Daily Current Affairs : May 11, 2018

BSCDCL launches India’s first Integrated Control and Command Centre in Madhya Pradesh:

The Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. (BSCDCL) has launched India’s first cloud-based Common Integrated Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre and Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) powered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Universal IoT Platform.

It will enable the state administration to monitor and administer multiple city civic utilities and citizen services across seven cities in the state through a central cloud.

These cities include Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Ujjain, Satna, and Sagar.

It was inaugurated by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

Chief Executive Officer, BSCDCL: Chandramauli Shukla

Madhya Pradesh

• Capital: Bhopal
• Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
• Governor: Anandiben Patel

India to host 15th Asia Media Summit from May 10:

India will host the 15th Asia Media Summit from May 10-12 in New Delhi.

India is hosting the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) Kuala Lumpur for the first time.

Theme: ‘Telling Our Stories Asia and More’

The summit would encourage regional and bilateral dialogue and cooperation to respond to challenges to the broadcasting sector in the region.

The summit will be hosted by the Information and Broadcasting (I-B) Ministry, jointly with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), and public-sector firm Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL).

The closing ceremony would witness the handing over of the baton for hosting the next summit to the Philippines.

Ram Nath Kovind becomes second president to visit Siachen base camp:

President Ram Nath Kovind flew to the world’s highest battle field to address soldiers posted at the Siachen glacier, also referred to as the “Third Pole” where temperatures can dip to minus 50 degrees Celsius.

Kovind is the second president to visit the camp after the President APJ Abdul Kalam flew there in 2004.

He was accompanied by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and Lieutenant general D Anbu, who heads the army’s Northern Command.

Government Approves Green License Plates for E-Vehicles:

To promote electric vehicles in India, the government has approved green license plates bearing numbers in white fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis, said by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The measure is aimed at promoting vehicle’s use and the government is considering an exemption from permits for such vehicles.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu inaugurates 6th US-India Aviation Summit:

6th US-India Aviation Summit was inaugurated by Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu in Mumbai.

The Summit is jointly organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation and US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

The three-day Summit will promote high-level dialogue on bilateral aviation issues and will provide a forum to identify solutions that support the rapid growth of India’s aviation sector.

As the world’s ninth largest aviation market, valued at 16 billion dollars per year, India’s civil aviation sector maintains a high growth trajectory, poised to be the third largest market globally by 2020 and, potentially, the largest by 2030.

Maharashtra

Capital: Mumbai

Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis

Governor: C. Vidyasagar Rao

India’s clean energy capacity touches 70 GW: MNRE

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy R K Singh said India’s installed clean energy capacity has already touched 70 GW and 38 GW is under implementation as per the data compiled till March 31, 2018.

India is progressing fast in the areas of renewable energy and government is committed to meeting target of having 175 GW by 2022.

CM Pema Khandu inaugurates Arunachal Pradesh’s biggest solar plant:

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu inaugurated the state’s biggest solar power plant at Energy Awareness Park at Itanagar.

The plant, with a capacity of 1 MW, was commissioned on April 1 at an estimated investment of Rs 8.50 crore by the Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (APEDA).

Arunachal Pradesh

• Capital: Itanagar
• Chief Minister: Pema Khandu
• Governor: B D Mishra

Pawan Kalyan Unfurls World’s Largest Indian Flag in Telangana:

Actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan unfurled the national flag in Hyderabad, claimed to be the world’s largest Indian tricolour, to commemorate the first war of the country’s independence that took place in 1857.

The flag was 122 feet in length and 183 feet in width.

The flag, prepared by an organisation called ‘Vibrants of Kalam’, is world’s largest Indian National Flag.

Telangana 

Capital : Hyderabad

Chief Minister : Chandrasekar Rao

Governor : E.S.L.Narasimhan

INTERNATIONAL

China launches Gaofen-5 hyperspectral imaging satellite for atmospheric research:

China launched Gaofen-5 (GF-5), a remote sensing satellite meant to conduct scientific research on the earth’s atmosphere.

The launch took place using the Long March 4C from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi province.

It was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and has a lift off mass of 2700kg and a design life of 8 years.

It was China’s first high-resolution satellite for atmospheric observation, is also the first hyperspectral imaging satellite developed by China.

STATIC 

China

Capital: Beijing

Currency: Renminbi

Gujarat inks cultural pact with Poland government:

In a bid to strengthen the cultural ties between Gujarat and Poland, Gujarat government has decided to join hands with Poland government for the celebration of the independence of Poland in Delhi and other parts of the world.

In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Polish ambassador to India Adam Burakowski.

Gujarat government will extend support to Poland celebrate its Independence Day Centenary in October 2018.

POLAND

• Capital: Warsaw
• Currency: Polish złoty

Tourism Minister attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Tourism Ministers’ conference in China:

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Shri K. J. Alphons attended the Tourism Ministers’ conference by Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Wuhan, China.

He said that India’s Tourism sector is fast growing and has got an emerging market for outbound travel and a tremendous potential for tourism co-operation with the SCO region.

BANKING & BUSINESS

India slips to 6th spot in biz optimism index; sentiment weakest since 2014: Thornton

As per Grant Thornton’s Survey – After topping the chart for four years, India has slipped at the sixth place in the index, with a score of 89 in the first quarter of 2018. This occur with a weakening currency and a surge in oil prices in the country.

The top five nations are Austria, Finland, Indonesia, the Netherlands and the US.

The conclusions are based on a quarterly global business survey of 2,500 businesses in 37 economies.

Google Launches Android Things 1.0 Ready for Commercial IoT:

Google has officially launched the stable version of its embedded operating system platform Android Things 1.0 is now available for download and use.

To be used for building commercial Internet of Things products.

Yahoo Squirrel Group Chat App Unveiled for Android and iOS, Invite-Only for Now:

Yahoo has just entered the densely competitive market of messaging apps by releasing its own new group chat app named Squirrel.

The app is currently still in testing – is now listed on Google Play and the App Store and is invite-only for now.  

Squirrel focuses mainly on group chats and has many features that let you organise and streamline conversations with several people.

Indian tea industry records highest ever production, export in FY18:

Indian tea industry has recorded the highest ever production as well as exports in FY18. The total tea production was 1325.05 million kgs, an increase of 74.56 million kgs as compared to 2016-17. In percentage terms the increase is around 6%.

The quantity of tea exports increased by 12.71% to 28.94 million kgs during 2017-18 as compared to the corresponding period last year, while the revenue earned from exports saw a rise of $ 95.19 million (13.78%).

China’s Alibaba buys Pakistan e-commerce firm Daraz:

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said it had purchased leading Pakistani online retailer Daraz, continuing its overseas expansion by gaining a foothold in the growing South Asian consumer market.

Daraz, founded in 2012, was purchased from Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based incubator of online startups.

AAI, Harris ink Rs 945-cr deal for futuristic telecom infrastructure:

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Rs 945-crore deal with the Harris Corporation of the US for development of its Futuristic Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) programme.

The 15-year contract was signed at the sixth edition of the US-India aviation summit.

Harris Corporation will serve as the prime contractor and systems integrator for the programme, which is to be implemented over a period of two years.

It will upgrade network operations, enhance security and improve the performance, reliability and quality of the air traffic management communications network, while reducing telecommunications costs.

IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE DAY

National Technology Day 2018: 11th May

Since 1999, May 11 of every year is celebrated as National Technology Day in India to honour the technological advancements in India.

The National Technology Day 2018 theme is “Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future.”

The main aim behind the theme is to promote the development of technology in various fields.

OBITUARY

Former MP minister Nirmal Hirawat dead:

Former Madhya Pradesh minister and senior Congress leader Dr Nirmal Hirawat died of a heart attack. He was 74.

Aspirants can attend the QUIZ for today’s CURRENT AFFAIRS in the exam format from the link that is mentioned below.