Current Affairs - January 23, 2018 Current Affairs

Sri Lanka restricted the import of the vehicles which do not carry airbags for driver and front seat passenger, Anti-Locking Breaking System standards (ABS) and three-point seat belts for driver and passengers traveling front and rear seats. This decision after considering the representations made by motor vehicle importers and manufacturers for a lead time to make required adjustments to comply with the proposed emission standards and safety measures. Accordingly, the importation of motor vehicles, which are below emission standards of the Euro IV or its equivalent and not complied with the following safety standards, will totally be prohibited effective from 1st July 2018.

ixigo, has launched AR Coach Position feature, India's first augmented reality (AR) feature on its trains app. Using the AR Coach Position feature, train travellers can locate their coach positions exactly, for more than 13,000 passenger trains at nearly 7,000 railway stations in India. Using iPhone 6+ or latest versions of iPhone, users can get their coaches categorized and labeled and find out how far they are from their coach. ixigo has also released Station Alarm and Rescheduled trains features. The Station Alarm feature alerts users when they approach their destination station.

Pema Khandu, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, has inaugurated the World War II Memorial Museum in Jairampur in Changlang District on January 21, 2018. The war memorial has the collection of the remnants of World War 2, personal belongings of the soldiers and other persons involved. The museum also showcases traditional items from local Tangsa community. The memorial is a cemetery site where about 833 graves including mass graves have been discovered. The museum is built through funding from Union Ministry of Culture for Rs 2.25 crores and executed by state PWD.

Renewable energy use is increasing day by day almost everywhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also weighed on the increase in the use of solar power and also brought 'Suryaputra' nations together for better and cleaner future. Solar energy use was noted by China when the country managed to add 10.52 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity to its national total over the course of July 2017, in addition to the 24.4 GW of capacity that was installed over the first six months of the year. The country is already the biggest producer of solar energy in the world, and that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. In the last two months alone, China has added 24.02 GW of solar capacity. To put that into context, figures from earlier this year put Australia's total capacity at around 6GW, a figure that's projected to double by 2020.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled India's first Bharat Stage BS-VI-compliant car produced at its Pune facility. The unveiling of this car was does in presence of Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. On January 19, 2018, Mercedes-Benz also received certificate of compliance to the Central motor vehicles rule (CMVR) from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) for its BS-VI-compliant car. In context of this news, it is to be noted that in October 2016, Indian Government decided to skip one stage and migrate to BS-VI directly from BS-IV from April 2020.

Young Indian shuttler Siddharth Pratap Singh secured his maiden international title, bagging the Swedish Open Junior International Series with a straight-game victory over Denmark's Mads Christophersen in the finals in Uppsala in Sweden. Playing his first career final, Siddharth defeated Christophersen in a 33-minute match to claim the men's singles title.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the 2018 edition of the Women's World T20 will be hosted by West Indies in November 2018. Hosts Windies will defend the title they won over Australia in Kolkata in 2016. The three venues were selected by Cricket West Indies through a bidding process and have been ratified by the ICC. The November event in the Caribbean will be the first stand-alone ICC Women's World Twenty20 after the past five events were played alongside the men's event.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India is projected to grow at 7.4% in 2018 as against China's 6.8%, making it the fastest growing country among the emerging economies. Due to demonetization and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), India's economy slowed down a little bit to 6.7% in 2016. In 2017, India's growth rate dropped to 6.7%. In its latest World Economic Outlook update released in Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the IMF projected a 7.8% growth rate for India in 2019.

S S C Shenoi, Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has stated that India will soon have its own automated ocean pollution observation system. This new ocean data acquisition system (called automated moorings), which is expected to be functional in April 2018 will not only help in tracking ocean pollution levels but will also offer insights on how the marine system is changing. Estimated cost for setting up this system is Rs 100 crore. After being fully operational, this system will do away with the present practice of collecting water samples from sea and studying their pollution levels thereafter.

Vice president Venkaiah Naidu urges medical researches to explore ancient methods to cure Cancer. Ancient Indian medical systems have to be used by the doctors in order to cure diseases. Going back to the roots and using Ayurveda for treatment of the patients will enable them to recover easily and early. The people suffering from sickness should be given an early screening so as to let them know about the sickness and the necessary treatment they will go through in this process.

Paisabazaar.com, an online marketplace for Loans and Credit Cards announced to offer direct Mutual Fund plans to retail customers and has thereby became India's first major platform to come up with such offering. Broadly speaking, Mutual Fund plans are available in two variants - 'Regular' and 'Direct'. Both these variants are exactly same in terms of investment strategy and fund management. However, the key difference is that, in Regular plans, a part of customers' investment (1% in most cases) is paid to the brokers/financial advisor as commission by the mutual fund company, while in a direct mutual fund there is no such type of commission payout.

World Bank approved USD 300 million loan to Nepal for undertaking reconstruction work post April 2015 earthquake. In April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal which destroyed more than half a million homes and killed nearly 9000 people. Since then, only 10% homes have been rebuilt. Nepal is currently facing USD 1.2 billion shortfall in reconstruction funds. USD 300 million loan from World Bank will partially help to fill this gap. This loan also includes USD 80 million for a livestock project and another USD 60 million for vocational training.

The 8th edition of the International Conference on Wild Silk Moths has started in Guwahati, Assam on January 22, 2018. The conference would help in increasing income of the people of the region who are involved with silk industry. India is holding the event for the second time with an aim to explore latest research and development. The conference is being organized by the Central Silk Board and International Society for Wild Silk Moths.

India-ASEAN business and investment conference held in New Delhi ahead of the landmark commemorative summit meeting on the 25th of January. In the conference, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu stresses enhanced connectivity via land to strengthen trade ties. Silver jubilee of India-ASEAN partnership is being celebrated in New Delhi on the 25th January with an unprecedented summit meet.

'Hindi Medium', directed by Saket Chaudhary, has bagged honours in the categories of Best Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) for Irrfan Khan's impeccable performance at the 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018. Vidya Balan won her career's 6th Filmfare award for her passionate portrayal of a middle-aged homemaker who turns into a radio jockey in 'Tumhari Sulu' as she claimed the Black Lady for the Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female). Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari has won the Best Director award for 'Bareilly Ki Barfi'. The ceremony was held on 20 January 2018 and hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar.