DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 26.07.2018 TO 27.07.2018 NATIONAL Government extends Prime Minister’s Research Fellows Scheme all potential researchers (a) Union Government has announced that Prime Minister‟s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme will be open to all potential researchers from 2019 and not limited to candidates from IISc, IITs, NITs, IIEST and IISERs. (b) The decision was made after Government failed to find adequate number of candidates for PMRF this year.Only 135 fellowships were finally offered against 1,000 positions. Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme (1) The scheme was announced in the Budget Speech 2018-19. It will be implemented for period of seven years beginning 2018-19 at total cost of Rs. 1650 cr... (2) Under it, best students who have completed or are in final year of B. Tech/Integrated M.Tech/M.Sc courses in Science and Technology streams will be offered direct admission in PhD programme in IITs/IISc. (3) Maximum of 3000 Fellows would be selected in three year period, beginning 2018-19. (4) Selected students through selection process laid down in PMRF Guidelines will be offered monthly fellowship of Rs.70,000 for first two years, Rs.75,000 for 3rd year and Rs.80,000 in 4th and 5th years. (5) Each selected fellow students will be also provided research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh for period of 5 years to cover their foreign travel expenses for presenting research papers in international conferences and seminars. POSHAN Abhiyaan: 2nd meeting of National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges held in New Delhi (a) Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) had organized 2nd meeting of National Council on India‟s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan in New Dehli.It was chaired by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar. (b) National Council approved inclusion of 32 new districts under POSHAN Abhiyaan in the current year. (c) POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister‟s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) was launched in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in March 2018. (d) POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children. (e) Its large component involves gradual scaling-up of interventions supported by ongoing World Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country by 2022. India ranks 6th Global Optimism Index. India was ranked 6th in the global optimism index with business optimism tepid in second quarter (Q2) of 2018.The index was released as part of Grant Thornton‟s International Business Report (IBR), a quarterly global business survey. The global optimism index for Q2 of 2018 was topped by Indonesia followed by Netherlands, Austria, Philippines and China. Karnataka overtakes Tamil Nadu in renewable energy, says US-based IEEFA (a) According to US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), Karnataka is the new national leader in renewable energy generation. (b) It has overtaken Tamil Nadu that had long been India‟s top renewables market. (c) The Central government is now confident of achieving renewable power capacity of 225 gigawatts (GW) by March 2022, breaching the set target of 175 GW of renewable energy Delhi launches solar scheme to increase farmers’ income (a) The Delhi Cabinet approved a scheme under which farmers in the national capital can lease out part of their agricultural land for setting up solar panels for additional income. (b) Under the „Mukhyanmantri Kissan Aaye Badhotri Solar Yojna,‟ any farmer can rent out not more than one third of his land to a private firm to set up solar panels at a rate of Rs one lakh per annum per acre. (c) These farmers will also get 1,000 units of free solar power without any investment. (d) The Delhi government plans to generate 2,000 MW in solar energy by 2025. Free WiFi services for villages adopted by MPs across India (a) Minister of State for communications Manoj Sinha in Lok Sabha told MP Virender Kashyap that all villages adopted by the Member of Parliaments under „Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna‟, will be provided free WiFi services across India by the Government. (b) The government has proposed to set up 25000 WiFi hotspots at existing rural exchanges of BSNL through comprehensive telecom development plan and in future, all other agencies/pvt telecom operators will be engaged to provide WiFi services to every panchayat across India. West Bengal assembly passes bill to change the state’s name from West Bengal to ‘Bangla’ Almost two years after the West Bengal assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the State, the state assembly today passed a bill to change the state‟s name from West Bengal to „Bangla‟ in all three different languages. On August 29, 2016, the Assembly had passed a resolution changing the name of West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi. This development can be seen as a bid to raise its stature in the alphabetical sequence of state names. UP sets up committee to look into demands of ‘shiksha mitras’ Bowing to the pressure and sustained protests by „shiksha mitras‟ across the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a committee to look into their demands and suggest a suitable action plan. The committee, formed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, would be headed by deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and would have the principal secretaries of basic education, law and the finance department as its members. 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 – 26.07.2018 TO 27.07.2018 INTERNATIONAL Bombali: New strain of Ebola virus discovered in Sierra Leone (a) Researchers working in joint US-West African study funded by USAid have discovered new strain of Ebola virus in bats in northern Bombali region of Sierra Leone. (b) It has been named as Bombali virus strain, after district where it was found.The Bombali virus is overall sixth known virus strain Ebola virus. Others are Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest, Bundibugyo and Reston.Zaire strain of Ebola virus is the most deadly strain known (c) The three West African neighbouring countries were hard hit by Ebola outbreak which began in Guinea in December 2013 before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone. BILATERAL India, Rwanda sign eight agreements in various fields. (a) India and Rwanda have signed eight agreements in the fields of defence, trade, agriculture, leather and allied products and dairy. (b) The agreements were signed following delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. PM Modi became first Indian Prime Minister to visit Rwanda. (c) India also extended two lines of credit (LoCs) worth $200 million to Rwanda for development of industrial parks and Kigali Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and for development of three agricultural projects in Rwanda. LoC Agreement for US $ 100 million for development of Industrial Parks and expansion of Kigali Special Economic Zones. LoC Agreement for US $ 100 million for Agriculture irrigation scheme in Rwanda. (d) Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted 200 cows to villagers from Rweru villages as part of Rwandan Government‟s Girinka Programme. (e) PM Modi visited Uganda on the second leg of his three-African nations tour after concluding his Rwanda visit. After concluding his Uganda visit, he visited South Africa to attend 10th BRICS Summit at Johannesburg. (f) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced to build a Gandhi Heritage Centre in Uganda‟s Jinja, where a statue of Mahatma Gandhi now stands. (g) India to gift cancer therapy machine to Uganda: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Indian Government has decided to gift a cancer therapy machine to the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, which will not only serve the people of Uganda but also the people of many East African countries. Twin stamps of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela to be released Twin stamps of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela will be released during Prime Minister Narendra Modi‟s meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in South Africa to take part in the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. ECONOMY India ranks 11th in 2018 AT Kearney FDI Confidence Index. India has fallen out of top 10 destinations for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in terms of its attractiveness according to 2018 Kearney FDI Confidence Index, in which it was ranked 11th, down from 8th in 2017 and 9th in 2016. The index was released by report published by global consultancy firm A T Kearney. IRDAI constitutes panel to review third party motor cover costs Insurance regulator IRDAI has constituted a 16-member committee to examine motor third party insurance pricing aspects and make recommendations on the premium rates for 2019-20. This is for the first time the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has formed such a committee. Apart from examining the third party cover pricing aspects, including data related ones, the committee has been tasked to revisit the classification of vehicles, in view of the development in the industry. IRDAI Member – Non Life P.J. Joseph will be the chairman of this committee. Deadline for filing tax returns extended till August 31 In a relief for salaried tax payers, the government extended the date for filing income tax returns by one month till August 31. The earlier deadline for filing the returns was July 31. Person in news Thaawarchand Gehlot Attends Global Disability Summit 2018, London, UK Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment attended the Global Disability Summit held in London on 24th July 2018.