Current Affairs – May -4 – Gadkari opens exhibition pavilions of MoRTH at IITLS-2017

NATIONAL

Indore, Bhopal top cleanest cities list; UP cities rank lowest:

    Indore in Madhya Pradesh is India’s cleanest city, while Bhopal, located in the same state, is a close second according to a “Swacch Survekshan 2017” list of 25 Indian cities announced by Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu.

The Swacch Survekshan survey scores the Swachh Bharat or Clean India Mission in 434 cities across the country. Third spot has been taken by Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh followed by Surat, Gujarat at number four. Mysuru, which topped the list last year, has gone down to fifth spot this year.

International PermaCulture Meet to be held in Hyderabad:

    The 13th edition of IPC India will be held in Hyderabad from November 27 to December 2, 2017 with the theme ‘Towards Healthy Societies’. The event will help farmers learn how their current challenges can be solved using PermaCulture principles.

DoT Launches ‘Tarang Sanchar’ Portal, Lets You Track Mobile Tower Radiation in Your Area:

    The Telecom Department launched a ‘Tarang Sanchar’ Web portal that will allow people to track radiation emitted from mobile towers within a locality and check their compliance with the stipulated norms.

Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications and Minister of State for Railways formally launched the Tarang Sanchar portal in an event organised at New Delhi.

Gadkari opens exhibition pavilions of MoRTH at IITLS-2017:

    Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated two exhibitions – ‘The Highway Saga’. The exhibitions are part of the three-day India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit (IITLS) being organized by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways from May 3 to May 5, 2017.

India’s most expensive limestone block in Chhattisgarh was auctioned:

    After nearly 24 hours of record bidding, with 600 bids coming in, the country’s most expensive limestone block in Chhattisgarh finally went to Dalmia (Bharat) Cement. The Kesla-II limestone block in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh with an estimated reserve of 215 million tonnes was put for auction.

Banking & Business

Adani signs steel supply deal with Australian group Arrium:

    Energy giant Adani signed a 74 million dollar landmark deal with Australian steel group Arrium to buy steel for a 400-km rail line for its controversial Carmichael coal mine project.

Under the landmark deal, Arrium’s division OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd will supply 54,000 tonnes of steel to build the rail line linking Adani’s proposed coal mine in central Queensland with the Abbot Point port.

ADB pegs India’s growth at 7.4% for 2017-18:

    The Indian economy will grow 7.4 per cent this fiscal and 7.6 per cent in the next as the bankruptcy and GST laws will help create a more business-friendly environment, the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

APPOINTMENTS

Mallikarjun Kharge appointed as new chairman of PAC:

    Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge is the new chairman of the 21-member Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. Kharge replaces Congress leader K V Thomas whose term ended on April 30.

Braj Bihari Kumar to succeed economist S K Thorat as ICSSR chief:

Braj Bihari Kumar, editor of quarterly journals Dialogue and Chintan Srijan, has been appointed as the chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), succeeding noted economist S K Thorat, for a period of three years. 

OBITUARY

Captain Chand Roop passes away:

    Dronacharya award winning wrestling coach Captain Chand Roop passed away in Delhi. He was 87. Chand Roop took up wrestling after joining the Indian Army in 1948. He was a former National champion who became a coach to train the Army wrestlers.