Daily Current affairs from 19th to 21st Jan 2018 (English)

2.       2018 to be observed as National Year of Millets to boost production of the nutrient-rich millets. Earlier in November 2017, India had forwarded proposal to United Nations (UN) for declaring year 2018 as ‘International Year of Millets’. 

3.       Maharashtra Government has approved 1% reservation for orphans in government jobs and education for orphans in the state under general category.

4.        Maharashtra became first state in country to unveil Public Cloud Policy that virtually mandates state government departments to shift their data storage onto cloud. The policy will result in additional private sector investments worth US $2 billion for cloud industry as government is one of biggest creators and consumers of data. It will aim to generate 5 lakh jobs in next five years.

5.       Drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed retail price for 30 drug formulations, including those used for treatment of diabetes, bacterial infections and high blood pressure. The prices were fixed/revised under Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013.

6.       Cyber Warrior Police Force (CWPF) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is decided to set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to tackle internet-related crimes such as cyber threats, child pornography and online stalking.

7.       India announced setting up of $350 million Solar Development Fund for financing solar projects under the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at first ever ISA outreach programmes ‘International Solar Alliance Forum’ held in Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2018.

8.       India’s first automatic Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) will be commissioned by March 2018 in Odisha. The EWDS is a first-of-its-kind automatic public address system in the country. The project is being implemented under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project with World Bank’s help. The project aims to establish fool-proof communication system to address existing gaps in disseminating disaster warning up to community level.

9.       Maharashtra Government has approved Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Yojna to promote climate-resilient agriculture. It will be roll out in 2018-19 and continue till 2023-24. The scheme will be implemented in 5,142 villages across 15 districts. Its objectives are to improve soil quality, develop foodgrain varieties which can sustain climate variations and effect necessary changes in the crop pattern as per the availability of water in a particular region. The Scheme has been named after social activist Nanaji Deshmukh who has worked in fields of education, health, and rural self-reliance, and has been honoured with Padma Vibhushan.

10.   The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) launched in 2016 to ensure comprehensive and quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women across country has crossed one crore mark in antenatal check-ups. It has provided quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women on the 9th of every month. Maharashtra has reported largest number of check-ups among non-empowered action group states and Rajasthan has reported largest number of check-ups among the empowered action group states.

11.   Liveability index was launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs (MoHUA) to rate 116 Indian cities. It will assess cities on comprehensive set of 79 parameters. These 79 parameters (57 core indicators and 22 supporting indicators) are based on four broad pillars: physical (weightage 45%), institutional (25%), Social (25%) and economic (5%).

12.   The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has launched National CSR Data Portal & Corporate Data Portal for bringing accountability and transparency for corporate India.

13.   A new batch of 9 smart cities under Smart City Mission was announced by the Union Minister of Housing and Urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. With the addition of these 9 smart cities in the fourth round, the total cities picked up under Smart City Mission have reached 99. The nine cities include three from Uttar Pradesh –Moradabad, Bareilly and Saharanpur, Bihar Sharif (Bihar), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Havelli), Erode(Tamil Nadu), Daman and Diu, Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshadweep). Under the scheme, each city will get Rs.500 crore (Rs. 100 crore per year) from the Centre for implementing various projects.

14.   Website Accessibility Project to make 100 websites various State Governments/UTs accessible to persons with disabilities (Divyangjans) under Accessible India Campaign was launched by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot on the occasion of ‘National Conference on Improving Accessibility’.

15.   President Ram Nath Kovind on the recommendation of Election Commission of India (ECI) has disqualified 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs from Delhi, citing that they held offices of profit. In 2016, the ECI had issued show cause notices to 27 AAP MLAs from Delhi who held offices as parliamentary secretaries, after petition was filed seeking their disqualification.

16.   The 10th edition of Global Forum for Food & Agriculture was held in Berlin, Germany from 18th -20th January 2018. The theme of this year’s event is “Shaping the future of livestock – sustainably, responsibly, efficiently”.

17.   China has constructed Xian smog tower, an experimental air purifying tower touted to be the world’s biggest at height of over 100 meters (328 feet) in an attempt to fight air pollution.

18.   India has joined the Australian Group export control regime, an informal forum that seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons. India is the first South Asian nation to become its full-time member.

19.   Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel was appointed as Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

20.   Senior IPS officer Sudeep Lakhtakia was appointed as new Director General of National Security Guard (NSG).

21.   President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Election commissioner Om Prakash Rawat (64) as new Chief Election Commissioner. He will succeed Achal Kumar Joti who has retired from post. President also appointed former finance secretary Ashok Lavasa as Election commissioner. Both will have tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

22.   A group of archaeologists has discovered the world’s biggest flooded cave in Mexico. The researchers connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believe to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet. This discovery could shed light on the ancient Maya civilization.

23.   The book titled ‘The Heartfulness Way ‘ authored by Kamlesh Patel.

24.   WhatsApp has launched ‘business’ app to help small enterprises to connect efficiently with their customers. It has been used for Android systems. It has been released in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the UK and the US.

25.   Mauritius was largest source of foreign investment (FDI) in India according to Census on Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Indian Direct Investment Companies 2016-17 released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

26.   India’s first BS-VI-compliant S Class car has unveiled by German auto major Mercedes-Benz at its Pune facility. The BS-VI-compliant S Class car was unveiled more than two years ahead of Government’s deadline of April 2020 for switching to new BS-VI emission norms. BS-VI-compliant S Class can run on BS-IV fuel, which will bring down NOx emissions by 68% and PM by 82%. This will lower the CO2 burden by 13% and fuel demand by 10%. The Union Government in October 2016 had decided to skip one stage and migrate to BS-VI directly from BS-IV from April 2020 to fight the growing pollution. At present, all new vehicles being registered are BS- IV-emission compliant. By switching to BS-VI, India will join league of US, Japan and European Union, which follow Euro Stage VI emission norms.

27.   Agni-5-Indigenously developed long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile was successfully test fired from Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island, Odisha.

28.   TRAI has recommended allowing mobile telephony and Internet services for passengers during air travel in country through both satellite and terrestrial network. The MCA services should be permitted with minimum 3000 meters height restriction in Indian airspace for its compatibility with terrestrial mobile networks.

29.   Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative to strengthen cyber security ecosystem in India in line Government’s vision for a ‘Digital India’ was launched in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cyber security.