Current affairs : November 8, 2016 for all competitive exams
India to host Conference on Tobacco Control
India is set to host the
crucial global tobacco control conference on Nov 7 for the first time, where it
will push for incorporating smokeless tobacco as an agenda.
- The 7th Session of the Conference of Parties to World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will begin today at Greater Noida.
9th International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal
Medicines
The 9th Annual Meeting of International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal
Medicines (IRCH) has begun on Nov 7 at New Delhi.
- The Ministry of AYUSH has organized the meeting. Being an active member of IRCH network since 2007 the Ministry of AYUSH has been represented in IRCH meetings held so far.
Seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7)
The seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) has begun in
Delhi. It is the first occasion that a COP meeting is being held in India.
- COP7 brings together the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)’s parties – which includes almost every country in the world, as well as regional economic integration organizations like the European Union.
India & UK Sign MoU on IPRS
India and UK have signed an MoU to establish bilateral cooperation
activities in the field of Intellectual Property.
- The MoU is between the Department of Industrial
Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Intellectual Property Office of the
United Kingdom (UKIPO).
- It establishes a broad and flexible framework through which both countries can exchange best practices and work together on training programs and technical exchanges to raise awareness on IPRs and better protect intellectual property rights.
New ‘super battery’ made from junkyard metal
Researchers have developed a new high-performance, grid-scale battery made
from metal scrap and common household chemicals.
- The battery, which is no bigger than a pill bottle, could withstand the equivalent of 13 years of daily charging and discharging while retaining 90% of its capacity.
RBI issues clarifications on
hedging for ECBs
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has issued the Clarifications on hedging for External Commercial
Borrowings (ECB).
- The Clarifications were issued under section 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
Airborne lasers to throw light on Rajgir’s history
Archaeologists are planning to deploy high-end scanning lasers on airborne
platforms to survey the archaeological evidence, flora and fauna in the ancient
Rajgir hills in Bihar, an area associated with Buddha.
- As part of the inter-disciplinary Rajgir
Archaeological Survey Project (RASP), archaeologists hope to use Light
Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), which is a remote-sensing technique that
uses laser light to sample the surface of the earth.
- RASP is a collaborative project between the society and Nalanda University in co-ordination with Bihar’s Ministry of Art, Culture and Youth.
NASA’s MMS creates new
Guinness World Record
NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale
(MMS) Mission on 5 November 2016 set the Guinness world record for highest
altitude fix of a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal at 70000 kilometers
above the surface of the Earth.
- Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission successfully completed commissioning activities on 1 September 2015 and is now in full science mode.
Demchok mission of Indian Army
successfully completed
The Indian army has
successfully completed its task of laying an irrigation pipeline in the Demchok
region of Eastern Ladakh.
- The project was being conducted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to link the villages in the region with a hot spring.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016
Award:
The winners of the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 Competition recently
received their awards from President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee.
- APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 competition –is a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years.
Tunisian leader among four
conferred Jamnalal Bajaj Awards
Well-known Gandhian and
President of Tunisia's Ennahdha Party, Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi was among four
prominent personalities conferred with the prestigious 39th Jamnalal Bajaj
Foundation Awards for 2016.
- Mohan Hirabai Hiralal, founder and
convenor of Vrikshamitra was honoured for outstanding contribution in the
field of Constructive Work.
- BonBehari Vishnu Nimbkar, founder of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute was presented the award for application of science and technology for rural development.
Vinod Rai to head advisory
commission
Vinod Rai has been appointed
as the Chairman of Fund Trustee and Advisory Commission of Kerala.
- He will be entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that the funds of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) are properly utilised and the interest of investors is protected.
Ratnesh Kumar appointed MD and
CEO of BoB Capital Markets
Bank of Baroda has appointed
Ratnesh Kumar as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of its
wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary, BoB Capital Markets Ltd.
- The public sector bank stated that Kumar started his career in the Indian capital markets and financial services sector in 1993.
RBI appoints M Rajeshwar Rao
as Executive Director
The Reserve Bank has
appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director (ED) following G Mahalingam’s
voluntary retirement from the central bank.
- As Executive Director, Rao will look after
Department of Statistics and Information Management, Financial markets
Operations Department and International Department.
- Prior to taking over as the Executive Director, he was the Chief General Manager, Financial Markets Operations Department.
