Current Affairs - February 17, 2018 Current Affairs

Payments platform PhonePe has entered into a partnership with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to deploy its Point of Sale (POS) device at IOCL retail outlets. Under this partnership, Phone Pe has installed POS devices at 30 IOCL outlets in Bengaluru on pilot basis. It will be rolled out across India in a phased manner during 2018. Phone Pe had launched its Point of Sale (POS) device in October 2017. Since then, over 10000 POS units have been installed in Bengaluru. It is following a twin strategy of deploying its own point-of-sales (PoS) payment terminals at small merchant locations as well as partnering with major merchant chains at the national level.

State Bank of India has launched its Global NRI Centre (GNC) in Kochi, a one-stop customer service point for all NRI banking-related activities. Through its GNC, SBI aims to centralise operations which are currently spread across 16 circles, 92 NRI branches in 66 different locations and several NRI-intensive branches. SBI has a strong NRI customer base of over 33 lakh as on January 31.

Maharashtra State government will be setting up India's first institute for artificial intelligence (AI) in Mumbai. Plan for this institute of artificial intelligence (AI) will be unveiled by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the Magnetic Maharashtra Summit, beginning on February 18, 2018. Setting up the AI institute will not only play a crucial role in ushering the 'fourth industrial revolution' but will also promote Mumbai as an investment destination in innovations and data analysis. Maharashtra State Government has already been experimenting with AI in the health sector.

Milkbasket has been honoured with the 'Startup of the Year' 2017 award at the 7th Small Business Awards, in New Delhi. The Small Business Awards 2018 was organised by Franchise India Group. It honours the best enterprises among SMEs (Small or Medium Enterprise), SMB (Small and Medium Business) and emerging small-scale ventures. The startup of the year award is presented to SMEs that are 7 years or lesser than 7 years old with potential to develop into a larger entity in local and international markets.

Arvind P. Jamkhedkar has been named the next Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). Arvind P. Jamkhedkar is an archaeologist and historian. He will succeed Prof. K. Sudershan Rao. Prof. Arvind Jamkhedkar is currently the Chancellor of Deccan College in Pune. In 1960, he obtained master's degree in Sanskrit from the University of Pune. In 1966, he finished doctorate in Ancient Indian Culture from Deccan College.

Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has been sworn-in as the new President of South Africa on 15 February 2018. He was elected as the fifth president of South Africa by the ruling party politicians after the resignation of Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa, who is an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and businessman, served as the Deputy President of South Africa from 2014 to 2018.

Tata Steel and IT services provider, Wipro Ltd. are the two Indian firms that have featured in the list of 135 most ethical companies of the world for 2018. The list has been compiled by the US-based think tank Ethisphere Institute. It features 135 companies from 23 countries, across 57 industries. Companies are assessed as per Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework and are assigned scores in five key categories viz. ethics and compliance program (35% weightage), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20% weightage), culture of ethics (20% weightage), governance (15% weightage) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10% weightage).

Sanjiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Finserv, has been named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 for solutions in lending, life and general insurance and wealth advisory. He will represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from June 13, 2018. Dr. E Sreedharan was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for transforming the face of public transportation in India.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the 8th edition of the Theatre Olympics at Lal Quila in New Delhi. The theme of the festival is - "Flag of Friendship". The 51-day long nationwide theatre extravaganza will be held in 17 cities, including Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Patna. It is for the first time that India is hosting the event & more than 25 thousand foreign artists will participate.

The third-edition of international conference and exhibition on pharmaceuticals industry and medical devices- India Pharma 2018 and India Medical Device 2018 - has started in Bengaluru, Karnataka on February 15, 2018. It was inaugurated by Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, with the theme - 'Affordable & Quality Healthcare'. The key highlight of the conference is a workshop by World Health Organization (WHO) on "Regulatory System Strengthening and Prequalification updated by WHO". The 3-day event is being organized by Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). More than 20 international drug and device regulators will participate in a meet with Indian regulators.

Raghbir Singh Khandpur will be awarded for his contribution to science and for transforming the Science City in Kapurthala, Punjab, to an international-level centre, on 28th February 2018. He is a former Director General of the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology and the Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala. He is the founder director of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Mohali. He will be presented with this award on 28th February 2018 on the National Science Day, in New Delhi.

Vikas Sathaye, a Pune-born person honored with the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award at the Oscars Scientific and Technical Awards 2018 at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California. Sathaye and his team received the award for his contribution towards conceptualization, designing, engineering, and the implementation of the 'Shotover K1 Camera System' during his stint at Shotover Camera Systems in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Haruhiko Kuroda has been reappointed as the governor of Bank of Japan (BOJ) for second five-year term by the Government of Japan. His second term will come into force when the current one ends in April 2018. Kuroda will be first governor to serve two terms since 1954. The Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan and it is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Former Indian Badminton player Pullela Gopichand initiated India's largest 'train the trainers' programme by inducting 1500 Physical Education (PE) teachers from across Gujarat for advanced training. This programme has been envisioned by the ELMS Sports Foundation. ELMS Sports Foundation is a not-for-profit initiative promoted by Vita and Jalaj Dani and mentored by Pullela Gopichand and Olympic gold medallist, shooter Abhinav Bindra. Aim of this programme is to develop the skills of PE teachers so that they can impart the right techniques to children aspiring to make a career in sports. Under this programme, Gopichand along with a team of experts will first select 150 PE teachers (out of 1500 inducted PE teachers) to become master trainers. The selected 150 PE teachers will attend a week-long workshop in which they will be familiarised with modern sports techniques. Thereafter, these teachers will impart the same to the other teachers across the state.

Government of Dubai, global ports operator DP World and the State Government of Jammu and Kashmir have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to develop trade infrastructure in the state. Under this agreement, scope for setting up a multi-modal logistics park and hub in Jammu will be explored. This park would have warehouses and specialised storage solutions that will encourage inter-modal transfer of containers and bulk cargo. In 2016, 15 per cent of India's total non-oil imports and exports took place through DP Worlds operations in India.