Daily Current Affairs, 09th February 2018

1)  PM Modi 3 Nation Visit- Leaves For Palestine

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for his three-nation visit to Palestine, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. This is the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Palestine, and Prime Minister Modi's second visit to UAE and first to Oman.

•Prime Minister would be addressing the Sixth World Government Summit being held in Dubai, UAE at which India has been extended 'Guest of Honour' status.

2)  Defence Ministry Appoints Panel To Expedite Capital Acquisition For Armed Forces Modernisation

•Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces. The committee will be headed by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former secretary in the government.

•Under the terms of reference of the committee, the Ministry has to undertake an independent review and check the status of ongoing critical projects worth more than Rs 500 crore. The panel will review various categories of projects including "Buy" (Indian) and "Buy and Make" (Indian).

3)  NHAI To Start 'Pay As You Use' Pilot Project On Delhi-Mumbai National Highways

•The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will start a pilot project called "pay as you use" on the Delhi-Mumbai Highway to study and implement the ability of the system in the country. 

•The project to be run for one year involves implementing a satellite-based electronic toll collection system running on GPS/GSM technology for around 500 commercial vehicles on the Delhi-Mumbai National Highway. 

4)  India Ranks 44th In Global Intellectual Property Index, US Tops

•India has increased “substantially” its score in the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, ranking 44th among 50 nations, according to the US Chambers of Commerce report. Last year, India ranked 43rd out of 45 countries in the Index.

•The top 3 countries in  the list are-

1.The USA.

2.The United Kingdom.

3.Sweden.

•India’s overall score has increased substantially from 25% in the 5th edition of the Index to 30% in the 6th edition, according to the annual report prepared by the Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC) of the US Chambers of Commerce.

5)  Hardayal Prasad Appointed SBI Card MD & CEO

•SBI Card, the country's second-largest credit card issuer, has appointed Hardayal Prasad as new Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. He has replaced Vijay Jasuja.

•Prior to this appointment, Prasad was with State Bank of India, holding multiple leadership positions in the bank. He had joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1983.

6)  Khelo India School Games Concludes; Haryana Tops Medal Tally

•The first Khelo India School Games concluded in New Delhi with sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally. The state won 102 medals which include 38 gold and 26 silver.

•Maharashtra with 110 medals (36 of them gold) finished second while Delhi with 94 medals came third. Sports Minister, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the top State Haryana with the glittering trophy.