Current Affairs Daily Digest – May 3 2019
1. Vice President releases a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan
The Vice President, Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu released a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan in New Delhi today. He said that our textbooks must throw light on the lives of great saints and spiritual icons such as Sri Vedanta Desikan so that our children internalize and practice the lofty ideals of humanism, peace and compassion propagated by them.
‘Sri Vedanta Desikan is one of the most prominent preceptors in the Srivaishnava tradition and one of the most effulgent luminaries to have graced this land’.
2. CBDT and GSTN sign pact to nab evaders, reduce black money generation
To nab tax evaders and reduce black money generation, the income tax department and Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) signed an agreement to facilitate exchange of data between the two.
The I-T department will share key financial information, including status of I-T return filings, turnover of business, gross total income, and turnover ratio among others with GSTN, the information technology backbone of the two-year-old indirect tax regime.
Besides, the two sides will decide on the modalities for “automatic”, “spontaneous” and “request based” exchange of data. The principal of I-T (systems) or director general of I-T (systems) will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GSTN for sharing such information, The MoU shall also include different modalities such as confidentiality, timings, secure preservation, disposal after use, related to the exchange of data, the circular issued by the central board of direct taxes said.
3. Iraq India’s top oil supplier, imports from US rise 4-fold
Iraq has for the second year in a row become India’s top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country’s oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year. According to data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Iraq sold 46.61 million tonne of crude oil to India from April 2018 and March 2019, 2 per cent more than 45.74 million tonne it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal.
Nigeria was the next biggest supplier with 16.83 million tonne of exports in 2018-19, down from 18.11 million tonne in the previous year. Kuwait supplied 10.78 million tonne of oil and Mexico another 10.28 million tonne.
4. World Press Freedom Day 2019
Each year, May 3 is celebrated as World Press Freedom Day. Started by the UN General Assembly in 1993, on a recommendation from UNESCO, the day is used to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, assess its state around the world, defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have laid down their lives in the exercise of their profession.
The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day is “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” and it discusses current challenges faced by media in elections, along with the media’s potential in supporting peace and reconciliation processes.
5. Jaipur to host Asian youth Women Handball Championship
Jaipur will host the 8th Asian Youth Women Handball Championship in which 10 teams, including defending champions South Korea, will be participating.
The general secretary of the Handball Federation of India, Anandeshwar Pandey, said here that it is the first time that the prestigious tournament would be played in the city from August 21 to 30.
“It is the first time that the tournament will be hosted by Pink city Jaipur. Earlier Delhi had hosted it in 2015 where the hosts India had finished seventh.
6. LIC HFL launches Udyam centre
LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) has launched ‘Udyam’, a skilling centre in Bengaluru. It was launched in association with Lok Bharti Education Society, the implementing partner. Commenting on Udyam, Vinay Sah, MD and CEO, LIC Housing Finance, said:
“It is an important part of our CSR, where, along with our implementing partner, we will skill the youth to be enterprising for livelihood. Centres of Excellence (CoE) have been launched in Delhi and Bengaluru, and later on will expand to other cities,” he added.
7. BSNL launches ‘Bharat Fibre’ broadband service in Kashmir Valley
State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband service in Pulwama with the launch of ‘Bharat Fibre’, the company said .
“This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model. Since the Bharat Fibre services are provided on the optical fibre right up to the customer premises, reliable and high-speed internet services are delivered to the customers,” BSNL Director (Consumer Fixed Access) Vivek Banzal said in a statement.
BSNL provides FTTH service with a monthly charge in the range of Rs 777-16,999 in over 160 telecom districts with a minimum speed of 2 megabit per second (mbps).
8. Mangaluru police gets all-women patrol unit
Mangaluru City Police has launched an all-women police patrol unit in the city.
Flagging off the ‘Rani Abbakka Force’ in Mangaluru, Sandeep Patil, Commissioner of Police, said the Karnataka police is giving utmost importance to the protection of women and children.
9. Huawei overtakes Apple to become second biggest smartphone maker
Huawei Technologies Co overtook Apple Inc to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market.
The networking giant, shrugging off a barrage of accusations that it aids Chinese espionage (which it’s repeatedly denied), grew shipments 50% from a year earlier, research firm IDC estimates. It was the only name in the top 4 that managed to expand volumes as the overall market slid for the sixth consecutive quarter.
10. Ex-ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar Awarded France’s Highest Civilian Honour
Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was conferred with France’s highest civilian award – Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur – for his contribution to India-France space cooperation.
11. Putin signs law to create an independent Russian internet
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law new measures that would enable the creation of a national network, able to operate separately from the rest of the world, according to documents posted on a government portal on Wednesday. For now, the network remains largely theoretical though, with few practical details disclosed.
In concept, the new law aims to protect Russia from foreign online restrictions by creating what the Kremlin calls a “sustainable, secure and fully functioning” local internet.
12. UK Parliament First in World to Declare Climate Emergency
The UK parliament became the first national legislative body in the world to declare a climate change “emergency” Wednesday. The historic move closely follows Extinction Rebellion protests that blocked traffic in key parts of central London for a week in April.
The protest had three demands: that the UK government “tell the truth” about climate change, that it achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 and that it create a citizens’ assembly to help with that process. The protesters embraced parliament’s decision Wednesday as a step towards meeting their first demand.
