Current Affairs - September 28, 2018 Current Affairs

From 9th to 15th September 2018, the 13th International Silesian Women's Boxing Championships was held in Gliwice, Poland. In the senior category: five-time world champion M C Mary Kom won gold (48kg) medal. Manisha (54kg) won silver medal. India also won 4 bronze medals in the senior category. In the youth competition: former world champion Jyoti Gulia (51kg) won gold medal. She is India's only boxer to have qualified for Youth Olympic Games in Argentina to be held in October 2018. In the junior competition: India won 13 medals: 6 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medal. Gold medals were won by: Bharti (46kg), Tingmila Doungel (48kg), Sandeep Kaur (52kg), Neha (54kg), Arshi Khanam (57kg) and Komal (80kg).

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare addressed at the 'High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis at 73rd session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at New York'. He stated that India has shown personal commitment to tackle TB head-on as India plans to eliminate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG target of 2030, by launching the TB Free India Campaign. India has allocated US$ 430 million for implementation of the Plan in the current year, which is an increase of 54% over last year.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), World Tourism Day (WTD) is celebrated worldwide annually on September 27. The theme of this year - 'Tourism and the Digital Transformation' The official celebrations this year took place in Budapest, Hungary. In India, the celebrations begun in Goa and are organised by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC).

The government appointed Rajni Kant Mishra as the Director-General of Border Security Force (BSF) in the place of K.K. Sharma. He is a 1984 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. Mr.Mishra is currently the head of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). He is to head the BSF till August 31, 2019. Special D-G (BSF) S.S.Deswal, will replace Mr.Mishra in SSB.

YES Bank, India's fourth largest private sector bank announced its partnership with RupeeBoss.com, an online financial services company. This partnership would enable integration of YES mPower BOT, the Bank's chat bot based platform. It can be accessed across platforms like the online portal RupeeBoss.com for the customers, Magic Finmart , RupeeBoss Business Associate app etc. It would be used to support instant loan eligibilities for its several loan products. YES BANK would be able to leverage RupeeBoss.com's wide network of agents and employees to offer the Bank's asset products to a larger customer base. Hence, it will be able to provide its loan applicants with instant information without needing to know all the details about the customers.

As per the 2018 report on Economic Freedom in the World, released by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) in conjunction with Canada's Fraser Institute, India stands at 96th rank out of 162 countries in economic freedom. Last year, India's rank was 98. Hong Kong and Singapore again topped the index ranking first and second respectively. The other countries in the top 10 were: New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the US, Georgia, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (tied for 10th) respectively.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on his visit to Andhra Pradesh inaugurated an Indian Culinary Institute, built by the Ministry of Tourism, in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The estimated cost of the project was: Rs. 100 crore and has an area of 14.5 acres.

A report of World Bank named 'A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia', India's trade in goods with South Asia could be at $62 billion and that with Pakistan could be at $37 billion without trade barriers. The present trade amounts to $19 billion with South Asia and $2 billion with Pakistan. This could be improved with Deeper regional trade and connectivity and access to South Asian regions, Substituting fossil fuels by cleaner hydropower from Nepal and Bhutan, Addressing mutual trust deficits, Nontariff barriers and Liberalization.

No Indian institution figures in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education's (THE) world university rankings 2019, though the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has retained its position as the highest-ranked centre in the country, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore has risen to the highest position behind it. The rankings show Oxford continues to hold the first place, Cambridge second, and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place to number four. In India, number of Indian institutions in the rankings increased from 42 last year to 49, making it the fifth best-represented nation.

A meeting between Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Minister for Development of Information Technologies and Communications, Uzbekistan Mr Shuhrat Sadikov was held in New Delhi for strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in ICT sector. Two Memorandum of Understandings (MoU's) were signed: - a) Agreement between National Informatics Centre (NIC), India and e-Government System development centre of the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan for strengthening e-Governance cooperation. b) Declaration of Intent between CDAC, India and Tashkent University of Information Technologies, Uzbekistan for cooperation in the area of capacity building in ICT sector.

India and Oman Agree To Enhance Bilateral Cooperation. The Ministers undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral defence cooperation and discussed measures to further enhance bilateral exchanges. The three wings of the Armed Forces hold staff talks and advanced joint exercises with each other. Several enabling agreements and Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between the two countries pertaining to defence related issues.

The 8th Asian Yoga Sports Championship organised by Asian Yoga Federation has begun in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will formally inaugurate the event. Nearly 450 participants representing 12 Asian countries showcasing their yoga skills will take part in the four-day event. Yogaratna Awards will be given away to foreign delegates who were instrumental in popularising yoga in their respective countries. Noted Saudi yoga instructor Nouf Marwaai, who was recently awarded the Padma Shri, will also participate in the event.

World Rabies Day is celebrated on 28 September. It is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.

India and UN signed a five-year sustainable development framework. CEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant and United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, Yuri Afanasiev, signed the Government of India-United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) for 2018-2022, at a special signing ceremony. The NITI Aayog is the national counterpart for the UN in India for the operationalization of the UNSDF. The government of India-United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) 2018-2022 outlines the work of UN agencies in India, to support the achievement of key development outcomes that have been identified in consultation with the government and are aligned to the national priorities.

The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (Campco) is to enter into coconut processing and marketing. This sudden move of Campco is to help farmers to get better prices for coconuts. Campco president S.R.Satishchandra said that the cooperative has expanded to coconut, as it is committed to better the economic stability of farmers. He also said that Campco has recorded an all-time high turnover of Rs.1,742 crore in 2017-18 and added that the net profit was Rs.41 crore. In 2018, Campco purchased areca nut worth Rs.1,452.92 crore, cocoa at Rs.₹55.75 crore and rubber at Rs.48.87 crore.

The government has set up an eight-member Lokpal Search Committee under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, former SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya and Justice Sukha Ram Singh Yadav among others will be members of the panel. An official order issued by Ministry of Personnel stated that the panel will recommend the names for the Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal to the Lokpal Selection Committee. According to the Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh the search panel is a major step towards setting up of the Lokpal and the committee will start functioning soon.