Current Affairs - January 26, 2018 Current Affairs

The Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, and M/S IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd for construction of the 14.150 km long, 2-lane bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir. This would be India's longest road tunnel and the longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia. The construction of this tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil, and Leh. The total capital cost of the project is Rs 6808.69 crore. The construction period of the project is seven years.

Senior scientist Dr V Narayanan assumed charge as Director of ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). He succeeded S Somanath appointed as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). Prior to this appointment, he was Associate Director of LPSC and was guiding liquid propulsion active of ISRO and was instrumental in finalizing the Liquid Propulsion Roadmap of ISRO for the next 20 years. He also had played a vital role in the successful launch of GSLV Mk III vehicle in its maiden attempt in 2017 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota.

Himachal Pradesh celebrated its 48th Statehood Day. On 25th January 1971, Himachal Pradesh was named the 18th state of India. This day is celebrated every year as Himachal Pradesh Statehood Day. A function was held at Aani, Kullu district, in Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur participated in the event. At the event, he announced that, the civil hospital at Anni with the 50 beds will be improved to a 100 bed hospital. He also stated that the Sarahan-Bathad road will be upgraded to a major district road.

Vodafone India partnered with e-commerce marketplace Flipkart to provide a range of entry-level smartphones at an effective price of Rs999. As part of the tie-up, Vodafone has rolled out cash-back offers on a select range of entry-level 4G smartphone models available under Flipkart's #MyFirst4GSmartphone campaign. For the offer, customers have a recharge least Rs150 per month for 36 months.

India has been ranked 177th out of 180 countries in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The report was released on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The Index stated that deaths attributed to ultra-fine PM2.5 pollutants have risen over the past decade and are estimated at 1,640,113 annually in India. Switzerland has topped the index, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden in the EPI, which found that air quality is the leading environmental threat to public health. The 10th EPI report ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across 10 categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

The Central Government sanctioned the establishment of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Raichur, Karnataka. Prakash Javadekar, Union Human Resource Development Minister, said that, the required funds for IIIT-Raichur will be allocated in the 2018 Budget. Karnataka has been ordered to allocate alternative infrastructure for the institute for the academic year 2018-19 until it finds a land for the construction of a permanent campus.

Microsoft will use Deep Neural Networks to enable high-quality Indian language translations. It recognizes speech to convert into text, eliminates errors in the data, translates it to the target language, and synthesizes the text-based translation into speech. It also puts every word within the context of other words in the sentence to better the translation.

The 7th Asia Steel International Conference (ASIC-2018) will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from February 6 to 9.The announcement was made by Tata Steel, in association with the Indian Institute of Metals. The conference is held every three years and provides a platform for exchange of knowledge on various aspects of the global steel industry. Around 70 keynote speakers, half of them from overseas countries such as China, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, Germany, Belgium, Canada, etc. will address the conference. The 2018 conference will address and focus on different challenges faced by the steel industry viz., optimising specific consumption of raw materials, especially coke and iron ore, how to use low-grade raw materials, along with decreasing the energy consumption in various iron-making and steel making operations. The last Asia Steel conference was held in 2015 at Yokohama, Japan.

SARAS PT1N, the new upgraded version of indigenous transport aircraft SARAS developed by National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL) successfully made its maiden flight in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The aircraft took off from HAL airport, Bengaluru and flew for about 40 minutes at the maximum height of 8500 at the speed of 145 knots. SARAS PT1N is a 14-seater passenger aircraft designed and developed by CSIR-NAL, a frontline aerospace research laboratory. The indigenous aircraft development is seen as the culmination of efforts of team CSIR-NAL, IAF-ASTE, Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification.

Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted a one-day International Conference on 'Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the Election Process' in New Delhi. The Conference was organized under the VoICE.NET platform, a common knowledge/resource sharing network for 25 Election Management Bodies and International Organisations. . It was attended by representatives from five Election Management Bodies (EMBs) viz. Australia, Guinea, Bhutan, Moldova & Zambia and Heads of two International Organisations viz. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES).

National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) signed a MoU with SME Corporation Malaysia for the exchange of information and cooperation in areas such as policies to aid the development of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the two countries. Besides, three other agreements were also signed between Indian and Malaysian entities to strengthen cooperation among smaller businesses in these countries. Bilateral trade (between India and Malaysia) was registered at $12.02 billion in 2015.

'The National Voters' Day (NVD) is observed every year by India on January 25 with an aim to increase the enrolment of voters, especially of the newly eligible ones. The day is also observed to mark the establishment of the Election Commission on this day in 1950, a day before India became a republic. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has celebrated the 8th National Voters' Day 2018 with theme 'Accessible Elections' across the country, which will be used to spread awareness among voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process.