Current Affairs 25th October 2018

Current Affairs 25th October 2018 - Important Points

• Foreigners seeking Indian visa must reveal criminal records now by - Union Home Ministry
• No sale of Bharat Stage-IV vehicles across the country from April 1st, 2020 by - Supreme Court
• PM Narendra Modi awarded 2018 Seoul Peace Prize by - Seoul Peace Prize Committee
• Invest India wins UN Award for excellence in promoting investments in - Sustainable development
• Government constitutes GoM to look into sexual harassment at workplace on - 24th October 2018
• India, Iran, Afghanistan hold first trilateral on - Chabahar port project
• Virat Kohli becomes fastest batsman to reach 10,000 ODI runs on - 24th October 2018

Current Affairs 25th October 2018 - Details

Foreigners seeking Indian visa must reveal criminal records now by - Union Home Ministry

Foreign immigrants seeking for Indian visa will now have to affirm their criminal records as a part of India’s new visa format. The ruling to introduce such a provision for processing of visa applications of the foreigners was taken by the Union Home Ministry after a request from the Women and Child Development Ministry.
In a series of tweets, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi assured that her request to review the visa application procedures for foreigners travelling to India by necessitating them to affirm any criminal record has been acknowledged.
Objective
The initiative goals to make sure the placement of protective processes to avoid travelling child sex offenders from entering into India and committing sexual violence on children here. Hence, it goals to check child sexual abuse and other crimes accomplished by travellers. 
Important Highlights

• Under the fresh updated format, a suitable questionnaire and a declaration will be introduced in the visa application form, which will have to be completed by the visa applicants.
• India on account of its lenient visa rules has continued to a favourite point for child traffickers and paedophiles convicted in their nations of origin.
• There have been several illustrations where foreign immigrants convicted of child abuse at home have travelled to India to operate child sex rackets.
• The latest known crime includes an Australian, Paul Dean, who was sentenced recently of abusing a host of differently-abled poor children from Vishakapatnam and Puri during his 3-decade stay in India.
• In another example, a United States citizen John Jones was detained recently by the Hyderabad police for socializing child sex abuse literature online.

No sale of Bharat Stage-IV vehicles across the country from April 1st, 2020 by - Supreme Court

The SC on October 24th, 2018 governed that no BS-IV vehicle shall be sold across the nation with effect from April 1st, 2020. The Bharat Stage-VI emission guidelines would come into effect from April 1st, 2020 across the nation.
The governing was declared by a 3-judge bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur. The bench elucidated that only BS-VI compliant vehicle will be sold in India from April 1st, 2020. The court governed for no grace period for automobile producers for the sale of Bharat Stage-VI non-compliant vehicles after April 1st, 2020.
Previously, advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the top court as amicus curiae, had conflicted the Union
Government’s initiative to extend time till June 30th, 2020 to automobile producers to sell their Bharat Stage-VI non-compliant vehicles produced till March 31st, 2020.
Need For BH-VI grade Fuel

• The BS emission norms were introduced by the Government to legalize the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles. The Bharat Stage-IV standards were in force across the nation since April 2017.
• In 2016, the Union Government finalised to switch over to Bharat Stage-VI grade fuel directly from Bharat Stage-IV skipping Bharat Stage-V, after Environment Pollution Control Authority in its April 2017 report informed the supreme court that only Bharat Stage-VI emission norms complaint vehicles should be permitted to be sold from April 1st, 2020.
• India had switched over to Bharat Stage-IV grade fuel in April 1st, 2017 after the guidelines of the court restricting Bharat Stage-III grade fuel.

World’s longest ocean bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai opened by - China

China initiated Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, world’s longest ocean bridge with total length of 55
kilometres. The new ocean bridge will join the east and west sides of Pearl River Delta of the South China Sea, joining 2 Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau with Zhuhai which is mainland China.
More about Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge

• It includes dual 3-lane, oversea stretch of 22.9 kilometres and undersea tunnel of about 6.7 kilometres which reaches depth of 44 meters. The rest 25.4 kilometres of the bridge runs over land.
• The both ends of tunnel of bridge are linked to 2 artificial islands, each million square feet, build in shallow areas of Pearl River Estuary to permit transit between bridge and tunnel sections.
• The 6.7 kilometres undersea tunnel is made of chain of 33 submerged hollow blocks, each 38 meters wide, 11.4 meters high and weighing 80,000 tonnes. The bridge consists of 400,000 tonnes of steel.
• It is intended to withstand magnitude-8 earthquake and assaults by super-sized cargo ships.
• The project was primarily conceived in 2003, and construction started on December 2009. Its total cost was 120 billion yuan.
• This has been shared in various proportions by Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai governments. It is believed that 29,000 vehicles would cross the bridge every day.
  Importance
• China considers this mega bridge as crucial component of its plans to advance Greater Bay Area.
• This area will be business hub including Hong Kong, Macau and 9 cities of Guangdong province.
• This bay area is being established with an objective to rival New York and Tokyo in terms of technological innovation and economic achievements.
• This bridge will play dynamic role in facilitating creation of a single market by connecting.

PM Narendra Modi awarded 2018 Seoul Peace Prize by - Seoul Peace Prize Committee

Seoul Peace Prize Committee has finalised to confer 2018 Seoul Peace Prize on PM Narendra Modi. He is the 14th recipient of this award. The award will be given to him by Seoul Peace Prize Foundation at
mutually convenient time.
Important Points

• Prime Minister Modi was nominated for this prestigious award in gratitude of his dedication for civilizing international cooperation, levitation global economic growth, accelerating Human Growth of people in India by fostering economic growth and furthering expansion of democracy through anti-corruption and social integration efforts.
• It also documented Prime Minister Modi’s helps to growth of Indian and global economies, credited ‘Modinomics’ for dropping social and economic disparity between rich and poor.
• It also praised Prime Minister’s initiatives to make government cleaner through anti-corruption actions and demonetization.
• It also credited Prime Minister for his involvement towards regional and global peace through proactive foreign policy with nations worldwide under Modi Doctrine and Act East Policy.
  More about Seoul Peace Prize
• It was recognized in 1990 to honor success of the 24th Olympic Games held in Seoul, South Korea.
• It was recognized to crystallize Korean people’s yearning for peace on Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world. 
• It is presented biennially to those people who have made their mark via contributions to harmony of mankind, reconciliation between nations and worldwide peace. 
• The awardee receives diploma, plaque and honorarium of US $200,000. Previous laureates consist of distinguished global personalities like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, earlier United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and renowned international relief organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

Invest India wins UN Award for excellence in promoting investments in - Sustainable development

Invest India, has secured United Nations Award for excellence in encouraging investments in sustainable development. The award was given by Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to CEO of Invest India Deepak Bagla at the World Investment Forum, Geneva.
It is authorized Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of Central Government. It is mandated to simplify investments in the nation. It is 1st stop for potential global investors in nation. It has been
formed as non-profit project under Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of
Commerce and Industries.
Important points

• Invest India got this award for excellence in servicing and supportive major global wind turbines firm in formation of blade manufacturing plant in India while committing to train local staff and produce One GW of renewable energy.
• Execution of this project is predictable to decrease India’s wind energy cost expressively.
• Apart from Invest India, agencies from Lesotho as Lesotho National Development Corporation, Bahrain as Bahrain Economic Development Board and South Africa as Invest South Africa also secured highest honours at United Nations Investment Promotion Awards for excellence in improving investment into sectors having social and economic advantages and will assist meet Sustainable Development Goals.
  UN Investment Promotion Award
• The awards are presented yearly by UN Conference on Trade and Development since 2002 as part of its investment promotion and facilitation program.
• It honours investment promotion agencies and their governments for their accomplishments.
• It also looks forward to present best practices in fascinating investment into Sustainable Development Goals related plans that can motivate investment promotion practitioners in developing and developed nations.
• The 2017 winners were EIC Ethiopia, COFIDES of Spain and Board of Investment of Mauritius.

Government constitutes GoM to look into sexual harassment at workplace on - 24th October 2018

The Union Government on October 24th, 2018 founded a 4-member Group of Ministers to inspect and reinforce the current legal and institutional frameworks for dealing with issues of sexual harassment of females at the workplace. The Group of Ministers has been formed in view of the felt necessity for broader consultation on the matters, from the  point of view of evolving suitable recommendations and forming a complete plan of action and for ensuring its time-bound execution.
Important Details

• The GoMs will endorse action compulsory for effective execution of the present provisions, and for consolidating the present legal and institutional frameworks for tackling matters related to sexual harassment at workplace. 
• The Group of Ministers will be needed to inspect the present provisions for the safety of females and endorse further measures, within 3 months of its constitution. 
• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act is the important legislation for shielding females against sexual harassment in the workplace and to make sure effective redressal of criticisms.
• Besides this, the Women and Child Development Ministry has also initiated an Electronic Complaints Box that enables females, irrespective of their work position, to complaint against sexual harassment at workplace. 
• Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it will be straight way forwarded to the related authority having jurisdiction to act in the issue. 
• The government would be putting into place a process to regularly monitor the action accomplished on the complaints.

India, Iran, Afghanistan hold first trilateral on -Chabahar port project

The 1st trilateral meeting between India, Afghanistan and Iran of Coordination Council of Chabahar
Agreement was organised in Tehran, Iran. India, Iran and Afghanistan in May 2016, had inked contract
which necessitated establishment of transit and transport corridor among 3 nations using Chabahar Port as one of regional hubs.
Highlights of Meeting

• Complete discussions were organised between 3 sides on full operationalisation of trilateral Agreement for global transit and transport via Chabahar port.
• They shared view that complete operationalisation of Chabahar port will encourage connectivity and economic development of Afghanistan and region.
• They also revised its implementation.
• They also finalised to form follow-up committee that will organise its 1st meeting within 2 months in Chabahar port. This committee will debate and goal to finalise protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs and consular issues for making the route attractive and decline logistic costs.
• It was also finalised to plan subsequent meeting of the coordination council in India in the 1st half of 2019.
• The meeting assumes significance as strategically-located Chabahar port on energy-rich Iran’s southern coast was coming under domain of United States sanctions on Iran.
• The sanctions were proclaimed following United States under President Donald Trump administration withdrew from 2015 Iran nuclear deal that raised most of embargoes on Iran forced for its alleged nuclear weapons program.
• India is dedicated to Chabbar project despite threat of United States permissions on countries performing business with Iran including buying oil or investing in the nation.
• It also has conveyed to United States importance of Chabahar project, saying it can be mega connect for trade with war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Virat Kohli becomes fastest batsman to reach 10,000 ODI runs on - 24th October 2018

Virat Kohli on October 24th, 2018 became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, accomplishing the milestone in just 205 innings. With the accomplishment, he surpassed the record made by Sachin Tendulkar, who had attained the feat in 259 innings.
Virat Kohli grasped the milestone while batting on 81 during the 2nd One Day International against West Indies in Visakhapatnam, India. He reached 10,000 runs with a single off the bowling of spinner Ashley Nurse. India are presently leading the series by 1-0. They secured the 1st 72 by 8 wickets at Guwahati.
Important Highlights

• Virat Kohli became the 5th Indian batsman and thirteenth overall to accomplish 10000 One Day International runs.
• The other Indians in the leading 10K club are Sachin Tendulkar with 18426, Sourav Ganguly with 11221, Rahul Dravid with 10768 and M.S.Dhoni with 10123 runs.
• Generally, 12 other batsmen have scored more than 10,000 runs in the One Day International format.
• Sachin Tendulkar was the 1st in history to breach the 10,000 mark in One Day Internationals. He got there in 2001 against Australia in Indore.
• While Tendulkar leads the list with 18,426 runs, Kumar Sangakkara is 2nd with 14,234 runs.
• Besides Kohli, the only other active player on the list is M.S.Dhoni, who completed the milestone against England at Lord's earlier in 2018.