Evening News Digest: 11 August 2018

One District One Product Summit inaugurated

• President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 'One District One Product' Summit in Lucknow.
• The summit was organised by the Uttar Pradesh government to give boost to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in every district.
• During the summit, with a tagline of 'Nayi Udaan, Nayi Pehchaan’, the President also distributed loan sanction papers worth Rs 1006 crore to 4,085 artisans from 75 districts.
• Two MoU also signed with Amazon and Quality Control  of India (QCI). Amazon will market the local product in these districts and QCI will ensure quality.

‘Prathibandhit Sahitya mein Swatantrata Sangram’ inaugurated

• The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma inaugurated an exhibition entitled ‘Prathibandhit Sahitya mein Swatantrata Sangram’ (Freedom Movement through Proscribed Literature).
• The exhibition was inaugurated in the premises of National Archives of India, in New Delhi.
• There are about 55 such proscribed literatures displayed in the Exhibition.
• National Archives of India
  • It is an Attached Office under the Ministry of Culture.  It was established on 11 March 1891 at Kolkata (Calcutta) as the Imperial Record Department. 
  • The present building of the National Archives of India was constructed in 1926 which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. 

Operation ‘Madad’ launched by Southern Naval Command

• Southern Naval Commando, Kochi on August 10, 2018 launched the Operation ‘Madad’ to help Kerala state administration and undertaking disaster relief operations in the state.
• Two teams with Gemini boats commenced rescue operations at Kalpetta, Wayanad and at Panmarum.
• Kerala is reeling under unprecedented flood situation owing to incessant rainfall and release of excess water from Idukki and other dams. So far, in Kerala floods 29 people have died.

SCO Peace Mission Exercise 2018 to begin in Russia

• As part of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) initiatives, SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for SCO member states.
• The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted by Central Military Commission of Russia from 22 August to 29 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia. 
• This will be a historic occasion due to the maiden participation of India post becoming a full member of the SCO in June 2017.
• About SCO
  • SCO came out of Shanghai Five group, founded on 26 April 1996 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.
  • Foudning Members: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan.
  • India and Pakistan joined as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Web Portal ‘PARIVESH’ launched for environmental clearance

• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched PARIVESH on the occasion of World Biofuel Day on August 10, 2018.
• PARIVESH stands for Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub.
• PARIVESH is a Single-Window Integrated Environmental Management System, developed in pursuance of the spirit of ‘Digital India’.
• PARIVESH automates the entire process of submitting the application and tracking the status of such proposals at each stage of processing.

All electronic vehicles to have Green Number Plate

• All Battery-Operated Vehicles shall now exhibit their registration mark in Yellow colour on Green background for transport vehicles.
• For all other cases, the number plate will be in White colour on Green background.
• Notification to this effect was issued on August 10, 2018.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified amendments to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to this effect. 

CSB develops three races of Silkworm Seed

• Central Silk Board (CSB) has recently developed three races of Silkworm seed to increase the silk production and farmer’s income.
• These are:
  • Tropical Tasar Silkworm (BDR-10) race: This race will be of useful for farmers of Jharkhand, Chattishgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
  • Multivoltine x Bivoltine Mulberry hybrid (PM x FC2) race: This race will be of useful for farmers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra.
  • Eri Silkworm (C2) race: This race will be of useful for farmers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
• About Central Silk Board
  • Central Silk Board is a statutory body, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles. 
  • It was Established in 1948 and is headquartered in Bangalore.
  • K. M. Hanumantharayappa is the chairman of Silk Board.
• Mulberry silk, Tasar silk, Muga silk, and Eri silk are four natural silk found in India.  Mulberry silk contributes to more than 80% of the silk produced in the country.

Defence Minister launched Defence Industrial Corridor in Aligarh

• Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a defence industrial corridor in Aligarh on August 11, 2018.
• The corridor was launched as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India’, which envisages making India a defence manufacturing hub.
• The government has announced two corridors, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Uttar Pradesh.  For the corridor in UP, six nodal points have been identified, viz Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi.

Michelle Bachelet appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

• The former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet was appointed the chairperson of UN Human Rights Commission. Her appointment was approved by the 193-member UN General Assembly.
• She replace Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who was the first Asian and Arab to be appointed to the this prestigious UN post.
• Michelle Bachelet was the first woman to be elected as President of Chile.  She was the first ever Executive Director of the UN gender equality office, UN-Women.
• AboutOHCHR
  • The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is headquartered in Geneva.
  • It was founded on December 20, 1993 in wake of World Conference on Human Rights.

Mahiedine Mekhissi wins 3000-m steeplechase in European track event

• France's Mahiedine Mekhissi joined an elite band of athletes after he claimed his fifth European title at track and field in Berlin, Germany.
• He achieved the feat after winning the 3000-m steeplechase in European track event.
• Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi joined the trio of German Harald Schmid and British pair Roger Black and Mo Farah as the sole athletes to have won five outdoor golds on the continental stage.
• Mekhissi, a three-time Olympic and two-time world medallist, eased to a fourth victory in the 3000m steeplechase in 8 min 31.66 sec, having already won the discipline three times (2010, 2012, 2016) and the 1500m once (2014).