Latest Current Affairs – February 13, 2018
- Kambar to head Sahitya Akademi
Kannada litterateur Chandrashekar Kambar has been elected as president of the Sahitya Akademi in the election held for the post.
Hindi poet Madhav Koushik has been elected as vice-president. Prof. Kambar is the third Kannada writer to head the country’s premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1983) and U.R. Ananthamurthy (1993).
- K. Singh inaugurates ‘Indian Power Stations 2018’
Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, Shri R.K. Singh inaugurated the ‘Indian Power Stations 2018’ – three-day International Conference on Operations and Maintenance.
The Minister exhorted the NTPC to become India’s power sector multinational by setting up power plants in other Nations and become world’s largest power producer.
- President Kovind hosts LPG Panchayat at Rashtrapati Bhavan
President Ram Nath Kovind has hosted the LPG Panchayat at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The LPG Panchayat was organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with an aim to provide a platform for LPG consumers to interact with each other, promote mutual learning and share experiences.
Each LPG Panchayat has about 100 LPG customers coming together, near their living areas, to discuss safe and sustainable usage of LPG, its benefits and the link between clean fuel for cooking and women’s empowerment.
- Venkaiah Naidu to inaugurate the Global Theatre Olympics
The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the 8th Global Theatre Olympics on 17th February 2018 at the majestic Red Fort in New Delhi. This Global Theatre Festival is being held in India for the first time.
About Theatre Olympics
The Theatre Olympics was established in 1993 at Delphi, Greece. Being an international theatre festival, the Theatre Olympics presents some of the greatest theatre practitioners from around the world.
It is a platform for theatrical exchange, a gathering place for students and masters, where a dialogue despite ideological, culture and language differences is encouraged.
- ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2018’: Affordable and Quality Healthcare
India’s biggest Global Conference on Pharma Industry and Medical Devices to begin in Bengaluru on 15th February With the theme, ‘Driving NextGen Pharmaceuticals’.
The event would be a positive step towards the development of Future Drugs: Ananthkumar to hold Roundtable of Pharma and Medical Devices CEOs to discuss Government policy and Challenges facing the Industry World Health Organization to hold a workshop on ‘Regulatory System Strengthening and Prequalification’
- The second edition of TN Global Investors Meet to be held in Jan 2019
The Tamil Nadu government has to host the second edition of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) will be held on January 24 next year.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami has allocated a sum of Rs 75 crore towards the conduct of the two-day meet.
An amount of Rs 100 crore was allotted then. The 2015 edition of GIM attracted Rs 2.42 lakh crore of investment from domestic and international investors.
- PNB signs a pact with National e-Gov Services
Punjab National Bank has signed an agreement for information utility with National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).
The objective of the agreement is to augment the information infrastructure in India. The agreement will enable storing of financial information that will help substantiate defaults and verify claims expeditiously.
- Zoho ties up with ICICI Bank for an integrated platform
Software company Zoho has tied up with private lender ICICI Bank to provide accounting and banking on an integrated platform.
Claiming to be the industry-first integration of accounting and any bank, the partnership will deliver a streamlined digital banking experience to customers using Zoho’s cloud accounting software, ‘Zoho Books’.
This integration enables MSMEs to bring in the efficiency of automation by connecting seamless banking transactions and book-keeping on a single platform.
| Executive Director of ICICI Bank | Anup Bagchi |
| CEO of ZohoCorp | Sridhar Vembu |
- India-Russia Agriculture Business Summit in New Delhi
An India-Russia Agriculture Business Summit held in New Delhi and celebration of 70 years of Agricultural Relationship to be held in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on 14th February 2018. This will strengthen the exchange of expertise to further business ties between the two countries.
- 13 February 2018: world radio day
World Radio Day is in its seventh edition and this year’s theme is “Radio and Sports”. February 13 was chosen to mark World Radio Day in 2011. This year, The UNESCO has called on all radio stations around the world to showcase the beauty of sports in all of its diversity.
Under the ambit of a theme “Radio and Sports” are three sub-themes for World Radio Day 2018. They are Diversity in Sports Coverage, Gender Equality in Sports Coverage and Peace and Development through Sports Coverage.
- Mauritius plans to set up sovereign fund
Mauritius plans to establish a sovereign fund to provide seed capital for the development of financial technology or Fintech activities in the island nation. It is also planning to give incentives to attract Fintech operations in the country.
Besides, it is looking at promoting the use of latest technology that will prevent hacking and other kinds of frauds, while regulating blockchain-related activities.
The panel was set up to assist in paving the way for an appropriate regulatory framework for encouraging and supporting the development of Fintech activities in Mauritius.
Financial Services Commission (FSC) is Mauritius’ integrated regulator for global business companies and non-banking financial services sector.
- Shane Warne appointed Rajasthan Royals’ mentor for IPL 2018
Shane Warne will be associated with the Indian Premier League in 2018 as he was appointed the mentor of the Rajasthan Royals franchise for the 11th edition of the tournament.
During his tenure with the Rajasthan Royals, the ace Australian legspinner, who has 708 wickets, helped the team to a fairytale title finish as captain-cum-coach in the first edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Overall, he has 56 wickets in 52 IPL games, with his last game being in the 2011 edition.
- Gangolli claims 5th straight national chess title for blind
Karnataka’s Kishan Gangolli has won the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for Blind for the fifth consecutive time, while Ashvin Makwana of Gujarat and Odisha’s Soundarya Kumar Pradhan finished second and third respectively.
At the end of the 13 rounds, Gangolli (Rating 1996) got 10.5 points. Makwana (Rating 1744) earned 9.5 points, while Soundarya (Rating 1753) totaled 9 points.
