National:
1. The 16th International
Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting from 10-12th April 2018 was hosted by
India in New Delhi. This is second time India
hosting IEF Ministerial meeting. It had earlier hosted 5th IEF Ministerial in
1996 at Goa.This was inaugurated by PM Modi with the theme of 2018 was “The
Future of Global Energy Security: Transition, Technology, Trade and Investment”.
It was attended by Petroleum Ministers from 42 countries and was co-hosted by
China and South Korea. It was aimed to improve policy and investment decisions,
and through increased knowledge and experience sharing. The IEF is an inter-governmental
arrangement set up in 1991 and based (Secretariat) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The
IEF Ministerial Meetings are held biennially and is world’s largest gathering
of Energy Ministers who engage in dialogue on global energy issues.
2. The National Institute of
Wind Energy (NIWE) under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued
Expression of Interest (EoI) for first offshore wind energy project of India. The proposed area first offshore wind energy project is located
23-40 km seaward side from Pipavav port in Gujarat. MNRE is plannning to
install at least 5 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2022. Under it, Chennai
based NIWE was designated nodal agency to carry out necessary studies and
surveys before final bidding of offshore wind project sites. NIWE has
identified areas off coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for development of
offshore wind power. It had had installed first offshore LiDAR in Gulf of
Khambhat for measurement of wind resource and is collecting wind speed data
from November 2017. It will install second LiDAR off Tamil Nadu coast by
September, 2018.
3. A MoU was signed between India
and Morocco in the field of Mining and Geology for a period of 5 years to promote
mineral exploration in New Delhi after the bilateral discussions between Mines
Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and his Moroccan counterpart Aziz Rabbah. The focus of MoU is on development of geological infrastructure
for Geo science Maps and geochemical maps, strengthening geological research
and evaluation of potential of mineral resources. Geological Survey of India
(GSI) will assist Morocco in geological mapping and mineral exploration.
4. The signing of Host
country (Headquarters) agreement between India and International Solar Alliance
(ISA) was approved by the Union Cabinet. The agreement
gives ISA juridical personality power to contract, acquire and dispose of
movable and immovable properties and also to institute and defend legal
proceedings. The agreement was signed between Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
and ISA in March, 2018.
5. The Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) has delegated powers to Finance and Petroleum Ministers
to award oil and gas exploration blocks to successful bidders under Hydrocarbon
Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP). Under HELP,
Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) considers Bid Evaluation Criteria
(BEC), conducts negotiations with bidders wherever necessary and makes
recommendations to CCEA on award of blocks. Then CCEA approves award of blocks.
Central Government had launched Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy
(HELP) in March 2016, as a new policy regime for Exploration & Production (E&P)
in petroleum and natural gas sector.
6. The Maharashtra state
government on April 11, 2018 announced cash prizes for all the players from the
state who have bagged medals in the ongoing Commonwealth Games Gold Coast. An official notification from the state’s Chief
Minister’s office mentioned that each
gold medal winner will be rewarded with a cash prize of 50 lakh rupees, silver
medalists with 30 lakh rupees and bronze medalists will be awarded 20 lakh
rupees each. Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabuddhe,
both from Thane, and Sanil Shetty have bagged gold in table tennis. Chirag C
Shetty of Vile Parle has also bagged a gold medal in badminton.Besides,
Heena Sidhu, who lives in the Mumbai suburb of Goregaon, also won a gold and
silver medal in two categories of pistol shooting. The coaches
would also be honoured with 12.5 lakh rupees, 7.5 lakh rupees and 5 lakh
rupees, respectively for each gold, silver and bronze medal won by the players
from the state.
7. A committee was
constituted by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development on April 11,
2018 under the Chairmanship of Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama
to eliminate the fear of maths among the students. The committee will also suggest the ways to make the maths
subject easy and will submit its report in July 2018.
8. The Supreme Court on April
11, 2018 asked the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board to show documents signed by
Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to prove its ownership on the iconic Taj Mahal, a
17th century monument. A bench
headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y.
Chandrachud asked the Waqf board counsel to authenticate through documents that
Shah Jahan had executed a ‘Waqfnama’ in favour of the waqf board. Waqfnama is a
document through which a person conveys intention to donate a property or land
to waqf for charitable purpose.
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International:
1.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on April 12, 2018
announced a ban on all new offshore oil exploration, as a transition towards a
zero-carbon economy. The ban is applied with
immediate effect to only new offshore oil exploration permits and will not
affect existing permits and onshore drilling. Arden also assured that
her policy will not lead to job losses in the country's oil industry, which
currently employs at least 11,000 workers and generates about $1.8 billion per
year. Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organisation, hailed
Ardern's move in a statement, saying this was a historic moment for the country
and a huge win for the climate and people power.
2.
The Cabinet of United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved the
issuance of law on Equal Wages and Salaries for men and women. It will provide women with equal opportunities as partners in
the UAE's development. The approval of the law comes in line with the
government’s objective to ensure the protection of women's rights and support
their role in the national development process. The law will further empower
women to lead future national strategies and ambitious projects.
Science and Technology/Defence:
1.
ISRO has successfully
launched IRNSS-1I navigation satellite from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It is overall eighth
satellite to join ISRO’s NavIC navigation satellite constellation. It replaced
IRNSS-1A, the first of seven navigation satellites of IRNSS series that was
rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed. The
satellite was launched on board of PSLV-C41 (height of 44.4 meters and weight
of 321 tonnes) after the normal lift-off and was successfully placed in the
designated orbit. It was overall 20th flight of PSLV-XL version and 41st
successful mission of total 43 of PSLV. IRNSS-1I was made by Bengaluru-based
Alpha Design Technologies in collaboration with ISRO. It was ISRO’s second
attempt to send replacement satellite. The previous mission of a PSLV carrying
IRNSS-1H in August 2017 failed after the heat shield covering satellite failed
to separate in space after the launch.
2.
The first of its kind 5G lab in the country has been set-up at Bharti School of
Telecommunication Technology and Management which was installed by IIT-Delhi. It
is a Massive Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) lab on campus for
standardisation, R&D and manufacturing of 5G equipment. The lab will serve as 5G base station prototype that will be
used to test and verify algorithms and also develop complete 5G base station.
It will help in manufacturing of 5G base stations in India with support and
collaboration from industry. It will also be instrumental in generating skilled
manpower in this technology. 5G is wireless communication technology based on
third-generation partnership project (3GPP). It is next generation mobile
networks technology after 4G LTE networks. The 5G wireless technology will
offer far greater upload and download speed i.e. 100 times faster internet data
speed than current 4G networks.
3. The US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) on April 11, 2018 permitted the marketing of the first
medical device to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect greater than a
mild level of the eye disease diabetic retinopathy in diabetic adults. Diabetic retinopathy, the most common cause of vision loss for
people living with diabetes, occurs when high levels of blood sugar lead to
damage in the blood vessels of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue in the
back of the eye. The device, called IDx-DR, is a software programme that
uses an AI algorithm to analyse images of the eye taken with a retinal camera
called the Topcon NW400. If the images are of the desired quality, the
software will provide the doctor with one of the two results, either "more
than mild diabetic retinopathy detected: refer to an eye care
professional" or "negative for more than mild diabetic retinopathy:
re-screen in 12 months."
Economy :
1.
The Index of Economic Freedom 2018 that measures the degree of
economic freedom in the countries of the world was released by top US based
Think Tank, The Heritage Foundation. India ranked 130th out of 186 economies in
recently released Index. It ranks countries based on score ranging 0 (least
free) to 100 (most free). The score is based on 12 factors of economic freedom.
Twelve factors for calculating score are: property rights, government
integrity, tax burden, judicial effectiveness, government spending, fiscal
health, business freedom, monetary freedom, labor freedom, trade freedom,
investment freedom and financial freedom. Top 10 countries are: Hong Kong,
Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland, Estonia, United
Kingdom, Canada and UAE.
2.
The World Bank has approved $55 million to expand the use of
clean renewable energy in rural areas of Bangladesh where grid electricity
cannot reach easily. The project, including
the additional financing, will enable about 10 million people living in
villages, shoals and islands to access electricity and use energy efficient
cooking stoves. The additional financing to the Second Rural
Electrification and Renewable Energy Development (RERED II) Project will
install 1,000 solar irrigation pumps, 30 solar mini-grids and about 4 million
improved cooking stoves in rural areas. The project has already built 10
solar mini-grids in remote areas, including islands and shoals to provide
grid-quality electricity.
Sports:
1.
Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth became World number 1 in
men’s singles category after Badminton World Federation updated its weekly
rankings on April 12, 2018. Srikanth has
now become the first Indian male shuttler to achieve the feat in modern ranking
system. He overtook World Champion Viktor Axelsen at the top of rankings
with 76,895 points. He joins Saina Nehwal to become only the second
Indian to achieve the feat.
2. The Day 8 of Commonwealth
Games 2018: Wrestling
legend Sushil Kumar and Rahul Aware got gold medal matches, Babita Kumari
opened India’s wrestling account at the games with silver in women's freestyle
53 kg and Kiran won bronze in women’s freestyle 76 kg event. Indian shooter
Tejaswini Sawant also added to India’s medal tally by winning silver in the
finals of the women’s 50m rifle prone.
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