Daily Current affairs 27 Octobr 2017

Current Affairs

Piyush Goyal launches first set of solar plants with capacity of 5 MW

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal launched the first set of solar plants with a total capacity of 5 megawatt in New Delhi area. The project is part of the government's National Solar Mission in which Indian Railways plans to commission one thousand Megawatt solar plants across its network. The railways are working towards speeding up its electrification and road-map for identifying various solutions to achieve larger goal of transforming Railways as a 100 per cent de-carbonised and most energy efficient.

Gokul Natesan Second Indian-Origin Player to be Signed by NBA G-League Side

Gokul Natesan is the 97th pick in the NBA draft to became only the second Indian-origin player to be signed by an NBA G-League side.  Amjyot Singh recently became the third Indian to walk into the National Basketball Association (NBA) league.  The Managing Director for India of NBA is Yannick Colaco.

Puducherry Becomes an Associate Member of BCCI

The Cricket Association of Puducherry (CAP) was chosen by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) as an associate member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).  This means Puducherry will be allowed to play the Ranji Trophy in 2018.

GMR Hyderabad Airport, Malaysia Tourism, MAHB Sign Pact to Promote Tourism

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) have come together to promote the growth of tourism traffic. An MoU was inked to promote tourism from the catchment area of Hyderabad to Malaysia and also explore new locations for connectivity. Over 100,000 passengers travel between Hyderabad and Malaysia every year and the traffic has grown by 28% CAGR in the last five years.

Qatar Introduces Minimum Wage for First Time

The tiny Gulf state host of the 2022 football World Cup Qatar committed that it will introduce a minimum wage for workers in the country. The announcement was made by labour and social affairs minister Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi. The announcement came a day before a meeting of the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Indian Navy approves new mission-based deployment plan

During the ongoing Naval Commanders’ Conference, Indian Navy approved a “new mission-based deployment” plan under which mission-ready ships and aircrafts will be deployed along critical sea lanes of communications. A new transition cycle for ships from maintenance periods to operational deployments has also been approved by Chief Admiral Suni Lanba. Several operational issues and efforts to make Indian Navy self-reliant and modernize its warfare capability were also discussed at the conference.

Chile named best country to visit in 2018

Lonely Planet, the travel guide company, ranked Chile as the number one country to visit in 2018, in its Best in Travel 2018 list. In the top 10 countries category, Chile was ranked the number one country. It was followed by South Korea and Portugal in the 2nd and 3rd positions. In the top 10 cities category, Seville of Spain was ranked as number one. In the top 10 regions category, Belfast & the Causeway Coast of Northern Ireland was ranked number one. In the top 10 best value, Tallinn of Estonia was given the number one rank.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is observed on 27 October

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is observed globally on 27 October every year across the world. The theme of this year is "Discover, remember and share". The General Conference of UNESCO approved the commemoration of a World Day for Audiovisual Heritage in 2005 as a mechanism to raise general awareness of the need to preserve and safeguard important audiovisual material for future generations.

India has 3rd Highest Number of Family-Owned Businesses

India has 108 publicly-listed family-owned businesses, third highest in the world, while China tops the tally with 167 such companies followed by the US which has 121, according to the Credit Suisse report. As per the Credit Suisse Research Institute's (CSRI) latest "CS Family 1000" report, with an average market capitalisation of USD 6.5 billion, India ranks 5th in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, and 22nd globally, in terms of average m-cap.