DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : JANUARY 21, 2018

NATIONAL

MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative.
• It was launched in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners.
• The initiative is to strengthen the cyber security ecosystem in India and it also aims to ‘Digital India’.
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat aims to conduct a series of training programs in the next six months across India.
• Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Tourism: Shri K J Alphons
• National e-Governance Division (NeGD) President & CEO: Shri. Sanjeev Gupta

HM Rajnath Singh launches Bharat Ke Veer anthem

• Home Minister Rajnath Singh has launched Bharat Ke Veer anthem and also a short film on India’s bravehearts.
• Bharat Ke Veer is a fund to support the families of those courageous and brave Indian soldiers belonging to the eight Central Armed Police Forces, who lost their lives protecting the nation from terrorists and other anti- social elements.
• The fund is directly administered by the Home Ministry and is given as an annuity or one time grant to the family of the martyred soldier.
• Mr. Rajnath Singh appealed to the people to contribute in Bharat Ke Veer initiative and support the families of martyred soldier.

Fourth India International Science Festival to be held in Lucknow

• The fourth edition of the India International Science Festival will be held in Lucknow.
• It was decided at the first preparatory meeting for the 4th India International Science Festival (IISF) chaired by Union Minister for Science & Technology, Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
• The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi.

Maharashtra launches scheme for family members of martyrs

• The Maharashtra government has launched `Balasaheb Thackeray Shaheed Sanmaan’ scheme.
• Under the scheme family members of martyrs would be provided jobs with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). The wives of martyrs would also be provided with lifetime free bus passes.
• The scheme was announced in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. MSRTC also launched ‘Sleeper Shiv-shahi’ buses at the programme held at the ST bus depot in Mumbai Central.
• The MSRTC also launched a scheme for the youth in the Naxal-affected areas, under which driving training schools would be started for them.

63rd Filmfare Awards 2018: Complete List of Winners

• The 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018, was held at the NSCI Dome in Worli, Mumbai.
• Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari won the Best Director award for ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’.
• ‘Hindi Medium’ Film bagged the Best Film Award  and Irrfan Khan got in Best Actor (Male) award for ‘Hindi Medium’ Film.
• Vidya Balan bagged Best Actor Award(Female) for ‘Tumhari Sulu’.

Uttarakhand uses Ultrasound method to detect pregnancy in wild animals

• Uttarakhand planned to use ultrasound that will to detect pregnancy before administering reproduction control method on them.
• At present, the machine will be used to detect pregnancy in wild boars, monkeys, neel gais and elephants.
• The initiative is part of Wildlife Institute of India’s three year project worth Rs 10 crore under the Union environment ministry
• It is has been started in collaboration with National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi.

Ramayana festival begins with an aim to enhance India-ASEAN ties

• Ramayana Festival, marking 25 years of the Indo-ASEAN ties began in New Delhi.
• The five-day festival is organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
• The festival seeks to underline the common cultural heritage and India’s friendship with ASEAN nations.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Indian equity market to become 5th largest in the world in 2018

• India will overtake China to be the fastest growing large economy in 2018 and the country’s equity market will become the fifth largest in the world.
• According to a Sanctum Wealth Management report other countries offers low growth and insufficient structural change, but India is seeing a reforming economy with the prospects of strong long-term growth.
• The developed economies are at 2-3 per cent growth but  India is focused on 7.5 per cent growth.

Apple named the world’s most admired company for 2018

• The annual list of the World’s Most Admired Companies for 2018 is released by Fortune.
• Technology giant Apple topped Fortune magazine’s list of the ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’ for 2018.
• E-commerce giant Amazon has retained its second spot.It is followed by Google’s parent Alphabet.
• Google’s parent Alphabet got third spot and social media giant Facebook was ranked 12th on the list.The list includes 50 companies.

Apple

Headquarters: California, United States.

CEO: Tim Cook

SBI, four more banks suspend accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India

• The top banks of the country including State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and YES Bank have suspended some accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India on suspicious transactions.
• The legal action has been initiated against top ten cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, including – Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia.
• The total estimated revenue of these exchanges in India stands at Rs 400 billion.
• A nationwide survey showed that more than $3.5 billion worth transactions were conducted over a seventeen-month period.

SPORTS

India clinched Blind Cricket World Cup 2018

• India have clinched the 5th World Cup for the Blind 2018 and Sunil Ramesh was declared as the man of the match.
• India defeated Pakistan by two wickets to clinch the title. It has 40 overs in each match.
• The event was held at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE. The hosting countries are UAE and Pakistan.
• It was organised by World Blind Cricket Council head. India had previously won the tournament in 2014, which was held in Cape Town.

World Blind Cricket Council

Headquarters: Bengaluru

President: Syed Sultan Shah