Current Affairs 15th November 2018

Current Affairs 15th November 2018 - Important Points

• Support and Outreach Programme for MSME Sector launched by – PM Narendra Modi
• Saura Jalnidhi scheme launched by - Odisha Government
• Which decommissioned aircraft carrier will be converted into floating museum - carrier INS Viraat
• India, Russia conduct joint military exercise ‘INDRA 2018’ on - 18th November 2018
• Draft of Indian Wind Turbine Certification Scheme prepared by - Ministry of Renewable Energy
• 6 professors awarded Infosys Prize 2018 for -science and research

Current Affairs 15th November 2018 - Details

Support and Outreach Programme for MSME Sector launched by – PM Narendra Modi

PM Narendra Modi initiated Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises- MSME Support and Outreach Program. As part of this program, Prime Minister revealed 12 crucial initiatives which will benefit the growth, expansion and facilitation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises around the nation. There are 5 important features for simplifying the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector. These consist access to credit, access to market, technology upgradation, comfort of doing business, and sense of security for workers.

MSME Outreach Programme

It goals to enhance Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector. It is one of key sector for major generations of employment. It will operate for 100 days covering 100 Districts across the nation. Various Central Ministers will visit these districts in order to impart businesspersons about various amenities being extended to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector by Union Government and financial institutions.

Under Access to Credit aspect of this program, Government will launch 59-minute loan portal to permit easy access to credit for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Loans up to Rupees One crore will be approved in-principle grant via this portal, in just 59 minutes. The connection to this portal will be available at GST portal.

Government will issue 2 percent interest subvention for all GST registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, on fresh/incremental loans. For exporters who get loans in pre-shipment and post-shipment period will have upsurge in interest rebate ranging from 3 percent to 5 percent.

All Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with turnover above Rupees 500 crores will now be forcibly brought on Trade Receivables e-Discounting System. This will permit businesspersons to access credit from banks, based on their future receivables.

 Saura Jalnidhi scheme launched by - Odisha Government

Odisha Government has initiated Saura Jalnidhi scheme to inspire usage of solar energy in irrigation by farmers. Under this scheme, farmers will be issued 90 percent subsidy and 5,000 solar pumps. This will issue irrigation aids in 2,500 acres of the state. The recipient of this scheme will be farmers who have valid farmer i-cards and have least 0.5 acres of agricultural land.

Saura Jalnidhi scheme

The scheme was released as part of state government’s endeavour to upsurge the usage of solar photovoltaic pump sets in those areas so that irrigation amenities can be issued where power system is bad. For this scheme, state government has formed a provision of Rupee 27.18 crores in the financial year 2017-2018.

In the 1st phase, this scheme will be accessible in those areas where electricity is not there for running the pumps. This scheme will produce 1.52 lakh human day jobs yearly and provided income to about 5,000 families and also lessen carbon footprints.

Under this scheme, farmers will be issued a well-equipped solar pump irrigation system in junction mode. It will assist to lessen burden of input cost on farmers and also upsurge agricultural income. It will encourage the usage of green energy and decrease pollution.

Which decommissioned aircraft carrier will be converted into floating museum - INS Viraat

Maharashtra state cabinet permitted plant for alteration of Indian Navy’s longest-serving aircraft carrier INS Viraat, into India’s 1st-ever moored maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre. Presently, INS Viraat is at Mumbai’s Naval dockyard after it was retired in 2017.

Important Facts

According to state government’s plan, INS Viraat’s alteration will be on public-private-partnership basis. It will be grouted 7 nautical miles off Malvan coast at Nivati rocks in Sindhudurg district. This ship will crowd biodiversity centres and marine adventure centre delivering sailing and scuba-diving activities. There will be virtual galleries, cafeterias and even training centre for merchant navy squad. World over only 7 aircraft carriers so far have been rehabilitated into museums, theme parks and luxury hotel.

INS Viraat

It was constructed in 1943 during 2nd World War and was 1st commissioned as HMS Hermes into the British Royal Navy in November 1959. During the Falklands War in 1982, the aircraft carrier had worked as flagship of the Royal Navy’s task force. It has sailed approximately 11 lakh kilometres, enough to cover the globe 27 times. It was commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 12th, 1987.

It had played a crucial role in Operation Jupiter in 1989 in the Sri Lankan peace keeping operation. It had taken part in the standoff Operation Parakram in 2001-2002 when India and Pakistan were engaged in a standoff position the Parliament terror attack. INS Viraat embraces Guinness Books of record of being the longest serving warship in the world. It was also the last British constructed ship serving with the Indian Navy.

India, Russia conduct joint military exercise ‘INDRA 2018’ on - 18th November 2018

The joint military exercise between India and Russia- ‘INDRA 2018’ is intended to occur at fighting insurgency under the guidance of United Nations started on coming November 18th, 2018 in India. The joint exercise is being held at Babina Field Firing Ranges, Babina Military Station in UP. The training exercise that will extent across 11 days and it will witness the participation from company-sized contingents of the 5th Army of the Russian Federation and a Mechanised Infantry Battalion of India
including induction and de-induction of the Russian contingent.
Important Points

• The main emphasis of the exercise will be on training and team building, special tactical level operations including cordon and search, house intervention, handling and neutralisation of improvised explosive devices and combined employment of force multipliers. 
• The prime focus of the tactical field exercise will be to exchange best practices amongst the militaries and work on the current skills of the troops to prepare them to deal with exigencies at hand. 
• The topics selected for the exercise are both live and modern-day affecting both the countries identically.
• The training will be administered by a joint directing panel comprising of senior officials of both the
  national contingents.
• The 10th counter-terrorism exercise in the series of Exercise INDRA is intended at sending a robust
  message to the world with a commitment of gratefulness of interoperability among Indian and Russian Armies for combined tactical level actions in the peacekeeping environment.

Draft of Indian Wind Turbine Certification Scheme prepared by - Ministry of Renewable Energy

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in discussion with National Institute of Wind Energy
Chennai, has planned a draft of a fresh plan known as Indian Wind Turbine Certification Scheme, which
includes numerous rules of the Turbine Certification Scheme.
The plan is a alliance of all relevant national and international standards, technical regulations and
necessities published by Central Electricity Authority, rules published by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and other international rules.
Important Highlights

• The draft scheme conscripts the rules for the advantage of all the shareholders from concept to lifetime of a wind turbine, including Indian Type Approved Model, Indian Type Certification Scheme, Wind Farm Project Certification Scheme and Wind Turbine Safety &Performance Certification Scheme.
• It integrates the best practices from other countries in order to make sure the quality of the wind energy projects.

The scheme goals to support and simplify the following shareholders:
1. Original Equipment Manufacturers 
2. End Users including Utilities, SNAs, Developers, IPPs, Owners, Authorities, Investors and Insurers 
3. Certification Bodies 
4. Testing Laboratories
The Ministry has uploaded the draft scheme on their website: https://mnre.gov.in and has requested
comments from all shareholders as well as from the public latest by December 5th, 2018 for finalising the new scheme.

6 professors awarded Infosys Prize 2018 for -science and research

The Infosys Science Foundation occasion of its 10th anniversary declared 6 winners of the Infosys Prize
2018 in the 6 different categories of the award. They were nominated from 244 proposals by 6-member
jury of famous scientists and professors.
2018 Recipients
1. Engineering and Computer Science: Navakanta Bhat, Professor at Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore. He was bestowed for his work on design of novel biosensors grounded on his research
in biochemistry and gaseous sensors that thrust the performance limits of present metal-oxide
sensors.
2. Humanities: Kavita Singh, Dean, School of Arts &Aesthetics, JNU. She was bestowed for her
illuminating study of Mughal, Rajput and Deccan art.
3. Life Sciences: Roop Mallik, associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research. He was bestowed for his work on molecular motor proteins, which are
crucial for the working of living cells.
4. Mathematical Sciences: Nalini Anantharaman, Professor and Chairman of Mathematics, Institute
for Advanced Study, University of Strasbourg, France. She was bestowed the prize in
Mathematical Sciences for her work associated with “Quantum Chaos.”
5. Physical Sciences: SK Satheesh, Professor, Centre for Atmospheric &Oceanic Sciences, Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was bestowed for his revolutionary scientific work in the field
of climate change.
6. Social Sciences: Sendhil Mullainathan, professor of Computation and Behavioural Science, the
University of Chicago, USA. He was bestowed for his ground-breaking work in behavioural
economics.
More about Infosys Prize

• Infosys Prize is a yearly award conferred upon scholars, scientists, social scientists and engineers in India by the Infosys Science Foundation.
• The award aims to rejoice success in research and stand as a mark of excellence in same fields.
• Each category award recipient receives 22 carats gold Medallion, a Citation Certificate and prize money of US $100,000.
• It is one of the maximum monetary awards in India that identifies the scientific research.