Current affairs : August 18, 2016
More cold chains, food parks to boost farm incomes:
The government is planning to set up 100 new cold chain projects
at a cost of Rs. 12,000 crore to Rs.13,000 crore.
- The centre has also kicked off the process to invite investors to set up six new mega food parks.
- These measures are aimed at boosting farm sector incomes by establishing farm to fork linkages.
Indians online to hit 730 mn by 2020
As per the report ‘The Future of Internet in India’, compiled by
Nasscom and Akamai Technologies, the number of Internet users in India is
likely to more than double to 730 million by 2020. As of December 2015, there
were about 330 million Internet users in the country.
ICHR plans encyclopedia of village folklore
from across India
ICHR is planning a mammoth encyclopedia of Indian villages
complete with its heroes, myth, ballads and history as well as histories of
princely states.
- Along with this, ICHR is also planning to conduct a study of the princely States of modern India and studies to fill the gaps between the Harappan civilisation and the 6 century BC. The idea behind doing the history of princely states is to showcase their contribution and how Indian culture was protected by them.
Centre accepts some suggestions of collegium
The Central government has accepted some recommendations of the
Supreme Court collegium on draft memorandum of procedures for appointment of
judges.
- Lifting the proposed cap on the number of jurists and lawyers for appointment as judges in the Supreme Court. The draft sent to the Chief Justice of India in March had recommended that up to three judges from among jurists and lawyers could be appointed.
- Seniority is now being considered to be the main condition. The government had earlier proposed merit-cum-seniority as the criterion for elevation of judges.
Suresh Prabhu announces four new trains
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced four new
categories of trains, one for unreserved passengers and three for reserved
ones. The introduction of new trains is an attempt to enhance railway services
across the country.
- Antyodaya Express: It is a long-distance, fully unreserved, super-fast train service for the common man. It will operate on dense routes.
- Humsafar: It is a fully third AC train.
- Tejas: It will run at 130 km an hour with local cuisine, Wi-Fi and other amenities on board.
- UDAY (Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri): It will be overnight train plying on the busiest routes to increase capacity by 40%.
SAARC Youth Conference:
The first ever South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) Youth Parliamentarians Conference is being held in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The theme of the summit is: ‘Peace and Harmony for Development’.
Sachin Tendulkar adopted Donja Village
of Maharashtra:
Cricket
icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has selected Donja village in
Osmanabad district of Maharashtra for development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram
Yojna.
IIT-Kanpur adopts villages under Namami Gange
IIT-Kanpur has adopted five villages to restrict the flow of sewage into
the river under the Namami Gange programme .
Five
villages: L Ramel Nagar, Khoyra Katree,
Pratapur, Hari Hindpur, and Katri Ladhva Khera.
China agrees with 10 ASEAN nations to solve the
dispute over South China Sea:
China and
ten members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] have agreed to form a framework for a
code of conduct to ease tension in the disputed South China Sea.
- The two sides also agreed to get the framework for the code of conduct done by mid-2017. They also approved guidelines for a China-ASEAN hotline for use during maritime emergencies.
World's Longest, Highest Glass Bridge To Open
In China
The world's longest and highest glass bridge will open to
visitors.
- The bridge concreted with 99 panes of three-layer transparent glasses, hangs between two steep cliffs 300 metres altitude is maintained from the ground.
- The bridge has set 10 world records spanning its design and construction.
Union Minister unveils e-portal for e-auction of power transmission projects:
Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal launched the process of tariff-based reverse auction in the transmission sector and also inaugurated a portal for electronic bidding for transmission projects.
- Union Minister launched “Tarang” mobile App, “e-Trans” and “DEEP” (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) e-bidding web portals developed by Rural Electrification Corp which reverse auction is being introduced in transmission sector on the lines of coal sector in order to facilitate better price discovery in such projects.
Person in News:
1.Joao Havelange:
Former FIFA President Joao Havelange has passed away at
Samartino Hospital, Rio de Janeiro.
- He was 100 years old.
- He was 7th head of international football’s governing body FIFA from 1974 to 1998.
Noted actor and director Gobind Tej passed away.
- He received the Odisha State Film Award for Best Director for movies like ‘Kaberi’, ‘School Master’, ‘Tunda Baida’ and ‘Gare Sindura Dhare Luha.’
- Zambian and Patriotic Front’s (PF) Presidental Candidate Edgar Lungu has won the re-election in a common voting against his main National development Party Rival.
- Lungu faced a tough challenge from Hakainde Hichilema’s of United Party for National Development (UPND) in a voting campaign.
- The electoral commission announced that Lungu had secured 50.35%, just over the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round elections upon the rule.
Indian Batting Great Virender Sehwag has been honored with the honorary life membership of theMarylebone Cricket Club.
- The honorary membership is extended by MCC Committee to acknowledge the contributions of made by Sehwag to the game of Cricket.
- The MCC has 18,000 full members and 300 honorary life time members, in that Sehwag becomes the 23rd member to be awarded honorary life membership.
She has become the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal.
- She is also the fourth female athlete from the country to earn a medal in Olympics. She won a bronze medal.
- Overall, this is 25th medal for India in Olympic games.
