Current Affairs - October 27, 2018 Current Affairs

The European Union announced the selection of Department of European Studies (DES) of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) for the prestigious Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (CoE) Award. It became the only Centre of Excellence in European Studies in the country. The recognition comes along with a grant of close to one lakh euros for various activities planned for the next three years. Earlier, MAHE had been titled as an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India.

Mumbai's METRO INOX is now South Mumbai's largest cinema and India's First Rooftop Solar Powered Cinema. It has launched two INSIGNIA screens which are 100% solar powered. It has become the first multiplex in India to join the solar revolution. The INSIGNIA screens also contribute to protecting the environment by reducing 282 tons of CO2 during its operational life. It is one of nine PSUs under the Union Ministry of Defence of India.

Roopam Sharma, a 23-year old Indian scientist, won the World Health Summit Startup award, 2018 for his invention, Manovue - the world's first intelligent personal assisting system for the visually impaired. Sharma was awarded at an annual event of the health summit in Berlin recently. He is the youngest person to be recognized as one of the top innovators under 35 by the MIT Tech Review in 2016. Roopam was conferred with the National Youth Award by the President of India in January this year.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) got regulatory approval from SEBI to launch copper large futures contract. The copper large futures contract will have a trading unit of 25 tonne at par with international commodity markets. It is one of the highest traded contracts and is considered as the global benchmark. With this, NSE aims to provide an onshore hedging platform to large Indian corporates, refiners and various users in the value chain.

Vigilance Awareness Week 2018 will be observed by the Central Vigilance Commission from 29 October to 3 November 2018. The theme for Vigilance Awareness Week 2018 is 'Eradicate Corruption-Build a New India'. 'Awareness Gram Sabhas' are also organised for the dissemination of awareness in Gram Panchayats (in rural and semi-urban areas) to sensitise the rural citizens.

India's Sourav Kothari defeated Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 1134-944 to clinch the 2018 WBL World Billiards Championship title. The former national and Asian Billiards champion had missed out on winning the coveted World Billiards crown on two occasions in the last two years, including a loss to Gilchrist in 2016 final in Bengaluru.

India and Indonesia decided to boost maritime cooperation by being part of the maritime patrol in the Malacca Straits. This was decided on the wide-ranging talks held between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Indonesian counterpart Gen (Retd) Ryamizard Rycudu on the Indian minister's 2-day visit to Indonesia. Apart from this, deepening of defence and security relations were also discussed. Earlier in May 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Indonesia and signed a MOU on defence cooperation and elevated the ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The 2nd International Conference on Primary Health Care (PHC) towards UHC & SDGs, is held in Astana, Kazakhstan. J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare addressed the Second Plenary Session of the conference, on the theme "The Future of Primary Health Care". The conference aims to renew the commitment to primary health care to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. The conference is cohosted by the Government of Kazakhstan, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund).

India and Bangladesh signed three agreements on 25 October 2018. The agreement were signed for enhancing inland and coastal waterways connectivity between the two countries for trade and cruise movements. It includes the use Chattogram and Mongla Ports in Bangladesh for goods movement. They also signed a standard operating procedure (SOP) for movement of passenger and cruise services.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has used the names of modern mythical characters "Hulk" and "Godzilla", to name its new set of 21 gamma-ray constellations to celebrate its Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope's 10th year of operations. Fermi has mapped nearly 3,000 gamma-ray sources which is 10 times the number known before its launch. The 21 gamma-ray constellations also include famous landmarks like Sweden's recovered warship, Vasa, the Washington Monument and Mount Fuji in Japan. Also other names like the Starship Enterprise, the TARDIS, and Albert Einstein.

Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a Mini Ratna Public Sector Undertaking, under the Ministry of Defence, received the prestigious 'Top Challengers Award 2018' for the excellent performance during the financial year 2017-18 and Best Seller in Crawler Equipment- Dozers and Rigid Dump Truck segment for mining sectors. At a function held at Delhi, CMD BEML Shri Deepak Kumar Hota has received the award from Construction Economist Mr. Graham D Robinson.

The Information Commissioner Office (ICO) found that between 2007 and 2014, Facebook processed the personal information of users unfairly by giving app developers access to their information without informed consent. The scandal took place after new EU data protection rules went into effect this year, the amount could have gone up to £17 million or 4% of global turnover whichever is higher.

India, Afghanistan and Iran has recently hold their first trilateral meeting on Chabahar port project in Tehran during which they reviewed its implementation. The Indian delegation was led by TS Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations). The Afghan and Iran delegations were led by respective deputy ministers of Transport. The meeting assumes significance as the strategically-located port on the energy-rich Iran's southern coast was coming under the ambit of US sanctions on Tehran. In it, it is decided to constitute a follow-up committee that would hold its first meeting within two months in Chabahar port. The committee would discuss and aim to finalise protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs and consular matters for making the route attractive and decrease logistic costs. In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan had signed a pact which entailed establishment of a transit and transport corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs. Chabahar is located less than 100 nautical miles from the Chinese built port of Gwadar in Pakistan.

The Haryana Government introduce the 'Pashu Sanjeevni Sewa' scheme to provide free of cost health care services to livestock in the state through mobile veterinary clinics. The decision was taken during a meeting of the animal husbandry and dairy department, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The service will be first started in all the blocks of Jind, Yamunanagar and Nuh districts for pilot run. Livestock farmers would be able to avail the service of Mobile Veterinary Clinics 24x7 after giving a call on toll free No.1962. Each mobile vehicle would have a three-member team comprising a veterinary doctor, one para vet and one helper-cum-driver.

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the International Arya Mahasammelan - 2018 in New Delhi on October 25. The Arya Mahasammelan is touted as being a platform for the Arya Samaj to project its views on major caste-related issues and problems concerning backward sections of society. The convention also aims to spread a message of human welfare originating from the Vedas, promote universal brotherhood and ensure safeguarding of social morals.

The 10th Nuclear Energy Conclave was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, in New Delhi. Theme of the conclave was: "Nuclear Power: Towards A Clean And Base Load Energy". It was organized by Indian Energy Forum (IEF). A roundtable on "Growth of Nuclear Power: Fleet Mode Implementation" and 2 sessions titled 'Nuclear Energy Applications in Medical and Agriculture' and 'Long term perspective of Nuclear Power' were conducted.

Serbia women's volleyball team beat the Italian team 3:2 in a grand finale of the Volleyball Women's World Championship in Yokohama, Japan, on 20th October 2018. Serbia won the Volleyball Women's World Championship title for the first time.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is celebrated all over the world on 27th of October. The theme for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2018 is "Your Story is Moving". In 2005, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) General Conference declared October 27 as World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.

The 5th edition of the 'Women of India National Organic Festival' was inaugurated by Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. The Festival celebrates and promotes women entrepreneurs/producers and farmers in the organic field from across India. The festival is From October 26th till November 4th, IGNCA and will be the cultural hub of India's most varied offerings of organic products from 26 States.

Indian National Science Academy (INSA) selected Tezpur University professor Ashis Mukherjee for the prestigious "Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Teachers Award (2018)". He was selected for his consistent and high-level of teaching, and inspiration and mentoring students to take up careers in Science and Technology. He will be conferred the award at the Anniversary General Meeting of the Academy in December 2018. He has also received Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Biotechnology from Calcutta University and the Visitor's (President of India is the visitor of all central universities of India) Award for Research in Basic and Applied Sciences-2018 from the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.