Current Affairs - May 13, 2018 Current Affairs

Australia's oldest scientist David Goodall ended his own life at a clinic in Switzerland. David Goodall was 104 years old. He was assisted to end his life by Exit International, a right-to-die organization. David Goodall was not terminally ill but his health had deteriorated in the recent past and he chose to end his life because he felt that his quality of life had deteriorated in the past 5 to 10 years. He was a botanist and ecologist. As Euthanasia and assisted dying are banned in Australia, he chose Switzerland to end his life.

Navy will review its new Mission-Based Deployments philosophy to ensure peace and stability, during the conference. The new deployment philosophy, in furtherance of the Prime Minister's vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), aims to attain sustained, peaceful and responsive presence of Indian Naval ships in critical areas and choke points. Combat Efficiency and Materiel Readiness, and upkeep of 131 ships and submarines has been the Navy's focus in the past year. Various measures taken to improve Combat Efficiency, like new Transition Cycle for ships for transition from maintenance periods through a training phase and full scale operations will be reviewed at the conference.

YES Bank is to launch a capacity building project with farmers in Haryana and Rajasthan under its 'Livelihood and Water Security' CSR (Corporate social responsibility) initiative. The main focus of the programme is sustainable agricultural practices and digital literacy. It aims to improve farmers' access to finance, offer effective use of digital banking resources, and good agricultural practices. The programme will be launched during the current year in Haryana and Rajasthan. Initially it will be launched in 15 districts (eight districts in Haryana and seven in Rajasthan). It will benefit 10,900 farmers. Digital methodology will be used to train farmers.

With the aim of combating terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow discussing issues as a part of regular contacts between the two countries' security councils. Elaborating opening remarks during talks with Doval, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that focusing on strengthening the bilateral ties, the economic ties between both the nations are growing. Along with it a mechanism is being developed to further liberalize trade both bilaterally and as part of India's cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union. Russia- India- China (RIC) format, BRICS and now the SOC, India actively and full-fledged been a member since last year. All these allow the nations to closely interact and coordinate our approaches in the UN and various military and political security mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific region. The two nations further discussed their "further work" to solve tasks related to fighting terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking, and to promote cooperation in practical areas.

Munu Mahawar, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1996 batch has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman. Munu Mahawar is presently Joint Secretary at Ministry of External Affairs Headquarters. He will soon assume charge as the next Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman.s

Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh informed that the United States Stanford University will partner with Uttar Pradesh to fight disease like Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Sidharth Nath Singh headed the delegation of top state officials to the United States. As a part of the official visit to the United States, the Indian delegation met with officials from the State Department, the Department of Commerce and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). They also held round tables with industry representatives.

Nepal's PM, KP Oli has announced to host the 2018 Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical & Economic Cooperation summit. BIMSTEC is an international organisation of 7 nations of South & South East Asia, including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan & Nepal. BIMSTEC aims to enhance technological & economic cooperation among South & South East Asian countries.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh praised the Jharkhand government for its success against Maoists was a matter of pride for him. Chairing a meeting on left-wing extremism, Singh said the Centre would extend all possible help to the state government to deal with Maoists. According to an official statement, Singh said that Jharkhand has been leading on most of the indicators related to the fight against Maoists. He praised the Jharkhand government for using technology and providing excellent infrastructure to the Central Reserve Police Force and holding a maximum number of meetings of the unified command.

The first-ever joint conference of Indian Customs and Department of India Posts at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi to deliberate on streamlining of imports and exports by post. Commissioners of Customs from all the States having Foreign Post Offices (FPOs) were present along with their counterpart Post Master Generals. Imports and exports by post are the 6th highest cited citizen grievances under under Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMs). Customs and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) have worked together since a year to liberalise, reform and align laws relating to imports by India Post.

Former Test cricketer Rajinder Pal, who represented India in one Test match, passed away at his Dehradun residence on May 9, 2018. Rajinder pal was 80, and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. He was right-arm medium pacer and played his only Test match against England during the 1963-64 series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. He was right-arm medium pacer and played his only Test match against England during the 1963-64 series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

The International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated every year across the world on May 12 to mark the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The day is also mark to recognize the strong commitment, compassion and dedication that nurses display in the practice of their profession. The 2018 theme is - Nurses A Voice to Lead - Health is a Human right.

Indian Customs and Department of India Posts held a first-ever Joint Conference in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi to deliberate on streamlining of imports and exports by post. Imports and exports by post are the 6th highest cited citizen grievances under Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMs). Customs and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) have worked together since a year to liberalize, reform and align laws relating to imports by Post.

World Athletics Day is celebrated every year to popularize sports among the youth, to promote athletics as the primary sport in schools and institutions and to encourage and introduce new talents and youngsters in the field of athletics. The International Association of Athletics federation is the international governing body for the sports of athletics with headquarter at Monaco.

The seed centre at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has bagged an award for excellence in research on seed technology. The best performance centre award was presented at the annual group meeting of the all-India coordinated research project on national seed projects. All agricultural universities under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research participated in the meet.

A parliamentary panel headed by BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi decided to study the recovery of black money and performance of public sector banks etc. The Estimates Committee consists of 30 members. It has planned to study various subjects related to several ministries in 2018-19. As per the memorandum of the committee, the panel will overview the import of uranium for nuclear plants, mining activities and environment, upgrading of India Post offices and the drought situation in India etc. The panel on estimates is also called the continuous economy committee. It recommends changes in policy or administrative framework to achieve efficiency in expenditure. It has planned to overview the functioning of Enforcement Directorate and recovery of black money, performance of public sector banks, debt recovery tribunals, rural housing fund and review the imports, exports and balance of payments. This panel was reconstituted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on 1st May 2018. She re-appointed Murali Manohar Joshi as its Chairman.