Current Affairs 20 January 2018

1. Boost for NSG membership, India joins Australia Group After gaining entry into two export control regimes - MTCR and Wassenaar, ...

1. Boost for NSG membership, India joins Australia Group

After gaining entry into two export control regimes - MTCR and Wassenaar, India has joined the Australia Group (AG), which seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.

• On 19 January 2018 India formally became the 43rd member of the Australia Group (AG).
• It is a cooperative and voluntary group of countries working to counter the spread of materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) by states or terrorist groups.

2. MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat to strengthen Cybersecurity

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners at an inaugural event in Delhi. 

• It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on best practices. 
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.

3. Silvassa tops the List of Cities selected in Round 4 of Smart Cities

Shri Hardeep S. Puri , Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the Round 4 winning cities of National Smart Cities Challenge.

• The Minister informed that Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of winning cities in this round of competition.
• Other winning cities are –
• Erode, Tamil Nadu
• Diu, Daman & Diu
• Biharsharif, Bihar
• Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
• Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
• Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and
• Kavaratti, Lakshwadeep

4. Gehlot inaugurates national conference on improving accessibility

In a path breaking initiative to empower Persons with Disabilities, 100 Accessible websites of various State Governments/UTs under Accessible India Campaign were launched by the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot in New Delhi.

• Websites were launched on the occasion of ‘National Conference on Improving Accessibility’.
• Accessible Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.
• The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) initiated a “Website Accessibility Project” for State Government/Union Territories

5. Maitre-2 bus services to connect India and Bangladesh

Maitre-2, the second passenger bus to Kolkata via Dhaka is started from Agartala, Tripura, to give a boost to the trans-border relationship between India and Bangladesh. 

• Recently, the Maitre-2 buses were flagged off by Tripura Road Transport Corporation Chairman Rajendra Reang and MLA Ratan Das in Agartala.  
• The first Maitre bus service was launched in the year 2015.

6. Axis Bank partners NGO Srijan to mentor IIM graduates

Axis Bank is partnering with NGO Srijan through an initiative called Buddha Fellowship Programme to help nurture talent for the development sector.

• The bank is mentoring 15 graduates from the Indian Institutes of Management at Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Shillong, who have been taken on board by Srijan as campus hires.

7. Mauritius largest source of FDI in India, says RBI

 

Mauritius was the largest source of foreign investment in India, followed by the US and the UK, according to a census by the Reserve Bank.

• Singapore and Japan were the next two sources of foreign direct investment (FDI), said the Reserve Bank of India.

8. Anandiben Patel to be next Governor of Madhya Pradesh

Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has been named the next Madhya Pradesh Governor.

• She replaces Om Prakash Kohli, who has additional charge of the office of MP Governor along with the office of Gujarat Governor.
• Ms. Patel succeeded Narendra Modi as Gujarat CM after the 2014 parliamentary polls.

9. Sudeep Lakhtakia appointed new NSG DG

IPS officer Sudeep Lakhtakia was appointed as the new director general of National Security Guard (NSG).

• Lakhtakia is a 1984-batch IPS officer of Telangana cadre.
• He is currently serving as a special DG of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters.
• He will take over incumbent SP Singh, who will retire from the post on January end.