Important current affairs 12 February 2018

*Important Current Affairs 12th February 2018*

Centre drafts 10-city plan to clean Ganga

The Centre has drafted a plan to check the flow of sewer water into the river Ganga by installing sewage treatment plants (STP) in 10 major cities.These cities reportedly contribute about 65% of the total polluted water flowing into the river.As per an official of National Mission for Clean Ganga, these STPs would ensure 100% sewage treatment.

PM visits 125-year-old Shiva Temple in Muscat

Modi visited a 125-year-old Shiva Temple and the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which is made of 3 lakh tonnes of Indian sandstone, in Oman’s capital Muscat.PM Modi, who is on a three-nation tour to the Middle East, reached Oman on Sunday and addressed a gathering of nearly 20,000 Indians at the Sultan Qaboos Stadium.Temple was constructed 125 years ago by the merchant community from Gujarat.

Indian engineer awarded at Sci-Tech Oscars

Vikas Sathaye, an engineer from Mumbai, is part of a four-member team that bagged the ‘Scientific and Engineering Award’ at the Oscars 2018 Scientific and Technical Awards.The team was honoured for the development and implementation of Shotover K1 Camera System.The six-axis stabilised aerial camera mount gets attached to the base of helicopters and helps in shooting steady footage.

Keshavan comes 34th at his 6th Olympics

Four-time Asian champion India’s Shiva Keshavan on Sunday finished 34th out of 40 in the men’s singles luge event at PyeongChang Games, his sixth Winter Olympics campaign.The 36-year-old Himachal Pradesh-born athlete’s best finish at the Games had come in 2006 in Turin when he finished 25th.Shiva is one of the two Indians who qualified for the 2018 Games.

NITI bats for separate debt office in India

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar made a strong case for setting up an independent debt management office, saying better servicing of loans could lead to substantial reduction in India’s interest payments.At present, the government debt is managed by the RBI.The interest payment on the public debt is estimated to rise from Rs 5.3 lakh crore in 2017-18 to Rs 5.75 lakh in 2018-19.

NTPC may borrow Rs 16,000 crore

State-run power giant NTPC may borrow about Rs 16,000 crore next financial year for adding 6,900 MW of fresh electricity generation capacity by March 2019.“The corporation may hit the bonds or debt market to borrow about Rs 16,000 crore during the next financial year for financing the ongoing projects,” a source said.NTPC is currently working on adding 21,000 MW capacities.

India, UAE to hold first naval drill in Gulf

Modi completed his 3 nations visit and made various developements.Before he flew on to Muscat, the PM, reiterated strong cooperation on combating terrorism and a defence partnership that will see the Indian Navy conducting an exercise in the Gulf waters.This is the first time Indian Navy will be exercising in the Gulf, going beyond the Arabian Sea.

Three new eel species found in Bay of Bengal

Scientists have discovered three new species of eel along the northern Bay of Bengal coast in the past few months.One was discovered at the Digha coast of the Bay of Bengal.The other two species were discovered from the Visakhapatnam coast of the Bay of Bengal.A description of all the three new species was published in the journal Zootaxa.

Asia’s largest Christian meet

The 123rd Maramon Convention which is billed as Asia’s largest week-long annual Christian meet began.It started with a call to conserve river Pampa and the environment at its traditional venue on the riverbed of Pampa at Maramon near Kozhencherry on Sunday afternoon.The convention venue was shifted to Maramon a few years ago.

Tribal areas to soon get bike ambulances

Buoyed by the response to the free bike ambulance service in Mumbai, the State government is planning to expand the fleet and run similar services in tribal-dominated regions.The Maharastra government is planning to launch 30 additional ambulance bikes, out of which 10 will be used in Mumbai.The emergency first responder service is available through the ‘108’ helpline.

Letter ended Nagaland poll impasse

A letter written by the Centre’s interlocutor R.N. Ravi to the Naga groups, including the NSCN (Isak-Muivah), on Feb 3 helped to end the impasse over the Nagaland Assembly elections.Civil society groups and the NSCN(I-M) called a boycott of the elections till a political solution was reached.Mr. Ravi assured the groups that the new Assembly would not come in the way of the final agreement.

World Government Summit 2018 held in Dubai

The 6th edition of World Government Summit 2018 will be held in Dubai, UAE from February 11 to 13.The Indian delegation will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The summit acts as a knowledge exchange hub between government officials, thought leaders, policy makers and private sector leaders, and as an analysis platform for the future trends, issues and opportunities facing humanity.

Govt saved ₹56kcr through Aadhaar-enabled DBT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Union government has saved ₹56,000 crore through Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of about 400 government schemes.Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, he further said that India is going through a revolution in digital payment space and moving towards a less cash economy at a fast pace.It was held in Dubai.

Johann Johannsson Passes Away

Acclaimed Icelandic musician and Oscar-nominated composer Johann Johannsson has passed away aged 48.In 2014, he was nominated for BAFTA, Grammy and Oscar awards for his score for ‘Theory of Everything,’ and won the Golden Globe award.Johannsson also recorded several albums of his own, including “Fordlandia” and “Orphee.”

Pakistani Activist Asma Jahangir Passes Away

Asma Jahangir, Pakistan’s renowned human rights lawyer, social activist and an outspoken critic of the country’s powerful military establishment, passed away of cardiac arrest.She was the first woman to serve as the president of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.Born in January 1952 in Lahore, Asma co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Rohan More Swam Across Ocean Seven

Pune-based swimmer, Rohan More became the first Asian as well as the first Indian to swim across the Ocean Seven. He is the youngest to complete it.He swam across the Cook Strait between North and South Islands of New Zealand in 8 hours and 37 minutes.With this, More becomes only the ninth person in the world to complete it. He has received the Tenzing Norgay Award.

ONGC Vid. Acquire stake in Abu Dhabi Oilfield

ONGC Videsh Ltd and its partners have acquired a 10% in a large offshore oilfield Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s (ADNOC) in Abu Dhabi for $600 million.It is the first time any Indian company has set foot in oil-rich Emirate.The current production of this field is about 400,000 barrels of oil per day (20m tonnes per annum) and Indian consortium’s annual share shall be about 2 million tonnes.

Direct Tax Collection Rise 19.3% In April-Jan

Direct tax collections grew by nearly 20% between April and January this year with strong growth in both corporate and personal income tax receipts.According to official data released, net direct tax collections grew by 19.3% up to January 2018 to Rs 6.95-lakh crore.While net corporate income tax grew by 19.2%, personal income tax receipts rose by 18.6 per cent in January this year.

India, Oman Sign 8 MoUs

India and Oman have signed 8 MoUs in different areas during Modi’s maiden visit to the Gulf nation.Agreements were inked in the areas of defence, health and tourism.An MoU on legal and judicial co-operation in civil and commercial matters was also signed.The agreements were inked after Mr Modi held delegation-level talks with the Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said in Muscat.

SBI has over Rs 20,000 Crore bad loans

SBI wrote off bad loans worth Rs 20,339 crore in 2016-17, the highest among all the public sector banks, which had a collective write off of Rs 81,683 crore for the fiscal.The data pertains to the period when the associate banks of SBI were not merged with it.Besides SBI, Punjab National Bank had a write-off of Rs 9,205 crore in 2016-17, followed by Bank of India (Rs 7,346 crore).