Current Affairs - May 12, 2017 Current Affairs

Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, launched e-Krishi Samvad at Krishi Bhawan. It is internet-based interface and is a unique platform that will provide direct and effective solutions to the problems faced by farmers and stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS) was inaugurated on Wednesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an event attended by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar aims at serving as a digital repository for case-related information. It include the option of e-filing cases, checking listing dates, case status, online service of notice/summons, office reports and overall tracking of progress of a case filed with the apex court registry.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as India's next ambassador to France. He is currently a joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. He has also held the position of joint secretary in-charge of the counter-terrorism division in the MEA. He has experience dealing with the UN organisations such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

National Aeronautics and Space Administration( NASA) scientists detected "a strong water signature" in the atmosphere of a distant Neptune-sized planet called HAT-P-26b. HAT-P-26b has a primitive atmosphere composed entirely of hydrogen and helium.It is located about 437 light-years away, HAT-P-26b orbits a star roughly twice as old as our Sun.

Prof. Vikram Vishal, the assistant professor in the Earth Sciences department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, has been conferred with the 2017 Young Scientist award from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). He won the award for proposing a scientific model that can trap the carbon dioxide emitted by industries and inject them in hard rock within the sub-surface of earth.

Senior bureaucrats Harinder Rao have been appointed as General Manager (GM) of the Eastern Railways by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The Eastern Railways has four divisions -- Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol and Malda.

The Income Tax department launched a new e-facility to link a person's Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN). The department's e-filing website incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in has created a new link on its homepage making it "easy" to link the two unique identities of an individual. It requires a person to punch in his PAN number, Aadhaar number and the " exact name as given in the Aadhaar card.

Aon Hewitt has come out with a list of 19 organisations as Best Employers India 2017 that lead the way with talent practices and are creating competitive advantage through their employees. Those recognised are Aegis Ltd, Bajaj Finance, Bayer, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel, DHL Express (India), Godrej Agrovet, Godrej Consumer Products, IndiGo and InterGlobe Enterprises, Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services, Marriott Hotel India, Schneider Electric India, Sony Pictures Networks, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Tata Communications, the Oberoi Group, Whirlpool of India and WNS Global Services.

Telangana has become the first state in the country to introduced a logo for identifying vehicles driven by persons with hearing impairment. The logo was designed by city-based graphic designer Manikanta Annapragada who was the first person to obtain a driving licence under the 'hearing impaired' category. The logo consists of a hearing impaired mark along with text saying, "Driver is deaf - Please watch out".

International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated every year all around the world on 12th of May to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Florence Nightingale and to mark the nurses contributions towards people's health. The theme of 2017 is "Nursing: A voice to lead - Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals".

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was named skipper of Cricket Australia's Greatest Champions Trophy XI. Others named in the XI are Chris Gayle, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Damien Martyn, Rahul Dravid (wk), Shane Watson, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Muttiah Muraltiharan and Glenn McGrath.

Aruna Sundararajan is appointed as the secretary of Department of Telecommunications (DOT). At present, she is secretary of IT and electronics department. She replaces PK Pujari. The telecom department is also preparing for 4G and 5G auctions this fiscal, where spectrum from the premium 700 Mhz band and airwaves in the 3400 Mhz and 3600 Mhz bands for 5G services.

India's silicon city tops a list of 22 tech cities across the world in affordable living. Overall, Bengaluru ranks a low 20th among successful tech cities in the world.