DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 15.01.2018 TO 17.01.2018 NATIONAL Union Government has decided to end Haj subsidy from this year • The Union Government has decided to end Haj subsidy from 2018 and fund would now be used for educational, empowerment and welfare of girls from minority communities. • The Supreme Court had directed in 2012 that the Haj subsidy should be done away with gradually by 2022. • In accordance with the order, the union government had asked a panel headed by former secretary Afzal Amanullah to suggest the framework for a new Haj policy for 2018-22. • Hence, the new policy, drafted as per the recommendations of the panel, called for the gradual withdrawal of Haj subsidy. • Other recommendations of the panel included allowing Muslim women above the age of 45 to go on Haj without male company. Minority Affairs-Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Constituency: Jharkhand 3rd Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inaugurated third edition of the geo-political conference – Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. (Israel-Capital: Jerusalem, Currency:shekel President: Reuven Rivlin) • The theme of the conference for this year is ‘Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms’. • The name of conference comes from Raisina Hill which is the elevation in New Delhi where presidential palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan is located. PM Modi inaugurates Rajasthan First oil refinery at Pachpadra in Barmer district • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project commencement of the Rajasthan first oil refinery at Pachpadra in Barmer district of the state. It will be be completed by 2022. • The project is a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Rajasthan government at a cost of Rs 43000 crores. UIDAI to introduce face recognition for Aadhaar authentication • The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) decided to enable ‘Face Authentication’ in fusion mode on registered devices by July 1, so that people facing difficulty in other existing modes of verification such as fingerprints, iris, and one-time-password (OTP) could easily authenticate.It will be available by 1 July 2018. • Chairman, UIDAI:J. Satyanarayana ,CEO; Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey India contributes $50,000 to UN Youth Envoy’s office • India has contributed $50,000 to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s Office of Envoy on Youth to help with its mission of involving young people in the world body’s goals. • The contribution was handed over by Paulomi Tripathi, a First Secretary in India’s UN Mission to the Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake. • Jayathma Wickramanayake from Sri Lanka was appointed the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. Rajyavardhan Rathore launches ‘Khelo India’ Anthem • The union sports ministry’s ambitious programme, ‘Khelo India’ — an initiative to scout for talent at the grassroots and provide it substantial long-term scholarship – will be launched on January 31. • In the run-up to the launch, Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore unveiled the mascots (Vijay the tiger and Jaya the black buck) and launched the anthem “Aur khelna chahte hain hum…Khel mein hi masti hai….khel se abaad honge hum”. Khelo India programme 1. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the revamped Khelo India programme at a cost of Rs.1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20. 2. The scheme will cover 1,000 most talented young athletes each year across select sports disciplines. 3. Each athlete selected under the scheme shall receive an annual scholarship worth Rs. 5.00 lakh for 8 consecutive years. 4. The Programme aims to promote 20 universities across the country as hubs of sporting excellence 5. The Programme would cover about 200 million children in the age group of 10-18 under a massive national physical fitness drive 6. This programme strives to promote “Sports for All” as well as “Sports for Excellence.” BILATERAL India, Israel sign 9 MoUs for cooperation in cyber security, space, oil & gas sector • India signed 9 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Israel during the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India. • Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India in the span of the last 15 years and the second after Ariel Sharon who had visited in 2003. Following is the list of 9 MoUs signed by India and Israel: 1. Agreement on Film-co-production. 2. Protocol on Amendments to Air Transport Agreement 3. MoU on Cyber Security Cooperation between India and Israel 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 1 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 15.01.2018 TO 17.01.2018 4. Memorandum of Intent (MoI) between Invest India and Invest in Israel 5. Medical Centre on Cooperation in field of Research in Homeopathic Medicine 6. Letter of Intent (LoU) between IOCL and Phinergy Ltd. For cooperation in area of metal-air batteries 7. MoU between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Energy on Cooperation inOil and Gas Sector 8. LoI between IOCL(Indian Oil corporation Ltd.) and Yeda Research and Development Co Ltd for cooperation in the area of concentrated solar thermal technologies.( IOCL-Headquarters: New Delhi, Chairman: Sanjiv Singh) 9. MoU between Central Council for Research in Homeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH(Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) and Centre for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek 10. MoU between Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and Technion- Israel Institute of Technology for cooperation in field of space. Digital launch of ‘I4Fund call for proposal’ website at India-Israel Business Summit • The ‘I4Fund Call for Proposal’ was announced with the joint launch of the website and the unveiling of the brochure by the two PMs (Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu). The “India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)” was announced in July, 2017. • Under this, the Department of Science and Technology, India and the National Innovation Authority of Israel have established a 40 million US dollar Fund. India, Bangladesh, Nepal approve Passenger protocol • Bangladesh, India and Nepal agreed on text of operating procedures for passenger vehicle movement (Passenger protocol) in sub-region under Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).this will help cross-border movement of buses and private vehicles for transport facilitation in subregion. • BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) is a landmark MVA was signed by Transport Ministers of BBIN countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) in Thimphu, Bhutan in June 2015. India, Sri Lanka sign four agreements for collaboration in ICT sector • Union minister for Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad(Constituency: Bihar) signed four agreements for collaboration in Information and communication technology (ICT) with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo. • The agreements were signed for collaboration in ICT sector and setting up of e-office system and connecting of National Knowledge network (NKN) for collaboration among universities and academics. • With this, Sri Lanka became first country to be connected to NKN through Gigabyte (GB) optical fibre network. • This will connect NKN to Lanka education & research network (LEARN) through which universities on both sides can share best practices and research ideas. India, UK sign MoU on illegal migrants' return India signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the United Kingdom for the return of Indians, who have been residing in Britain as illegal migrants, and sharing of criminal records and intelligence. India gives $45 mn aid to Sri Lanka India has extended a fresh financial assistance of $45.27 million for upgrading Kankesanthurai (KKS) Harbour in northern Sri Lanka. This is to develop it into a commercial port and strengthening the country’s efforts to become a regional maritime hub. INTERNATIONAL WEF’s Global Manufacturing Index • The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position among 100 countries on its Global Manufacturing Index (GMI). The report was developed by WEF in collaboration with A.T. Kearney. • The index was released as part of WEF’s first Readiness for the future of production Report which analysed development of modern industrial strategies and urges collaborative action. • Japan stood at first rank followed by South Korea at second and Germany at the third. India palced at 30th position. Nepal to get internet connection from China • The Nepal Telecom teamed up with the China Telecom Global (CTG) to provide alternate cyber-connectivity to Nepal, ending India’s decades-long monopoly of Nepal’s cyber connectivity network. • China Telecom Global and Nepal Telecom launched their first services after they laid down the optical fiber cables between Kerung in China and Rasuwagadi in Nepal. • Nepal-Capital: Kathmandu,Currency: Rupee,PM: Sher Bahadur Deuba, President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari China launches two navigation satellites into space • China successfully launched two BeiDou-3 satellites to provide navigation and positioning services to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the end of 2018. • This is the first launch of the BeiDou satellites in 2018, which will see intensive launches in coming days. 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015