DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: FEBRUARY 9, 2018

NATIONAL

South Central Railway Becomes 1st Rail Zone with 100% LED Lighting at Stations

  • The South Central Railway (SCR) has become the first railway zone in the country to complete 100 percent LED lighting at all the stations under its jurisdiction.
  • It has become first zone to complete 100 percent LED lighting in all the 733 stations.
  • It is is expected to save 32 lakh units of electrical energy worth Rs 2.7 crore per year.

CCEA approves enhancement of target under PMUY

  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved to enhance of the target of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from five crore to eight crore.
  • The PMUY is to provide clean cooking fuel through LPG to all the uncovered households in the country.
  • An additional allocation of Rs. 4,800 crore has been sanctioned for the project.The revised target of PMUY will be achieved by 2020.

     

NHAI to Start ‘pay as you use’ Pilot Project

  • The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will start a pilot project “pay as you use“ tolling in India.
  • It will be implemented on the Delhi-Mumbai Highway. It is to study and implement the ability of the system in the country.
  • The project to be run for one year involves implementing a satellite-based electronic toll collection system running on GPS/GSM technology.

NHAI

Headquarters: New Delhi

Chairman: Deepak Kumar


13-member advisory committee under Defence Ministry

  • Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee.
  • It is to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces.
  • The committee will be headed by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former secretary in the government.

NITI Aayog unveils Health Index for states

  • NITI Aayog released the list of Healthy State progressive report.
  • There are three categories namely larger states, smaller states and Union territories in the list.
  • Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have ranked top among the larger states in terms of overall performance.
  • Among smaller states Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur and Goa in terms of annual incremental performance.
  • Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are the the top three three states in the terms of annual incremental performance.
  • Among Union territories Lakshadweep showed best overall performance as well as highest annual incremental performance.

National Institution for Transforming India(NITI) Aayog

Chairperson: Narendra Modi

CEO: Amitabh Kant

Headquarters: New Delhi


HAL Develops First Hawk-i Flight

  • The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has developed the first flight of Hawk-i with indigenous Real Time Operating System (RTOS).
  • It has been certified by Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC).
  • The RTOS is the system software which provides a standard run-time environment for real-time applications execution in a safe and reliable manner.

HAL Chairman: T. Suvarna


BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

India Ranks 44th in Global Intellectual Property Index

  • The Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated that India ranked 44th of 50 economies.
  • In 2017, India has ranked as 45th position and now it has jumped one rank to 44th.

The top 3 countries are:

  1. The USA
  2. The United Kingdom
  3. Sweden

IndusInd Bank launches new Sonic Identity               

  • IndusInd Bank launched its new Sonic Identity, which is essentially a musical logo, as part of its branding initiatives.
  • The Sonic Identity is derived from core values of innovation, courage and dynamism as well as its strong desire to place customers first.

IndusInd Bank

Chairman: R. Seshasayee

Headquarters: Mumbai

Owner: Hinduja Group


First Ever Job Search App ‘Empzilla’ Launched

  • A chat based job search mobile app ‘Empzilla’, first ever of its kind in the country.
  • It has been launched under “Digital India” initiative.
  • The mobile app gets the conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds.

APPOINTMENTS

Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as SBI Card MD & CEO

  • Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as SBI Card MD & CEO,the country’s second-largest credit card issuer.
  • Prior to this appointment, Prasad was with State Bank of India, holding multiple leadership positions in the bank.
  • He replaces Vijay Jasuja who retired on January 31.

SPORTS

Haryana Tops in Khelo India School Games

  • 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.
  • Haryana won 102 medals, with 26 silver and 38 bronze.
  • Maharashtra got second place while Delhi came third.

Haryana

Capital: Chandigarh

Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar

Governor: Kaptan Singh Solanki