All India Radio News Summary: 21 JANUARY 2018
- Prime Minister to attend annual World Economic Forum meet in Davos, Switzerland
Prime Minister is going to attend the 48th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. He will lead the largest-ever Indian delegation comprising Finance Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister among others.
- Leaders across the globe will discuss burning issues confronting the world during the Summit.
- Under the theme “Creating a shared future in a Fractured World”, the Meeting aims to set an agenda to address political, economic and Social challenges of recent times.
- Besides, arts and culture will feature prominently in the official program with special exhibitions, installations and musical performances.
- This year, over 3,000 global leaders from business, government, politics, academia and social sectors are participating at the Summit which will conclude on 26th of January.
World Economic Forum (WEF):
The annual meet of the World Economic Forum (WEF) takes place every year in January with an aim to improve the state of the world economy. WEF is an international organization headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland formed in 1971 for public-private cooperation.
- PM asked all chief ministers to address the challenge of tuberculosis in a mission mode
Prime Minister written to all Chief Ministers asking them to address the challenge of tuberculosis in a mission mode and review the progress of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme at least every quarter.
- He urged them to closely monitor key performance indicators such as case notification, treatment success rate and active case finding.
- Tuberculosis is the biggest killer among all infectious diseases and about 29 lakh new TB cases are reported every year.
- The Programme has taken several new initiatives like daily regimen, universal drug susceptibility testing, active case finding in vulnerable groups and cross reference between HIV and TB cases to help us address the challenge posed by TB.
- India is all set to have its own automated ocean pollution observation system this year
India is all set to have its own automated ocean pollution observation system this year which will help keep a tab on ocean pollution levels.
- According to Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) director, the system, estimated to cost 100 crore rupees, will become functional by April this year it will be foolproof.
- INCOIS is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Significance
- The new ocean data acquisition system will do away with the present practice of collecting water samples from sea and studying their pollution levels thereafter.
- The system will help in monitoring the pollution level of the ocean water and the impact of climate change.
- It will also provide data that will help scientists to understand how the marine system is changing.
- The sensor-equipped buoys will be placed in six coastal areas of the country. The sensors, placed at the bottom of the buoys, will be attached to the sea bed so that they are not washed away.
- North Korean delegates arrived in Seoul today on their way to inspect venues and prepare cultural performances for next month’s Winter Olympics
This is the first visit by Pyongyang officials to the South Korea in the last four years.
The two-day visit is also the first by North Korean officials to the South since left-leaning South Korean President, who advocates dialogue with the North, took office last May.
The trip comes two weeks after the neighbours agreed to send Pyongyang’s athletes, cheerleaders, artistic troupes and other delegates to the Games, due to begin in the South’s alpine resort of Pyeongchang on February 9.
- The government has reduced the Minimum Export Price, MEP, of onions by 150 dollars to 700 dollars per tonne.
The government has reduced the Minimum Export Price, MEP, of onions by 150 dollars to 700 dollars per tonne.
- Directorate General of Foreign Trade, said the rate will remain in force till the 20th of next month.
- The government reduced the MEP as onion prices have now started moderating.
MEP:
- An MEP is the floor price below which exports are not allowed.
- MEP of onions was scrapped in December 2015 but brought back in November 2017 to check rising prices of onions.
- The US Senate is due back in session to try to end a budget impasse before the start of the working week
The US Senate is due back in session to try to end a budget impasse before the start of the working week when the shutdown of many federal services will be felt around the country. Hundreds of thousands of federal staff face the prospect of unpaid leave.
Yesterday, recriminations flew around over the Senate’s failure to pass a new budget and prevent the shutdown.
A bill to fund the federal government for the coming weeks did not receive the required 60 votes on Friday.
There will be a vote in the early hours of Monday on a bill to fund the government until the 8th of next month.
