Daily Current Affairs, 27th November 2018

1) Indian Organ Donation Day: 27 November

•9th Indian Organ Donation Day’ was organized by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) in Delhi. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare stated that People’s participation and people’s awareness is the key to encouraging organ donation.

•The best performing State of Tamil Nadu was also felicitated. The State of Maharashtra received an award for being the best State for promoting awareness of organ donations. Dr. Subramania Iyer K, Kochi was felicitated for conducting first hand transplant in the country and Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, Pune, received the award for conducting 1st Uterine Transplant in India.

2) Sunil Arora Appointed New Chief Election Commissioner of India

•Sunil Arora has been appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India. He succeeds Om Prakash Rawat. He will take over the top job on December 2. A former bureaucrat, Arora was appointed as Election Commissioner in August 2017.

•A 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Arora has worked in ministries such as finance, textiles and the Planning Commission. Ashok Lavasa is the second election commissioner.

3) Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu In India

•Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu is on an official visit to India. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held delegation-level talks with her Romanian counterpart in New Delhi.

•They discussed diversifying the historical relations and boosting cooperation in the fields of agriculture, ICT, health and pharma, education, tourism, and culture. He stated that Romania “strongly supports” India’s proposal in the UN for a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

4) NASA InSight Lands On Mars 7 Months After Launch

•NASA’s InSight spacecraft landed on Mars after nearly a 7 months, 458-million-kilometre journey, and a 6.5-minute parachuted descent through the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

•The 360-kg lander also shared its first photo from Mars, showing an area called Elysium Planitia, where it will dig five meters below the surface. The $993-million mission will measure the Mars’ internal heat and study quakes.

5) ‘HAUSLA-2018’ Inaugurated In New Delhi

•The National Festival for Children of Child Care Institutions (CCIs)– “Hausla 2018”of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) was inaugurated by the Secretary, Shri Rakesh Srivastava, in New Delhi.

•The inter-Child Care Institution festival is witnessing participation of more than 600 Children drawn from CCIs from 18 states in the various events like painting competition, athletics meet, football, chess competition and speech writing as part of the Festival.

6) Health Ministry Launches Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)

•Ms. Preeti Sudan, Union Health Secretary did soft-launch of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) segment of the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in seven states.

•The path-breaking initiative will provide near-real-time data to policymakers for detecting outbreaks, reducing the morbidity and mortality and lessening disease burden in the populations and better health systems. The first one-of-its-kind initiative by the Government of India, IHIP uses the latest technologies and digital health initiatives.

7) India-China Amends Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty

•India and China have signed a protocol to amend the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. According to a statement by the Ministry of Finance, besides other changes, the protocol has the existing provisions for exchange of information to the latest international standards.

•The protocol also incorporates changes required to implement treaty related minimum standards under the Action reports of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project in which India had participated on an equal footing.

8) Monaco To Host 2019 Laureus Awards in February

•The 19th edition of the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards will be held in Monaco on February 2019. Considered the ‘Oscars of sports’, the Laureus World Sports Awards celebrate global sporting achievements across the calendar year.

•Former India cricket captains Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar are members of the Laureus Academy. In 2018, Tennis great Roger Federer won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for a record fifth time, while Serena Williamswon the Sportswoman of the Year recognition for the fourth time.

9) RBI Eases Hedging Norms For ECBs To 70% From Current 100%

•The Reserve Bank has relaxed norms for External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) by reducing the mandatory hedging provision to 70% from the current 100%. The relaxed norms will apply to the ECBs with a maturity period between 3 and 5 years.

•On a further review of the extant provisions, it has been decided, in consultation with the government of India, to reduce the mandatory hedge coverage from 100% to 70% for ECBs raised under Track-I of the ECB framework.