Daily Current affairs - July 20th, 2018 for all competitive exams
Nelson
Mandela International Day 2018 marks 100 years since the birth of Nelson
Mandela (18 July 1918).
- Nelson
Mandela International Day is a global event held annually to honor former
South African president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
The first Mandela Day was held on Mandela’s 91st birthday on July 18,
2009 to promote volunteering and community service, being
marked worldwide with community service events, art exhibits, fundraisers and
a concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The United
Nations soon took interest and supported the idea of a global day honoring
Mandela, declaring in November 2009 the marking of July 18 as Nelson Mandela
International Day.
|
Loksabha passed Fugitive economic offenders bill
The Lok Sabha
has passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, which aims to deter fugitive
economic offenders from evading the legal process by fleeing the country and
remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
- The
Bill aims to curb the practice of evading the criminal prosecution by the economic offenders who flee from the country to
stay out of the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
- The
Bill will give the right to the government to confiscate the property of such economic offenders in India and abroad. The
Bill will also be applicable on the proxy-owned properties of the economic
offenders.
- The
Bill defines the economic offenders as those against
whom a legal warrant has been issued, but they refuse to adhere to the
summons of the legal authorities.
- The
Bill is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the
fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to
face trial for scheduled offences.
A Fugitive
Economic Offender is a person who has an arrest warrant issued in respect of
a scheduled offence and who leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal
prosecution, or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
|
Rajyasabha passed Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) bill, 2013
The Rajya
Sabha has passed the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013. The Bill
seeks to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
- The
Bill introduces the offence of ‘giving a bribe’ as a direct offence.
However, a person who is compelled to give a bribe will not be charged
with the offence if he reports the matter to law enforcement authorities
within seven days.
- The
Bill redefines the provisions related to criminal misconduct to only cover
two types of offences: (i) fraudulent misappropriation of property; and
(ii) illicit enrichment (such as amassing of assets disproportionate to
one’s known sources of income).
- As
per the Bill, trial by special judge should be completed within two years.
If not, reasons for the delay must be recorded, for every six months of
extension of time obtained. However, the total period for completion of
trial may not exceed four years.
- The
amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was necessitated from
the obligation of India to review the existing provisions of the Act so as
to bring it in line with the United Nations Convention against Corruption
(UNCAC).
Ministry of
Human Resource Development announced ‘Padhe Bharat- Badhe Bharat’an initiative under Samagra Shiksha Scheme
Ministry of
Human Resource Development (MHRD) has announced ‘Padhe Bharat- Badhe Bharat’an initiative to promote reading culture among students. The
initiative has been launched under ‘Samagra Shiksha’.
- Under
this initiative, government will give an annual library grant to schools
to allow students widen their ambit of learning.
- The
grant will be given to Primary to Senior Secondary levels and will vary
between Rs. 5000 and Rs. 20000.
‘Samagra
Shiksha’ is an overarching programme for school education extending from Primary till class 12. The programme was introduced in the Union Budget 2018-19 with
the aim to treat school education holistically without segmentation of
primary and secondary education.
This programme subsumes the three erstwhile
Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher
Education (TE).
It envisages
the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary,
secondary to senior secondary levels.
|
National Mission for Clean Ganga organized Ganga Vriksharopan
Abhiyan
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) recently
organised the ‘Ganga Vriksharopan Abhiyan’ in five main Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West
Bengal.
- The
State Forest Departments of these five states acted as the Nodal Agencies
for the smooth and effective execution of the campaign.
- The
campaign was initiated as part of the Forest Interventions in Ganga (FIG)
component of Namami Gange Programme.
- It
was aimed at bringing greater awareness among people and other
stakeholders regarding the importance of afforestation for the task of
Ganga Rejuvenation.
- As
part of the campaign, schools, colleges and departments were requested to
“Adopt a Plant” for turning this campaign into a people’s movement.
Chhattisgarh launches 'Abhar Aapki Sewa Ka' app
for Pensioners
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman
Singh announced a Chhattisgarh Online Pension Management System
(OPMS).
- E-payment
to e-procurement to provide internet to every village has been done. It is
under e-governance, fulfilling the dream of Digital India plan of India
and Digital Chhattisgarh.
- The
Chhattisgarh OPMS has launched an app
called “Abhar aapki sewa ka”.
- Through
this application, 80,000 pensioners of the state will now get all the
information related to pension and payment online.
India, Ghana ink 2 MoUs
India and Ghana signed two agreements in an
effort to enhance the bilateral cooperation between the two
countries.
- Ministry
of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh
Kumar announced that two MOUs on Cultural Exchange Programme and
on cooperation between Bureau of Indian Standards and Ghana Standards
Authority were signed.
Hungary to withdraw from UN migration pact
Hungary will withdraw from the “Global Compact
for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” agreement which force countries to
shelter migrants and it will be adopted in December, 2018.
- The
US withdrew from the pact last year.
- The
global pact lays out 23 objectives to open up legal migration and better
manage the influx as the number of people on the move worldwide has
increased to 250 million, or 3 per cent of the world's population.
Newest phase in Earth’s history named after Meghalaya rock
Scientists
have created a new phase in Earth’s geological history and named it Meghalayan, after a
stalagmite from a cave in the Indian state of Meghalaya that
helped define climatic events 4,200 years ago, marking the beginning of the
phase that continues till today.
- The
Meghalayan Age began with a mega global drought that devastated ancient
agricultural civilisations from Egypt to China. It is part of a longer
period known as the Holocene Epoch, which reflects everything that has
happened over the past 11,700 years.
- Evidence
of the climatic event has been found in sediments on all seven continents,
including those from Meghalaya.
- The
Meghalayan is unique because it is the first interval in Earth’s
geological history that coincided with a major cultural event, as
agricultural societies struggled to recover from the shift in climate.
- The
droughts over a 200-year period resulted in human migrations in Egypt, Greece,
Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Indus valley and the Yangtze river
valley.
The IUGS is
an international non-governmental organization devoted to international
cooperation in the field of geology. It is a Scientific Union member of the
International Council for Science (ICSU), which it recognizes as the
coordinating body for the international organization of science. IUGS
promotes and encourages the study of geological problems, especially those of
worldwide significance, and supports and facilitates international and
interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences. IUGS is a joint partner
with UNESCO for the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) and they also
participate in the Global Network of National Geoparks (GGN).
|
Infosys foundation, Bangalore Metro sign MoU
for constructing station
Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of IT
major, Infosys, signed an MoU with the Bangalore Metro Rail
Corporation Limited (BMRCL) for the construction of a station at Konappana
Agrahara in Electronics City.
- The
station is under the second phase of Bangalore Metro's expansion plans and
the Foundation has committed to maintaining it for the next 30
years.
Google fined $5 Billion by EU in Android
antitrust case
The European Union (EU) regulators slapped
Alphabet-owned Google with a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) antitrust
fine for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.
- According
to the EU, Google’s parent company favoured its own services by forcing
smartphone makers to pre-install Google apps Chrome and Search in a bundle
with its app store.
Centre forms panel to tackle industrial
pollution near Taj Mahal
The government has formed a committee comprising
officials of the environment ministry, experts from NEERI, IITs and various
other forums to look into the issue of industrial pollution around the iconic
Taj Mahal.
- The
committee will be headed by C K Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
India’s first government sponsored ‘Transgender
Poets’ meet held in Kolkata
India’s first government sponsored ‘Transgender
Poets’ meet held in Kolkata
- This
Meet was chaired by India’s first transgender college principal Manabi
Bandopadhyay, who read out several of her own poems at the
two-and-a-half-hour event organised by the Sahitya Akademi.
India and Japan hold 4th round of Maritime
affairs dialogue
India and Japan held the fourth round
of Maritime Affairs Dialogue in New Delhi. During the dialogue, key issues
related to the Indo-Pacific region and maritime securities were
discussed.
- The
Indian delegation at the dialogue was led by Pankaj Sharma, Joint
Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs) in the External
Affairs Ministry, while the Japanese side was led by Ambassador
Kansuke Nagaoka, Policy Planning and International Security Policy in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2+2 dialogue between India and US to
be held in New Delhi
US State Department has announced that the
inaugural ‘two-plus-two dialogue’ between India and the United
States will be held in New Delhi in September 2018.
Recently, the US had postponed the dialogue due
to ‘unavoidable reasons’.
- Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis will travel
to India for the dialogue with External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
IAF participation in Exercise Pitch Black 2018
The Indian Air Force for the first time is
participating with fighter aircraft in Exercise Pitch Black 2018 (PB-18), which
is scheduled from 24 Jul 18 to 18 Aug 18 in Australia.
- Pitch
Black is a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise
hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial warfare
exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The exercise is normally
held in Northern Australia, primarily at RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal. The
aim of the exercise is to practice Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive
Counter Air (DCA) combat, in a simulated war environment. It traditionally
consists of a 'red team' and a 'blue team' based at separate locations, with
one attacking the other.
|
NABARD award for Repco Micro Finance
Repco Micro Finance Ltd, a non-banking
finance company promoted by Repco Bank, received Nabard 2018
award for its service to self-help group (SHG) linkage in Tamil
Nadu for the fiscal year 2017-18.
- Since
its inception, the NBFC has disbursed loans amounting to Rs2,500 crore to
over 10 lakh beneficiaries through 50,000 SHGs.
Renowned poet Gopal Das Neeraj passes away
Hindi poet Gopal Das Neeraj passed away in
New Delhi after a prolonged illness. He was 94. His famous poetic works
include Asawari, Lahar Pukare and Paran Geet.
- He
won 3 Filmfare awards and penned some of the all-time hits like Likhe
jo khat tujhe. He was conferred with Padma Shri in 1991 and
Padma Bhushan in 2007.
OMC becomes official partner for Hockey Mens
World Cup 2018
Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) is announced to
be the official partner for the Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 which is scheduled
to be held from November 28 to December 16 at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
- OMC
signed the agreement to come on board for the quadrennial event to
continue their efforts of promoting development throughout the state of
Odisha and to help promote the sport.
- The
Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2018 will be the 14th edition of the biggest
tournament in Men's Hockey and it will be the third time when India hosts
the event. A total of sixteen nations will take part in the tournament
which will see each team play three matches during the league stage over
twelve days. Later four cross-over matches will take place on December 10,
11.
