6th August 2018 Current Affairs

Contents

Government approves 122 new research projects under ‘IMPRINT-2’ scheme

The government has approved 122 new research projects under its Impacting Research Innovation and Technology ‘IMPRINT-2’ scheme.
The cost of these research projects is expected to be around 112 crore rupees.
The initiative aims to advance research in energy, security and healthcare domains in the high education institutions.
The 122 projects were chosen from more than 2,000 proposals.

For the first time the Supreme Court will have three serving women judges, after the Centre cleared the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.
The other two female SC judges are R Banumathi, appointed in August 2014, and Indu Malhotra, appointed in April 2018.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Defence India Startup Challenge in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Recognising the first set of incubators for these challenges the ministry has also signed an MoU with 5 incubators. IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Mumbai, Forge IIT Madras, and T hub who will work in tandem to provide solutions for defence requirements in Airforce, Navy and for Army.
Raksha Mantri also launched SPARK (support for prototype and research Kickstart) in defence, framework for IDEX partners, and promotion of start ups under Make II procedure.

The NHAI has signed an MoU with SBI for a Long Term Unsecured Loan of Rs.25,000 crore for 10 years with 3 years of moratorium on repayments.
This is the SBI’s highest long-term unsecured loan to any entity.
This is also the largest loan amount to have been sanctioned to NHAI in one stroke by any institution.

Japan has pipped China as the world’s number two stock market, according to a Bloomberg report. At one of the time, the Chinese market was worth $6.09 trillion next to Japan’s $6.17 trillion.
Both markets are ranked after the US which is the world’s largest at just over $31 trillion. China lost to Japan after Chinese stocks and currency fell this year amid a trade spat with the US.