DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: JULY 10, 2018

NATIONAL

Gujarat Government grants religious minority status to Jews:

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is presently in Israel on a six-day visit, announced that the state government will issue a notification, according minority status to Jews in Gujarat.
• The Gujarat government has granted religious minority status to the Jewish community in the state.
• There are just 170 members of the Jewish community in Gujarat, of which 140 are settled in Ahmedabad, while the remaining 30 are in other parts of the state.

GUJARAT

• Capital: Gandhinagar
• Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
• Governor: Om Prakash Kohli

ADB approves Lining Project of Son Canal in Bihar:

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved USD 503-million lining project of the Son canal in Shahabad-Bhojpur region of Bihar which would benefit the agriculture sector immensely in the region, the power ministry said today.
• It was agreed during the meeting that the finance ministry will give permission to appoint consultants by July 17, 2018, and the ADB consultants will start their work by the end of July.
• The estimated cost of this project is USD 503 million (Rs 3272.49 crore) out of which USD 352 million is being provided by ADB. This project will bring immense benefits to the agriculture sector of Shahabad – Bhojpur region of Bihar.

Bihar

• Chief Minister: Nithish Kumar
• Governor: Satya Pal Malik
• Capital: Patna

51 lakh houses approved under PMAY in 3-yrs: Govt

• Government said over 51 lakh houses have been approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) in the three years of its implementation.
• Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry in a statement said, out of 51 lakh sanctioned houses, over 28 lakhs houses are already in various stages of construction over 8 lakh houses have already been completed.
• The Ministry said, this is a huge jump in comparison to the erstwhile housing scheme wherein only 12.4 lakh houses were approved in around 9 years of its implementation.

Government to Launch Global Housing Construction Technology Challenge Under PMAYU:

• As part of the technology sub-mission of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna- Urban (PMAY-U), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) plans on launching the Global Housing Construction Technology Challenge that aims at accelerating PMAY-U target for providing housing for all.
• With PMAY-U in place, almost 8 lakh houses have been constructed since 25 June 2015, which apparently doesn’t even count 10 percent of revised MoHUA target in which 1.2 crore houses are meant to be built by 2022.

MHA to upgrade National Information Security Policy and Guidelines to secure government data:

• In order to secure government data and control access to sensitive information on the internet, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be upgrading the National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG). For the protection of the ‘information’ in Cyberspace, MHA will be designated as the lead agency.

• Till 2013, MHA was solely responsible for cybersecurity, which later was moved to National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) under Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
• Along with the shift, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) got the critical infrastructure, whereas the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MITY) got the non-critical part.
• The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh too emphasised on reviewing cyberthreat and told NISPG to update and upgrade the government sector.

67th plenary meeting of North Eastern Council held in Shillong:

• The two-day 65th Plenary meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC) will begin in Shillong, Meghalaya.
• The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Youth Affairs and Sports (IC), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space and Chairman, NEC, Dr Jitendra Singh will chair the first Plenary session.
• The first Plenary Session will include tabling of Action Taken Report on the 64th Plenary meeting and approval of Draft Annual Plan of NEC, 2016-17 by the Council.

INTERNATIONAL

IFFCO to venture into farm credit sectors; ties up with two S Korean firms:

• Fertiliser cooperative major IFFCO said it has inked an agreement with two South Korean firms – LS Mtron and N H Captial to explore business opportunities in agri-machinery and farm credit sectors.
• The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between IFFCO’s Marketing Director Yogendra Kumar and LS Mtron CEO Kim Yeon-soo as well as NH Capital CEO Go Tae-sun.

China, India clinch deal to reduce tariffs on Indian medicines, anti-cancer drugs:

• China said it has clinched a deal with India on the reduction of import duties on Indian medicines including anti-cancer drugs, which are highly expensive in the country.
• Beijing had a cut on import duties on over 8,500 Indian items, said it will relax taxes on more goods from India and other countries as its trade war with the US heats up.
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Wuhan summit in April, China has granted more access to Indian pharmaceutical companies.

China

• Capital: Beijing
• Currency: Renminbi
• China President: Xi Jinping

6th edition of biennial World Cities Summit held in Singapore:

• The 6th edition of the biennial World Cities Summit, the leading global platform to drive and connect innovators in sustainable integrated urban solutions, kicked off in Singapore.
• The summit is being held together with the Singapore International Water Week and the Clean Enviro Summit Singapore at the same venue.
• It will provide a unique integrated global platform to drive integrated urban solutions, connect global business experts, policy-makers, industry leaders and innovators through strategic collaborative efforts and cutting-edge technologies.

Singapore:

• Capital: Singapore

• Currency: Singapore dollar

• President: Halimah Yacob

China launches two remote sensing satellites for Pakistan:

• China successfully launched two remote sensing satellites for Pakistan, marking the first international commercial launch for the Long March-2C rocket in about 19 years.
• The satellites – PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A were launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.
• A scientific experiment satellite, PakTES-1A, developed by Pakistan, was sent into orbit via the same rocket.

APPOINTMENTS

Prof. Sandeep Sancheti takes charge as President of AIU:

Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, Vice Chancellor of SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) has assumed charge as the 97th President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi.

Jeremy Hunt becomes new Foreign Secretary:

British Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed Jeremy Hunt as the new Foreign Secretary, following Boris Johnson’s resignation from the job amid deep divisions over Britain’s departure from the European Union (EU) or Brexit.

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