Current Affairs Current Affairs August 2018

Ramesh Powar Named Head Coach Of Women’s National Team

Former India spinner Ramesh Powar was named head coach of the women’s national team till the ICC World T20 in West Indies, scheduled to be held in November 2018. This was informed by BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary. Powar was appointed interim coach of the team last month after the resignation of Tushar Arothe.

Source- AIR World Service

Catgeory: Appointments

Rifleman Aurangzeb, Major Aditya Kumar To Conferred Shaurya Chakra

Rifleman Aurangzeb and Major Aditya Kumar of Indian Army will be conferred the Shaurya Chakra along with 18 others Armed Forces Personnel and members of Paramilitary Forces. Aurangzeb, who has been selected posthumously, was abducted and later killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, Sepoy Vrahma Pal Singh will be awarded with Kirti Chakra posthumously. President Ram Nath Kovind has approved these names on the eve of Independence Day along with three Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 93 Sena Medals (Gallantry) and, 11 Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry). The President also conferred Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) to Group Captain Abhishek Sharma, Squadron Leader Vernon Desmond Keane and Sergeant Shashidhar P Prasad.

Source- DD News

Catgeory: Awards & Honours

Film Actor Akshay Kumar Becomes Brand Ambassador For Road Safety Campaigns

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari launched three short films for generating public awareness towards road safety. Film actor Shri Akshay Kumar has featured in these films, which are directed by Shri R.Balki. Mr Gadkari announced the appointment of Shri Akshay Kumar as Road Safety Brand Ambassador.

Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Catgeory: Miscellaneous

NITI Aayog Launches 'Pitch To MOVE'

NITI Aayog has launched “Pitch to MOVE” - a mobility pitch competition that aims to provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury. Startups working in the various fields of mobility can pitch their ideas to industry leaders and Venture Capitalists for raising investments. Winners of the event will be felicitated by PM during the Global Mobility Summit. Pitch to MOVE aims to identify and incentivise the startups, which will help the Government realize its vision of Shared, Connected, Intermodal and Environment-Friendly Mobility for India.

About “Pitch to MOVE”:

“Pitch to MOVE” is organised by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Invest India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as a part of a series of engaging featured events in the run up to the main event. The Summit is scheduled to be held on 7th and 8th Sep 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi and is being inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India.

Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Catgeory: Miscellaneous

Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme: West Bengal Government removes lifts family income ceiling

West Bengal Government has announced to remove annual family income ceiling in eligibility criteria to be beneficiary under state’s UN award winning Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme. This will help more girls to chase their dreams with Government support. Currently only girls belonging to families with annual family income not more than Rs 1.20 lakh were entitled to get the benefits of this scheme. State government is also planning to set up “Kanyashree University” under this scheme for girls soon.

Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme

It is conditional cash transfer scheme aimed at improving status and well-being of girl child by incentivising schooling of teenage girls and delaying their marriages until the age of 18. It was launched by Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal Government (Women Development and Social Welfare department) in October 2013. It was aimed at increasing educational attainment of girls, prevention of child marriage and financial inclusion. Objectives: Improve lives and status of the adolescent girls in State. Provide financial help to girls from disadvantaged families to pursue higher studies (now it will cover every girl from state). Prevent child marriage. Improved outcomes in terms of their health (especially facilitate the prevention of infant and maternal mortality). Contribute towards empowerment of girls in the state. Bring immeasurable benefits for the larger society as a whole. Targeted Beneficiaries: All girl children within age of 13 to 19 in the state. Girls regularly attending institutions for education or vocational or sports training. Girls of Child Care Institutes registered under Juvenile Justice Act (JJ), 2000 within age of 18-19 years.

Components of Scheme

Annual Scholarship of Rs. 500: It is for unmarried girls aged 13-18 years enrolled in classes VIII-XII in government recognized regular or equivalent open school or equivalent vocational or technical training course.
One time Grant of Rs. 25,000: It is for girls turned 18 at time of application, enrolled in government recognized regular or open school and colleges or pursuing vocational or technical training or sports activity or is inmate of Home registered under JJ Act.

Progress: So far around 50 lakh girls from the state have been benefited by scheme and removal of ceiling will help another three lakh more girls annually. Since its launch, it has helped to reduce number of school drop out of girls by nearly 11.5%.The scheme was awarded United Nations Public Service Award in June 2017.

Catgeory: State

US extends $39 million military finance to Sri Lanka to boost maritime security

United States has announced to grant $39 million as part its foreign military financing to Sri Lanka to boost maritime security. The US funding for Sri Lanka is part of its $300 million set aside for South and Southeast Asia to ensure free, open, and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.

Key Facts

The foreign military financing to Sri Lanka will be subject to approval by US Congress. It is viewed latest move by US to counter China’s increasing strategic influence on Indian Ocean island. This contribution will also support Bay of Bengal initiative and Sri Lanka’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) priorities. This will be first US grant to Sri Lanka since 2009, after US had stopped arms sales to Sri Lanka during height of its Tamil separatist war that ended in 2009. During this time, US was highly critical of human-rights record of Sri Lankan Government led by then President Mahinda Rajapakse. This had led Sri Lanka to seek China as its alternative partner.

Background

China (world’s second-largest economy) in recent has raised its investments in major ports in Sri Lanka, which are key to its ambitious ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure initiative. Under it, China has vowed to keep providing financial help, including loans to Sri Lanka despite warnings about its mounting debt. Sri Lanka has already handed over control of Hambantota sea port to China on 99-year lease in 2017, after its inability to repay Chinese loans for the $1.4 billion project. The port in Hambantota straddles world’s busiest east-west shipping route and also gives strategic foothold to China in region, threating long dominance of India in the region. International Monetary Fund (IMF) also has warned Sri Lanka over its heavy debt after it bailed out island nation in June 2016 with $1.5 billion loan.

Catgeory: International

2018 Global Liveability Index: Vienna named world’s most liveable city

Austrian capital Vienna was ranked as world’s most liveable city among 140 major cities in 2018 Global Liveability Index released by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is first time that European city has topped rankings of EIU annual survey.

Global Liveability Index

Global Liveability Index released by EIU compares world cities with each other in terms of security, affordability, education, healthcare, its urban lifestyle and infrastructure. It scores 140 major cities of the world on scale ranging from 0 (least liveable city) to 100 (most liveable city) based on these above parameters.

Key Highlights of 2018 Global Liveability Index

10 most liveable cities’ list includes Vienna, Austria (rank: 1st, with total score of 99.1), Melbourne, Australia (2nd, 98.4); Osaka, Japan (3rd, 97.7); Calgary, Canada (4th, 97.5); Sydney, Australia (5th, 97.4); Vancouver, Canada (6th, 97.3); Toronto, Canada (7th, 97.2); Tokyo, Japan (8th, 97.2); Copenhagen, Denmark (9th, 96.8); and Adelaide, Australia (96.6). Three Canadian cities made it into top 10 viz. Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. No Indian cities were ranked in the top ten or bottom ten of this edition of index. New Delhi had figured at 112th and Mumbai 117th position in list. South Asian cities were also ranked low in The 10 least liveable cities are Dakar, Senegal (131st); Algiers, Algeria (132nd); Douala, Cameroon (133rd); Tripoli, Libya (134th); Harare, Zimbabwe (135th); Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (136th); Karachi, Pakistan (137th); Lagos, Nigeria (138th); Dhaka, Bangladesh (139th) and Damascus, Syria (140th).

Catgeory: International

Hackers siphon Rs 94 crore from Pune’s Cosmos Cooperative Bank via ATMs in 28 countries

Recently hackers have stolen (illegally withdrawn) Rs .94 crore from Pune’s Cosmos Cooperative Bank via ATMs in 28 countries. It is possibly first of its kind coordinated digital attack on Indian bank. In this cyber heist considered to be originated in Canada, Rs. 78 crore were illegally withdrawn in more than 12,000 ATM transactions in 28 countries. Rs 2.5 crore were made in different places within India with another 2,800 transactions. Moreover, Rs 13.5 crore was transferred to Hong Kong-based entity using the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunications (SWIFT) facility.

Modus Operandi of Hackers

The illegal withdrawals were enabled by malware attack which authenticated debit card transactions bypassing the bank’s computerised core banking systecore banking system (CBS),which allows banks to settle cash dispensation requests raised at ATMs. The malware had created proxy switching system, which had bypassed need for validation by CBS of bank. The operation of switching systems involves variety of agencies, including banks, which participate in complex yet lightning fast process of dispensing money from teller machine. This might have been preceded by another cyber-attack, resulting in data theft of hundreds of bank’s debit cards. The information on these debit cards were then have been cloned on to fake cards used in physical withdrawal of cash from ATMs across the world. The illegally withdrawn money has gone out from bank’s corpus and not from individual accounts of the bank’s customers.

Catgeory: Economy & Banking

DAC approves procurement of six Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman approved procurement of six indigenously designed and manufactured Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) for Indian Navy. DAC is Defence Ministry’s highest decision-making body on capital procurement of Indian Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force).

Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs)

NGOPVs will be built in indigenous shipyards at approximate cost of Rs. 4941 crore. They will be fitted with state-of-the-art sensor suite with increased endurance. These platforms will strengthen maritime security by undertaking a multitude of operational roles both in blue water and littorals. These include seaward defence, protection of offshore assets, search & seizure operations and maritime interdiction operations, mine warfare, surveillance missions, anti-piracy missions, counter infiltration operations, anti-poaching and trafficking operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and search and rescue missions.

Catgeory: Defense

Ashish Kumar Bhutani appointed CEO of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Government has appointed senior bureaucrat Ashish Kumar Bhutani as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). He has been appointed to post till May 2020. He is IAS officer (1992 batch) of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

It is farmers’ welfare scheme launched in 2016 to ensure faster insurance services or reliefs to farmers. It was formulated in line with One Nation–One Scheme theme by replacing earlier two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) by incorporating their best features and removing their inherent drawbacks (shortcomings). It aims to reduce the premium burden on farmers and ensure early settlement of crop assurance claim for the full insured sum.

Objectives: Provide insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in event of natural calamities, pests & diseases. Stabilise income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming. Ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector. Encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.

Beneficiaries: All farmers growing notified crops in notified area during season who have insurable interest in crop are eligible under this scheme. It also provides insurance benefits to Landless labourers. It is compulsory for loanee farmers availing crop loans for notified crops in notified areas and voluntary for non-loanee farmers.

Key Features of Scheme

Under this scheme, farmers need to pay uniform premium of only 2% for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, farmers have to pay premium of only 5%. The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and balance premium will be paid by Government. Moreover, there is no upper limit on Government subsidy, so farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction. It covers yield losses due to non-preventable risks, such as natural fire and lightning, storm, stailstorm, cyclone, typhoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado. It also covers risks due to flood, inundation and landslide, drought, dry spells, pests and diseases. It also covers post-harvest losses are also covered. Udder this scheme, it mandatory for use of technology such as smart phones, drones etc to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be also used to reduce number of crop cutting experiments. The scheme is implemented on Area Approach basis. In this case, defined area (i.e. unit area of insurance) is village or above it can be geo-mapped and geo-fenced region having homogenous risk profile for notified crop.

Catgeory: National

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