Daily Current Affairs for Aug 24-25,2018 (English)

2.       SPEEDEX contract -The Stores, Proactive, Efficient and Expeditious Despatch of Extra Size/ Wt Consignment contract has formally launched by Indian Airforce. The contract aims to overcome delay in piecemeal dispatch of consignment and to move operationally urgent stores by air and normal consignments by surface mode. This will facilitate door to door pickup and delivery facility with fixed timelines, lesser than speed post.

3.      The Supreme Court has ruled that relatives of a husband should not be roped in cases of matrimonial disputes and dowry deaths unless specific instances of their involvement in the crime are made out. The bench also cautioned the courts to be careful in proceeding against "distant relatives" of the husband in such cases.

4.      As a tribute to the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who passed away on August 16, 2018, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on August 23, 2018 announced that the School of Management and Entrepreneurship will be renamed to ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship’.

5.      The five-day International Colour Festival organised by the state Art, Culture and Tourism departments in which artists would depict the state's image in their canvases inaugurated by Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on August 23, 2018. During this festival, artists will travel to tourist spots and paint there, and those paintings will be exhibited on the last day(August 27). The chief minister urged the artists to depict the beauty of Jharkhand in their canvas and exhibit them in international festivals.

6.      Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has said that Election Commission is ready for hundred per cent use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines (VVPAT). The Election Commission has ordered 17.5 lakh VVPAT machines and received 10 lakh out of them by now. He also added that the commission is trying to minimise failure rate of VVPAT for future polls. The rest  of VVPAT machines will be received by November and the Commission is ready for 100 per cent use of VVPATs. The Chief election commissioner also ruled out the possibility of holding simultaneous elections to the state assemblies and Lok Sabha polls anytime soon.

2.      The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018 was held in Chebarkul, Russia. The exercise was aimed at enhancing cooperation between member states to deal with growing threat of terrorism and extremism. Military contingents of the all eight SCO member nations (China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, India and Pakistan) participated in this exercise. It was for first time since independence, India and Pakistan simultaneously took part military exercise.

2.      India’s first captive-born Humboldt Penguin named Freedom Baby died barely a week after it was born at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo (Byculla zoo) due to new born anomalies like liver dysfunction and yolk sac retention. Humboldt penguin is named after the cold water current (Humboldt current) it swims in. It is native to South America and breeds in coastal Chile and Peru.  It is categorized as vulnerable under IUCN list. The penguin chick was born on 15th August 2018 to penguin pair of Mr Molt (male) and Flipper (Female). It was named Freedom Baby as it was born on Independence Day. It was born 40 days incubation period after Flipper, oldest female in zoo’s penguin colony hatched single egg it had laid. It was the first Humboldt Penguin to born in captivity in India. Byculla zoo had imported eight Humboldt Penguins – later named as Dory, Donald, Daisy, Popeye, Olive, Bubble, Flipper and Mr Molt – from a South Korea zoo in July 2016.

2.      Airport Authority of India (AAI) has allotted space to Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) for opening of Tribes India outlets at Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Kolkata (West Bengal) airports. TRIFED is multi-State Cooperative Society under Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It was established in August 1987 under Multi State Cooperative Societies Act 1984 (now been replaced by Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002). It is headquartered in New Delhi. Tribes India Outlets will provide good opportunity to market tribal products and help to promote tribes India as brand among target customers. Besides, AAI also has offered TRIFED spaces at international airports at Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Pune (Maharashtra), Goa, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Lucknow (UP), Amritsar (Punjab) and Gangtok (Sikkim) for setting up of Tribes India Outlets.

3.      NITI Aayog has released five Thematic Reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) recognizing uniqueness of Himalayas and challenges for sustainable development. These reports list challenges in all defined five thematic areas and discuss significance, challenges, ongoing actions and future roadmap.

4.      National Logistics Portal is developing by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to ensure ease of trading in international and domestic markets. It will be implemented in phases and will fulfil Central Government’s commitment to enhance trade competitiveness, create jobs, boost India’s performance in global rankings and pave way for India to become logistics hub. The portal will link all stakeholders of EXIM (export and import), domestic trade and movement and all trade activities on single platform.