9 PM Current Affairs Brief – May 10th, 2018

Reviving ‘Neighbourhood First’ India china; India- Nepal; India – Pakistan; Neighbourhood policy News: The present government is keen on rebuilding ‘Neighborhood First’ policy which is evident through informal summit at Wuhan, China, last month and a visit to Nepal this month. Important Facts: Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2014 in visited Gujarat reflecting China… Continue reading Reviving ‘Neighbourhood First’

Focusing on building trust: on India and Nepal bilateral ties India- Nepal; Neighbouhood Policy News: Dinesh Bhattarai, an adviser to former Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, says that India and Nepal need to muster the courage to address the difficult aspects of bilateral ties. Important Facts: Indian Prime Minister would be paying a return State… Continue reading Focusing on building trust: on India and Nepal bilateral ties

Improving Social Audits Social Audit; Governance News: Institutionalisation of social audits for the implementation of MGNREGA has been a challenging task Important Facts: Social audits were introduced in 2005. Due to government indifference and apathy social audits have been ineffective. 26 countries have created Social Audit Units(SAUs) but the CAG’s detailed guidelines are yet to… Continue reading Improving Social Audits

Between the Elephant and the Dragon India China; India- Iran News: 1.Harsh V. Pant, professor of International relations at King’s college london, observe that both India and China should cooperate on Iran’s Chabahar Port. Important Facts: After the US decision to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal, It is important for Iran to engage all the… Continue reading Between the Elephant and the Dragon

World’s Second Oldest Rock is from Odhisa News:       A rock sample collected from Champua in Kendujhar district of Odhisa is world’s oldest rock. Important Facts:       The discovery as a research paper has been published in the journal Scientific Reports       Zircon grains of 4,240 million and 4,030 million years were discovered.       The rock is believed to… Continue reading World’s Second Oldest Rock is from Odhisa

Walmart to buy Control of Flipkart Effects of Liberalisation; Indian startups News: Walmart has acquired stakes of Flipkart. Important facts: Flipkart is India’s first billion-dollar e-commerce company Walmart is a US based company which first entered Indian market in a joint venture with Bharti Group in 2007 Recently, Walmart has acquired 77% stakes of Flipkart… Continue reading Walmart to buy Control of Flipkart

Drowning in Dust Disaster and Disaster Management News:       Recent extreme weather event in North India has highlighted the need for better disaster management system. Important facts:       According to the UN Environment Programme, globally major dust producing region releases 1000-3000 teragrams of particles into the atmosphere. Sahara Desert contributes the highest with one-third of the total… Continue reading Drowning in Dust

Rethinking Wind Energy Wind energy; Developing New Technology News:       Global scientific research reveals that generation of wind energy has high indirect impact on the ecosystem Important Facts:       India has a renewable energy target of 175GW by 2022 and wind energy is one of the most popular renewable energy technologies in India       Wind farms are mostly… Continue reading Rethinking Wind Energy

Corruption in Tennis Corruption; Gambling; Match fixing News:       Report by Independent Review Panel (IRP) highlights the problem of corruption in tennis Important Facts:       Investigations by BBC and Buzzfeed revealed that there was widespread match fixing and illegal betting in tennis.       Post the revelation, the Independent Review Panel (IRP) was formed in 2016, which published its… Continue reading Corruption in Tennis