Current
Affairs Daily Affairs: 11 and 12 January 2018
National Youth Day is observed on 12 January
- The National Youth Day
celebrated every year on 12 January.
- This is the day when Swami
Vivekananda, one of the greatest social reformers, thinkers, and
philosophers of India, was born. The Indian government had declared back
in 1984 that Swamiji’s birthday would be celebrated as the National Youth
Day.
- The main aim behind this is to
make sure that the students across the country can be encouraged to learn
about the life, the ideas and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and apply
them in their lives.
- He inaugurated the National
Youth Festival in Greater Noida through Video conferencing.
- The five-day event will provide
a platform to bring the youth of the country together with an opportunity
to showcase their talents in various activities.
- The Theme of the
Festival is 'Sankalp Se Siddhi'.
- Culture Minister Dr. Mahesh
Sharma will be the guest of honor on the occasion.
1. Karnataka Tops States with Investment
Intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore
- Karnataka topped all states with
investment intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore till October 2017, according to R V Deshpande, Karnataka
Minister for Large, Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development
- The investment was 43 percent of
the country's total investment intentions.
- Karnataka topped in FDI inflows
and has performed well in exports, contributing about 40 percent in
electronics and software services.
2. Paytm Launches Investment Arm, to Invest $10
million
- Paytm set up a new entity called
Paytm Money Ltd that will offer investment and wealth management products
and will invest close to $10 million upfront in the new entity.
- Paytm Money is the fourth
product from One97’s stable after Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank and
Paytm wallet.
- It will be available as a
separate mobile application to users.
3. Aditya Mehta Wins Kolkata Open 2018
International Invitation Snooker Championship
- Professional player Aditya Mehta
won the Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship in
the capital city of West Bengal Kolkata.
- This is his third Kolkata Open
title since it’s inception. In the thrilling final he defeated Englishman
Professional Player Alfie Burden.
4. Flipkart's PhonePe Inks Pact with FreeCharge
- Flipkart’s payments arm PhonePe
partnered mobile wallet company FreeCharge to allow the latter’s customers
pay for transactions at PhonePe’s partner merchants.
- According to the deal terms,
PhonePe has now enabled its users to link their existing FreeCharge
wallets to the PhonePe app.
- Once linked, PhonePe customers
will be able to spend their FreeCharge wallet balance at all online and
offline merchant outlets that accept payments via PhonePe.
5. Union Cabinet Approves Amendments in FDI
Policy, Policies Further Liberalized
- In the financial year 2016-17,
total FDI of US $ 60.08 billion received, which is an all-time high.
- The Cabinet chaired by PM
Narendra Modi has approved amendments in FDI Policy and further
liberalized few of the policies of FDI.
- As per the extant policy,
foreign airlines are allowed to invest under Government approval route in
the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air
transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital.
6. Dr Sivan K appointed as New ISRO Chairman
- Noted rocket scientist Sivan K
was appointed as the 9th chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO).
- He has replaced A.S. Kiran
Kumar.
- The appointment has been made
for the tenure of three years.
- He was the Director of Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. Sivan joined the ISRO in 1982 in Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project.
7. President Ram Nath Kovind Inaugurated 4th
International Dharma Dhamma Conference
- President Ram Nath Kovind
inaugurated a three-day International Dharma-Dhamma conference at Rajgir
in Bihar.
- The conference has been jointly
organized by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External
Affairs, Asean-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.
- The inaugural session was
chaired by our President.
- The conference was attended by
Sri Lanka’s foreign Minister Tilak Marapana.
8. UIDAI Introduces Virtual ID to Strengthen
Privacy and Security of Aadhaar Data
- The Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) introduced a concept of 'Virtual ID' to further
strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar number holders.
- The Aadhaar number holder can
use 'Virtual ID' in place of an Aadhaar number whenever authentication or
KYC services are performed.
- Aadhaar card holder can generate
the Virtual ID from UIDAI website and give for various purposes,
including SIM card verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit
biometric ID.
- The Virtual ID will be a
temporary and revocable 16 digit random number mapped to a person’s
Aadhaar number.
9. South Korea and GCCI Sign MoU for Business Cooperation
- An official delegation from
South Korea and the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) signed
a MoU for co-operation between industries in Gujarat and the East Asian
country, with a focus on automobile, defense and textiles sectors.
- The main objective of the MoU is
to help Gujarat-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to explore
opportunities through joint ventures with South Korean firms, especially
in areas of automobile, defense, and textiles.
10. Indian-Origin Businessman Sunny Verghese
appointed as WBCSD Chairman
- Singapore-based Indian-origin
businessman Sunny Verghese appointed as the Chairman of the Geneva-based
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
- He succeeded Paul Polman.
Verghese, Co-Founder and the CEO of Singapore's agri-business group Olam
International Limited, is the first WBCSD Chair from the agri-sector.
11. Ministry of Railway Launches SFOORTI
Application
- In a major digital initiative to
help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of
Railways launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time
Information (SFOORTI) App for Freight Managers which provides features for
monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information
System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.
- With this application, movement
of freight trains on Geographic Information System (GIS) view can be
tracked.
- Both passenger and freight
trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections in single GIS View.
- Freight business can be
monitored.
- Comparative Analysis of
Zonal/Divisional Traffic.
- Analysis of new traffic captured
and traffic lost.
- This app provides a Bird’s eye
view of all Freight Assets in a single window.
12. IOA Appoints Harjinder Singh as 'Chef de
Mission' for Winter Olympics 2018
- The Indian Olympic Association
(IOA) appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter
Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018.
- Harjinder Singh is at present
the General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.
13. ISRO's PSLV-C40 lifts off from Sriharikota
- ISRO's PSLV-C40 carrying
Cartosat-2 series satellite and 30 other spacecraft lifts off from
Sriharikota.
- The “Cartosat-2 Series” and 29
other satellites inserted into a 505-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit.
- Later, the payload Microsat
developed by the ISRO will be taken down to a lower orbit at 359-kilometer
height and launched using the ‘multiple engine switch-on’ method.
- This is the fourth time the
novel method has been used by the ISRO for placing satellites in multiple
orbits in a single flight.
14. Reliance Jio planning to launch its own
cryptocurrency
- Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is
planning to create its own cryptocurrency, JioCoin.
- The Jio coin project is being
led by Mukesh Ambani’s elder son Akash AmReliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is
planning to create its own cryptocurrency, JioCoin.
- The Jio coin project is being
led by Mukesh Ambani’s elder son Akash Ambani.
- The blockchain is decentralized
incorruptible digital ledger for storing data across a peer-to-peer
network.
15. Indu Malhotra is First woman lawyer to be
directly promoted as SC judge
- The Supreme Court collegium led
by Chief Justice of India (CI) Dipak Misra unanimously recommended the
name of senior advocate Indu Malhotra for the appointment as a judge of
the Supreme Court.
- With this, she becomes first
woman lawyer from the country to be directly elected to the post of judge
of the Supreme Court.
- Overall she will be seventh
woman judge in SC since it was established 67 years ago.
- Indu Malhotra is reputed senior
advocate practicing in SC or the past 30 years.
- She was born in 1956 in
Bengaluru, Karnataka.
16. India Tops Domestic Air Traffic Demand at
16.4% in November: IATA
- India's domestic air passenger
traffic grew by 16.4 percent in November 2017, topping the growth chart
worldwide, according to the global aviation body, the International Air
Transport Association (IATA).
- Globally, the total revenue
passenger kilometers (RPK) increased 8 percent compared to November 2016.
- The available seat kilometers
(ASKs) or capacity grew by 6.3 percent.
- The ASK for India was at 10.4
percent, second only to China where capacity grew by 12.9 percent,
according to the IATA's monthly data.
17. IndusInd Bank to Introduce Indias First
Battery-Powered Interactive Payment Card
- IndusInd Bank and Dynamics Inc.
at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) announced plans to introduce
the first battery-powered, interactive payment cards to the Indian market
in 2018.
- The new IndusInd Bank card from
Dynamics has multiple buttons that let the consumers use a single card to
pay in multiple ways. With a touch of a button, consumers can select
credit, points or monthly installments as the payment option.
- A different color light will
activate based on the selected payment option.
18. Fifth Bilateral Meeting Between India and
Malaysia Held in New Delhi
- The 5th Bilateral Technical
Meeting on cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine
between Govt. of India and Malaysia was held in New Delhi.
- It was a part of the agreement
signed between both countries in 2010.
- The Meeting had discussed the
following agenda:-
- Establishment of Ayurveda Chair
in University of UTAR, Malaysia,
- Professional training in
Panchakarma therapy for Malaysian experts in India,
- The evaluation of safety and
efficacy of combination Ayurvedic/ traditional products for clinical
trials.
- Safety evaluation of Ayurvedic
products based on Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)
- Bilateral MoU between National
Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH and Malaysia for
Cooperation in the field of Medicinal Plants.
19. India, and Canada soon to sign MoU for
cooperation in field of Science and Technology
- India and Canada will soon sign
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the cooperation in the field of
Science and Technology.
- That will provide a mechanism
and help to foster scientific cooperation between R&D and academic
institutions of the two countries.
- Notably, the Union Cabinet
chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a MoU with Canada for
cooperation in the field of Science and Technology.
- Under the MoU, an innovative
model of R&D cooperation between India and Canada will be implemented
under a MoU concluded by the Department of Science and Technology with the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.
20. UN Environment and WHO Agreed to Major
Collaboration on Environmental Health Risks
- UN Environment and the World
Health Organization have agreed a new, wide-ranging collaboration to
accelerate action to curb environmental health risks that cause an
estimated 12.6 million deaths a year.
- Mr Erik Solheim, head of UN
Environment, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO
signed an agreement to step up joint actions to combat air pollution,
climate change and antimicrobial resistance, water quality, and food and
nutrition issues, in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.
