Current Affairs - March 9, 2018 Current Affairs

Shri Ravi Thapar, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed as the nextAmbassador of India to Lebanon in succession to Smt. Nengcha L. Mukhopadhaya.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh launched a Udyam Sakhi portal for women entrepreneurs of India on the occasion of 2018 International Women's Day: The "www.udyamsakhi.org" portal is a network for nurturing social entrepreneurship and creating business models for low cost products and services in order to empower women and make them self-reliant and self-sufficient. The portal provides assistance through its platform for entrepreneurship learning tools, incubation facility, training programs for fund raising, providing mentors, one-on-one investor meet, provide market survey facility and technical assistance.

World Kidney Day is celebrated annually throughout the world on the second Thursday of March. This year it met with the International Women's Day and falls on March 8. World Kidney Day is a global awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys and how it's related to our overall health. The objective of the day is to not just spread awareness about kidney diseases and its cure, but also spread how kidney diseases can be prevented. The theme of World Kidney Day 2018 is "Kidneys And Women's Health: Include, Value, Empower". The celebration was initiated by the joint committee of "International Society of Nephrology and International Federation of Kidney Foundations" and was first observed by 66 countries in 2006.

R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy, launched the National E-Mobility Programme in India. The National E-Mobility Programme has been introduced to improve the e-mobility ecosystem that comprises vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure companies, fleet operators, service providers, etc. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will implement the National E-Mobility Programme. EESL will procure electric vehicles in huge numbers. The electric vehicles will replace the existing petrol and diesel vehicles. India would save more than 5 crore litres of fuel annually through these e-vehicles. This would result in reduction of more than 5.6 lakh tonnes of annual CO2 emission. For an electric car, the per kilometer cost is only 85 paisa. Whereas, it is Rs 6.5 for normal cars. This will help to reduce petroleum imports.

The International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated every year on March 8 to highlight the achievements of women. It is a global celebration of the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women. The 2018 theme is "Time Is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women's lives". Women's Day was first observed on 28th February 1909 in New York. At 1910 International Woman's Conference, 8th March was suggested to be observed as "International Woman's Day." March 8 also became a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917 after women gained suffrage there. Later, in 1975, International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time by the United Nations.

Mumbai has ranked 16th in the top 20 costliest cities in the world list, as per the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2018. This index was developed based on four major indicators namely wealth, investments, lifestyle and future. Monaco has secured the first position among the top 20 costliest cities in the world. It is followed by Hong Kong in the second position. Third place is occupied by New York City and fourth place is bagged by London. The rise of Mumbai in this ranking is supported by the fast pace wealth creation in India.

Prakriti has become the first woman to be directly inducted as combat officer into the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police). Prakriti is 25 years old. She has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. She had cleared the UPSC exam for officers' recruitment in CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) in her first attempt. She is now based in an ITBP unit in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. Soon she will join the Officers' Training Academy of ITBP in Dehradun. ITBP has women in combat roles already. But they are present in constable ranks only. Prakriti is the first woman officer in combat role in ITBP.

Haryana's first cyber police station was inaugurated in Gurugram, to facilitate registration of cyber offence related cases. CEO of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, V Umashankar along with Sandeep Khirwar, Commissioner of Police, Gurugram, inaugurated the cyber police station at DLF office in Gurugram. The building for the cyber police station has been provided by DLF in Phase 5. The cyberpolice station has sufficient number of trained manpower already. Also, cybercrime experts from outside will be involved if the need arises. This cyber police station will function under the direct supervision of ACP Crime/DCP Crime Gurugram.

Noted Indian architect & urban planner Balkrishna Doshi has been named the prestigious 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize for being able to interpret architecture and transform it into buildings that respect Eastern culture. He is the first Indian architect to be awarded the prize. The award ceremony will take place at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto on May 2018. Doshi is widely known for designing extensive low-cost housing projects and public institutions. His designs include the IIM-Bangalore; Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad; cultural spaces in Ahmedabad such as Tagore Memorial Hall, the Institute of Indology, and Premabhai Hall; and private residence Kamala House (Ahmedabad), among many others. The Pritzker Prize is regarded as architecture's equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

UK's Portsmouth College has offered to teach its students 'Hinglish', a mix of Hindi and English languages, becoming the country's first educational institution to do so. The course is being introduced partly due to India's growing economic importance and to prepare British students who may take up jobs in India or in Indian companies based in the UK.

On 6th to 8th March 2018, 'Vision for Future' event is conducted to celebrate the 70 years of successful Indo-Russia ties, in New Delhi. The Vision for Future event is organised by Ministry of External Affairs of India (Eurasian Division). It is co-organised by International Federation of Indo-Russian Youth Clubs and BRICS International Forum. The event is supported by Embassy of the Russian Federation in India and Russian Center of Science and Culture. This event is aimed at strengthening strategic partnership between India and Russia. Mains events of this programme are: First India-Russia Youth Parliament and India-Russia Excellence Award Ceremony & launch of Youth Festival Calendar. The event will highlight dynamic opportunities of cooperation between India and Russia to the youth.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) participated and showcased its achievements and initiatives in World ATM Congress (WATMC) 2018 held at IFEMA, Feria de Madrid, Spain from March 6 to 8. World ATM Congress is the world's largest international air traffic management (ATM) exhibition and conference attracting thousands of delegates each year.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has launched the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) on the occasion of 2018 International Women's Day (IWD). The platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India. WEP will provide opportunities to women to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses. It aims to promote women entrepreneurship and provide industry linkages and partner support to women entrepreneurs.

Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has been appointed by Britain's Prince Charles as an official ambassador for the Industrial Cadets programme designed to nurture manufacturing skills. Gupta was appointed to the flagship programme to give children and young people the direct structured experience of the industry at school or college level.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced its exit from the proposed light metro project for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. The Rs. 7,500 crore light metro project was proposed to cover 35.12 km in two cities and the state's revised share in the project was pegged at Rs 2,700 crore.