Current Affairs 24th May 2018

Current Affairs 24th May 2018 - Important Points

•  Measures to simplify Defence Procurement Procedure approved by - DAC
• App to help voters to share malpractice proof to be launched by - Election Commission
• US diplomats in response to Trump’s sanctions  expelled by - Venezuela
• No cancellation fee for flights cancelled within 24 hours of booking by - Draft Passenger Charter
• NITI Aayog, ABB India signedStatement of Intent on - 23rd May 2018
• India-Nepal militaries to conduct joint battalion level exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII from - 30th May 2018 onwards 
• Pakistan hosted SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure meeting in  - Islamabad

Current Affairs 24th May 2018 - Details

 Measures to simplify Defence Procurement Procedure approved by - DAC

The Defence Acquisition Council led by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sanctioned
numerous measures to simplify Defence Procurement Procedure. Defence Acquisition Council is Defence Ministry’s highest decision-forming body on capital procurement of Indian Armed Forces.
Key Points

• These measures will be united in Defence Procurement Procedure-16, which is the manual governing defence procurement procedure.
• The alterations consist devolution of powers within Ministry of Defence and Service HQs, removal of repetitive procedures, simultaneous operating acquisition procedure in its place of sequential stage clearance, bring into line of numerous documents with revised financial guidelines, between others.
• These modifications form part of continuing Business Process Re-engineering in Defence Capital
  procurements of armed forces.
• It is in line with persistence of Defence Ministry’s efforts to modernize Defence Procurement Procedures and decrease timelines to make sure with in time supply of equipment to Armed Forces.
• These actions will also obviate excessive technical delays and accelerate activities besides reduction procurement timelines.
  Did you know?

The Union Government till date has cleared applications worth Rupees four lakh crore of military procurement concerning close to 135 applications as part of its efforts to modernise armed forces. But much of these applications are yet to be executed due to practical delays hindering speed of modernisation of armed forces.

 App to help voters to share malpractice proof to be launched by - Election Commission 

Election Commission of India is releasing multi-lingual mobile app known as Model Code of Conduct
Violation Reporting Application ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The application focuses at
strengthening people around the nation to share evidence of mismanagement by political parties, their
contenders and activists directly with Election Commission of India.
Key Points

• Through this mobile application, Election Commission of India aims to cheer larger public contribution in checking immoral practices in elections and make sure fair election procedure.
• The application will be released around the nation as part of steps taken by Election Commission of India to avoid abuse of money and muscle power.
• The application permits sharing of photos and short audio/video clips linked to electoral malpractices from spot itself. It also records location of described incidents and the bureaucrats concerned will proximately obtain the alerts. This will make sure an effective response.
• The app was available for 1st time in Bengaluru, in run-up to freshly concluded state assembly elections.
• It had recorded total of 780 downloads and criticisms were received from subscribers. Accordingly,
  administrators concerned in all the cases had taken actions.
  Election Commission of India
• Election Commission of India is permanent and self-governing constitutional body recognized directly by Constitution of India to make sure fair elections in the nation. It is multi-fellow body and at present has 3 members  consisting Chief Election Commissioner chosen by President of India.

US diplomats in response to Trump’s sanctions  expelled by - Venezuela 

The freshly re-designated President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro well-ordered the dismissal of 2 top United States ambassadors in Caracas in retaliation to the new round of United States authorizations forced over Venezuela’s widely-convicted elections on May 22 nd , 2018.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earned another 6 years of term on May 20 th in an election that was known as a sham by the opposition and other nations including the USA.
United States President Donald Trump replied to the election outcomes on May 21 st by releasing an executive order restricting Venezuela’s ability to sell state assets.
Key Highlights

• Venezuelan President Maduro replied to Trump’s approvals by ordering United States charge d’affaires Todd Robinson to vacant the cuntry after condemning him of being involved in a military collusion.
• Maduro also enforced another senior diplomat, Brian Naranjo, to vacant the country. Both the ambassadors have provided 48 hours to make the displacement.
• The United States State Department refused Maduro’s accusations against the both ambassadors.
  Robinson expected the role of charge d’affaires in December 2017.
  Impact of Sanctions
• The modern round of United States approvals is probable to have a serious influence on Venezuela’s financial system.
• The earlier approvals had been inadequate to the assets connected to individual Maduro administration members.
• The new executive order will ban United States inhabitants from being involved in the sales of Venezuela’s pending invoices linked to oil and other assets.
• The Trump administration has also tried to influence China and Russia to halt releasing new credit to Venezuela.
• The two nations have issued billions of dollars in funding to Venezuela in recent years.

No cancellation fee for flights cancelled within 24 hours of booking by - Draft Passenger Charter

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation alerted the Draft Passenger Charter defining rights for air passengers for public consultation, on May 22nd , 2018.
The Draft Passenger Charter issues the benefits that the passengers will be eligible to enjoy the benefits, if the airline is found to be at fault. The charter will make sure a hassle-free air travel experience.

Draft Passenger Charter

• If the flight is projected to be delayed for over four hours from the planned time of departure/revised departure time that is informed 24 hours prior to planned departure time, then the airlines will issue an option of full reimbursement of ticket to the passenger.
• When delay is above 24 hrs from planned time of departure and results flight to fly on the next day, passenger will then be eligible for a free-of-charge hotel stay including transfers.
• If the flight is positioned on the pitch for above 60 minutes, then adequate and free-of-charge hot snacks and drinks will be provided to the passengers.
• If passenger are informed about the flight cancellation less than 2 weeks before, the airline must issue an alternate flight permitting the passenger to depart within 2 hours of the booked scheduled time or reimbursement the ticket, as acceptable to the passenger.
• In case the passenger is not communicated about the flight cancellation up to 24 hours of the planned departure time, the airlines must reimbursement the full value of the air ticket.
• Cancellation of tickets Airline shall not impose any extra charge for correction in name of the person, if name correction is needed up to 3 characters only and the mistake in the name spelling is pointed out by the passenger within 24 hours of making a reservation.
• Cancellation amount must be published on the ticket itself in a lowest font size of 12 and not as a fine print. This data should also be issued as part of the reservation documentation.
• Passengers can cancel or alter the ticket without any extra charges within 24 hours of booking the ticket.

NITI Aayog, ABB India signedStatement of Intent on - 23rd May 2018

NITI Aayog and ABB India inked a Statement of Intent on May 23 rd , 2018 to backing the Indian government realise its vision of ‘Make in India’ via advanced industrial technologies that integrate the latest progresses in robotics and artificial intelligence.
The contract was inked by Adviser (Industry) Anna Roy, NITI Aayog and MD, ABB India, Sanjeev Sharma, in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and ABB CEO Dr.Ulrich Spiesshofer.
Key Highlights

• Mutually, NITI Aayog and ABB will work with government ministries, looking forward response for areas critical to them and discourse solutions using industrial automation and digitalisation technologies.
• NITI Aayog will simplify the participation of representatives and government ministries in workshops and training programmes held by ABB India.
• The training programmes are believed to feature subject matter specialists and will goal to sensitise
  representatives and officials about relevant AI abilities and explore ways they can be utilised for revolutionising industrial productivity.
• The association will consist of a across sectoral consideration of digitalisation at ABB’s world-class centres.
• The 1st workshop under this teamwork would be held for senior government administrators in June, 2018 at ABB Ability Innovation Centre, Bengaluru.
• The senior bureaucrats will be selected from central, state governments and autonomous bodies.
• Given the significance of the food processing sector, the workshop will aim on digital and automation technologies in the segment.

India-Nepal militaries to conduct joint battalion level exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII from - 30th May 2018 onwards 

Joint military exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII will be held in between India and Nepal at Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand from May 30th to June 12th , 2018.
This will be the 13 th edition of the military exercise among India and Nepal.
More about SURYA KIRAN-XIII

• The joint military exercise will improve the level of defence collaboration which will further fortify the bilateral relations among the two countries.
• The military exercise will consist of training on forest warfare, anti-terrorism fight as well as disaster management activities.
• More than 300 soldiers from both Indian and Nepal Army will be taking part in the exercise.
• These soldiers will be sharing the experiences expanded during the conduct of various counter insurgence and counter terrorism operations in the past.
• Exercise SURYA KIRAN Exercise SURYA KIRAN is a six-monthly exercise which is held alternatively in Nepal and India.
• Notably, it is Exercise SURYA KIRAN with Nepal which is the major in terms of troop involvement, among all the military training exercises inaugurated by India with various nations.
• The objective of this exercise is to comportment battalion level joint training with stress on counter terrorism operations in hilly terrain.
• The joint military exercise will improve the level of defence assistance which will further fortify the bilateral ties between the both countries.

Pakistan hosted SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure meeting in  - Islamabad

Pakistan organised its 1st ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure
legal specialists meeting in Islamabad. This was the 1st-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting being organised in Pakistan since it became a everlasting member of the organisation along with India in June 2017.
Key Points

• The three days meeting witnessed the participation of legal consultants from 8 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan and senates of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure executive board.
• The main program of the meeting was to debate issues related to terrorist fears in the region and how to overawed them.
• They debated terrorist threats being tackled by region and ways and means to enhance regional collaboration in combat terrorism, drug trading and organised crime between Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states.
  SCO-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure
• The RATS is a permanent organ of SCO. It works to encourage collaboration of member states against 3 evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism. It is HQ in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• The Head of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure is designated to 3-year term. Each member state also guides permanent member to Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.