7th May CURRENT AFFAIRS IN ENGLISH

1. Vice President reaches Guatemala

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday reached Guatemala as part of his three-nation visit to Latin America.

• Naidu is on a five-day visit to Latin America’s Guatemala, Peru and Panama commencing from May 6. This is the Vice President's first overseas visit after assuming office last year.
• A range of bilateral issues including the strengthening of institutional mechanisms for political interactions, multilateral matters, trade and commerce, investments, information technology, capacity building, traditional medicines, space, defence, and culture are expected to be discussed during his visit.

2. Border Roads Organisation to celebrate Raising Day

Border Roads Organisation (BRO), is celebrating its Raising Day on 07 May 2018.

• BRO, a leader in the arena of infrastructural development in the border areas of the country is celebrating its 58 years of glorious service to the nation.
• Since its inception in 1960, so far the Organisation has grown from 02 to 19 projects. Its focus shall remain enhanced productivity and quality construction.

3. First organised census for Indus dolphins to be carried out in India

For the conservation of Indus dolphins - one of the world’s rarest mammals - the Punjab government along with WWF-India are conducting the first organised census on their population.

• Found only in India and Pakistan, the Indus dolphins are confined to only a 185 km stretch between Talwara and Harike Barrage in India’s Beas river in Punjab.
• Officials from the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation, Punjab and WWF-India are currently working in two teams and will come to an estimate regarding the dolphin population over the five-day exercise.

4. GIS technology to strengthen Namami Gange Programme

National Mission for Clean Ganga has brought on board Survey of India, the oldest scientific department in the country set up in 1767, to facilitate the Ganga rejuvenation task by using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.

• Through the project which has been approved in the EC meeting at an estimated cost of Rs. 86.84 crore, NMCG aims to strengthen planning and implementation at national/state/local levels.
• The project includes use of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) technology which ensures accurate data collection, an important aspect for river basin management planning.
• DEM technology enables identification of entire topography of an area making it easy for policy makers to analyse the available data thereby supporting the decision-making process.

5. Neeraj Chopra shatters own record, finishes 4th at IAAF Diamond League in Doha

Indian javelin thrower and the Commonwealth games gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has shattered his own national record at the IAAF Diamond League, being held in Doha.

• He cleared a distance of 87.43m to finish fourth in the season opening League series. Chopra had recently won the gold medal in XXI Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast with a throw of 86.47m.

6. NASA launches its latest mission to Mars

NASA has blasted off its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for “Marsquakes” ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.

• The project aims to expand human knowledge of interior conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the Earth formed billions of years ago.
• If all goes as planned, the lander should settle on the Red Planet on November 26.
• Its name, InSight, is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. NASA chief scientist Jim Green said experts already know that Mars has quakes, avalanches and meteor strikes.

7. GST Council approves turning GSTN into a government entity

The GST Council has approved making GST Network (GSTN) a government entity by taking over stakes held by private entities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at the end of the 27th meeting of the council.

• Jaitley said the GST Network or GSTN currently is 24.5 per cent owned by the central government and a similar percentage is held by state governments collectively. The remaining 51 per cent is with five private financial institutions -- HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd.
• The council has agreed to a proposal of buying out the stake of private entities to make GSTN a government-owned entity, he said adding the central government will own 50 per cent and the remaining would be collectively held by state governments.