Current Affairs

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Rajasthan has become the India’s first State to lay down the minimum educational qualifications for contesting elections to village cooperative societies and various other cooperative bodies. For this purpose, the State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2003, were amended and notified. The new rules would benefit about 10,000 cooperative and agricultural credit societies. The educational qualifications will range from Class V to Class VIII for election as members of governing boards of dairy societies, farming societies, consumer societies, weavers’ societies, housing construction societies, urban banks, primary land development banks, credit societies, salary earners’ societies and cooperative union.

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Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra has become the first Indian woman ambassador for Tourism Australia to encourage Indians to visit the country. She was presented the Friend of Australia (FOA) recognition by Australian Consul General Tony Huber for her contribution to promote Australia recently. Prior to Chopra, famous chef Sanjeev Kapoor and cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle have been great advocates for Australia, encouraging Indians to visit Australia.

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Manoj Sinha, the union minister of communications, has launched project “DARPAN – The Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India” in New Delhi on December 21, 2017. The project has an outlay of Rs 1400 crore and intends to provide a low power technology solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM). This will enable each of approximately 1.29 lakhs branch post offices to improve service delivery. DARPAN offers core banking services to the account holders. The project will improve the quality of service, add value to services and achieve financial inclusion of un-banked rural population. It is targeted to complete the project by March 2018.

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The South Central Railway (SCR) has become the first railway zone in India to complete 100% LED lighting at all the 733 stations under its jurisdiction. Division wise details of LED stations includes Secunderabad -162, Hyderabad -100,Vijayawada -158, Guntakal -157, Guntur -76and Nanded -80 Stations. This provision of LED lighting is expected to save 32 lakh units of electrical energy worth Rs 2.7 crore per year.

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As per the India State of Forest Report 2017, Arunachal Pradesh has the maximum carbon stock of 994.5 million tonnes followed by Madhya Pradesh (695.5 million tonnes), Chhattisgarh (560.9 million tonnes) and Maharashtra (493 million tonnes).

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The indigenously developed surface-to-surface Short-range tactical ballistic missile “Prahar” has been successfully flight tested by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha. Fuelled by a solid propellant, Prahar is about 7.3 m long and can carry a payload of 200 kg. The missile has a strike range of 150 km & can be transported to anywhere within a short span of time. It is a quick-reaction, all-weather, all-terrain, highly accurate battlefield support tactical weapon system. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art navigation, guidance and electro-mechanical actuation systems with latest onboard computer. The missile is capable of carrying different types of warheads & will operate as battle field support system to the Indian Army. It has a greater manoeuvring capability, acceleration and can be deployed in different kinds of terrain making it more effective against strategic targets.

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The 2nd Global RE-INVEST India-ISA Partnership 2018 will be held in New Delhi from October 3rd to 5th. Over 150 speakers including 55 international speakers from 15 countries and will take part in it. In it, 15 Indian states will also participate. The 2nd Global RE-INVEST will also host the First Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA). As per the Paris Accord on Climate Change (PACC), India made a pledge that by 2030, 40% of the installed power generation capacity should be based on fossil fuel based sources. It is determined that 175 GW of renewable energy capacity will be installed by 2022. India today is the world’s largest clean energy market, with exponentially increasing demand and supply and proactive policy support, including 100% foreign investment in renewable energy development. The different sessions of the Re-Invest will be held at India-Expo Mart at Greater Noida.

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In Cricket, Indian captain Virat Kohli has recently become the fastest batsman to reach 10,000 runs in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) after scoring a second consecutive century against West Indies in Vizag on October 24. He broke the record of compatriot and batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who had reached the milestone in 259 innings. Kohli, who took only 205 innings to achieve the record, has become the fifth Indian to reach the 10,000 mark in ODIs. Apart from Kohli, Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni have scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs. It must be noted that Kohli’s last 1,000 runs came from just 11 innings, which is also a world record. His strike rate at 92.5 is the highest among batsmen with 10,000 runs in one-day format.

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Noted Malayalam writer M Mukundan has been selected for 2018 Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literacy prize of the Kerala government. The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs five lakh and citation, is being given for his overall contributions to the language and literature. His popular works inlcude ‘Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil’, ‘Kesavante Vilapangal’, ‘Delhi Gadhakal’, ‘Appam Chudunna Kunkiyamma’ and ‘Lesli Achante Kadangal’.

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The 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships will be held in Berlin, Germany at the Velodrom.