Current Affairs - July 18, 2018 Current Affairs

The government has decided to set up a committee under the Chairmanship of Mr Anil Swarup, former Secretary, School Education, with suitable representations from NCC, M/o Youth Affairs and Ministry of HRD to suggest measures to strengthen National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS). The Committee will deal with on issues like expansion, strengthening training infrastructure, rationalizing resources, reducing manpower deficiency affecting NCC and NSS. The Committee will also submit recommend for building synergies between these two institutions viz.

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has clinched a gold medal at the Sotteville Athletics Meet in France. The Indian youngster secured the top spot in the podium with an 85.17m throw. Moldova's Andrian Mardare took the silver medal after he covered a distance of 81.48m. The bronze medal went to Lithuania's Edis Matusevicius, whose best throw of the night was 79.31m.

India has improved one spot and has reached the 5th position in the men's hockey world rankings released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). India has improved due to its second consecutive runner-up finish at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands. Australia, that had won the Champions Trophy, remained on the top spot.

Nelson Mandela International Day 2018 is observed internationally on 18th July. This year marks 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918). The Nelson Mandela Foundation is dedicating this year's Mandela Day to 'Action Against Poverty', honouring Nelson Mandela's leadership and devotion to fighting poverty and promoting social justice for all.

Honda's Marc Marquez clinched his ninth consecutive German Grand Prix victory and took a 46-point championship lead over Valentino Rossi into the summer break after dominating what is set to be the final MotoGP race at the Sachsenring. Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi finished second with his Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales third.

According to data speed tester Ookla, Qatar ranked first in the list with 63.22 Mbps average download speed. Norway stood second in the list with 62.14 Mbps download speed. India ranks 109th in overall 4G mobile internet speeds with an average download speed of 9.12 Mbps which is less than Pakistan (14.03 Mbps). Out of the list comprising 124 countries.

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu (seeded second) suffered a defeat to fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games inside 50 minutes to settle for runners-up spot in the Thailand Open at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok.

Defence undertaking BEL has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saab, Sweden for jointly marketing the L-Band 3D Air Surveillance Radar, RAWL-03. Bharat Electrical Limited (BEL) is engaged in the design, manufacture & supply of radars such as like weapon locating, surveillance & communication systems. RAWL-03 will be offered in both ship-borne and land-based configurations.

Indian Railways today signed an agreement with the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MahaMetro) to create a mass rapid transit system in Nagpur. Under the MoU, the Railways and MahaMetro would work towards linking railway line to metro coaches on broad gauge network. The MoU was signed between Maharastra CM Devendra Fadnavis and transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari.

D. Jim Umpleby III and Ajay Singh were awarded for their transformative role in developing US-India business relations and enhancing the lives of citizens in United States and India. The Annual Leadership Summit stressed on USISPF's commitment to enhance the strategic partnership between the US and India. The theme for this year's summit was: "Strengthening the Strategic Partnership".

Zabivaka - "the one who scores" (in Russian) is a wolf who radiates fun, charm and confidence was the Official mascot of FIFA World Cup 2018. It has brown and white fur, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "RUSSIA 2018" and orange sports goggles. This was designed by Ekaterina Bocharova.

Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is set to be named the Chef de Mission of the Asian Games-bound Indian contingent. The four deputy Chefs de Mission set to be appointed are BS Kushwaha (former secretary of Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Federation), RK Sacheti (Executive Director of Boxing Federation of India, DK Singh (Uttarakhand Olympic Association) and Colonel RK Swain (Secretary of Equestrian Federation of India).

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi laid the Foundation Stone of the Poorvanchal Expressway in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. It is a 340 kilometer long that would provide swifter connectivity between Delhi and Ghazipur. The expressway will be linked with the 302 km-long Lucknow-Agra Expressway and 165 km-long Yamuna Expressway from Agra to Delhi. The total network of expressways will be over 800 km after completion.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced that, it had signed a partnership with French energy company Total to develop a digital innovation centre in India. The digital innovation centre will be based in Pune. It will focus on the use of digital technologies to enhance various aspects of the refining business. The partnership will be based on the TCS concept of "entrepreneurship-in-residence". Total will work with technology and domains experts of TCS.

State Bank of India (SBI) announced that it would launch a kisan Mela outreach program for farmers to help in imparting financial literacy to the farmers, on July 18,2018 . This would cover 10 lakh farmers in 14000 rural and semi urban branches. This initiative will educate the farmer customers about their right and various banking initiatives. The bank will also issue Kisan Credit Card (KCC) with 10% of enhancement on their credit limit. It would also help various the farmers on knowing various agri-products of the bank like asset backed agri-loan, mudra loan and loans on other allied agri activities.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation stone of India's first National Skill Training Institute in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. The proposed institute will impart training to trainers and create a skill-based ecosystem to meet the industry demands. The Institute costing Rs 160 crore will come up over five acres of land and have state-of-the-art facilities.