Current Affairs April 2018 - Reports

1 - Union HRD Ministry Released ‘NIRF India Rankings 2018’ for Higher Education Institutions

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development released the NIRF India Rankings 2018 in various categories on the basis of performance of Higher Educational Institutions. 69 top institutions in 9 categories were given awards.

List of top 10 India Rankings 2018 in "overall" is as follows:

2 - India becomes second largest mobile phone producer

According to Indian Cellular Association, India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China. The annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017.

India has replaced Vietnam to become second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017. Completely build units as percentage of domestic market has now come down from 78% (2014-15) to 18% (2017-18).

3 - India ranked 37^th in Global Start-up Ecosystem

According to report released by global start-up ecosystem map Startupblink, India was ranked 37^th out of 125 countries in global start-up ecosystem in 2017. The USA and the UK were the top two teams in the list followed by Canada, Israel and Germany. Singapore topped the list among the Asia nations.

Startupblink is a global start-up ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered start-ups, co-working spaces, and accelerators.

4 - Bloomberg Billionaires Index's top 100

The Bloomberg Billionaires Top 100 Index was topped by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $121 billion. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are placed at second and third spot with a net worth of $90.4 billion and $85.5 billion respectively.

Mukesh Ambani has been ranked 19^th on the index. He is the third richest Asian on the list. ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal (51), Shapoorji Pallonji Group Chairman Pallonji Mistry (61), Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (66), and HCL Chairman Shiv Nadar (85) are the other Indians to feature in the list. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma (ranked 13^th) is the richest Asian with a net worth of $47.2 billion.

5 - India third most vulnerable country to cyber threats: Internet Security Threat Report

According to Symantec’s Internet cyber Security Threat Report, India has been ranked fifth most vulnerable country in terms of cyber security breaches in the world in 2017 after the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2017, 5.09% of global threats detected were in India.

The U.S. (26.61%) was most vulnerable to such attacks, followed by China (10.95%). The global threat ranking is based on eight metrics — malware, spam, phishing, bots, network attacks, web attacks, ransomware and cryptominers.

6 - India ranked 130^th in latest annual Index of Economic Freedom

India jumped to 130^th spot in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank the Heritage Foundation. In 2017, India with a score of 52.6 points was ranked at 143 among 180 countries, two spots below neighbour Pakistan.

As per the latest Index of Economic Freedom, China has jumped to 112^th rank and Pakistan at 131 position. The list was topped by Hongkong. The report stated that Corruption, underdeveloped infrastructure, a restrictive and burdensome regulatory environment, and poor financial and budget management continue to undermine overall development.

7 - UP CM's Facebook Page ranked as top ranked FB pages of Government bodies

Facebook page of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been ranked as the top ranked Facebook pages of Government bodies, ministries and political parties in India.

Facebook released the data regarding the popularity of Chief Minister’s Facebook pages and it is based on interactions on the platform which includes total reactions, shares and comments. Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje’s Facebook Page is on second position and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s Page is on third rank.

8 - India ranks 10^th on new Commonwealth innovation index

India has been ranked 10^th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index. The index, launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), is topped by the UK, Singapore and Canada.

The Index has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

9 - Google ranked as most Trusted Internet Brand in India

According to TRA Brand Trust Report 2018, Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook. E-commerce major Amazon ranked third followed by eBay at fourth.

Indian e-commerce brand Flipkart was positioned sixth in the brand trust report. While Ola ranked seventh in the list, Uber took the fifteenth position. Google reported 1.3 trillion searches per year. The survey was carried out during November 2017-January 2018. TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2018 report covers 2488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated 5 million data points.

10 - The World's 50 Greatest Leaders of 2018 by Fortune

Fortune has published the '50 Greatest Leaders' of 2018 list. Renowned human rights lawyer and founder of Lawyers Collective, Indira Jaising has been ranked at number 20 in in the list. Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked 24^th while Architect Balkrishna Doshi was at 43^rd rank.

The first rank in this year's list has gone to "The Students" of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools in the US that suffered from gun violence. The #MeToo movement was placed 3^rd in the rank.

11 - State of Global Air Report 2018 released by Health Effects Institute

State of Global Air Report 2018 released by Health Effects Institute unveiled that over 95% of the world's population are breathing unhealthy air and live in areas of unsafe air which causes cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Report states that air pollution is the 4^th highest cause of death among all other health risks. Household air is the 8^th leading risk factor. Research show that people who live in more polluted locations are more likely to die earlier from heart and lung disease.

This State of Global Air 2018 report presents the latest analysis of worldwide air pollution exposures and health impacts.

12 - Global Findex Report 2017 released

Global Findex Report 2017 was released by World Bank. The Global Findex database is the world’s most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. It is published every three years since 2011.

The 2017 Global Findex database shows that 1.2 billion adults have obtained an account since 2011 and about 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked. Globally, 69% of adults have an account. The data also point to ways to leverage financial technology (Fintech) to boost the use of accounts among those who already have one.

13 - 2018 World Press Freedom Index released

According to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India was ranked at 138^th position among the 180 countries ranked in the report. The report gives an insight the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism and independence of the media.

The top five countries in the list were Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland respectively. China was ranked 176^th while North Korea was the last nation on the list.