1st January Current Affairs 2018 1. Nepal bans solo climbers from Everest ● Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including M ount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents. ● The Nepal cabinet has endorsed a revision to the Himalayan nation’s mountaineering regulations, banning solo climbing on its mountains. This is one of a string of measures being flagged ahead of the 2018 spring climbing season. ●
The cabinet also endorsed a ban on double amputee and blind climbers, although Everest has drawn multitudes of mountaineers wanting to overcome their disabilities and achieve the formidable feat.
Important Points: Nepal ➢ Capital: Kathmandu ➢ Currency: Nepalese rupee ➢ Prime minister: Sher Bahadur Deuba ➢ President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari 2. Israel withdraws from UNESCO ● Israel has filed notice to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) alongside the United States. ● Israel has blasted UNESCO in recent years over the organisation’s criticism of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and its decision to grant full membership to Palestine in 2011. ●
Both Israel and the US – which filed its own withdrawal notice in October 2017.
Important Points:
UNESCO ➢ Headquarters: Paris, France ➢ Founded: 16 November 1945, London, United Kingdom ➢ Formation: 16 November 1945 ➢ Heads: Irina Bokova, Audrey Azoulay ➢ Awards: Peabody Award 3. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe named as ICCR chief ● National vice-president of the BJP, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who is also a member of Rajya Sabha has been appointed the President of Indian Council of Cultural Relations(ICCR). ● He will replace Lokesh Chandra, who was a scholar and thinker, and had been appointed by the NDA government in October 2014 and has completed his three-year term. ●
Sahasrabuddhe is the vice-president of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini which is South Asia’s only training and research academy for elected representatives and voluntary social workers.
4. Arunachal Pradesh declared Open Defecation Free ● Arunachal Pradesh has been declared Open Defecation Free. It has become the second state in the North East after Sikkim to achieve the status with the declaration of Upper Subansiri, Siang, and Changlang districts as officially Open Defecation Free. ● Chief Minister Pema Khandu was overwhelmed to find people participating in the construction of toilets even in remote villages along the international borders despite communication bottlenecks, requiring strenuous trekking for days together, carrying construction materials and ration as head-load. ●
The project, undertaken under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), was carried through after the state government provided an additional incentive of eight thousand
rupees per toilet, in addition to the state’s matching share and the support given by the Centre, raising the cost to 20,000 rupees.