Current Affairs Updates - 1st Feb 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 1st Feb 2018

We, the achieversrule team have brought to you the best news headlines for today. Todays Current Affairs Updates consists of Static GK, Sports news, Awards and Honors and Agreements. This overall section is essential for the upcoming examinations of IBPS, Rail, and even SSC. We request our aspirants to download the Monthly Inshorts PDF which are most likely to be asked in the exam along with the Daily Current Affairs Quiz.

New Appointments: National

Indian-American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum, a new organisation set up to enhance business relations between India and the US.

• The new representative body - US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was set up to promote bilateral trade and work on creating “meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens,” the USISPF had said.

Banking, Economic & Financial Affairs

Private sector Axis Bank launched the fourth edition of 'Evolve', an annual multi-city knowledge series for Bank’s SME customers.

• The current edition of evolve, titled “Transform your Family Business into your dream company”, will empower the SMEs understand the winning strategies and best practises that have helped some of the leading family businesses in India grow into reputable enterprise.

The State Bank of India, through its subsidiary SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt Ltd, will offer credit cards to farmers across the country.

• Unlike the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), the new credit cards for the farmers will have a credit limit with a credit period of 45 days. Currently, under KCC, beneficiaries (farmers) maintain loan accounts with the banks and the lenders offer them debit cards against this account.

Rankings & Indexes

According to a report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of 8,230 billion dollar, while the United States topped the chart.

• The United States is the wealthiest country in the world as the total wealth held in 2017 amounted to 64,584 billion dollar, followed by China at the second place with 24,803 billion dollar and Japan with 19,522 billion dollar at third.

According to a report by World Steel Association, India's crude steel production grew by 6.2 per cent to 101.4 million tonnes (MT) in 2017 compared to 95.5 MT in the previous year.

• China has remained world leader by producing 831.7 MT in 2017, up 5.7% from 786.9 MT in the year-ago period.  Japan is second largest global steel producer and had witnessed negative growth in steel output declined by 0.1% to 104.7 MT in 2017 from 104.8 MT in 2016.

National Affairs

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has launched third version of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM 3.0).

• GeM is an Online Market platform to facilitate procurement of goods and services by various Ministries and agencies of the Government. 
• It has been envisaged as National Procurement Portal of India.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to a Bill that will more than double the salaries of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

• Now after the President's approval, the Chief Justice of India will draw a monthly salary of 2.80 lakh, up from the current 1 lakh.
• Other judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of High Courts will draw a monthly salary of 2.50 lakh, a jump from the current 90,000.

Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) makes new company registration paperless

• EPFO said employers can update Form 5A online and submit with e-signatures. This will not only reduce the unnecessary paperwork but also avoid the need to visit EPFO field offices.

The Rajasthan government announced one per cent reservation for Gujjars and four other castes by creating a new category — most backward classes (MBC).

• The move is aimed to woo Gujjars ahead of byelections to the Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha constituencies in a few months as well as assembly elections which are scheduled in the state by November.

Science & Technology

Environment Minister Harshvardhan launched a 2.8 PetaFlop capacity high-performance computer system ‘Mihir’ in Noida.

• The system will be able to predict weather and climate accurately. This will be helpful in addressing the various issues of agriculture operations and fishing in the country.
• India has joined the elite 30 member group of countries which have this advanced technology.

Defence & Railway News

Indian Navy launches the third Scorpene-class submarine 'Karanj' at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai 

• Karanj is the third of the six Scorpene-class submarines being built by MDL under the Project 75 programme. The first one, INS Kalvari, was commissioned on December 14 last year. The second one, Khandari, has already been launched and is undergoing sea trials. 

Books & Authors

Former finance minister P Chidambaram's Book titled 'Speaking Truth To Power’ launched.

• The former finance minister had in September last year applauded Yashwant Sinha for “speaking truth to power” about the economy. 

Application / Portal 

Google introduced a new app named "Bulletin" that allows anybody to submit stories for and about their communities.

• It is a free app for telling a story by capturing photos, video clips and text right from your phone, published straight to the web.
• The application has been launched as a limited pilot project and is available in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oakland, California.

Schemes / Programme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday declared the inaugural Khelo India School Games open at a colourful opening ceremony at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.

• Modi announced that his government has decided to reward the childhood coaches of sportspersons who excel at the world stage for the country.
• The KISG will be held across 16 disciplines in the Under-17 age category and 5,000 school children from 29 states and seven union territories will participate in the event from January 31 to February 8.

Agreements/ MoUs Signed

India and the Manila- based Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 250 million dollar loan to finance the construction of 6,254 km of all-weather rural roads in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal under the flagship Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Programme (PMGSY).

• The program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12,000 kilometres Rural Roads across the 5 States.

The Union Government has inked 100 million dollar Loan Agreement with World Bank for Project to Boost Rural Economy of Tamil Nadu.

• The project aims to promote rural enterprises, facilitate their access to finance and create employment opportunities for youth, particularly women in selected blocks of Tamil Nadu across 26 districts. 

Summit /Conference / Events

The 42nd Kolkata International Book Fair will begin at Central Park in Kolkata.

• The book fair venue has been divided into four zones, each of which will have two help desks and two watchtowers.

Awards & Honours: Sports

Veteran Sharath Kamal beat top-seed Anthony Amalraj to win the men's singles title for the eighth time, equalling the feat of Kamlesh Mehta at the 11Even Sports Senior Table Tennis Nationals in Ranchi.

• The win was worth Rs. 2 lakh, but what Sharath would have cherished more on the evening was the warm hug that he received from the man, who held the record for so many years watching him perform from close quarters.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu conferred 'Badminton Association of India Lifetime Achievement Award' to 1983 World Championship medallist Prakash Padukone.

• The Mysuru-born had won gold medals at the 1978 Commonwealth Games & the All England Championships in 1980.

Awards & Honours: Miscellaneous

NITI Aayog member Dr Vinod Paul became first Indian to be awarded prestigious IhsanDoğramacı Family Health Foundation Prize by World Health Organisation (WHO).

• He was selected unanimously for the prestigious award by WHO Board from six other shortlisted candidates from Algeria, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia Federation, Uzbekistan for distinguished contributions towards improving the health and well-being of families, especially in developing countries.

Legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee (83) was awarded France’s highest civilian award, Legion d’Honneur.

• He was presented the medal by French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler at a function in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Other Sports & Award Related News

The Melbourne Cricket Ground, which has a capacity of more than 100,000, is set to be named as the venue for the Women's World Twenty20 final in 2020.

• The 2020 men's and women's World T20 competitions will be held separately for the first time since 2009
• The next women's World T20 will be in the Caribbean in November, but there is no men's competition scheduled until 2020.