Current Affairs

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The IDFC Bank has entered into a strategic alliance with mobile wallet major MobiKwik to launch a co-branded virtual Visa prepaid card for customers of MobiKwik. The customers of MobiKwik can generate a 16-digit Visa virtual card through the app and use it for e-commerce and online transactions. In it, one need not be a customer of IDFC Bank to use the co-branded pre-paid card. This pre-paid card will now allow MobiKwik users to shop from Amazon or Flipkart where currently MobiKwik wallet use is not allowed. This Visa pre-paid card is replica of the wallet and can be used anywhere.

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India has been ranked 42nd out of 165 countries at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s annual Global Democracy Index due to rise of conservative religious ideologies and increase in vigilantism and violence against minorities as well as other dissenting voices. This year’s report which also measured the state of media freedom around the world noted that in India, media is ‘partially free’. Moreover, journalists are at risk from government, military and non-state actors and radical groups, and the threat of violence has a chilling effect on media coverage. The EIU is the research and analysis division of the UK-based media behemoth “The Economist Group”. The list is topped by Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark. The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

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In Tamil Nadu, the tiger population in the reputed Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) has doubled to 60 from 30, due to intensive conservation efforts. The MTR is located in Nilgiri District of the state. On the occasion of International Tiger Day (ITR-2018), forest officials and nature enthusiasts, in and around the Annamalai, Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam tiger reserves in the state were engaged in a door to door awareness programme for tiger conservation. The awareness programmes regarding the importance of preserving the tiger population in the country, were held in various schools.

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The first-ever Regional Conference on ‘Women in Detention and Access to Justice’ has recently held in Shimla on October 4-5, 2018. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organized the conference in collaboration with the Prison Department, Himachal Pradesh. This conference is organised with a view to provide a platform for the prison personnel of all ranks at the national level to share their candid views on various operational as well as administrative issues not only with their counterparts, but also with other experts of national repute in this field and also to identify best practices and standards in the working of Correctional Administration to meet new challenges in the present day’s context to bring out prison reforms in objective terms.

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The 2nd edition of the India International Cherry Blossom (IICB) festival in Shillong, which is is scheduled to be held from November 14 and 17. It is the world’s only autumn cherry blossom festival. The fest will celebrate the unique mass flowering of autumn Himalayan cherry blossoms with several cultural events in the Meghalaya capital. The visitors can enjoy fashion shows, rock concerts, beauty pageants and also compete in an amateur golf tournament. Alongside, there will be stalls showcasing the food, arts and crafts of the region, and several cultural events and a food pavilion of Japan in partnership with the Embassy of Japan in India. It is expected that the fest will attract more than one lakh visitors from across the world.

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The 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) will be held at Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab on January 3-7 with theme ‘’Future India: Science and Technology’ . It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) has been organising the event annually to bring together science fraternity from across the world to discuss innovations and researches. This year, six Nobel laureates from countries like Germany, Hungary, England and others will be participating in the science congress to make it the largest such gathering of its kind in the country. Eminent scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Science and Technology (DST), University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are also slated to take part. The science congress will attract over 20,000 delegates including 3000 acclaimed scientists and researchers.

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On 15th January 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the 13 km, 2 lane Kollam bypass on NH-66 in Kerala. Constructed at a cost of Rs 352 core, this highway has three major bridges over Ashtamudi Lake. The Kollam bypass project will ease traffic congestion around Kollam town and reduce the travel time between Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram. The importance of the Kollam bypass is, it touches 3 major National Highways – NH 66, NH 183 and NH 744 – passing through the state of Kerala. Some of the landmark ongoing National Highways projects in the state include the Thiruvananthapuram Bypass, Thalassery-Mahe Bypass, Kuthiran Tunnel along Wadakkanchery –Thrissur section of NH-544, Alappuzha bypass on NH66. These projects, on completion, will create new socio- economic opportunities for the people and boost trade and tourism in this region.

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Muskan Muskan was not in the Indian team which had won a Gold medal at the second 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup in 10m air rifle team event for women.

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Anthony Joshua is the current WBO heavyweight champion. He is a British professional boxer and has held the WBO title since March 2018.

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On March 15, the first-ever BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded at Curitiba in Brazil. T S Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, led the Indian delegation at the 2-day meeting. During the meeting, India conveyed its support for the priority areas set out by Brazil, particularly to take forward BRICS cooperation on counter terrorism in a meaningful and concrete manner with BRICS member countries. New Delhi also underlined the need to take forward people-to-people cooperation and cooperation in science and technology and innovation and in health and traditional medicine.