Daily Current affairs - May 16th, 2017 for all competitive exams
Union Power
Minister Piyush Goyal recently launched the UJALA
Scheme related to the energy efficient LED bulbs in London.
- Ujala
is globally one of the largest efficiency programmes and being run by
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, an energy services
company promoted by Indian state-run power majors.
- Through
this initiative, the government plans to replace all 770 million
inefficient incandescent and CFL (compact fluorescent lamps in the country
with LED (light emitting diode) bulbs.
- The
programme has already turned India into the world’s LED capital,
accounting for 10-12% of the global market 4 billion bulbs.
2nd Meeting of National Platform on
Disaster Risk Reduction
The second
meeting of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) is being
held on May 16, 2017.
- The
meeting will be attended by over 1000 distinguished guests including Union
Ministers, State Ministers, Parliamentarians, Heads of Local Self
Government, Heads of specialized disaster management agencies, academicians,
representatives from private sector organizations, media and civil society
organizations.
- Theme: “Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development:
Making India resilient by 2030”.
- The
NPDRR is a multi-stakeholders National Platform headed by the Union
Home Minister and it promotes participatory decision
making in disaster management, and strengthens federal policy of our
country.
- The
National Platform aims to bring together the whole range of India’s
disaster risk community from Government, Parliamentarians, Mayors, Media,
International Organisations, NGOs, local community representatives,
scientific and academic institutions and corporate businesses etc.
NBT
is planning to host diaspora meets
National
Book Trust is planning to
introduce a new element: a conference for the Indian diaspora. The trust has
planned Beijing Book Fair in August, the Frankfurt Book Fair in October and
Sharjah Book Fair in November as venues to host such meets.
- The
conferences will encourage overseas Indians — the “cultural ambassadors”
of India abroad — to write literature on themes related to Indian values.
The NBT will also offer to publish such works.
- National
Book Trust (NBT) is an autonomous body under the Ministry of
Education of the Government of India. NBT now functions under
aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Ease
of getting electricity in India: World Bank
World Bank’s
electricity accessibility ranking for the year 2016 has been released.
- The
ranking was based on ten parameters, including the ease of
getting electricity. Some other parameters were: number of procedures
involved, time taken to obtain a new connection, cost for obtaining a
commercial connection (up to 140KVA), and reliability of power supply.
- India
moved up to the 26th spot. India was at the 99th position in 2014; it
jumped 73 ranks in 2016.
PM Modi launches river conservation project in
Madhya Pradesh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched
the Narmada Seva Mission for the conservation of the crucial river,
which is a lifeline of Madhya Pradesh.
- Narmada
river captured the attention of the nation when it became the center of a
decades-long struggle to stop the raising of the Sardar Sarovar
Dam.
- Narmada
Seva Yatra was launched on December 11, 2016, projecting it as the
world’s “biggest river conservation campaign with public participation.”
It was concluded on 15th May 2017.
‘Maa’ committee to check mid-day meal quality in UP
schools
A Mother's Day gift has been given to lakhs of
children in schools of Uttar Pradesh in the form of 'Maa' by forming
the 'Maa Committee'.
- It
will be a committee of six mothers, from all sections of
society stated by Uttar Pradesh basic education
minister Anupma Jaiswal.
Emmanuel Macron names Edouard Philippe as French
Prime Minister
France's newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron
has named Edouard Philippe as Prime Minister of France.
- The
46-year-old lawmaker and mayor of Le Havre is from the conservative
Les Republicans party.
- It is the first time in modern French political history that a president has appointed a Prime Minister from outside his camp without being forced to by a defeat in parliamentary elections.
India’s GDP projected to grow 7.4% in 2017-18:
FICCI survey
In a survey conducted during March and April
2017, FICCI predicted India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth
will be around 7.4% for fiscal 2017-18, with a minimum and maximum
level of 7% and 7.6% respectively.
- Agricultural sector
is estimated to clock 3.5% growth in 2017-18, the pick-up in overall GDP
growth will also be supported by an improvement in industry and services
sector growth.
- The
industry and services sector are expected to grow by 6.9% and 8.4%
respectively in 2017-18.
Anti-dumping
duty imposed on clear float glass imports from Iran
The Finance
Ministry has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty on ‘clear float glass’
imports from Iran.
- The
definitive anti-dumping duty, imposed by the Revenue Department and which
will be valid for five years, ranged from ‘nil’ to $55.59 per tonne,
depending on the producer and exporter.
- Clear
float glass, which is a superior quality of glass, is used in the
construction, refrigeration, mirror and solar energy industries.
- Anti
dumping is a measure to rectify the situation arising out of the dumping
of goods and its trade distortive effect.
India-Chile expanded PTA comes into effect
The expanded Preferential Trade Agreement,
PTA between India and Chile has come into effect.
- Under
this trade agreement, both the countries have offered to lower or
eliminate duties on a number of items traded with each other. Chile
has offered duty concessions on about 1800 goods.
- On
the other hand, India has offered concessions to Chile on 1,031 products
including vegetable oil, processed food, pharma, plastic, and pearls as
against 296 earlier.
HDFC Life inks distribution tie-up with Catholic
Syrian Bank
HDFC Life has entered into a bancassurance
tie-up with Catholic Syrian Bank to distribute its individual life
insurance products to the private lender’s customers.
- With
this partnership, HDFC Life will offer its leading range of individual
life insurance, health and pension products to the Catholic Syrian Bank’s
1.5 million customer base across all its branches over a period of time.
Pawan Kumar Chamling conferred with first BS
Shekhawat award
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar
Chamling was conferred with the first Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Lifetime Achievement Honour in Public Service by President Pranab
Mukherjee.
- The
award was conferred during the first Bhairon Singh Shekhawat memorial
lecture delivered by the President.
IIT-Hyderabad professor bags INSA Young Scientist
award
Assistant Professor in Department of Biomedical
Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology – Hyderabad (IIT-H) Aravind Kumar
Rengan has been awarded the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA)
medal in the Young Scientist category for 2017.
- The INSA Young Scientist Medal award carries a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs25,000.
Nepalese woman breaks world record for most Everest
summits
A 44-year-old Nepalese mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa has broken her own world record for the most Everest summits by a woman after scaling the world's tallest peak for the eighth time.
A 44-year-old Nepalese mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa has broken her own world record for the most Everest summits by a woman after scaling the world's tallest peak for the eighth time.
- She
bettered her own record of scaling Mt Everest seven times.
Former Puducherry Chief Minister S Ramaswamy passes
away
Former Puducherry Chief Minister S Ramassamy died
after a brief illness, family sources said. He was 80
- He
became chief minister in 1974 heading the AIADMK-CPI coalition ministry
for a brief period.
Arjun Maini became first Indian to win a GP3 race
Arjun Maini, driving for Jenzer
Motorsports, created history by becoming the first Indian driver to win
a GP3 race.
- The
19-year old scored his first win in two years while finishing six seconds
ahead of Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci and teammate Alessio Lorandi of
Italy.
Lewis Hamilton Wins Spanish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton has won the Spanish
Grand Prix from pole position in the Formula One championship.
- This
is Hamilton’s 55th career win and second win of the season.
- Mercedes’s Hamilton finished 3.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The event was currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona.
