Daily Current affairs for 18th April 2018 ( English)
Important days:
1.
April 18 - World Heritage
Day is observed every year across the world with the theme of the day 2018 is
“Heritage for Generations”, emphasizing on
inter-generational transfer of knowledge. Its aims to spread awareness and the
importance of protecting and preserving various sites around world that have
achieved world heritage status and having outstanding universal values.
National:
1. POSHAN Abhiyaan - the first meeting of National Council on
India’s Nutrition Challenges was held in New Delhi. POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in March 2018. POSHAN stands for Prime Minister’s
Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition. It aims to ensure holistic
development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children.
2. A draft of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) proposing
multiple strategies to reduce air pollution was released by the Ministry of
Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The goal of NCAP is to meet prescribed annual average ambient
air quality standards at all locations in country in a stipulated time frame. It
aims to tackle increasing air pollution problem across country in comprehensive
manner.
3. The Supreme Court of India on April 16, 2018 struck down the
order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that had declared the Amarnath cave
shrine as a ‘silence zone’ and prohibited religious offerings such as chanting
of hymns and ringing bells beyond the entry point. The Amarnath Shrine Board had challenged the NGT order
in the apex court, arguing that the green tribunal cannot pass orders on the
Amarnath shrine while hearing a plea related to stopping the use of horses and
ponies in Vaishno Devi shrine premises in Jammu.A two-judge bench comprising Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice
Deepak Gupta stayed the NGT order while hearing a plea filed by the Amarnath Shrine
Board against the order on the ground that a decision in a case could not be
based on grounds outside the pleading of the parties. The judges’ bench
stated that the National Green Tribunal had exceeded its jurisdiction in giving
the order.
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International:
1. India has won six elections to United Nations (UN) Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) bodies, five of them unanimously. In these polls, India won places on executive boards of four
UN bodies, three commissions and committee. India won elections to Executive
Boards of UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN
Office for Project Services (UNOPS). India will serve three-year terms from
January 2019 on those executive boards. Executive Board of UN-Women India was
also elected separately on this executive board for three-year term starting
January 2019. UN-Women work for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. India
was elected on UN Commission on Population and Development. UN Commission for
Social Development and UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
2. The Supreme Court of the United States on April 17, 2018
restricted deportation of immigrant felons by ruling that the US Immigration
and Nationality Act requiring the deportation of immigrants convicted of
certain crimes of violence is unconstitutionally vague. The court invalidated the provision in a 5-4 ruling. The ruling
came on a plea filed by convicted California burglar James Garcia Dimaya, a
legal immigrant from the Philippines.
3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an official visit to Sweden on
April 16-17, 2018 at the invitation of Stefan Lofven, Sweden’s Prime Minister. This was the first visit by an
Indian Prime Minister to Sweden after almost three decades. However, both the
sides have met earlier when PM Stefan Lofven visited India in February 2016
with a strong business delegation to attend the ‘Make in India’ week in
Mumbai. PM Lofven also participated in ‘Make in India: Sweden 2017’ event
which was organised in Stockholm in October 2017. During his visit, PM
Modi invited top Swedish firms to invest in India and participate in flagship
initiatives of the country. PM Modi also emphasised that there are
excellent investment opportunities for Swedish firms in India in fields like
smart cities, clean technology, universal housing, renewable energy, start-ups
and many others. In turn, Swedish companies showed their commitment to
invest USD 1.1 billion in India over the next two years. The major investors
would be the likes of Ikea, AstraZeneca and Volvo trucks.
Science and
Technology/ Defence :
1. World’s top 34 technology and securities firms, led by Microsoft
and Facebook, have signed a "Cyber-security Tech Accord", a watershed
agreement among the largest-ever group of companies agreeing to defend people
from malicious attacks by cybercriminals and nation-states. The Cyber-security Tech Accord agreement will prevent them help
governments launch cyber attacks against innocent citizens and enterprises. It
will also protect against tampering or exploitation of their products and
services through every stage of technology development, design and distribution.
Economy :
1. India is expected to grow at 7.4% in 2018 and 7.8% in 2019
respectively according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest
World Economic Outlook (WEO). It also held
that India will again emerge as world’s fastest-growing major economy at least
for the next two years (2019 and 2020).
2.
DARPAN-PLI application for
seamless collection of premium for Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal
Life Insurance (RPLI) policies was launched under DARPAN ((Digital Advancement
of Rural Post Office for a New India) project by the Union Ministry of
Communications. With launch of this app,
indexing of maturity claims of PLI and RPLI polices can be done at Branch Post
Office itself, upon which insurant will immediately be provided with request
number for further references. This will help in providing better after-sales
service to customers of PLI and RPLI, particularly those living in rural areas
of country.
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