Daily Current Affairs, 25th June 2018

1) Vasundhara Raje Conferred With ‘CM Of The Year’ Award

•Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was conferred the ‘Chief Minister of the Year’ award for her remarkable work in e-governance. The award was given at the 52nd Skoch Summit held in New Delhi.

•Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh was the chief guest at the function. The award was received by Raje’s OSD in advisory council Dr Anuj Saxena and joint director of IT department R L Solanki on her behalf from Skoch Group chairman Sameer Kochhar.

2) Seychelles President's Visit To India: List Of MoUs Signed

•Seychelles President Danny Faure is on his first bilateral visit to India. He held the talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reviewed the wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries, including in the fields of defence and security.

•Here is the list of MoUs signed between the 2 countries:

1. MOU between India and Seychelles regarding Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of Small Development Projects through Local Bodies, Educational and Vocational Institutions,

2. Twinning Agreement on the Establishment of Friendship and Cooperation between the Corporation of the City of Panaji (Municipal Corporation) and the City of Victoria of the Republic of Seychelles,

3. MOU between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India and the Department of Information Communications Technology of Seychelles on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security,

4. Cultural Exchange Programme between India and Seychelles for the years 2018-2022,

5. Technical Agreement on Sharing White Shipping Information between the Indian Navy and the National Information Sharing and Coordination Center of Seychelles,

6. MOU between the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Seychelles.

3) Saudi ARAMCO, ADNOC Signed MoU For Refinery Project Of Maharashtra

•Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. 

•The MoU was signed by Amin H. Nasser, Saudi Aramco President and CEO and Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber,UAE Minister of State & ADNOC Group CEO. Earlier, Saudi Aramco had joined the Ratnagiri Refinery project by signing an MoU with the Indian consortium in April 2018 on the sidelines of the 16th International Energy Forum Ministerial.

4) Gujarat Launches 'Suryashakti Kisan Yojana' For Farmers

•The Gujarat government launched a solar power scheme for farmers- Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY)enabling them to generate electricity for their captive consumption as well as sell the surplus power to the grid and earn an extra buck. The announcement was made by the Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar. 

•As per the scheme, farmers having existing electricity connection will be given solar panels as per their load requirements. The State and Central governments will give 60% subsidy on the cost of the project. The farmer is required to take 5% cost, while 35% will be provided to him as an affordable loan with interest rates of 4.5-6%.

5) FICCI Awarded At X International IT Forum In Russia

•The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) along with several industry members and senior government officials and academia, recently participated in X International IT Forum at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. FICCI received an award during the event, for its support and active participation at the forum, consecutively for two years. 

•Organised by the Government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra region, the forum brought together industry leaders from BRICS and SCO nations as well as other countries to a single platform to interact and discuss collaboration in the fields of information technology and digital transformation.

6) Archer Deepika Kumari Wins Gold At Salt Lake World Cup

•Archer Deepika Kumari won her first individual gold medal in six years at the Salt Lake World Cup, in the USA. She defeated Germany’s Michelle Kroppen in the recurve final. The win ensured Deepika will represent the country at the season-ending Archery World Cup Final in Samsun, Turkey in October 2018. 

•In six appearances at the Archery World Cup, Deepika had come back with silver medals in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 but this time she finally got the Gold. 

7) Sandeep Sejwal Wins Gold In Singapore National Swimming Championships

•Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal put up an impressive performance to clinch the gold medal in men's 50m breaststroke event at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in Singapore.

•Besides, Virdhawal Khade grabbed a creditable silver medal in the 50m freestyle event with a timing of 22.68 seconds. Competing against a host of international swimmers, Sandeep broke the Singapore meet record with a timing of 27:59 seconds to win the gold.