Current Affairs - February 2, 2018 Current Affairs

Google has announced its deal of USD 1.1 billion with HTC, and its acquisition of HTC talent. According to the deal, Google has acquired nearly 2,000 HTC engineers. The engineers are mostly from the smartphone R&D team. These engineers will shift to Google, and will work in Taiwan. This team of engineers has already worked closely with Google in the Pixel and Pixel 2 projects. This move has been made with the idea of expanding Google in the hardware sector and in the Asia Pacific region.

India joined Ashgabat Agreement on the establishment of an International Transport and Transit Corridor between the Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The agreement was signed in 2011, which envisages facilitation of transit and transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.According to the External Affairs Ministry, the accession to the Agreement would diversify India's connectivity options with Central Asia and have a positive influence on its trade and commercial ties with the region.

The union government made Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for any entity conducting financial transactions of 2.5 lakh or more. Adding that an Aadhaar-like identity number is being developed for enterprises PAN card will also be used as a Unique Entity Number for non-individuals from April 1.

Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand grabbed the first gold medal of the Khelo India School Games in 1500 metres at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Anu Kumar is a past 800-metres silver medalist for India at the World School Games in France. The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in the country at the grass-root level.

Union Home Ministry has sanctioned nearly Rs. 370 crore to Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to strengthen border infrastructure along Indo-Pak and Indo-China border. BSF will use the funds primarily for construction of bunkers and fortifying its border out posts along Indo-Pak border. ITBP will use the amount for construction of climate-controlled huts and procurement of snow scooter. It is to be noted that BSF is India's first line of Defense along the 2526.86-km-long Indo-Pak border (including 237.2 km of the Line of Control) and 4096.7 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Magahi writer Shesh Anand Madhukar was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Bhasha Samman award. Shesh Anand Madhukar is the second Magahi writer to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi's Bhasha Samman award. Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari presented this award to Shesh Anand Madhukar. The award consisted of a cheque for Rs 1 lakh and a memento. Shesh Anand Madhukar has created various remarkable literary works in both Magahi and Hindi. He started his literary creations in 1960.

On 1st February 2018, the Indian Coast Guard celebrated its 41st Foundation Day.Indian Coast Guard. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was established in 1978. It was started with only 7 ships. It was formed to enforce National Laws in the Indian waters and safeguard life and property at sea. They help and protect Indian fishermen. They also investigate foreign fishermen entering Indian waters.

In order to boost the rapidly developing sector of Urban development, Andhra Pradesh government will be organizing a three-day innovation summit on the theme of 'Urban transformation to Global Living'. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu announced that Happy Cities Summit will be held between April 10 and 12 in Bhavani Island on Krishna River where experts and various industry players will attend that grand event to brainstorm on various dimensions of building smart and sustainable cities. Addressing the meeting of CRDA officials, the Chief Minister suggested that subject like citizen-centricity urban innovation, next-generation technology, urban planners, urban transportation, architecture, and designing should be included during Happy Cities Summit.

The World Leprosy Day (WLD) is observed every year on the last Sunday of January to support those suffering from leprosy and educate those taking care of people suffering from this disease. This year, in 2018, it falls on 28 January and its theme is 'Zero Disabilities in Girls and Boys'. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. It is an infectious chronic disease that targets the nervous system, especially the nerves in the cooler parts of the body - the hands, feet, and face.

Rwanda has become the first low-income country in the world to provide universal eye care for its 12 million citizens. Rwanda government has partnered with Vision for a Nation (VFAN), a UK-based charity organization, to train 3,000 eye care nurses in 502 local health centres. They would prescribe glasses to patients and direct them to national clinics in case of serious eye problems. The most common eye problem in Rwanda is short sightedness. Coffee bean sorting is one of the major means of income for Rwanda women. Their eye sight deteriorates as they reach 45 years, and hence their livelihood and means of income are affected.

The 32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela begun in Faridabad, Haryana. The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority and Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs. The 17-day cultural extravaganza will see a spectacular showcase of regional and international crafts, handlooms, traditions along with some mouth-watering multi-cuisine food for the visitors. This year Uttar Pradesh is the theme state and Kyrgyzstan is the Partner Nation.

According to the CSO's revised estimates of national income released on January 31, 2018, gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for 2015-16 stood at 8.2% from the earlier estimates of 8% while for 2016-17, revised GDP growth remained unchanged at 7.1%. For 2015-16, this is the second revised estimate, while for 2016-17, this is the first revised estimate. Revised estimates are arrived at by taking into consideration a wider range of numbers, including employment data.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 1,500 crore for three years to promote organic farming in Uttarakhand. The amount was sanctioned by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. The Union minister also cleared a proposal worth Rs 2,600 crore for the co-operative sector in the state. Of which, Rs 200 crore is meant for the reorganisation of sugar mills.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announced that a coach factory will be set up by the Indian Railways in Latur district, Maharashtra. This coach factory will produce Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) for suburbantrains and coaches for metro trains. Work regarding this project will be carried out with high priority and all approvals will be done in a fast track pace. The Maharashtra government has provided concessions in land, taxes, etc. for this project.

The 7th edition of India Energy Congress (IEC) 2018 has started in New Delhi with theme "Energy 4.0: Energy Transition Towards 2030" on February 1, 2018. It was organised by World Energy Council (WEC) India and inaugurated byUnion Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh. Under the theme "Energy 4.0", the 7th edition of IEC assumes greater significance in the context of grand transition in the global energy scene. IEC is a unique platform for national and international decision makers, experts across the energy industry to exchange views and share knowledge, expertise and experience.