18 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

18 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Important Dates

World Heritage Day being observed today 18 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

World Heritage Day being observed today

  • The 'World Heritage Day' is being observed across the globe on 18th April every year to celebrate cultural heritage and encourage people to conserve our rich past.
  • The day aims to spread awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving various sites around the world that have achieved world heritage status.
  • There are over 1000 World Heritage Sites (man-made and natural) recognized by UNESCO.
  • Italy leads with 53 sites followed by China with 52 sites.
  • The theme of 2018 is “Heritage for Generations”.
Note:
  • The World Heritage sites are officially recognized by the UN and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO).
  • There are 28 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed World Heritage Sites in India, that are recognized by the UNESCO.

International Affairs

PM Modi reaches the UK on the second leg of his two Nation European tour

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached London (United Kingdom) on the second leg of his two Nation European tour.
  • PM Nodi will have a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, Theresa May and also attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
  • Mr. Modi will address a unique event ‘Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath’, a live interactive conversation in which he will answer questions concerning India.
  • He will visit Science Museum and also meet Indian scientists working on Cancer research under the Living Bridge concept.

Honors & Awards

Bhuj Mercantile Co-operative Bank bag Banco Award

  • The 'Bhuj Mercantile Co-operative Bank' has received the prestigious Banco Award from Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for the best performing cooperative bank.
  • The bank was adjudged best among the 1500 co-operative banks from across the country.
  • Banco Award given annually to the top performing cooperative banks recognize and encourage best practices in the cooperative banking sector.

Icrisat award for women scientists

  • Scientists Mamta Sharma and Pooja Bhatnagar Mathur have won Icrisat’s highest award for research Doreen Margaret Mashler Award for 2018 in their respective research fields of plant pathology and biotechnology.
  • Mamta Sharma works on the epidemiology of plant diseases and pathogens, focussing on disease-resistant breeding in chickpea and pigeonpea.
  • Pooja Bhatnagar Mathur was part of a landmark research to combat aflatoxin in groundnut using a ‘double-defense’ approach.

Obituaries

Former US First lady Barbara Bush passes away

  • Former US first lady (from 1989 to 1993) ‘Barbara Bush' (92-year) passed away.
  • Barbara Bush was the wife of the George HW Bush (41st President) and mother of the George W Bush (43rd President).

National Appointments

Lt Gen P P Malhotra takes over as Director General of NCC

  • Lieutenant General PP Malhotra took over the reins of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) as its Director General (DG).
  • NCC is one of the largest uniformed youth organizations in the world.
  • He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army on 18th June 1983.
  • His qualifications include B.Tech from College of Military Engineering, Pune, M. Tech (from IIT, Powaii), M. Phil (from DAVV, Indore) and M. Phil (from Madras University).
Note:
  • The National Cadet Corps (NCC) is the Indian military cadet corps with its Headquarters in New Delhi, India.
  • It is open to school and college students on voluntary basis.

Banking & Finance

IMF: India to grow at 7.4 percent in 2018

  • According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India is expected to grow at 7.4% (in 2018) and 7.8% (in 2019).
  • This is due to the strong private consumption as well as fading transitory effects of the currency exchange initiative and implementation of the national goods and services tax.
  • India will leave its nearest rival China which will grow at 6.6 in 2018 and 6.4% in 2019.
  • India has made progress on structural reforms in the recent past, which will help reduce internal barriers to trade, increase efficiency, and improve tax compliance.

Kotak Mahindra becomes the second-most-valued bank

  • Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd beat the State Bank of India (SBI) for the first time to become the second most valued bank in the country (after HDFC Bank), in terms of market capitalization.
  • Now, Kotak Mahindra Bank has a market capitalization of 2,22,970.4 crore rupees and SBI market capitalization stood at Rs 2,22,043.74 crore.
  • HDFC Bank remained the country’s most-valuable bank with a market capitalization of 5.04 lakh crore rupees.
Note:
  • Kotak Mahindra Bank is an Indian private sector bank headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
  • In February 2003, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave the license to Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. to carry on banking business.
  • In 2015, Kotak Bank acquired ING Vysya Bank in a deal valued at Rs. 15,000 Crores.
  • After the merger, ING Group owned a 7% share in Kotak Mahindra Bank.

National Affairs

Island Tourism Festival  begins in Andaman and Nicobar

  • Today the Chief Secretary of Andaman & Nicobar ‘Anindo Mazumdar’ has inaugurated the five days Islands Tourism Festival at Port Blair.
  • During this festival, cultural programmes, adventure sports, flea market and traditional games will be organized.
  • Artist from the different part of the country will present cultural programme.

Six more states to launch an intra-state e-way bill

  • Six more states (Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand) have decided to implement the e-way bill for intra-state movement of goods from 20th April 2018.
  • Earlier, the e-Way bill system for intra-state movement of goods was implemented for Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala from 15th of this month.
  • In Karnataka, it was implemented along with inter-state implementation on 1st of April.
  • E-Way Bill system for all inter-state movement of goods has already been rolled-out from 1st of this month.

The DARPAN-PLI app launched by Communications Ministry

  • The Minister of State for Communication Manoj Sinha has launched the DARPAN (Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India)-PLI App in New Delhi.
  • It will help in the collection of Premium for Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) policies at Branch Post Offices anywhere in India, with online updating of the policies.
  • It will help Department of Posts in providing better after-sales service to customers, particularly those living in rural areas of the country.
  • The Hand-held devices installed under DARPAN Project will ensure improvement in the quality of Postal services being offered in remote rural areas.

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