Current Affairs In English 20th May 2018

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a day-long visit to Jammu and Kashmir. During his visit, Prime Minister laid down the foundation stone of ‘Zojila Tunnel’ on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway in Leh. The 14.2-kilometre long Zojila tunnel will be India’s longest road tunnel and Asia’s longest bidirectional tunnel.
ii. Prime Minister Modi also dedicated to the nation a 330 MW Kishenganga hydroelectric project from Srinagar. There are 7 functional NHPC power projects in J&K. The project has been built at a cost of Rs 5200 cr.

i. India’s Shivangi Pathak has become youngest women of the country to scale Mt Everest from Nepal side. 
ii. According to the Managing Director of Seven Summit Treks, Mingma Sherpa, 16-year-old  Haryana Born Shivangi successfully stood atop world’s highest mountain.

• Arunima Sinha was the first Indian amputee to climb Mt Everest.
• In 2014, 13-year-old Malavath Poorna from India had climbed Mt Everest from Tibet side and became the youngest girl in the world to the summit at Everest.

i. Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Mark Rutte, will be on a two-day official visit to India with an aim to boost the economic and political cooperation between the two countries.
ii. During the visit, the India-Dutch CEOs forum will take place in New Delhi. India and The Netherlands have a bilateral trade of 5.39 billion dollars. The Netherlands is the 5th largest investor in India.

i. Green Good Deeds, the societal movement launched by Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to protect the environment and promote good living has found acceptance by the global community.
ii. Dr Harsh Vardan at the ongoing 4th BRICS Environment Ministerial in Durban, South Africa had urged the BRICS nations to jointly help in the development of a social movement to fight for the protection and conservation of the environment.

i. NITI Aayog, in association with Vision India Foundation, is organising the Venture Capital Symposium 2018 to deepen the economic relationships between France and India. The Venture Capital Symposium 2018 is a three-day event where the French investors will be interacting with 100 early to mid-stage Indian start-ups.
ii. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, along with Atul Chaturvedi, Additional Secretary, DIPP addressed the inaugural address of the Symposium, which was attended by Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India.