India and Panama sign two agreements on visa exemption and agriculture

  • India and Panama have signed two agreements on exemption of visas for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.
  • The second agreement was for strengthening cooperation in the field of Agriculture.
  • According to the agreements, two centres for Biodiversity and Innovation will be setup by India in Panama worth US $10 million and US $15 million each.

India sends second relief consignment to Bangladesh for displaced Rohingyas

  • India has sent its second relief consignment to Bangladesh to help tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya Muslims, in Operation Insaniyat.
  • Indian Navy Ship INS Airavat sailed from Vishakhapatnam and reached Chattogram port (formerly Chittagong) Port with the relief consignment.
  • Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla handed over the 373-tonne relief consignment to Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzel Hussain Chowdhury Maya.
  • Since August (when the military intensified crackdown against alleged terrorist outfits of Rohingya Muslims), over 600,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar’s violence-hit Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Government launches Digital India Internship Scheme Portal

  • The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ravi Shankar Prasad, has launched the Digital India Internship Scheme Portal.
  • The portal will make it easier for students to apply for internships online.
  • The MeitY’s internship scheme will offer 25 slots in each session (summer and winter) and each intern will be given a stipend of Rs.10,000.
  • The portal’s aim is to provide an opportunity for students to get first-hand and practical work experience under the guidance of a mentor.

Malaysia to get world’s oldest prime minister

  • Mahathir Mohamad has been sworn in as Prime Minister of Malaysia. At 92, he is the world’s oldest elected leader.
  • Mahathir’s coalition, Pakatan Harapan, won 113 of the total 222 seats, to replace his own protege Najib Razak.
  • Mahathir had been prime minister earlier, between 1981 and 2003.
  • This is the first time that a Malaysian prime minister is not from the UMNO party and not a part of the BN coalition.

India’s clean energy capacity touches 70GW: MNRE

  • The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has revealed that India’s installed clean energy capacity has touched 70GW.
  • Another 38GW is being implemented, as per the data (as of March 31).
  • The country’s 70GW capacity is double what it was 4 years ago.
  • Also, around 56,000 solar power pumps were installed in the last financial year, the highest ever in a single year.
  • Renewable energy capacity of 11,788 MW was added during the last fiscal, again the highest ever in a single year.

India slips to 6th in Business Optimism Index: Grant Thornton survey

  • According to Grant Thornton’s quarterly global business survey, India has slipped to 6th spot in the business optimism index for the first quarter of 2018 - with a score of 89.
  • According to the survey, business sentiment is at the “weakest” in four years, but business optimism is at an “all-time high” globally.
  • The nations that came in top 5 are: Austria, Finland, Indonesia, the Netherlands and the US.
  • The report was prepared based on the results of a survey of 2,500 businesses in 37 economies.

Government approves green licence plates for electric vehicles

  • The government has approved green licence plates for electric vehicles.
  • The licence numbers for private e-vehicles will be in white, and for taxis it will be in yellow.
  • The aim is to make it easy to identify electric vehicles for preferential treatment in parking and free entry in congested zones, etc.
  • This move is to promote the use of e-vehicles. The government is even considering exemption from permits for such vehicles.

China launches satellite to monitor air pollution

  • China has launched a hyperspectral imaging satellite to make better observations of the atmosphere, which will focus on monitoring air pollution, a big concern in the country.
  • The Gaofen-5 satellite has the highest spectral resolution among China’s remote sensing satellites.
  • The satellite was launched as part of its high-resolution Earth observation project.
  • It was developed and produced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
  • The Gaofen-5 satellite was launched off the back of a Long March 4C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province, and has a life of 8 years.

Telangana launches investment support scheme for farmers

  • Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has launched an investment support scheme for farmers, called Rythu Bandhu (or “friend of farmers”).
  • Under the scheme, all farmers who own land will be given Rs.8,000 per acre per year.
  • A budgetary allocation of Rs.12,000 crore has been made for the scheme in 2018-19.
  • About 58 lakh farmers in the state will benefit from the initiative.