Daily Current affairs - April 27th, 2018 for all competitive exams
World Immunization Week is celebrated from 24th- 30th of April by the World
Health Organization (WHO) in order to increase awareness about vaccination.
- It aims to highlight the collective action needed to
ensure that every person is protected from vaccine- preventable diseases.
- Theme: “Protected
together, #VaccinesWork”.
Immunization saves millions of lives and is widely recognized as one of
the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Yet,
there are more than 19 million unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children in
the world, putting them at serious risk of these potentially fatal diseases.
Of these children, 1 out of 10 never receive any vaccinations, and most
likely have never been seen by the health system.
The Global Vaccine Action Plan
(GVAP) – endorsed by 194 Member States of the World Health Assembly
in May 2012 – aims to prevent millions of deaths from vaccine-preventable
diseases by 2020 through universal access to immunization.
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PM Modi launches Van Dhan
scheme to help increase tribal income
The Prime Minister of India,
Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal
Affairs and TRIFED, during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at
Bijapur, Chattisgarh.
- The Van Dhan scheme along with others like Jan
Dhan and Gobar-Dhan schemes had the potential to change the
tribal-rural economic system. Under Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30
Tribal gatherers would be constituted.
TRIFED is an apex organisation at National Level and functioning under
the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs. TRIFED is serving
the interests of Tribals, who are engaged in collection of NTFP and making of
Tribal Art & Handicraft Products for their livelihood so as to ensure
better remunerative price for their products as well as for the socio-economic
betterment through Self Help Groups, Empanelled NGOs, State level Tribal
Development Corporations, Forest Development Corporations for undertaking
marketing development of the tribal products.
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India to get national
database on disasters by 2020
India will get a national
database on disasters, which includes information on deaths, people affected
and economic losses, by 2020.
- Although scattered data has been available at the
state level for many decades now, much of it is not digitized or easily
usable in a nationwide database.
- India is affected by over 30 types of disasters,
including droughts, cyclones, and earthquakes. Urban disasters such as
slum fires are also emerging as a major area of concern.
Govt. to acquire RBI’s
stake in National Housing Bank
The government will soon
acquire the stake of Reserve Bank of India in housing finance regulator
National Housing Bank (NHB).
- The stake transfer would be cash neutral and there
would be no cash outgo. RBI currently holds 100 per cent stake in the NHB.
- The Finance Bill 2018 has amended the National
Housing Bank Act, 1987, for transferring RBI’s stake in the NHB to the
government.
National Housing Bank (NHB), a wholly
owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was set up on 9 July 1988
under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. NHB is an apex financial
institution for housing. NHB has been established with an objective to operate
as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local
and regional levels and to provide financial and other support incidental to
such institutions and for matters connected therewith.
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World Bank loan for
Biopharma Mission
The government has secured a
loan of about Rs1,600 crore from the World Bank to develop new vaccines,
medical devices and medicines.
- The money will be disbursed over five years and is
part of the Department of Biotechnology-led National Biopharma Mission.
- The goal is to have 6 to 10 new products in the next
five years and in the process create a slew of jobs.
The first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate
biopharmaceutical development in India will be formally launched by the
Cabinet Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment,
Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi on 30th June 2017.
The program named Innovate in India (i3) will witness an investment of USD
250 million with USD 125 million as a loan from world Bank and is anticipated
to be a game changer for the Indian Biopharmaceutical industry.
The Mission to be implemented by Biotechnology Industry
Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Undertaking of
Department of Biotechnology will bring together expertise from national and
international corridors to provide strategic guidance and direction to move
promising solutions through the product development value chain.
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Bureau of Indian Standards granted 1st licence
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) granted First Licence to M/s Gujarat
Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd for Liquid Chlorine on All India basis.
- This is the First Licence granted on All India
basis.
- License for Liquid Chlorine will facilitate industry
to get a quality product with Standard Mark under BIS Certification Marks
scheme.
- The product is in liquid form and stored in metal
containers. It is usually used as a gas obtained by evaporating the liquid
from the metal container. It is used mainly in paper, pulp, textile
bleaching, water sterilization and manufacture of chemicals.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of
India is a statutory organization under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act,
1986. The organisation was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI),
set up under a Resolution. It works under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. The Minister in
charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS
is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
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H.P. to introduce free
heli-ambulance services
The Himachal Pradesh
government decided to introduce free heli-ambulance services for timely air
lifting of patients, particularly in remote and tribal regions of the State.
- In a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister
Jai Ram Thakur, the setting up of a ‘Health care transformation project –
TATA Digital Nerves Centre Platform (DiNC)’ in Kullu district, was also
approved.
Kerala CM launched Pravasi
Pension Scheme
Kerala chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan launched Pravasi pension scheme.
- The Pravasi Pension Scheme offers people hailing
from Kerala but living outside the state or country, a pension of Rs 2,000
a month.
- People aged over 60 years are eligible for this
scheme. To avail this scheme a person has to pay Rs 100 per month.
NHAI inks pact with
Macquarie
The National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) entered into a pact with Macquarie for road projects.
- Agreement has been signed with Macquarie for the
first bundle (of highway projects) USD 1.5 billion one of the highest FDI
in highways.
- Against NHAI’s expectations of Rs 6,258 crore, the
winning bid was for Rs 9,681.5 crore.
India agrees to send
Buddhist relics for Vesak in Sri Lanka
India has agreed for
the most revered Buddhist relics from Sarnath to be taken to Sri
Lanka for public exposition on the occasion of Vesak festival.
- This is the first time relics from Sarnath are
being brought to Sri Lanka from India, and special arrangements have been
made for this purpose.
- This is the second time that India has taken
initiative to exhibit the sacred relics of Lord Buddha in Sri Lanka. The
first time such initiative was the exhibition of the Kapilavastu
Relics in 2012.
Kim, Moon to meet at
military demarcation line
North Korea’s leader Kim
Jong-un and the South’s president Moon Jae-in will meet at the military
demarcation line that divides the peninsula before their summit, in an occasion
laden with symbolism.
- Moon will greet his visitor at the concrete blocks
that mark the border between the two Koreas in the demilitarised zone, the
chief of the South’s presidential secretariat Im Jong-seok said.
New
frog species takes historical name of Goa - Fejervarya goemchi
In the Western Ghats parts of Goa, scientists have identified a new species
of frog called Fejervarya goemchi.
- The new species is named after the historical name
of the state of Goa.
- Although most of these frogs are terrestrial, they
need water bodies to continue for survival.
- Most Fejervarya species in South and
South-East Asia are difficult to identify on the basis of morphology
alone. The authors have used a combination of morphology, geographic
distribution range and molecular methods to describe the new species.
The scientists provide an overview of
the group and recommend additional sampling across the Asian continent in a
a Zoological Survey of India report. The new species is found in
the high elevation areas of laterite plateaus, temporary water bodies and
paddy fields of Goa. Detailed studies of this species are necessary to map
its distribution range, said Mr. Kulkarni.
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ESA’s space observatory Gaia
ESA’s Gaia mission has produced the richest star catalogue to date,
including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars and revealing
previously unseen details of our home Galaxy.
- Preliminary analysis of this
phenomenal data reveals fine details about the make-up of the Milky Way’s
stellar population and about how stars move, essential information for
investigating the formation and evolution of our Galaxy.
Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our
Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation
and evolution of the Galaxy. The mission relies on a huge human collaboration
to make sense of a large volume of highly complex data. It demonstrates the
need for long-term projects to guarantee progress in space science and
technology and to implement even more daring scientific missions of the
coming decades.
Launched on December 19, 2013, the Gaia satellite both rotates and orbits
around the Earth, while surveying the sky with its two telescopes.
Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity
measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and
kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the
Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar
population.
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Axis
Bank posts first loss as NPAs rise
Axis Bank reported its first
ever loss of Rs. 2,189 crore in the quarter ended March 31, due to an almost
threefold increase in provisions.
- This is the private sector
lender’s maiden quarterly loss since its incorporation in 1993.
- During the same period of the
previous year, the lender posted a net profit of Rs. 1,225 crore. Fresh
slippages to non-performing assets during the quarter was Rs. 16,500
crore, of which about Rs. 13,900 crore came from the corporate loan book.
First edition of Cancer
screening mela organized in Mizoram
A Cancer Screening Mela was
organized in Mizoram by the Health Department of Mizoram jointly with Public
Foundation of India and National Health Mission under the initiative of Swasth
Uttar Purv.
- The Cancer Screening Mela was
funded by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) at
Kolasib District, Diakkawn YMA Hall in Mizoram.
- Theme : Come on Mizoram, together
let’s beat Cancer’
India-Nepal IGC meet
begins in Kathmandu
India-Nepal
Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting on trade, transit and
cooperation to Control Unauthorised Trade started in Kathmandu,
Nepal.
- The Indian side is led by Commerce
Secretary Rita Teaotia.
- The IGC meeting provides a regular
platform to review the implementation of past trade and transit agreements
besides discussing new measures to facilitate bilateral trade and
investment.
Google ranked as most
trusted Internet brand in India: Report
Online search engine
Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by
Facebook, as per the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018.
- With 1.2 trillion searches per
year, Google has become the first port of call for all things on the
Internet. Google was followed by Facebook, Amazon and eBay.
- The biggest falls in trust
were seen by Snapdeal, who fell by 142 ranks over last year.
The top trust gainers this year were Netflix (up 506 ranks over
last year).
- TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2018
report covers 2488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and
generated 5 million data points.
CSIR Bags National
Intellectual Property Award 2018
Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) is awarded the National Intellectual
Property (IP) Award 2018 in the category “Top R&D Institution /
Organization for Patents and Commercialization”.
- Dr Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR and
Secretary, DSIR received the award at the hands of Mr. Suresh Prabhu,
Minister of Commerce and Industry, at a function organized by
the Indian Intellectual Property Office and Confederation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce (CII) in New Delhi, to celebrate
the World Intellectual Property Day (26th April).
The Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (CSIR) is a contemporary R&D organization. It has
been ranked 9th in the world amongst the 1207 government
institutions, with an overall global ranking of 75 in the world,
covering 5250 institutions.
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Bhutia kicks off
his ‘Hamro Sikkim’ party
Former Indian football
captain Bhaichung Bhutia, along with some politicians and professionals from
Sikkim, announced the formation of their regional party Hamro Sikkim.
- Hamro means ‘ours’ in Nepali
language.
2021 Champions Trophy to
be held in India
The International Cricket
Council (ICC) has decided to convert the 2021 Champions Trophy into a World T20
event scheduled in India.
- Earlier it was an eight-team ODI
tournament.
- ICC Chief Executive Dave
Richardson said the global body had “unanimously agreed” that the 2021
meet in India would now be a 16-team event in the shortest format.
Gaurav Bidhuri, Sonia
Lather nominated for Arjuna award by BFI
Championship bronze-medallist Gaurav
Bidhuri and Asian silver-medallist Sonia Lather were nominated
by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for this year’s Arjuna
Awards.
- Women’s chief coach Shiv Singh,
and his assistants Bhaskar Bhatt and Sandhya Gurung got the nomination for
the Dronacharya award.
- Former Commonwealth Games
silver-medallist L Devendro Singh was the lone boxer to win
the Arjuna award last year.
Gavaskar gets Dhyan Chand award nomination
Legendary opener Sunil
Gavaskar name has been recommended for Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.
- The BCCI has recommended former
India captain Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Dronacharya award.
- Virat Kohli for the Rajiv Gandhi
Khel Ratna honour.
