Current Affairs - January 3, 2018 Current Affairs

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool and Egypt striker, was named Arab Football Player of the Year 2017. A poll was conducted with around 100 sports journalists from various Arab countries. Mohammed Salah won the poll and claimed the Arab football player of the year 2017 title. Mohammed Salah is 25 years old. Syria's Omar Khribin secured the second position and another Syrian player Omar Al-Soma came third.

India to purchase 240 bombs,131 Barak Missiles to strengthen its Defence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government right from the day one of its rules taken various initiatives, decisions that have anonymously strengthened our country's defense sector. Notably, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cleared two procurement proposals in a bid to strengthen armed forces. The first proposal was related to procurement of 240 bombs, at a cost of Rs. 1254 cr. from M/s JSC Rosonboron Exports, Russia. These bombs fall under the category of Precision Guided Munitions, are used by Indian Air Force (IAF). This procurement will address the deficiency of Precision Guided Munitions in the IAF arsenal, besides enhancing the offensive capabilities of the IAF.

India an attractive cruise tourist destination the central government has exempted cruise tourists arriving with e-visa from the requirement of biometric enrolment for a period of three years i.e. till 31.12.2020. The decision was taken by Ministry of Home Affairs on request of the Ministry of Shipping. This will make immigration clearance of such passengers faster, leaving them with more time to spend on shore. This is also an important factor that helps cruise lines decide whether or not to include a destination in their itinerary. The Ministry of Shipping has been working towards simplifying the immigration clearance procedure and providing passengers with a customer friendly and hassle-free logistics process when they embark on or disembark from their cruise at the Indian ports. E-Visa has been in place in the five major ports of Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, and Chennai. Till now biometrics of passengers were required at a port of the first arrival for immigration clearance.

The citizen of Assam witnessed the release of the first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) containing the first batch of 19 million names of genuine Indian citizens in compliance with the Supreme Court's orders. Registrar General of India Sailesh released the document. The first draft has listed 19 million people out of the 32.9 million applicants from within the state as legal Indian citizens.

India and Pakistan exchanged the list of nuclear installations and facilities through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad under a three-decade old bilateral pact. As per the press release of External Affairs Ministry, the lists were exchanged under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations between India and Pakistan. This is the twenty seventh consecutive exchange of such a list between the two countries, the first one took place on January 1, 1992.

Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga was appointed the new Prime Minister of Mali. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of Mali, appointed Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga as the new prime minister of Mali. Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga is a former defense and foreign minister and intelligence chief. He replaces Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga.

G Sathiyan has become India's highest- ranked player in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings. Sathiyan (ranked 49th) surpassed his compatriot the legendary Sharath Kamal (51st). They are followed by Soumyajit Ghosh ranked 58th, Harmeet Desai ranked 60th, Sanil Shetty ranked 68th and Anthony Amalraj ranked 87th. As for the women, Manika Batra is topping the world chart among Indians at 62, while Mouma Das is ranked 74th and Madhurika Patkar is ranked 81th. The ITTF rankings have undergone a change after the new system was approved in September 2017.

Pakistan allowed Chinese currency Yuan for exports and financing transactions. According to Pakistan, external affairs ministry, both public and private sector enterprises of Pakistan and China are free to choose Yuan for bilateral trade and investment activities. As per current foreign exchange regulations, Chinese Yuan is an approved foreign currency for denominating foreign currency transactions in Pakistan.

Salil S Parekh, an aeronautical engineer from IIT Bombay, has formally taken charge as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Infosys on January 2, 2018. Parekh joins Infosys from Capgemini, where he was a member of the Group Executive Board. He has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.

The Karnataka government has recently received the approval for purchase of electric vehicles from the Department of Heavy Industries of the Union Government under FAME India subsidised scheme. The state will purchase 40 electric buses, 100 four wheelers and 500 three wheelers at maximum of 60% subsidy under the scheme. The subsidy support is also provided for setting up electricity charging infrastructure across Bengaluru. The electric vehicles to ply in the city as public transport will protect the environment, save fossil fuel and ensure public health. The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) India was launched in 2015 under the National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMM) aims at promoting eco-friendly vehicles in the country.

The Karnataka government announced that 'Karnataka International Travel Expo' (KITE) will be held from February 28, billing it as the "largest" B2B travel event in the country. The three-day event will see close to 400 delegates from 25 countries take part. The main aim is to project Karnataka globally and attract tourist footfall with emphasis on promoting the state's wildlife, luxury and adventure destinations, historical monuments and UNESCO world heritage sites.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust has won the "Samudra Manthan - Caring Organisation of the Year" award. The award was organised by Bhandarkar Shipping, which is a leading publication of the maritime industry. From the total 14 categories of Samudra Manthan award, JNPT was the winner in the "Caring Organization of the Year" category. The Samudra Manthan Award is a significant initiative instituted with an objective to fuel healthy competition in the maritime sector.

HDFC Bank announced a partnership with Rajasthan Government to promote and nurture startups in the state. Under this partnership, HDFC Bank will team up with the state government to provide end-to-end solutions like current accounts, credit cards and other solutions to startups under its SmartUp programme.

State Bank of India and Nabard have signed an agreement with five NGOs in Bengal for the promotion of 2,500 joint liability groups (JLGs). JLGs are informal groups of 4-10 members engaged in similar economic activities and willing to jointly undertake the responsibility to repay loans taken by the group from a bank. Nabard has fixed a target of credit linking 80,000 JLGs in West Bengal in 2017-18. It has sanctioned assistance for the promotion of 60,000 JLGs by various NGOs in the State through 339 projects in different districts.

The Puducherry goverment launched a special police force to safeguard tourists. The tourist-friendly police are provided with special blue colour head gears. They will also wear blue badges with police emblem. Usually, the territorial police wear red colour caps. The colour has been changed for easy identification of the police by tourists. The tourist police would coordinate with the coastal police. This wing was launched by Director General of Police S K Gautam.