Current Affairs - May 9, 2018 Current Affairs

The World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (WRCRCD) is observed every year on May 8 to recognize the extraordinary contribution and incredible achievements of the stalwarts and volunteers around the world for helping the people in need anytime, anywhere. The day also marks the birth anniversary Jean Henry Dunant, the founder of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize. The 2018 theme "Memorable smiles from around the world" focuses on bringing memorable smiles in people's faces everywhere.

India would now be able to foretell the distance a destructive sea wave would travel after it breaches the coast, a prediction that can greatly reduce loss of life and property. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has developed a model to predict how far sea water would travel. This would be a Level-3 alert under India's Tsunami Early Warning System.

Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) in its program approval meeting an additional 100 stop centers for women affected by violence. It is funded from Nirbhaya fund. The purpose of these OSC is to provide integrated services for women affected by violence such as police assistance, medical aid, legal aid and counseling for temporary stay for 5 days. These centers are being established across the country.

Nokia has to acquire the SpaceTime Insight, a California-based startup, to expand its Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio and IoT analytics capabilities. SpaceTime Insight offers machine learning-powered analytics and IoT applications for several world's largest transportation, energy and utilities organisations. It has offices in India, Canada, UK and Japan. Nokia did not reveal the terms of the deal. It said that the acquisition will enhance the development of the company's IoT offerings. Rob Schilling, who had been CEO of SpaceTime, will become the head of Nokia's IoT unit.

BrahMos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, will be achieving 75% localisation in the next six months. As of today 65% of the value (in BrahMos) is created in India. The Quad launcher is designed for supersonic cruise missiles in an inclined configuration on-board our navy ships. The launcher provides superior firepower as compared to the twin cannister.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced to hold a climate summit in September 2019 in New York to review the commitments of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The announcement was made at the opening ceremony of the 37th session of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. In March 2018, Guterres appointed former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as his Special Envoy for Climate Action who was tasked to support the United Nations (UN) in its climate strategy and in organizing the 2019 summit.

India will establish a Marine Observation System Along the Indian Coast (Mosaic). At least six observatories - three along the east coast and and an equal number along the west coast - will be established. The project, to be launched later this year is intended to carry out monitoring, especially the marine coastal pollution.

Fiji's Indian-origin former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry has been selected for the V K Krishna Menon Award for his contribution to the Indian diaspora. The award was announced by the director of V K Krishna Menon Institute Cyriac Maprayil recently. Mahendra Chaudhry is the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. He became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister on 19 May 1999. But he had to step down exactly one year later. Mahendra Chaudhry's ancestors are from Rohtak, Haryana. His paternal grandfather went to Fiji in 1902. He worked in sugarcane plantations.

Indian Navy commanders will discuss the country's maritime security and review the naval force's mission-based deployments in the Indian Ocean Region. The commanders would discuss the optimal utilisation of the Navy's share of the defence budget. The conference would be addressed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The conference starts on May 8 and will conclude on May 11.

Bangladesh has proposed restructuring of the charter of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to pave way for inclusion of non-Muslim countries like India as an "observer state". The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations. India, however, has fairly robust relations with most OIC member states.

Australia unveiled a US$34-million plan to help bring its koala population back from the brink, following a rapid decline in the furry marsupial's fortunes. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates there may be as few as 43,000 koalas left in the wild. Under the Aus$45 million plan, thousands of hectares will be set aside to preserve the marsupial's natural habitat.

The World Athletics Day (WAD) is observed every year on May 7 to popularize sports among the youth, to promote athletics as the primary sport in schools and institutions and to encourage and introduce new talent and youngsters in the field of athletics.

India and Guatemala agreed to work together to combat terrorism. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on enhancing cooperation in diplomatic academics. A Letter of Intent (LoI) of providing training for the English language to Guatemalan teachers was also signed under the ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) programme.

Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been given one year extension to the post of Cabinet Secretary. With this, he will continue as cabinet secretary till June 12, 2019 as against his current retirement date of 12th June 2018. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the extension. In May 2015, Mr Sinha was appointed as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term. This is his second extension. As per government rules, no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond age of retirement of 60 years but as per rule FR 56, extension in public interest may be given "for a period not exceeding four years in the case of Cabinet Secretary". The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. He is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the government.

Google appointed Nitin Bawankule as the country head for its cloud business in India, as the search giant looks at taking a larger share of the booming demand for those services in the country. Bawankule has been with Google for six years and was previously head of sales for its e-commerce, retail and classifieds and education business. Bawankule will report to Rick Harshman, managing director of Asia Pacific for Google Cloud.

Government of India signed a loan deal worth $ 200 million with the World Bank for the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan). This loan will help India to reach its goal of reducing stunting in children of the age 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022. The POSHAN (PM's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister on 8th March 2018 at Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. POSHAN Abhiyaan's main objective is gradual increase of the interventions supported by the World Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in India for a 3-year period. This loan will support the first phase scale up to 315 districts and union territories (UTs) in India. The coverage and quality of ICDS nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women and children under 3 years of age will be improved. The project will also ensure convergence of all nutrition related schemes and offer performance based incentives to states and community nutrition and health workers, with focus on results.

The thirds edition of the United Nations Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP) was inaugurated in New Delhi to build and enhance the capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN. The UNPCAP sessions will be held from May 7-25. The course is conducted by the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in India (CUNPK) in partnership with the US. It is aimed to build and enhance the capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN and to further train the trainers from these countries. The first and second editions of the course were held in New Delhi in 2016 and 2017.