Daily Current Affairs, 03rd August 2018

1) President Gives Away Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards

•President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the years 2013-2017, in New Delhi. The Outstanding Parliamentarian Award was presented to the Best Parliamentarians from 2013 to 2017 for their remarkable contributions. 

•Winners of the award are listed below:

1. Dr Najma Heptullah (for year 2013),
2. Hukum Dev Narayan (for year 2014),
3. Ghulam Nabi Azad (for year 2015),
4. Dinesh Trivedi (for year 2016),
5. Bhartruhari Mahtab (for year 2017). 

2) Ballistic Missile Interceptor AAD Successfully Flight Tested

•Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the successful test of the Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Area Defence (AAD) from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The endo-atmospheric missile, capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 kms was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1500 km class ballistic missile. 

•All the mission objectives were successfully met. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, witnessed the flight test along with other senior officials. 

3) NITI Aayog Launches Global Mobility Hackathon 'Move Hack'

•NITI Aayog has launched Move Hack, a global mobility hackathon to crowdsource solutions aimed at the future of mobility in India. Envisaged to be one of the largest hackathons globally, Move Hack is focused on 10 themes and structured over three legs: online, followed by Singapore leg, and the finals in New Delhi. 

•MoveHack aims to bring about innovative, dynamic and scalable solutions to problems pertaining to mobility. The hackathon has a two-pronged campaign approach: 
(a) “Just Code It”
(b) “Just Solve It”

•The winners will be announced during the Move Summit 2018, which is also organized by NITI Aayog in September 2018 in New Delhi. Awards for the hackathon include recognizing top 10 winners, with total prize of more than Rs. 2 crores. 

4) Logo And Tagline For Geographical Indications Launched

•Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a logo and tagline for Geographical Indications (GI) to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country. The slogan for the GI tag is- 'Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India'. 

•A GI product is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory. 

5) World's 1st Hindi-Speaking Robot 'Rashmi'

•Ranchi-based software developer Ranjit Srivastava is developing the world's first Hindi-speaking humanoid robot, claimed to cost just Rs50,000 so far. 

•Named Rashmi, the AI-powered robot can also speak Bhojpuri, Marathi, and English, and is equipped with facial expressions and recognition systems. He was inspired to create Rashmi after seeing Hong Kong-made humanoid 'Sophia' in 2016. 

6) India's GDP Growth To Rise To 7.5% This Fiscal: Morgan Stanley

•India's economy is expected to clock GDP growth of 7.5% in this financial year according to a Morgan Stanley report. The growth recovery will remain robust, supported initially by consumption and exports. In the January-March quarter, India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew at the fastest pace in seven quarters at 7.7% on robust performance by manufacturing and service sectors as well as good farm output. 

•In aggregate, the report expect GDP growth to pick up to 7.5% in this financial year as against 6.7% in 2017-18. The report forecasts Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation to remain slightly above the inflation target of 4% and the current account deficit below 2.5% of GDP. 

7) Apple Becomes 1st US-Based Company With Market Value Of $1 Trillion

•Apple Inc. became the first US-based company with a market value of $1 trillion, four decades after it was co-founded by Steve Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage. The consumer-technology giant briefly touched the milestone in New York, based on share count data the company disclosed in a recent regulatory filing. 

•PetroChina Co. briefly crossed that valuation in late 2007 but slumped quickly as oil prices collapsed in the financial crisis. Since its inception in 1976, Apple has consistently re-imagined what a computer can be and defined how humans interact with devices and software.