Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 June 2018

::NATIONAL::

The President of India, Shri Ram NathKovind, inaugurated the Udyam Sangam-2018, being organised by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) to celebrate the 2nd United Nations Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. On this occasion, he also launched the Solar Charkha and MSME Sampark Portal.
The Sangam will provide representatives of finance, training and educational institutions, industry, media, state governments and NGOs an opportunity to engage in extensive discussions to strengthen the eco-systems in this sector.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi has given its ex post-facto approval to the MoU between India and Singapore on cooperation in the field of urban planning and development.
The objective of the MOU is to facilitate government agencies in the Centre and States, including Municipal Bodies, to readily tap into the expertise of Singapore agencies in the areas of urban development and management and other areas, and thus help in urban rejuvenation, mission.
This MOU would lead to dissemination of knowledge of best practices, build capacities and provide hand holding support to various government agencies at the State and Central levels in the areas of urban planning, water and waste water management, solid waste management, Intelligent Transport System and public financing.

The Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi, today chaired his twenty-seventh interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.
The Prime Minister reviewed the progress of eight infrastructure projects in the railway, road, and power sectors. These projects are spread over several states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The government is set to replace the apex higher education regulator, University Grants Commission, with a higher education commission by repealing the UGC Act, 1951. Setting the ball rolling for major reforms in higher education, the Centre has placed in the public domain a draft Bill for eliciting suggestions from educationists.
The present proposal is to replace the UGC.The new regime separates the academic and funding aspects of higher education. While HECI will be in charge of ensuring academic quality in universities and colleges, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) – or another mechanism that will be put in place later – will be responsible for funding universities and colleges.
The Regulator will have powers to enforce compliance to the academic quality standards and will have the power to order closure of sub-standard and bogus institutions.
It will develop norms for setting standards for opening and closure of institutions, provide for greater flexibility and autonomy to institutions, lay standards for appointments to critical leadership positions at the institutional level irrespective of university started under any law (including State list).

China will reduce or cut to zero tariffs on a total of 8,549 types of goods originating in India and four other Asian countries. It was part of the tariff concession arrangement reached under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.
The goods include chemicals, agricultural and medical products, clothing, steel and aluminium products.

The much anticipated dialogue, between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the United States scheduled for July, has been postponed.
The Ministry of External Affairs said the message postponing the talks came from the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo spoke to External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj a short while ago to express his regret and deep disappointment at the US having to postpone the 2+2 Dialogue for unavoidable reasons

The rupee slid to a 19-month low against the dollar as concern that rising crude oil prices could widen the country’s current account deficit and stroke inflation combined with fears of a trade war that could spur capital outflows to weigh the Indian currency down.
The rupee fell 0.54%, or 37 paise, against the dollar on Wednesday to settle at 68.61, the currency’s lowest close since November 24, 2016, when it ended at 68.73.
Cabinet clearsRs. 2,000-cr. capital infusion for ECGC
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a capital infusion of Rs. 2,000 crore into the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) to be infused over the three financial years 2017-20.
Covers from ECGC will help in improving competitive position of India exporters in international markets,” the government said.
“More than 85% of customers benefited by ECGC’s covers are MSMEs. ECGC covers exports to around 200 countries in the world.”

A Japanese probe has reached an asteroid 300 million km away to collect information about the birth of the solar system and the origin of life after a more than three-year voyage through deep space.
The Hayabusa2 probe successfully settled into an observation position 20 km above the Ryugu asteroid, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
Scientists hope to glean clues about what gave rise to life on the earth from samples taken from Ryugu, which is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water.
The Hayabusa2 probe was in good shape and is now ready to start exploring the asteroid over the coming 18 months. The next stage is to identify suitable sites to take samples from once the probe touches down on the asteroid.