Daily Current affairs - May 5th and 6th, 2018 for all competitive exams
Venkaiah Naidu on 5-day
visit to South America
Vice President M Venkaiah
Naidu emplaned for a five-day visit to South America's Guatemala,
Peru and Panama.
- Bilateral trade and investments are expected to be
mainly discussed during the visit.
This will be the Vice President's
first overseas visit after assuming office. He will be accompanied by a
high-level delegation, including Minister of State for Tribal Affairs
Jasvantsinh Sumanbahi Bhabhor.
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ADB projects India’s growth at 7.3% in 2018
at the 51st ADB Annual Meeting
51st Asian
Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meeting was Presided by ADB President Takehiko
Nakao.
- While Adressing the Ceremony of
the 51st Meeting,Nakao Said that India’s growth is
Projected to be 7.3 Percent in Fiscal Year 2018 & 7.6 Per cent in the
next Fiscal, which is far higher than its 6.6 Percent in FiscalYear 2017.
- The size of India’s economy is
about USD 2.5 trillion currently, making it the sixth largest in the
world.
GST Council approves
single form for filing of returns
Goods and Services Tax
Council decided to convert the GST Network into a 100% government enterprise,
and implement a single form for GST filing from the current three.
- At its 27th meeting, the Council
also decided to create a Group of Ministers to review the plan for
imposition of a cess on sugar. The cess was meant to subsidise sugarcane
farmers as their production cost is much higher than the selling price.
- The Council has also decided to
create another GoM to consider implementation of a 2% incentive for
digital transactions.
- The Sushil Modi Group of Ministers
has found reconciliation between the two
Government announces
project to strengthen Namami Gange Programme
The 11th Executive Committee meeting of National Mission for Clean
Ganga (NMCG) recently approved the project encompassing the use
of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for Namami
Gange programme with a total budget of Rs 86.84 crore. Through the project, NMCG aims to strengthen planning and
implementation at national/state/local levels.
- In order to facilitate the Ganga
rejuvenation task through the GIS technology, the National Mission
for Clean Ganga has tied-up with the Survey of India.
- The project includes use of
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) technology which ensures accurate data
collection, an important aspect for river basin management planning. DEM
technology enables identification of entire topography of an area making
it easy for policy makers to analyse the available data thereby supporting
the decision-making process. Critical hotspots are also easily identified
through this technology.
Namami Gange programme was launched as a mission to achieve the target of
cleaning river Ganga in an effective manner with the unceasing involvement of
all stakeholders, especially five major Ganga basin States – Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The programme envisages: River Surface Cleaning, Sewerage Treatment
Infrastructure, River Front Development, Bio-Diversity, Afforestation and
Public Awareness. The program would be implemented by
the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart
organizations i.e., State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
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HRD ministry launches
initiatives for online professional development using SWAYAM
Human Resource Development
Ministry has launched a major and unique initiative of online professional
development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the Massive Open
Online Courses platform SWAYAM.
- In the first phase, 75
discipline-specific National Resource Centres (NRCs) have been identified.
National Resource Centres (NRCs) are tasked to prepare online training
material with the focus on new and emerging trends, pedagogical
improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.
SWAYAM is an online interactive
learning platform that provides, not only video lectures, reading material
but also assignments/quizzes that could end up in securing credits after
completing the assessment system.
More than 400 Courses are available on SWAYAM covering all the
engineering and non-engineering subjects at undergraduate and post-graduate
levels.
The UGC has already issued Regulation that allows transfer of credits
earned through the courses done through SWAYAM into the academic record of
the students.
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NITI Aayog to collaborate
with IBM to develop Precision Agriculture
NITI Aayog and IBM signed a
Statement of Intent (SoI) to develop a crop yield prediction model using
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide real time advisory to farmers in
Aspirational Districts.
- The SoI was signed in the presence
of Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Shri Karan Bajwa, MD, IBM India.
- The partnership aims to work
together towards use of technology to provide insights to farmers to
improve crop productivity, soil yield, control agricultural inputs with
the overarching goal of improving farmers’ incomes.
A formal statement that the author has a serious
intention of doing something under specified conditions, and at a specified
time.
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First organized census of Indus Dolphins
begins in Punjab
Indus dolphin is one of the
world’s rarest mammals found only in India and Pakistan.
- The first organized census on
Indus dolphins are conducting by the Punjab government along with
WWF-India.
- The Indus dolphins are restricted
to only a 185 km stretch between Talwara and Harike Barrage in India’s
Beas River in Punjab.
- The five day exercise has been
conducted to estimate the population of Indus Dolphin by Department of
Forests and Wildlife Preservation, Punjab and WWF-India are currently
working in two teams.
Indus Dolphin is blind species that
communicates through echo like bats do, Indus dolphins are one of the seven
freshwater dolphins found across the world.
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'Go to Village' mission
launched in Manipur
Manipur Chief Minister N.
Biren Singh launched 'Go to Village' mission throughout the
state from Konuma ground.
- The mission was launched in 60
villages of all the 60 Assembly constituencies.
- The mission is aimed at
identifying the eligible and deserving beneficiaries in every corner of
the state and delivering government services at their doorstep.
China launches ‘APSTAR-6C’
communication Satellite
China has launched a new
communication satellite “APSTAR-6C” at the southwestern Xichang Satellite
Launch Center.
- The satellite will provide TV
transmission, communication, Internet and multimedia services to customers
across the Asia-Pacific region.
- Both the satellite and the rocket
were developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
PCI rejects World Press
Freedom Index citing ‘lack of clarity’
Without Borders (RWB), the
World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries.
- As per the Reporters without
Borders’ annual report released on April 25, India dropped down two places
from 136 in 2017 to 138 in 2018.
- Justice C.K Prasad, Press Council
of India Chairman mentioned RWB’s annual report has “lack of clarity” on the inputs that weighed in the rankings.
Riyadh launches $34.7 bn
entertainment revolution
After repealing a
decades-long ban on cinemas only last year, Saudi Arabia has launched an
ambitious drive to become a culture and entertainment hub as part of sweeping
modernisation plans.
- American film star Katie Holmes
and British actor-cum-director Idris Elba rubbed shoulders with Saudi
officials, as the conservative kingdom kicked off an initiative to invest
130 billion riyals ($34.7 billion) in culture and leisure by 2020.
- The goal is to create “a true
cultural industry, with theatres, cinemas and training centres,” said
Ahmad al-Mazid, who leads culture policy for Saudi Arabia.
- The project, dubbed “Quality of
Life Program 2020,” is in part designed to encourage wealthy young
citizens to spend more of their leisure time in the kingdom, where more
than half the population is below the age of 25.
North Korea seeks air
corridor to South Korea
North Korea has asked the
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for permission to open an air
corridor to South Korea, the UN agency.
- The proposal to establish a new
“air traffic services” corridor between Pyongyang and the South Korean
city of Incheon was submitted to the ICAO’s regional offices in Bangkok,
Thailand, in February.
- The ICAO said it has conveyed the
proposal to South Korea’s civil aviation authorities.
Israel pulls out of the
race for the seat on UNSC
Israel has withdrawn from a
race against Germany & Belgium for 2 seats on United Nations
Security Council in 2019-20.
- It was competing with Germany
& Belgium for one of the two seats allocated to Western
European & Others Group.
- Security Council is made up of
5 permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia &
US while 10 other seats are filled by elected members that serve 2 yr
stints.
The 2017–18 term will be the first
time in over five decades that two members have agreed to split a term, with
Italy and the Netherlands agreeing that each would occupy the WEOG seat for a
one-year term;
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Limit trans fats to 1% of
calorie intake to keep diseases at bay
World Health Organisation
(WHO) has recommended that adults and children should consume a maximum of 10%
of their daily calorie intake in the form of saturated fat (found in meat and
butter) and 1% in trans fats.
- These draft recommendations, the
first since 2002, are aimed at controlling non-communicable diseases
(NCDs), which are responsible for an estimated 39.5 million deaths (72%)
of the 54.7 million deaths worldwide in 2016.
- Of the major NCDs, cardiovascular
diseases (CVD) were the leading cause of NCD mortality in 2016, and were
responsible for nearly half of all NCD deaths. Dietary saturated fatty
acids and trans-fatty acids are of particular concern as high levels of
intake are correlated with increased risk of CVDs, noted the WHO.
NASA launches spacecraft
to explore depths of Mars
NASA launched its latest
Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface of the red planet and
listen for ‘Marsquakes’.
- The $993 million project aims to
expand human knowledge of conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human
explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the earth formed
billions of years ago. The lander should settle on Mars on November 26.
- Its name, InSight, is short for
Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat
Transport. “How quake-prone is Mars? That is fundamental information that
we need to know as humans that explore Mars,” Jim Green, NASA chief
scientist, said.
- The key instrument on board is a
seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure. After
the lander settles on the Martian surface, a robotic arm is supposed to
emerge and place the seismometer directly on the ground.
- The second main instrument is a
self-hammering probe that will monitor the flow of heat in the planet’s
subsurface.
- Called the Heat Flow and Physical
Properties Package, it was made by the German Space Agency with the
participation of the Polish Space Agency.
- The probe will bore down 10 to 16
feet below the surface, NASA said, 15 times deeper than any previous Mars
mission.
- The solar and battery-powered
lander is designed to operate for 26 Earth months, or one year on Mars, a
period in which it is expected to pick up as many as 100 quakes.
- The spacecraft was initially
supposed to launch in 2016 but had to be delayed after temperature tests
showed a problem with part of the seismometer, which engineers have since
fixed.
IIT-Roorkee team set to
tackle chikungunya
Researchers at the Indian
Institute of Technology-Roorkee have identified a molecule that exhibits
anti-viral activity against the chikungunya virus, raising hopes of finding a new
way to combat the mosquito-borne viral disease.
- Chikungunya causes severe fever
and joint pain. At present, there are no drugs or vaccine available in the
market to treat it.
- The anti-viral activity achieved
around 99 per cent reduction in the virus, said the study published in the
journal Biochimie .
- The team used structure-based
studies of chikungunya virus-specific nsP2 protease to identify two
molecules — Pep-I and Pep-II — that exhibited protease inhibitory as well
as anti-viral activity. Of the two molecules, the researchers found PeP-I
to be more effective as an anti-viral molecule.
- The Pep-II molecule showed reduced
antiviral activity of only 50 per cent even at a higher concentration, the
study said.
Instagram launches
payments feature for brands, services
Facebook-owned Instagram has
started testing a payment feature within the app. This feature is currently
limited to certain users.
- The feature allows Instagram users
to add a credit or debit card with their profile and set up a security
pin.
- They can make purchases within the
photo-sharing service and make payments without having to leave the site.
Walmart, Alphabet together
may buy over 70% in Flipkart
India’s largest online
retailer Flipkart is set to sell more than 70% stake to Walmart and
Google’s parent Alphabet.
- In a deal which will value the
company at $20 billion, multiple people familiar with the development
said.
- Amazon, which was also in the race
to acquire a substantial stake in Flipkart, did not find favor from most
of the company investors.
RBI announced Rs.10,000
crore bond purchases
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
announced that it will buy Rs 10,000 crore of government bonds through open
market operation (OMO).
- RBI made this decision after
failing to sell all the debt it had offered to bidders.
- It was the third consecutive week
when the RBI couldn’t sell everything on offer which leads to a spike in
bond yields.
India tops the list of
fastest-growing economies for coming decade: Harvard study
India tops the list of the
fastest growing economies in the world for the coming decade and is projected
to grow at 7.9 percent annually.
- It has made inroads in
diversifying its export base to include more complex sectors, such as
chemicals, vehicles, and certain electronics.
- China is projected to grow at 4.9
percent annually to 2026, the US at 3 percent and France 3.5 percent.
California surpasses UK to
become world's 5th largest economy
US state California's
economy has surpassed that of the UK to become the world’s fifth
largest, according to new federal data released.
- With a GDP of $2.7 trillion, California
is now only behind the US, China, Japan and Germany.The UK and India are
next on the list, followed by France, Brazil and Italy respectively.
- Despite having a population of
only 40 million compared with the UK’s 65 million people, California’s
gross domestic product of $2.7tn has overtaken the UK’s $2.6tn.
California’s economy is
world’s 5th biggest
California’s economy has
surpassed the economy of United Kingdom.
- Its gross domestic product
increased by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017.
- Its economy is concentrated in
coastal regions around San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.
- California’s economy is now only
behind the economy of the United States, China, Japan and Germany.
12th informal meeting of
SAARC finance ministers held in Manila
The 12th informal meeting of
SAARC Finance Ministers was held in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines
of the 51st Annual Meeting of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
- The meeting was attended by the
Finance Ministers/Heads of Delegations from the SAARC member states.
- Finance Minister of Nepal Yuba Raj
Khatiwada chaired the meeting.
ISABS – 2018 held in
Johannesburg
The first-ever India-South
Africa Business Summit (ISABS 2018) has been held at the Sandton Convention
Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- The tag line of the Summit was
“United by Legacy, Unified for Prosperity” and was attended by the
Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu.
Sushma Swaraj meets
Northeast CMs on ‘Act East Policy’
External affairs
minister Sushma Swaraj interacted with the chief ministers of the eight
states of the region.
- Speaking at the meeting state
chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has put the development of Northeast region.
- He elaborated on the positional
advantage of the region to become the new growth hub of trade, tourism,
and cultural exchange.
The book ‘The
Red Fort Declaration” authored by journalist Fakir Hassen released
The book ‘The Red Fort
Declaration – The Legacy 20 Years’ on commemoration of 20 years of Strategic
Partnership, authored by journalist Fakir Hassen, which documents the progress
of bilateral relations between the two countries.
ISSF brings you ‘Athletes
Handbook’
Quality guidance at a young
age is the key to healthy growth in any sport. Keeping this in mind, the
Athletes Committee of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), with
the former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra as the chairman, has
brought out a comprehensive Athletes Handbook, for the benefit of shooters
around the world.
- The book in its digital form can
be downloaded from the ISSF website.
- The handbook answers 10 questions
in each of the 11 chapters, addressing all aspects of the sport and
beyond.
Shabana Azmi named
ambassador for Women in Public Service Project
Veteran actress and social
activist Shabana Azmi has been nominated as the Global Leadership Ambassador
for Women in Public Service Project (WPSP).
- A Hillary
Clinton-founded programme aimed at empowering the next generation of
women around the world
Japan, Qatar get invites
to 2019 Copa America in Brazil
The 2019 Copa America in
Brazil will feature 10 teams from South America plus invited guests Japan and
Qatar.
- Several nations have had special
invitations since 1993, including Japan who played at the 1999 tournament
in Paraguay.
- The Copa America, which started in
1916, is world’s oldest international soccer tournament. Next year’s hosts
Brazil have not won the trophy since 2007.
