7th APRIL CURRENT AFFAIRS IN ENGLISH

1. Swaraj attended NAM ministerial conference in Azerbaijan

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is in Baku to attend the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement being held in the capital of Azerbaijan.

• Apart from her meeting with her counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Swaraj is scheduled to call on Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and first Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva during her stay in Baku.

2. Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog: Indian, Korean Coast Guards Hold Joint Exercise

Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise ‘Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018’ was conducted off the Chennai coast, in Tamil Nadu. The Korean Coast Guard ship ‘Bodaro’ took part in the exercise.

• Indian Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft to carry out sea-air coordinated search along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431 in the exercise.

3. India third-most vulnerable to cyber threats behind US, China

India is the third-most vulnerable country in terms of cyber threat risks including malware, spam, ransomware and one of the most recent and difficult-to-detect ones - cryptominers, according to a report.

• About 5.09% global threats were detected in India in 2017 as compared to 5.11% in 2016.
• The US was was most vulnerable to attacks at 26.61% followed by China at 10.95%.

4. Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instituted a committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment sites and media aggregators.

• The 10-member committee will include secretaries of the departments of Home, Legal Affairs, Electronics and Information and Technology, and Industrial Policy and Promotion.
• The CEO of MyGov and a representative each of the Press Council of India and National Broadcasters’ Association will also be part of the committee.

5. Global Logistics Summit Held In New Delhi

The Global Logistics Summit was held in New Delhi.

• It was organized by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, along with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and the World Bank Group.
• The Summit acts as a platform to hold discussions with global experts, academics, government officials and private sector and industry representatives.

6. Exercise Gaganshakti-2018

An all encompassing coordinated and composite exercise named Gaganshakti is being conducted by the IAF from 08-22 Apr 18.

• The aim of this exercise is real time coordination, deployment and employment of Air Power in a short & intense battle scenario.
• During Gaganshakti IAF will exercise the entire machinery to validate its concept of operations and war waging capability.

7. Ministry of Tribal Affairs to launch first ever “Van Dhan Vikas Kendra”

The Ministry of Tribal affairs has approved establishment of the first multipurpose “Van Dhan Vikas Kendra” on pilot basis for establishment in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh State.

• It has been setup for providing skill upgradation and capacity building training and setting up of primary processing and value addition facility.
• This first model Van Dhan Vikas Kendra is being implemented for training of 300 beneficiaries with a total outlay of Rs 43.38 lakhs for training, providing equipment’s & tools for primary level processing and infrastructure & building for housing the Kendra.

8. Khadi Store Locator App Launched

The 9th National Board of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) met in New Delhi.

• The Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh chaired the meeting.
• The Minister launched a mobile phone application for locating 4,000 Khadi stores in the country.
• There are more than 8,000 Khadistores in India, the rest of stores will also be available on the store locater by the end of this month.
• This was informed by Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman KVIC in the board meeting.

9. CIC to hold seminar on Health and RTI

The Central Information Commission (CIC) is holding a seminar on the topic “Health and Right to Information Act”.

• The Seminar is aimed at Health and Right to Information Act 2005, with a view to improve governance in the Health sector.
• Dr. V. K. Paul, Member, Niti Aayog and Shri Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat will also attend the seminar.

10. India and World Bank sign New Project to benefit Small and Marginal Farmers in Maharashtra

The Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank signed a US$ 420 million project to help Small and Marginal farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra.

• The project will help in increasing climate resilient practices in agriculture and ensuring that farming continues to remain a financially viable activity for them.