Current Affairs Update 17 August 2018

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India proposes UNFAO to Declare Upcoming Year as “International Year of Millets”

• The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has written to the Director General, United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and proposed the declaration of an upcoming year (2019) as “International Year of Millets”.
• India is celebrating 2018 as the National Year of Millets.

GDP likely to Expand by 7.4% in FY’19: FICCI survey

• According to the FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey released recently, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal, higher than the previous year.
• The expansion in the GDP was 6.7 per cent (provisional) in 2017-18.
• The Consumer Price Index or retail inflation has been forecast at 4.8 per cent for the year as whole.

FSSAI Sets up Expert Panel to Look into Draft Labelling Regulations

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to form a three-member committee to look into the draft food labelling and display regulations.
• The regulations have proposed making red colour-coded labels mandatory on packaged food products which are high in fat, sugar and salt contents.
• The expert panel will be led by B Sesikeran, former director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and comprise current NIN director Hemalatha and AIIMS’ Nikhil Tandon.

Smitha V Crishna of Godrej is India’s Richest Woman

• Smitha V Crishna of the Godrej Group is the richest woman of India with wealth worth ₹37,570 crore according to the Kotak Wealth Hurun – Leading Wealthy Women 2018 report.
• Roshni Nadar of HCL (₹30,200 crore) is the second richest woman in the country, followed by Indu Jain of Bennett Coleman (₹26,240 crore) and Kiran Majumdar-Shaw of Biocon (₹24,790 crore).
• The list comprises of the country’s 100 richest women with a wealth threshold of about ₹1,000 crore based on the net worth of the women as on June 30, 2018.
• Maharashtra tops the list, with 27 of the top 100 women belonging to the State. 
• The report is released by Kotak Wealth Management, a division of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hurun Report India.

Scarlett Johansson Beats Angelina Jolie to Top Forbes’ Highest-Paid Actresses

• Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has become the best-paid actress in the world, according to Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest paid actresses.
• 33 year old Johansson made $40.5 million in pre-tax earnings from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018.
• Johansson beat out Angelina Jolie, who ranked second with $28 million. Jennifer Aniston came in third with $19.5 million.
• The combined earnings of the top 10 women this year is $186 million.

Imran Khan elected Pakistan’s 22nd Prime Minister

• Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has been elected the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan by the country’s National Assembly.
• Belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the 65 year old secured 176 votes out of the total 272 cast in polling in the lower house, while his opponent Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) got 96 votes.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita Re-elected President Of Mali

• Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as President of Mali after beating opposition candidate, Soumaila Cisse, in a runoff vote.
• 73 yea old Keita picked up 67.17% of the vote against 32.83% for opposition challenger and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse (68) who also ran against Keita in 2013.

K S Srinivas Takes Over as Chairman of MPEDA

• IAS officer K S Srinivas has taken over as the Chairman of the Kochi based Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
• Prior to this, he had served as Joint Secretary in the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare in the Ministry of Agriculture.

UAE to host Cricket Asia Cup 2018

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), have signed an agreement for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the prestigious Asia Cup scheduled to take place in September 2018.
• The Asia Cup 2018 will see Asian countries India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan competing against each other for the trophy, while, a sixth team will take part following a qualifier event.
• The tournament will be held from September 15 to September 28 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

US Singer Aretha Franklin Passes Away at 76

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