Current Affairs - July 14, 2017 Current Affairs

Union Health Minister Shri J P Nadda launches the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination and pledged to eradicate the vector-borne disease by 2027. The strategic plan gives year-wise elimination targets in various parts of the country depending upon the endemicity of malaria in the next five years. This plan focuses on the states such as Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The strategies involve strengthening malaria surveillance, establishing a mechanism for early detection and prevention of outbreaks of malaria.

Former Indian batsman Sandeep Patil was today named as the brand ambassador of the Indian Indoor Cricket Team. The tournament will be held in partnership with Cricket Australia (CA) and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). The 10th edition of the World Cup will include approximately 400 players and officials from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.

Kishore Sansi Managing Director and CEO of Vijaya Bank conferred the 'Personality of the Year' award by Skoch Consultancy Services. The award is part of the 'Skoch Banking and Financial Leadership' series. Past recipients of the award include C Rangarajan, Dilip Parekh and Nandan Nilekani.

India's first bullet train is proposed to hit the track in 2023, the training centre is supposed to start operating by 2020. The centre will provide for advanced training modules on cutting edge technologies. The construction will begin shortly after the foundation-laying ceremony is held in September.While India's first bullet train is proposed to hit the track in 2023, the training centre is supposed to start operating by 2020.

A Model United Nations (MUN) Regional Conference is held in Kathmandu. The aim of the MUN is to provide a platform to young minds to get full energy and resources to a more prosperous and peaceful world. This is organised by the United States Embassy in partnership with the Youth Thinker's Society.

The Union Government has empowered the Indian Army to procure critical weapons systems and military platforms to maintain readiness for short duration intense wars. The purpose of this new scheme is to maintain an optimum level to fight small wars.

BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) have entered into a partnership to explore collaboration opportunities for solar rooftop, electric vehicles, energy storage systems, energy efficiency and smart grid technologies. It will be signed for two years. The collaboration will help in research and explore newer collaboration opportunities in the domain of emerging technologies.

Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched the following schemes Rail Cloud Project, NIVARAN-Grievance Portal (First IT Application on Rail Cloud), Cashless treatment Scheme in Emergency (CTSE) Scheme. 'NIVARAN-Grievance Portal' is the first IT application to be launched on the RailCloud. RailCloud is the next step towards Digitization of Railways. Rail Cloud works on popular Cloud Computing system.

India ranked low 116 out of 157 nations on the 2017 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index and Dashboard report released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Bertelsmann Stiftung. The Top Countries in the Index are 2017 SDG Index were Sweden followed by Denmark.

Google acquired Bangalore-based artificial intelligence firm Halli Labs. It focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Halli Labs develops multi-device content, supporting more digital payments systems, and create localised content among others.

An area of 100 metres from the edge of the Ganga between Haridwar and Unnao has been declared a "No Development Zone", with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres of the river. An environment compensation of Rs.50,000 will be imposed on anyone dumping waste in the river. The NGT also directed the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to formulate guidelines for religious activities on the ghats of the Ganga and its tributaries.

The Board of Directors of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) appointed former Supreme Court judge, Justice Vikramajit Sen, as the new chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC).

Tata Sons appoints Aarthi Subramanian as Chief Digital Officer. She is an executive director at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and will take up her new role in August this year.