Important Current Affairs 12th August 2018

Important Current Affairs 12th August 2018

NATIONAL NEWS

Axis Bank first to introduce iris authentication for Aadhaar-based transactions

Axis Bank became first bank in the country to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-based transactions through its micro ATM tablets. These micro ATM tablets are Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) certified and UIDAI compliant registered devices with completely integrated iris sensors.
Axis Bank is presently running pilot program of iris-based Aadhaar authentication for its customers at eight branches in rural segment largely covering areas of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. It is also exploring its application for varied services such as loan processing, insurance, eKYC account opening and others, most likely extending to the semi-urban and urban regions as well.

Interest Subvention on Loan of Farmers
The Government of India (GoI) has been implementing the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) since 2006-07 under which short term crop loans upto Rs. 3.00 lakh are made available to farmers at subvented interest rate of 7% per annum. Further from 2009-10 to incentivize the prompt payee farmers, the GoI also introduced a provision of Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) under the Scheme. Presently, under ISS, the GoI provides PRI @ 3% to the prompt payee farmers for repayment of their crop loans as per the repayment schedule fixed by the banks or within a period of one year from the date of disbursement, whichever is earlier.
A request has been received from the Government of Rajasthan for release of interest subvention by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural development (NABARD) to Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank Ltd. in the beginning of the year. Alternatively, it has been suggested that a revolving fund for matching amount be created to enable Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure to avail timely interest subvention.

CSIR’s new patented Clot buster, PEGylated Streptokinase set to revolutionize the treatment of Strokes

A new Clot buster, PEGylated Streptokinase - a Novel Biological Entity developed by Dr. Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR and his team of inventors at CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh is all set to revolutionize the treatment of ischemic strokes. Ischemic stroke is a condition caused by a dysfunction in the supply of blood to the brain due to emboli, thrombus or atherosclerosis occurring in cerebral arteries. According to the American Stroke Association (ASA), brain strokes are the second leading cause of death in the world with a staggering       15 million people effected causing 11 million people either die or become permanently disabled. Surprisingly, the prevalence of stroke is much higher in India than the West and about 87% of all strokes are ischemic strokes.
 

Promotion of Zero Budget Natural Farming
Government of India has been promoting organic farming in the country through the dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2015-16 and also through Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). In the revised guidelines of PKVY scheme during the year 2018, various organic farming models like Natural Farming, Rishi Farming, Vedic Farming, Cow Farming, Homa Farming, Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) etc. have been included wherein flexibility is given to states to adopt any model of Organic Farming including ZBNF depending on farmer’s choice. Under the RKVY scheme, organic farming/ natural farming project components are considered by the respective State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) according to their priority/ choice.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under Network Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) and All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRP) on Integrated Farming Systems, has initiated an experiment on “Evaluation of zero budget farming practices in basmati rice-wheat system” at Modipuram (Uttar Pradesh), Ludhiana (Punjab), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Kurukshetra (Haryana) from rabi 2017 to study the zero budget farming practices on productivity, economics and soil health including soil organic carbon and soil fertility.

Mission Indradhanush
Mission Indradhanush aims to increase full immunization coverage in India to atleast 90% children by December 2018. The salient feature of Mission Indradhanush is to cover unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children in areas with low immunization coverage, in both urban and rural areas. The State/UT - wise details of children and women vaccinated including Uttar Pradesh under Mission Indradhanush is given at Annexure-1.
No separate funds are allocated for Mission Indradhanush. Funds allocated for Routine Immunization under part ‘C’ of Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) are being utilized by the states to carryout activities under Mission Indradhanush. No Mission Indradhanush does not targets to reduce post natal death rate but targets to reduce diseases and death due to vaccine preventable diseases. The State/UT - wise number of children and women vaccinated during the year 2017-18 is given at Annexure-2.
 

Bhopal smart city incubation hub to get support from US-tech
Use of drone imagery to map and geo-tag properties, real-time video to map vehicular movement, electricity supply monitoring that predicts peak usage – could all be a reality in incubation centre of Bhopal Smart city development corporation limited (BSCDCL).
On Thursday, BSCDCL incubation hub, B-Nest inked an MoU with ESRI, a GIS mapping software, spatial data analytics and location company headquartered in California. Likes of pioneering ArcGIS, the world's most powerful mapping and analytics software and other software’s would be available for those associated with B-nest, said Esri India, president, Agendra Kumar. It is the second such tie-up by the company. The being Telangana government backed start-up incubator T-Hub.

DIHAR organises 25th annual Ladakhi Kisan-Jawan-Vigyan Mela
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 14 Corps Lt. Gen S K Upadhyay inaugurated two-day Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) annual Ladakhi Kisan-Jawan-Vigyan Mela in Leh. The army gets a lot of assistances from DIHAR. 45 per cent of the requirement of vegetables is made by local organic producers of DIHAR. The mela is a good platform to showcase the products of locals and also gives an opportunity to learn about agricultural activities at DIHAR. Over the decades, DIHAR has carried out researches in high altitude agriculture and animal sciences and made several breakthroughs.

OBITUARY

Nobel-winning writer VS Naipaul dies
 VS Naipaul, the Trinidad-born Nobel laureate whose precise and lyrical writing in such novels as "A Bend in the River" and "A House for Mr. Biswas" and brittle, misanthropic personality made him one of the world's most admired and contentious writers, died at his London home.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Nasa launches Parker Solar Probe, mankind's first mission to touch the Sun
Nasa's Parker Solar Probe, mankind's first mission to 'touch' the Sun, has been launched today on a seven-year-long journey to unlock the mysteries of our star's fiery outer atmosphere and its effects on space weather.

Liftoff took place from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US early on Sunday.