Current Affairs - May 3, 2018 Current Affairs

Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, attended India- South Africa business summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The visit began with a series of bilateral meetings. The Minister highlighted the historical relations between India and Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho and pledged to take the economic partnership forward. The Minister also met members of India-South Africa CEOs forum who expressed confidence in the Government of India's efforts to strengthen India-Africa relations. Mr. Prabhu inaugurated a multi-sectoral exhibition at Johannesburg.

NITI Aayog will soon come out with a development agenda for 'New India 2022', which will spell out strategy for expediting economic growth. It will start working on a 15-year vision document after finalising the development agenda document for 'New India 2022'. It had planned to come out with three documents: 3 year action agenda, 7 year medium-term strategy and 15 year vision document.

Rajiv Bakshi has headed brand development, business transformation, consumer acquisition and digital strategy for long term growth and profitability. Before joining Intex, he worked with Discovery Networks India and South Asia region as vice president and head of marketing and products. As the CMO, Rajiv Bakshi will head the generation of consumer insights for product development and planning, expand sales and distribution network in general trade, e-commerce portals, large format stores and retail network.

World Asthma Day is celebrated worldwide on the first Tuesday of May every year. It is organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), it is a global health event aimed at improving asthma awareness and care worldwide. The theme of this year's event is 'Never too early, never too late'. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that is caused by inflammation of the airways.

Dalmia Bharat Limited has also 'adopted' Gandikota Fort in Andhra Pradesh under "Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan". "Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan" is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Tourism, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), states and union territories. Under the contract, the company will focus on providing basic amenities at the fort.

India has been ranked joint-sixth in the list of doping violations with 69 cases, same as that of Russia, according to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report for samples collected in 2016. India improved its position to sixth after being joint-third for three consecutive years from 2013 to 2015. Though, the number of dope violations for India has reduced but the trend of sports which are mostly under the scanner remain same. Italy topped the rankings of drug cases in 2016, followed by France (86), United States (76), Australia (75), Belgium (73).

20000 troops of Indian Army's South Western Command are participating in the ongoing 'Vijay Prahar' exercise near Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Objective of this exercise is to fine-tune jointmanship between troops of Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) and maximising the impact of the joint operations. The exercise emphasises on testing fighting capabilities by launching mock offensives with fighting equipment and armed helicopters. In context of this news, it is important to note that in April 2018, Indian Air Force conducted 'Gagan Shakti 2018', the biggest ever war combat game exercise along Indo-Pakistan and Indo-China borders.

Blue Origin, the US aerospace company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has launched its suborbital 'New Shepard' rocket and space capsule. The mission marked the company's first test flight of the year and second flight of the New Shepard 2.0 spacecraft. New Shepard is a reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing space vehicle, consisting of a pressurized capsule atop a booster.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, an MP from Gulbarga (Karnataka), has been re-appointed chairman of the 22-member Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament for its fresh term starting on May 1. Kharge, is the leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha. A majority of the members of this parliamentary panel, which is headed by an opposition leader, are from the ruling NDA. It is the oldest parliamentary committee that examines the accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament for expenditure of Government of India and such other accounts of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies.

Subhash Chandra Khuntia, a 1981-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer who was a former Karnataka Chief Secretary appointed as Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved Khuntia's appointment for a period of three years. The post was vacant for more than two months after TS Vijayan's tenure came to an end.

Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi grabbed the number one spot in 10m air pistol rankings by ISSF. He won the silver medal in the just-concluded World Cup in Changwon, Korea. Rizvi had previously won a gold medal with a world record score at the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March. The other Indians in the top-10 are Jitu Rai and Om Prakash Mitharval who are at 6th & 12th spot.

Maharashtra State will get a new airport at ParuleChipi in Sindhudurg district, which is expected to be functional by September 2018. This airport is being constructed under the aegis of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) by IRB Sindhudurg Airport Pvt. Ltd. on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis. Estimated cost for constructing this airport is Rs. 520 crore. Sindhudurg airport will have a 2500-meter runway and in terms of passenger handling capacity, it will be able to handle 200 departing and 200 passengers arriving during peak hours. Post completion, this airport will provide better connectivity to the Konkan region of Maharashtra, parts of Goa, North Karnataka and Western Maharashtra.

Maharashtra became the first state to provide digitally-signed land record receipts (also known as 7/12 receipts), which Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed would check irregularities and bring in transparency. The 7/12 receipt is the most important document which establishes the ownership of the land and is primarily used by farmers while applying for loans. It is also used by the government during crop surveys and to extend various facilities.

Chennai-based transgender Mubina has won the 2018 Miss Koovagam beauty pageant title in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. This year, nearly 40 transgenders in the age group of 18 and 35 contested for the 'Miss Koovagam' title. In it, apart from their beauty and attire, the contestants were tested for their knowledge in Indian mythologies.

The Centre told the Supreme Court that the BS-VI fuel will be made available by April 1, 2019, in 17 out of 23 districts in the National Capital Region. The government also told that BS-VI fuel will also be made available in Agra in Uttar Pradesh on or before April 1, 2019. Delhi has already switched to BS-VI fuel and the cleaner fuel is now available across the petrol pumps in Delhi.

The Indian Blind Football Federation (IBFF) conducted the third edition of All India Invitational Blind Football Tournament in Kochi, Kerala on 27th April to 1st May 2018. Over 100 players from all over India participated in the tournament. The Round Robin League Games were played from 27th April to 29th April 2018 at the Alwaye Blind School Grounds. Blind Football is a fast paced 5-a-side football played by visually impaired athletes with a ball having a noise-making device inside. It is played in a smaller pitch on an enclosed court. The game was introduced as a Paralympic event in 2004.