DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 9 MAY 2018

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 9 MAY 2018

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      SCO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN INDIA TO HOLD TALKS WITH UNION MINISTERS

i.  Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary-General Rashid KutbiddinovitchAlimov arrived in New Delhi to hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other Union ministers.

ii. External Affairs Minister   will hold a bilateral meeting with Alimov in Delhi.

iii.India became a full member of SCO in June 2017, at an international summit held in Astana, Kazakhstan.

2.      CBDT APPROVES AMENDMENT OF INDIA-KUWAIT TAX AGREEMENT

i. The Central Board of Direct Taxes  notified the protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement  between India and Kuwait.

ii. The protocol updates the provisions in the DTAA for the exchange of information as per international standards, and also enables sharing of information received from Kuwait for tax purposes with other law enforcement agencies.

3.      INDIA, SRI LANKA AGREE ON INFORMATION EXCHANGE FOR DRUG CONTROL

i. India and Sri Lanka agreed on cooperation on exchange of information and other aspects to tackle smuggling of drugs in both countries.

ii. A decision to this effect was taken at the third bilateral meeting between delegations from India's Narcotics Control Bureau  and Sri Lanka's Police Narcotics Bureau  on narcotics, drugs and psychotropic substances and related matters in New Delhi.

4.      SKILL INDIA ORGANIZED 'AJEEVIKA AND KAUSHALVIKASMELA' IN BHUBANESWAR

i. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Rural Development  together joined hands to amplify the “Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan” of the current incumbent government which is promoting social harmony and awareness around the pro-poor initiatives of the government.

ii. MSDE organized a Kaushal and RojgarMela at New Women’s College in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where more than 5000 people from different walks of life participated.

5.      GOOGLE NAMES NITINBAWANKULE HEAD OF INDIA CLOUD BUSINESS

i. Google had appointed NitinBawankule as the country head for its cloud business in India, as the search giant looks at taking a larger share of the booming demand for those services in the country.

ii. Bawankule has been with Google for six years and was previously head of sales for its e-commerce, retail and classifieds and education business.

6.      WALMART BUYS FLIPKART IN WORLD'S LARGEST E-COMMERCE DEAL

i. US-based retail giant Walmart has confirmed that it will buy 77% stake in India's largest e-commerce startup Flipkart for $16 billion.

ii.Walmart bought the stake in Flipkart for 16 billion dollars.

7.      FORBES MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: PM MODI 9TH, XI JINPING TOPS

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked ninth on Forbes' 2018 list of 'the world's most powerful people'.

ii. Chinese President Xi Jinping ranked first, followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at the second and third rank, respectively.

ii. The only other Indian to feature on the list is Reliance Industries Chairman MukeshAmbani at 32.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. NAME THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION SECRETARY-GENERAL WHO HAS RECENTLY ARRIVED IN NEW DELHI TO HOLD TALKS WITH EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SUSHMA SWARAJ AND OTHER UNION MINISTERS.

(a) Sabyr Imandosov

(b) Wang Kaiwen

(c) Aziz Nosirov

(d) Rashid Kutbiddinovitch Alimov

Q2. THE CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES (CBDT) HAS RECENTLY NOTIFIED THE PROTOCOL AMENDING THE DOUBLE TAXATION AVOIDANCE AGREEMENT (DTAA) BETWEEN INDIA AND ______________.

(a) Saudi Arabia

(b) Azerbaijan

(c) Kuwait

(d) The UAE

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 8 MAY 2018

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 8 MAY 2018

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      INDIA SIGNS USD200 MILLION LOAN DEAL WITH WORLD BANK FOR NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION

i. India has signed a loan deal worth $ 200 million with the World Bank for the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan).

ii. The loan would help India in achieving its goal of reducing stunting in children 0-6 years of age from 38.4% to 25% by the year 2022.

The POSHAN  Abhiyaan was launched by the Prime Minister in March 2018 at Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan.

2.      ‘1ST APEX CONFERENCE FOR CEOS OF SMART CITIES’ IN BHOPAL INAUGURATED

i. Mr Hardeep Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs inaugurated the 'First Apex Conference for the CEOs of Smart Cities' in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

ii. Since its launch in June 2015, the Smart Cities Mission  has been one of the most transformational urban missions.

iii. The two-day conference is being organised for providing a platform for cross-learning and knowledge sharing among the Smart City CEOs.

3.      NITI AAYOG, GOOGLE SIGN SOI TO HELP GROW AI ECOSYSTEM IN INDIA

i. Aiming to foster growth for India’s nascent Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning ecosystem, NITI Aayog and Google have signed a Statement of Intent  to work on a range of initiatives to help build the AI ecosystem across the country.

ii. The NITI Aayog has been entrusted to set up a national programme to conduct research and development in frontier technologies such as AI.

4.      INDIA TO HOST 15TH ASIA MEDIA SUMMIT

i. India would be hosting the 15th Asia Media Summit  in New Delhi.

ii.The theme of this summit is “Telling our Stories Asia and More”.

ii.The summit mainly aims to provide a unique opportunity to the broadcasters in Asia to share their thoughts on broadcasting and information.

5.      INDIA RANKS 4TH IN ASIA-PACIFIC ON POWER INDEX

i. India has ranked fourth out of 25 nations in the Asia-Pacific region on an index that measures their overall power.

ii.The US has topped the list.

iii. India has been pegged as a “giant of the future”.

iv. India is ranked fourth on the parameters economic resources, military capability, diplomatic influence and fifth on resilience.

6.      WORLD RED CROSS DAY: 8TH MAY

i. May 8 is celebrated globally as the World Red Cross Day.

ii. The day is celebrated on this day because it marks the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross and International Committee of the Red Cross .

iii.World Red Cross Day theme of 2018 is “Memorable smiles from around the world”.

7.      ISRAEL WITHDRAWS FROM RACE FOR UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT

i. Israel withdrew from a race against Germany and Belgium for two seats on the United Nations Security Council in 2019-20.

ii. Israel, Germany and Belgium were competing for two seats allocated to the Western European and Others Group.

ii. Germany and Belgium are now running uncontested, but they still need to win more than two-thirds of the overall General Assembly vote to be elected.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. INDIA HAS SIGNED A LOAN DEAL WORTH $ 200 MILLION WITH THE WORLD BANK FOR A NATIONAL MISSION. NAME THAT MISSION.

(a) Mid-Day Meal Scheme

(b) Khana Khajana Abhiyan

(c) GOBAR Dhan Scheme

(d) POSHAN Abhiyaan

Q2. MR HARDEEP PURI, MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) FOR HOUSING & URBAN AFFAIRS HAS RECENTLY INAUGURATED THE 'FIRST APEX CONFERENCE FOR THE CEOS OF SMART CITIES' IN _____________.

(a) New Delhi

(b) Indore

(c) Bhopal

(d) Bhubaneswar

Q3. AIMING TO FOSTER GROWTH FOR INDIA’S NASCENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND MACHINE LEARNING (ML) ECOSYSTEM, NITI AAYOG AND ______________ HAVE SIGNED A STATEMENT OF INTENT (SOI) TO WORK ON A RANGE OF INITIATIVES TO HELP BUILD THE AI ECOSYSTEM ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

(a) Google

(b) Microsoft

(c) Infosys

(d) TCS

Q4. INDIA WOULD BE HOSTING THE 15TH ASIA MEDIA SUMMIT (AMS-2018) IN _____________.

(a) Pune

(b) New Delhi

(c) Guwahati

(d) Chennai

Q5. WHAT IS THE CURRENCY OF ISRAEL?

(a) Israeli Dinar

(b) Israeli new shekel

(c) Israeli dollar

(d) Israeli Peso

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 26 APR 2018

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 26 APR 2018

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      NATIONAL PANCHAYATI RAJ DAY: 24 APRIL

i. The nation celebrates the National Panchayati Raj Diwas (24th Aril) as this date marks a defining moment in the history of decentralization of political power to the grassroots level.

ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Mandla in Madhya Pradesh on the National Panchayati Raj Day. He launched the Rashtriya Gramin Swaraj Abhiyan, at a public meeting, and addressed Panchayati Raj representatives across the country.

2.      NITIN GADKARI INAUGURATES 29TH ROAD SAFETY WEEK IN NEW DELHI

i. Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated the 29th Road Safety Week at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

ii.He released a book named "Have a Safe Journey".

iii. The central government has increased the number of National Highways keeping in mind the traffic density and various other factors.

iv.Mr Gadkari has announced that India will sign a pact with South Korea for enhancing road safety measures.

3.      DIU, 1ST TO RUN ON 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY DURING DAYTIME

i. Diu Smart City has become the first city in India, that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green.

ii.Diu had been importing 73% of its power from Gujarat until 2017.

iii. To further enhance its solar capacity, Diu offers its residents a subsidy of Rs10, 000-50,000 for installing 1-5KW rooftop solar panels.

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 27 APR 2018

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 27 APR 2018

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      IRAN BANS BANKS FROM USING CRYPTOCURRENCIES

i. Iran has banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by its banks and financial institutions.

ii. As per the central bank of Iran, the ban was necessary since all cryptocurrencies have the capacity to be turned into a means for money-laundering and financing terrorism and in general can be turned into a means for transferring criminals' money.

2.      CANADA, EU TO HOST WORLD’S 1ST FEMALE FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING

i. Canada and the European Union will host the world’s first 2-Day female foreign ministers’ meeting in September 2018 in Canada. The announcement was made by the Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

ii. Female Foreign ministers from about 30 countries will be invited to the gathering, which is aimed at deepening global discussion on women’s empowerment.

3.      EU, UN CO-HOST CONFERENCE ON SYRIA AID

i. The European Union and the United Nations co-chaired a two-day international conference in Brussels, Belgium aiming to pump financial aid for Syrians and garner political support for UN-led intra-Syrian talks.

ii. The conference will bring together participants from more than 85 countries and organisations at the ministerial level, as well as those from over 200 non-governmental organisations.

iii.It is the second conference of its kind since 2017.

4.      INDIA HIGHEST RECIPIENT OF REMITTANCES IN 2017: WORLD BANK

i. India has retained its position as the top remittances receiving country with its diaspora sending about $69 billion back home in 2017, according to the report of the World Bank.

ii. Remittances to India picked up sharply by 9.9% to $69 billion in 2017, reversing the previous year’s dip.

iii. The World Bank said remittance inflows improved in all regions and the top remittance recipients were India with $69 billion, followed by China ($64 billion) and the Philippines ($33 billion).

5.      THE WORLD'S 50 GREATEST LEADERS 2018: MUKESH AMBANI RANKS 24TH

i. Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani (24th Rank) and human rights lawyer Indira Jaising (20th Rank) have been named by Fortune magazine as the World's Greatest Leaders of 2018.

ii. This year's list is topped by 'The Students' of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools of US that witnessed gun violence.

iii.This year's list has the #MeToo Movement, which described the pervasiveness of sexual abuse, at No.3 behind Bill and Melinda Gates (2nd Rank).

6.      PAYTM PAYMENTS BANK REGISTERS 100M KYC WALLETS

i. Paytm Payments Bank now has over 100 million KYC wallets, against the constant campaigning done by the bank about the benefits of the Know Your Customer (KYC) system.

ii. The bank has introduced several options that include Paytm KYC centres and 'Paytm-Ka-ATM' outlets to offer more localised support.

7.      EGYPTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER MAHMOUD ABU ZEID WINS UNESCO PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE

i. Jailed Egyptian photographer Mahmoud Abu Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan won the 2018 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s .

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997 by UNESCO in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist.

8.      INDIA WINS 8TH SOUTH ASIAN JUDO CHAMPIONSHIP

i. India has won 8th South Asian Judo Championship held in Lalitpur, Nepal.

 ii.Indian women and men won team events. Keeping the unbeaten streak, Indian women whitewashed the championship by beating host Nepal in the final of team events.

ii. Indian men also won the team championship. They defeated Pakistan by 3-2 in the final.

iii. India topped the medal tally winning 10 Gold and 3 Bronze medals in the individual category. Host Nepal remained second and Pakistan got third place.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. NAME THE JAILED EGYPTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER WHO HAS WON THE 2018 GUILLERMO CANO WORLD PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE OF THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION’S (UNESCO).

(a) Lara Baladi

(b) Sherif Sonbol

(c) Youssef Nabil

(d) Mahmoud Abu Zeid

Q2. NAME THE COUNTRY THAT HAS RETAINED ITS POSITION AS THE TOP REMITTANCES RECEIVING COUNTRY WITH ITS DIASPORA SENDING ABOUT $69 BILLION BACK HOME IN 2017, ACCORDING TO THE REPORT OF THE WORLD BANK.

(a) Russia

(b) India

(c) China

(d) Indonesia

Q3. WHAT IS THE RANKING OF RICHEST INDIAN MUKESH AMBANI WHO HAS BEEN NAMED BY FORTUNE MAGAZINE AS THE WORLD'S GREATEST LEADERS OF 2018?

(a) 24th Rank

(b) 20th Rank

(c) 28th Rank

(d) 34th Rank

Q4. NAME THE PAYMENT BANK THAT NOW HAS OVER 100 MILLION KYC WALLETS, AGAINST THE CONSTANT CAMPAIGNING DONE BY THE BANK ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF THE KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC) SYSTEM.

(a) Aditya Birla Nuvo

(b) India Post Payment Bank

(c) Paytm Payments Bank

(d) Fino PayTech Payment Bank

Q5. NAME THE COUNTRY THAT HAS BANNED THE USE OF BITCOIN AND OTHER CRYPTOCURRENCIES BY ITS BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

(a) Syria

(b) Saudi Arabia

(c) oman

(d) iran

ANSWERS:

1-d      2-b      3-a      4-c      5-d

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