Current Affairs - August 11, 2018 Current Affairs

Bid round -II under Discovered Small Field Policy was launched by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The government aims to increase India's growth to become the 4th largest economy and is bringing policy reforms to the energy sector. They are focused on: Energy Access, Energy Efficiency, Energy Sustainability and Energy Security. Discovered Small Fields (DSF) policy is a part of that reform.

Axis bank has become the first bank in the country to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar -based transactions through its micro ATM tablets. This is being run as a pilot project in 8 branches of rural Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

NCW member Rekha Sharma has been appointed as the chairperson of the National Commission for Women. Rekha Sharma was earlier a member of the Commission and was holding the additional charge of chairperson. The National Commission for Women is the apex national level organisation of India with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's survey of inward remittances for 2016-17, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the top source of inward remittances, while Kerala has received the maximum funds sent from abroad. UAE's share in total remittances was 26.9%, followed by the United States (22.9%), Saudi Arabia (11.6%), Qatar (6.5%) and Kuwait (5.5%). According to the survey, 82% of the total remittances received by India originated from eight countries - UAE, the U.S, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 650 branches of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on the 21st August, 2018. The IPPB has been setup under the Department of Post, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by the Indian government. The IPPB will leverage the vast network of the Department of Posts with 1.55 lakh access points, three lakh postmen and Grameen Dak Sewaks.

The Delhi high court with a sanctioned strength of 60 judges after the appointment of Justice Rajendra Menon. He served as a judge in the Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh.

Colombia's President-elect 42-year-old Ivan Duque has been sworn in as the country's 60th president. He replaced Juan Manuel Santos and became the youngest president in Colombia's recent history. He defeated left-leaning candidate, Gustavo Petro, in a presidential runoff in June with 54 percent of the vote.

Avi Goel (14), the Indian-American high school student, has won the International Geography Bee World Championship 2018 in junior varsity division in Berlin, Germany. Avi is a tenth grader at Silver Creek High School in Evergreen, San Jose, California. He won a gold medal in 7 out of the 10 medal events, and a silver medal in two of the events, topping the overall medals table. He also bagged the top spot in all the three events counting towards the world championship title: the International Geography Exam, the International Geography Showdown, and the International Geography Bee. The competition took place from 11th to 18th of last month, bringing together over 100 of the world's top geography students to vie for the world championship title in the subject. The competition was held by International Academic Competitions, a worldwide organization that runs academic competitions across the world, including the newly formed International Geography Bee.

Four-member Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu has been constituted to to discuss concerns of trade pact with RCEP countries. This meeting will determine whether India is willing to give 92% of its market access to these countries or not for free trade or not. The trade pact will affect the sectors of steel, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, electronics, heavy industry, textiles and chemicals as there will be an influx of Chinese products effecting the domestic markets. These talks are to be held before the upcoming trade negotiations in RCEP Summit with member nations - including Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea in November 2018.

As part of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) initiatives, SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for SCO member states. The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted by Central Military Commission of Russia from 22 August to 29 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia. This will be a historic occasion due to the maiden participation of India post becoming a full member of the SCO in June 2017. This exercise marks a major milestone in the multilateral relations of SCO member nations.

UNESCO has included the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in the list of World Network of Biosphere Reserve (WNBR) at the 30th Session of the Man and Biosphere International Coordinating Council (ICC) in Palembang, Indonesia. With this, KBR has now become the India's 11th internationally designated WNBR and joined the list of other biospheres such as Nandadevi, Simlipal, Sunderbans, Nokrek , Pachmarhi and Nilgiri. The reserve, which is located in Sikkim, includes a range of ecoclines varying from subtropical to arctic, as well as vast natural forests in different biomes that support an immensely rich diversity of forest types and habitats resulting in high species diversity and endemism. The core zone of the biosphere alone has over 150 glaciers and 73 glacial lakes, the prominent one being the famous 26-km-long Zemu glacier. It is home to a number of globally threatened fauna including musk deer, snow leopard, red panda and Himalayan Tahr and many ethnic communities including Lepcha, Nepalese, and Bhutia.

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples was observed all over the world on Aug 9th of every year. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared August 9 as International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. This day is observed to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. The theme for International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2018 is: Indigenous peoples migration and movement.

The government approved a pact between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Chartered Professional Accountants, Canada. The MoU includes collaboration on the definition, learning, and evaluation of the professional qualities and skills and competencies of Chartered Accountants. It will provide an opportunity for the ICAI members to expand their professional horizon.

Prof. Talat Ahmad, the renowned earth scientist, has become the new vice chancellor of the University of Kashmir. He succeeded Khurshid Iqbal Andrabi. Prior to this post, Ahmad was the vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia. He has been a recipient of several prestigious awards and citations, including the National Mineral Award, 1994 from the Government of India. He has also been a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi, Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore, fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in Allahabad, J C Bose National Fellowship, DST, New Delhi.

Ramco Systems, a Software firm, acquired a multi-million dollar order from Manila-based air freight leader AP Cargo Logistic Network Corporation with an aim to implement its logistics software. It is expected that AP Cargo would implement the software to streamline its freight operations countrywide. AP Cargo partnered with Ramco after the partnership with the Philippines as it was adopting IT solutions to ramp up its logistics capabilities and infrastructure. The freight and logistics market is expected to reach $60.22 billion by 2023.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a defence industrial corridor in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The move is part of the government's efforts to develop specialised zones dedicated to defence production in the state. Six nodal points, Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi have been identified in state for the corridor. There will be an exhibition of products by the armed forces, defence public sector undertakings and DRDO which are planned to be indigenised over the next five years. Another defence corridor was also launched in Tamil Nadu.