NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Narendra Modi
to
visit the truly vibrant Gujrat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting
Gujarat for the third time this month, as the BJP pulls out all the stops ahead
of the assembly elections in the state. Modi will inaugurate and lay foundation
stones for a number of projects in Bhavnagar and Vadodara districts. The
projects that will be launched by Modi include the first phase of the Rs
650-crore ‘roll-on, roll-off ferry service.
2. IFS Sibi George appointed as the Ambassador: Sibi George is an Indian Foreign Service
(IFS) officer of 1993 batch. He has also served as deputy chief of mission of
Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia. Sibi George will replace Smita Purushottam as
the ambassador of India to Switzerland. He is presently serving as Joint
Secretary in the Ministry of External Aftairs. He would to take up this
assignment shortly.
3. India, Mozambique to develop
Rovuma gas: India and
Mozambique agreed to expedite development of the giant Rovuma gas discovery,
which is planned to be converted into LNG for exports. Oil Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan, while his visit to Tokyo for LNG Producer–Consumer Conference
discussed the development of the gas field. Oil India Ltd has 4% stake
while a unit of BPCL holds 10% stake in project.
4. Dasna Jail to rename its
dental clinic to acknowledge the Talwar couple’s
services: the Uttar
Pradesh government has decided to rename the dental clinic at Dasna Jail in
Ghaziabad after Aarushi Talwar. Aarushi was murdered at the age of 14 at her
residence in 2008. Aarushi Talwar’s parents – Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, who
are also dentists spent four years in the jail since 2013 as the accused in the
murder case.
5. Committee to select RSTV’s
editor: A five-member
committee has been formed to select the candidate for the post of
editor-in-chief of Rajya Sabha TV. This committee is headed by Prasar Bharati
Chairman A Surya Prakash. The post of RSTV’s editor-in-chief felt vacant when
Gurdeep Singh Sappal resigned after Hamid Ansari’s term as vice-president came
to an end in August 2017.
6. Sushma Swaraj visits Dhaka: With External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh. Dhaka will be looking at increased
cooperation on how to deal with the Rohingya refugee crisis. Sushma Swaraj had
promised all possible help to deal with the massive influx of Rohingya refugees
during her 15-hour flight to New York, seated next to Bangladesh PM Sheikh
Hasina last month.
7. Toilets to be named as ‘izzat ghar’: The Central Government has asked each
state to name the toilets in their rural households as “izzat ghar”, or to use
a phrase in regional language equivalent to “house of dignity”. It is done with
the aim of making India open defecation free by 2nd October 2019. The Ministry
of Drinking Water and Sanitation is looking over the implementation of Swachh
Bharat Mission in villages.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Legalization of marijuana
for medical purposes in Peru: Peru’s conservative Congress passed a bill to legalize medical uses
of marijuana. This legislation was proposed by Preu’s President Pedro Pablo
Kuczynski. It came after police cracked down on a group of mothers making
cannabis oil in a makeshift laboratory to treat their children suffering from
epilepsy, a neurological disorder.
2. Aung San Suu
Kyi’s and Oxford: Students at the St Hugh’s College voted
to remove Aung San Suu Kyi’s name from the title of their Junior Common Room,
in North Oxford, England. Her name was dropped owing to her inability to stop
severe human rights abuses against Rohingyas in Myanmar. She had graduated from
St. Hugh’s College in 1967 and was granted an honorary doctorate from the
university in 2012.
3. Lebanon passes first budget since 2005: Lebanon’s parliament has approved a
government budget for the first time since 2005. For 12 years, political crises
and wars have forced Lebanon’s state institutions to operate without a budget. The
2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri, plunged Lebanon into turmoil,
dividing the country between supporters and enemies of Damascus.
OTHER UPDATES:
BANKING/FINANCE:
1. Government encouraging
small saving schemes: In
order to encourage savings, Central Government has issued a notification
allowing all public sector banks and top three private sector banks
(ICICI, HDFC and Axis Bank) to accept deposits under various small savings
schemes. Until now, most of these schemes were sold through post offices. Small
savings schemes include National Savings Certificate, recurring deposits and
monthly income plan.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY:
1. Two NASA astronauts have
successfully completed a spacewalk to install a new camera system outside the
International Space Station:
This has replaced a blown fuse and installed a new high definition camera
on the starboard truss of the station. This was the fifth spacewalk of
Bresnik’s career – 32 hours total spacewalking – and the third for Acaba – 9
hours and 46 minutes total spacewalking.
HONOURS/AWARDS:
1. Playback singers Alka
Yagnik and Udit Narayan have been selected for the Madhya Pradesh state government’s
prestigious National Lata Mangeshkar award: The artistes
will be honoured for their contribution in the field of singing and composition
of music. The award is alternatively given to music directors and playback
singers every year.
