Current Affairs National
Defence Minister appoints panel to expedite capital acquisition
- Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces.
- It has to undertake an independent review and check the status of ongoing critical projects worth more than Rs 500 crore.
- The committee would suggest measures to improve the capital acquisition process.
- The committee will be headed by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former secretary in the government.
- It will have a tenure till the end of August 2018.
Kerala tops NITI Aayog Health Index
- Kerala has topped the Health Index report prepared by NITI Aayog while Uttar Pradesh appeared at the bottom among larger states.
- Kerala was followed by Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Among small states, Mizoram ranked first, followed by Manipur and Goa.
- Besides Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Odisha are among the states that performed poorly in the health index.
Imp Note : CEO of NITI Aayog – Amitabh Kant
Current Affairs Business and Economy
Fortis promoters Malvinder, Shivinder Singh resign from company’s board
- Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh have resigned as directors from the company’s board.
- They resigned following the Delhi high court order upholding the Rs 3,500 crore arbitral award in favour of Daiichi Sankyo.
- The resignation is intended to free the organisation from any encumbrances that may be linked to the promoters.
Hardayal Prasad appointed as SBI Card MD & CEO
- Hardayal Prasad is the new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the country’s second largest credit card issuer, SBI Card.
- Prasad has taken over from Vijay Jasuja, who superannuated on January 31.
- Prasad was with State Bank of India, holding multiple leadership positions in the bank. He had joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1983.
Current Affairs Sports
Fed Cup 2018
- Ankita Raina, Karman Kaur seal India’s win over Hong Kong in Fed Cup.
- Ankita Raina beat Ling Zhang 6-3 6-2 to give India their first win of the 2018 season.
- Tomorrow, India, third-placed in Pool A, will play the fourth-placed team from Pool B in the relegation Play-off.
Imp Note : Fed Cup is the premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation.
Vidit Gujrathi appointed brand ambassador of All India Chess Federation for Chess
- Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of All India Chess Federation for the Blind.
- 23-year-old Gujrathi had broken the 2700 rating barrier and has a current rating of 2718, thereby becoming the fourth Indian to achieve the feat after legend Viswanathan Anand, Sasikiran and P Harikrishna.
- He recently won the Tata Steel Chess Challengers 2018 in Wijk Aan Zee.
Current Affairs World
US Congress votes to end brief government shutdown
- The US House of Representatives joined the Senate early on Friday morning in approving a bill to end an overnight federal shutdown.
- The stopgap funding and budget measure, approved by a 240-186 House vote, will go next to President Donald Trump.
- The White House said in a statement that he will sign it into law, which would extend government funding through March 23.
- The shutdown, which started at midnight, was the second this year under the Republican-controlled Congress and Trump.
US says merit-based immigration will end green card backlog
- US President Donald Trump’s immigration framework will end the diversity lottery visa to help reduce green card backlog of high-skilled workers.
- Indian-Americans, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on H-1B work visas are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of green cards or permanent legal residency.
Current Affairs Miscellaneous
Google fined ₹136 crore by Competition Commission for ‘infringing anti-trust conduct’
- The Competition Commission of India (CCI)on Thursday imposed a fine of ₹136 crore on search engine major Google for unfair business practices in the Indian market for online search.
- The regulator said 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.
First ever chat based job search app ‘Empzilla’ launched
- A chat based job search mobile app ‘Empzilla’ is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost effective.
- The mobile app gets conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employer even within his office set up without letting his peers and seniors know the context of the conversation.
Over 2000 people play ‘shankh’ to create world record
- World record was created on the second day of Rajim Kumbh Mela after over 2,100 saints and locals played conch shells ‘shankh’ together in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband.
- The feat was certified by the Golden Book of World Records.
- ‘Maha Aarti’ was also performed after ‘shankhnaad’ by Chhattisgarh Ministers, MLAs and saints.
- The Rajim Kumbh Mela started on February 7.
Also Read : 8 February Current Affairs