Daily Current Affairs, 13th August 2018

1) Piyush Goyal Released 3rd Party Survey Report On Station Cleanliness

•Minister of Railways, Coal, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Piyush Goyal has released a report on Station Cleanliness conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI). This is the third such audit cum survey which has been conducted by Railways to increase the level of cleanliness by identifying unclean spots/gaps and to improve cleanliness standards and also to propel healthy competition among railway stations. 

•A1 category stations (out of 75): 
1st: Jodhpur/North-Western Railway  
2nd: Jaipur/North-Western Railway 
3rd: Tirupati/South-Central Railway.    

•A category stations (out of a total of 332): 
1st: Marwar/North Western Railway
2nd: Phulera/North -Western Railway
3rd: Warangal/South-Central Railway.

•Zonal Railway rankings are:
1st: North Western Railway
2nd: South Central Railway
3rd: East Coast Railway. 

2) Government Provides Fund Of Rs 66000 Crore To Increase Country's Forest Cover

•The Union Government has unlocked green funds worth over Rs 66,000 crore to increase the country’s forest cover. The fund is an accumulated amount of money, which user agencies have been depositing as compensation for diverting forest land for non-forest purposes, including industries and infrastructure, since the past 10 years. 

•The government has finally notified the rules for utilisation of the money by states and Union Territories and for setting up of authorities to monitor its use for afforestation and conservation. 

3) India To Launch 2nd Lunar Mission 'Chandrayaan-2' On January 3, 2019

•India will launch its second lunar mission “Chandrayaan-2” on January 3, 2019, to land on the moon with a lander and rover. According to Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan, ISRO is aiming to launch the mission but the window to land on the lunar surface is open till March 2019. 

•The 800-crore rupees is the cost of lunar mission named “Chandrayaan-2”. The 3,890-kg Chandrayaan-2, which will be launched onboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-3, will orbit around the moon and study its lunar conditions to collect data on its topography, mineralogy and exosphere. 

4) IT Minister Released 'Digital North East Vision 2022' In Guwahati

•Union  Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad released the document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’ in Guwahati, Assam. The Document emphasizes leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of people of the northeast and enhance the ease of living. 

•The Document identifies eight digital thrust areas - Digital Infrastructure, Digital services, Digital empowerment, Promotion of Electronics Manufacturing, Promotion of IT and ITES including BPOs, Digital Payments, Innovation & Startups and Cybersecurity.  

5) Santhali Becomes India’s 1st Tribal Language To Get Own Wikipedia Edition

•Santhali (Santali), a tribal language primarily spoken in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, received global recognition when it got a Wikipedia edition in its own script. The language is been spoken by over 6.4 million people in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam.

•The initiative to get a Santhali edition for Wikipedia, began six years ago, in 2012. Santhali, written in the Ol Chiki script currently has content of about 70,000 words. 

6) Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 Begins In Birgunj

•Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 has begun in Birgunj, Nepal. The festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Province 2 Mohammad Lalbabu Raut. The festival is aimed at strengthening Indo-Nepal ties. 

•On this occasion, eminent writers from both the countries were also felicitated. Around 250 participants from India and Nepal attending the two-day festival. The event is organised by Nepal India Co-operation Forum. 

7) Exim Bank Signs MoU With BRICS Development Banks

•Exim Bank of India has signed a multilateral cooperation agreement with member development banks of BRICS to undertake “collaborative research” in distributed ledger/blockchain technology.

•The MoU signed by Exim Bank Managing Director David Rasquinha was an outcome of the discussions the member development banks had during their annual meeting, with the objective of strengthening the cooperation under the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism. Under this umbrella agreement, the signatories have agreed to constitute a joint research working group which will formulate the research agenda and targeted outcome. 

8) Rafael Nadal Lifts Rogers Cup 2018

•17-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal clinched his fourth Canadian Masters 1000 title at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. He defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

•The world number one swept aside Tsitsipas in a thrilling summit clash of the men's singles event. With the win, Nadal clinched his 80th ATP World Tour title and fifth victory of the year.