Daily Current Affairs, 25th September 2018

1) Supreme Court Constitutes Committee To Look Into Jail Reforms

•The Supreme Court constituted a three-member committee headed by its former judge Justice Amitava Roy to look into the aspect of jail reforms across the country and suggest measures to deal with them. A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur said the panel will look into the issues including over-crowding in prisons.

•The Supreme court on August 27 had reserved its order on the issue of constituting a committee to deal with issues pertaining to jails and suggest reforms for prisons across the country. The committee will also look into the various issues concerning women prisoners.

2) Dr. Harsh Vardhan Inaugurated Air Pollution Control Device ''WAYU'' In Delhi

•Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest and Climate change, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated air pollution control device WAYU(Wind Augmentation PurifYing Unit) for traffic junctions at ITO intersection and Mukarba Chowk in Delhi. 

•WAYU is developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) as a part of Technology Development Project being funded by Department of Science and Technology. This device can purify the air in an area of 500 square meters. 54 more such devices will be installed by 15th October in Delhi

3) Nepal To Become World's First Country To Double Its Tiger Population

•Nepal is set to become the first country in the world to double its tiger population as part of the World Wildlife Foundation's (WWF) 'Tx2' programme which aims to double the number of tigers all over the world.

•The government of Nepal announced on September 23, 2018, on the occasion of National Conservation Day, that there are now an estimated 235 wild tigers in the nation, nearly double the number (235) from around 121 in 2009. The earlier tiger survey in 2013 had estimated the tiger population in the nation to be around 198.

4) Croatia's Luka Modric Won FIFA's Best Player Of The Year Award

•Luka Modric broke a decade of award dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after being crowned world footballer of the year by FIFA. Modric beat out Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah and Ronaldo.

•Modric was voted FIFA's best player in the 2017-18 season after winning the Champions League for a fourth time in five seasons with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to its first World Cup final where it lost to France. Messi and Ronaldo were the only winners of world soccer's main individual award from FIFA in various guises since 2008, both winning five titles each.

5) Google Appoints Keith Enright As Its Chief Privacy Officer

•Technology giant Google has appointed its privacy lawyer, Keith Enright, as Chief Privacy Officer as the company proposed policies for potential federal regulation of data. In his new role, Enright will be in charge of crafting Google's strategy on privacy issues. Before Google, Enright worked as the Chief Privacy Officer at Macy's and was also a senior consultant at IBM.

6) FDI In Telecom Sector Jumped Five Times In Three Years

•FDI in the telecom sector has jumped nearly five times in the last three years – from USD 1.3 Billion in 2015-16 to USD 6.2 Billion in 2017-18. According to Union Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha, the draft National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 aims to attract investment of USD 100 billion or about Rs.6.5 lakh crore in the Digital Communications Sector.

•India has also announced plans to launch commercial 5G networks by the year 2020 and this provides a big opportunity for investing in the newer emerging technologies like 5G, AI, IoT, Data analytics etc. Shri Sinha also released a publication titled “Telecom Sector Growth & FDI: A Way Ahead”.

7) Sinisuka Ginting And Carolina Marin Won China Open

•In Badminton, Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting beat Japan's Kento Momota to take the Men's singles China Open title in Changzhou.  Spain's Carolina Marin beat China's Chen Yufei to take the women's singles title. The 3rd seed, Momota who took the Japan Open title on home ground last week, was beaten by world number 13th Ginting. 

•Ginting last beat Momota at the Asian Games in Jakarta last month.  Top Indian shuttlers P.V.Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lost their quarter-final matches earlier, drawing curtains to India's campaign at the China Open.