20th April 2019 Current Affairs

1. Recently, Indian and the US navies conducted joint submarine hunting exercise near Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in which India’s P8I Neptune Aircraft and US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft along with the USS Spruance have participated. The objective of this exercise is to lay the groundwork for coordinating maritime patrol and reconnaissance. The Indian P-8I anti-submarine aircraft which participated in the exercise is from Naval Air Squadron 312 based at Naval Station Rajali in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu and US P-8A Poseidon aircraft which participated in the exercise are from Patrol Squadron VP-8 ‘Fighting Tigers’, based in Jacksonville, Florida.
2. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 2019 Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) in which Australia tops the ICP, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Cancer in 2018 caused 9.6 million deaths worldwide making it the 2nd biggest killer. The title of the report under which ICP has been introduced is “Cancer preparedness around the world: National readiness for a global epidemic.” Top 3 nations: Australia tops the ICP, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Bottom 3 nations: Saudi Arabia, Romania, and Egypt.
3. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 2019 Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) in which out of 28 countries India is in 19th position from the top. The wide range of data indicates a variation of cancer preparedness of countries i.e. methods to treat and prevent cancer. In the overall ranking, India ranks 19th and has a score of 64.9 out of 100. India ranks 17th in Cancer policy and planning and scored 80.8 out of 100 for this rank. According to the ICP rankings, India ranks 1st for research and 3rd for tobacco control in the list of 28 countries. India ranks 23rd for its national cancer control plan, which is relatively poor.
4. On 19th April 2019, To honor the Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has created the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies. He was a Professor of Economics at LSE from 1971-82. Amartya Sen. He will also serve as the director of the LSE International Inequalities Institute, focused on studying and challenging some of the most pressing issues. The Institute is a living embodiment of the School’s enduring commitment regarding the improvement of society through research, education and public engagement. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 and honored with Bharat Ratna in 1999.
5. On 22nd April 2019, SBI General Insurance has launched its new product – cyber defense insurance to protect businesses from financial and reputational losses due to cyber attacks. At first, it will focus on SMEs and mid-market businesses, but later it can cater to larger businesses. This offers protection against the growing threat of cyber breaches like hacking attacks, identity theft, disclosure of sensitive information and business interruption. Also, provides IT forensic investigations, legal advice, reputational and PR management.SBI General Insurance’s (SBIG) Cyber Defense comes with CyRUSS (Cyber Risk Underwriting & Solution Suite) which is a cloud-based tool for Commercial Cyber policies including risk assessment, ongoing risk management, and claim management.
6. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance collaborated with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance to launch their 1st product titled ‘Total Health Secure Goal’. The product is a combination of 2 existing plans, namely, Health Guard policy by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and iSecure policy by Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance. This combined plan offers customers a 5% extra discount on the total premium and also provides the flexibility of availing service or communication on the product. The product provides an overall insurance solution and ensures that health and security needs of the customer are taken care of without compromising on their savings.
7. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Asia’s first and India’s largest stock exchange and Network Intelligence, a global cybersecurity services provider & CERT-IN impaneled vendor inks Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide cybersecurity services to its members according to the cybersecurity framework set by SEBI. Last year, SEBI had released its guidelines on cybersecurity titled “Cybersecurity & cyber Resilience Framework for Stock Brokers/Depository Participants.” BlueScope, a platform developed by Network Intelligence, will offer 24×7 monitoring to the members.
8. Under the FAME II scheme, the Central Government has made compulsory for Electric Vehicle (EV) manufactures in India to locally source at least 50% components for the provision of receiving subsidies. This step has been taken to encourage local manufacturing and relying less on imports. The conditions under FAME II scheme were decided by the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee of National Mission for Transformative Mobility headed by Amitabh Kant, (Chief executive Officer) CEO of NITI Aayog. Only the companies that meet the 50% localization threshold will be eligible for incentives and subsidies under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme for enhancing electric mobility.

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