Current Affairs - April 7, 2018 Current Affairs

Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise 'Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018' was conducted off the Chennai coast, in Tamil Nadu. The Korean Coast Guard ship 'Bodaro' took part in the exercise. Indian Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft to carry out a sea-air coordinated search along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431 in the exercise. The mission of the joint exercise is to develop working level co-operation and enhance interoperability in the fields of maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy operations.

Cabinet approved the agreement between Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock (MAIL), Afghanistan for cooperation in the field of food safety. FSSAI and MAIL would establish a mechanism of information exchange and communication. Areas of cooperation also include facilitating technical exchange on identified topics of interest.

Study Khazana, an e-portal, was awarded "For best emerging online Education Portal in North India" at the 'World Education Summit and Award 2018' at New Delhi. Actress Sharmila Tagore presented the award to Sana Baqai, the Founder of Study Khazana. Study Khazana helps education-deprived aspirants get access to quality education irrespective of geographical boundaries and it encourages open knowledge movement.

Qatar allows women to join national service amidst intensified diplomatic blockade by Arab quartet. Amidst intensified diplomatic blockade by Arab quartet, Qatar has taken a huge step of introducing women to join national service and also extended the time served in the military by conscripted men. The development comes after the economic and financial impact on Qatar put by Arab quartet including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt led blockade is fading slowly. However, it is the first time in Qatar that women had been allowed to undertake national service, although some women already serve in the military in administrative roles.

2nd lead-up Conference to 3rd Annual Meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on 'Enhancing Port and Coastal Infrastructure' was held in Visakhapatnam. The Conference was organized by the Ministry of Finance, AIIB, CII and Research and Infrastructure System for Developing Countries. The need for international funding for developing and maintaining inland waterways was discussed.

India is emerged as the 3rd most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats, such as malware, spam and ransomware, in 2017, as per latest report by security solutions provider 'Symantec'. The list is topped by U.S., followed by China. The global threat ranking is based on 8 metrics: malware, spam, phishing, bots, network attacks, web attacks, ransomware and cryptominers. According to Internet Security Threat Report, India continues to be 2nd most impacted by spam and bots, 3rd most impacted by network attacks, and 4th most impacted by ransomware. The report also pointed out that with the threat landscape becoming more diverse, attackers are working harder to discover new avenues of attack and cover their tracks.

India and Azerbaijan have inked two documents for the visa waiver for diplomatic, official and service passports holders and cooperation between diplomatic training institutes. The agreements were signed during the ongoing visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to that country. Ms. Swaraj is there to be part of 18th NAM Ministerial Conference in Baku.

The UIDAI has unveiled the beta version of 'Virtual ID', which will soon be accepted by service providers in lieu of Aadhaar number. In January 2018, UIDAI had announced that it will come up with a 'Virtual ID' for Aadhaar Card-holders in order to address privacy concerns related to quoting Aadhaar. Virtual ID (VID), which an Aadhaar-card holder can generate from UIDAI's website is a random 16-digit number mapped to a person's Aadhaar number and biometrics. VID of the user would give any authorised agency like a mobile company, limited details such as name, address and photograph, which are enough for any verification. Thus VID will do away with the need of disclosing 12-digit Aadhaar number for authentication or verification purposes. UIDAI had stated that all authorised agency/service providers will have to compulsory accept VID for undertaking authentication from June 1, 2018.

Homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart forged a strategic partnership with online travel company MakeMyTrip to offer travel services on its platform. Additionally, the services of MakeMyTrip's other brands, Goibibo and redBus, will be available to Flipkart consumers as part of the deal.

ICICI Bank launched a service which enables Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to send money to a beneficiary in India using social media platforms like WhatsApp and e-mail. This first-of-its-kind service known as 'Social Pay' is available on Money2India (M2I), the bank's app for remittances. 'Social Pay' embraces the medium as a way to simplify money transfers, adding to customer convenience.

Union Cabinet has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Federal Transport Authority - Land & Maritime of the United Arab Emirates on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector. This MoU was signed on February 10, 2018. It envisages cooperation in the areas of regulation, safety and technical investigation of accidents, station redevelopment and any other area jointly identified by the parties to the MoU. Activities undertaken under the scope of this MoU will enable Indian Railways and UAE's Federal Transport Authority to interact and share the latest developments and knowledge in the railway sector.

Fashion retailer Myntra has appointed Mithun Sundar as its chief revenue officer. Mithun Sundar was PepsiCo India's Head of Strategy. He will take charge as chief revenue officer of Myntra in June 2018. He will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Ananth Narayanan. He succeeds Naresh Krishnaswamy. Mithun Sundar has 13 years of experience in sales, marketing and strategy. Earlier he had worked with McKinsey and Unilever.

India has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest producer of crude steel in February, according to the Steel Users Federation of India. At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world. India overtook the US in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel. India produced 8.4 million tonnes of crude steel in February 2018.

HCL Technologies has acquired C3i Solutions for USD 60 million, in a move to enhance HCL's growth in life sciences and consumer services. C3i Solutions is a wholly owned, independently operated subsidiary of Merck & Co, which is known as MSD outside the US and Canada. It offers multi-channel customer engagement services for life sciences and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries. C3i's expertise in the clinical, pharmacovigilance, and pharma sales support domains will help HCL offer more patient-centric services and enhanced services to its life sciences customers. HCL Technologies will acquire 100% stock of Telerx Marketing that operates as C3i Solutions, through HCL's step down subsidiary - HCL America Inc.

In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 April as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. This day commemorates the inauguration of first Olympic Games of the modern era, in Athens in 1896. This day is celebrated to highlight the contribution of sports and physical activity to education, human development, healthy lifestyle and a peaceful world. On this day, people are encouraged to promote the ways through which sport can help countries, communities and individuals to live a peaceful and prosperous life. For the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2018, Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) has launched the online campaign #PlayforGlobalGoals.

President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the 34th annual session of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in New Delhi. At the Annual session 10 Indian Women Achievers were presented the FLO ICON AWARDS.