Daily Current Affairs for 13th & 14th Dec 2017 ( English)
1. Railways E-Procurement
System (IREPS), an online bill tracking system for vendors and contractors was
introduced by the Union Ministry of Railways. The
vendor or contractor need to register with online IT platform developed. The
registration will enable vendor or agencies to see their bill status with dates
through various stages of processing of bills, stages at which it is lying,
amount for which it is passed and other details. It aims to enhance
transparency in the processing and settlement of bills by increasing use of
information technology.
2.
Rajasthan became the first state in India to launch free email
addresses in Hindi for its residents. The facility
will be available at name@rajasthan.bharat (in Devanagari script). This
initiative is small part of ‘Rajasthan DigiKit. The first e-mail ID from this
initiative was created by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje with id casundhara@rajasthan.bharat
(in Devnagari). This initiative aims to
ensure maximum participation of people towards e-governance and ensure that
maximum government facilities are available in vernacular language.
3.
US $250 million loan agreement with World Bank for “Skills Acquisition and
Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion” (SANKALP) Project to support was
signed by the Union government. It is aimed at institutional reforms and
improving quality & market relevance of skill development training programs
in long and short term Vocational Education and Training (VET). World Bank’s
financing arm International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will
provide this loan. The closing date for the project is 31 March 2023.
4.
A MoU was signed between Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for facilitating the supply of sand
for highways construction work. Under this
MoU, DCI intends will do dredging operations at locations in South East Asia
and generate large volumes of sand. NHAI will facilitate process by displaying
availability of sand at various stockyards at ports. DCI is Indian Government
Miniratna undertaking engaged in business of dredging. It was established in
1976 and reports to the Ministry of Shipping. It is headquartered at
Visakhapatnam and has project offices at many seaports in India.
5.
India ranked 109th out of 122 countries in the mobile internet
speed and 76th out of 133 countries in broadband space in the November 2017 Speedtest
Global Index (SGI). The index was released by
popular internet speed testing service provider Ookla. The mobile network and
broadband speeds are calculated based on every speed test done by user on Ookla
app in every country. Mobile Internet Speed: Top 5 fastest mobile network
countries: Norway (average speed of 62.66Mbps), Netherlands (53.01Mbps),
Iceland (52.78Mbps), Singapore (51.50Mbps) and Malta (50.46 Mbps). Home
broadband speed: Top 5 fastest Home broadband Countries: Singapore
(153.85Mbps), Iceland (147.51Mbps), Hong Kong (133.94Mbps), South Korea
(127.45Mbps) and Romania (104.46Mbps)
6. The 3rd Annual
Meeting of
the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will host
by India in Mumbai, Maharashtra in June 2018. The theme of the annual
meeting is “Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and
Collaboration”. In this regard, Union Government and AIIB Secretariat have
signed MoU to delineate duties and responsibilities of major stakeholders who
would be involved in organizing the aforesaid Annual Meeting. India is one of
the founding members of AIIB and 2nd largest shareholder in AIIB followed by
Russia. It was founded in October, 2014 and became operational in January 2016
with head quarters in Beijing.
7.
Sri Lanka’s southern strategic port of Hambantota was formally
handed over to China on 99-year lease. Hambantota
port is strategically located right in middle of vital energy supply lines in
Indian Ocean, connecting Middle East and East Asia. It had gained strategic
significance after Sri Lankan government had decided to build massive deep-sea
port and airport with huge Chinese loans. The 99-year lease deal had fanned
concerns of countries with competing strategic interests with China,
particularly India and US. Two Chinese firms managed by China Merchants Port
Holdings Company (CMPort) and Sri Lanka Ports Authority will own port and the
investment zone around it.
8.
India is planning to hold talks with Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to extend India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) highway
up to Vietnam. The 1,360 km long IMT highway
from Moreh in India to Mae-Sot in Thailand can be extended to Vietnam via Laos
and Cambodia as per proposals from India. The India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral
Highway is highway under construction under India’s Act East policy that will
connect Moreh, India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar. The highway is
expected to boost trade and commerce in ASEAN–India Free Trade Area, as well as
with rest of Southeast Asia.
9.
Safe City Surveillance Scheme for checking crime against women
was launched by the Bihar Government. It has
specially launched for checking crime against women, such as harassment,
eve-teasing and molestation, snatching incidents and roadside scuffles etc. It
will also help in keeping a track of miscreants. The scheme will bring all
major public places under the watch of CCTV cameras.
10.
The first ‘2+2 dialogue’ between India and Australia held in New Delhi and
highlighted need to maintain Asia-Pacific region as a “free” and “open” zone.
It was first meeting of this level since the two sides participated in
quadrilateral discussion between India, United States, Australia and Japan in Manila
in November 2017 for new strategic partnership targeting the Asia-Pacific
region. In the 2+2 dialogue, all aspects of bilateral relations with focus on
strategic and defence relations between two countries were reviewed.
11.
The 7th International Ground Water Conference (IGWC-2017) from
December 11 to 13, 2017 was hosted by India in New Delhi with the theme “Ground
water Vision 2030- Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation”. The conference took stock of present status and challenges of
Groundwater management in the country under the changing water use and climatic
scenario is getting worse day by day. The conference was organized by National
Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)
under aegis of Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga
Rejuvenation. The delegates from 15 countries participated in the conference
and 250 research papers were presented, including 32 Keynote papers.
12.
India’s first Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) has been
designed and developed for providing facilities and amenities for manufacturing
mobiles and allied products will be set up in Andhra Pradesh. In 2015, Andhra Pradesh Government had announced first
exclusive mobile and electronic manufacturing cluster in the new capital city
Amaravati. For this purpose, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Sri
Venkateswara Mobiles and Electronics Manufacturing Hub Private Limited was
formed. State Government had allotted 113.27 acres of land for new cluster,
through Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC). Three
major Indian mobile manufacturers – Celkon, Karbonn and Lava have come forward
to establish their units in EMC. Besides, an anchor unit has been formed in
name of Seven Hills Digital Park Private Limited (SHDPPL) for three companies.
13.
The first NIC-CERT, a setup of National Informatics Centre (NIC)
to prevent and predict cyber-attacks on government utilities was launched by the
Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in New Delhi as part of Digital India
Initiative. The NIC-CERT will monitor and help in early detection and
mitigation of cyberattacks on government networks.
14.
‘LaQshya’ Initiative and mHealth: Safe Delivery Application on the occasion
of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day was launched by the Union Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare. UHC aims at ensuring equitable access for all to
affordable, accountable, appropriate health services of assured quality. Laqshya-
A Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative is safe delivery mobile
application for health workers who manage normal and complicated deliveries in
the peripheral area. UHC Day is observed every year on 12 December to
commemorate first unanimous United Nations resolution calling for countries to
provide affordable, quality health care to every person, everywhere.
15.Khelo India programme for
period 2017-18 to 2019-20 at cost of Rs 1756 crore is going to launch by the
Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The programme aims
at mainstreaming sports as tool for individual development, community
development, economic development and national development. It was announced by
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Rajyavardhan Rathore
while addressing Yuva Sambardhana Utsav organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan, at KIIT Campus, Bhubaneswar. He also announced that year 2018 will
be celebrated as the Year of Sports.
Announcement !
கருத்துரையிடுக
கருத்துரையிடுக