Daily Current affairs - May 8th and 9th, 2018 for all competitive exams
World Red Cross day is
celebrated every year on 8th of May as the birthday anniversary of founder of
the Red Cross.
Henry Dunant was the
founder of the Red Cross as well as the founder of International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), born in the Geneva in the year 1828. He was the most
famous person and became the recipient of 1st Nobel Peace Prize.
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India fastest growing economy at 7.4 per
cent in 2018: IMF
As per International
Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook report
released on May 8, 2018, India will be the fastest growing major economy in
2018, clocking a growth rate of 7.4 per cent.
- As per IMF, Indian economy is recovering from after effects of
demonetisation in November 2016 and roll out of Goods and Services Tax
(GST) in July 2017.
- IMF reiterated that medium-term prospects for Indian
economy remains positive and growth rate is expected to rise to 7.8
per cent in 2019.
Venkaiah Naidu 3-nation
visit: India, Guatemala sign agreement in education sector
A pact has been signed
between India and Guatemala for strengthening diplomatic cooperation
through Respective Foreign Service Institutes in the educational field.
- The agreement was inked after a meeting
between Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and his Guatemala
counterpart, Jafeth Cabrera Franco in Guatemala city.
- The main focus of the meeting was on core sectors
such as; pharmaceutical, cooperation in education, technology,
conservation of wildlife, Yoga, Tourism and Automobiles.
Guatemala
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Capital
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Guatemala City
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Currency
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Guatemalan quetzal
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President
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Jimmy Morales Cabrera
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Govt. augmenting NABH (Nextgen Airports for Bharat)
Nirman initiative
The government is augmenting the airport capacity of various airports as
part of NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman initiative.
- Accepting the recommendations made by the steering
committee on Greenfield Airports, Mr Prabhu accorded site clearance
approval to the Greenfield International Airport at Purander, Pune.
- The Minister also accorded ‘in-principle’ approval
to the Government of Uttar Pradesh for setting up of Noida International
Greenfield Airport at the North of Jewar Village, Utta Pradesh
The government in February announced a new initiative — NABH Nirman—
under which it proposes to expand airport capacity in the country by more
than five times to handle a billion trips a year.
The three key aspects of NABH Nirman are (1) fair and equitable land
acquisition, (2) long-term master plan for airport and regional development
and (3) balanced economics for all stakeholders.
In the last three years, domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18% a
year and the airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft. NABH
Nirman could take the number of airports in India to 700 from about 125
airports today.
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Madya Pradesh gets India’s
first smart cities control centre
Madhya Pradesh government
launched the country’s first Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for
all seven smart cities of the state in Bhopal.
- Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna,
and Sagar are the seven smart cities under SCM in Madhya Pradesh.
- They also inaugurated the first “Apex Conference for
the CEOs” of smart cities. The 77 CEO’s will attend the seminar.
1 lakh incentive to SC, ST
students in Bihar
Bihar Cabinet announced an Rs1 lakh
encouragement incentive for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe students who clear
the UPSC preliminary test.
- The Cabinet also decided to provide Rs1,000 to each
SC/ST student as hostel incentive and free supply of 15 kg foodgrain to
the hostels.
- The Cabinet approved the decision to give Rs1 lakh
and Rs 50,000 as encouragement incentive to those SC/ST students who clear
the UPSC and the BPSC tests
Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission approves modern animal-free testing for drugs
In a step that would spare animals from suffering due to drug experiments,
the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has approved modern, animal-free tests for
drug manufacturers.
- In its latest guidelines on tests for drugs
manufactured and marketed in India, the IPC has replaced the pyrogen test
carried out on rabbits and the abnormal toxicity test carried out on
guinea pigs and mice with tests that can be done in test tubes.
- With the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission’s new
mandate, the pyrogen test will be replaced by a bacterial endotoxin test
or a monocyte activation test which can be carried out in test tubes.
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
India has been pushing for doing away with the cruel methods of testing on
animals for the past several years.
Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) is an Autonomous Institution of the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. IPC is created to set standards of
drugs in the country. It’s basic function is to update regularly the
standards of drugs commonly required for treatment of diseases prevailing in
this region. It publishes official documents for improving Quality of
Medicines by way of adding new and updating existing monographs in the form
of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). It further promotes rational use of generic
medicines by publishing National Formulary of India.
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India signs USD200 million
loan deal with World Bank for National Nutrition Mission
India has signed a loan deal
worth $ 200 million with the World Bank for the National Nutrition
Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan).
- The loan would help India in achieving its goal of
reducing stunting in children 0-6 years of age from 38.4% to 25%
by the year 2022.
- A large component of POSHAN Abhiyaan involves
gradual scaling-up of the interventions supported by the ongoing World
Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems
Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all
districts in the country over a 3-year period.
The POSHAN (PM’s
Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan was launched on International Women’s day (March 8) 2018 at
Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan to boost nutrition among
children and women.
Other Targets:
Prevent and reduce stunting in children (0-6years): By 6% @ 2% p.a.
Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children
(0-6 years): By 6% @ 2% p.a.
Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59 months): By 9%
@ 3% p.a.
Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the
age group of 15-49 years: By 9% @ 3% p.a.
Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW): By 6% @ 2% p.a.
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NSIC inks MoU with MSME
ministry for FY 2018-19
The National Small Industries
Corporation Limited (NSIC) signed an MoU with Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for the year 2018-19.
- The MoU envisages provision of enhanced services by
NSIC under its marketing, financial, technology and other support services
schemes, for MSMEs in the country.
- The corporation projects to increase its total
business by 21.30% from Rs. 22,258 crore in the year 2017-18 to Rs. 27,000
crore in the year 2018-19.
NITI Aayog, Google sign
SoI to help grow AI ecosystem in India
Aiming to foster growth for
India’s nascent Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine
Learning (ML) ecosystem, NITI Aayog and Google have signed a
Statement of Intent (SoI) to work on a range of initiatives to help build the AI
ecosystem across the country.
- The NITI Aayog has been entrusted to set up a
national programme to conduct research and development in frontier
technologies such as AI.
- Under the program, Google and NITI Aayog will work
on the following initiatives:
- Organise trainings for relevant government
functionaries to introduce them to open source AI tools with the goal of
enabling more effective governance.
- Awarding grants and scholarships to researchers,
scholars and university faculty conducting cutting edge research in the
field of AI/ML in India.
Artificial Intelligence comes from computer systems that have been
programmed to — or have learnt to — do tasks that would otherwise require
human intelligence. Many apps and software are already making mundane work
easier by doing a certain part of it for us, based on acquired intelligence.
Automation threatens 69% of the jobs in India, while its 77% in China,
according to a World Bank research. The transition is expected to happen in a
decade, according to experts. Therefore, if automation is not planned well
and addressed holistically, it is a disaster in the making.
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China launches new satellite Gaofen-5 to
monitor air pollution
China successfully launched Gaofen-5, a
hyper-spectral imaging satellite, as part of the country’s high- resolution
Earth observation project.
- The Gaofen-5 satellite was launched off the
back of a Long March 4C rocketfrom the
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in northern Shanxi Province.
- The satellite, launched as part of its
high-resolution Earth observation project, was developed and produced
by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporationcan be used for comprehensive environmental
monitoring.
- It can dynamically reflect the state of air
pollution in China through the monitoring of air pollutants, greenhouse
gases, and aerosols and it can detect inland water, land surface
environment and altered minerals, providing reliable data for China’s
environmental monitoring, resource exploration and disaster prevention and
mitigation.
- It is the 274th flight
mission by a Long March carrier rocket and has a designed life of eight
years.
- It is the world’s first full-spectrum
hyperspectralsatellite for comprehensive observation of the atmosphere and
the land.
US, Philippines launch
largest military drills under Rodrigo Duterte
USA and Philippine forces
have begun their largest annual military exercises under President Rodrigo
Duterte.
- It will scale down America’s military presence and
involvement in combat drills as he sought closer ties with China and
Russia.
- The Balikatan exercises opened and were to involve
combat drills in mock urban settings to train special forces in battling
terrorists.
Balikatan is the name for the annual
military exercises between the Philippines and the United States. It is a
Tagalog word meaning "shoulder-to-shoulder". Australian armed forces
have participated in Balikatan exercises annually since 2014. Australia has a
visiting forces agreement, a type of a status of forces agreement, with the
Philippines called Philippines–Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement.
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US pulls out from Iran
nuclear deal
World powers involved in the
Iran nuclear agreement expressed regret at President Donald Trump’s
decision to pull the US out of the landmark pact.
- Signatories to the 2015 deal to curb the Islamic
republic’s nuclear ambitions urged Trump not to fundamentally undermine
the UN Security Council.
- Asked whether the move might heighten tensions in
the Middle East, he responded with one word to reporters at UN
headquarters.
Iran agreed to rein in its nuclear
programme in a 2015 deal struck with the US, UK, Russia, China, France and
Germany. Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) Tehran agreed
to significantly cut its stores of centrifuges, enriched uranium and
heavy-water, all key components for nuclear weapons.
It had been hit with devastating
economic sanctions by the United Nations, United States and the European
Union that are estimated to have cost it tens of billions of pounds a year in
lost oil export revenues. Billions in overseas assets had also been frozen.
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Australia pledges
US$34-million to help save the koala
Australia unveiled a
US$34-million plan to help bring its koala population back from the brink,
following a rapid decline in the furry marsupial’s fortunes.
- The Australian Koala Foundation estimates there may
be as few as 43,000 koalas left in the wild, down from a population
believed to number more than 10 million prior to European settlement of
the continent in 1788.
L&T, BrahMos unveil
naval launcher
Larsen & Toubro
(L&T) and BrahMos Aerospace have unveiled a new quad
launcher prototype.
- The new prototype provides superior firepower
compared to the twin canister. It has the capability to launch four
missiles in a single or salvo (simultaneous) mode.
- Besides, the quad launcher is suitable for warships
which have space constraints to accommodate a vertical launch module.
New sheep insemination technique at Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute
Scientists at the Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute (CSWRI),
Avikanagar, have come up with a new laparascope-assisted insemination technique
for sheep.
The minor invasive laparascopic technique involves passing a rigid
fibre-optic laparoscope into the abdomen through a small incision.
- The reproductive tract is located through camera and
the frozen semen is deposited into the uterus.
- It has resolved the difficulties involved in
freezing of semen and inability to transit the tortuous reproductive tract
of the ruminant mammals kept as livestock. It would be of great help in
the breed improvement programmes.
- The new technique would help achieve up to 60% survival
in the birth of lambs and would have an immense potential for rapid
multiplication of elite germplasm. As many as 40 females can be
inseminated from a single ejaculate using the technique.
ISRO develops Atomic clock
for indigenousn satellites
The Indian Space Research
Organization has developed an atomic clock to be used in navigation
satellites. It is supposed to measure precise location data.
- Once it successfully clears all tests, the desi
atomic clock will be used in an experimental navigation satellite to test
its accuracy and durability in space.
- At present, ISRO imports atomic clocks
from European aerospace manufacturer Astrium (EAMA) for its
navigation satellites.
Scientists identify key
peptide to develop a vaccine for leptospirosis
Researchers from Gujarat
Biotechnology Research Centre, Gandhinagar successfully identified key peptide
that can be used to develop a new preventive vaccine against leptospirosis.
- Researchers had identified peptide sequences that
could bind to vaccine for long-lasting immune response.
- The researchers had used bioinformatics
(computational biology analysis) approach to study whole protein set of
bacteria Leptospira interrogans key peptide and narrowed search down to
one effective immunogenic protein.
- Leptospirosis is an emerging tropical infectious
bacterial disease that affects humans and animals.
- It caused by corkscrew-shaped bacteria called
Leptospira.
Google aims to revive its
IoT platform
Google launched a spinoff of
its Android operating system for home appliances and other machines.
- “Android Things”, which arrives as Google opens
its annual conference for developers, could bring its Google
Assistant virtual helper to refrigerators and robots.
- The goal is to enable them to be built faster,
cheaper and more secure.
Walmart acquires Flipkart for $16 billion,
world’s largest ecommerce deal
Walmart Inc will acquire a 77 percent holding in Flipkart Group for $16 billion. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other shareholders will hold the remaining shares.
Walmart Inc will acquire a 77 percent holding in Flipkart Group for $16 billion. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other shareholders will hold the remaining shares.
- Japan’s Softbank will exit Flipkart by selling
entire 20 per cent stake to Walmart. Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal
will exit Flipkart by selling his 5.5 % stake to Walmart.
- This is said to be the largest-ever deal in
e-commerce. It is said that, Flipkart will maintain a separate brand and
operating structure.
India ranks 4th in
Asia-Pacific on Power index
India has ranked fourth out
of 25 nations in the Asia-Pacific region on an index that
measures their overall power.
- The US has topped the list. India has been
pegged as a “giant of the future”.
- India is ranked fourth on the parameters economic
resources, military capability, diplomatic influence and fifth on
resilience.
The Lowy Institute Asia
Power Index measures power across 25 countries and territories in the
Asia-Pacific region, reaching as far west as Pakistan, as far north as
Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New Zealand and the US.
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Beijing to hold World Robot Conference 2018
2018 World Robot
Conference will be held in Beijing from 15th to 19th August
2018. More
than 12,000 teams and 50,000 participants from over 10 countries and regions
will participate in the conference.
- A robot competition will be conducted during the
conference. Participants will compete in five categories in this
competition.
- This conference will enhance passion and innovation
in the robot industry and help to improve research and development.
Vibrant North East 2018
held in Guwahati
The fourth edition of
‘Vibrant North East 2018’ has been started in Guwahati, Assam in which people
would be made aware of central government’s schemes and programmes.
- It is organised by Delhi-based NGO, Centre for
Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) and is supported by the North
Eastern Council, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Home
Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and All India Farmers Alliance.
1st apex conference for
CEOs of smart cities in Bhopal inaugurated
Mr Hardeep Puri, Minister of
State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs inaugurated the 'First
Apex Conference for the CEOs of Smart Cities' in Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh.
- Since its launch in June 2015, the Smart Cities
Mission (SCM), has been one of the most transformational urban
missions.
- The two-day conference is being organised for
providing a platform for cross-learning and knowledge sharing among the
Smart City CEOs.
3rd edition of UNPCAP
inaugurated in New Delhi
The third edition of the United Nations Peacekeeping Course for African
Partners (UNPCAP) is being held in New Delhi.
- The course is aimed to build and enhance the
capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN and to
further train the trainers from these countries.
- The course is conducted by the Centre for United
Nations Peacekeeping in India (CUNPK) in partnership with the US, the
Indian Army said in a statement.
The first and second editions of the course were held in New Delhi in
2016 and 2017, respectively.
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India to host 15th Asia
Media Summit
India would be
hosting the 15th Asia Media Summit (AMS-2018) in New Delhi. The
theme of this summit is “Telling our Stories - Asia and More”.
- The summit mainly aims to provide a unique
opportunity to the broadcasters in Asia to share their thoughts on broadcasting
and information. The annual summit will be organised by Asia-Pacific
Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) in collaboration with
its partners and international organisations.
- It is being hosted by the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting, Government of India, jointly with the Indian Institute
of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi and Broadcast Engineering
Consultants India Limited (BECIL).
AMS Summit is an annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Institute for
Broadcasting Development (AIBD) Kuala Lumpur. The
Summit would encourage regional and bilateral dialogue and cooperation to
respond to challenges to the broadcasting sector in the region. The
Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) was established in
1977 under the auspices of UNESCO. It is hosted by the Government of Malaysia
and the secretariat is located in Kuala Lumpur.
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Nikol Pashinyan becomes
Prime Minister of Armenia
Armenia’s parliament elected Nikol
Pashinyan as new Prime Minister in a 59-42 vote. His election comes after Serzh
Sargsyan’s resignation as Prime minister of Armenia recently.
- Nikol Pashinyan is 42 years old. He is the leader of
Civil Contract party. He is a former newspaper editor.
Cabinet secretary PK Sinha
gets another one-year extension
Cabinet secretary Pradeep
Kumar Sinha has got another one-year extension as the country’s top bureaucrat.
- Sinha will continue as cabinet secretary till June
12, 2019, as against his current retirement date of June 12 this year.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC),
headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the extension, said an
order by the ministry of personnel.
- Sinha, a 1977 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, had
been first named as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term in May
2015, before which he was serving as power secretary.
New York Attorney general
Eric Schneiderman resigns
New York Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman announced that he would be resigning from office hours
after four women accused him of physical violence.
- He had taken on
high-profile roles as an advocate for women’s issues and an antagonist to
the policies of President Donald Trump.
Ajinkya Rahane to lead
against Afghanistan
Rahane to lead Team India in
the one-off Test against debutants Afghanistan in Bengaluru
- Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur also included for the
Test starting June 14
- Ambati Rayudu was the replacement for the Kedar
Jadhav for England ODI series
