23 August 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

International Buddhist Conclave 2018 held in New Delhi

The International Buddhist Conclave (IBC), 2018 has been inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi with the theme “Buddha Path – The Living Heritage”.
This was the sixth edition of International Buddhist Conclave.
It was organized by Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with State Governments of Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Japan is the Partner Country for IBC-2018.
It was held from Aug 23 to 26, 2018 at New Delhi and Ajanta (Maharashtra), followed by site visits to Rajgir, Nalanda and Bodhgaya (Bihar) and Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh).

India Banking Conclave 2018 held in New Delhi

India Banking Conclave (IBC) 2018 has been organised by Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) along with its knowledge partner and government Think Tank, NITI Aayog held in New Delhi.
It aimed at making India’s banking sector more adaptable to face multiple future challenges in the coming years.
It also aimed to serve as effective platform for varied stakeholders connected to India’s banking and financial sectors.
Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), based in London, United Kingdom, is network of over 1100 researchers who are based mainly in universities throughout Europe and collaborate in research and its dissemination.

ICOMOS launches Kerala Heritage Rescue Initiative

The global monument conservation body, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has launched Kerala Heritage Rescue Initiative to assess damage to rich cultural and built heritage sites in flood-devastated Kerala.
It aims at setting up platform for emergency response to cultural heritage damaged by the floods in Kerala.
It also has set Facebook page to collect information on the damage to buildings, museum collections, cultural artefacts, libraries, archives, and even intangible heritage.
ICOMOS will assess damage and risks to rich tangible, intangible, movable and immovable heritage that has been adversely affected by foods, including monuments, historic buildings, museum collections and artefacts of important significance.
It will also create heritage response team and train its members to undertake damage assessment and emergency measures.
ICOMOS is headquartered in Paris, France.

UGC directs universities and higher education institutions to ban sale of junk food

University Grants Commission (UGC) issued circular directing all varsities and higher education institutions to ban sale of junk food on their campuses.
The ban will set new standards for healthy food, making students live better, learn better and reduce obesity levels.
It will also help to prevent lifestyle diseases which have direct link with excessive weight.
The circular was issued after a directive from the HRD ministry, asking the UGC to ban the sale of junk food on premises of higher education institutions.
University Grants Commission (UGC) functions under Ministry of Human Resource Development.

FSSAI notifies standards for honey and its products

Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) notified food safety standards for honey and its products in bid to curb adulteration.
It will be applicable to both domestic manufacturers and importers.
It will help farmers to fetch better prices for their products.
It defines honey as natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from nectar of blossoms or from secretions of plants, which honey bees collect, transform and store in honeycombs for ripening.

35% of cyber-attacks on Indian sites from China

According to recent report by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), maximum number of cyber-attacks on official Indian websites are from China, US and Russia.
It had analysed cyber-attacks from Apr-Jun 2018.
Cyber-attacks originating from China account for largest 35% of total number of cyber-attacks on official Indian websites followed by US (17%), Russia (15%), Pakistan (9%), Canada (7%) and Germany (5%).
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is nodal agency for information technology (cyber) security under aegis of Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Electronics and IT.

Iran unveils first domestically manufactured fighter jet

Iran unveiled first domestically manufactured fighter jet nicknamed Kowsar.
It was unveiled at defence show held in the capital city of Tehran.
It is fourth-generation fighter with advanced avionics and multi-purpose radar. It was 100% indigenously made in Iran.
The name Kowsar means river in paradise in Islam and also title of chapter in Koran.
It resembles US-made F-5F Tiger (first flew in 1974), which is variant of 1950s-era US Northrop F-5 fighter that is a long-time mainstay of Iranian Air Force.
It can be used for short aerial support missions.

NASA Scientists confirmed the presence of frozen water deposits in Moon

NASA Scientists have confirmed the presence of frozen water deposits in the darkest and coldest parts of the Moon’s polar regions using data from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, that was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2008.
Scientists used data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft to identify three specific signatures that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon.
The ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient.

RIL becomes first Indian company to cross Rs 8 trillion in market cap

Reliance Industries has0 become the first company to cross Rs 8 trillion in terms of market capitalisation (market-cap), becoming the country’s most valued firm.
RIL’s market capitalisation (m-cap) stood at Rs 8.01 trillion.
The stock ended at Rs 1,266.90 on the NSE, up 1.6%, extending its gains over the past four trading days.
The company recently reported 17.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 94.59 billion in June quarter (Q1FY19).

Arun Jaitley back as Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister

Union Minister Arun Jaitley has resumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister after a three-month interval.
He was recuperating from a kidney transplant surgery in May last.
The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed to assign the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs to Shri Arun Jaitley.
In the absence of him, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took care of Finance and Corporate Affairs.

Raveena Tandon appointed as brand ambassador of Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Maharashtra Govt appointed Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon as the brand ambassador of Mumbai city-based Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).
She has been appointed to spread awareness among fellow citizens as she is environmentally-conscious citizen and respected member of the community.
As brand ambassador, she will help state forest department to create awareness about its various initiatives, like 50 crore tree plantation drive, eco-tourism in SGNP and conservation of leopards in SGNP, among others.

Sanjeev Rajput clinches Silver medal

Indian Shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a Silver in the men’s 50-metres Rifle 3 Positions event at the 18th Asian Games in Palembang on August 21, 2018.

Indian Wrestler Divya Kakran clinches bronze medal

Indian Wrestler Divya Kakran clinched bronze in the 68 Kg Freestyle wrestling event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
In the final, she defeated her Chinese Taipei opponent Chen Wenling by technical superiority with the final score line reading 10-0.
Her medal is a testament to her relentless hard work & determination.
This is India’s third medal in wrestling after Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat claimed gold in their respective categories.

David Beckham to receive 2018 UEFA President’s Award

David Beckham will become the third Englishman to receive the UEFA President’s Award.
The former England captain was described as “a true football icon of his generation” by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and will receive the award in Monaco later this year.
Earlier, Sir Bobby Robson (2002) and Sir Bobby Charlton (2008) are the previous English winners.

Gurudas Kamat passes away

Gurudas Kamat, the senior Congress leader and former Union minister, has passed away in New Delhi aged 63.
He was 5-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Mumbai and was also the president of the NSUI from 1976 to 1980.
He served as Union minister of state for home affairs with the additional charge of communications and information technology from 2009 to 2011.

Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar passes away

Eminent writer and journalist Kuldip Nayar passed away in New Delhi.
He was 95.
When Emergency was declared, he was one of the first journalists to be put in jail.