DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS –18.08.2018 TO 21.08.2018
NATIONAL 11th World Hindi Conference begins in Mauritius (a) 11th World Hindi Conference has been held in Mauritius in its capital city Port Lois from Aug 18-20, 2018 with the theme ‗Vaishvik Hindi Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti‘. (b) It has been inaugurated by Prime Minister of Mauritius Praveen Kumar Jagannath and was attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and some other ministers. (c) It was organised by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in association with Government of Mauritius. (d) The venue of Conference was Swami Vivekanand International Convention Centre, Pailles Mauritius. September 2018 will be observed National Nutrition Month (A) Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has announced to observe September 2018 as the National Nutrition Month to mark the country‘s fight against malnutrition. (B) The month-long intensive campaign will be undertaken with an aim of reaching every household with message of nutrition — ‗har ghar poshan tyohar‘ (every house a celebration of nutrition) (C) According to National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), 38.% of India‘s children aged less than 5 years are stunted (less height for their age), 21% are wasted (less weight for their height) and 35.7% are underweight. ... (D) India also ranks low 100th out of 119 countries on 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI). (E) Government already has embarked on Rs 9000-crore to Poshan Abhiyan (National Nutrition Mission) to fight malnutrition. It was launched in March 2018. (F) The target of mission is to bring down stunting among children up to age of six years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022. Centre launches ‘Digital northeast vision’ in Guwahati The Central Government which aims to improve digital connectivity and infuse digital literacy in all the states of the country, recently launched the ‗Digital Northeast Vision Document 2022‘ in Guwahati. North East Indian region has become the newest member of the Centre‘s flagship programme ‗Digital India‘ initiative. ‗Digital Northeast India Vision 2022‘ envisages in implementing the initiative throughout the North East through optimum utilization of information, communication, and technology. 5 northern states and 2 UTs to set up centralised secretariat at Panchkula to tackle drug menace Six northern states Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Union territories of and Delhi and Chandigarh have decided to set up centralised secretariat at Panchkula (Haryana) to tackle the drug menace. It was decided at in inter-State regional conference of Chief Ministers organised in Chandigarh by Haryana government on issue of ―Drug menace, challenges and strategies‖. Delhi official wins WHO award on tobacco control initiative Delhi government‘s additional director of health S K Arora has been awarded the prestigious WHO World No Tobacco Day 2017 Award for his extraordinary contribution towards tobacco control. The National Health Policy 2017 of the Government of India has set targets of relative reduction in tobacco prevalence by 15 per cent by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2025. Panel to coordinate the discharge of floodwaters from Kerala-TN inter-State projects Central government has constituted a coordination committee headed by the Narendra Kumar, Central Water Commission (CWC) Chairman to coordinate the discharge of floodwaters from inter-State projects involving Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Mullaperiyar and Aliyar. The committee will monitor the situation at Mullaperiyar dam in view of rising water level and continued heavy inflow. FSSAI sets up expert panel to look into draft labelling regulations The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to form a three-member committee to look into the draft food labelling and display regulations. The regulations have proposed making red colour-coded labels mandatory on packaged food products which are high in fat, sugar and salt contents. The expert panel will be led by B Sesikeran, former director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and comprise current NIN director Hemalatha and AIIMS‘ Nikhil Tandon. Punjab uses mobile app to distribute 13 lakh saplings Punjab Minister announced that Punjab, the first state in India to launch a mobile app ‗i-Hariyali‘ to supply free saplings, has provided 13 lakh saplings to people through this endeavour so far.A total of 32 lakh saplings were supplied under the ‗Ghar-Ghar Hariyali‘ campaign as well as through the app. NEWS IN BRIEF Industry chamber CII said a task force chaired by its former President Kris Gopalakrishnan is working on comprehensive relief for flood-affected in Kerala in coordination with the state and district administrations. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the state government will name three awards after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16. INTERNATIONAL In Sri Lanka, the ten-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera began in Kandy with a grand procession. The procession set off from the biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious time. Sri Lanka -President: Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe BILATERAL INDIA-MAURITIUS: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated ‗Panini Language Laboratory‘ at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius. It was launched on the sidelines of 11th World Hindi Conference held in Mauritius. Mauritius- Capital: Port Louis, Currency: Mauritian rupee, Prime Minister: Pravind Jugnauth India, Thailand conclude ‘Maitree’ military exercise: The Indian and Thai armed forces concluded a two-week long platoon level military exercise called ‗Exercise Maitree 2018‘ in Jammu & Kashmir‘s Srinagar.
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DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS –18.08.2018 TO 21.08.2018
Thailand-Capital: Bangkok. Currency: Thai baht Nepal to join BIMSTEC military exercise in India next month Nepal will join the first ever military exercise of the countries in the BIMSTEC, or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, to be hosted by India from September 10-16 in Pune of the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Israeli Navy to procure Barak 8 missile defence system, jointly developed by India, Israel (a) The multi-purpose Barak 8 missile defence system, jointly developed by India and Israel, will be procured by the Israeli Navy to protect its economic zones and strategic facilities from diversified threats and the sales for it have exceeded USD 5 billion. (b) The missile system has been jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), India‘s DRDO, Israel‘s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, Elta Systems, Rafael and some other Indian defence companies. (c) Barak-8 is an operational air and missile defense system used by the Israeli Navy as well as by the Indian Navy and air forces. ECONOMY NABARD 2016-17 survey NABARD All India Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS), conducted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), was released by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog in New Delhi. The survey, with reference year of 2015-16, which covered 40,327 rural households, highlighted that the average annual income of an agricultural household is Rs 1,07,172 compared to Rs 87,228 for families engaged only in non-agricultural activities. The survey defined farm households as families having over Rs 5,000 as value of produce from agricultural operations in the year preceding the survey. For all rural households, the average annual income stood at Rs 96,708. Highlights of NABARD Survey It estimates that total number of rural households in India at 21.17 crore. Its definition of ―rural‖ is broad, covering revenue villages and semi-urban centres with population of less than 50,000. Out of 21.17 crore rural households, 10.07 crore, or under 48% are agricultural. At least one member is self- employed in farming with annual value of produce at more than Rs 5,000. The remaining 11.10 crore households (around 52%) are non-agricultural. The average net monthly income of Indian rural householdsafter deducting expenses incurred in course of economic activity was Rs 8,059. Savings & Investment 1. 88.1% of the households reported having a bank account. 2. 33% of households reported more than one savings account. 3. 26% of HH have women with institutional (including SHG) savings account. 4. 55% of agricultural households reported any savings during the last year and of these 53 per cent saved with institutions like banks, post offices and SHGs. 5. Average savings per annum per saver households was reportedly Rs 17,488, of which 95 per cent is with institutional agencies 6. 10.4% of agricultural households also reported investment with the average investment per investing agricultural households was reportedly Rs 62,734. Insurance and Pension 1. About 26% of agricultural households and 25% of non-agricultural households reported to have been covered under one or the other type of insurance 2. Among agricultural households who reported to have taken any loan for agricultural purposes in the last one year [2015-16] from institutional agencies, 6.9% reported being covered under crop insurance. 3. The coverage under any type of pension was reported to be about 18.9 % for non-agricultural households as against 20.1 % for agricultural households. 4. It reinforces trend that has gathered momentum since start of this century of increasingly less ‗Krishi‘ in ‗Bharat‘. 5. It also reconfirms and magnifies earlier findings of National Sample Survey Office‘s (NSSO) Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households conducted for 2012-13. Home Ministry notifies new SoPS for refilling of ATMs Union Home Ministry has issued new Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for cash refilling of automated teller machines (ATMs) after certain time period. It will come into effect from 8 February 2019. It sets deadline of replenishing cash in ATMs before 9pm in cities and 6pm in rural areas.In case of Naxal-hit districts notified by central government, the deadline will be 4pm. It makes mandatory on private agencies handling these operations to collect money from banks in first half of the day and transport them in armoured vehicles. The cash van should not carry cash of more than Rs. 5 crore per trip. Every cash van must have one driver, two armed security guards, two ATM officers or custodians. HAL becomes first PSU to transact on TReDS: RXIL The Receivables Exchange of India (RXIL) (Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra) said that the Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has become the first public sector enterprise to make a transaction on the ―TReDS platform‖. According to the NSE- SIDBI joint venture, TReDS is an online electronic institutional mechanism for facilitating the financing of trade receivables of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) through multiple financiers.
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Indian economy clocked double digit growth in 2006-07 The new estimates released by a government constituted committee suggest that GDP growth in the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 may have been higher than reckoned earlier. According to the report, the growth of the Indian economy is 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points higher for each year. Walmart acquires 77% stake in Flipkart Group Retail giant Walmart Inc. acquired approximately 77 per cent stake in e-commerce major Flipkart. Remainder of the business is held by other shareholders, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Tencent, Tiger Global and Microsoft Corp. Egon to help BBB in PSB leadership programmes The Indian Banks‘ Association has appointed Egon Zehnder International (Headquarters – Zürich, Switzerland) as a ‗Knowledge Partner‘ to the Banks Board Bureau to design, implement and institutionalise a flagship leadership development strategy for public sector banks in India. In addition, Hay Consultants India Private Limited (part of the Korn Ferry Group) will assist the bureau in assessing leadership competencies and potential capabilities of candidates appearing in the process for appointment as wholetime directors of public sector banks. SEBI cuts listing time for public issue of debt securities (a) Markets regulator SEBI drastically cut the timeline for the listing of debt securities to six days from 12 days at present, in order to make the existing process of issuance of such securities simpler and cost-effective. (b) Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) mandatory for all the investors for making payment while applying in a public issue of debt securities. (c) The mandatory ASBA facility would reduce the time taken for collecting banks to commence clearing of payment instruments, forwarding application forms along with bank schedules to registrar and undertaking of technical rejection test. (d) The new rule would be applicable for all public issues of debt securities from October 1, 2018 (e) Securities and Exchange Board of India-Headquarters: Mumbai,Agency executive: Ajay Tyagi (Chairman) PERSON IN NEWS Imran Khan: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former cricketer Imran Khan took oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan. N Raghuram: Indian scientist-academician, N Raghuram, has been elected Chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), a global policy making initiative. A professor at the GGS Indraprastha University, New Delhi, Raghuram is the first Indian and Asian to be elected to the Chair. He will succeed Mark Sutton of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh. The concept for the INI had its initial beginnings at the First International Nitrogen Conference, held in The Netherlands. S.S. Mundra: Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBHFL), the country‘s second-largest housing finance company, appointed S.S. Mundra, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as an independent director on the board of the company. Infosys CFO MD Ranganath Resigns: Mavinakere Dwarakanath Ranganath, the chief financial officer at Infosys, resigned from his post at India‘s second-largest software service provider to ‗pursue professional opportunities in new areas‘. Israeli Journalist And Peace Activist Uri Avnery passes away: Uri Avnery, a trailblazing Israeli journalist and peace activist and one of the first to openly advocate for a Palestinian state passed away at the age of 94. US Singer Aretha Franklin passes away at 76: US singer Aretha Franklin has passed away at the age of 76. She received the Grammy Award 18 times and was the first female vocalist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan passes away Former United Nations General Secretary and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan passed away in Bern, Switzerland. He was 80. He had served as seventh Secretary-General of UN for two terms reigning from 1997 till 2006. He was first black African to become Secretary-General of UN and also the first to be elected from UN staff itself. He was born on 8 April 1938 in Kumasi, Gold Coast (now Ghana). He was founder and chairman of Kofi Annan Foundation and chairman of ‗The Elders‘, an international organisation founded by Nelson Mandela. He was co-recipient of 2001 Nobel peace prize along with the United Nations. In September 2016, he was appointed to lead UN commission to investigate Rohingya crisis in Myanmar‘s Rakhine province. AWARD General Suhag awarded US ‘Legion of Merit’ The United States government has awarded the Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander) to General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retired), of the Indian Army, for exceptionally meritorious service as chief of the Army staff, Indian Army. The award commended his leadership for Indian Army‘s counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations and its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) during Nepal earthquake in 2015. With this, he becomes second Indian to get this award, first being General Rajendrasinghji Jadeja in 1946. MISCELLANEOUS Aditya – L1: First Indian mission to study the Sun to be launched in 2019 (a) After conquering the moon and Mars, the India Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set its sights on the sun with the Aditya-L1 mission. (ISRO) chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar announced that Aditya-L1, India‘s maiden mission to the Sun, will be launched in 2019. (b) The main aim of the solar mission is to improve our understanding of ―dynamical processes of the sun,‖ and help resolve some outstanding questions in solar physics. (c) The satellite carrying six payloads will be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on the PSLV- XL launch vehicle. It will be launched into the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.
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Indigenous anti-tank guided missile system HELINA successfully flight tested The indigenously developed Helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‗HELINA‘ was successfully flight tested from an Army Helicopter in Rajasthan‘s Pokhran. The weapon system was tested for its full range and guided by an Infrared Imaging Seeker (IIR), it hit the target with high precision. HeliNA stands for Helicopter-launched Nag and is a variant of the Nag anti-tank guided missile which is launched from land. India successfully tests smart anti-airfield weapon India has successfully test-fired indigenously designed and developed long-range precision-guided anti-airfield bomb that was dropped from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft. The Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) system was successfully tested at the Chandan firing range in Rajasthan. The 120-kg class smart weapon is capable of destroying ground targets using precision navigation up to a range of 100 km. IIT Kharagpur to set up Re-Water Research Center Indian Instituted of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur has decided to set up Re-Water Research Center to replenish and rejuvenate water resources. It will be seed-funded by two alumni members – Aneesh Reddy & Aditya Choubey and named after them as Aditya Choubey Center for Re-Water Research. Scarlett Johansson becomes world’s highest paid female actress ―Lost in Transaltion‖ actress Scarlett Johansson (American actress and singer) has been named as the world‘s highest paid female actress by Forbes. The 33-year-old actress made $ 40.5 million in pre-tax earnings from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018, quadrupling her income from the previous year. Pitch Black 2018 Exercise concludes in Australia (a) Pitch Black – 18 (PB-18), biennial multinational air exercise hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has been concluded in Darwin, Australia. (b) It was the largest Pitch Black ever conducted by Australia, which saw participation of 16 nations and more than 140 aircraft, the current edition. (c) In this edition of exercise, Indian Air Force (IAF) for the first time participated with air assets and in earlier exercises it had participated as observer.Pitch Black Exercise is a biennial warfare exercise hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). SPORTS Asian Games: 18th Asian Games are going on in Jakarta, Indonesia a) The 2018 Asian Games began on August 18 with a grand opening ceremony at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. b) The 18th Asian Games is to be held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang and this will be the first time the Asian Games are co-hosted in two cities. The Indonesian capital of Jakarta hosted the Games earlier in 1962. Palembang is the capital of the South Sumatra Province. c) Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra was India‘s flag-bearer at the glittering opening ceremony. d) Motto of the games is ―Energy of Asia‖. 2022 Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Wrestler Bajrang Punia bagged the first gold medal for India at the 18th Asian Games after defeating Japanese Daichi Takatani 11-8 in Men‘s 65kg freestyle event. Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold after she defeated Japan‘s Yuki Irie in the 50 kilogram women‘s Freestyle final. With this, she also became first Indian woman wrestler to win gold medal at 2018 Asian Games. She hails from Haryana.Her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari are both international wrestlers and Commonwealth Games medalists (Hindi biographical film Dangal was loosely based on them). Shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar clinched the first medal for India at the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta. Chandela and Kumar, who were participating in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event, got eliminated in the penultimate stage which meant a bronze medal for India. Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 to win the Cincinnati Masters and become the first man to complete a career sweep of all nine 1000 Series titles. Former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Teen cyclist Esow Alben(17-year-old from Andaman and Nicobar ) has created history by claiming India‘s first ever medal – a silver- at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. India U-15 girls won the SAFF U-15 Championship after beating defending champion Bangladesh 1-0 in the final played at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan. SAFF- South Asian Football Federation. Headquarters: Delhi. Its members are Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Rishabh Pant became fourth Indian wicket-keeper to take five catches on Test debut during the second day of the third Test against England. Pant became India‘s 291st Test player. Indian football team have climbed one spot to attain the 96th position in the recently updated FIFA rankings in August 2018. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) have signed an agreement for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the prestigious Asia Cup scheduled to take place in September. IMPORTANT DAY World Humanitarian Day: 19 August The World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observed every year on Aug 19 to recognize work of humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives. Theme for this year is #NotATarget. ONE LINER A special film festival on the theme ―Freedom Struggle and Freedom Fighters‖ was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 15th August. The festival was organized by the Films Division to mark India‘s 72nd Independence Day. Telangana Govt for the first time launched Disaster Response Force (DRF) vehicles in the capital city of Hyderabad.
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