Important Current Affairs 6th October 2018 English

(National News)

GI Tag for Alphonso from Konkan
Alphonso from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts of  Maharashtra, is registered asGeographical Indication (GI). 
A Geographical Indication or a GI is an indication used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality. Darjeeling Tea, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Blue Pottery of Jaipur, Banarasi Sarees and TirupatiLaddus are some of the GIs.

Digi Yatra central platform will be operational by end of February, 2019
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu released the policy on biometric based digital processing of passengers at airports called “Digi Yatra” at a press-conference. 

‘DigiYatra’ 

The ‘DigiYatra’ is an industry-led initiative co-ordinated by the Ministry in line with the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s Digital India’s vision to transform the nation into a digitally empowered society. This follows Air Sewa which brings together all the stakeholders on a common platform for handling customer grievances and disseminating real-time data.

Launch of Methanol Cooking Fuel Program of India

Northeast and Assam Petro-chemicals, a state-owned company for launching Asia's first cannisters based and India's first "Methanol Cooking Fuel Program".
 The program was inaugurated by Dr V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog and Chairman, Methanol Apex Committee at the Assam Petro-chemicals campus at Namrup.

Details:
500 households inside the Assam Petro Complex will be the first pilot project, scaling it to 40,000 households in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Goa and Karnataka. The project is a natural extension of our Prime Minister's vision of reducing import of crude and an effort to provide clean, import substitute, cost effective and pollution free cooking medium. Assam Petrochemicals Limited has been manufacturing methanol for the last 30 years and is in the process of upgrading their 100 TPD methanol plant to 600 TPD by Dec 2019.

(Appointment News)

RN Ravi becomes Deputy National Security Advisor
The government  redesignated RN Ravi as deputy national security advisor (internal affairs) from his earlier assignment as the chief of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).

Ravi will be the third deputy to NSA Ajit Doval after former Research and Analysis Wing chief Rajinder Khanna and serving diplomat Pankaj Saran.

Ravi retired as the special director in the domestic intelligence agency, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the NDA government appointed him as the chief of the JIC which is a subsidiary body of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) tasked with assessment of intelligence gathered by various intelligence agencies.

(International News)
Atal Innovation Mission & SIRIUS sign MoU forpromotion of innovative cooperation 

To promote innovative cooperation between students of India and Russia, a Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged between India’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the Russian Federation’s SIRIUS Educational Foundation in the presence of the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi and the President of Russia H.E. Vladimir Putin, in New Delhi on 5th October 2018.

About AIM-SIRIUS Innovation Festival 2018
To promote a spirit of collaborative innovation, young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs and SIRIUS Educational Foundation came together at a four-day Indo-Russian ATL innovation boot-camp from October 1st to October 4th. 

About Atal Innovation Mission
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is NITI Aayog’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. AIM has been established to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in a holistic manner through various initiatives at school, university and industry levels.

India, Vietnam hold joint drill in Bay of Bengal
The Indian Coast Guard conducted its maiden joint exercise with the Vietnam Coast Guard in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Chennnai.

The exercise — Sahyog HOP TAC-2018 — was aimed at enabling the Coast Guard units of the two countries to acquaint themselves with each other’s capabilities, strengthening the working-level relationship to rescue lives at sea and refining joint operation procedures.

The joint exercise simulated a scenario involving rescue of crew from a hijacked oil tanker, interdiction of a pirated vessel, joint boarding operation and external fire-fighting to salvage burning ships.