Current Affairs - October 13, 2018 Current Affairs

Leading stock exchange NSE has signed a pact with the Uttarakhand government to provide access to capital to MSMEs, which will fuel the growth of such entities in the state. The bourse will play an active role in nurturing the SMEs and start-ups by increasing awareness along with the government on the opportunities to raise capital, SME exchange guidelines, listing processes, compliances with listing agreement among others.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) started Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro) facility in collaboration with the Government of Assam for Majuli Island. IWAI has procured a new vessel 'MV Bhupen Hazarika' for the new Ro-Ro service. Majuli is one of the biggest riverine islands in the world located on river Brahmaputra in Assam.

The country's first India-Israel Innovation Centre (IIIC), an entrepreneurial technology hub, was launched in Bengaluru. The IIIC is a significant step towards facilitating penetration of Israeli companies in India and aims to forge local partnerships and joint ventures between companies from the two countries. It will provide an ecosystem to support entrepreneurship, partnership with vendors, mentoring and non-formal community development that will assist the growth of the companies in different verticals and covers business, technology, investors and customers.

The Indian Navy will host the 'Goa Maritime Symposium' on 16 October 2018. The event is a follow-on to the maiden Goa Maritime Conclave held in 2017. The theme for the one day symposium is "Building Stronger Maritime Partnerships in Indian Ocean Region". The focus of the symposium is on capacity building among Indian Ocean Region navies to tackle emerging maritime threats,

The new board of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), has decided to nominate directors to key subsidiaries like IL&FS Financial Services Limited, IL&FS Transportation Networks Limited and IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Limited (IEISL). The board is headed by Uday Kotak. The board inducted the six-member board in IL&FS. The board appointed directors in eight subsidiaries.

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kulish and an Indian Dornier (naval maritime time patrol aircraft) from Andaman and Nicobar command entered Belawan harbour, Indonesia. INS Kulish and Indian Dornier will attend the 32nd edition of 'India - Indonesia coordinated patrol' (IND-INDO CORPAT). IND-INDO CORPAT began on 11 October 2018 and will end on 27 October 2018.

Indian javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar won a silver medal in the men's F46 category of the Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. The F46 category of disability covers upper limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement. Gurjar won the silver medal with an effort of 61.33m in his fifth attempt.

The International Day for Disaster Reduction is observed across the world on October 13 to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. The day celebrated how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the risks associated with them. The theme of the 2018 International Day for Disaster Reduction is 'Reducing Disaster Economic Losses'.

Turtle 'Olly' has been declared as the official mascot for the Odisha Men's Hockey World Cup. Hockey World Cup is scheduled to be held at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar from November 28 to December 16, 2018. 'Olly' represents the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. Olly was also the mascot for Asian Athletics Championships held in 2017.

Amway appointed Milind Pant as its CEO. Mr.Pant joins Amway, which has a revenue of $8.6 billion. Mr.Pant joins Amway from Yum! Brands where he was recently president of Pizza Hut International. He will be reporting directly to Amway's board of directors and will also hold a seat on the board on effective January 2, 2019.

Bishan Singh Bedi, the former Indian captain and spin legend, was honoured with the Dr.M.A.Chidambaram Birth Centenary Award, at a grand function here on Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The program was instituted by MAC Charities in memory of the former BCCI president. Other former Test cricketers like C.D. Gopinath, V.V. Kumar, G.R. Viswanath, K. Srikkanth and T.A. Sekhar were also honoured at the function that was held on the day of the birth centenary.

The Maharashtra Prison department has rolled out a smart video- calling facility for female prisoners and inmates lodged at open jails across the state, after gaining success in its pilot project at Pune's Yerawada Central Prison (YCP). A prisoner can talk to his/her family members for five minutes and will be charged Rs 5. The department has obtained the smartphones for video calling through the Prisoners Welfare Fund. However, the face to face talking facility with the family members will only be available on the mobile phone numbers registered with the department. For security reasons, the conversations will also be tracked by a police constable to ensure that the talks centre around family issues. There are around 28,000 prisoners, which includes both convicts and under-trials, lodged across 54 jails, including 13 open prisons and 2 women prisons in the state.

India has been elected to the United Nations' Human Rights Council with the highest vote among all candidates. It secured 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category for a period of three years beginning January 1, 2019. India's win with the highest number of votes reflects the country's standing in the international comity. The 18 new members were elected by the absolute majority through a secret ballot. India got the highest number of votes among all 18 countries in the five regional categories. In the Asia Pacific category, India got 188 votes followed by Fiji with 187 and Bangladesh 178 votes.

Five new battalions of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were sanctioned by the central government in January 2018 and their new bases have been sanctioned now. Key Points: The 5 new Rapid Action Force (RAF) battalions will be based in: Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh Jaipur in Rajasthan Mangalore in Karnataka Hajipur in Bihar Nuh in Haryana.

Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi announced that the Centre is to set up a committee of judges and lawyers to examine the existing legal and institutional framework. The committee is to deal with complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace that are emanating from the #MeTooIndia movement. The move comes even as the government is yet to make a statement on allegations by several women journalists against Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar.

The 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI) indicates that the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide falls into the serious category, at a value of 20.9, down from 29.2 in 2000. As per the index, India was ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries. The Global Hunger Index 2018 report was prepared jointly by global NGOs namely, Concern Worldwide (Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany). In the countries included in the GHI, the share of the undernourished population stood at 12.3 percent in 2015-2017, down from 17.6 percent in 1999-2001.

India's first second generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-Refinery will set up in Bargarh district of Odisha by 2020, where ethanol will be produced from rice straw. The proposed plant will be set up by the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. The foundation stone of which was laid on 10th October 2018. The bio-refinery will have a capacity to produce 3 crore litre of fuel-grade ethanol annually using rice straw as feedstock. The Bargarh Bio-Refinery will utilise about 2 lakh tonne of rice straw annually as feedstock which will be sourced from nearby locations including Bhatli, Ambabhona, Attabira, Sohela, Burla and Lakhanpur. The refinery will be based on zero-liquid discharge plant technology where water will be recycled back into the plant. Blending of ethanol in petrol will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels. Apart from Odisha, BPCL will also set up bio-refineries in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. . The National Biofuel Policy of India 2018 targets 20% Ethanol blending to Petrol by 2030. However, due to non-availability of Ethanol, the current Ethanol blending in Petrol is about 3 to 4%.

The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Lebanon for cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. The MoU will promote understanding of best Agricultural practices in the two countries. The MoU will also help in better productivity at farmer fields as well as improved global market.