Current Affairs Daily Updates: 05 April 2018

Current Affairs Daily Updates: 05 April 2018

1. Himanta Sarma elected as President of BAI

Himanta Biswa Sarma has been elected as the President of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for the next 4 years. He is a Cabinet ranked Minister and convener of the North East Democratic Alliance. He had taken over as the interim President of BAI last year after the demise of former president Akhilesh Das Gupta.

2. India becomes second largest manufacturer of crude steel

According to Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI), India has overtaken Japan to become world’s second largest producer of crude steel in February 2018. China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.

3. India’s Selena, Shreya clinched bronze in TT

India’s Selena Selvakumar and Shreya Shivakumar clinched two bronze medals at the 2018 Ivory Coast Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Tournament in Abidjan, Africa.
Selena settled for the bronze in the junior girls’ singles. Shreya teamed up with China’s Yininghua Hu got a medal in the junior girls’ doubles category of the event which is part of the International Table Tennis Federation.

4. HRD Ministry constitutes Committee to prevent exam paper leakages

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a High Powered Committee to examine the entire system of conducting Class X and Class XII examination conducted by the CBSE with a view to prevent leakages. Mr Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Retd. Secretary (Higher Education), MHRD will be the Chairperson of the 7 member High Power Committee.

5. Commonwealth Games 2018 Weight Lifter P. Gururaja Wins Silver

On the first day of competitions at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018, in Australia, India began their campaign with a Silver Medal in Weightlifting. In the 56 kilogram category, P Gururaja lifted a total weight of 249 kg to finish second in the event. The 25-year old Gururaja equaled his personal best. Malaysia took the Gold, while Sri Lanka settled for the Bronze.

6. CWG 2018: Mirabai Chanu Wins Indias First Gold Medal

Weightlifter and current world champion Mirabai Chanu has clinched India’s first gold medal of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Mirabai Chanu becomes the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018. After finishing with the best lift of 86 kg in the snatch round, the 23-year-old finished with a total score of 196 points. Chanu is competing in the 48 kg category. The 23-year-old also set Commonwealth Games records in both Snatch (86 kg) and Clean and Jerk (110 kg) categories.

7. First Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement Released By RBI

On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.0%.

Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate (RRR) under the LAF remains at 5.75%, and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.25%.

India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth marginally upward to 6.6% from 6.5% in the first advance estimates. GDP growth in 2017-18 at 6.6 percent was lower than 7.1% in 2016-17.

Retail inflation, measured by the year-on-year change in the CPI, fell from a high of 5.1% in January to 4.4% in February due to a decline in inflation in food and fuel.

CPI inflation excluding food and fuel remained unchanged at 5.2% for the third consecutive month in February, after rising from its trough in June 2017.

8. Himanta Biswa Sarma Elected BAI President

Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were unanimously elected the Badminton Association of India (BAI) President during its annual general body meeting in Goa. Ajay Kumar Singhania was elected the Secretary-General of BAI. Mr. Sarma had taken over as the interim BAI President in 2017 after the demise of Akhilesh Das Gupta. He will serve for four years.

9. SBI Life Appoints Sanjeev Nautiyal As New MD & CEO

SBI Life Insurance appointed Sanjeev Nautiyal as its new Managing Director and CEO. He replaces Arijit Basu, who takes over a key role in the State Bank of India Group. Nautiyal started his career with State Bank of India in 1985 as a probationary officer in the bank’s Lucknow Circle.

10. April 5: National Maritime Day

The National Maritime Day (NMD) is observed every year on 5th April to commemorate the maiden voyage of the first Indian owned ship “SS Loyalty” sailed from Bombay to London on 5th April 1919. It was a crucial step for India shipping history when sea routes were controlled by the British. This year is it is 54th edition of NMD and theme is “Connecting India through Shipping”. The NMD was first celebrated on 5th April, 1964.

Note: The World Maritime Day (WMD) is observed on September 29 to highlight the importance of shipping safety, maritime security and the marine environment.

11. India Ratings and Research has revised its FY19 GDP growth forecast to 7.4%

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) expects the gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 7.4% yoy in FY18. Backed by consumption demand and government spending, the gross value added of the three production sectors namely agriculture, industry and services would grow at 3%, 6.1% and 9.1% yoy, respectively, in FY18. While private final consumption expenditure is expected to grow at 8.9%, the government final consumption expenditure is expected to clock 9% growth in FY18. Ind-Ra, however, has revised down its GDP growth estimate for FY17 to 6.8% from 7.9%, which is even lower than Central Statistical Organisation’s advanced estimate of 7.1%. 

12. Important Cabinet Approvals- 04th April 2018

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the following set of approvals. The important Cabinet Approvals are given as follows-

The Cabinet has approved-

1. Cooperation Arrangement between India and Afghanistan for cooperation in the field of food safety and related areas,

2. MoU between India and Iran on the establishment of an expert group on trade remedy measures,

3. Cabinet apprised of MoU between India and Canada to foster cross-border partnerships focused on research excellence and industry-academic collaboration,

4. Closure of loss-making Burn Standard Company Limited - a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE)- Decision taken in view of the continuous poor physical and financial performance of the company for more than 10 years combined with low probability of its revival in the future,

5. Cabinet apprised of MoU between India and United Arab Emirates on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector,

6. Demerger and transfer of surplus land from Tata Communications Limited (TCL) to Hemisphere Properties India Ltd. (HPIL),

7. Rightsizing the Competition Commission of India- from 1 Chairperson and 6 Members (totalling seven) to 1 Chairperson and 3 Members (totalling four) by not filling the existing vacancies of two Members and one more additional vacancy.

8. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018.

13. Subrata Bhattacharjee Appointed as Next Ambassador of India to Serbia

Subrata Bhattacharjee has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Serbia. He is an IFS poffice of 1989 batch. He is currently Joint Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs.

14. India ranks 3rd among nations facing most cyber threats: Symantec

According to recently published Internet Security Threat Report, India emerged as 3rd most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats, such as malware, spam and ransomware in 2017. India has moved up by one place over previous year. The report was published by security solutions provider Symantec .  United States (with 26.61% global threats) was most vulnerable country to such cyber-attacks, followed by China (10.95%) in 2017.