Important Current Affairs 7th February 2018

Important Current Affairs 7th February 2018

Current Affairs 7th February 2018: NATIONAL NEWS

''Prime Minister Research Fellowship (PMRF) '' Approval Implementation
 
●    The Union Cabinet has approved the 'Prime Minister's Research Fellowship (PMRF)' scheme of total cost of Rs 1650 crore for the period 2018-19 to 7 years.
●    The Prime Minister has emphasized on the importance of innovative experiments and technology for the progress and development of the nation.
●    This fellowship plan is important in fulfilling the dream of development through the innovation of the Prime Minister.
●    This scheme was announced in budget speech 2018-19.
 
 
Approval for ONGC and OIL 60 non-monetary discoveries
 
●    The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for extending the Discovered Small Field Policy notified on 14.10.2015 to identified 60 discovered small fields / un-monetized discoveries for offer under the Discovered Small Field Policy Bid Round-ll. 
●    Out of these, 22 fields/ discoveries belong to of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited, 5 belong to Oil India Limited (OIL) and 12 are relinquished fields / discoveries from the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) Blocks. 
●    In addition, 21 fields / discoveries are remaining from DSF Bid Round-l which were put on offer but could not be awarded due to insufficient response from the investor.

Approval of Diwali and Bankruptcy Bill, 2017
 
●    In the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet has given retrospective approval to the changes made in the Substitution Bill.
●    This bill replaced the Diwali and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2017 and has been passed by the Parliament as Diwali and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2018.
●    This amendment will bring clarity and will ensure that such a non-intelligent person is not included in the settlement process of the insolvent corporate person and the person whose account is classified as an unproductive asset is given equal opportunity.
 
 
National meeting on Grassroot Informatics
 
●    National security, economic prosperity, innovation and social welfare are largely dependent on availability, authenticity and confidentiality of information technology.
●    The daily life of citizens has changed greatly from information revolution and modern life depends on the timely, fair and confidential behavior of cyberspace.
 
 
Nitin Gadkari inaugurated five highway projects
 
●    The Union Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Conservation Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated the cost of Rs. 5632 crore and 137 km long highway projects in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
●    In addition to widening the national highways, the construction of a new six-lane bridge on Ganga river in Phaphmau, Allahabad is also included.

Neelam Kapoor took charge as DG of Sports Authority of India

●    Ms. Neelam Kapoor has assumed charge as the Director General of Sports Authority of India today.
●    He is the official of the Indian Information Service of 1982 batch, before he has held important positions in the National AIDS Control Organization and has also been head of the Directorate of Film Festival, Directorate of Audio and Visual Publicity and Regional Publicity Directorate.
●    During his tenure of the Director General of the Papers Information Office, Ms. Neelam Kapoor was also the Chief of the Media Operations of the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi in 2010.
 
 
RBI to bring Lokpal to NBFC customers
 
●    The Reserve Bank announced the launch of mechanism such as 'Lokpal' for the customers of non-banking financial companies, which will come into existence by the end of this month.
●    If there is a complaint from borrowers from these financial companies, they will be able to directly approach their Lokpal and thus their grievances will be disposed off soon.
●    Initially this scheme will be implemented for NBFCs who accept all the deposits.

21 leopards missing from Sanjay Gandhi National Park
 
●    According to a report published by Maharashtra Forest Department and Wildlife Conservation Committee , 21 leopards have been missing from Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai .
●    According to the figures given in the report, the number of leopards increased to 41 in 2017 while in the park there were only 35 leopards in 2015.
●    According to the new survey, only 14 of the leopards are leopards in the park.

Current Affairs 7th February 2018: GLOBAL NEWS

Acceptance of Memorandum of Agreement with UK and Northern Ireland

●    The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding with UK and Northern Ireland on cooperation in skill development, vocational education and training.
●    This Memorandum of Understanding will lead to a path to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the field of vocational education and training and skill development.
●    Cooperating with foreign countries will help strengthen Indian skills eco-system and enable youth to be efficient for better employment prospects.
 
Approval to sign bilateral cooperation memorandum between India and the US
 
●    Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a bilateral cooperation memorandum between India and the US for law enforcement training.
●    This cooperation memorandum will be signed between the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Bureau of Indian Police Research and Development Bureau.
●    This cooperation memorabilia will lead to an increase in the cooperation between the two countries under the auspices of the India-US Homeland Security Dialogue.
 

Indo-China Protocol Approved

●    The Union Cabinet has approved the signature and confirmation of the protocol to amend the agreement between India and China to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal consolidation in the tax on income.
●    In addition to other changes, this protocol makes the information sharing provisions updated according to international standards.
 
 
Approval of India Australia Memorandum for Cooperation Program

●    Union Cabinet has approved the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for a 3-month co-operation program between the Department of Economic Affairs and the Treasury of the Australian Government.
●    Under the program, an official of Treasury of Australia Government will be transferred to the Department of Economic Affairs, Finance Ministry and an officer of the Indian Economic Service named by the Economic Affairs Department of the Economic Affairs Department will be transferred to the Treasury of the Government of Australia.

Denmark in preparation for ban on Islamic burqa and hijab
 
●    The Danish government is preparing to ban the wearing of women's burqas in the country.
●    The government will prohibit the wearing of such clothes of women in public places, where the face is covered completely.
●    According to the Independent's report, the government says that we are considering introducing a proposal to ban wearing of burqa or hijab in public places.
●    Those who do this on public place will have to pay a fine.
 
 
Sushma Swaraj meets Shah of Saudi Arabia
 
●    External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Saudi Arabia's Salman bin Abdul Aziz on Wednesday.
●    During this, there was talk of further strengthening of bilateral strategic partnership in all areas between the two leaders and cooperation in the progress of each other.
●    Sushma, who arrived here on Tuesday on her first trip to Saudi Arabia , met Shah Salman.

Current Affairs 7th February 2018: SCHEMES

Launch of "The Great India Blog Train"
 
●    The tourism ministry's social media campaign "The Great India Blog Train", which included bloggers all over the world, was today started by Secretary Rashmi Verma in the Ministry of Tourism from Safdarjung Railway Station, New Delhi.
●    The Secretary interacted with bloggers on the issue of promoting tourism and tourism related aspects and seeing their visit.
●    These bloggers have also been invited to visit different places of the country on luxury trains running in different states.

Current Affairs 7th February 2018: AWARDS 

Announcement of Hockey Star Awards
 
●    The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced the Hockey Star Awards -2017 here.
●    The names of Indian players are not available in these awards.
●    According to a statement issued by FIH, Argentina's Delphina Marino has been awarded the best female player of the year 2017 while Belgium's Arthur von Doren has been honored with the award for the emerging stars as well as the best male player.