Saturday, May 18, 2019

Chronicle October 2018

Awards October

Legion of Merit

·         The US government has awarded the Legion of Merit to General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retired), of the Indian Army, for outstandingly commendable service as chief of the Army staff, Indian Army.

·         The Legion of Merit is awarded in four degrees; Degree of Chief Commander; Degree of Commander; Degree of Officer; and Degree of Legionnaire.

·         It is noteworthy that the award of Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander) of Gen Dalbir Singh (Retired) is only the second time that an Indian military officer is being awarded this specific degree, the first being General Rajendra singh ji Jadeja in 1946.

 

Nobel Prize for Maths

·         Akshay Venkatesh, an Indian origin Mathematician was one of the four winner of mathematics prestigious Fields medal, Known as the Nobel Prize of Maths.

·         He is currently teaching at Stanford University and has won the Fields Medal for his profound contributions.

·         The other three winners are: Caucher Birkar, a Cambridge University professor of Iranian Kurdish origin; Germany's Peter Scholze, who teaches at the University of Bonn and Alessio Figalli, an Italian mathematician at ETH Zurich.

·         The Fields medals are awarded every four years to the most promising mathematician under the age of 40.

 

Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award  

·         Gopalkrishna Gandhi former governor of Bengal was chosen for the 24th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award for his contribution towards promoting communal harmony, peace and goodwill.

·         This ward shall be presented at an event on 20th August, 2018 at Jawahar Bhawan in Delhi which contains a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh

 

Persons in News

Satya Tripathi

·         Un Secretary General has appointed veteran Indian economist and Unofficial Satya S Tripathi as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Officer office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

·         Mr. Tripathi, who will succeed Elliott Harris, who has since 2017 served as Senior Advisor on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at UNEP.    

 

Imran Khan

·         Imran Khan, a cricketer and philanthropist, played international cricket for two decades and later developed philanthropy projects such as Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre and Namal College etc. to serve the people of Pakistan.

·         In recent Pakistan's general elections held in July 2018, Imran's Party Tehreek-e-Insaf notched the highest seats.

·         Imran Khan former cricketer of Pakistan, now Chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan on August 18, 2018.

·         Imran Khan's PTI party had won the general elections conducted in the nation in July 2018.

·         Imran khan secured 176 votes, just four more than the needed 172 for a majority, beating Shehbaz Sharif, president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, who got 96.

 

Indra Nooyi

·         Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi will step down from the position on October 3, 2018, after helming the post for the last 12 years.

·         Ramon Laguarta, who has worked with Pepsico for over 22 years, will be succeeding Nooyi. The 54-years-old was unanimously elected to the position by PepsiCo's Board of Directors.

·         While Nooyi will step down as CEO of food and beverage giant PepsiCo in October, she will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Company till yearly 2019.

 

Scott Morrison

·         Scott Morrison has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Australia after winning an internal vote of 45-40 against former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

·         Scott Morrison will take over the charge as PM from Malcolm Turnbull.

 

Michelle Bachelet

·         Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to be the next UN Human Rights Chief where she will be succeeding Jordinian diplomat Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein.

·         Michelle Bachelet's name shall now to be forwarded for consideration and approval by the 193-membered UN General Assembly.

 

Emmerson Mnangagwa

·         Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa narrowly won the country's landmark election. He is also the formally of Robert Mugabe.

·         As per the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC), Mr. Mnangagwa won 55% of the vote and was ahead of his opposition Nelson Chamisa with 44%.

 

DR. G. Satheesh Reddy

·         The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Dr. G Shateesh Reddy as the Secretary of Department of Defence R&D (DDR&D) and the chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

·         Prior to this appointment he was the scientific advisor to defence minister and director general, Missile & Strategic System (DG MSS).

 

Nandula Raghuram

·         Indian scientist Nandula Raghuram on August 13, 2018 was elected as the chairman of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), a global policy making initiative.

 

International Nitrogen Initiative

·         The International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is an international program, set up in 2003 under support of the Scientific Committee on problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP). The initiative aims to augment nitrogen's valuable role in sustainable food production and minimalize nitrogen's negative effects on human health.

·         INI is coordinated by a Steering Committee, led by chair and six regional centre directors representing, Africa, Europe, Latin, America, North America, South Asia and East Asia.

 

Justice Manjula Chellur

·         Former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Justice Manjula Chellur was appointed as the Chairperson of the Appellate Tribunal for electricity (APTEL) on August 13, 2018.

·         Chellur was the first woman Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. She also served as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and was the first female judge of the Karnataka High Court.

 

 

Ashish Kumar Bhutani

·         Senior bureaucrat Ashish Kumar Bhutani has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana (PMFBY) according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry.

About ccNSO

·         Established under the bylaws of ICANN, the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) is responsible for developing global policies for country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD), promoting consensus within the ccNSO community and coordinating with other Supporting Organisations, committees and constituencies.

 

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

·         Mr. Vajpayee had served for three terms as the Prime Minister of India.

·         He served the first term in 1996.

Kuldip Nayar

·         His famous biography was "Beyond the Lines."

 

Muthuvel Karunanidhi

·         M. Karunanidhi was popularly known as 'Kalaignar' (artist).

 

Kofi Annan

·         Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary- General passed away on August 18, 2018 after a short illness. He was 88.

·         He served as the seventh UN secretary- General, from 1997 to 2006, and was the first to rise from within the ranks of the United Nations staff.

·         He had also been a member, since 2007, of The Elders, a humanitarian group of a dozen leaders and activists of worldwide stature formed by Nelson Mandela.

·         In 2013, Annan became its chairman.

VS Naipaul

·         He had also won the Booker Prize for In A Free State, in 1971.

 

B Sesikeran Committee

·         The Food safety and standards Authority of Indian (FSSAI) on August 17, 2018 constituted a group of experts from health and nutrition sector to look into the issue of food labeling.

·         The expert panel will be headed by B Sesikeran, former director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and comprises Hemalatha and Dr Nikhil Tandon. The panel will study in detail the concerns of the industry and make recommendations.

ARIIA

·         To promote a culture of innovation and research in higher education, the Union government has introduced Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), Union HRD Minister.

 

Global Innovation Index (GII)

·         The 11th edition of Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018 was launched in India on August 8, 2018. The Index was based on the theme- 'Energizing the World with Innovation.'

·         The India launched was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), one of the founding partners of GII along with the World Intellectual property Organisation (WIPO) in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Policy and promotion (DIPP).

·         In this year's edition of GII, India's rank has jumped to 57 from 60 in 2017. In fact,, India has been consistently climbing the GII ranking for the past three years. it was ranked 66th in the 2016 Global Innovation Index and 81st in 2015 GII.

 

Ease of living Index

·         Pune emerged as the top-ranked city in the east of Living Index. and, Delhi-NCR ranked in the 65th position as per the reports

Global Livability Index, 2018

·         Delhi and Mumbai were the only two Indian cities that featured in the EIU's annual index. Delhi was ranked at 112th position and Mumbai fetched 117th spot.

NITI Aayog's 5 Thematic Report on Himalayan Region

·         The fifth thematic reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region were recently released by NITI Aayog.

 

Fortune 500 List

·         Seven Indian companies feature in the US magazine Fortune 500 list of the world's largest firms, with state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) remaining the top-ranked Indian company in the 2018 rankings and Reliance Industries (RIL) improving its position substantially.

·         American retail giant Walmart tops the latest Fortube Listing, while Indian Oil jumped to 137th position, from its 168th rank last year.

·         State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which did not figure in the 2017 list, returned among the Forbes 500 with a ranking of 197th.

·         State-run oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) moved up to 314th position, from 360th last year, while the government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) improved one place over last year to be at 216.

·         Tata Motors improved its ranking to 232 from 247th last year.

·         Private firm Rajesh Exports was the seventh Indian company on the list at the ranking of 405 as it as it fell over a hundred spots from 295 last year.

·         In a separate category of globally most profitable companies topped by Apple, RIL became the most profitable Indian firm with a rank of 99.

 

UN E-Government

·         India has ranked 96th in the top 100 of the United Nation's E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2018. Denmark topped this list.

·         The E-Government survey is released by the United Nations in every two years. The 2018 edition was named as "Gearing E-Government to Support Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies."

·         The survey ranks 193 UN member states on basis of their performance on mainly three dimensions or e-government development index (EGDI): online service index (OSI), telecommunication infrastructure index (TII), and human capital index (HCI).

Conference/Summit

4th BIMSTEC Summit

·         The theme of the summit was 'Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region'.

 

11th World Hindi Conference (WHC)

·         The main theme of the Conference was "Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiya Sanskriti".

 

What Is IIFPT?

·         IIFPT is premier national institute working under asministrative control of Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI).

·         It conducts R&D on food processing and includes farmers, entrepreneurs and aspiring youth for prospective food business ventures.

 

One District One Product Summit

·         President Ram NathKovind on August 10, 2018 inaugurated the 'One District One Product' Summit in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

 

3rd Indian Ocean Conference

·         The 3rd Indian Ocean Conference was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 27-28 August, 2018.

 

Chhattisgarh to Rename Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar

·         The state government of Chhattisgarh has decided to rename the state's new capital city Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar in the memory of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

·         The Madhya Pradesh government also decided to build two memorials in Gwalior and Bhopal include a biography on Vajpayee in the school curriculum from next year to preserve the memory of the late leader.

 

MP GETS GI TAG FOR KADAKNATH CHICKEN MEAT

·         Kedaknath chicken meat from Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh has received Geographical Indication (GI) Tag from Chennai based Geographical Indication Registry and intellectual Property of India.

Mughalsarai Railway Junction Renamed

·         The iconic Mughalsarai Railway Junction of Uttar Pradesh was on August 5, 2018 renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction Railway Station.

·         The Mughalsarai station got a new name after Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik gave his assent to the proposal in June 2018 following the in-principle approval by the Union Government in 2017 to the state government's proposal.

Defence Industrial Corridor in Aligarh, UP

·         The Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and UP CM Adityanath have launched a Defence Corridor in Aligarh, UP.

·         This was a part of government's efforts to develop specialize zones dedicated to defence production in the state.

·         Six Nodal Points are Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi was identified for the corridors.

·         Another defence corridor was also launched in the Tamil Nadu.

 

Rajasthan: 1st State to Implement Biofuel Policy

·         Rajasthan has become the 1st state to take up centers newly unveiled Biofuel Policy which seeks to lay special emphasis on increasing production of oilseeds.

·         And, also establish a center for excellence in Udaipur which shall promote research in the fields to alternatives fuels and energy resources.

·         The new biofuel policy seeks to help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an economic manner and reduce the country's oil import dependency.

 

Pitch to move

·         NITI Aayog on August 14, 2018 launched 'Pitch to MOVE', a mobility pitched competition that aims to provide promising entrepreneurs of India with an exclusive opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a notable jurists.

 

Exercise Pitch Black

·         Exercise Pitch Black 2018, a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise, was hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from July 24, 2018 to Aug, 18, 2018 in Darwin, Australia

·         It was the largest Pitch Black Exercise ever conducted by Australia, which saw participation of 16 nations and more than 140 aircraft.

ATGM-Helina

·         Indigenously developed Helicopter Anti-Tank Guided Missile 'HELINA' was launched on August 19, 2018

·         It was successfully flight tested from Army Helicopter in the ranges of Pokhran.

 

India's first Biofuel flight: Dehradun to Delhi

·         India's first flight using biofuel was operated by SpiceJeton its turboprop Q-400 from Dehradun to Delhi.

·         A blend of oil from Jatropha seeds and aviation turbine fuel was used as Biofuel in 25-75 mix ratios.

·         India will be the first developing nation to experiment Bio fuel test flight and in future may join the elite club of nations who operate flight on alternative sources such as Canada, US, Australia etc.

 

SanthaliGets Own Wikipedia Edition

·         Santhali becomes India's 1st Tribal Language to get its own Wikipedia Edition

·         The Language is spoken by over 6.4 million people in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam.

·         Santhali is written in the OL Chiki Script which has a content of about 70,000 words.

·         Among the 22 scheduled languages in India Dogri, Bodo and Manipuri have no version of Wikipedia in their own language. The Assamese version of Wikipedia, which is live since 2002, is in the Bengali script.

 

Hindi Speaking Robot: Rashmi

·         Ranjit Srivastava, a ranchi based software developer has developed the word's first Hindi speaking humanoid robot with an acclaimed cost of Rs. 50,000. 

·         The Robot names Rashmi can also speak Bhojpuri, Marathi and English and is also equipped with Facial Expressions and recognition systems.

·         Mr. Ranjit Srivastava created Rashmi after seeing Hong-Kong made humanoid "Sophia" in 2016. 

No comments:

Post a Comment