Daily Current affairs - January 5th, 2018 for all competitive exams
The world's biggest
cleanliness survey 'Swachh Sarvekshan Survey 2018' was launched in India
by PM Narendra Modi. It will be conducted from the 4th of January to 10th of
March.
- The Swachh Survekshan 2018 will rank 500
cities on the national level which have more than 1 lakh population.
The cleanliness survey was launched in
2016 as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The main objective of Swachh
Survekshan is to encourage large-scale citizen participation and create
awareness towards making towns and cities a cleaner and better place to live
in.
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Lok Sabha passes a bill to
hike salaries of SC, HC judges
A bill to hike the salaries
of judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts by
over two folds was passed by the Lok Sabha.
- The Bill seeks to amend (i) the High Court
Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954; and (ii) the
Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.
- Once the bill got a clearance by Parliament and
becomes a law, the Chief Justice of India will get a monthly salary of Rs
2.80 lakh from the present Rs one lakh.
Designation
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Present (Rs)
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Proposed (Rs)
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Chief Justice of India
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1,00,000
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2,80,000
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Other Judges of the Supreme Court
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90,000
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2,50,000
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Chief Justice of High Court
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90,000
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2,50,000
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Other Judges of High Court
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80,000
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2,25,000
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India GDP Growth Likely at
6.5% in 2017-18: CSO
The Indian economy will
expand by 6.5% in 2017-18, according to the new data of the
government’s Central Statistics Office (CSO). It had released its
first advance estimate for India’s GDP growth rate in the current financial
year.
- The economy had grown by 6.3% in the September
quarter, after slumping to a three-year low of 5.7% GDP growth in the June
quarter as the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and
demonetisation took their toll. The Indian economy grew at 7.1% in 2016-17.
India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio
in Higher Education up by 0.7%
The country’s Gross
Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education has registered an increase
from 24.5% in 2015-16 to 25.2% in 2016-17, according to the All India
Higher Education Survey (AIHES) launched by Union Human Resource
Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar.
- According to AIHES of 2016-17, Tamil Nadu has
the highest GER in the country at 46.9%. Bihar has the least GER of 14.9%.
GER is a statistical measure for
determining the number of students enrolled in undergraduate, postgraduate
and research level studies within the country and is expressed as a
percentage of the population.
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7.75% savings bonds to be
available from Jan 10
The government has notified
a new 7.75 per cent taxable Savings bond scheme for retail investors.
- These bonds are mature in seven-year will open for
sale from the 10th of January.
- This saving bonds scheme will replace the previous 8
per cent Scheme.
- The minimum issuance amount for these bonds is
Rs1,000. Accordingly, the cumulative value of the Rs1,000 investment will
be Rs1,703 at the end of seven years.
- The interest of 7.75% per annum will be paid
semi-annually.
- Interest on these bonds will be taxable under the
Income Tax Act, 1961. However, bonds will be exempted from wealth tax.
Third Pune Metro route gets
nod from Centre
The Union government has
approved the 23-km third Metro rail corridor in Pune under a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) model.
- The two other Metro lines, work on which is under
way, are being financed through the Engineering Procurement Contract
method, where funding commitments are ensured before work begins.
Goa to Host 3rd Edition of
Science Film Festival
Goa will be hosting the third
edition of the Science Film Festival of India in January 2018.
- The festival, titled SCI-FFI Goa, is being organised
by the state-based Vidnyan Parishad, Goa Department of Science and
Technology.
- The competition aims to boost the culture of science
films, all the films submitted should be related to science and
technology.
Jal Mahotsav organized in Madhyapradesh
India’s biggest water carnival through ‘Jal Mahotsav’ is organised every
year in Hanuwantiya Island in Madhya Pradesh. The third such ‘Jal Mahotsav’
concluded this year on January 2.
- The festival, held between October and January, is a
celebration of Madhya Pradesh’s natural beauty and its culture. It is also
a great place to try out a variety of adventure sports like parasailing,
paramotoring, water zorbing, and many others.
- The festival also represents the culture of Madhya
Pradesh – a culture that stands for rich skill set of its artisans and
rich heritage.
Hanuwantiya island, located on the banks of the Indira Sagar dam in
Madhya Pradesh, plays host to India’s largest water carnival – Jal Mahotsav.
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Defence projects worth Rs.
2,420 crore get nod
The Defence Ministry gave
final approval for the procurement of simulated training solutions for the
Navy’s P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft and electronic warfare systems
for the Army at a combined cost of Rs. 2,419.32 crore.
- The P-8I training solution, along with 10 year
comprehensive maintenance service, will be brought from Boeing for Rs.
1,949.32 crore. This training solution accurately simulates P-8I aircraft
and mission systems
- This will help Indian Navy train and realistically
rehearse for sophisticated missions involving P-8I aircraft, at a fraction
of the cost of live aircraft training
The Navy currently operates eight P-8Is
inducted since 2013 out of the INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu.
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BSF launches ‘Operation Alert’
along 200 km border to curb militant movement
The Border Security
Force (BSF) has launched “Operation Alert” along the over 200
km-long International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Inspector General of BSF Jammu Frontier, Ram Avatar
told there are inputs that there is a movement of militants and
accordingly, we have declared ‘Ops Alert’ on the border.
- He said the effort of the BSF was to maintain peace
along the border, but Pakistan was always trying to disturb this peace.
Manipur takes steps to check
influx from Assam
The Manipur government is
taking measures to prevent a possible spillover of illegal migrants into the
State in view of the publication of the first draft of the National Register of
Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
- The NRC, first prepared in 1951, is being updated in
Assam under supervision of the Supreme Court, to weed out illegal
migrants.
- The first draft of the updated version was published
on December 31.
- The Barak originates in Manipur, flows through
Mizoram and Assam and enters Bangladesh, where it forks into the Surma and
Kushiyara rivers.
SC poser on safety of working
women
The Supreme Court asked the
government to respond on a petition questioning the lack of implementation of
the various provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of
2013.
- The 2013 statutory law had replaced the guidelines
laid down by the Supreme Court in the historic Vishaka case judgment,
which stemmed from the brutal gang rape of a social worker in a village of
Rajasthan.
- The Supreme Court verdict authored in 1997 by then
Chief Justice J.S. Verma was inspired by international conventions and the
spirit of gender equality enshrined in the Constitution to declare that
“gender equality includes protection from sexual harassment and right to
work with dignity, which is a universally recognised basic human right.”
India Excludes Pakistan from a
SAARC Initiative
India has excluded Pakistan
from the list of SAARC member countries with which it will be connecting
its state-of-the-art National Knowledge Network (NKN) for sharing
scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.
- The government has kicked off the process of
appointing a telecom company that will connect and extend the NKN to
research and education networks in six South Asian Association of Regional
Cooperation member states- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives,
Nepal and Sri Lanka.
NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India
network which facilitates the development of India's communications
infrastructure, stimulates research and creates next-generation applications
and services.
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US puts Pakistan on Special Watch List
The US has placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe
violations” of religious freedom, making it the only country to be put under
the newly-formed list.
- The Special Watch List is for countries that engage
in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but may not rise to
the level of the ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ (CPC).
- The Special Watch List designation is being seen as
a step below designating it as Country of Particular Concern, which would
have automatically kicked in economic and political sanctions.
Special watch list is a new category created by the Frank R Wolf
International Religious Freedom Act of 2016. The 2016 Frank R Wolf
International Religious Freedom Act amended the IRF Act to require the
President to designate a ‘Special Watch List’ of countries deemed not to meet
all of the CPC criteria but who engaged in or tolerated severe violations of
religious freedom. IRF stands for International Religious Freedom.
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Computer chip ‘flaw’ sparks
security debate
A newly discovered
vulnerability in computer chips has raised concerns that hackers could access
sensitive data on most modern systems, as technology firms sought to play down the
security risks.
- Chip giant Intel issued a statement responding to a
flurry of warnings surfacing after researchers discovered the security
hole which could allow privately stored data in computers and networks to
be leaked.
- Intel labeled as incorrect reports describing a
“bug” or “flaw” unique to its products.
- CEO: Brian Krzanich
NASA launches 2 missions to explore nearest space
U.S. space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is
all set to launch two missions to explore a little-understood area 60 miles (96
KM) above Earth’s surface. The missions are named GOLD and ICON.
- The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk
(GOLD) mission will be launched aboard a commercial communications
satellite in January 2018, and the designed spacecraft Ionospheric
Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched later this year.
GOLD and ICON will team up to explore
the ionosphere, a boundary area between Earth and the space where particles
have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons and ions by the
Sun’s radiation. These layers of near-Earth space are increasingly becoming a
part of human domain as it is home to radio signals used to guide airplanes,
ships and Global Positioning System satellites.
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Air India ties up with foreign
banks to acquire 3 B777 planes
State-owned Air
India has tied up with UAE-based First Abu Dhabi Bank as well as
Standard Chartered Bank and Mashreq Bank.
- Union minister Jayant Singh said it has tied up to
avail short-term loans for acquiring three Boeing 777 aircraft.
- The delivery of the three B777-300 ER planes is
scheduled to be completed next month two in January and one in February.
RBI Introduces New Rs10
Banknote in Mahatma Gandhi Series
The Reserve Bank of
India will shortly issue Rs10 denomination banknotes in the
Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series.
- The new denomination has the motif of Sun
Temple, Konark on the reverse. The base colour of the note
is Chocolate Brown.
- The dimension of the banknote will be 63
mm x 123 mm.
26th World Book fair held in New Delhi
The 26th edition of the
annual book fair will be held in New Delhi organized by National Book Trust, in
association with ITPO.
- Theme: ‘Environment
and Climate Change’.
- This year’s book fair will host European Union as
the Guest of Honour Country.
New Delhi World Book Fair is not just
an opportunity for a reader but it also provides a huge platform to the
publishers who exhibit their numerous books at the event.
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Cate Blanchett to head Cannes
Festival jury
Cate Blanchett, who is
leading a Hollywood campaign to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace, will
head the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival
- Ms. Blanchett, who helped launch the “Time’s Up”
initiative this week following a string of sexual assault accusations
against prominent men in the film industry, will become the 12th woman to
lead the panel at Cannes, which kicks off on May 8.
The Cannes Festival, named until
2002 as the International Film Festival and known in English as
the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held
in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including
documentaries, from all around the world. Founded in 1946, the
invitation-only festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais
des Festivals et des Congrès.
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Prof Gopal Guru takes the
appointment as editor of EPW
Political scientist Gopal
Guru takes the appointment as the editor of the Economic and Political
Weekly.
- Professor Guru currently teaches Political Science
at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
- The Sameeksha Trust has appointed Professor Gopal
Guru as the Editor of Economic and Political Weekly for a period of five
years.
Liverpool, forward Mohamed
Salah named African Footballer of the Year
Egypt forward Mohamed
Salah wins African Footballer of the Year for 2017.
- Salah is the second Egyptian to win the award after
Mahmoud Al-Khatib in 1983.
- He also made an African record move to Liverpool and
scored 23 goals in all competitions for the Premier League club in 2017.
Ricky Ponting takes the
appointment as Delhi Daredevils head coach
Former Australia
captain Ricky Ponting is named as the new head coach of Indian
Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils.
- The 43-year-old has earlier coached Mumbai
Indians for two seasons in 2015 & 2016.
- Apart from coaching role, Ponting has played in the
cash-rich T20 tournament for Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai
Indians.
Meghalaya signs host city
contract for 39th National Games in 2022
Meghalaya signed the Host
City Contract with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for
hosting the 39th National Games in 2022.
- The tripartite contract was signed between the IOA,
the Meghalaya State Olympic Association and the state government.
Meghalaya had successfully co-hosted the South Asian Games in 2017.
- Motto: Get Set Play
