Latest Current Affairs – February 10 & 11 2018
- Transgender activist becomes member of Lok Adalat panel
A transgender activist, who has become a member of the judicial panel at a National Lok Adalat conducted. Vidya Kamble (29), who has been working as a social activist for around 10 years, is the first transgender to be a panel member of the Lok Adalat in the state, district legal aid committee secretary Kunal Jadhav claimed.
The activist was on the panel of the Lok Adalat held in the Nagpur district court.
- Co-operative society for transgenders in Kerala to be set up
The Kerala government has plans to set up co-operative societies for transgenders. Such societies were the first of their kind in the country.
Kerala was the first state to come out with a Transgender Policy, envisaging ending societal stigma towards them and ensure non-discriminatory treatment.
The state government has introduced a pension scheme for transgenders aged above 60-years. It is estimated that there are about 25,000 transgenders in Kerala.
- Mumbai world’s 12th richest city with $950 bn wealth: Report
India’s financial capital Mumbai, with a total wealth of $950 billion, is among the top 15 wealthiest cities globally, while New York tops the list.
According to a report by New World Wealth, the economic hub of India is the 12th wealthiest city, followed by Toronto with a total wealth of $944 billion, Frankfurt ($912 billion) and Paris ($860 billion).
London ranked second in the list with $2.7 trillion, followed by Tokyo ($2.5 trillion), and San Francisco Bay area ($2.3 trillion).
- Rajnath inaugurates first of its kind spoken Sanskrit centre
Gujarat University has announced a course on spoken Sanskrit in order to popularise the ancient language, making it possibly the first course of its kind in the country.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched the university’s Centre for Spoken Sanskrit which will offer a six-month course for people on how to speak the language.
- Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates PNG Supply in BSF Campus, Chhawla
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas; Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has inaugurated the PNG supply to kitchens in the Campus of Border Security Force (BSF), located in Chhwala in South West Delhi.
All houses inside BSF Chhawla camp have been provided PNG connections. The connections would subsequently also be provided to the flats under final stages of construction and renovation. Apart from the residential households, PNG connections IGL is planning to provide PNG connections to 19 Community Kitchens (Samuhik Bhojanalayas) at BSF Chhawla campus.
- Brahmaputra Literary Festival 2nd edition inaugurated
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the second edition of Brahmaputra Literary Festival at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra.
The three-day literary event, which kick-started, has been jointly organised by the National Book Trust and Assam Publication Board saw a huge assembly of young literary enthusiasts and authors from across the globe.
- Union Home Minister to inaugurate “Hunar Haat”
Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will formally inaugurate “Hunar Haat”, on February 11, 2018 at Baba Khadak Singh Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The theme of “Hunar Haat” being organized by the Ministry of Minority Affairs is “Development with Dignity”.
- International Conference on Unani Medicine to be inaugurated
The Minister of State (IC) for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the two-day International conference on Unani Medicine on 10th February, 2018 at New Delhi.
This year is special for Unani fraternity as it is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Hakim Ajmal Khan. To mark this day, the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), under the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing a two-day International Conference on Unani Medicine as part of celebration of Unani Day. The theme of the conference is Integration of Unani System of Medicine in main stream healthcare.
- J P Nadda launches National Deworming initiative
J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the National Deworming Day at a function at Gurugram.
Government of India is committed to ensuring high quality healthcare, accessible to every child and upto the last mile. One of the interventions, the National Deworming Day, is one of the largest public health initiatives in the world.
The National Deworming Day is a single fixed-day approach to treating intestinal worm infections in all children aged 1- 19 years and is held on 10 February and 10 August each year.
- Grand Spiritual Expo inaugurated in Noida
Union Culture and Environment Minister Mahesh Sharma has inaugurated the 16-day Grand Spiritual Expo, 2018 in Noida.
Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya organised the Spiritual Exposition at India Expo Mart in Noida to highlight the importance of ‘Raj Yoga’ among the civilians.
The purpose of this 16-day long fair is to spread the importance of Raj yoga meditation and spiritual education among the entire country.
- Govt sanctions Rs 1,487 cr to Army to boost perimeter security
The Defence Ministry has sanctioned Rs 1,487 crore to the Army to fortify its bases in Jammu and Kashmir, North East and several other places to plug their security gaps and protect them from any terror attacks.
The sanction to the project comes amid heightened hostilities between Indian and Pakistani armies along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and several terror attack targeting military installations.
- India Post Payments Bank to enable digital payment by April
With the nationwide rollout of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Expansion Programme scheduled to begin in April this year, digital payments in post offices are expected to be enabled around the same time.
The Ministry of Communications, in an official statement claimed that once the proposed expansion is completed, IPPB will be providing the largest financial inclusion network in the country, covering both urban as well as rural hinterland with the ability to provide digital payment services at the doorstep with the help of Postmen and Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS).
- RBI to have additional instrument for liquidity management
The Reserve Bank will soon have greater flexibility in terms of managing its liquidity operations with the addition of one more tool ‘Standing Deposit Facility Scheme’ to its kit.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget has proposed to amend the RBI Act to empower the central bank to come up with an additional instrument for liquidity management.
The proposal forms part of the Finance Bill 2018 which is scheduled to be approved by Parliament by March 31.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Inaugurate Abu Dhabi’s First Hindu Temple
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would witness the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. In UAE there are over three million people of Indian origin and many of them are looking this as a historic event.
The first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will come up on 55,000 square metres of land. The temple’s foundation stone will be laid during the community event by PM Modi.
- India to invest $50 mn to boost capacity building in Palestine
India has set up an institute for diplomacy in Palestine and double the number of scholarships to Palestinians to study in India among several measures to help it in capacity building and infrastructure development with an investment of USD 50 million.
- India, Palestine sign 6 MoUs
India and Palestine have signed six Memorandums of Understanding (MoU)s worth USD 40 million.
Six MoUs were signed between India and Palestine worth USD 40 million. This was welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his team.
- Dubai opens world’s tallest hotel, again
Gulf metropolis Dubai, on its never- ending quest to break records, announced the opening of the “world’s new tallest hotel”, pipping another towering landmark in the city for the title.
The gleaming gold 75-storey Gevora Hotel stands 356 metres, or nearly a quarter of a mile, tall.
Dubai is also home to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which pierces the city skyline at 828 metres (half a mile) high.
- Tanzania withdraws from UN refugee programme
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has announced his country will pull out of the UN’s “comprehensive refugee response framework”, which provides lasting solutions for refugees, including integration into host communities.
Tanzania informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in January that it was suspending the granting of citizenship to some Burundian refugees and that it would discourage new asylum applications.
- 17-year-old wins US’ 1st gold medal at 2018 Winter Olympics
American Redmond Gerard claimed the United States’ first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
The 17-year-old crashed on both of his first two runs amid high winds at Pheonix Park, but pulled off a spectacular final effort that no one could match to become the youngest American man to win an Olympic winter gold medal since 1928.
- Haryana win 1st Khelo India School Games with 38 gold medals
Sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally after claiming 38 gold medals in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India School Games that concluded in New Delhi.
Overall, Haryana won 102 medals, with 26 silver and 38 bronze. Maharashtra (110) finished second overall while Delhi (94) came third.
- Pune swimmer world’s youngest to complete Ocean 7 Challenge
Pune-based swimmer, Rohan More became the first Asian as well as the first Indian to swim across the Ocean Seven. Rohan is the youngest person in the world to swim across the Ocean Seven.
The Ocean’s Seven marathon consists of seven long-distance open-water swims, which includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.
- Luger Shiva Keshavan retires with 34th place finish at Pyeongchang Olympics
India’s winter sports poster boy Shiva Keshavan has brought the curtains down on his over two-decade international career with a 34th-place finish in the men’s luge singles event of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Unheralded Austrian David Gleirscher won a shocking gold while Chris Mazdzer of the United States bagged a historic silver, the first men’s singles luge medal ever from his country.
- Aditi shoots 69 to finish creditable tied 7th in Australia
Indian woman golfer Aditi Ashok carded a impressive three-under 69 in the final round to finish a creditable tied 7th at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic.
Aditi, who is dividing her time between her main Tour, the Ladies PGA and the Ladies European Tour, where she won twice in her rookie year in 2016, shot rounds of 71-70-60.
- Pakistan’s Human Rights Activists and Lawyer Asma Jahangir Died at 66
Pakistan’s well known human rights activists and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore due to cardiac arrest. She was 66 year old and was first woman to serve as the president of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association.
She was also the United Nations Rapporteur for Human Rights, and a former Pakistan Human Rights Commission chief.
- Pakistan’s veteran TV actor, Qazi Wajid, dead at 87
Qazi Wajid, one of Pakistan’s veteran television actors and radio entertainers, has died in Karachi. He was 87.
Born in 1930 in the eastern city of Lahore, he started his carrier as radio drama artist and remained attached to the “sound box” until television was introduced in Pakistan in 1964.
Wajid won a presidential medal for his achievement in the field of radio and television dramas in 1988.
- Award-winning Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson dies
Film composer Johann Johannsson, known for giving background scores to films such as “Arrival”, “Sicario” and “The Theory of Everything”, has died. He was 48.
Johannsson won a Golden Globe and received an Academy Award nomination for his score for the James Marsh-directed film “The Theory of Everything”, starring Eddie Redmayne as celebrated theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
