haryana on April 30, 2018 Under this scheme, bio-gas plants will be set up at individual or community level and also at the level of Self Help Groups and NGOs like Gaushalas. • Haryana State Government has come up with Water ATM Policy to provide clean drinking water to people at public places.Distance between two water ATMs within a city would be 400 metres, which could be adjusted according to convenience of people. • Haryana State Government has approved the slum-in-situ rehabilitation policy in line with Housing for All-2018, under which, urban slum dwellers on Government land will be provided housing facility without relocating them to other areas.As per the policy approved by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Rs 1.67 lakh per dwelling unit will be provided to developer for construction of houses for these urban slum dwellers. • A power plant worth Rs 502 crore will be set up in Bandhwari village of Gurugram district, Haryana, to produce electricity from waste under the Integrated Solid Waste Management Scheme.The plant will be set up by August 2019. It will generate 25 MW of electricity. Haryana