Current Affairs 13th October 2017

Current Affairs 13th October 2017 - Important Points

• Ashish Nehra bids adieu to all forms of cricket on - 11th October 2017
• MoU between India and Morocco on cooperation in the field of water resources approved by - The Union Cabinet
• Gautam Bambawale appointed as India's Ambassador to China on - 12th October 2017
• International Day for Disaster Reduction observed globally on - 13th October 2017
• Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana launched by - Union Minister for Communications, Manoj Sinha
•  Indian Naval Ships to participate with Japanese Marine on in - Passage Exercise
•  India ranked 100 in - GHI 2017

Current Affairs 13th October 2017 - Details

Ashish Nehra bids adieu to all forms of cricket on - 11th October 2017

Ashish Nehra announced retirement from all forms of international and domestic cricket on 11th October 2017. He will be playing his last match T20 International (T20I) against New Zealand on 1st November 2017 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi.

Left arm medium fast bowler Nehra will also be retiring from the Indian Premier League, which played a huge role at his international comeback in 2016.

More about Ashish Nehra

• He made his cricket debut in 1999 under Mohammed Azharuddin in India.
• In February 1999, he made his international debut in a Test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo in February 1999.
• Due to injuries, Nehra did not play a single international match for India from September 2005 to June 2009.
• He returned back to international cricket with 2011 World Cup. During the semi-final, he broke his finger while going for a catch of Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq as a result, he had to give a miss to World Cup final.
• He has taken 44 Test wickets, in addition to 157 ODI and 34 T20.
• He is best remembered for his sixes for 23 against England at Durban in the 2003 World Cup, despite being not well and puking throughout the match.
• Nehra has played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 26 T20 Internationals for India till date.

MoU between India and Morocco on cooperation in the field of water resources approved by - The Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Morocco on cooperation in the field of water resources on 11th October 2017.
The main motto behind signing of the MoU is to enhance cooperation in the field of water resources development and management within the framework of their expertise and their respective legislations.

The key areas of this MoU include:

• Concepting, realisation and maintenance of the hydraulic infrastructure, notably big dams and water transfer projects. Integrated water resources management, conjunctive use of surface and ground water resources, enhancement of water use efficiency, resilience and adaptation to climate change, organisational, artificial recharge of aquifers,institutional and regulation aspects.
• Flood and drought management.
• Management of ground water resources and Sustainable development includes recharge augmentation.
• Valuation and harvesting of rainfall water and resilience and adaptation to climate.

Gautam Bambawale appointed as India's Ambassador to China on - 12th October 2017

Gautam Bambawale was appointed as India's new Ambassador to China on 12th October 2017. Bambawale is an IFS Officer of the 1984 batch. He will be succeeding Vijay Gokhale. Bambawale is familiar with Mandarin Chinese and has earlier served in Beijing and Hong Kong.

More about Gautam Bambawale

• Gautam Bambawale is currently serving as India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan.
• He was India’s Ambassador to Bhutan previously.
• He has also handled the China desk in the Indian Foreign Ministry that looks after relations with Japan, South Korea,China, Mongolia and North Korea.
• He served as director in the Americas Division of the ministry, responsible for relations with the US and Canada in 1993 and 94.
• He also functioned as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy in Beijing.
• After taking up the position, one of the major tasks of Bambawale will be stabilising India-China ties that were rocked by a military face off in the Doklam area of Bhutan which lasted for 73 days.
• Both the sides agreed to end the face-off on 28th August 2017, paving the way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China for the BRICS summit in September 2017.

International Day for Disaster Reduction observed globally on - 13th October 2017

The International Day for Disaster Reduction was observed across the world with the theme ‘Home Safe Home: Reducing Exposure, Reducing Displacement’ on 13th October 2017.
The 2017 campaign aims to raise global awareness about effective actions, policies and practices taken to minimize exposure to disaster risk at the community level,  thereby contributing to saving livelihood and homes. The same can be accomplished only through cooperation, coordination and collaboration among many stakeholders.
Important Highlights

• The UN General Assembly through a resolution had designated the second Wednesday of October as International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction earlier in 1989.
• The International Day for Disaster Reduction used to be observed every year during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction from 1990 to 1999.
• The Assembly adopted a new resolution on 21st December 2009, in which it designated 13th October as the date to commemorate the Day and it also changed the day’s name to International Day for Disaster Reduction.
• This observance main objective is to raise awareness of how people are taking action to reduce their risk of disasters.
• During the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the international community was reminded that disasters hit hardest at the local level with the potential to cause great loss of life and great social & economic upheaval.
• Sudden onset of disasters results in the displacement of millions of people each and every year.
• In 2014, 19.3 million people were newly displaced by disasters itself. Disasters, most being a product of climate change, have a negative impact on investment in sustainable development and its desired outcomes.
• The UNISDR launched the Sendai Seven campaign, which was centred on the seven targets of the Sendai Framework, the first of which being reducing disaster mortality in 2016.

Key Highlights on Sendai Seven Campaign

• This campaign is expected to creat a wave of awareness about actions taken to reduce mortality around the world.
• The campaign is an opportunity for all, including governments, international organisations, local governments, the private sector and the UN family to promote best practices at the international, regional and national level across all sectors, in order to reduce disaster risk and disaster losses.
• 2017's target is focussed on prevention, protection and reducing the number of people affected by disasters.

Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana launched by - Union Minister for Communications, Manoj Sinha

The Union Minister for Communications, Manoj Sinha launched the Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana on 13th October 2017, which is an initiative for expansion of client base of Postal Life Insurance.
During the launch, the Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to provide banking services through the postal network needs to be considered forward to provide affordable life insurance services to people living in rural areas of the nation.
He also stated that all villages under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana will be brought under its ambit.
More about Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana

•  At least a village with a minimum of 100 households will be identified in each of the revenue districts of India under this scheme.
• After identification efforts will be taken to cover all households of that identified village with a minimum of one Rural Postal Life Insurance(RPLI) policy each.
• The main motto of this scheme is to cover all households in the identified Sampoorna Bima Gram village.
• Under the scheme expansion of clientele base of PLI, it has now been decided that benefits of PLI will no more be limited to Government and semi-Government employees, but these will also be available to professionals such as Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, CAs and Bankers.
• The decision has been taken to expand the cover of social security and bring maximum number of people under the protection of Postal Life Insurance.
• These major initiatives being undertaken by Department of Posts are expected to serve as an instrument to secure lives of people and enhancing financial inclusion.

More about Postal Life Insurance

• The scheme was introduced in 1884, is also one of the oldest life insurance schemes introduced for the benefit of Government and semi-Government employees.
• RPLI was introduced on 24th March 1995 on the recommendations of Malhotra Committee.
• The scheme provides insurance cover to people residing in rural areas, especially weaker sections and women.
• The main highlight of the schemes include High Bonus and Low Premium.
• Till 31st March 2017, there were 46.8 lakh PLI and 146.8 lakh RPLI policies all across the nation.

 Indian Naval Ships to participate with Japanese Marine on in - Passage Exercise

Indian Naval Ships Satpura and Kadmatt would be participating in the Passage Exercise with Japanese Marine Self Defence Force.
The information was shared by Indian navy on 13th October 2017. The navy said in a statement that both the ships, INS Satpura and Kadmatt, are visiting Sasebo, Japan, from 12th -15th October.
Following the completion of the harbour phase, the ships would be taking part in the Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the Murusame Class destroyer, JS Kirisame.
The visit of the ships to Japan is a part of the Indian government's initiatives to strengthen the long-standing, mutually supportive and strong relationship between both the nations.

 India ranked 100 in - GHI 2017

India is ranked 100th among 119 developing countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI),
behind North Korea which is at 93, Bangladesh and Iraq which are at 78th, but ahead of Pakistan.

 The country's hunger problem is driven due to high child malnutrition and this underlines the need for stronger commitment of the social sector. More than a fifth of Indian children aged below five weighed too little in proportion to their height and over a third were too short for their age. The report points out that the two national nutrition programs Integrated Child Development Services and the National Health Mission have failed to achieve appropriate coverage.

Areas of concern include the timely introduction of complementary foods for young children,
adequate share of children between 6 months and 23 months old who receive sufficient diet and household access towards improved sanitation facilities which is a likely factor in child health and nutrition.

More about Global Hunger Index (GHI)

• Now in its 12th year, the GHI ranks countries on the basis of four indicators- undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting and child stunting to capture the multidimensional nature of the hunger.
• The 27 percent improvement noted above shows the progress in each of these four indicators as per the latest data generated between 2012 and 2016 for countries in the GHI.