Latest Current Affairs – November 01 2018
1. Cabinet clears MoU between India, S Korea for tourism
The Cabinet has cleared the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and South Korea for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism. The MoU is aimed at expanding cooperation in data related to tourism and between tourism stakeholders, including hotels and tour operators. It will also seek to establish exchange programmes for cooperation in human resource development.
2. Rahul Dravid receives ICC Hall of Fame cap from Sunil Gavaskar
Former India captain Rahul Dravid received the ICC Hall of Fame commemorative cap from former captain Sunil Gavaskar ahead of the fifth India-Windies ODI at Thiruvananthapuram’s Greenfield International Stadium. “You’ve been the conscience of Indian cricket and international cricket. Continue to do all the great work you have done,” said Gavaskar while presenting Dravid the cap.
3. Djokovic to become rank 1 after Nadal exits Paris Masters
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic will again reach the world number one rank after his Spanish rival Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Paris Masters tournament. Nadal, who cited abdominal injury behind his withdrawal, will abdicate the top ranking when the rankings get refreshed on Monday. Notably, Djokovic has won two Grand Slam titles this year.
4. New Zealand tops ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index for 3rd straight year
New Zealand has retained the top position in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking for the third consecutive year. Singapore and Denmark secured the second and third ranks respectively in the list of 190 nations. The index takes into account a country’s trading regulations, property rights and investment laws among other factors.
5. India ranks 77 in Ease of Doing Business Index
India, which jumped 23 places to 77th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index 2019, is among the top ten improvers for the second consecutive year. India improved on six of the ten metrics tracked by the World Bank. India’s ranking in dealing with construction permits—one of the ten parameters—jumped to 52 from 181 last year.
6. Seven Indian States celebrate their formation day on November 1
November 1 marks the foundation day of seven Indian states namely Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. The union territories of Lakshwadeep, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar also celebrate their formation day on November 1.
7. IIT-Madras researchers designed India’s 1st microprocessor ‘Shakti’
The ‘Shakti’ family of processors was fabricated at ISRO’s Chandigarh semi-conductor laboratory, making it the first ‘RISC V Microprocessor’ to be completely designed and made in India. Shakti microprocessor can be used in mobile computing devices, embedded low power wireless systems and networking systems. ‘Shakti’ will reduce dependency on imported microchips and the risk of cyber attacks.
8. Delhi observes ‘Clean Air Week’ from November 1-5 to fight against the worsening air quality
Centre in collaboration with the Delhi, UP and Haryana governments organise ‘Clean Air Week’ between November 1-5 in Delhi and four other National Capital Region (NCR) cities – Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Noida.
This decision was taken in a meeting held in Delhi under the Chairmanship of Union Environment Secretary CK Mishra to discuss the urgent steps for air pollution reduction and regulating fire crackers in the light of the Supreme Court’s Order. On October 23, 2018, the Supreme Court had allowed the sale of “green firecrackers.”
On Diwali, citizens would be allowed to burst crackers only between 8 pm to 10 pm.
9. INS Tarangini returned after 205-day world tour
The sail training ship of Indian Navy, INS Tarangini based at Kochi, returned after a seven-month sail across the world. The ship sailed over 22000 nautical miles across 15 ports in 13 countries in 205 days.
10. Centre to launch womens emergency helpline facility
National women’s emergency helpline facility is to be launched in India. Women in distress can call helpline 181. Women can get assistance for any situations such as police, medical, legal, psycho-social or rescue shelter emergency.
In Tamil Nadu, the 1091 helpline is functioning in providing assistance for women. It provides police assistance to women in distress. However, for 24×7 service, 181 helplines, under the Department of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme, will provide all types of assistance and information to women. The helpline will function from the Amma Call Centre premises in Ambattur.
11. Madras HC bans online drug sale
Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association filed a writ petition seeking a ban on websites that facilitate the online sale of drugs. It said the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 was enacted during the colonial era and much before the advent of online trade. Despite making amendments to the law over the last 78 years, there is no provision in it that permits the online sale of drugs and medicines.
The petition wanted the ban to be in place until the Centre brings into force a legal framework for permitting such sales. The petition concerned about the online sale of drugs listed in Schedule H, H1 and X of the 1940 Act was rampant in the country though there was a specific legal ban on selling such medicines without the prescription of medical practitioners.
12. Entrepreneurship scheme Samruddhi launched in Karnataka
The main objective is to impart skill development and benefit aspiring, young citizens from rural and tier II cities. The scheme, targeted at socially marginalized communities to provide them with skill development and alternate means of employment has a total cost of Rs.800 crore.
For this, the government is partnering with private enterprises to train the youth from backward communities. The training will include retail management, taxation policies, and GST, inventory management, soft skills, and logistics.
13. India ranked 65 in Global Passport Index, Singapore tops the chart
The ranking improved nine notches since the previous year and means that the Indian passport holders has been granted visa-free access to 65 countries. The other countries are India, Kyrgyzstan and Zimbabwe share the 65th rank. Singapore and Germany have the world’s “most powerful” passport with access to 165 countries.
14. Soura Jalanidhi scheme launched in Odisha
The main aim is to increase the use of solar energy for helping farmers in irrigation. It is a dug well based solar pump irrigation system in convergence mode. The total cost of the scheme allocated by the state government is Rs. 27.18 crore in the 2018-19 financial year.
Under this scheme, 5,000 solar pumps will be provided to farmers at a subsidy of 90 percent to irrigate 2,500 acres of land. The Chief Minister distributed four go-ahead orders for installation of solar pump to the farmers.
15. India and Russia inked a $950 million deal for inducting two new warships equipped with Brahmos missiles in the India Navy
The two frigates of the Project 11356 class will be bought directly from Russia and 2 more will be built in an Indian Shipyard. The two ships to be brought from Russia are expected to be delivered by 2022 and have been designed to work with Ukraine-made gas turbines. These are under a ‘2+2’ scheme which was under the works since 2015.
16. Netherlands to be Partner Country for 25th DST-CII Technology Summit 2019
The Kingdom of Netherlands will be the Partner Country 25th DST – CII Technology Summit to be organized in 2019 announced Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
