Current Affairs: January 12th, 2018

January 12th, 2018

1. National Youth Day (Yuva Diwas or Swami Vivekananda Birthday) is celebrated in India on 12 January.

• Addressing the National Youth Festival 2018 via video conferencing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the youth to create a new India that our freedom fighters had dreamt of, Says government wants to make the youth job creators and innovators.
• The Theme of the Festival is Sankalp Se Siddhi, to capitalize on the demographic dividend of young India, to capture the vibrancy and fresh perspective of youth and to pledge to accomplish the goal of New India.This day has been commemorated by the Government of India since 1984.
• Static part: Culture minister of India:-Mahesh Sharma to be the chief guest at the event.

2.The Ministry of Railways has launched SFOORTI(Smart Freight Operation Optimisation and Real Time Information) App for Freight Managers.

• The app provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS).
• Both passenger and freight trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections in single GIS View.
• Static Part: Minister of Railways and Coal in the Government of India-Piyush Vedprakash Goyal.

3.Women BSF(Border Security Force) Bikers to make history by performing their stunts and acrobatics on their 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles on January 26th on Rajpath.

• Static Part: Indira Gandhi International Airport is at New Delhi.

4. Harjinder Singh appointed Chef de Mission for 23rd Winter Olympics 2018 by Indian Olympic Association(IOA).

• He is the General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India at present.
• Winter games will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018.
• Static Part: SouthKorea:-Capital- Seoul|President: Moon Jae-in|Currency- South Korean won|Prime minister- Lee Nak-Yeon.

5. India tops domestic air traffic demand at 16.4% in November: IATA (International Air Transport Association) in Nov 2017. 

• The International Air Transport Association is a trade association of the world’s airlines.
• Static Part: 1.IATA Headquarters: Montreal, Canada|CEO: Alexandre de Juniac|Founded: 19 April 1945, Havana, Cuba|Membership: 278 airlines (2017)|Formation: Cuba.
  2.Cuba:-Capital- Havana|Currency-peso|President- Raul Castro.
  3.Canada:-Capital- Ottawa|Currency- Canadian dollar.

6.V.J. Mathew to head maritime board Chairman.

• The Kerala Maritime Board decided to appoint him to the post.
• He is the legal adviser to Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited and co-president of the Indian Maritime Association.
• Static Part: Some of Wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala:-Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Eravikulam National Park, Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Silent Valley National Park, Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary.

7. Sanjay Manjrekar’s autobiography “Imperfect” is launched by former Indian cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar at Mumbai.

• Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar is a former Indian cricketer. He played international cricket for India from 1987 until 1996 as a right-handed middle order batsman.

8.Punjab rolls out e-Raktkosh web portal in all 45 govt blood banks.

• The portal furnishes the guidelines and streamlines the workflow of blood blanks and storage centers across the country and interconnects all blood banks with a single network.
• Static Part: Punjab:-Capital- Chandigarh|CM-Captain Amarinder Singh|Governor-Vijayendrapal Singh Badnore.

9.Indu Malhotra: First woman lawyer to be directly promoted to SC judge.

• The Chief Justice of India (CI) Dipak Misra has recommended the name of senior advocate Indu Malhotra for appointment as a judge of supreme court.
• In 2007, she became the second woman to be designated as a senior advocate by SC only after legendary Justice Leila Seth, who was given honor in 1977.

10.Mullaperiyar dam: Supreme Court asks Centre, TN, Kerala to set up panels for Disaster Management.

• A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, however, clarified that the proposed three separate committees would only deal with the disaster aspect of the dam situated in Kerala.
• Static Part: 1.Tamilnadu:-CM-Edappadi K. Palaniswami|Governor-Thiru Banwarilal Purohit.
  2.Kerala:-CM-Pinarayi Vijayan|Governor-P.Sathasivam|The Mullaperiyar Dam or Mullaiperiyar Dam is a dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala.