Important Current Affairs 16th August 2018

Important Current Affairs 16th August 2018

                                                       (National, Obituary)

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Passes Away
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had been admitted to the AIIMS hospital in New Delhi for the past few weeks, died on Thursday. He was 93.
About Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Mr. Vajpayee was the first BJP leader to be sworn-in as the prime minister and the first non-Congress PM to complete five year term.
Born on December 25, 1924 in Gwalior, Mr. Vajpayee was elected 10 times to the Lok Sabha from four different States (the first time in 1957 from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh), and was twice a Member of the Rajya Sabha in a storied career.

                                                           (National News)

Anandiben Patel takes oath as Governor of Chhattisgarh

•    Madhya Pardesh Governor Anandiben Patel, who has been given the additional charge of Chhattisgarh following the death of Governor Balramji Dass Tandon, was sworn in at a ceremony in Raipur.
•    Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi administered the oath of office to Patel during at the Raj Bhawan.
•    Anandiben Patel will discharge the additional duties until regular arrangements for the office of the governor of Chhattisgarh are made.

Bengal government removes income ceiling for 'Kanyashree' scheme

•    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lifted the ceiling on annual family income for the beneficiaries of her government's flagship women welfare scheme 'Kanyashree' that aims to ensure girls stay in school and delay their marriages till at least the age of 18. So, from now everyone will get the Kanyashree benefit. 
•    Widening the reach of the scheme would cost the state government an additional Rs 200 crore.
•    The state had incurred an annual expenditure of Rs 1200 crore under the scheme last year.
•     It was the fifth anniversary celebrations of the scheme. 

Kanyashree Scheme
Kanyashree was launched in 2013 to prevent early marriage of girl children of socio-economically disadvantaged families whose annual income is Rs 120,000 or less. Close to 50 lakh beneficiaries are enrolled under the scheme so far in Bengal.

FSSAI unveils initiative to collect; convert used cooking oil into biofuel

•    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil), an initiative that will enable collection and conversion of used cooking oil to bio-diesel. 
•    The initiative has been launched nearly a month after the food safety regulator notified standards for used cooking oil.
•    Under this initiative, 64 companies at 101 locations have been identified to enable collection of used cooking oil. For instance: McDonald’s has already started converting used cooking oil to biodiesel from 100 outlets in Mumbai and Pune.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India. 
 

                                                             (Ranking)

Global Liveability Index 2018
  
•    Melbourne has been dislodged by Vienna for the first time at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index, strengthening the Austrian capital’s claim to being the world’s most pleasant city to live in.
•    The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centres for years, with Melbourne clinching the title for the past seven editions.
•    This year, a downgraded threat of militant attacks in Western Europe as well as the city’s low crime rate helped nudge Vienna into first place.
•    Vienna and Melbourne scored maximum points in the healthcare, education and infrastructure categories. Osaka, Calgary and Sydney completed the top five in the survey
Global Liveability Ranking
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) publishes an annual Global Liveability Ranking, which ranks 140 cities for their urban quality of life based on assessments of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

                                                      (International News, Awards)

2018 Albany Prize Winners
Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has been named a recipient of the 2018 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for his leading role in the development of immunotherapy to treat cancer. Dr. Rosenberg will share the honor with fellow immunotherapy researchers James P. Allison, Ph.D., and Carl H. June, M.D. These all three will share a $500,000 medical prize.
Important to know:
•    Dr. Rosenberg is chief of the surgery branch at NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health.
•    Dr. Allison is chair of the Department of Immunology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
•    Dr. June is director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapy in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 
•    Dr. Allison and Dr. June are supported by NCI grants and conduct research at NCI-designated cancer centers.
Albany Medical Center Prize
The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research is the United States' second          highest value prize in medicine and biomedical research, awarded by the Albany Medical Center. 

                                                        (International News)

Additional funds for Nepal's Postal Highway by India 
•    The Indian Government  released additional NPR 470 million for the Postal Highway being constructed in Southern Plains of Nepal.
•    Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over a cheque worth NPR 470 million to the Secretary of Nepal's Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Madhusudan Adhikari.
Important to know:
•    The amount has been released to maintain fund liquidity for the ongoing construction of 14 road packages under Postal Highway Project. 
•    With this payment, a total of NPR 2.35 billion stands released to the Government of Nepal out of the total grant assistance of NPR 8.00 billion committed by the Government of India for implementing 14 packages under Packages 2-6 of Phase I of the Postal Highway Project.

What is Postal Highway?
Postal Highway also called Hulaki Rajmarg runs across the Terai region of Nepal, from Bhadrapur in the east to Dodhara in the west, cutting across the entire width of the country. It is the oldest highway in Nepal constructed by Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana & Padma Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana to aid transportation and facilitate postal services throughout the nation.

24th World Congress of Philosophy opened in Beijing
 The 24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) opened on 13th August in Beijing. It is the first time that the quinquennial event is being held in China.
Themed "Learning To Be Human," the event will include more than 1,000 activities, such as plenary sessions, symposia, lectures and roundtables, according to the Chinese Organizing Committee of WCP 2018.
World Congress of Philosophy 
The World Congress of Philosophy (originally known as the International Conference of Philosophy) is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First organized in 1900, these events became firmly established after the Second World War. 
Purpose
The purpose of these events is to contribute to the development of professional relations between philosophers of all countries, promote philosophical education, and contribute to the impact of philosophical knowledge on global problems.