Daily Current affairs - January 9th, 2018 for all competitive exams
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) observed annually on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India.
- The Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2018 was held during 6–7 January 2018 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
- This year’s PBD will celebrate the ASEAN-Indian partnership and will be themed “Ancient Route, New Journey”: Diaspora in the Dynamic ASEAN INDIA Partnership.
PM Modi Inaugurates 1st PIO Parliamentary Conference in Delhi
PM Narendra Modi inaugurates the first Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentary Conference in Delhi on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
- The day is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of India.
- It also commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915. In the Conference, the biggest delegation was from Guyana with 20 members of parliament and three mayors.
Government rolled out e-Sansad and e-Vidhan
Government has rolled out e-Sansad and e-Vidhan in Parliament and State Legislatures to digitize and make their functioning paperless.
- e-Sansad and e-Vidhan are mission mode projects of Government of India under Digital India, to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures paperless. MoPA is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of both the projects.
- These projects would make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures participative, responsive, transparent, productive and more accountable to the public and make the entire Legislative process more efficient. Further, this environment friendly initiative is in line with the ‘Go Green’ initiative of the Government.
Union Government to start strategic divestment of Air India
The government will sell its stake in Air India and hopes to finish the transaction by June.
- The Union Cabinet gave an in-principle approval for Air India’s strategic disinvestment in June last year.
A panel headed by FM Arun Jaitley is now devising the strategy for executing the sale.
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Indian Railways conceives to deploy “Drone” cameras
Indian Railways has decided to deploy “Drone” cameras (UAV/NETRA) for various railway activities especially project monitoring and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure.
- In this regard, directions have been given to Zonal Railways to procure such cameras. This is in-line with Railways’ desire to use technology to enhance safety and efficiency in train operations.
- Under this initiative, West Central Railways with headquarter at Jabalpur (M.P) has become the first Zonal Railway to procure “Drone” cameras in Indian Railways.
Drone” cameras will help in monitoring activities of relief and rescue operation, project monitoring, progress of important works, conditions of track and inspection related activities.
It shall also be used to assess preparedness of Non-Interlocking (NI) works, crowd management during fairs and melas, to identify scrap and also for aerial survey of station yards.
Drones are also going to be instrumental in providing real time inputs related to safety and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure.
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BharatNet achieved target of 1 lakh Gram Panchayats
Government has achieved a significant milestone under the BharatNet by completing Phase-1 of the project by connecting over one lakh Gram Panchayats (GP) across the country with high speed optical fibre network as per the declared deadline of 31 Dec 2017.
- BharatNet network built under Phase 1 envisages delivery of high-speed broadband services in over 2.5 lakh villages benefitting more than 200 million rural Indians.
Bharat Net sought to connect all of India’s households, particularly in rural areas, through broadband, forming the backbone of the government’s ambitious Digital India programme. It proposes broadband connectivity to households under village panchayats and even to government institutions at district level. The project is being funded through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
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USOF, established in 2002, provides effective subsidies to ensure telegraph services are provided to everyone across India, especially in the rural and remote areas. It is headed by the USOF Administrator who reports to the Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
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Kerala to get robots to clean sewers, end manual scavenging
The Kerala government is procuring 50 robots which are developed to clean sewer holes.
- The robot, named ‘Bandicoot’, has been developed by Kerala-based startup ‘Genrobotics’.
- The robot has four limbs along with a bucket system and can go into a sewer hole, identify the problem and clean sewer holes.
In a First, Delhi Government Launches Common Card for Bus & Metro Rides
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal launched a common card for rides on public buses and the metro.
- Delhi is the first city in the country to have a common mobility card.
- The card, which will function like a debit card, will be operational in all DTC and cluster buses from April 2018.
Bihar government bans electronic cigarettes in state
The Bihar Government has banned electronic cigarettes in the state.
- The prohibition will also be extended to online portals, which were prime facilitators between the distributors and the end user.
- Those found guilty of violating the decision would attract a jail term of up to three years and fine not less than 5,000 rupees.
The state government has already banned sale, manufacture, distribution, display and advertising of Gutka, pan masala and tobacco.
E-cigarette is a battery run electronic device that tries to create the feeling of tobacco smoking.
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Supreme Court sets aside order cancelling larger tobacco health warnings
The Supreme Court has put on hold Karnataka High Court’s order that quashed central government rules mandating larger health warnings on tobacco packages, in a setback for the country’s $11 billion tobacco industry.
- The court foregrounded the health of citizens over the concerns of the tobacco industry.
- The court’s decision comes as a relief for health advocates and central health ministry who say bigger health warnings deter tobacco consumption. More than 900,000 people die each year in India due to tobacco-related illnesses, the government estimates.
The Central government had, in 2014, amended the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules prescribing that 85% space on both sides of the tobacco packaging would be covered with the statutory warnings telling consumers that cigarette smoking and tobacco chewing were harmful to health.
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World’s Largest Ice Festival Held in China
World’s largest Ice Festival 'International Ice and Snow Festival' was held in Harbin, China. This is one of China’s coldest cities in the winter. It is the 34th annual Ice Festival in Harbin, north-east China.
- It features sculptures of Moscow’s Red Square and Bangkok’s Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Country
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China
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Capital
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Beijing
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Currency
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Renminbi
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President
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Xi Jinping
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India unveils Pratyush, its fastest supercomputer yet
India has unveiled Pratyush, an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops.
- One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a reflection of the computing capacity of a system.
- The machines will be installed at two government institutes: 4.0 petaflops HPC facility at IITM, Pune; and 2.8 petaflops facility at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast.
- The Pratyush HPC will improve weather forecasts and extended range forecasts. It will also predict cyclones and tsunami accurately, with more lead time. It will also help those dependent on agriculture, hydrology and power sectors.
With this, India will now occupy the fourth position, next only to United Kingdom, Japan and USA in terms of dedicated capacity for HPC resources for weather and climate proposes. The UK leads with a capacity of 20.4 Petaflop, followed by Japan with 20 Petaflop and USA with 10.7 Petaflop.
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Ethereum replaces Ripple as second largest cryptocurrency
Bitcoin’s rival cryptocurrency Ethereum has surpassed Ripple to become the world’s second largest cryptocurrency.
- The cryptocurrency hit a record high of $1,267, climbing more than 16% in 24 hours.
- Ethereum now has a market capitalisation of over $120 billion and has surged nearly 70% in just first eight days of the year.
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature.
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Punjab National Bank signs MoA with NSFDC
Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) have tied up to provide financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL).
- A Memorandum of Agreement to this effect was signed by BM Padha, Corporate General Manager, PNB, and Devanand, General Manager, NSFDC.
- Under this tie-up, PNB would act as a channelising agent for the loan schemes of NSFDC.
- Concessional finance and skill training grants would be provided to unemployed SC persons living below DPL.
At present persons whose family income is below Rs.20,000/- per annum in rural areas and Rs.27,500/- per annum in urban areas are considered to be below poverty line, and those whose family income is below Rs.40,000/- per annum in rural areas and Rs.55,000/- per annum in urban areas respectively are considered to be below double poverty line.
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Bank
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Punjab National Bank
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Headquarters
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New Delhi
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Tagline
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The name you can bank upon
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CEO
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Sunil Mehta
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Gujarat Tops Logistics Performance Index Chart: Report
Gujarat has topped the logistics index chart, according to a Report released by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi. The chart is an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports in particular and economic growth in general.
- Among 22 states, Gujarat is followed by Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra on the index.
- Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied the top slot followed by Delhi and Chandigarh. As regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya.
All India Whips’ Conference held in Rajasthan
The 18th All India Whips’ Conference was recently inaugurated at Udaipur, Rajasthan.
- The conference is hosting around 90 Delegates belonging to 19 States and Centre.
- The purpose of this conference is to strengthen the parliamentary democracy, its institutions and ultimately serve the people at large.
A whip is an important member of a political party’s parliamentary body, having a central role in ‘Floor Management’ in both the Houses of Parliament and is responsible for discipline within the party. Their main job is ensuring that their members in Parliament and legislature vote in line with the party’s official policy on important issues and make sure that the members turn out for important votes.
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Dilip Asbe appointed as MD & CEO of NPCI
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India, has appointed Dilip Asbe as Managing Director and CEO of the organisation.
- Prior to this, Asbe was CEO-in-charge of NPCI. Asbe was appointed CEO-in-charge in August last year.
- He had come in place of AP Hota, whose term as MD and CEO had ended on August 10 last year.
Asbe has been in the NPCI since its inception and has played a pivotal role in designing, building, operationalising and managing large-scale payment processing platforms like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), India’s home-grown card network RuPay, and several other initiatives.
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A R Rahman Becomes Sikkim’s Brand Ambassador
Music composer A R Rahman became the brand ambassador of Sikkim. The declaration was made by Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.
- Mr Chamling felicitated the legendary music composer during an inauguration of the 11-day Sikkim Red Panda Winter Carnival at Palzor Stadium in Gangtok.
Indian-origin businessman appointed WBCSD Chairman
Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman Sunny Verghese has been appointed as the Chairman of the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
- Verghese, 57, Co-Founder and the CEO of Singapore’s agri-business group Olam International Limited, is the first World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Chair from the agri-sector.
- He succeeded Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, on January 1 and will serve a two-year term.
WBCSD is a global network of more than 200 CEOs who are responsible for combined revenue of more than USD 8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.
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French honour to be conferred on actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay at Kolkata book fair
France will confer its highest order of merit, the ‘Legion of Honour’, on legendary film and theatre actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay at the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair.
- The honour will be bestowed on the actor who starred in many of Satyajit Ray’s iconic films by French culture and communication minister Francoise Nyssen in Kolkata.
- The Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Chattopadhyay, 82, acted in several of Ray’s films,including Apur Sansar, Abhijan, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Sonar Kella.
- The book fair will open on January 30 and conclude on February 11.
World Champion Powerlifter Saksham Yadav Passes Away
Powerlifting world champion Saksham Yadav died of his injuries after the road accident near Delhi.
- Yadav had won a gold medal for the country in the 2017 powerlifting championship in Moscow, Russia.
Kapil Mohan, chairman of Mohan Meakin Ltd, manufacturer of Old Monk Rum passes away
Kapil Mohan, the man behind the iconic ‘Old Monk‘ rum, passed away.
- Old Monk, launched in 1954 was for a long time the largest selling dark rum in the world.
Peter Sutherland, 1st WTO Director-General, Passes Away
Peter Sutherland, the first Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has passed away in Dublin, Ireland. He was 71.
- Mr Sutherland became Ireland’s Attorney General in 1981 and served as the European Commissioner for Competition from 1985 to 1989. He left the WTO in 1995.
BCCI suspends Yusuf Pathan for five months on doping violation
Former India all rounder Yusuf Pathan has been suspended by the Board of Control for India in Cricket (BCCI) for five months on the grounds of a doping violation.
- The 35-year-old had “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups.
- The BCCI has back-dated the suspension from 15 August 2017, effectively meaning it will end on 14 January 2018.
Ricky Ponting is Australia’s assistant coach for T20s
Ricky Ponting has been appointed as the assistant coach during Australia’s Twenty 20 international series against England and New Zealand.
- The former captain will work under head coach Darren Lehmann, while Troy Cooley and Matthew Mott will help out during the series.
