19th September 2018 Current Affairs

Contents

INSV Tarini crew bestowed with Tenzing Norgay Award

The all-woman crew of the INSV Tarini, an Indian Navy sailboat, has bagged the prestigious Tenzing Norgay National Adventure award.
The crew won the award for their feat of sailing across the world for eight months.
The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure award is the highest national recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of adventure on land, sea, and air.
The women Navy officers spent 194 days at sea as part of a mission under the Navika Sagar Parikrama project.

The Indian government and the World Bank have signed a loan agreement for IBRD Credit of US$74 million for the Uttrakhand Workforce Development Project (UKWDP).
The aim is to improve the quality and relevance of training at priority Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
The Project has a five-year grace period and a maturity of 17 years.

Germany has rolled out the world’s first hydrogen-powered train.
Two hydrogen-powered trains built by French TGV-maker Alstom are now running on a 62-mile stretch (100km) in northern Germany.
The line covers the cities Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde, and Buxtehude, and was previously run using diesel trains.
Alstom plans to deliver another 14 of the zero-emissions trains to Lower Saxony state by 2021.
The Coradia iLint trains can run for about 600 miles (1,000km) on a single tank of hydrogen, similar to the range of diesel trains.

India has become the first country in the world to develop a document on a plan to combat global warming.
The draft India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) was released on World Ozone Day (September 16th).
The ICAP addresses cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions that may help reduce the cooling demand.
The draft was prepared by the Ozone Cell of the MoEFC (the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change).

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba has launched an online ‘e-Sahaj’ portal for the grant of Security Clearance.
Through the portal, applicants will be able to submit applications online and also view its status.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently streamlined the Security Clearance procedures and issued a fresh set of guidelines.