Skip to main content

Current Affairs - Sep 16, 2018

current affairs

First Tribal Tourist Circuit

  • Under Swadesh Darshan Scheme, Union Ministry of Tourism has inaugurated India’s first tribal circuit in Chhattisgarh.
  • This tribal circuit connects 13 tourist sites Jashpur, Kunkuri, Mainpat, Kamleshpur, Maheshpur, Kurdar, Sarodadadar, Gangrel, Kondagaon, Nathiya Nawagaon, Jagdalpur, Chitrakoot, and Tirthgarh.
  • In Swadesh Darshan Scheme scheme total 13 thematic circuits have been identified for development viz. Buddhist Circuit, North-East India Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit.
  • More tribal circuits are to be devloped in Nagaland and Telangana.
  • Swadesh Darshan Scheme is 100% centrally funded scheme for the project components undertaken for public funding. It also has provision for leveraging voluntary funding under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Government moves to stabilize Rupee

The government announced a set of five measures aimed at supporting the rupee.
  1. The government will take steps to reduce non-essential imports and increase exports.
  2. To push Indian corporates to take the masala bond route, the government has exempted all such bond issues until March 31, 2019, from withholding tax.
  3. The government will take steps to attract more Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) into the corporate debt market.
  4. The government will review the mandatory hedging condition for infrastructure loans borrowed under the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route.
  5. Manufacturing companies borrowing up to $50 million through ECBs will be able to do so only for a 1-year term.

Excellence Award to Hyderabad Airport

  • Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad received Airports Council International Airport Service Quality World no.1 Airport Award in the 5-15 Million Passengers Per Year category.
  • Earlier in 2016 also Hyderabad Airport won this award.
  • It is operated and maintained by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, a public-private venture.
  • Hyderabad airport is India's sixth busiest airport by passenger traffic.
  • It was a greenfield airport started operating in 2008.

Coast Guard commissions patrol vessel Vijaya

  • Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has commissioned indigenously built patrol vessel ICGS Vijaya in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
  • It is second in the series of 98 m offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).
  • It is built by Indian conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T).
  • The OPV is fitted with advanced technology navigation and communication equipment and sensors.
  • On joining the Coast Guard fleet, the ship will be based at Paradip.
  • The Ship will be deployed extensively for Exclusive Economic Zone surveillance, search and rescue and other ICG tasks.

NASA's ICESat-2 Launched


  • The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) satellite has been launched recently by NASA. It is a laser-armed satellite capable of capturing 60,000 measurements per second.
  • It has Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) measures height by timing how long it takes individual light photons to travel from the spacecraft to Earth and back.
  • ICESat-2 will also measure changes in the heights of Earth’s polar ice, average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland and Antarctica, the height of ocean and land surfaces, including forests.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IAS Exam Dates for 2023

Timeline for UPSC civil services competitive exam commonly known as IAS exam is expected to be as follows:  Registration and application form submission for IAS exam will start in February month and will be happening from 1st Feb to 21st Feb 2023. Preliminary exam is scheduled on 28th May 2023. Mains exam is expected to start from 15 September. IAS exam is considered one of the most toughest exam in India and also most rewarding for those who make their way to the final selection list.
Post a Comment
Read more

Geography and Public Administration as Optional Subject

In my opinion, if you are starting the preparation of IAS Exam and still confused about optional papers don't opt either Geography or Public Administration. These papers are not high scoring papers in general; if you look at marks obtained by candidates in these two papers you won't find it worth the effort they put in while preparing. The number of guys opting these two papers are highest, and because of this bar is getting higher every year. For example, even after getting selected once for IRS with Public Administration, last year's topper Anudeep changed his optional paper in his attempt. I am not saying you must not choose these papers. In fact, you must opt any of it in case you like a lot, or you have some academic background related to any of these. But if you are equally bad in all the papers don't go for these two. Find a better alternative.
Post a Comment
Read more

IAS Exam Dates for 2019

UPSC has already announced dates for IAS Exams to be conducted in 2019. So far no change of any kind has been reported in exam pattern, syllabus or age. Current age limit for unreserved category student is 32 years and the maximum number of attempts is 6. Following are IAS Exam Dates for 2019 Filling of forms for the 2019 Preliminary Exam will open from 19 February 2019 to 18 March 2019 . Preliminary Exam is scheduled to be conducted on  2 June 2019 (Sunday) . IAS Mains Exam will start from 20 September 2019 (for five days). This is now high time to start serious preparation in case you are aspiring to become an IAS officer this through 2019 exam as only Eight months are left for Preliminary exams (October to May). Don't postpone your preparation for next year because there will never be a perfect time to start preparing. IAS exam dates are eight months ahead and trust me eight months are not too less time to prepare for Preliminary exams. Don't try to a
3 comments
Read more