Government forms panel to upgrade norms for computation of economic data

  • The government has set up a 13-member committee to upgrade the norms for computation of economic data at state and district level.
  • This move comes amidst plans to revise the base year for National Accounts or GDP calculation.
  • The Committee for Sub-National Accounts will be headed by Ravindra H Dholakia, retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad.
  • The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) will change the base year to 2017-18 for the calculation of GDP and IIP numbers.
  • The panel will lay down revised guidelines, with the aim of using same principles and concepts across the country to make economic data easily comparable.

P K Shrivastava appointed DG of Ordnance Factory Board

  • P K Shrivastava has been appointed the Director General and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board.
  • He was the Additional Director General of ordnance factories and member at OFB.
  • He has also been in-charge of OFB’s Armoured Vehicles headquarters at Avadi in Chennai.

Artist Anjolie Ela Menon conferred Kalidas award

  • The Madhya Pradesh government has conferred noted artist Anjolie Ela Menon (78) the National Kalidas Samman for visual arts.
  • She received the award in recognition of her insightful and sensitive portrayal of the identity and spirit of women through her meaningful paintings in a variety of media.
  • In her long and illustrious career, Menon has received numerous national and international awards including the Padma Shri.
  • She recently received a doctorate from Rabindra Bharati University.

Jharkhand to set up India’s first Khadi mall

  • The country’s first ‘Khadi Mall’ will open in Jharkhand soon, Chief Minister Raghubar Das has said.
  • Land in the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) campus will be made available to the Khadi Board for the purpose.
  • Technological aid will be provided to khadi artisans, which will give their products more value.
  • Rural, urban and tourism ‘haats’ will provide khadi artisans with the markets to sell their goods.

Vijay Srinivas named Director & General Manager of United India Insurance

  • The United India Insurance Company announced the appointment of K B Vijay Srinivas as its Director and General Manager.
  • Prior to this, Srinivas served as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of the National Insurance Company Ltd.
  • Srinivas has received many awards in his 37-year career, and is an associate member of Insurance Institute of India.

Bhitarkanika National Park is largest habitat of endangered estuarine crocodiles

  • A record number of endangered estuarine crocodile nesting sites have been found in Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha.
  • A total of 101 nesting sites of the rare crocodile species were found this year. In contrast, just 80 nesting sites were found last year.
  • A female estuarine crocodile can lays 50 to 60 eggs in a clutch and the hatchlings usually emerge from their nests after 70 to 80 days of incubation.
  • 1,698 crocodiles were counted this year in the Mahanadi delta region; the figure recorded last year was 1,682.
  • Estuarine crocodiles are also found in the Sundarbans of West Bengal, which have the country’s largest mangrove cover.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador elected Mexico President

  • Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been elected Mexico’s new president, having garnered over 53% of the votes.
  • Obrador has won the presidency race at his third attempt, and has promised to tackle violence and wipe out corruption.
  • He is the former mayor of Mexico City and will take power on December 1st.

Australia wins Hockey Champions Trophy final 2018

  • Australia beat India at the 37th (and final) Hockey Champions Trophy (HCT) final in penalty shoot-outs.
  • The match was tied 1-1 after regulation time.
  • India won their second consecutive silver medal, and hosts, the Netherlands, came third, winning the bronze medal.
  • This was Australia’s record 15th Champions Trophy title.
  • The 2018 edition of the HCT will be the last edition; the tournament will be replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019.

More on Current Affairs

To stay up to date with current affairs and to test your general knowledge, check out our latest Current Affairs quiz.