Current Affairs Updates - 14th February 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 14th February 2018

Today, once again Achieversrule is back with all the important Current Affairs Updates for 14 th February 2018. We hope our readers are finding our articles useful. We have provided the best and Latest CA Updates which are vital for the upcoming Bank, Rail and SSC. We request our readers to go through the Daily Current Affairs Quiz daily for better performance in the upcoming examinations. Please provide us with your valuable feedback and stay tuned to our Latest Static GK Note Down Points.

Important Days

The National Productivity Day is observed every year on February 12. Theme 'Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India'

• Industry 4.0 or the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' is seen emerging globally as a powerful force and is being called as the next industrial revolution.

National Affairs

The growth rate in Foreign Tourist Arrivals in January 2018 over January 2017 was 8.4%.

• During the month of January 2018, a total of 2.40 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1.52 lakh during the month of January 2017 registering a growth of 58.5%.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari released India's first highway capacity manual "Indo-HCM" which will guide road engineers and policymakers on issues related to road expansion.

• Developed by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), the manual is based on an extensive, country-wide study of the traffic characteristics on different categories of roads like a single lane, two-lane and multi-lane urban roads, inter-urban highways and expressways, and the associated intersections on these roads

India posted a marginal 0.21% rise in the area under forest between 2015 and 2017, according to the biennial India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017. 

• The document says that India has about 7,08,273 square kilometres of forest, which is 21.53% of the geographic area of the country (32,87,569 sq. km).

Kannada litterateur Chandrashekar Kambar has been elected as president of the Sahitya Akademi in the election held for the post. Hindi poet Madhav Koushik has been elected as vice-president.

• Prof. Kambar is the third Kannada writer to head the country’s premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1983) and U.R. Ananthamurthy (1993).

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje announced a one-time loan waiver for small and marginal farmers up to ₹50,000 each from their outstanding short-term debt in the 2018-19 State budget presented in the Assembly

• The budget, which gave sops to almost every section of the population, was perceived as a populist one, coming in the wake of her party’s defeat in the recently concluded by-elections in Rajasthan.

International Affairs

Gevora: The world's tallest hotel opens in Dubai

• Gulf metropolis Dubai, on its never-ending quest to break records, announced the opening of the 'world's new tallest hotel' today, pipping another towering landmark in the city for the title.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched the first tests of the world’s first autonomous pods at the World Government Summit 

• The autonomous pods – launched in cooperation with Next Future Transportation – are designed to travel short and medium distances in dedicated lanes. They can be coupled together in as little 15 seconds or detached – depending on the riders’ destination – in five seconds.

China plans to select 5,000 movie theaters to screen propaganda films and will boost their box offices with group sales, discounted tickets and other financial backing. 

• China's film regulator said in a notice posted on the internet that the policy is intended to promote specific movies at special times to create a ``people's theater front,'' a throwback to language used during the era of Mao Zedong. 

Tanzania withdraws from UN refugee programme

• Tanzanian President John Magufuli has announced his country will pull out of the UN's "comprehensive refugee response framework", which provides lasting solutions for refugees, including integration into host communities.

The Pakistan Peoples Party’s Krishna Kumari is poised to become the country’s first woman Hindu lawmaker next month, after the party nominated her for the upcoming Senate elections.

• According to Nasir Shah, the spokesman in the provincial government of Sindh, the PPP asked its lawmakers to vote for Ms. Kumari in the March 3 elections for the Upper House of Parliament.

The Bank of Baroda (BoB), which is embroiled in controversial banking transactions involving the embattled Gupta family, will no longer operate in South Africa, the country’s central bank said on Monday.

• “The Bank of Baroda has notified the Office of the Registrar of Banks of its exit from South Africa,” the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in a statement, amidst the controversy surrounding the Gupats close links with embattled South African President Jacob Zuma.

Defence & Railway News

Russian authorities have demanded over 20 million dollar for rectifying the damage suffered by nuclear submarine INS Chakra, which was dry-docked last week, even as the government is seeking to fix responsibility for the accident.

• Defence sources said Russia had quoted 20 million dollar (approximately ₹125 crore) for fixing the submarine's front portion, which was damaged when the submarine was entering the Visakhapatnam harbour.

Books & Authors

A book presentation “There’s Something in the Air — 70 Life stories from Italy and India” at the Italian Prime Minister’s office will mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and India

• Undersecretary of State for European affairs Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Ambassador to India Lorenzo Angeloni, and India’s Ambassador to Italy Reenat Sandhu will attend the launch of the book.

Summit /Conference / Events

12th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility by Institute Of Directors (India) held in Bengaluru

• CSR in India is at a nascent stage. There is unanimity about desirability, but few organizations have developed any overall strategy to actualize it. The best approaches to CSR are still fragmented and disconnected from overall business.

International Conference on Unani Medicine inaugurated 

• ‘Lifestyle diseases are one of the major health challenges of the country, an area where integration of traditional and conventional medicine systems can play an important role’, said Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO and D/o Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitender Singh inaugurating a two-day International Conference on Unani Medicine organized by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) as a part of Unani Day celebration here in New Delhi 

World first Ski Robot Challenge held in South Korea

• According to Reuters, the robots were built with camera sensors to detect the flag poles as they skied down the slope, but not all of the robots could make a clean run.

Awards & Honours: Sports

Karnataka's Kishan Gangolli on Sunday won the National 'A' Chess Championship for Blind for the fifth consecutive time, while Ashvin Makwana of Gujarat and Odisha's Soundarya Kumar Pradhan finished second and third respectively.

• Aryan Joshi of Maharashtra (Rating 1814) with 8.5 points, was fourth. Odisha's Subhendu Kumar Patra (Rating 1604) with 7.5 points, was fifth at the Andheri Sports Complex.

Obituary 

Parbati Ghosh, Odisha’s first female filmmaker, passes away

• The veteran was rushed to the hospital around midnight when she complained of uneasiness. She was declared dead in the hospital.