Current Affairs – May 10, 2018

S.No Topic Page Number

1 World News 2 - 3

2 National News 4 - 6

3 State News 7 - 8

4 Banking & Economy 9 – 10

5 Sports News 11

6 Appointments & Resignation 12

7 Science & Techonology 13- 14

8 Obituaries 15

World News

SCO Tourism ministers’ conference held in China

 On 9th May 2018, the SCO Tourism Ministers’ conference was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.  This is the first tourism ministerial meeting between member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).  Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, India, K. J. Alphons represented India at the conference.  Tourism ministers of member states of SCO deliberated on travel product development, tourist security and research on high-tech tourism management to develop a smart tourism system.  An action plan for tourism cooperation between SCO member states from 2019 to 2020 was approved at the conference.  The joint action plan specifies efforts for cooperation between national tourism administrations, measures to enhance tourist experience and safety, development of tourist products and promotion of smart tourism.

India sends 2nd relief consignment for Rohingyas in Bangladesh

 Indian Government has sent 2nd relief consignment for Rohingyas (who fled Myanmar) residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh.  The 373-tonne consignment, which was loaded on Indian Navy Ship INS Airavat sailed from Vishakhapatnam and reached Chattogram on May 7, 2018.  The relief consignment contained 104 tonnes of milk powder, 61 tonnes of baby food, 102 tonnes of dried fish, 50000 raincoats and 50000 pairs of gum boots.  This relief material specifically addresses the needs of Rohingya women and children in the wake of onset of monsoon.  It is to be noted that nearly 600000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar’s violence-hit Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017 post a military crackdown against alleged militant outfits of Rohingya Muslims.  Earlier also, in September 2017, India had sent relief materials for 300000 Rohingyas under ‘Operation Insaniyat’.

India, Panama sign two agreements

 India and Panama have signed two agreements on exemption of Visas for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports and in the field of Agriculture.  These agreements were signed in the presence of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela Rodrigues and Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado in Panama city.

National News

Ram Nath Kovind becomes second president to visit Siachen base camp

 On 10th May 2018, Ram Nath Kovind became the second president of India to visit Indian Army’s Siachen base camp.  President Ram Nath Kovind is also the Supreme Commander of Indian armed forces. Siachen base camp is also known as the “Third Pole”where temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius sometimes.  He was accompanied by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. Ram Nath Kovind paid his respects at the Siachen war memorial to the martyrs.  Nearly 11,000 army personnel have sacrificed their lives since the army began Operation Meghdoot on 13th April 1984 in Siachen.  Ram Nath Kovind is the second Indian president to visit Siachen base camp. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam is the first Indian President who visited Siachen base camp in 2004

NITI Aayog to announce top 30 innovations of atal tinkering marathon

 On 10th May 2018, NITI Aayog will announce the top 30 innovations of Atal Tinkering Marathon in Delhi.  Atal Tinkering Labs of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog, organized an Atal Tinkering Marathon, a six month long national level challenge.  It was conducted in six thematic areas: clean energy, water resources, waste management, healthcare, smart mobility and agri-tech.  From more than 650 innovations received, top 30 innovations have been selected from various States and Union territories of India.  These Top 30 innovations and their prizes will be announced by Rajiv Kumar, Vice- Chairman, NITI Aayog.

Govt approves green licence plates for e-vehicles

 On May 9, 2018, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that government has approved green licence plates bearing numbers in white fonts for private e-vehicles (electronic vehicles).

 The green licence plates will make it easy to identify electric vehicles for preferential treatment in parking, free entry in congested zones and other proposed benefits like concessional toll.  Currently there are four kinds of vehicle number plates in India: white licence plates with numbers in black font for private vehicles, yellow plates with black font for commercial vehicles, black plates with yellow font letters for self-driven rental vehicles and blue plates with white font for Embassies and High Commissions.  In a bid to promote electric vehicles in India, government is also contemplating to allow youth in the age bracket of 16-18 years to drive electric scooters and making compulsory for taxi aggregators to have a certain percentage of e-vehicle fleet.

Suresh Prabhu inaugurates 6th US-India Aviation summit in Mumbai

 On May 9, 2018, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the 6th US- India Aviation Summit.  This three-day Summit is being jointly organised by Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).  The Summit will serve as a platform for Indian civil aviation agencies and aviation industry representatives, including private sector airlines and airport operators, to identify advanced US technologies and practices, that can support their expansion and modernization efforts.  Various sessions focusing on India’s projected aviation growth in next five years, aviation and runway safety, aviation security, technologies for worldwide airspace management and regional connectivity will be held during the course of this summit.  India’s civil aviation sector is slated to be third largest market globally by 2020 and, potentially, the largest by 2030.

Govt issues orders for extending assistance to sugarcane farmers

 Central government has issued orders for extending assistance to help sugar mills to clear the dues of sugarcane farmers.  The government has decided to provide financial assistance of 5.50 rupees per quintal of cane crushed in sugar season 2017-18 to sugar mills to offset the cost of cane.  The assistance shall be paid directly to the farmers on behalf of the mills and be adjusted against the cane price payable due to the farmers against Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) including arrears relating to previous years.

 The total assistance would be about 1540 crore rupees, which will directly benefit a large number of farmers and will help the sugar mills in a long way in discharging their liabilities on account of cane price dues of farmers.

Asia media Summit begins in Delhi

 Amid growing impact of digitization on media and entertainment industry, a two-days Asia Media Summit began in New Delhi from May 10.  The theme of the summit is “Telling Our Stories – Asia and More”.  Participation of over 200 foreign delegates representing 39 countries including Pakistan and China and representatives of international organisations including the FAO and UNESCO will be among those participating.  The summit, being held in India for the first time, was addressed by Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

State News

CM Pema Khandu inaugurates Arunachal’s biggest solar plant

 On 10th May 2018, Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu inaugurated Arunachal Pradesh’s biggest solar power plant at Energy Awareness Park in Itanagar.  The plant has a capacity of 1 MW. It was commissioned on 1st April 2018. Estimated investment for the park is Rs 8.50 crore.  The project was implemented by Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (APEDA).  The fully-automatic plant will be able to operate without manpower. Based on weather and solar radiation, power generation starts at 5.30 am and continues till 6 pm.  The plant has generated over 1 lakh units of electricity from the start of its commissioning.

Pawan Kalyan unfurls world’s largest Indian flag in Telangana

 On 10th May 2018, Pawan Kalyan, actor and Jana Sena Party founder, unfurled the flag, claimed to be the world’s largest Indian national flag at Hyderabad, Telangana.  Pawan Kalyan unfurled the flag to commemorate the first war of the India’s independence that took place in 1857.  The flag was 122 feet in length and 183 feet in width. The flag was prepared by an organisation called ‘Vibrants of Kalam’.  This flag is claimed to be world’s largest Indian National Flag. Pawan Kalyan administered a national integration pledge to youth who attended the event.

Guj-Poland sign MoU on organising independence centenary

 On 9th May 2018, a MoU was signed between Gujarat government and the Poland government regarding the centenary celebrations to mark independence of Poland in Delhi and other regions of the world.  The department of youth and cultural affairs of Gujarat government will be co-organisers for the centenary celebrations.  The MoU was signed by Polish ambassador to India Adam Burakowski and principal secretary of youth and cultural affairs department V P Patel.  According to the MoU, the Gujarat state government’s cultural affairs department will help Poland in organising and publicising “generations to generations” programme in Delhi and other regions of the world.

Himachal Pradesh University to be ‘disabled friendly’:

 Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) will soon become the first ‘disabled friendly’ varsity in the northern region.  The university was spending Rs 40 lakh on various facilities for the disabled students.  This will include a separate section of library for the disabled with 13 computers, equipped with talking software and fully accessible web portal. The university community is  also sensitized on the issues pertaining to disability.  Presently, more than fifty disabled students are studying in the campus, including 12 visually impaired students.  The new web portal, fully accessible for the blind, deaf and those disabled persons who have difficulty in using mouse is ready to be launched at the cost of nearly Rs 21 Lakh.

Kerala government to give home, Rs.5 lakh to Maoists who surrender

 The Kerala government has announced that it will provide a home and Rs.5 lakh among other benefits to Maoists who surrender and seek to reintegrate into the mainstream.  The rehabilitation package is aimed at helping people who fell into the Maoists’ trap, the Kerala government said. The package will include strict monitoring to ensure that it isn’t exploited.

Haryana to start 31 government colleges for girls

 Haryana Government has decided to start 31 government colleges for girls with effect from ensuing academic session 2018-19.  Additional charges of these colleges have been given to principals of others colleges so that work would not halt in these colleges.  Till the construction of college buildings get completed, these colleges would run in vacant buildings of government schools or other organisations so that girls would not have to travel far places for education.

Banking & Economy

AAI, Harris ink Rs 945-Cr deal for futuristic telecom infra

 On 10th May 2018, Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Rs 945-crore deal with the Harris Corporation of the US for development of its futuristic telecommunications infrastructure (FTI) programme.  The contract is for 15 years. It was signed at the sixth edition of the US-India aviation summit that started on 10th May 2018 in Mumbai.  The implementation of FTI network will offer improved air traffic safety, airspace capacity and environment friendly flight levels.  Under this, all telecommunication links and each network equipment in the AAI airports will be monitored centrally 24/7 for immediate response to fix any outages.  According to the deal, Harris Corporation will be the prime contractor and systems integrator for the programme. The programme will be executed in two years.  Harris Corporation will upgrade network operations, improve security, performance, reliability and quality of the air traffic management communications network, and reduce telecommunications costs.

Indian tea industry records highest ever production, export in FY18

 On 8th May 2018, the Indian tea industry reached the highest ever production of 1,325.05 million kg and export of 256.57 million kg during the financial year 2017-18.  The total tea production in 2017-18 increased by 74.56 million kg or 5.96 % compared to 2016-17. In 2016-17, India produced 1,250.49 million kg of tea.  The total quantity of tea exports during 2017-18 fiscal increased by 28.94 million kg or 12.71 % compared to 2016-17. The tea exports were 227.63 million kg in 2016-17.  In rupee terms, the total value of the exports was Rs 5,064.88 crore in 2017-18. The value realisation has increased by Rs 432.38 crore or 9.33 % over 2016-17.  The growth in exports is mainly attributed to 5 countries:

Egypt (7.49 million kg)

Iran 6.95 million kg)

Pakistan (4.96 million kg)

China (2.91 million kg)

Russia (2.89 million kg)

GST, bank balance sheet problems pushed India’s economic growth downward: UN report

 As per the UN report, India’s economic growth was pushed downward in 2017 due to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as due to issues such as bank balance sheet problems.

YES Bank to launch water-security programme

 YES Bank is all set to roll out a capacity building project with farmers in Haryana and Rajasthan under its ‘Livelihood and Water Security’ CSR initiative.  “Agriculture productivity has come under pressure during the last couple of years because of climate change and water security.  This initiative is aimed at improving farmers’ access to finance, ensuring effective use of digital banking resources, and imparting good agricultural practices.  “We have proposed to roll out the programme during the current year in the States of Haryana and Rajasthan as two-thirds of the population in Rajasthan depend on agriculture for their livelihood.  “The programme would be rolled out initially across 15 districts (eight districts in Haryana and seven in Rajasthan) in these two States, impacting 10,900 farmers.

Government mulls 100% FDI in insurance intermediaries

 The government is considering allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance intermediaries with a view to give a boost to the sector and attracting more funds.  Intermediary services include insurance broking, third party administrators, surveyors and loss assessors.  The FDI policy, at present, allows 49 per cent foreign investment in the insurance sector, which includes insurance intermediaries.

China’s Alibaba buys Pakistan e-commerce firm Daraz

 On 8th May 2018, Alibaba announced that, it has bought Pakistani e-commerce firm Daraz.  Financial details of the transaction were not revealed. Daraz was founded in 2012.  It operates in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Daraz will continue to function under the same brand.

Sports News

India U-16 football team registers 2-1 win against Jordan

 India’s Under-16 national football team started the four-nation international tournament in Serbia with a 2-1 victory over Jordan.  Rohit Danu scored India’s second goal nine minutes later which eventually proved to be the difference between the two teams. India will next face hosts Serbia.

Appointments & Resignation

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad to become world’s oldest leader

 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad will become world’s oldest elected leader after he will be sworn in as Malaysia’s Prime Minister following a fiercely contested 14th General election.  Earlier, Mahathir governed Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003 as strongman leader of the Barisan Nasional coalition.  However, for the 14th General Election, he came out of retirement and defected to the opposition.  The opposition coalition under Mahathir managed to get the simple majority and defeated incumbent PM Najib Razak, who came to power in 2009.  Najib’s defeat also marks the ouster of ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since Malaysia’s independence in 1957.

Pawan Kumar Agarwal gets extension as CEO FSSAI

 Pawan Kumar Agarwal was has given three months extension as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).  The tenure of Agarwal, a 1985-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, has been given three-month extension beyond May 15, 2018.  He was appointed as the CEO of the FSSAI in December 2015.

Science & Techonology

Yahoo squirrel group chat App unveiled for android and iOS

 Yahoo has launched its own new group chat app named Squirrel.  Squirrel Group Chat App is still in testing. It is available on Google Play and the App Store.  If you need to start using the app, you need a friend who already uses the app to invite you into a group.  Squirrel focuses on group chats. It has features that enables you to organise conversations with several people.

Ravi Shankar Prasad launches website of Digital India internship scheme

 On May 9, 2018, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the website of Digital India Internship Scheme in New Delhi.  Under Digital India Internship Scheme, 25 interns will be inducted for a period of maximum three months, during which they will get an opportunity to gain first hand and practical work experience under the guidance of qualified and experienced Supervisor and Mentor.  During the internship, the students will learn about working of transformative initiative of Digital India and will gain exposure to technology policy and decision making of government of India  The selected interns will be paid a stipend of 10 thousand rupees per month.  Proposed areas of internship: Cyber Law/IT Act, Research and Development in Electronics and IT, Digital Forensics, Mobile Governance, Malware Analysis, Cloud Computing, Software/Hardware Industry Promotion, Digital Literacy and Digital Payments.

Astronomers find first carbon-rich asteroid in Kuiper Belt

 Astronomers have discovered an unusual, first of its kind, carbon-rich asteroid in the Kuiper Belt. This object has been designated 2004 EW95.  Kuiper belt is a circum-stellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun.  As per the study, 2004 EW95 seems to have formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and then would have been flung billions of kms to its current locations.

 Researchers have found that 2004 EW95’s reflectance spectrum (specific pattern of wavelengths of light reflected from an object) is different from similar small Kuiper Belt Objects.  Discovery of this object, technically referred to as carbonaceous asteroids, testifies theoretical models, which suggest that during early days of our solar system, after the gas giants formed, they rampaged through the solar system, ejecting small rocky bodies from the inner solar system to far-flung orbits at great distances from the Sun.

Uber reveals its first electric flying car prototype

 Uber has unveiled its first electric ‘flying car’ concept aircraft featuring rotors which can reposition to help it fly after a vertical takeoff.  The aircraft can accommodate four passengers and travel 2,000 feet above the traffic at 241-321 kmph.  The flying taxis will initially be flown by pilots, however, the company plans to make them autonomous in the future.

Obituaries

Former MP minister Nirmal Hirawat Dead

 Former Madhya Pradesh minister and senior Congress leader Dr Nirmal Hirawat died of a heart attack on May 9, 2018 at his residence in Katangi town in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.  Dr Nirmal Hirawat was 74. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.  He was instrumental in getting the status of a tehsil for Katangi.  He was a member of Madhya Pradesh’s former Chief Minister, Shyama Charan Shukla’s cabinet.

Former Test cricketer Rajinder Pal passes away

 Former Delhi cricketer Rajinder Pal, who had represented the country in one Test match, passed away. He was 80.  A right-arm medium pacer, Rajinder Pal played his only Test match against England (then known as MCC) during the 1963-64 series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.  He bowled 13 economical overs (0/19 in 11 overs & 0/3 in 2 overs) in that Test but returned wicket-less, which forced the selectors to replace him with a much quicker Ramakant Desai for the next Test match.  Incidentally, along with Rajinder Pal, the other debutant was leg spin wizard Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who went onto have a distinguished international career.  However, it was domestic cricket where Rajinder Pal was a force to reckon with, scalping 337 wickets from 98 first class games with 23 five wicket hauls.  He served Delhi for a decade in Ranji Trophy, followed by stints for Southern Punjab (Punjab had two teams in Ranji then) and Haryana.

Oscar-winning film editor Anne V. Coates dead

 English-born film editor Anne V. Coates, who won an Academy Award for David Leans classic “Lawrence of Arabia”, is dead. She was 92.