Current Affairs Current Affairs July 2018

  Shivangi Pathak, who became the youngest Indian woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest, has added another feather to her cap by scaling Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro in 3 days. Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro measures 5,895 meters in height. The Haryana teen, who acknowledged the endless support of her parents and family in her journey, aims to be an inspiration to girls all over India to relentlessly pursue their passion. 
Source-ANI News

 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has designated India as nodal centre for developing customized model to issue advance warning of floods to Asian countries, including Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. The model will be called as Flash Flood Guidance System. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) under Ministry of Earth Sciences will work to customize this weather model.
  • Flash Flood Guidance System
The model will provide forecasts by computing likelihood of rainfall and soil moisture levels to warn of possible floods. It will carry out forecasts by using combination of satellite mapping and ground-based observation. It will be customized weather model, originally developed by US and donated to WMO to warn about flash floods at least six hours in advance. It already has carried out test version of this model. Pakistan was among list of beneficiary countries of this forecast model, but it has refused to participate in it.
  • Background
Like India, several southeast Asian countries depend on monsoon and are prone to its vagaries. WMO estimates that flash floods account for 85% of flooding incidents across the world, leading to around 5,000 deaths every year. While science to warn of floods can be developed, India was yet to work out how exactly it will warn countries of potential inundation. India currently has its own warning system for tsunamis that also doubles up warning system for several Asian countries. At present in India, Central Water Commission (CWC), which monitors dams, warns of rising water levels in water reservoirs, which are usually taken to be signs of imminent floods. Recently CWC has recently tied up with internet giant Google to develop software application to visualise rising water levels during heavy rains.
  • World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
WMO is an intergovernmental organization whose mandate covers weather, climate and water resources. It is UN specialized agency for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences It is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on state and behaviour of Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with land and oceans, the weather and climate and distribution of water resources. It has 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

 On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, the Ministry of Human Resource Development organized a National Conference of Vice Chancellors & Directors of Higher Education Institutions of India in New Delhi. Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar chaired the conference and Minister of State for HRD, Higher Education Dr. Satya Pal Singh also graced the occasion. The theme of this conference is "Research and innovation in Higher Education." On the occasion, the Minister released the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) Report 2017-18, Higher Educational Profile 2017-18, and Swachh Campus Manual.
Source- DD News

 A National Viral Hepatitis control programme aimed at eliminating the deadly condition by 2030 was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. The programme was launched on World Hepatitis Day with an aim to combat viral hepatitis and reduce mortality and morbidity associated with it, Union Health Minister J P Nadda. The programme has been developed in association with all stakeholders who have worked at the grass-root level and has been launched in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), 2030.
Source- DD News

 Indian driver Jehan Daruvala completed an exhilarating pole to flag victory in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Belgium. Formula 1 hopeful Jehan also had the fastest lap to his name in race one of the weekend at the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit. Jehan was fifth on the timesheets after his first lap and improved to provisional second on the next lap. On his third and last effort, Jehan gave it everything for a brilliant lap to bag pole position by 0.10 seconds ahead of the then championship leader Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand. 
Source- The Times of India

     Four persons of India-origin, including three women, have been named by Fortune among 40 of the most influential and inspiring young people in business under the age of 40. Instagram Cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, both 34, are tied for first place on the Fortune '40 Under 40' list. 
The 4 people (with Rank) from India-Origin in the list are-
  •  Dhivya Suryadevara (4th), CFO of General Motors
  •  Anjali Sud (14th), CEO of Vimeo
  •  Baiju Bhatt (24th), Cofounder and Co-CEO of Robinhood
  •  Anu Duggal (32nd), founding partner of Female Founders Fund.
  • Source- Business Standard

     Indian women's compound archery team created history by becoming the world rank one side in the category. The team is six points ahead of the Chinese Taipei team. With the contribution from each member, the women's compound archery team jumped to the top spot with 342.6 points, with the Chinese Taipei team standing second with a difference of six points.
    Source- India Today 

     Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Rs 300 crore Rukura Medium Irrigation Dam project in Sundargarh district.  This project will irrigate 5,800 hectares of the agricultural field. Mr Patnaik stated that his promises to provide irrigation to an additional 10 lakh hectare of land ahead of 2014 elections, will be fulfilled by 2019. 
    Source- Business Standard

     The Parliament approved a legislation to help the government bring back fugitives involved in white-collar crimes to stand trial in India. The fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 will become law after the President’s assent and will empower the government to seize both local and overseas assets of alleged offenders, such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. This will help the government confiscate properties of fugitives even before they are convicted. The bill also provides for confiscation of benami properties. ED will be the apex agency to implement the law. 
    Source- The Livemint

     The 2nd Young Superintendent of Police Conference was held in New Delhi on July 26, 2018. The 2-day conference was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The conference was organized by Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D).
    • Young Superintendent of Police Conference
    The theme of two day conference was “Predictive Policing and Contemporary Challenges for Indian Police Forces” It was attended by over 100 Superintendents of Police (SPs) & senior officers from the States & CAPFs. The purpose of the 2-day conference is to create awareness among young SPs and Commandants regarding latest technologies in areas of artificial intelligence (AI), predictive policing, crime analytics, dig data analytics, geospatial technology, cybercrime, surveillance tracking & UAVs, CCTV equipment, for effective delivery of police services to citizens.
    • Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D)
    BPR&D was established in 1970 in furtherance of objective of Union Government for the modernisation of police forces. It is nodal national police organisation to study, research and develop on subjects and issues related to policing. It functions under the aegis of Union Home Ministry. It is headquartered in New Delhi. Since its  formation, it has evolved as multifaceted, consultancy organisation. At present it has 4 divisions – Research, Development, Training and Correctional Administration.


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