Current Affairs 11th May 2017

Current Affairs 11th May 2017 - Important Points

• First woman senator to breastfeed in Parliament - Larissa Waters
• Ahmedabad to host a mega-event to celebrate - International Yoga Day
• Bridges safe in Kerala - 606
• India, US exchange views on maritime developments in - Asia-Pacific & IOR
• India celebrates 2017 National Technology Day on - 11th May
• Asian Wrestling Championship: India's Harpreet Singh wins bronze in - Greco-Roman weight category

Current Affairs 11th May 2017 - Details

First woman senator to breastfeed in Parliament - Larissa Waters

Australian Senator Larissa Waters, the deputy co-leader of the Australian Greens party became the first woman in the history of Australian Politics to breastfeed her baby during a Parliamentary session on 9th May 2017. The senator, who returned to Parliament after 10 weeks of maternity leave, breastfed her 2-months old daughter, Alia Joy, during a vote for a Greens policy motion on a federal budget.

Waters also tweeted that she was so proud that her daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament! She also added that there is a need for more women, parents in the Parliament.

Important Highlights

• In 2003 Kirstie Marshall, a Victorian MP, was asked to leave from state parliament for breastfeeding her 11 day old baby girl.
• It was coalition MP Andrew Southcott who opened an inquiry into the matter of revising house rules in November 2015 after more than 10 parliament members welcomed babies into their families.
• The amendment had finally come into force on 1st February 2016.

Ahmedabad to host a mega-event to celebrate - International Yoga Day

Ahmedabad city in Gujarat would be hosting the biggest ever International Yoga Day event on 21st June 2017. The same was announced by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev while addressing a press conference in the city on 10th May 2017. The Yogi announced that the event would witness participation of over 5 lakh people.

Important Details

• The event would be inaugurated by the state’s Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
• It would be jointly hosted by the city’s GMDC and AES grounds, which when combined boast of a total area of 28 lakh square feet.
• It would be a non-political programme conducted in partnership with Gujarat government which will involve various social organizations.
• Yoga has received overwhelming support from over 170 countries including Islamic, communist and Christian ones.
• This year Singapore will be hosting its first edition of 'International Day of Yoga' at about 50 locations across the country. 
• High Commissioner of India to Singapore, Vijay Thakur Singh has even launched a web portal for online registration of Singapore participants for the mega event.
• To further encourage the yoga adoption as a way of life, Ramdev’s brand Patanjali would be initiating11 lakh Yoga classes across the country in coming days.

Bridges safe in Kerala are - 606

The first-ever ‘Bridges Survey’ conducted by the PWD revealed that around 365 bridges in Kerala are in such a grave condition that they need emergency replacement. The PWD Minister G Sudhakaran, while replying to the debate on demand for grants for public works in the state assembly on 9th May 2017, expressed his deep concern on the matter and revealed that only 606 of the 2300 bridges in the state could be deemed safe.

Important Details

• The most number of faulty bridges have been identified to be in Alappuzha (44) and Kozhikode (42). The Enathu Bridge in the state’s Kollam district collapsed in just 19 years after it was opened to traffic.
•  Some of the main reasons identified for their poor state are poor construction, design faults, poor maintenance, use of low-grade construction material, lack of periodic inspections, corruption, unchecked river sand-mining practice and lack of proper supervision.
• To ease this re-construction work, the state government has acquired a German machine for ?10-crore.
• The government would be hiring a chief engineer, exclusively for the bridges.
• The state roads would also be re-contoured, beautified and lined with trees wherever possible.
• Besides this, the state would also meet the government dues contractors and give them bank guarantee to get through the current crisis.
• 10 Bridges among the ones deemed safe are over 100 years old and despite wear and tear, years of heavy traffic and extreme weather, they have all shown remarkable resilience  and are still in excellent condition. Six of the bridges are located in Thiruvananthapuram.

India, US exchange views on maritime developments in - Asia-Pacific & IOR

India and the US exchanged views on maritime developments in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region and considered steps to further strengthen bilateral maritime security cooperation in May 2017. The exchanges were made in the second round of the India-US Maritime Security Dialogue. 

Key Highlights

• The dialogue between the two nations was held on 9th and 10th May 2017 in Newport, Rhode Island in the USA.
• They also reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken at the first Maritime Security Dialogue held in May 2016. 
• The Indian delegation was led jointly by Joint Secretary Ministry of External Affairs Pankaj Sharma and Munu Mahawar and Joint Secretary (Navy) Ministry of Defence Devika Raghuvanshi.
• The US side was led by Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Sean Stein.
• The next round of the dialogue will be held in India on mutually convenient dates.

India celebrates 2017 National Technology Day on - 11th May

The National Technology Day 2017 was observed in India and the theme of it is - Technology for inclusive and sustainable growth.

Key Highlights

• The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998. It also marks India's scientific progess and technological advancements.
• It's the same date in 1998 when India successfully conducted first among the five nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
•  These tests showcased India's strength to the entire world.

Asian Wrestling Championship: India's Harpreet Singh wins bronze in - Greco-Roman weight category

Indian wrestler Harpreet Singh won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman weight divisions on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championship on 10th May 2017. In the opening match played in New Delhi, Harpreet defeated his rival Jun Ji Na of China 3-2 in 80kilogram category. Also, another Indian wrestler Gurpreet Singh lost his bronze medal bout 0-8 in 38 seconds to Bin Yang of China. He earlier entered the bronze medal play-off round of Greco-Roman weight divisions in the 75 kg category.

Key Highlights

• South Korea with a tally of five medals including one gold, three silver and a bronze came up as the most successful nation on the day.
• In this competition, 112 freestyle, 103 Greco-Roman and 83 female wrestlers are vying for 24 Gold and Silver, and 48 bronze medals.
• India had bagged 9 medals - 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze - in the last edition of the tournament held in Bangkok 2016.

Do you know ?

Greco-Roman wrestling was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. This wrestling forbids holds below the waist.