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National Current Affairs	International Current Affairs
Memorandum of Understanding	Science & Technology Events
Sports Current Affairs	Awards & Honours List
Appointments GK Updates	Important Days & Dates
Recent Deaths Updates	Banking & Economics Affairs
Bills [Amendments & New]	Important Abbreviations

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National Current Affairs | Access the Latest Happenings across India

1. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur has announced setting up of a 24×7 helpline for women, called Gudiya.

 Gudiya is a nickname given to the 16-year-old Kotkhai victim of rape and murder during the rule of the previous Congress Government.

 Three special crime cells would be set up as part of this initiative. Officers of these cells will report cases of crime against women without any delay.

2. Haryana becomes the first state in the country to launch High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Portal as part of the High-Risk Pregnancy Policy of State implemented since November 2017.

 The policy aims at identifying 100% name-based high-risk pregnancy cases and ensuring their delivery by specialists at civil hospitals.

 The portal will help in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to grass-roots level and ensures their timely referral to civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists.

3. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the release of INR 20 crore to the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) for setting up a defence innovation center.

 It will help the micro, small and medium enterprises and start-ups engaged in the manufacture of components for the defence sector to conduct tests and trials of the components.

 The minister said that India is the third biggest armaments procurement country in the world.

4. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is going to roll out National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis, a new scheme for free treatment of Hepatitis C from the 2018-19 financial year.

 Under the new scheme, the focus will be on anti-viral treatment of Hepatitis C, which will be provided free at all government health set-ups.

5. The 4th International Conference on Dharma-Dhamma was inaugurated at Rajgir, Bihar by the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind on January 11, 2018.

 The aim of the conference is to provide an opportunity to academics and policy makers from India and abroad to share ideas for a better world.

 The conference was organized by Nalanda University in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, India Foundation, and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

 

 

6. Gujarat has topped the Logistics Ease across Different States (LEADS) Index, followed by Punjab and Andhra Pradesh among 22 states.

 Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has released the report at the third meeting of Council for Trade Development and Promotion in New Delhi.

7. The Government of India has launched Pradhan Mantri Har Ghar Sahaj Bijli Yojana (SAUBHAGYA).

 The objective of the scheme is to achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile connectivity to all household in rural and urban areas by March 2019.

 Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), a Navratna Company is organizing a ‘Short Film’ making contest to create awareness about the SAUBHAGYA scheme and to involve general public as ambassadors of the programme.

8. The ministry of health and family welfare has recently released the data of the 4th round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4).

 According to the survey, Jains are the wealthiest religious community in India.

 Delhi and Punjab are the richest states. Bihar is the poorest.

 Conducted over 6 lakh Indian households in 2015-16, it also reveals poverty as a largely rural phenomenon.

9. The Ministry of Culture is organizing the 7th edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme in Bengaluru, Karnataka to celebrate the idea of unity in diversity.

 The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme was launched to promote engagement amongst the people of different states/ UTs, to enhance mutual understanding and bonding between people of diverse cultures, thereby securing stronger unity and integrity of India.

 

10. The 4th ASEAN-INDIA Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry was held at NASC Complex, New Delhi.

 The aim of the meeting was to facilitate promotion of joint research for the development of technologies for increasing production and productivity of crops, livestock and fisheries, and natural resources management, among others in the region.

11. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has launched a month-long Saksham 2018 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav).

 Saksham is annual flagship event of PCRA with an active involvement of Oil & Gas PSUs along with other stakeholders like State Governments.

 Saksham aims at creating focused attention on fuel conservation through people-centric activities and sensitize masses about conservation and efficient use of petroleum products leading to better health and environment.

International Current Affairs | Know What’s happening around the World

1. Iran has banned the English language to be tough in primary schools, calling the subject a cultural invasion.

 This is because according to Iran’s educational officials, the groundwork for the Iranian culture of the students is laid in primary education.

2. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani has inaugurated eight-day long International Kite Festival at Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad.

3. The South Australian government has been approved the development of world’s largest solar-thermal power plant.

 Construction on the 150-megawatt Aurora plant will begin in 2018 at an estimated cost of $509 million.

 The power plant will provide electricity to 90,000 homes with eight hours of full load storage.

4. The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade (DIT) will conduct the India-UK Createch Summit in Mumbai on February 6.

 This first-of-its-kind conference will celebrate and explore the convergence of creativity and technology (Createch) and the innovations produced by its application across a range of sectors

 The new Visit Britain marketing campaign in India will be launched in the evening titled ‘Find Your GREAT Britain’.

5. Nepal has started accessing internet from China after commercial operation of Nepal-China optical fiber link via Rasuwagadhi gateway across Mountains became operational.

 The commercial operation of Chinese bandwidth project now ends Nepal’s sole dependence on India for internet bandwidth. It is considered as a loss for India, both revenue wise and strategically.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) | Get the Best Information Out of Top Agreements

1. Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) have tied up to provide financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL).

 Under this tie-up, PNB would act as a channelizing agent for the loan schemes of NSFDC.

 Concessional finance and skill training grants would be provided to unemployed SC persons living below Double Poverty Line.

2. The Union Cabinet approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Canada for cooperation in the field of Science & Technology.

 The MoU was concluded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) with Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

 The MoU will provide a mechanism and help to foster scientific cooperation between Research & Development (R&D) and academic institutions of India and Canada.

3. India and United Kingdom (UK) have signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) dealing with the return of Indians residing in Britain as illegal migrants and sharing of criminal records and intelligence.

 The MoUs were signed by India’s Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and UK’s Minister of Immigration Caroline Nokes in London.

 

 

4. India and Saudi Arabia have signed the bilateral annual Haj 2018 agreement by approving India’s decision to revive the option of sending Haj pilgrims through sea route also.

 The agreement was signed by Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Haj and Umrah Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Saleh Bin Taher Benten at Makkah.

 

 

5. South Korea and the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) signed a MoU for the development of industries.

 The main objective of the MoU is to help Gujrat based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to explore opportunity especially in areas of automobiles, defence and textiles.

6. Football Delhi Signed a MoU with ASSOCHAM for the development of the sport in the capital city.

 The emphasis will be given to the grassroots participation through jointly-organized events, seminars, forums. ASSOCHAM and Football Delhi will jointly form a task force to review the progress and take necessary steps.

Banking Awareness & Economics Current Affairs | Understand the Top Trends in India

1. Telangana Industrial Health Clinic Ltd (TIHCL), a state government initiative, has got RBI clearance to register and function as a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC).

 It will be the first state-promoted and co-financing NBFC, according to TIHCL’s Advisor and Director B Yerram Raju.

 TIHCL has floated in 2017 with a corpus of INR 100 crore, which included contributions from the State and Central governments, financial institutions, industrial units and high net worth individuals.

2. According to the World Bank, India has enormous growth potential compared to other emerging economies.

 India’s growth rate in 2018 is projected to hit 7.3% and 7.5% in the next two years.

 India is estimated to have grown at 6.7% in 2017 despite initial setbacks from demonetization and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

3. India has been ranked as a top borrower by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with USD 1.5 billion worth of loans last year and USD three billion more in the pipeline.

 Indonesia has been named as the second largest borrower with about USD 600 million loans after India.

4. IDFC Bank has announced its merger with the Mumbai-based Capital First, which has more than 5 million customers in retail and small and medium enterprises.

 Shareholders in Capital First will receive 139 shares of the bank for every 10 shares held, the lender said in a stock exchange filing.

 Vaidya Nathan, currently Chairman and MD of Capital First, will succeed Rajiv Lal as MD and CEO of the combined entity.

5. The Union Cabinet has approved a number of amendments to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy. The purpose of amendments is to simplify and liberalize FDI policy in India to provide ease of doing business the in country.

 The amendment clarifies that real-estate broking service does not come under real estate business. Therefore, it is eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route.

6. India’s factory output rose to 8.4% in November 2017 from 2% in October 2017. It is measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

 According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), it was highest growth registered by IIP in 17-months. The previous high was recorded at 8.9% in June, 2016.

7. Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara International has announced completion of its acquisition of Tata Chemicals’ 1.2 million tons per annum production capacity urea plant at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh.

 It marks first foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s highly regulated urea sector.

 The INR 2,682 crore acquisition deal includes transfer of all assets and liabilities (including working capital) relating to Babrala unit.

Bills [Amendments & New] – See How Many New Bills have been passed in 2018

1. The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to amend Section 4(1) and Section 5(1) of the National Trust for the Welfare of Person with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 to fix the term of the Chairperson and Members of the Board of National Trust for three years.

 Section 4(1) of the National Trust Act, 1999 provides that the Chairperson or a Member of the Board of National Trust would continue in office beyond the prescribed term of three years until his successor shall have been duly appointed.

 The proposed amendments in these provisions of the Act seek to avoid such a situation and will thus eliminate any chance of prolonged continuation in the same post by any incumbent.

 

2. The Union Government notified the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017. It will come into force after the union govt notifies it in the Official Gazette.

 A few provisions in the Amendments Act have an important bearing on the working of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Science & Technology Current Events | Stay Advanced with Latest Inventions

1. India’s fastest and first multi-petaflops (PF) supercomputer named Pratyush was unveiled at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

 Pratyush has 6.8 PF computational power installed at two MoES Institutes. 4.0 PetaFlops facility at IITM, Pune and 2.8 PetaFlops facility at NCMRWF, Noida.

 Pratyush is fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated to weather and climate research following the supercomputers in Japan, US and United Kingdom.

2. The Ministry of Railways have launched Smart Freight Operation Optimization & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) App to help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations,

 This is an app which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.

3. India’s first plant to convert coal to synthetic gas is to be set up in Odisha under the supervision of state-run gas transmission utility GAIL.

 According to the Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, this synthetic gas is expected to be cheaper than natural gas.

 GAIL has roped in other public sector undertakings like Coal India, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers and Fertilizer Corp of India for the project, which will generate ammonia synthesis gas from coal.

4. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has launched its 100th satellite on January 12 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

 The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) has carried ‘Cartosat-2’, a weather observation satellite and 30 other satellites on its 42nd mission.

 It is ISRO’s first launch in 2018 and also the first after the unsuccessful mission of IRNSS-1H in August last year.

5. China has successfully launched two BeiDou-3 satellites to provide navigation and positioning services to countries along Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the end of 2018.

 BeiDou the is 2nd generation of Chinese homegrown navigational system seen a as rival to US’s Global Positioning System (GPS).

6. Under the Digital India Project, Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) has proposed e-Sansad in Parliament and e-Vidhan in State Legislatures to digitize their functioning.

 The aim of digitizing is to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures paperless and make their documents or reports available on the internet.

Sports Current Affairs | Read all the Major Achievements in Popular Tournaments

Awards and Honours | Fetch the List of Top Awardees in Distinct Fields

Appointments Latest GK Updates | Upgrade Your Knowledge Cart with the List of Top Influencers

Important Days & Dates | Mark them to Boost up your General Knowledge

Recent Deaths of Famous Personalities | Know who died today?

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List of Important Abbreviations asked in General Awareness | IBPS, SSC, RRB Exams

Fill up your knowledge cart with the Important Abbreviations that are asked in General Awareness & Current Affairs section of the competitive exams like – IBPS, SSC & RRB. Below, we are presenting you a list of Top Abbreviations that were used in this article. Please check it out –

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