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  • Current Affairs 26th September 2018

    Updated : 26-Sep-2018

    Current Affairs 26th September 2018 - Important Points

    • Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, MP awarded best-performing states in ’Ease of Living Index’ 2018 on - 24th September 2018
    • Ibrahim Mohamed Solih wins Maldives Presidential Election 2018 on - 24th September 2018
    • BSNL signed MOU with Softbank, NTT to roll out 5G, IoT service on - 24th September 2018
    • 21st Central Zonal Council meeting held in -Lucknow
    • Indian Culinary Institute inaugurated in  - Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
    • “Swadesh Darshan Scheme” inaugurated in -Andhra Pradesh

    Current Affairs 26th September 2018 - Details

    Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, MP awarded best-performing states in ’Ease of Living Index’ 2018 on - 24th September 2018

    The state of AP has surpassed the ‘Ease of Living Index’ grades published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It was trailed by Odisha and MP. The 3 states were awarded best-performing states at the National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index, 2018, which was organised in Delhi on September 24th, 2018.
    The Union Minister of State (I/C)) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri articulated self confidence that the index will inspire cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning management and encourage healthy competition among cities.
    Ease of Living Index and SDGs

    • The Ease of Living calculation standards are strictly connected to the Sustainable Development Goals and goal to deliver a strong motivation to India’s effort for systematic tracking progress of Sustainable Development Goals in the urban areas.
    • Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goal, eight targets are directly connected to India’s ease of living assessment framework with Sustainable Development Goal 11.
    • The Sustainable Development Goal 11 is focused at making our cities and human settlements
      comprehensive, safe, resilient and sustainable and is calculated via set of 30 indicators.
      Did you know?
      The 1st round of Ease of Living covered 111 cities. Gurugram was next included in the valuation.
      While 4 cities of West Bengal including Howrah, New Town Kolkata, Kolkata and Durgapur did not took part, Naya Raipur of Chhattisgarh and Amravati of AP did not completed the parameters as they are green-field cities.

    Ibrahim Mohamed Solih wins Maldives Presidential Election 2018 on - 24th September 2018

    Opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on September 24th, 2018 secured the Maldives Presidential Election 2018, by defeating binding President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who will stay till the ends on November 17th, 2018.
    Ibrahim Mohammad Solih is an agreed candidate of the joint opposition, which includes the Maldivian Democratic Party, the Jumhooree Party, the Adhaalat Party and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s own faction of the Progressive Party.  According to the results declared by Maldives’ National Elections Commission, Solih got 58.3% of the votes, compared to 41.5% votes held by Abdul Gayoom of Progressive Party of Maldives.
    Solih will took oath as President on November 17th, 2018 until 2023. Solih will be only the 6th President in the nation’s 5 decades old electoral history.
    Crisis in Maldives 

    • In the nation’s 1st free elections, Mohamed Nasheed, supported by a coalition of opposition parties,
      defeated Gayoom and became the Maldives's 1st freely elected president in 2008.
    • However, in 2012, Nasheed was forced to quit from the office after a police mutiny and a political turmoil in the nation better known for its exotic honeymoon resorts.
    • It was Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s election as President in 2013 that finished the political turmoil.
    • Recently in February 2018, Yameen acknowledged a 45 days state of emergency in the nation, ordering security forces into the Supreme Court and resulted former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom under arrest.
    • He had pulled Maldives out of the Commonwealth in 2016 and nurtured closer relations with China and Saudi Arabia over traditional associates India and the UK.

    India and Maldives

    • Maldives is a home to approximately 22000 Indians and its increasing immediacy with China is a cause of concern for New Delhi.
    • Under the rule of Mohamed Nasheed, Maldives nurtured close ties with India. However, India was
      successfully side-lined under the rule of Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
    • Even when Yameen toppled the judicial system by jailing SC judges and his half-brother and previous president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in February 2018, India frolicked a waiting game. Yameen even commanded to cut visas for Indian workers.

    BSNL signed MOU with Softbank, NTT to roll out 5G, IoT service on - 24th September 2018

    On September 24th, 2018, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited- BSNL has signed an agreement
    with Japan’s Softbank and NTT Communications to even out 5G and internet of things technology
    in India. Under this, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Softbank will effort on satellite constellation which will have approximately 900 satellites to deliver high speed internet facilities.
    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India- TRAI has suggested auction of approximately 8,644
    MHz of telecom frequencies at an approximated base price of Rupees 4.9 lakh crores.
    Other News Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has also signed agreements with Nokia and Cisco for developing 5G environment.
    Did you know?
    Freshly, on September 13th, 2018, NITI Aayog and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited signed
    agreement under DoT for the test trials of 5G. On August 25th, 2018, a 5G forum headed by Prof. A.J.Paulraj submitted its report to DoT for induction of 5G by year 2020.

    21st Central Zonal Council meeting held in -Lucknow

    The 21st Central Zonal Council meeting was organised in the capital of UP, Lucknow. It was led by Union
    Home Minister Rajnath Singh. It was joined by CMs of UP, Uttarakhand while officials ministers of MP
    and Chattisgarh.
    Important Points

    • The Council deliberated different matters including road transport, Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojna, actions to handle Naxal violence, modernization of Police, infrastructure development of airports, Minimum Support Price-MSP, NHM and matters related to primary schools.  
    • Total 22 matters were deliberated out of which 17 were resolved and on 3 issue directions were given, remaining two issues between the states will also be resolved shortly.
      Zonal Council
    • Zonal Councils were formed under States Reorganization Act, 1956 to stand-in Inter-State co-operation and coordination among the States.
    • The clue of zonal councils arose during discussion on report of States Re-organisation Commission 1956. Initially, 5 councils were formed according to States Reorganization Act 1956 as following:
    • Northern Zonal Council: Haryana, HP, J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi (UT) and Chandigarh.

    Central Zonal Council: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, UP and MP

    Eastern Zonal Council: Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim and WB

    Western Zonal Council: Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra
    and Nagar Haveli Southern Zonal Council: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UT-Puducherry.
    Zonal Councils provide common meeting place for States to promote and simplify coordinated efforts for developing economic and social development. They help regional fora of cooperative endeavour for
    States connected with each other geographically, economically and ethnically. They are authorized to
    discuss and make commendations on issues of common interest in field of economic and social planning,
    philological minorities, border disagreements and inter-State transport.

    Indian Culinary Institute inaugurated in  - Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

    Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu initiated Indian Culinary Institute in Tirupati, AP. It is encouraged by
    Union Ministry of Tourism. The Indian Culinary Institute building was outlined by National Building
    Construction Corporation.
    More about Indian Culinary Institute

    • The main aim of Indian Culinary Institute is to institutionalize process to sustenance efforts planned to preserve, document, promote and disseminate Indian Cuisine. It also looks forward to meet sectoral need of specialists specific to Indian Cuisine and encourage cuisine as niche tourism produce.
    • It will be centre of excellence that will propose structured regular programs of study specific to culinary arts and culinary management.
    • It will also support research and innovation, arrange request driven certificate and diploma courses.
    • It will also document and form information specific to Indian cuisine and commission studies and survey on cuisine.
    • It will also deliver suitable training platform at par with best “Chef Schools” functioning in various parts of developed world.
      Did you know?

    Presently in India, there is no official education specific to Indian cuisine, culinary art. Besides, there was
    no steady credible institutional source at top level for supply of cuisine specialists to sector. There was
    also no institutional process to document and broadcast knowledge concerned to cuisine and
    gastronomy. There is also dearth of state-of-the-art training ground to train top-of-the-line chefs of
    international ethics. Indian Culinary Institute will ease to eradicate all these bottlenecks.
    Two coastal tourism circuit projects

    “Swadesh Darshan Scheme” inaugurated in -Andhra Pradesh

    Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu initiated 2 coastal tourism circuit projects in AP taken up under
    Swadesh Darshan Scheme. These projects are intended at boosting beach and coastal tourism
    by leveraging bountiful coastlines along the state.
    Two coastal tourism projects are

    • First coastal circuit consists of beautification of Nellore tank and Pulicat Lake, modernization to
      Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, construction of restaurant and development of Kotha Koduru, Ubbala
      Madugu, Mypadu, Rama Theertham, and Isukapalli project.
    • Second coastal circuit is intended at evolving Kakinada port, Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Hope Island, construction of cottages and wooden huts at Aduru, Passarlapudi and S Yanam and growth of Kotipalli
      project.
      More about Swadesh Darshan scheme
    • It was initiated by Union Tourism Ministry with aim to advance theme-based tourist circuits in the nation.
    • These tourist circuits will be advanced on principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and
      sustainability in a combined manner.
    • Under this scheme, thirteen thematic circuits have been acknowledged for development. 
    • They are Buddhist Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, North-East India Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit and Heritage Circuit.
    • It is 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme for project components undertaken for public funding. The sponsorship of projects under this scheme differs from state to state.
    • It is finalised on the grounds of detailed project reports made by Programme Management Consultant which is national level consultant for executing the scheme. So far, Tourism Ministry has certified 74 projects worth Rupees 5997.47 crores to 31 states and UTs under this scheme.