02 March 2018 Current Affairs
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Vinay Kumar appointed as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan
Vinay Kumar has been named the next Ambassador of India to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of the 1992 batch. He is at present Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. He will soon take charge as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan offers to recognise Taliban as PG
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani offered to recognise Taliban as a legitimate political group in order to end the over 16-year-long war. “We are making this offer without preconditions, to lead to a peace agreement”, Ghani said. He also proposed a ceasefire and the release of Taliban-linked prisoners along with fresh elections and a constitutional review.
India-Jordan sign 12 Agreements
India and Jordan has renewed their support to the Palestinian cause as the two sides signed 12 agreements, including one on defence cooperation, following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King of Jordan Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein. These include agreement on Defence Co-operation, Visa waiver of Diplomatic & Official Passport holders, Cultural Exchange Programme, Manpower Co-operation agreement, Co-operation in field of Health and Medicine. Setting up of Next Generation Centre of Excellence. MoU for long term supply of Rock Phosphate and Fertilizer/NPK, Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement.
IOC restores Russia’s Olympic Membership
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has restored Russia’s Olympic membership with immediate effect following its suspension from the Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang in South Korea. Russia was banned from February’s Games by the IOC over state-sponsored doping. Before closing ceremony of Winter Olympics, the IOC had stated that the ban would be lifted, as long as there were no more anti-doping violations.
Para-Swimmer Prasanta Karmakar suspended for three years
Para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar was suspended for 3 years by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) due to allegations of recording videos of female para-swimmers at the National Championships 2017 in Jaipur. Prasanta Karmakar was the first Indian para-swimmer to participate and win a medal at the 2003 World Swimming Championships in Argentina. He had won bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He was India’s swimming coach for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. After receiving complaints from parents of female para-swimmers over video recording by Prasanta Karmakar, he was investigated and now has been suspended for 3 years by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI).
India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world: Report
According to Hurun’s Global Rich List 2018, with 31 new Indians on the list and with a total of 131 names, India comes third after China and USA. China with 819 names and USA with 571 are way ahead in terms of number of billionaires. Industrialist Mukesh Ambani remains India’s richest person with a sharp surge of 30 per cent in his net worth to $26 billion, pushing his global rank to 21st on a worldwide rich list topped by Bill Gates. The list ranked 2,694 billionaires from 68 countries and from 2,157 companies in another record-breaking year for the world’s billionaires.
AK Chaudhary to take over as SAIL Chief
Anil Kumar Chaudhary, now director finance st SAIL, has been chosen by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) to steer the company as its chairman. Subject to the approval from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Chaudhary will replace incumbent Prakash Kumar Singh, who is scheduled to retire on June 30 this year. Chaudhary’s term will start as SAIL has just returned into profitability after 10 consecutive quarters.