Daily Current Affairs, 25th May 2018

1) Netherlands Becomes 64th Signatory Member Of International Solar Alliance

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is in India at PM Modi's invitation held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and international issues at the Hyderabad House.

•The Netherlands has become the 64th signatory member of the International Solar Alliance. PM Modi noted that the first Indo-Dutch Centre of Excellence CoE in Vegetables had started in Baramati, Maharashtra. India also welcomed the Netherlands as the Partner Country for the TechSummit in 2019.

•According to data from 2016-17, the Netherlands was the fifth largest foreign investor in India. Globally, the Netherlands is India's 28th largest trading partner. Within the European Union, the Netherlands is India's sixth largest trading partner.

2) HRD Ministry Launches Samagra Shiksha Scheme

•Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar launched 'Samagra Shiksha scheme' for school education. The scheme focuses on improving quality of education, enhancing the Learning outcomes and using technology to empower children and teachers.

•An annual grant of 5,000 to 20,000 rupees will be provided for strengthening libraries in schools. The scheme will be focused on digital education. Samagra Shiksha is a program that unifies learning from the pre-school to class 12 levels and encapsulates elements of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamk Shiksha Abhiyanand teacher education.

3) 5th India CLMV Business Conclave Held In Cambodia

•The Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India, along with Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia organized the 5th India-CLMV Business Conclave in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After four rounds of the Business Conclave in India, this initiative was brought by Department of Commerce of Government of India to Cambodia, for greater participation from the region.

•The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was the institutional partner of the event. The inaugural session of the Conclave was attended by Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry.  Ministers of Commerce and Industry and Trade of Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Lao PDR were also present on this occasion.

4) PM Of Netherlands Inaugurates Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum

•In New Delhi, Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte inaugurated the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum to take forward an MoU signed between the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment of the Netherlands in June 2017. 

5) Mission Innovation Ministerial Meeting Held In Sweden

•The 3rd Mission Innovation Ministerial Meeting was held at Malmo, Sweden. The Indian delegation was led by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences.  Mission innovation countries launched Mission Innovation Champions Programme to felicitate clean energy innovators.

•Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated Smart Grid Workshop at Copenhagen and Chaired public-private roundtable on Strategies on Decarbonisation through innovations in Smart Grids. India announced setting up of First International Incubator for clean energy in a public-private partnership at a total investment of around US $ 5 million in Delhi.

6) Pakistan Hosts SCO Anti-Terror Meeting

•The two-day conference named SCO-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Legal Experts (RATS) of legal experts took place in Islamabad under the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

•Pakistan hosted the meeting for the first time since it became a full member of the organization together with India nearly a year ago.

7) Nepal, 1st Country In South-East Asia To Eliminate Trachoma: WHO

•The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Nepal as free from Trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness.

•With this, Nepal becomes the first country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to eliminate Trachoma. Trachoma was the second leading cause of preventable blindness in Nepal in the 1980s.

8) Tejaswini Strikes Gold At Munich Grand Prix

•Former World Shooting Champion Tejaswini Sawant had bagged the gold in the Grand Prix in Munich, Germany. Tejaswini had won the World Championship gold in prone in 2010 in Munich. She had recently won gold in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

•Results of the Munich Grand Prix:

•Men: 50m rifle prone: 

1. Gold- Matthew Emmons (USA),

2. Silver- Chain Singh (India),

3. Bronze- Oleh Tsarkov (Ukraine).

•Women: 50m rifle prone: 

1. Gold- Tejaswini Sawant (India),

2. Silver- Anjum Moudgil (India),

3. Bronze- Olivia Hofmann (Austria).