DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : JANUARY 30, 2018
DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : JANUARY 30, 2018
NATIONAL
International Bird Festival at Dudhwa National Park
- A three-day international bird festival will be held at the Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh.
- It aims to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to give it a distinct international identity.
- Eminent documentary maker Mike Pandey would act as the brand ambassador of the festival.
UP to set up 10,700MW solar plants in five years
The Uttar Pradesh government will set up around 6,000 solar power plants to meet its clean energy in the next five years.- It was announced by Additional Energy Sources Minister Brijesh Pathak.
- The Uttar Pradesh Solar Power Policy 2017 targets implementation of 10,700 MW of grid-connected solar power projects by the end of 2022.
- Top Indian energy companies, including Adani Power, Essel Infraprojects Limited, and Azure Power would invest over Rs 50 billion (Rs 5,000 crore) in this project.
Uttar pradesh
Capital: Lucknow
Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
Governor: Ram Naik
First ever ‘Khadi Haat’ inaugurated in Delhi
- The first ever ‘Khadi Haat’ was launched by Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
- The Khadi Haat was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh in Connaught Place, New Delhi.
Chairman of KVIC: V K Saxena
Chairman of NDMC: Naresh Kumar
AAI allocates Rs. 3,400 crore for North East region Airports
- The Airports Authority of India has allocated nearly 3,400 crore rupees for the upgradation of airports in the North East region.
- AAI chairman Guruprasad Mahapatra announced the allocation of 1,720 crore rupees for Assam, 525 crore rupees for Tripura and 800 crore rupees for Manipur.
- The projects worth 934 crore rupees have already been completed and the work on the rest will be over in the next two or three years.
Indian, Vietnamese armies hold first military exercise
- The armies of India and Vietnam began a six day-long military exercise, ‘VINBAX’.
- The exercise began in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
- It is the first military exercise between the two countries.
- It aims to strengthen the defence cooperation between the two countries.
Vietnam Army Officer: Sr Col Luu Dien Hien
Vietnam
Capital: Hanoi
Currency: Vietnamese dong
Prime Minister: Nguyen Xuan Phuc
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Paytm, AGTech Holdings Launches Mobile Gaming Platform
- Mobile payments company Paytm and Alibaba Group-owned AGTech Holdings Ltd have formed a joint venture to launch Gamepind. AGTech Holdings Ltd is Chinese gaming and entertainment company.
- It is a gaming platform aimed at mobile users in India. Gamepind will offer a host of popular social, casual and sports games with an exclusive rewards programme.
- AGTech Media currently holds 45% investing $7.2 million and Paytm owns the 55% investing $8.8 million in the joint venture.
AGTech
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China.
Chairman: John Sun
Paytm
Headquarters: Noida
Founder of Paytm: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Ola enters at International level, in Australia
- The cab hailing application Ola announced plans to enter Australia and has begun on boarding private hire vehicles and driver partners in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
- This is Ola’s second entry into an international market. The company had already set up operations in Bangladesh last year.
- It will be soon operated in including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and New Zealand within 2018.
- The company had also raised $1.2 billion from Japanese conglomerate Softbank in 2017, a portion of which is being used to enter international markets.
Economic Survey 2017-18
- The Economic Survey for 2017-18 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
- A series of major reforms undertaken over the past year will allow real GDP growth to reach 6.75 percent this fiscal and will rise to 7.0 to 7.5 percent in 2018-19.
- The reform measures undertaken in 2017-18 can be strengthened further in 2018-19.
- The Survey for 2017-18 was in pink colour to highlight gender issues.
Chief Economic Adviser: Arvind Subramanian
CRISIL upgrades outlook on 18 PSBs
- The Rating agency CRISIL has revised its outlook on 18 public sector banks (PSBs) from “negative” to “stable” after the government announced bank-wise capital infusion and reform plans.
- The government announced the infusion of Rs 880 billion (Rs 88,000 crore) capital this fiscal to the banks.
- This will improve the financial risk profile of these banks and help them meet Basel-III regulatory capital norms.
CRISIL: Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Lulu Group, BRS Ventures plans to invest in Telangana
Lulu Group and BRS Ventures from the United Arab Emirates have come forward to invest Rs 3,500 crore in Telangana state.- Under this MOU, the Lulu group will invest an amount of $400 million (Rs 2,500 crore) to construct a mega shopping mall, a logistics and export processing unit for fruits and vegetables.
- Dr B.R. Shetty’s group will be investing Rs 1,000 crore in Telangana in the next three to five years. The BRS group will set up pharmaceutical manufacturing and research and development unit, medical device manufacturing unit, greenfield multi-specialty hospitals.
Telangana
Capital: Hyderabad
Chief Minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao
Governor: ESL Narasimhan
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Dr Vinod Paul gets IhsanDogramacı Family Health Foundation Prize
- Dr Vinod Paul, Member of NITI Aayog has been awarded the prestigious IhsanDogramacı Family Health Foundation Prize by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- He is the first Indian to receive this global honour, which is conferred in recognition to his services in the field of family health.
- He has played a key role in formulating national child health guidelines and programmes in the country.
WHO
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Head: Tedros Adhanom
Asha Bhosle to receive Yash Chopra memorial award
- Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle will be given the ‘Yash Chopra Memorial Award’.
- The award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T. Subbarami Reddy in memory of producer-director Yash Chopra, who died in 2012.
- She will be the fifth winner of the award. Previous recipients are Asha Bhosale’s elder sister and Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, and actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, and Shah Rukh Khan.
SPORTS
Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan Wins Indonesian Masters
- The world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan wins the Indonesian Masters.
- She defeated Saina Nehwal of India in the finals to clinch the title with $350,000 cash prize.
- The 2018 Indonesian Masters was held in Jakarta,Indonesia.
Sandeep becomes first Nepal player to get IPL contract
- Sandeep Lamichhane became the first cricketer from Nepal to land a deal in IPL contract.
- He was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL auction which was held in Bengaluru.
- He was sold at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
- The leg-spinner was successful at the 2016 U-19 World Cup where he guided Nepal to a creditable eighth place. He became the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 scalps in six innings.
IMPORTANT DAYS
Martyrs’ Day – January 30
- Every year on January 30, Martyrs’ Day is observed.
- The day honors all those who gave their lives for the nation.
- Martyrs’ Day which is also known Sarvodaya Day or Shaheed Diwas also marks the assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
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