Current Affairs 29th January 2018

Current Affairs 29th January 2018 - Important Points

• Pulse Polio programme for 2018 launched by - President Ram Nath Kovind
• Fifth Yash Chopra Memorial Award will be awarded to - Asha Bhosle
• Vijay Keshav Gokhale to take charge as new Foreign Secretary on - 29th January 2018
• Stree Swabhiman Initiative for Women Health and Hygiene launched by - MeITY
•  World Leprosy Day 2018 observed on - 28th January 2018

Current Affairs 29th January 2018 - Details

Pulse Polio programme for 2018 launched by - President Ram Nath Kovind 

President Ram Nath Kovind has initiated Pulse Polio Immunization Program for year 2018 by delivering
polio droplets to children at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The program was arranged on the eve of the  National Immunisation Day, celebrated on 28th January. More than 17 crores children of less than five
years of age, across the nation will be delivered polio drops as part of Government’s initiative to  eradicate polio from the nation.
Pulse Polio Immunization

• PPI Program is huge immunization program of Government to maintain polio elimination from the nation.
• It was initiated by Central Government in co-ordination with international organizations, state
  governments and non-government, voluntary organizations in 1995 as result of World Health
  Organization’s Global Polio Elimination Initiative.
• PPI Program was initiated with an aim of achieving 100 percent coverage under OPV. It focuses to reach remote children through improved social mobilization, plan mop-up programs in areas where poliovirus has almost vanished and sustain high level of morale in the public.
• In this program, all children under five years of age are delivered with 2 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine in month of December and January every year until polio is eliminated.
  About Polio
• Polio is a highly infectious viral disease, which primarily affects young children below age of five years.
• It is spread from person-to- person. It mainly transmits through contaminated water or food. After entering body, it grows rapidly in the intestine, from where it can reach the nervous system and can results into paralysis.
• There is no remedy for polio, it can only be stopped by immunization.

 Fifth Yash Chopra Memorial Award will be awarded to - Asha Bhosle

Renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle was selected for 5th version Yash Chopra Memorial Award for
her superb contribution to the Hindi film industry. She will be awarded with this award in February 2018 by Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao. She was nominated by jury members consisting Chopra’s wife Pamela Chopra, singer Alka Yagnik, actor Padmini Kohlapure, Madhur Bhandarkar, filmmakers Boney Kapoor, scriptwriter Honey Irani, Anu and Shashi Ranjan.
More about Asha Bhosle

• Born as Asha Mangeshkar on 8th September 1933 in Sangli, Maharashtra.  
• She is best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema.
• In her music career span of approximately 7 decades she has recorded more than 11,000 songs in twenty different languages.
• Her work comprises film music, qawwalis,bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, pop, ghazals, folk songs and Rabindra Sangeets.
• She is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.
  Yash Chopra Memorial Award
• The award has been initiated by MP T Subbarami Reddy in the memory of esteemed filmmaker Yash
  Chopra, who died in 2012, in collaboration with Anu Ranjan and Shashi Ranjan.
• The award also consists a cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs. The list of earlier recipients of award consists of melody queen Lata Mangeshkar and artists Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, and Shah Rukh Khan.

Vijay Keshav Gokhale to take charge as new Foreign Secretary on - 29th January 2018

Vijay Keshav Gokhale, a senior official of the External Affairs Ministry, will be appointed as the coming Foreign Secretary on January 29th, 2018. Gokhale would be succeeding S Jaishankar, who is retiring from the position.

The 1977 batch IFS officer, Jaishankar was nominated as the Foreign Secretary in January 2015, for the time period of 2 years. He was given a 1-year extension in January past year.
More about Vijay Keshav Gokhale

• The 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service offcial, Gokhale is presently working as the Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs.
• He was India's diplomat to China from January 20th, 2016, to October 21st, 2017, before coming back to the MEA headquarters in New Delhi.
• He served as top envoy of India to Germany between October 2013 and January 2016 and served Indian missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi and in New York.
• His designation to the new position was passed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a term of 2 years.
• Gokhale had played a vital role in negotiations to settle the 73 days long Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese forces past year.

Stree Swabhiman Initiative for Women Health and Hygiene launched by - MeITY

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has initiated Stree Swabhiman Initiative. Its
objective is to create sustainable model for facilitating adolescent girls and women an access to cheap
sanitary products by leveraging Common Service Centres.
More about Stree Swabhiman Initiative

• In this initiative, Common Service Centres will facilitate access to cheap, reliable and modern eco-
  friendly sanitary napkins to adolescent girls and females in rural areas. Its objective is to upgrade
  awareness on menstrual health and hygiene of women, thus aid to safeguard dignity and rights of women.
• In this initiative, semi-automatic and manual sanitary pads manufacturing plants will be formed at CSC for making cheap and eco-friendly sanitary pads. These small manufacturing plants will be controlled by female entrepreneurs and produce employment for 8-10 females.
• CSCs are ICT enabled front end service transportation points at the rural level for delivery of
  government and private facilities. They are the strategic foundations of the Digital India program.

 World Leprosy Day 2018 observed on - 28th January 2018

The World Leprosy Day is celebrated internationally yearly on last Sunday of January month to increase
global awareness of Leprosy. This year it was celebrated on 28th January. Celebration of the day aims on target of zero cases of leprosy-related disorders in children. 

The day was started by French philanthropist and writer, Raoul Follereau in 1954 as way to spread global awareness of this deadly ancient disorder and call attention to the fact that it can be stopped, treated and cured.
Important Highlights

• Leprosy also known as Hansen’s disease, is one of the oldest disorder known to humankind. It is caused by slowly growing bacteria kown as Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), which grows very slowly inside the human body.
• The bacteria have a long incubation period of approximately five years or longer. The disorder affects nerve endings and damages the body’s capability to feel pain and injury.
• It is chronic granulomatous disorder that mainly affects skin and peripheral nervous system. It can also affect the eyes and respiratory parts. It is curable with multidrug therapy. Treatment provided in the early stages prevents disability.
• As per the World Health Organisation, despite being removing globally as public health problem in 2000, leprosy started to mar lives of individuals, and affect families and communities.
• In 2015, Leprosy contaminated 212 000 more people globally of them 60 percent were in India.