Current Affairs 4th January 2018

Current Affairs 4th January 2018 - Important Points

• India's Highest-Ranked Player in Latest ITTF  Rankings - G Sathiyan
• Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna appointed Deputy NSA on - 2nd January 2017
• MoU signed between India and Sri Lanka  on -  Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy
• Establishment of new AIIMS at Bilaspur approved by - The Union Ministry
• MHA exempts cruise tourists with e-visa till 2020  from  - Biometric enrolment

Current Affairs 4th January 2018 - Details

India's Highest-Ranked Player in Latest ITTF  Rankings - G Sathiyan

G Sathiyan becomes India’s highest-positioned player in the latest International Table Tennis
Federation lists. He exceeds his fellow countryman the legendary Sharath Kamal.
Important Highlights

• The present ranking of Sathiyan is 49th, leaving Kamal to the 2nd position at 51.
• As for the women, Manika Batra is leading the world chart among Indians at 62nd.

Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna appointed Deputy NSA on - 2nd January 2017

Rajinder Khanna, the earlier chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing- RAW, was on 2nd January 2018 decided as the new Deputy National Security Adviser. Khanna worked as the chief of India’s external intelligence agency RAW for a fixed 2 years’ time from December 2014.

His designation to the new position was endorsed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The enrolment would be on contractual conditions.
The information was given through an order released by the personnel ministry.
More about Rajinder Khanna

• The 1978-batch IPS officer has headed many counter-terrorism operations while serving with RAW and is known an expert on Pakistan and Islamic terrorism.
• At his present post, he would be required to assist National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a former intelligence and law enforcement officer who also worked as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, India’s internal intelligence agency.
• After finishing his tenure as RAW chief, Khanna was scheduled as the Officer on Special Duty- Neighbourhood Studies in the National Security Council Secretariat, which is a peak body led by the Prime Minister that tackles all internal and external security-related situations.
• The Neighbourhood Studies makes policy papers of neighbouring nations including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
• The deputy NSA’s position was left vacant since Arvind Gupta completed his 3-year tenure in August 2017.

MoU signed between India and Sri Lanka  on -  Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy

The Union Government is planning to sign a memorandum of understanding with Sri Lanka for coordinating in fields of traditional systems of medicine and homoeopathy. 
The MoU aims to establish cooperation in the following areas:

• Promotion containing the regulation of teaching, practice, medicines and medicine-less therapies, traditional medicine and homeopathy.
• Interchange of experts for the teaching practitioners, teaching professionals, paramedics, scientists and students in traditional structures of medicine and homeopathy.
• Accommodation of curious scientists, practitioners, students and paramedics in institutions for research, study and training programs on traditional drug.
• Reciprocal recognition of officially identified structures of medicine, educational qualifications in traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy, formularies and pharmacopoeias.
• The finance required to conduct these activities under the MoU will be completed from the existing alloted budget under AYUSH Ministry’s Central Sector Scheme for the advancement of International Cooperation in AYUSH.
• The information was passed by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik during the question session in Rajya Sabha.

 Establishment of new AIIMS at Bilaspur approved by - The Union Ministry

The Union Ministry passed establishment of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences- AIIMS at
Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.
The new AIIMS will be finished in a period of 4 years. It will compose of a hospital with a capability of 750 beds and trauma centre provisions and have 20 Speciality and Super-Speciality Segments containing 15 Operation Theatres. It will also have Medical college with total seats of 100 MBBS students every year and Nursing college with a total seats of 60 B.Sc. (Nursing) students annually.

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)

• PMSSY was declared in 2003. Its aims are correcting regional variations in the availability of affordable, reliable tertiary healthcare services and increase facilities for quality medical study in the nation.
• It starts AIIMS in various regions of India apart from various government colleges. It is financed from various centrally funded schemes relating to forming infrastructure on health.
• In this scheme, AIIMS have been started in Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and Patna (Bihar) while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh) is in progress.
•  Also, 3 AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) and Kalyani (West Bengal) have been approved in 2015, 2 AIIMS have been sanctioned at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Bathinda (Punjab) in 2016 and in Kamrup (Assam).

MHA exempts cruise tourists with e-visa till 2020  from  - Biometric enrolment

The Ministry of Home Affairs on appeal of the Ministry of Shipping has exempted cruise tourists arriving with e-visa from the need of biometric enrolment for a time period of 3 years till 2020. The motive of the move is to support cruise tourism in the nation and make India attractive cruise tourist place.
Important Points

• This simplified immigration clearance process will make immigration clearance of such passengers
  quicker, leaving them with maximum time to spend on shore.
• This is also crucial factor that will support cruise lines decide whether or not to involve a destination in their itinerary.
• This easy immigration clearance process is a part of a series of pace to attract and to support cruise passenger experience at the big ports.
  Did you know?
• The Ministry of Shipping is consistently working towards easier immigration clearance process and enabling passengers with customer friendly and tension-free logistics procedure when they embark on or disembark from their cruise at Indian ports.
• E-visa facility is being executed in 5 major ports including Mumbai, Mormugao, Cochin, New Mangalore and Chennai. Till date biometrics of passengers were mandatory at port of 1st arrival for immigration clearance purpose. However, the immigration process was taking more than internationally adopted norm of clearing immigration for all cruise travelers in a maximum of 90 minutes.