Daily Current Affairs 19 January 2018

Daily Current Affairs 19 January 2018: Your guide for daily General Knowledge Preparation

Dear Readers,

This post contains important current affairs of 19 January 2018. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 19 January 2018. A brief explanation of every current affair is provided to further enhance your general knowledge. Once you have gone through these current affairs we would recommend to you to try 19 January 2018 Current affairs test.

National News

1.India is first in producing science and engineering bachelors.

• According to 2018 US government report, India accounts for 25% of the estimated 75 lakh science and engineering bachelor’s degree awarded across the world in 2014.
• US tops the charts in research and development spending and is awarded the largest number of science and engineering doctoral degrees(40,000) in 2014.

2.Disqualification of 20 AAP lawmakers is recommended by EC.

• The Election Commission has recommended disqualifications of 20 AAP lawmakers for allegedly holding offices of profit as parliamentary Secretaries.
• AAP legislator Sukhbir Singh called this move as ‘murder of democracy’. AAP has approached Delhi HC against the order.

3.GST Council reduced the tax on some goods and services.

• The GST Council has reduced the tax on 29 goods and 53 services.
• GST on theme-park tickets, second hand medium and large cars and SUVs has been reduced from 28% to 18%. The tax on diamonds and precious stones has also been lowered from 3% to 0.25%

4.S Selvakumar is appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of SPMCIL.

• S Selvakumar, ex-IAS officer, has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd(SPMCIL).
• He has replaced Anurag Agrawal. SPMCIL produces banknotes, coins, postage stamos, non-judicial stamps and other official documents. There are four mints in India located at Mumbai, Noida, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

International News

1.For the first time, there will be full gender parity in UN leadership.

• The top leadership of the UN has assumed full gender parity for the first time in 72 years . The UN first agreed to achieve full gender parity near 18 years ago.
• The UN’s Senior Management Group comprises of 44 positions of which 23 are currently held by women.

2.Cape Town feared to run out of water.

• The city officials of South Africa’s Cape Town are feared to have a “Day Zero” in 100 days, where taps would be turned off and people have to queue for water, due to three-year drought.
• The City is building additional desalination plants and aquifers to extract drinking water. The residents are asked to recycle water for other purposes.

3.There is rise in number of Indians in becoming US citizens.

• According to a Pew Research Centre study, Indians registered a 12% point increase in the US naturalization rate during 2005-15, the biggest increase in the no. of immigrants who obtained the US citizenship.
• Minimum age for US citizenship eligibility is 18 years.

4.UN’s staff claims that sexual harassment goes unpunished.

• Some current and former employees at UN have claimed that sexual harassment, including rape, goes unpunished, according to the Guardian report.
• As per the victims, on reporting sexual harassment against their seniors they were forced to leave their jobs or threatened with termination of their contract of work.

Business News
1.The Center and CII have signed a MoU for Development of Logistics Sector.

• Government of India and Confederation of Indian Industry have signed a MoU in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu to enhance import and export performance.
• The task of integrated development of the logistics sector has been entrusted to the Department of Commerce.

2.Country’s economic growth to improve in the next fiscal.

• India Ratings and Research has projected the country’s economic to improve to 7.1% in 2018-19 from 6.5% in 2017-18.
• According to the agency, there will be gradual pickup in growth momentum owing to structural reforms like GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

3.Yes Bank and Amplus Energy Solutions signed a pact.

• Yes Bank inked a contract with Amplus Energy Solutions to co-finance projects in the solar energy space in India.
• The MoU was signed at International Solar Alliance pavilion at the World Future Energy Summit, Abu Dhabi.

Sports News
1.India won against Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in ICC U-19 WC.

• The Indian Team beat Zimbabwe and registered their second straight 10-wicket win in the ICC Under-19 World Cup.
• Shubham Gill was named as the Man of the Match.

2. T20I tri-series of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh preponed.

• The T20I tri-series between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh scheduled in March has been preponed.
• The tri-series will feature all the three teams playing each other twice.

3.Sachin Tendulkar congratulated Virat on becoming ICC Cricketer of the Year.

• Sachin Tendulkar took Twitter to congratulate Virat Kohli for becoming ICC Cricketer of the year.
• Virat is the fourth Indian to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. The first-ever to win the award was Rahul Dravid. Sachin Tendulkar and R Ashwin also have won the award.

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