Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

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The global startup ecosystem map Startupblink has released its latest 2019 Startup Ecosystem Ranking. In it, India has been ranked 17th out of 100 countries, based on the strength of its startup ecosystem. The index is topped by United States, followed by UK, Canada, Israel, and Australia. The ranking is carried out on the basis the impact startups have been able to make in the country. Additionally, it has also considered how many startups and support organisations are there such as accelerators, coworking spaces, startup events along with technology infrastructure, red tape, bureaucracy, etc. It used data from startups, accelerators and co-working spaces registered on its platforms as well as data received from global partners such as Crunchbase and SimilarWeb. StartupBlink also ranked cities globally in its top 25-city ranking that included Bengaluru at 11 and New Delhi at 18 andMumbai at 29.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has divested its entire stake in National Housing Bank (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for Rs 1,450 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively. The move is part of ending the cross-holding in regulatory institutions and follows the recommendation of second Narasimham committee report of October 2001 and the RBI’s own discussion paper on the same entitled ‘Harmonizing the role and operations of development financial institutions and banks. The current change in the capital structure of both these financial institutions was brought in by the government through amendments to the Nabard Act of 1981 and the NHB Act of 1987 which were notified on January 19, 2018 and March 29, 2018, respectively. With this, the Government of India (GoI) now holds 100% stake in both these financial institutions.

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The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched India’s first ‘Green Car Loan’ (Electric Vehicle) to encourage customers to buy electric vehicles. The new scheme will offer loan at 20 basis points lesser than the interest rate on the existing car loan schemes. Additionally, borrowers will also get a longer repayment period. The EMI per Rs 1 lakh will be lower at Rs. 1,468 for 96 months against Rs.1,622 for 84 months, based on the maximum tenor, in line with the existing scheme. The move is in line with the Union Government’s endeavour to ensure that India has 30% of EVs out of all vehicles by 2030.

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The Japanese scientists have successfully created the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid ‘Ryugu’. It’s a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved. The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material. The aim of blasting the crater on Ryugu is to throw up “fresh” material from under the asteroid’s surface that could shed light on the early stages of the solar system. The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born. The Ryugu asteroid is around 340 million kilometers from Earth.

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The 2019 World Immunization Week (WIW) is a global public health campaign i.e. celebrated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) from April 24 to 30 with theme “Protected Together: Vaccines Work!”. The week highlights the urgent need for immunisation against vaccine-preventable diseases for children and adults the world over. The 2019 theme aims to raise awareness about the importance of full immunization throughout life and urge greater action. This year’s campaign emphasizes the role and responsibility of everyone—policymakers, health workers, and individuals—in closing the immunization gap to protect children and broader communities.

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General (Retd.) Dalbir Singh Suhag has been appointed as India’s new high commissioner to the Republic of Seychelles. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. His appointment comes amid deepening military ties between India and the island nation. Incidentally, Suhag was the chief of army staff when India conducted surgical raids across the Line of Control into Pakistan-administered Kashmir in 2016 after the terrorist attack on an Indian army camp in Uri. Seychelles is strategically important to India as New Delhi is developing Assumption Island as a naval base to expand its footprint in the strategically-key region where China has been trying to enhance its military presence.

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The Modern Slavery Innovation Fund (MSIF) supports international projects to trial innovative ways of stopping modern slavery, It is in news recently because Britain has pledged £4 million to support global anti-slavery projects. Six organizations – Anti-Slavery International and the United Nations University, Stronger Together, The Freedom Fund , Retrak and Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) – will share the aid money from MSIF. The funding will also be used to run workshops on modern slavery in South Africa, improve support for survivors in India, and develop an online data hub to boost anti-slavery policies. The MSIF was announced in 2016 and previously gave £6 million to schemes such as awareness-raising campaigns in Nigeria, the Philippines and Vietnam. The Freedom Fund will work in India and Nepal to enhance victim care of frontline workers.

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The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently announced that Qatar will officially abolish its controversial exit visa system for all foreign workers by the end of 2019. It must be noted that Qatar has introduced a series of labour reforms since its selection as the 2022 World Cup host, with the event setting in motion a huge construction programme employing foreign workers. In September 2018, Qatar approved legislation to scrap the “kafala”, or sponsorship, system which required that foreign workers obtain permission from their employers to leave the country. In February 2019, Qatar said it was committed to labour reform following an Amnesty International report that the 2022 World Cup host was failing to stop widespread labour abuse. As part of its pledge to reform the labour section, Qatar has also introduced a monthly minimum wage of 750 riyals ($206) and agreed to work closely with the ILO, which now has an office in the capital.

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The Indian Council of Medical Research has launched the ‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India’ to eliminate malaria from India by 2030. The initiative is a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control. The principal activity of the alliance is to prioritise, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant research in a coordinated and combinatorial way in order to have a tangible impact of this research on the population at risk for malaria. The MERA India does not intend to duplicate international efforts rather complement this on a national scale while contributing to the broader global agenda. The alliance will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools but also pro actively contributes to targeted research. It aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve tangible impact on malaria elimination.

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In China, the 2nd edition of Belt and Road Forum (BRF – 2019) was officially held in Beijing with theme “Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future”. In it, 37 heads-of-state and 159 countries had participated along with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Monetary Chief (IMF) Christine Lagarde. The BRF is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The aim of BRI is to reinvent the ancient Silk Road to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects. The initiative offers to bring much-needed modern infrastructure to developing countries, but critics say it mainly favours Chinese companies while saddling nations with debt and causing environmental damage. The idea of BRI was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. The BRI (or yi dai yi lu) is made up of a “belt” of overland routes and a maritime “road” connecting Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe and Africa.