Current Affairs - May 6, 2018 Current Affairs

To financially uplift panchyati raj system, Odisha constitutes 5th State Finance Commission. The commission will recommend the ways and means for devolution of resources from the state level to the panchayat institutions and urban local bodies. The Odisha government has constituted 5th State Finance Commission with former bureaucrat and State Election Commissioner Rabinarayan Senapati as its chairman for devolution of funds to the Panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies (ULBs). Apart from Senapati, the commission consists of Panchayatiraj Secretary D K Singh, Dr. Asit Mohanty, a professor at Xavier Institute of Management, retired OAS officer Sanjib Kumar Mishra, Samsom Mohapatra, former professor of Utkal University as members and IAS officer D K Jena as member secretary. The commission will make recommendations on the principles governing the distribution between state and Panchayati raj institutions and the municipalities of the net proceeds of taxes, duties, tolls, and fees leviable by the state and the grants in aid to the gram panchayats, panchayat samitis, zilla parishes or the municipalities from consolidated fund of the state.

Justice AK Mittal has been appointed as the acting Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. Appointment of Justice Mittal, who is the first puisne Judge of the HC, has been notified by centre because of the retirement of CJ Vazifdar. Collegium had recommended the appointment of Justice Krishna Murari as the CJ of High Court but the Centre did not act on this recommendation.

Former tennis star Mary Pierce has been named the International Event Ambassador for TCS World 10K 2018 Marathon. The marathon, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru for May 27. Mary Pierce reached her career high ranking of World No. 3 in 1995, post her first Grand Slam Singles title - that of the Australian Open in January 1995.

China has launched a new communication satellite "APSTAR-6C" at the southwestern Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The satellite will provide TV transmission, communication, Internet and multimedia services to customers across the Asia-Pacific region. Both the satellite and the rocket were developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The World Cartoonist's Day is celebrated every year on May 5 to honor all those creative ink-stained artists, past and present, the fascinating pieces they have created and the humor they have brought into our lives. The cartoonist's aim is always to sum up the most important news of the time in a cartoon which ultimately makes the reader sit up and take notice.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched an initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) platform SWAYAM. In the first phase, 75 discipline-specific National Resource Centres have been chosen to prepare online training material. The training material will be focused on latest developments and new & emerging trends. A wide range of institutions like IISc, IITs, NITs, State Universities, IIITs, Open Universities etc. have been identified as NRCs. These NRCs cover disciplines like: Social Sciences, Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Humanities, Language Teaching, Commerce, Management, Education Planning and Administration, Public Policy, Leadership & Governance, Library & Information Science, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Assessment and Evaluation, Pedagogy and research methods , cutting edge areas of Nano-sciences, Internet of Things, etc. The training materials will be uploaded and will be available through SWAYAM to all the teachers from 1st October each year. This initiative enables all in-service teachers to access the online refresher course. The NRCs will develop the Refresher Module by 15th June each year.

The 19th edition of TOONZ Animation Masters Summit 2018 was held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on May 4-5, 2018. It was inaugurated by Ashish Kulkarni, Chairman of FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Forum, and was organized by the Technopark-based Toonz Media Group. The purpose of the summit is to present new trends which can give a fresh vigour to the industry segment with the help of modern technology and taking advantage of fresh opportunities. At least 400 members of the animation and media industry drawn from within India and overseas attended the summit. In the summit, V G Samant, a venerated pioneer of Indian animation and creator of 'Hanuman', was honoured with the 'Legend of Animation' award for his contributions to the animation industry. Legendary masters including Kiran Antony- Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Resul Pookutty- Oscar winning sound engineer and Paul Robinson- International Media Executive, also took part in the event.

According to a Harvard University report, India topped the list of the fastest growing economies in the world for the coming decade. According to the report, India is projected to grow at 7.9% annually, ahead of China & US. The researchers also found India to be the best on Complexity Opportunity Index, which measures how easy it is to redeploy existing knowhow to enter new complex products.

Pakistan has reopened a major trade route with Afghanistan, the Ghulam Khan pass after four years. Authorities had closed Ghulam Khan border crossing in 2014, after the launch of military operation in North Waziristan. Pakistan's army claims that 95% of the area is now militant-free and all the militants' hideouts have been destroyed.

Star Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth registered a comfortable victory over his Sri Lankan opponent Niluka Karunaratne 21-7, 21-9 to seal a berth in the semifinals of the New Zealand Open 2018. Notably, B Sai Praneeth took only 28 minutes to dismiss Sri Lanka's World No. 129 Niluka Karunaratne out of the tournament. Praneeth, who is World No. 18 leads 1-0 against Karunaratne in a head-to-head clash. The 25-year-old Indian will next take on the second seed and World No. 14 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia. On the other side, another Indian shuttler Sameer Verma went down to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan by 19-21, 9-21. After a hard-fought defeat by Lin Dan, Sameer was also crashed out of the tournament. Lin Dan will be up against qualifier Kwang Hee Heo of Korea in the other semifinal. Even though the Sameer in the first game drew level by 19-19 but Dan showed his vast experience to close out the opener at 21-19 with a delicate drop. However, in the second game, Sameer was no match for his highly accomplished opponent as he finished 9-21.

The sports initiative 'Star Khel Mahakumbh' was launched by BJP MP Anurag Thakur and cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh in the presence of 1,500 athletes. The athletes will compete in volleyball, basketball, cricket, football, kabaddi and athletics. The initiative has been designed in a manner as to attract participation of at least one lakh youth from across 5000 villages and 800 panchayats. The registration will be done on grounds across panchayats from May 4-20.

Dakota DC-3 aircraft of 1940's vintage named as 'Parshuram' ones again joined Indian Air Force more than four decades after the fleet was phased out following an illustrious service record. Notably, the Dakota DC-3 VP 905 aircraft was formally inducted at a grand ceremony held at Hindan air force station. The vintage aircraft was accepted by Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal B S Dhanoa from the Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar in February this year. The ceremony also included the representatives from the OEM, dignitaries from the High Commission of the UK and the proud veterans of the IAF who have operated this magnificent flying machine.

India has been ranked at 11th position in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2018 of global consultancy firm A T Kearney. It is the first time since 2015 that India has been pushed out of the top 10. Though, India remains among the top investment destinations due to its market size and rapid economic growth. The report said a possible factor for the fall could be the coming elections in India, as investors are likely to be monitoring political risks. The annual survey tracks the impact of political, economic and regulatory changes on the FDI preferences of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of the country. The index is topped by United States, followed by Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and China.

India is doing "extremely well" on electrification with nearly 85% of the country's population having access to electricity, the World Bank has said. According to the World Bank, between 2010 and 2016, India provided electricity to 30 million people each year, more than any other country. India is all set to achieve the target of universal access to electricity before the 2030 target date.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth formally took charge as the Deputy Collector of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, his native town. In June 2017, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu had offered Srikanth a Group 1 officer post after he won the Indonesian and Australian Open titles. Recently, Srikanth bagged his maiden singles' silver medal at Commonwealth Games.

Maharashtra Chief Minister launched 'MahaVedh', a mobile application which provides weather-related information to farmers. The application will provide real-time information on temperature, humidity and a forecast for 15 days. The application will also provide forecasts of lightning.