Daily Current affairs - February 10 and 11, 2018 for all competitive exams
National Deworming Day 2018 is celebrated all
over India on 10th of February.
- Deworming
day is a day dedicated to deworm all the school going children of the
country to give them a healthy digestive system.
- It
is a government mission held on 10th of February aimed to reduce
the cases of worm infection among kids all over India.
To combat the situation of worm infection in India, Indian
government (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) launched the National
Deworming Day (NDD) in February 2015 as part of the National Health Mission.
The aim of this programme is to deworm all the children from 1 to 19 years
and improve their well-being.
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PM Modi 3 Nation Visit- Modi Conferred 'Grand
Collar of the State of Palestine'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred
the 'Grand Collar of the State of Palestine' by President of
Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, recognising his key contribution to promote relations
between India and Palestine.
- President
Abbas conferred the honour after the conclusion of the bilateral meeting
between the two leaders.
- Modi
is the first Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to
Palestine.
The Grand Collar is Highest order given to foreign
dignitaries — Kings, Heads of State/Government and persons of similar rank.
It has in the past been awarded to King Salman of Saudi
Arabia, King Hamad of Bahrain, President Xi Jinping of China, amongst others.
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MoWCD considering National Women Entrepreneurship Council
The Ministry
of Women and Child Development is considering to establish National Women
Entrepreneurship Council (NWEC).
- NWEC
will promote entrepreneurship as it would be the umbrella organization for
socio-economic gender parity, financial inclusion and economic empowerment
of women in India.
According to
Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, India scored an overall 41.7 points,
ranking 49 among 54 economies globally with comparatively low in Women
Business Ownership percentages.
India presents lower opportunities for women to assume
leadership roles, participation in the workforce or engagement in
entrepreneurial activities.
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Government directed the banks to only accept online applications
for education loans
The government has directed that all the banks
to only accept online applications for education loans in a bid to make the
loan disbursement process transparent and efficient.
- The
banks have also been asked to not consider any application received in
physical form.
- The
move also aims to tackle the delay in sanctioning of the education loans.
Telangana State launches liquor price mobile
app
The Excise and Prohibition Department has made it
difficult for retail liquor shop outlets to sell liquor at higher than the
fixed Maximum Retail Price (MRP) across the State by launching two new
initiatives
- One
is Standardised and tamper-proof MRP charts displaying the MRP of each of
the 25 highest selling liquor brands and five beer brands in every area.
- The
second initiative giving power to the consumers is Telangana Liquor Price Mobile App which gives the MRP of 880
liquor brands available in Telangana. It helps the consumers to know the
correct MRP of various liquor brands and lodge a complaint through a
provision in the App or through a WhatsApp number 7989111222.
SC stays new Tribunal Rules
The Supreme Court effectively stayed the
applicability of provisions of the Central Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and
other Authorities (Qualification, experience and other conditions of service of
members) Rules, 2017 which gave the government primacy in making key
appointments to tribunals, including the National Green Tribunal.
- A
Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, acting on a petition
filed by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, directed that the terms and conditions
of service of members of the National Green Tribunal shall be governed by
the provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
- The
Bench also accepted the suggestions made by the Central Administrative
Tribunal (CAT) Bar Association, represented by senior advocate C.A.
Sundaram, which froze the implementation of the new Rules framed under the
Finance Act of 2017.
- Primarily,
the court accepted the formation of an interim search-cum-selection
committee in respect for appointment of both judicial and administrative
members to CAT.
- The
panel includes the Chief Justice of India or his nominee, Chairman of the
Central Administrative Tribunal, and two secretaries nominated by the
Government of India.
India retains top spot in source market for Dubai in 2017
Dubai stated that 15% growth in tourist
arrivals from India in 2017, hosting 2.1 million visitors, retaining top spot
as the source market.
- It
also became the first country to cross the 2 million mark in a single
year, according to the latest data published by Dubai’s Department of
Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).
- The
growth is mainly due to the success of Dubai Tourism’s ongoing
collaboration with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in the ‘BeMyGuest’
campaign.
Thailand most traffic congested country of 2017
Thailand is considered as the world’s worst
traffic congestion in the year 2017, with drivers spending an average of 56
hours in peak congestion, according to a study by transportation analytics
company INRIX.
- Drivers
in Los Angeles spent 102 hours in congestion on average during peak time
periods, making the US city the world’s most gridlocked cities for the
sixth straight year.
Thailand
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Capital
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Bangkok
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Currency
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Thai baht
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Prime minister
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Prayut Chan-o-cha
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U.S. Congress passes key funding Bill
The U.S. Congress passed a crucial federal
spending Bill after hours of delay. Later in the day, President Donald Trump
signed it, ending the nation’s second government shutdown in three weeks.
- The
House of Representatives voted 240 to 186 in support of a bipartisan
package that extends funding until March 23, and which will reopen
government hours after a conservative Senator forced Congress to miss a
midnight deadline.
USA
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Capital
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Washington DC
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Currency
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USA dollar
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President
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Donald Trump
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UAE will ensure freedom of worship, says envoy
The United Arab Emirates will ensure the freedom
of worship for Indian workers and professionals, its Ambassador to India, Ahmed
Al-Banna
- country
was one of the first to realise the need for the religious rights of the
Indian community in West Asia, and the government would continue to
welcome Indian workers.
- The
External Affairs Ministry announced on February 6 that Mr. Modi would
preside over the ceremony, and the construction of the temple would begin
shortly. Once ready, the temple will be the second Hindu place of worship
in the UAE.
Integrated Automatic Aviation Meteorological Systems (IAAMS)
‘Integrated
Automatic Aviation Meteorological System (IAAMS)’ was recently inaugurated at
INS Garuda.
- INS
Garuda is the fourth air station to have been installed with this
integrated system.
IAAMS is an
ambitious project of the Indian Navy to modernise the Meteorological
infrastructure of the nine Naval Air Stations. The IAAMS project at INS
Garuda will give a major fillip to aviation safety through automation of
weather monitoring process.
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Google rewarded $3 million to bug bounties in
2017
Tech giant Google paid out almost $3 million to
security researchers in 2017 as rewards for the vulnerabilities they found in
its products and services.
- Around
$1.1 million each was paid for bug reports specific to Google and Android
products while Chrome awards accounted for the rest of the Vulnerability
Reward Program.
- The
largest single payment of $112,500 went to independent researcher Guang
Gong for outlining an exploit chain on Pixel phones as part of the Android
Security Rewards Program.
SEBI rules for mandatory 25 % fund-raising by September
SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi said the rules for
mandatory 25 % fund-raising by listed companies through this route would be out
by September.
- He
said the volatility in the Indian markets may continue for some time due
to global reasons, but there are no issues of concern for investors.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India
was established on April 12, 1992 in accordance with the provisions of the
Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.
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SBI posts first quarterly loss since 1999
State Bank of India, the country’s largest
lender, reported a third-quarter loss of Rs. 2,416.37 crore due to a rise in
bad loans and depreciation on bond investments.
- While
the lender reported a Rs. 2,610-crore profit in the same period of the
previous financial year, the numbers are not exactly comparable since SBI
had merged five of its subsidiaries in April 2017.
- This
is first time the lender has posted a quarterly loss since January-March
1999, when it recorded a loss of Rs. 115 crore.
NSE unveils 72 indices for MFs
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has unveiled a
series of fixed income and hybrid indices that track fixed income assets
including government securities, treasury bills, corporate bonds of different
credit rating categories, commercial papers, certificate of deposits and
overnight rate.
- The
exchange has introduced a total of 72 indices, which could act as
benchmarks for the mutual fund industry that has to realign many of the
existing schemes to comply with the recent regulatory diktat related to
scheme categories and constituents.
21st Indian Birding fair held in Man sagar lake
The 21st
Indian Birding Fair is happening at the Man Sagar Lake, Rajasthan. This year,
this fair is dedicated to the White Naped Tit bird, which is quite rare in
Jaipur and are at the verge of extinction.
- White-Naped
is a robust, strongly patterned, mainly black-and-white coloured bird with
yellow in the flanks and sides of the breast.
- The
bird is found in Udaipur and in some regions of Kutch as well. It is
considered vulnerable to extinction because of the scarcity of suitable
habitats.
Union Home Minister released a book titled
"Mere Sapno Ka Bharat''
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released a book
titled "Mere Sapno Ka Bharat''in Parliament premises New Delhi
- This
book is about the best interviews of former Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee
- This
book has been been compiled by Tarun Vijay, former BJP MP and Editor
of Panchjanya, an RSS published journal.
Eight Year Old Indian origin girl Sohini Roy Chowdhury enters UK
Math Hall of Fame
Sohini Roy Chowdhury, eight-year-old
Indian-origin schoolgirl has entered the UK’s Mathletics Hall of Fame, an
online mathematics-based competitive tool aimed at primary school pupils.
- She
made it into the top 100 World Hall of Fame after solving mathematical
puzzles with speed and accuracy.
- New
Delhi born Sohini joined the competition this year as a student of Nelson
Primary School in Birmingham.
Rakesh Singh appointed private banking head at
HDFC Bank
Rakesh Singh has been appointed as head
of private banking at HDFC Bank.
- He
will continue to head the bank’s investment banking, capital markets and
financial institutions businesses.
- Prior
to joining HDFC Bank, Singh was managing director and co-head, financing
advisory at Rothschild.
NPCI Appoints Biswamohan Mahapatra as
Non-Executive Chairman
National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) appointed Biswamohan Mahapatra as non-executive
chairman for two years with immediate effect.
- He
succeeds B Sambamurthy who was the interim chairman.
National Payments Corporation of India is the umbrella organisation
for all retail payment systems in India, which aims to allow all Indian
citizens to have unrestricted access to e-payment services
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IRDAI appoints Vasantha Krishna as insurance
ombudsman for Chennai
The insurance regulator has appointed National
Insurance Company director Vasantha Krishna as the insurance
ombudsman for Chennai.
- With
recent appointments, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of
India (IRDAI) has filled 10 of 16 vacant posts in India.
- Both
Sanath Kumar and Vasantha Krishnan will retire shortly and take up the new
posts.
Megha Patil likely to be the first woman to
head civic panel
Megha Patil of the NCP is likely to become the
first woman in the history of Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) to head the
standing committee.
- Patil
was the lone candidate to fill the nomination paper from the ruling
Congress-NCP alliance.
- The
alliance enjoys a majority in the standing committee, with eight votes on
its side.
Noted Odia litterateur Chandrasekhar Rath
passes away
Eminent Odia author and poet Chandrasekhar Rath
passed away at the age of 89.
He was nominated for a Padma Shri this year for
his contribution in Odia literature.
- He
has also received literary awards like Sahitya Akademi Award and Sarala
Award.
Kuchipudi exponent passed away
Eminent Kuchipudi exponent and guru Pasumarti
Sitaramaiah died on Thursday night at his residence here after a brief illness.
- Born
at Kuchipudi, home for the dance tradition that took the name after it, he
began learning dance at the age of five.
- A
recipient of Central Sangeet Nataka Academy award in 2004, he was quite
famous for his ‘ghatam’ dance.
Vidit Gujrathi appointed as a brand ambassador
of All India Chess Federation for Chess
Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi has been appointed as
the brand ambassador of All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB).
- 23-year-old
Gujrathi had broken the 2700 rating barrier and has a current rating of
2718, thereby becoming the fourth Indian to achieve the feat after legend
Viswanathan Anand, Sasikiran and P Harikrishna.
- He
recently won the Tata Steel Chess Challengers 2018 in Wijk Aan Zee and has
made the cut for the Tata Steel Chess Masters next year.
Sharmila first Indian to qualify for China LPGA
Tour
Sharmila Nicollet has become the first Indian
golfer to qualify for the China Ladies PGA Tour.
- Sharmila,
who played on the Ladies European Tour before losing her full card, played
her three rounds in the CLPGA Tour Qualifying School in 77-73-72 to finish
in tied 21st and pick one of the 30 cards available in the 88-player
field.
- Sharmila’s
qualification is a continuation of the growth story of Indian golf as the
country’s top woman golfer Aditi Ashok straddles between US LPGA and
Ladies European Tour and is ranked 78th in the world.
23rd Winter Olympic Games 2018 Starts In
Pyeongchang, South Korea
The 23rd Olympic Winter Games officially kicked
off with a colorful ceremony at Pyeongchang in South Korea. Ninety-two
countries are participating in the event.
- There
will be 102 medals up for grabs in Pyeongchang, covering seven sports and
15 disciplines.
- The
ceremony was directed by Song Seung-whan, a South Korean actor. Hosts
South Korea also produced a show of unity with neighbors North Korea
during the ceremony.
