Current Affairs: February 9-10th, 2018

February 9-10th, 2018

1. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi Becomes International Cricket Council’s (ICC) first Independent Female Director.

• Mrs. Nooyi will join the cricket body in June 2018 for a 2-year term.
• The introduction of an Independent Director, who must be female, was approved by the ICC in June 2017, aimed at improving the global governance of the sport.
• Static Part: ICC Chairman- Shashank Manohar| Headquarters- Dubai, The UAE.

2. Rajnath launches a book on best interviews of Vajpayee “Mere Sapno Ka Bharat”.

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released a book on best interviews of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Parliament premises.
• The interviews have been compiled in a book named “Mere Sapno Ka Bharat” by Tarun Vijay, former BJP MP and Editor of Panchjanya, an RSS published a journal.

3. IndusInd Bank Launches New Sonic Identity, A musical Logo called “MOGO”, as part of its branding initiatives.

• The objective for associating to a sonic identity is building the Bank’s brand imagery with the strategic use of music and sound for brand experiences and audience connection.
• StaticPart: IndusInd Bank:- Chairman- R. Seshasayee|Headquarter- Mumbai, Owner- Hinduja Group.

4. Sachin Tendulkar launches a book on child health care titled ‘Even When There Is A Doctor’.

• Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali Tendulkar has launched a book on child health care titled ‘Even When There Is A Doctor’.
• Penned down by Dr. Yashwant Amdekar along with Dr. Rajesh Chokhani and Krishnan Sivaramakrishnan, the book describes the role of an individual or parents in improving their child’s health.

5. PM Modi leaves for Palestine in his departure for the three-nation(Palestine, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman) visit.

• This is the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Palestine, and Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to UAE and first to Oman.
• Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas describes Mr. Modi’s visit as historic.
• Prime Minister would be addressing the Sixth World Government Summit being held in Dubai, UAE at which India has been extended ‘Guest of Honour’ status.
• Static Part: 1. Palestine:- Capital- East Jerusalem|Currency- Israeli new shekel|President- Mahmoud Abbas|Prime minister- Rami Hamdallah.
  2. The United Arab Emirates:- Capital- Abu Dhabi|Currency- United Arab Emirates Dirham|President-Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
  3. Oman:- Capital- Muscat|Currency- Omani rial|Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said is the Sultan of Oman.

6. NITI Aayog releases the “Healthy States, Progressive India” Report in Delhi, Kerala Tops the Index and Uttar Pradesh worst performer.

• The report was released jointly by the CEO, NITI Aayog Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Smt. Preeti Sudan and World Bank India Country Director Mr. Junaid Ahmad.
• States and UTs have been ranked in three categories namely, Larger States, Smaller States, and Union Territories to ensure comparison among similar entities.
• Among the Larger States, Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh are the top three ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance.
• Among Smaller States, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur on overall performance, while Manipur followed by Goa was the top-ranked States in terms of annual incremental performance.
• Among UTs, Lakshadweep showed both the best overall performance as well as the highest annual incremental performance.

7. India Ranks 44th in Global Intellectual Property Index, the top 3 countries on the list are- The USA, The United Kingdom, and Sweden.

• Last year, India ranked 43rd out of 45 countries in the Index. India has increased “substantially” its score in the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, ranking 44th among 50 nations, according to the US Chambers of Commerce report.
• India’s overall score has increased substantially from 25% in the 5th edition of the Index to 30% in the 6th edition, according to the annual report prepared by the Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC) of the US Chambers of Commerce.

8. Reliance Industries wins Golden Peacock Award 2017 for Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR).

• The award was a recognition of the work done by its CSR arm Reliance Foundation under Founder and Chairman Nita Ambani.
• Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute Of Directors (IOD) in 1991 in India, are regarded as a benchmark of Corporate Excellence.

9. Haryana topped the overall medal tally after claiming 102 medals with 38 gold, 26 silver and 38 bronze in Khelo India School Games.

• The first Khelo India School Games concluded in New Delhi with sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally.
• Maharashtra with 110 medals (36 of them gold) finished second while Delhi with 94 medals came third. Sports Minister, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the top State Haryana with the glittering trophy.
• Static Part: 1. Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand grabbed the first gold medal of the Khelo India School Games in 1500 metres Race.
  2. Malivika Bansood won the last gold medal for the state in the girl’s badminton singles final.

10. The 23rd Olympic Winter Games officially kicked off with a colorful ceremony at Pyeongchang in South Korea.

• Ninety-two countries are participating in the event. There will be 102 medals up for grabs in Pyeongchang, covering seven sports and 15 disciplines.
• Static Part: South Korea:-President- Moon Jae-in|Capital- Seoul|Currency- South Korean won|Prime minister- Lee Nak Yeon.

11. Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh launched a Web-Based Monitoring System and a fly ash mobile application named ‘ASH TRACK’.

• These platforms will enable better management of the ash produced by thermal power plants by providing an interface between fly ash producers (Thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as – road contractors, cement plants etc.
• ASH TRACK shows coal-based power plants situated within the radius of 100 km and 300 km from the user’s location. Therefore, any app user can select power station from where he wants to take fly ash. Ash availability, distance from user’s location, details of contact person will be displayed in the app.

12. National Deworming Day observed on 10th Feb.

• Every year on 10 February is observed as National Deworming Dayit was launched in 2015 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to combat parasitic worm infections among preschool and school-age children across India.
• The goal of National Deworming Day: Deworm all preschool and school-age children between the ages of 1-19 years in order to improve their overall health, cognitive development, nutritional status and quality of life.

13. International Conference on Unani Medicine inaugurated at New Delhi.

• The Minister of State (IC) for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the two-day International conference on Unani Medicine on 10th February 2018This year is special for Unani fraternity as it is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Hakim Ajmal Khan.
• To mark this day, the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), under the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing a two-day International Conference on Unani Medicine as part of the celebration of Unani Day.
• The theme of the conference is “Integration of Unani System of Medicine in mainstream healthcare”.

14. CCI imposes Rs 135.86 crore penalty on Google for Unfair Business Practices in the Indian market.

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of around Rs. 136 crores on search engine major Google for unfair business practices in the Indian market for online search.
• The penalty is being imposed on Google for infringing anti-trust conduct. It was alleged that Google is indulging in abuse of dominant position in the market for online search through practices leading to search bias and search manipulation, among others.
• Static Part: CCI Chairperson- Devender Kumar Sikri|Head Office- New Delhi.

15. NPCI appoints Biswamohan Mahapatra as Non-executive chairman of the board for a period of two years, with effect from February 8, 2018.

• Mahapatra succeeds B Sambamurthy, who has been the interim chairman.
• Recently NPCI had appointed Dilip Asbe as its managing director and CEO.
• Static Part: NPCI:- Headquarters- Mumbai|National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organization for all retail payments in India. It was set up with the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA).

16. Justice Abhilasha Kumari was sworn in as the first women Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court.

• The swearing-in ceremony was held at Raj Bhavan with Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla administering the oath of office to the new Chief Justice.
• Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar, Speaker Y Khemchand, Opposition Leader O Ibobi, Justice N Koteswar and others were present in the oath-taking ceremony.