Current Affairs - January 27, 2018 Current Affairs

South Indian music composer Ilayaraja to be honoured with Padma Vibhushan. On January 25, 2018, Government announced Padma Awards 2018. This year, President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has approved conferment. This year's 85 Padma Awards also include duo cases, wherein the award is counted as one.

Kolkata, capital of West Bengal became first metro city in India to get floating market. It was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The floating market is located on lake at Patuli in South Kolkata which is 400 metres long and 60 metres wide. The lake has been transformed into the floating market similar to the one in Thailand. The aim of floating market is to rehabilitate over 200 shopkeepers from nearby market that was demolished for the widening of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass (EMB) - an important road that connects the northern parts of Kolkata o the eastern and southern tips. The market will host at least 114 boats, each one accommodating two shops. These shops will sell regular or daily-use items that include vegetables, fruits, flowers, fish and meat and poultry. Shoppers can approach these boats through wooden walkways.

India beat Japan 4-2 in the second leg of the Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand on Saturday. India, coming on the back of a 5-4 win over Belgium secured a place in the final of the second leg of the tournament. India had thrashed Japan 6-0 in their pool match in the first leg of the tournament.

India has announced to host informal Ministerial meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO) in March 2018 in New Delhi to muster support for issues and also help to multi-lateral process. It was announced by Deepak Jagdish Saksena, India's ambassador and permanent representative to WTO during informal WTO ministerial gathering at Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit. About 40 WTO members from both rich and developing nations are being called by India for this informal meeting to "revitalise" the multi-lateral trade body. The objective of meeting is to discuss ways to revitalise WTO to ensure predictable and transparent system of rule-making in the area of international trade.

India and Vietnam signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the areas of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) and space. MoU documents were exchanged in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnam counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc in New Delhi. Under the MoU, India and Vietnam will strive to enhance cooperation in the field of Information and Broadcasting based on principles of equality and in accordance with their national laws and regulations. In area of space cooperation, India and Vietnam have agreed on the implementation arrangement between Vietnam's National Remote Sensing Department and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the establishment of tracking and data reception station and data processing facility in Vietnam. This arrangement will be set up under the ASEAN-India Space Cooperation.

Central Government awarded 325 more routes to airlines as well as helicopter operators under its regional connectivity scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik). In awarding routes under second round of bidding, emphasis was laid on flight services to hilly and remote areas, including Kargil. After flight services start on these routes, a total of 56 new airports and helipads will be connected to 36 existing aerodromes. These routes have been awarded to 15 airlines and helicopter operators. Among the major Indian airline operators, IndiGo's 20 proposals, SpiceJet's 17 proposals and Jet Airways 4 proposals have been approved. Interestingly, in this second round of bidding, four helicopter operators have been granted rights to fly on selected routes. Under UDAN scheme, Airline operators have to offer half of their seats at discounted rates while helicopter operators have to offer up to 13 seats at lower fares.

India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations have agreed to set up a mechanism aimed at enhancing maritime cooperation. At the India-ASEAN summit, PM Narendra Modi the maritime sector was one of the key areas for growth and development of the Indo-Pacific region. He further described India-ASEAN ties as "free from contests and claims".

International Customs Day was observed all over the world on Jan 26. The slogan for International Customs Day 2018 is "A secure business environment for economic development". International Customs Day is celebrated every year on 26th January 2018 to mark the first official conference of the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC) held in 1953 in Brussels, Belgium. The CCC was renamed World Customs Organization (WCO) in 1994. The International Customs Day is celebrated to improve the effectiveness of the member customs administrations.

India-Japan Smart Grid Pilot Project was inaugurated Panipat, Haryana to solve the various complications faced by the power distribution sector. It was inaugurated by State Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the presence of Japanese Minister Keniko Sen. The project aims to make electricity distribution network smarter and disseminate Japanese technologies in India. It also seeks to improve capacity of power companies to provide operational know-how concerning power distribution to effectively use smart grid-related technologies to reduce distribution losses and failure rate of distribution transformers. It also seeks to improve the frequency of power failures, by providing Japanese operational know-how concerning power distribution systems including mastering those technologies.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO, Allahabad Bank elected the first woman chairman of Indian Banks Association (IBA). She was elected IBA Chairman for the year 2017-18 by its Managing Committee. IBA Chairman's position fell vacant following the superannuation of Jatinder Bir Singh. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India, was elected Deputy Chairman of IBA for the year 2017-18.

Rotavac became first Indigenously developed vaccine from India to be pre-qualified by World Health Organisation (WHO). It means that vaccine can be so can be sold internationally to several countries in South America and Africa. So far, several vaccines from India have been pre-qualified by WHO. Rotavac conceived and developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited. It protects against childhood diarrhea caused by the rotavirus. It has eloped under public-private partnership (PPP) model that involved Ministry of Science and Technology, institutions of the US Government.

Alpha Design Technologies Ltd. has signed Rs. 45-crore deal with Ministry of Defence to supply indigenous simulators for gunnery and missile firing from BMP II vehicles to Indian Army. Under this deal, as many as 57 simulators will be manufactured at company's Bengaluru facility and will be supplied to Indian Army over two years period. The BMP II is a Soviet-origin amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. The simulators will be used to train missile firing personnel. Currently, Indian Army firing personnel train fully on actual BMP vehicles. The use of simulators will save vehicle wear and tear to large extent.

Chinese scientists have created two monkeys named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua through cloning for the first time in the world. This is the first time, researchers have cloned and created two healthy monkeys. These monkeys were created through the cloning method that was used to produce Dolly the sheep in 1996. Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua are female monkeys that are 7 and 8 weeks old. This success was mentioned in the journal Cell. The Chinese scientists collected the DNA-containing nucleus from monkey eggs and replaced it with DNA from monkey fetus.

Punjab Government has launched Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojna (MGSVY) for the welfare of the downtrodden citizen across the state. This scheme is aimed at the inclusive growth of the distressed sections of the society. It will be on the line of Antyodaya principles (Antyodaya means rise of the last person) and will be implemented in the state's rural areas. The objective of scheme is to identify poor and distressed households which have been deprived of the benefits of the various welfare schemes launched by state government. It will give distressed sections much need socially or economically or psychologically help.

Harman International has named actress Priyanka Chopra as the global brand ambassador for its JBL and Harman Kardon audio brands. Priyanka Chopra will be involved in various marketing initiatives, such as social media and brand awareness events for JBL and Harman Kardon. Harman International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. AR Rahman is also one of the brand ambassadors for Harman International.