The Daily Brief – 4th October 2018

Realtors body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide skill training and jobs in construction sector for 2.5 lakh urban poor people under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission. NAREDCO is autonomous self-regulatory body under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It was established in 1998 and is headquartered in New Delhi.

President Ramnath Kovind has appointed senior judge of Supreme Court Madan Bhimarao Lokur (64) as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA). He had served as Additional Solicitor General of India from July 1998 to February 1999. He functioned as Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court and Andhra Pradesh High court. He was appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court in June 2012. NALSA provides for free legal aid inter-alia to all persons in custody. It has been constituted under Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

Odisha Government has launched State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) to benefit the 25 lakh poor people who were left out of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). It was launched by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti (2nd October). In Odisha, about 78% of population are availing benefits of NFSA. NFSA aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).

The world’s largest dome was inaugurated at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT)’s World Peace University (MIT-WPU) campus in Pune (Maharashtra) by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu along with Peace Center on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The dome stands 263 feet tall and has a diameter of 160 feet, overtaking earlier record holding Vatican Dome having diameter of 139.6 feet.

The sixth edition of IBSAMAR, a joint multi–national maritime exercise between Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies was held at Simons Town, South Africa with an aim to undertake collective training for participating navies, building interoperability and mutual understanding as well as sharing of best practices. Exercise IBSAMAR was initiated in 2006. The last edition of IBSAMAR V was conducted off Goa, India in February 2016 and all previous exercises were held in South Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched first global guidelines on sanitation and health. These guidelines summarize evidence on effectiveness of range of sanitation interventions. They also articulate role of health sector in maximizing health impact of sanitation interventions. According to WHO, 2.3 billion people worldwide lack basic sanitation and almost half of the world population is forced to defecate in the open. WHO is specialized agency of United Nations that acts as coordinating authority on international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948 and headquartered in Geneva.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated first Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) in New Delhi. The same event also marked inauguration of second Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting and second Global RE-Invest (Renewable Energy Investors’ Meet and Expo). United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was present on the occasion. The ISA Framework Agreement had entered into force in December 2017 and formally became de-jure treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization. It is headquartered at Gurugram, India. IORA is international organisation consisting of coastal states bordering Indian Ocean. It was set up with objective of strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within Indian Ocean Region with 21 member states and 7 Dialogue partners.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has selected three scientists Arthur Ashkin (USA), Gerard Mourou (France) and Donna Strickland (Canada) for the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. They were selected for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.
Arthur Ashkin: He is 96 years old which makes him oldest scientist ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize. He received prize for optical tweezers and their application to biological systems.
Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland: They were jointly awarded for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses. Their innovative technique is known as ‘chirped pulse amplification’ (CPA).
With this, Strickland (59) became third woman to have received Nobel Prize in Physics, after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert Mayer in 1963.

The 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded one half to Frances Arnold from US and the other half jointly to US’ George Smith and UK’s Gregory Winter. Arnold was awarded for the directed evolution of the enzymes, while Smith and Winter for drug research that can neutralize toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer.