Current Affairs Daily Digest – May 18 2017

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  1. 2 Indian activists win Green Oscars

Two Indian activists have won the annual Whitley Awards, dubbed as the ‘Green Oscars’, for their works in the field of animal and bird conservation in India.  Sanjay Gubbi won the award for his work to protect Karnataka’s tiger corridors, and Purnima Barman for creating an all-female network to save the Greater Adjutant stork, known in India as Hargila, and its wetland habitat in Assam.

  1. Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the prestigious Dan David prize

Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the prestigious Dan David prize for his contribution in the field of astronomy. He is a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The $1 million prize is a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation headquartered at Tel Aviv University.

  1. Indian-American student wins National Geographic Bee contest

Pranay Varada, a 14-year-old Indian-American student, has won the prestigious $50,000 National Geographic Bee competition, maintaining the dominance of the community in the contest. He was declared the winner as he won the first tie breaker question when he correctly identified the Kunlun Mountains as the 1,200 mile range that separates the Taklimakan Desert from the Tibetan Plateau. As a result, he gets $50,000 in scholarship and other prizes.

  1. BSNL signs pacts with Facebook, MobiKwik

State-owned telecom operator BSNL has inked a clutch of agreements with Facebook and MobiKwik as its looks to popularise the internet and its value added services among customers. The pacts were signed to commemorate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Facebook, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will provide connectivity for the social network’s Rs.Express Wi-Fi Program’.

  1. Delhi gets its first ever fully air-conditioned bus stand

Delhi government has launched a fully air-conditioned bus stand. The fully air-conditioned bus stand has been launched at Latpat Nagar, with Daikin India joining hands with the Delhi government as part of the latter’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The pilot was launched on an experimental basis.

  1. Visakhapatnam railway station cleanest in India: Survey

The Visakhapatnam railway station is the cleanest, followed by Secunderabad, among the 75 busiest stations in the country. According to a survey, the report of which was released by railway minister Suresh Prabhu, the Jammu railway station occupied the third spot, while the New Delhi station was ranked at 39 among the busiest stations. The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India. The Darbhanga railway station in Bihar was the dirtiest among the busiest stations.

  1. May 17 2017: World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD)

.The World Information Society Day is celebrated on 17 May of each year on the occasion of the establishment the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The global day was adopted by the UN General Assembly in March 2006.

The theme for WTISD-17, “Big Data for Big Impact,” focuses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, often unstructured data into actionable information in a development context.

  1. Australia-based scientists create world’s thinnest hologram

The tiny hologram, which can be seen without 3D glasses, was created by an Australian-Chinese team from RMIT University in Melbourne.

Professor Min Gu, who led the study, said: ‘Conventional computer-generated holograms are too big for electronic devices but our ultrathin hologram overcomes those size barriers.

‘Our nano-hologram is also fabricated using a simple and fast direct laser writing system, which makes our design suitable for large-scale uses and mass manufacture.

  1. Amnesty International launches new global campaign ‘Brave’

Amnesty International has launched a new global campaign Brave to fight against what it said was a growing wave of attacks against those defending human rights.

Community leaders, lawyers, journalists and other human rights defenders across the world are facing unprecedented levels of persecution, intimidation and violence, it warned.

In India, the human rights group said that activists face repressive laws, surveillance, threats and physical violence while carrying out “legitimate” work.

  1. Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave Passes Away

Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave passed away. He was 60. He was appointed the Minister of State (MoS) independent charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 5 last year.

He also a prolific writer, he penned nine books in Hindi that reflected his varied interests, including conservation of the Narmada River and freedom fighter Chandrasekhar Azad. His books have been translated to Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati and Kannada. He also wrote a book in English named Beyond Copenhagen.

  1. Veteran actress Reema Lagoo passes away

Veteran film and TV actor Reema Lagoo has died of a cardiac arrest. The actor was famous for playing moms in both movies and television.

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