5th July 2018 Daily Current Affairs

National Current Affairs

• Policy think tank of the Government of India, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners, is organising ‘MOVE: Global Mobility Summit’ in New Delhi on 7th and 8th September, 2018. 
• This Summit will help drive Government’s goals for vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean energy economy.
• This will be the first Global Mobility Summit of its kind, with over 1,200 expected participants from across the world.
  
• This summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today flagged off India's first taxi ambulance services in Delhi, a service by a Gurugram-based startup Wagon Cab. 
• These cabs are equipped with medical supplies and medically trained drivers. 
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has come into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a 'Design University for Gaming' in Visakhapatnam.
• Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered a mandatory dope test for all government employees, including police personnel, from the time of their recruitment through every stage of their service. 
• Drug screening will be mandatory in cases of promotions, and also be a part of annual medical examinations. 
• The standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recently added four species into Centre’s Recovery Programme for Critically Endangered Species.
• They are :
• Northern River Terrapin
• Clouded Leopard
• Arabian Sea Humpback Whale 
• Red Panda

Recent Committees in News

• The Kerala government has set up a panel of eminent writers and language experts to choose a 'Kerala Ganam', an official song for the state. 
• The panel will choose a suitable song from amongst the entries received and shortlisted by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
•  The Akademi will seek suggestions and entries from poets, lyricists, cultural leaders, and the general public.
• Head of this Panel : Rani George  
• Members : 
• M Leelavathi
• Ezhachery Ramachandran
• M M Basheer
• M R Raghava Warrier 
• K P Mohanan

Science & Technology

• The Union Cabinet has approved The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018. 
• The Bill aims at expanding application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen justice delivery system of the country.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a licence to Bank of China to operate in India. 
• The decision was based on the commitment made by PM Narendra Modi to Chinese leadership during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
• Note : Bank of China is one of China's four major state-owned banks and has a market capitalisation of $153 billion.
• Russia is going to build two Nuclear Power Units in China which are expected to be operational by 2026 and 2027 respectively. 
• Russia's state nuclear power corporation Rosatom and China's National Energy Administration signed a deal to build the two 1,200-megawatt units at the Tianwan nuclear power plant. 
• Note : Russia has built 35 nuclear power units around the world under intergovernmental agreements.
• Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy today presented the 1st budget of his Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in the Vidhana Soudha.
• Presenting this budget, he announced a farm loan waiver of ₹34,000 crore. 
• Loans of up to ₹2 lakh for each farmer will be waived. 
• Farmers who repaid the loan within time will be credited the repaid loan amount or ₹25000 whichever is less.
• Homegrown e-commerce startup Flipkart is set to enter financial services business and has applied for an NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company) license to focus on consumer lending. 
• The startup will start its services with microlending and micro-insurance for e-commerce purchases on its website. 
• Union Cabinet has approved extension of scheme of recapitalization of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) for next three years (upto 2019-20). 
• "This will enable the RRBs to maintain the minimum prescribed capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of 9 per cent," the Cabinet said in a statement. 
• Note : Currently, there are 56 RRBs in the country. 

Awards & Honors

• Bollywood Actress Priyanka Choprahas reached the 25 million follower mark on Instagram.
• With this, she became the most followed Indian on the photo-sharing platform. 
• Angela Ponce, who has been crowned Miss Universe Spain, will be the first ever transgender model competing at the Miss Universe pageant 2018. 
• Important Note : This comes six years after the Miss Universe organisation put an end to the ban on transgender contestants in the competition.

New Appointments

• Uttam Dhillon, an Indian-American lawyer has been appointed the Acting Administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration. 
• Indian origin online transportation network company Ola today announced that it has appointed Simon Smith as the Managing Director for its Australia operations. 

Sports Current Affairs

• More than 34 years after coming into existence, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is set to be renamed as Sports India, Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathoreannounced this today.
• P. Karthikeyan beat former National champion G. Akash to become the Commonwealth chess champion 2018 held in New Delhi. 
• Tania Sachdev won the Women's title by defeating Shantanu Bhambure.