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NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Continuation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Ayush Mission (NAM) from

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020
• The NAM is being implemented by Ministry of AYUSH with the objectives of providing cost
effective AYUSH Services, with a universal access which involve, among other things
• upgradation of AYUSH Hospitals and Dispensaries,
• co-location of AYUSH facilities at Primary Health Centers (PHCs), Community Health
Centers (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs),
• strengthening institutional capacity at the State level through upgrading AYUSH educational
institutions, State Government, ASU&H Pharmacies,
• Drug Testing Laboratories and ASU & H enforcement mechanism,
• supporting cultivation of medicinal plants by adopting Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) to
provide sustained supply of quality raw-materials and development of infrastructure for
medicinal plants storage and marketing.
The NAM is addressing the gaps in health services through supporting the efforts of State/UT
Governments for providing AYUSH health services/education in the country, particularly in
vulnerable and far-flung areas. Under NAM special focus is given for specific needs of such areas
and for allocation of higher resources in their Annual Plans.
The expected outcomes of the Mission are as follows:
(i) Better access to AYUSH healthcare services through increased number of healthcare
facilities offering AYUSH services and better availability of medicines and trained manpower.
(ii) Improvement in AYUSH education through well-equipped enhanced number of AYUSH
Educational institutions.
(iii) Improved availability of quality AYUSH drugs by increased number of quality pharmacies and
Drug Testing Laboratories coupled with stringent enforcement mechanism.
(iv) Increased awareness and acceptance of the Yoga & Naturopathy as promotive and
preventive health-care systems.
(v) To meet the increasing domestic demand of herbal raw-materials and also to promote export.
The National AYUSH Mission intends to build on India’s unmatched heritage represented
by its ancient systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Sidhha, Unani & Homeopathy (ASU&H)
which are a treasure house of knowledge for preventive and promotive healthcare.
Dispute Over Mahanadi river

• Mahanadi River, river in central India, rising in the hills of southeastern Dandkaranya
Plateau of Chhattisgarh state, flows through Chhattisgarh and Odisha. In its upper reaches it
flows through a rift valley, while in the lower reaches it forms the Mahanadi delta.
• Some Important Tributaries of the river include: Seonath, Mand, Ib, Hansdeo,Ong, Jonk,
Tel.
• The Chhattisgarh govt is building six barrages on the Mahanadi, a river that over half of
Odisha’s population depends on.Environmentalists say reduction of water flow due to the
barrages will affect biodiversity hotspots.
Quick Revision For Prelims 2018 – Current Affairs From Dec-2017 and Jan-2018 Page | 1
• There is no water-sharing agreement in the case of the Mahanadi. An attempt was made
during the pre-foundation days in 1983, when Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh
and Odisha chief minister JB Patnaik agreed to form a joint control board on water sharing
between the two states, but nothing came out of it.
• Hirakud dam, the first river valley project to be taken up post-Independence, was originally
planned as a flood-control reservoir to mitigate floods in the downstream delta
• Due to siltation, the capacity of the reservoir has decreased by 24% since its construction.
• The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act) is an Act of the Parliament of
India enacted under Article 262 of Constitution of India to resolve the water disputes that
would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley.
Indian Medical Association to doctors: Prescribe generic drugs, medicines with

price cap
• Indian Medical Association has recommended that doctors prescribe generic drugs or
medicines on the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), wherever possible.
• NLEM drugs are under the government’s price control and generic medicines cost less than
their branded alternatives.With a generic prescription, patients can go in for low-cost options
for the same medicine.
• The MCI, in 2016, amended the clause 1.5 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional
Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 mandating the doctors to prescribe
medicines by generic names in place of brand names.
Govt plans study to settle dispute over use of PET bottles for medicines
• Plastic bottles used for pharma packaging are made of a special plastic, known as
polyethylene terephthalate or PET - a clear, strong and lightweight plastic belonging to the
polyester family.
• It is the same plastic which is globally used for storing and selling packaged drinking water,
carbonated soft drinks and soda, amongst other consumable liquid products.
• Aluminum, glass and PET are the preferred packaging systems for solid oral
formulations. Aluminum and plastic collapsible tubes are used for semi solid
formulations and glass or PET for liquid orals and injectable.
• The government’s top research institute—the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),
under the ministry of health—has tasked Hyderabad-based NIN(National Institute of
Nutrition) to conduct the study to ascertain the safety of PET bottles for packaging
pharmaceuticals.
• In 2013, HimJagriti, an Uttarakhand-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that
works in the health sector, had approached the ministry of health seeking a ban on the
use of PET for pharmaceutical packaging.
Govt bans condom ads from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. because they are “indecent”
• The government strictly asked TV channels not to air advertisements selling and promoting
condoms because these are “indecent especially for children” and can create “unhealthy
practices” among them
• The advisory invoked Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, banning an “advertisement
which endangers the safety of children or create in them any interest in unhealthy practices
or shows them begging or in an undignified or indecent manner.”
• Advertising Standards Council of India, a self-regulatory voluntary organization of the
Advertising Industry, Established in 1985, is committed to the cause of Self-Regulation in
Advertising, ensuring the protection of the interests of consumers, had approached the
Information and Broadcasting ministry for taking a call on such ads.
Details Of Electoral Bonds For Political Funding

• In a bid to clean election financing, the government outlined contours of the new electoral
bonds that donors can buy from SBI and said receiving political parties can encash only
through a designated bank account.
• The electoral bonds, which are being pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to
political parties, will be available at specified branches of State Bank of India (SBI) for 10
days each in months of January, April, July and October.
• The bonds, which would be valid for 15 days, will not carry the donor's name even though
the purchaser would have to fulfil KYC norms at the bank.
• Although called a bond, the banking instruments resembling promissory note will not carry
any interest. It can be purchased by any citizen of India or a body incorporated in India.The
lender will remain the custodian of the donor's funds until the political parties are paid.
• Donors who buy these bonds, their balance sheet will reflect. It will ensure cleaner money
coming from donors, cleaner money coming to political party and ensure significant
transparency.
Maharashtra FDA approaches law and judiciary dept over ban on e-cigarettes
• E-cigarettes, also called Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), were invented in
2003 and became popular in India in the last decade.
• The hand-held device uses liquid nicotine or non-nicotine solution to inhale and give similar
effects of smoking. Even as its health benefits have been debated, several countries
including Europe and USA regulate its use. In India, Punjab is the only state to have banned
e-cigarettes.
• The move comes after the regulatory body found it can neither term vaping devices as a
‘drug’ nor as a ‘food’ through which it can enforce such a ban.
• In its letter to the law and judiciary department, the FDA also suggested that nicotine sulfate
is banned as a pesticide in India. Under Poison Act 1919, nicotine can also be banned, the
FDA suggested.
Supreme Court gives the nod for setting up 12 special courts to try cases against
politicians
• The States shall, in consultation with the High Courts concerned, make the Fast Track
Courts operational by March 1, 2018.
• The 1,581 criminal cases were declared by politicians in their nominations in the 2014
general elections. The Scheme proposes to club the cases of several politicians together
and have one court hear them.
• The sum of Rs 7.8 crore has been earmarked as the required expenditure for the setting up
of 12 Courts and the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has granted in-
principle approval to the said allocation.
The Eleventh Finance Commission recommended the creation of 1734 Fast Track Courts
(FTCs) in the country for disposal of long pending cases in Sessions courts and other
courts. Fast Track Courts were meant to expeditiously clear the large scale of pendency in the
district and subordinate Courts under a time-bound programme.
The term of scheme on the Fast Track Courts which were recommended by the Eleventh Finance
Commission ended on 31st march, 2005. The Government accorded its approval for the
continuation of 1562 Fast Track Courts that were operational as on 31.3.2005 for a further period
of 5 years i.e. up to 31st March, 2010.
The scheme of central assistance for Fast Track Courts was extended for a period of one
year i.e. upto 31.3.2011. It was decided that there will be no central funding for Fast Track
Courts beyond 31-03-2011.
Cabinet approves Rs9,046 crore National Nutrition Mission

• The cabinet has approved the setting up of a National Nutrition Mission (NNM) with a three-
year budget of Rs9,046.17 crore, to rein in malnourishment and stunted growth.
• Under the mission, the government is targeting a reduction of 2% a year in stunting,
undernutrition and low birthweight among 100 million people. It aims to reduce anaemia
among young children, women and adolescent girls by 3% a year
• NNM will address three aspects—the food that should be given to rein in stunting,
undernourishment, low birthweight and anaemia; the delivery system required for it;
and monitoring of the entire process. NNM will be rolled out in three phases from
2017-18 to 2019-20
• Under NNM, the ministries of women and child development, health and family
welfare, and water and sanitation will work together.
• Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25%
by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).
Railways to Launch Hi speed Network connecting four metros by 2022
• The plan is to interconnect four major metros –Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata with
trains running at 160kmph.
• The project is named as “Golden Quadrilateral” and envisages creation of 10,000 kms
network of semi-high speed routes connecting the four metros.
Section 498A, dowry: Most FIRs, least convictions

• Cruelty by husband or his relatives”, covered under Section 498A of Indian Penal Code
(IPC), makes up the largest chunk of all crimes against women.
• The charge, often levelled by a wife against her in-laws in cases of dowry harassment,
accounts for over 30 per cent of all crimes against women.
• Cases under Section 498A was found to have the lowest conviction rate — merely 12.1 per
cent — among all cases of crimes against women.
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the main criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code
intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted in 1860 on the
recommendations of first law commission of India established in 1834 under the Charter Act of
1833 under the Chairmanship of Thomas Babington Macaulay.
The Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) applicable in Jammu and Kashmir is also based on this
Code.
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

• The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or Hague
Abduction Convention is a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on
Private International Law (HCCH) that provides an expeditious method to return a
child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another.
• The Convention was drafted to ensure the prompt return of children who have been
abducted from their country of habitual residence or wrongfully retained in a contracting
state not their country of habitual residence.
• The primary intention of the Convention is to preserve whatever status quo child
custody arrangement existed immediately before an alleged wrongful removal or retention
thereby deterring a parent from crossing international boundaries in search of a more
sympathetic court. The Convention applies only to children under the age of 16.
• A recent Supreme Court judgement accorded courts in India unlimited discretion to
determine which parent should have the custody of minor children involved in
International parental child abduction. India is not a signatory to the convention.
Minority tag for Hindus: NCM forms committee

• The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has formed a three-member committee to
look into whether Hindus should get minority status in eight states where they are not
the dominant religious group.
• The Hindus are minorities in 8 Indian states. They are Lakshadweep, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab.
• Led by NCM vice-chairman George Kurien, the team will speak extensively to lawyers and
stakeholders and come back with a report in three months.
• According to 2011 Census, Hindus are a minitory in eight states. But their minority rights are
being siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily to the majority population because neither central
nor state governments have notified Hindus as a ‘minority’ under Section 2(c) of
National Commission for Minority Act. Therefore, Hindus are being deprived of their
basic rights, guaranteed under Articles 25 to 30.
PM dedicates 60 MW Tuirial Hydro Power Project in Mizoram to the nation

• The Tuirial HEPP has been constructed as a Central Sector Project and implemented by
North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), under the administrative control of the
Ministry of Power.
• This is the biggest power project located in Mizoram and will feed the entire energy to be
generated to home State.
• With sustained efforts by NEEPCO and with active support of Ministry of Power and
Ministry of DoNER, Government of India and Government of Mizoram, the stalled works
of the project were resumed in January 2011.
Karnataka HC strikes down rule on stringent tobacco pack warnings

• Karnataka High Court declared as unconstitutional the Cigarette and other Tobacco
Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014, which had enhanced to 85%
the area of pictorial warning on the principal area of packages of cigarette and other tobacco
products.
• The court, however, rejected the challenge made to the similar Rules of 2008, and made it
clear that the 2008 rules — which had prescribed that 40% of the specified pictorial warning
be printed on the principal area of the packages — would be in force until the Union
government frames a fresh rule or amends the 2008 rules afresh.
• Ministry of Commerce had opposed 85% area for pictorial warning on the ground that it
would not result in any benefit and wanted to restrict the pictorial warnings to 40% or 50%.
• The Labour Ministry had opposed pictorial warning for the reason that it would harm the
beedi industry, on which several poor families are depending upon for their livelihood.
• Parliamentary Committee, in its final report submitted on March 15, 2016 had recommended
restricting the area of pictorial warning to 50%.
• However, the rules are contrary to Article 19(1)(g) [right to practise any profession, or
to carry on any occupation, trade or business] as they are “unreasonable”
restrictions imposed “without application of mind or any basis.
SC for larger warnings on cigarette packs

• The Supreme Court stayed a recent Karnataka High Court order reducing the size of
pictorial warnings on packages of tobacco products to 40% of the package space.
• The court fore grounded the health of citizens over the concerns of the tobacco industry and
favoured a government regulation requiring packets of tobacco products to sport
pictorial warnings covering 85% of their packaging space.
With Roman law doctrine, govt moves to stub out tobacco industry rights
• The Indian government is pushing the Supreme Court to apply a rarely used doctrine that
would strip the $11 billion tobacco industry’s legal right to trade, an effort aimed at deterring
tobacco companies from challenging tough new regulations.
• New Delhi has for the first time asked the top court to classify tobacco as “res extra
commercium”, a Latin phrase meaning “outside commerce.
• If applied, the doctrine—which harkens back to Roman law—would have far reaching
implications: in denying an industry’s legal standing to trade, it gives authorities more
leeway to impose restrictions.
• The doctrine would open the door to an outright ban on tobacco sales if a state so
wished
MCI era is over: New regulator for medical education, exit tests for MBBS
• According to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, a 25-member commission
selected by a search committee headed by the Union Cabinet Secretary will replace the
elected Medical Council of India.
• The move is based on recommendations of the Ranjit Roychowdhury Committee and a
Parliamentary standing committee — both concluded that a regulator elected by the
fraternity it would monitor cannot be effective.
• The Bill also provides for the introduction of a licentiate (exit) examination within three
years of its passage by Parliament. Such a move would make the medical sector the first
in the country’s higher education system to have a common entrance test (National
Eligibility cum Entrance Test), counselling and exit examination.
• Under the NMC, which includes a Medical Advisory Council where states will be
represented, colleges need permission only once for establishment and recognition. Apart
from removing the need for annual renewal of recognition, colleges can, on their own,
increase the number of seats subject to the present cap of 250, and start PG courses. The
Medical Assessment and Rating Board constituted by the central government can,
however, conduct inspections.
• The ex-officio members of the NMC will include the director of AIIMS, New Delhi;
Director General of Health Services; and nominees of PGI Chandigarh, JIPMER
Puducherry, TMCH Mumbai, and NEIGRIHMS Shillong.
• The 64-member medical advisory council will have one member from each state and UT
(nominated by the Home Ministry); chairman UGC; director NAAC, etc. There will be four
boards under the NMC for UG and PG medical education, ethics, ratings and assessment.
For details on MCI refer to the previous edition of the revision friendly current affairs.
MEGHALAYA LAUNCHES INDIA’S FIRST SOCIAL AUDIT LAW

• Meghalaya became first state in country to operationalize The Meghalaya Community
Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017.
• The law makes social audit of government programmes and schemes a part of government
practice.
• The first of its kind social audit law provides legal framework for allowing citizens’
participation in the planning of development, selection of beneficiaries, concurrent
monitoring of programmes, redress of grievances, and audit of works, services, and
programmes on an annual basis.
• Social audit facilitator will be appointed to conduct the audit directly with the people. He will
present findings to the Gram Sabha, who will add inputs and the result will finally go to the
auditors
Social audit is a process of reviewing official records and determining whether state reported
expenditures reflect the actual money spent on the ground. A social audit helps to narrow gaps
between vision/goal and reality, between efficiency and effectiveness.
RERA’s administration under Urban Affairs Ministry’s domain

• The work of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which mandates the
establishment of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), will be looked after by the
Urban Affairs Ministry.
• The RERA is for regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and to ensure sale
of plots, apartments or buildings, in an efficient and transparent manner and to protect the
interest of consumers in the real estate sector.
• The law also has provisions for the establishment of an adjudicating mechanism for speedy
dispute redressal, related to the real estate sector.
• The administration of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of
Street Vending) Act, 2014, will also be done by the same ministry. The Act is to protect the
rights of urban street vendors and to regulate street vending activities.
Indian Science Congress ‘indefinitely postponed’

• For the first time in its 105-year history, the Indian Science Congress(ISC) — the
largest congregation of Indian scientists — has been indefinitely postponed barely
two weeks before it was to commence.
• This is due to “security problems” at the Osmania University, Hyderabad where the event
was to be organised between the January 3 and 7 of 2018.
• The ISC is traditionally the first public function the Prime Minister addresses in the calendar
year.
• In recent years, the Science Congress has also got flak for being a forum that promoted
pseudo-science, such as in 2014, when a session on mythology and Vedic-era airplanes
was a highlight of the event.
Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with
headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it
meets annually in the first week of January. It has a membership of more than 30,000 scientists.
The Association was formed with the following objectives:
1. To advance and promote the cause of science in India;

2. To hold an annual congress at a suitable place in India;
3. To publish such proceedings, journals, transactions and other publications as may be
considered desirable;
4. To secure and manage funds and endowments for the promotion of Science including the
rights of disposing of or selling all or any portion of the properties of the Association;
5. To do and perform any or all other acts, matters and things as are conductive to, or
incidental to, or necessary for, the above objects.
The recent announcement is that it will be held in March, 2018 in Manipur.

Triple Talaq Bill Passed inLok Sabha
• The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 (Triple Talaq Bill) has
been passed in the Lok Sabha.
• The Bill has been drafted in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in the case of
Shayara Bano v. Union of India &Ors., wherein the Court declared the practice of triple
talaq as unconstitutional.
• Section 3 of the Bill states that “talaq-e-biddat” shall be ‘void’ and ‘illegal’.
• A victim can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate. Under the law,
instant triple talaq in any form—spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email,
SMS and WhatsApp—would be illegal and void.
• This is followed by consequence of such void action in terms of Section 4 thereof, stating,
whoever pronounces talaq-e-biddat shall be punished with imprisonment which may
extend to three years and fine.
TB patients to get Rs 500 per month during treatment

• The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) has approved an incentive of Rs 500 a month
for all tuberculosis patients for the duration of the treatment, irrespective of their income
The EFC in its meeting also approved raising the incentive forKala Azar (KA) patients
from Rs.500 to Rs. 2,000 per month with a view to elimination, and that of Post Kala
Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) patients from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000. PKDL is a skin
condition associated with patients recovering from KA.
level.
• The money is for nutrition support, as TB is known to be a disease of undernutrition. The
incentive amount, though, is a fourth of what was envisaged in the National Strategic Plan
forTB Elimination released earlier this year with the aim of eliminating the disease by
2030.
• India is the country with the largest TB burden in the world. The bacterial infection kills an
estimated 4.80 lakh Indians every year and more than 1,400 every day.
India recorded about 3.9 million cancer cases in 2016, data shows
• The worst affected states were Uttar Pradesh with 674,386 cases, followed by
Maharashtra with 364,997 and Bihar with 359,228.
• if we look at the percentage of cancer in population, the prevalence and incidence (the
number of new cases per population at risk in a given time period) are much higher in North
East region such as Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
• More than 40% of the cancer cases in India are totally preventable such as lung
cancer and cancers of mouth.
• One of the major reasons of cancers of mouth and lung is tobacco consumption.
India is the hub of smokeless tobacco users.
• A population level initiative of prevention, control and screening for common non-
communicable diseases (NCDs) (diabetes, hypertension and oral, breast and cervical
cancer) has been rolled out in more than 100 districts in 2017-18 under the National Health
Mission (NHM).
The central government is implementing a “Strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer facilities”

Scheme under National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes,
Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) to assist states in establishing State Cancer
Institute’s (SCI) and Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCC) in different parts of the country.
The objectives of NPCDCS, which is being implemented under NHM for interventions up to district
level, include awareness generation for cancer prevention, screening, early detection and referral
to an appropriate level institution for treatment. The focus is on three types of cancer namely
breast, cervical and oral cancer.
The Government of India does not propose to declare Cancer as a notifiable disease. A
notifiable disease is a disease notified by doctors if it poses public health concern, such as
dengue, malaria.
Market Assurance Scheme: minimum support price (MSP) assurance scheme for farmers
• Govt of India is planning to launch Market Assurance Scheme to provide minimum support
price to the farmers for their produce. The new scheme will mitigate the risk faced by
farmers due to drop in the prices after harvest.
• Under the Market Assurance Scheme the state governments will be free to procure all
those crops for which minimum support prices are announced. The center
government will compensate states at a rate of 30% of the procurement cost.
• Wheat, rice and some of the pulses are not included in the Market Assurance Scheme
as they are already procured by the central government. Rest all crops can be
procured by the state under the scheme at the MSP. The state government is free to use
the procured crops for nutrition support schemes such as Mid Day Meal program or sale it in
the whole sale market.
Arunachal Pradesh declared as open defecation-free State

• Arunachal Pradesh emerged as the second State in the Northeast, after Sikkim, to be
declared Open Defecation Free.
• Arunachal has 21 districts and the State attained the feat much before the national deadline
of October 2, 2019.
• The project undertaken under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) SBM (G) saw the light of
day only after the State government extended an incentive of Rs 8,000 per toilet.This is in
addition to the Centre’s support of Rs 12,000, raising the grant for constructing a toilet to Rs
20,000.
• Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Haryana have earlier been
declared ODF states under SBM-G.
Online portal ‘NARI’ for women empowerment

• Developed by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, the portal will provide women
citizens with easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women.
• In order to make this information more easily accessible in one place, the NARI portal
summarizes over 350 government schemes and other important information for the benefit
of women, with more being added every day.
• NARI will provide information to women on issues affecting their lives. There are tips on
good nutrition, suggestions for health checkups, information on major diseases, tips for job
search and interview, investment and savings advice, information on crimes and against
women and reporting procedures, contacts of legal aid cells, simplified adoption procedures
and much more.
Cabinet nod for Bilaspur AIIMS in Himachal Pradesh

• Establishment of an AIIMS facility in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, at a cost of Rs 1,351
crore, will consist of a hospital with a capacity of 750 beds and trauma centre
facilities.
• It will also have an Ayush Department with 30 beds for providing treatment facilities in
traditional system of medicine
• This is under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).Several other
AIIMS have been established under the scheme, including in Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Raipur,
Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work on an AIIMS in Rae Bareli is in progress.
• Also, three AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and Mangalagiri in
Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) were sanctioned in 2015; two AIIMS have been sanctioned at
Bathinda and Gorakhpur in 2016 and an AIIMS in Kamrup (Assam).
The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) was announced in 2003 with
objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/ reliable tertiary
healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country.
PMSSY has two components:
(i) Setting up of AIIMS like Institutions

(ii) Upgradation of Government Medical College Institutions.
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding Between Ministry of Railways Ministry

of Human Resource Development Ministry of Science & Technology on Technology
Mission for Indian Railways
• This MOU will facilitate the co-financing of ‘Technology Mission for Indian Railways’ by
investment sharing for identified railway projects for applied research.
• The Technology Mission will take up R&D projects in the areas of heavy haul, safety,
energy, environment and urban railways. The projects will be implemented through a
Mission Implementation and Coordination Committee having members from the three
Ministries, academia and industry.
Health Ministry launches digital online oncology tutorial series

• The Health Ministry launched the country’s first digital online oncology tutorial series
designed in collaboration with the Tata Memorial Centre.
• The series is aimed at educating doctors in early detection, prevention, palliation,
rehabilitation and treatment of various forms of cancers.
• The overall course, designed for seven weeks, will equip doctors with the skills and
knowledge on the basics of oncology to detect, diagnose and refer cancer cases early. It
comprises 14 hours of comprehensive e-learning through more than 40 video
lectures, case studies, assessment questionnaires and periodic interactive webinar
sessions with the respective consultants of Tata Memorial Hospital.
• Doctors, including gynecologists, dentists and general physicians, across the
country can now have access to online training on the basics of oncology, which is
the study of cancer.
Govt plans to set up bio-CNG plants and allied infrastructure

• Bio-CNG is a purified form of biogas with over 95% pure methane gas. It is similar to
natural gas in its composition (97% methane) and energy potential. While natural gas is a
fossil fuel, bio-CNG is a renewable form of energy produced from agricultural and food
waste.
• Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd are the
state-run oil marketing companies that the oil ministry will team up with to implement the
plan. Gas marketer GAIL India Ltd will also be involved.
• Setting up the infrastructure would be a priority. A typical bio-CNG station comprises a
biogas purification unit, a compressor and a high pressure storage system.
Nagaland declared as ‘disturbed area’ for 6 more months

• The entire Nagaland has been declared as “disturbed area” for six more months, till
June- end ,2018, under the controversial AFSPA, which empowers security forces to
conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior notice.
• The declaration of Nagaland as “disturbed area” has been taken as killings, loot and
extortion have been going in various parts of the state which necessitated the action for the
convenience of the security forces operating there.
UIDAI introduces virtual ID, limited KYC for Aadhaar card holders
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) put in place a two-layer security to
reinforce privacy protection for Aadhaar ID number holders.
• It has introduced a virtual identification for the Aadhaar holders so that the actual number
need not be shared to authenticate their identity.
• The virtual ID will be a 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number. It can
only be generated, replaced or revoked by the Aadhaar number holder from time to time. It
will not be possible to derive the Aadhaar number from the virtual ID. The 'Virtual ID' along
with biometrics will furnish limited details like names, addresses, and photographs to
the agency concerned for verification.
• The UIDAI has also introduced the concept of ‘limited know-your-customer (KYC)’ under
which it will only provide need-based or limited details of a user to an authorized agency that
is providing a particular service.
• Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number issued to all Indian residents based on
their biometric and demographic data.
CCEA gives nod for continuing MPLAD scheme till March 2020
• CCEA(Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) has given its approval for the continuation
of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) till the term of
the 14th Finance Commission, March 31, 2020,
• The scheme enables MPs to recommend works for creation of durable community assets
based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies.
• The areas covered by it include drinking water, education, public health, sanitation and
roads. It is governed by a set of guidelines which were last revised in June, 2016.
• The central sector scheme was launched in 1993-94.The MPLADS funds are released to
the nodal District Authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per the schemes
guidelines. Initially, this scheme was administered by Ministry of Rural Development.
Later, in October 1994, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI)
has been looking into its working.
In AP capital, block-chain technology secures land records

• Andhra Pradesh has thus emerged as the country’s first public entity to use
blockchain-enabled security for land records.
• The fintech firm has built a solution that is being used in Amaravati, the Capital region of
Andhra Pradesh. About one lakh land records with the CRDA (Capital Regional
Development Authority) now have blockchain protection.
• Blockchain has wide application beyond the fields of banking and financial services, where it
is being extensively used. It has applications in securing employee databases, health and
salary records, pension payments and education.
For Details on block-chain technology refer to the previous edition of the Revision friendly
current affairs
NHAI issues contract for highway project linking India, Myanmar, Thailand
• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued the letter of award to Punj Lloyd
and Varaha Infra joint venture last week for the construction of a two-lane highway in the
Kalewa-Yargi section of the proposed India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral
Highway.
• Referred to as Friendship Highway, from the border town of Tamu to Kalewa,the
highway will connect India with Thailand through Myanmar, the only ASEAN country
that shares land border with India. With $76-billion trade, ASEAN is India’s fourth
largest trading partner.
Kerala battles a new health risk
• With antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerging as a major concern in the health as
well as allied sectors such as veterinary, dairy, fisheries and poultry, Kerala is all set
to launch its strategic action plan for tackling AMR.
• Drastic changes in antibiotic prescription policies and practices will have to be ushered in to
tackle AMR, which has already reached dangerous levels in Kerala.
• The State intends to set up an AMR surveillance network to have a clear understanding of
the drug-resistant pathogens in the community, reducing the irrational consumption of
antibiotics, and ensuring that rational antibiotic prescription policies are followed by medical
fraternity. The draft AMR action focusses on five strategies.
No viable alternative to hanging, Centre tells court

• There is no viable method at present other than hanging to execute condemned
prisoners. Lethal injections are unworkable and often fail, the Centre told the Supreme
Court.
• The court had previously said a condemned convict should die in peace and not in pain. A
human being is entitled to dignity even in death.
The court has already clarified that it is not questioning the constitutionality of death penalty,
which has been well-settled by the apex court, including in Deena versus Union of India and
earlier in the Bachan Singh case reported in 1980. Section 354 (5), which mandates death by
hanging, of the Code of Criminal Procedure has already been upheld.
SC modifies order, says playing of national anthem in cinema halls is not

mandatory
• The Supreme Court modified its November 30, 2016 interim orderand made it optional
for cinema halls to play the 52-second national anthem before every show.
• The court said that It is not mandatory to play the anthem before screenings in cinemas. It
left the choice of whether to play the anthem or not to the discretion of individual cinema hall
owners.
• However, if the anthem is played, patrons in the hall are bound to show respect by standing
up. The court clarified that the exception granted to disabled persons from standing up
during the anthem “shall remain in force on all occasions”.
The modification will be in place till the Union government takes a final decision on the
recommendations of a 12-member high-profile inter-ministerial committee regarding the
occasions, circumstances and events for the solemn rendering of the anthem. The ministerial
panel will examine whether any amendments are necessary to the Prevention of Insult to
National.Foundation
Honour Actstone for National
of 1971 to expand Waterway-4
or specify in
theAndhra Pradesh
meaning of “respect” to the national
The
anthem.
• NW-4 would be developed in three phases.
• The 1971 Act states: “Whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Jana Gana Mana or
causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
India misses Kala Azar elimination deadline

• Elimination is defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar (KA) to less than 1
case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
• KA is a slow progressing indigenous disease caused by a single-celled parasite of the
Leishmania family.
• KA vector needs to be eliminated to eliminate Kala Azar. As the endemic blocks have
majority of houses made from wood, it is very difficult to eliminate the vector as it dwells in
the wooden structure and escapes various measures to kill it. Hence, to stop the infection
transmission, pucca houses need to be built.
• Secondly even after treatment of Kala Azar patients, it is the PKDL cases which become a
source for future KA cases.
• The Expenditure Finance Committee in its meeting approved raising the incentive forKala
Azar (KA) patients from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 per month with a view to elimination, and
that of Post Kala Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) patients from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000.
PKDL is a skin condition associated with patients recovering from KA.
All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2016-17
• There is an increase in overall enrolment from 27.5 million in 2010-11 to 35.7 million in
2016-17 and improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) which is a ratio of enrolment in
higher education to population in the eligible age group (18-23) years, from 19.4% in 2010-
11 to 25.2 in 2016-17.
• Gender Parity Index (GPI), a ratio of proportional representation of female and male, has
improved from 0.86 to 0.94 to the corresponding period.
• The number of institutions of higher education listed on AISHE portal has also increased
significantly – from 621 universities in 2010-11 to 864 in 2016-17 and from 32,974 colleges
in 2010-11 to 40,026 colleges in 2016-17.
• The survey is also unique in the sense that it is a participatory effort between State
Governments, Regulatory Statutory Authorities and the Ministries of the Government
of India.
• The AISHE data is the main source of information for `Know Your College’ portal.In the
AISHE 2016-17, efforts have been made for the first time to collect the details of teachers to
be used in the portal ‘Gurujan’ specifically dedicated to teacher information.
18th All India Whips’ Conference: Union Government proposes rolling out e-Sansad and
e-Vidhan
• The Whips’ Conference also aims to deliberate recommendations for smooth and efficient
working of Parliament and the State Legislatures in the light of the experience gained by the
Whips.
• It will also consider rolling out e-Sansad in Parliament and e-Vidhan in State Legislatures
with an aim to digitize and make their functioning paperless.
• The Whips’ Conference also aims to deliberate recommendations for smooth and efficient
working of Parliament and the State Legislatures in the light of the experience gained by the
Whips.
A whip is a member of political party’s parliamentary body responsible for discipline

within the party. Their main job is ensuring that their members in Parliament and legislature
vote in line with the party’s official policy on important issues.
The office of whip is neither mentioned in constitution of India nor in the Rules of the House
nor in the Parliamentary Statue. It is based on conventions of parliamentary government.
Centre eliminates Haj subsidy as part of policy to 'empower minorities without

appeasement'
• Haj pilgrims will no longer receive any subsidy this year onwards, with the government
saying the decision is part of its agenda of empowerment of minorities without
appeasement.
• A policy to withdraw the Haj subsidy had been drafted in light of a 2012 Supreme Court
order asking the Centre to abolish it gradually by 2022.
• The cut in funds meant for subsidy will be used for educational empowerment and
welfare of girls from minority communities, the government will offer air and waterways
option for the pilgrims as cost will go up.
The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca,the holiest city for Muslims, and a mandatory
religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all
adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support
their family during their absence. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat,
and Sawm
Four SC judges air differences with CJI Misra

• The senior-most judges after the CJI — accused Justice Misra of assigning cases of “far-
reaching consequences to the nation” to junior hand-picked judges against the time-tested
convention, practice and tradition of the court.
• Justice Chelameswar said that several other important cases like this had been
assigned to preferred Benches over the past months. The convention of the court
demands that important cases of public interest or sensitive matters should be first
heard by the CJI. If the CJI is not willing for some reason to hear the case, it should be
assigned to the next senior-most judge in the Supreme Court. Instead of that, such cases
have been assigned to certain Benches and eventually given a quiet burial.
India’s learning deficit is worsening: ASER study

• This time ASER teams went beyond basics and surveyed students on activity in schools,
ability to solve problems, exposure, awareness and aspirations across 28 districts in 24
states to gauge the “ability (of adolescents aged 14-18 years) to lead productive lives as
adults”.
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), India’s largest NGO-run annual survey, has
been conducted by Pratham since 2005 to evaluate the relevance and impact of its programs.
Findings are disseminated at national, state, district and village levels, and influence education
policies at both state and central levels.
Operation Digital Board in the offing
• The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) passed a resolution to take steps
towards Operation Digital Board on the lines of Operation Blackboard of 1987, which
was started with the purpose of providing minimum basic facilities to all primary
schools.
• The idea of Operation Digital Board is aimed at providing better digital education in all
schools. This will offer new opportunities and new ways of teaching and learning to schools.
Home Ministry pitches for Budapest Convention on cyber security

• India was reconsidering its position on becoming a member of the Budapest Convention
because of the surge in cybercrime, especially after a push for digital India.
• The move, however, is being opposed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on the grounds
that sharing data with foreign law enforcement agencies infringes on national
sovereignty and may jeopardise the rights of individuals.
• The Budapest Convention provides for the criminalisation of conduct, ranging from
illegal access, data and systems interference to computer-related fraud and child
pornography, procedural law tools to make investigation of cybercrime and securing of
e-evidence in relation to any crime more effective, and international police and judicial
cooperation on cybercrime and e-evidence.
The Home Minister had announced the setting up of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in
2016 to deal with all types of cyber crime at the national level.
I4C will be set up under the newly created Cyber and Information Security (CIS) division of the MHA. CIS
will have four wings, namely security clearance, cybercrime prevention, cyber security and information
security.
UDAN 2 to link 73 airports, helipads

• 3 underserved and unserved airports and helipads would be connected under the phase 2
of the regional connectivity scheme UDAN.
UDAN-RCS, UDAN (UdeDesh ka Aam Naagrik) is a regional airport development and "Regional
Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of "Let the common citizen
of the country fly", aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national
economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and
states of India. The scheme has two components. The First component is to develop new and
enhance the existing regional airports to increase the number of operational airports for the
scheduled civilian flights from 70 (in May 2016, total 98 operational including army airports) to at
least 150 airports (by December 2018) with regular scheduled flights.
The Second component is to add several hundred financially-viable capped-airfare new regional
flight routes to connect more than 100 underserved and unserved airports in smaller towns with
each other as well as with well served airports in bigger cities by using "Viability Gap Funding"
(VGF) where needed
• In addition, around two lakh RCS (regional connectivity scheme) seats per annum are
expected to be provided through helicopter operations
• The States with maximum number of airports and helipads which will see activation under
UDAN 2 scheme include Uttarakhand (15), Uttar Pradesh (9), Arunachal Pradesh (8),
Himachal Pradesh (6), Assam (5) and Manipur (5)..
• The Centre said it had decided not to increase the ₹5,000 regional air connectivity levy
charged from airlines flying on major routes to fund the UDAN scheme. It would now be
partly funded by the dividend that AAI (Airports Authority of India) paid to the Government of
India.
Centre determined to stabilize population growth

• The UN’s World Population Prospect report may state that India’s population will equal
China’s in the next seven years, but the government seems determined to slow down the
growth before that deadline.
• The TFR(Total Fertility Rate) is defined as the total number of children born or likely
to be born to a woman in her lifetime at the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility.
Population stabilization is said to be achieved at a TFR of 2.1 because a population just
replaces itself at that rate.
• Among the things that are part of the plan is a range of contraceptive devices, medicines,
counselling, special classes for family planning and in cases where there are social barriers,
to work with institutions to dispel doubts.
The UN publishes global population projections and estimates every two years from
1951 using current population by age, and age-specific rates of fertility, mortality and
migration to assess hypothetical population trends and to help understand determinants of
population change and inform policy discussions.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban Launches Smart Star-Rating for Garbage Free Cities
• The star-rating initiative, developed by the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban will be rating
cities on a 7-star rating system based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste
management, which will include Door to Door Collection, bulk generator compliance, source
segregation, sweeping, scientific processing of waste, scientific land filling, plastic waste
management, construction and demolition management, dump remediation & citizen
grievance redressal system etc.
• Cities can be rated as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 star based on their compliance with the protocol
conditions specified for each of the rating. Further city should be ODF(Open Defecation
Free) before it could be given rating of 3 star or above.
• The most significant feature of the rating protocol is that it provides stakeholders with
a single metric to rate a city’s cleanliness, rather than separately evaluating multiple factors
which contribute to a city’s overall cleanliness and garbage free status. The SMART rating
(Single metric, Measurable, Achievable, Rigorous verification, Targeted towards outcomes)
is characterized by Trust and verify model and sustainability (progressive and to be
recertified every year).
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
GSI finds huge mineral deposits along A. P. Coast

• Large deposits of heavy beach minerals were found along the 974-km Andhra
Pradeshcoastline during a survey by Geological Survey of India (GSI).
• GSI estimated that the minerals such as zircon, ilmenite, limonite and monazite would have
a value of at least Rs. 46,000 crore.
• The GSI surveys using satellite data have also found huge deposits of manganese in
Vizianagaram, bauxite in north coastal Andhra and south Odisha and baryte in Kadapa
district.
• A pilot project under the name ‘Project Uncover’ had been launched in Bundelkhand area of
North India and Kadapa and Dharwad areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka last year in
collaboration with Geosciences Australia.
Supreme Court eases ban on use of petcoke, furnace oil

• The Supreme Court eased its ban on use of petcoke for cement manufacturing, lime
industries and on furnace oil for power generation.
• In a bid to control high levels of pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), the court on
24 October banned the use of petcoke and furnace oil, effective from 1 November.
• The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had sought for the ban on use of petcoke
and furnace oil to be relaxed for a certain period.
• It was submitted that the use of petcoke in cement manufacturing plants was minuscule and
it was used for non-fuel purposes. Similarly, the use of furnace oil in electricity generation
plants was low in cement manufacturing units.
Petroleum Coke also called Petcoke is a byproduct made when the densest of components of
Petroleum or Crude oil are refined to make Fuel.
Petcoke is over 90 percent carbon and emits 5 to 10 percent more carbon dioxide (CO2) than
coal on a per-unit-of-energy basis when it is burned. As petcoke has a higher energy content,
petcoke emits between 30 and 80 percent more CO2 than coal per unit of weight.
Petroleum coke is sometimes a source of fine dust, which can get through the filtering process of
the human airway and lodge in the lungs and cause serious health problems. However, studies
have shown that petroleum coke itself has a low level of toxicity and there is no evidence of
carcinogenicity
No lake formation near Gaumukh or along the course of river Bhagirathi: reports
• When the satellite data available with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
from November 2011 to October 2017 was analysed by the expert agencies, it was
observed that in July 2017 a landslide had occurred due to which debris had been
deposited “slightly away” from Gaumukh.
• Uttarakhand high court ordered the state government to clear the lake that had formed near
Gaumukh-the snout of the Gangotri glacier from where the Bhagirathi river originates.
• A team of scientists and government officials who did an aerial survey of the Gangotri
glacier dismissed claims of any lake formation at Gaumukh which could hinder the
course of the Bhagirathi river.
Mt Hope New Tallest Mountain In British Antarctic Territory

• Cartographers surveying Antarctica have discovered that Mt Hope is the tallest mountain in
the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) at 3,239 metres above sea level.
• Until now, maps showed Mt Jackson as the tallest mountain in the territory at 3,184 metres,
according to researchers at British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
• However, Mt Vinson remains the highest mountain in Antarctica standing at 4,892 metres.
'Super beans' raise hopes in hunger-prone parts of Africa

• The so-called "super bean," a fast-maturing, high-yield variety, is being promoted by
Uganda's government and agriculture experts amid efforts to feed hunger-prone parts of
Africa.
• The International Center for Tropical Agriculture says the beans have been bred by
conventional means to resist the drought conditions that can lead to starvation as arable
land disappears
• The red-striped bean is called NABE15, and it has proved so popular that the U.N.'s Food
and Agriculture Organization recently contracted a large commercial producer to supply 21
tons for distribution to South Sudanese refugees as planting materials.
• Experts say the "super" beans are valuable because they cook quickly and tolerate most
diseases and pests.
India is biggest importer of U.S. oil refinery by-product ‘petcoke’

• U.S. oil refineries that are unable to sell a dirty, fuel waste product at home are exporting
vast quantities of it to India instead.
• Petroleum coke, the bottom-of-the-barrel leftover from refining Canadian tar sands
crude and other heavy oils, is cheaper and burns hotter than coal. But it also contains
more planet-warming carbon and far more heart- and lung-damaging sulphur, a key reason
few American companies use it.
• Refineries instead are sending it around the world, especially to energy-hungry India, which
last year got almost a fourth of all the fuel-grade “petcoke” the U.S. shipped out.
• Laboratory tests on imported petcoke used near New Delhi found it contained 17 times
more sulfur than the limit set for coal, and a staggering 1,380 times more than for
diesel, according to India’s court-appointed Environmental Pollution Control Authority.
European satellite Sentinel-5P sends images of global air pollution

• Launched on 13 October, the Sentinel-5P satellite has delivered its first images of air
pollution. The Sentinel-5P satellite is designed to make daily global maps of the gases
and particles that pollute the air.
• The worst of this pollution runs from north of Patna in Bihar to south of Raipur in
Chhattisgarh, scientists said.
• Sentinel-5P is the latest spacecraft in a fleet of Earth observers being commissioned
by the European Union and the European Space Agency.
• It carries an instrument called Tropomi – a spectrometer that observes the reflected
sunlight coming up off the Earth, analysing its many different colours. This helps
detect the presence of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide,
methane, and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere.
Copernicus is the world's largest single earth observation programme and is directed by
the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). It aims at
achieving a global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide range Earth observation capacity.
ESA is currently developing seven missions under the Sentinel programme. The Sentinel
missions include radar and super-spectral imaging for land, ocean and atmospheric monitoring.
Each Sentinel mission is based on a constellation of two satellites to fulfill and revisit the
coverage requirements for each mission, providing robust datasets for all Copernicus services.
NGT to form one member Benches

• Centre has passed a notification allowing NGT (National Green Tribunal) to form One-
member Benches in exceptional circumstances. At present, NGT regional benches in
Chennai and Kolkata are both functioning with one judicial member each and the expert
members have retired.
• The essence of NGT was to have both “Technical and judicial” members. Otherwise
tribunal will function no different from a high court.
• Earlier this year: even a judicial member or expert member for three years is qualified to be
a chairperson of the NGT.
• NGT has been established on 18.10.2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010. It
has original jurisdiction on matters of “substantial question relating to environment”
and “damage to environment due to specific activity(such as pollution)”.
• It follows the principles of Natural justice and is not bound by Civil Procedure Code.
Cannot allow single-judge NGT benches: Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court directed the chairperson of National Green Tribunal not to constitute single-
member benches to hear cases as had been authorised by the central government through a
notification in December last year.
• The rules of the NGT Act mandate the chairperson to constitute a bench of “two or more
members consisting of at least one judicial member and one expert member”.
• According to the NGT Act, 2010, the tribunal should have “not less than ten” and up to 20 “full-
time” judicial members and between 10 and 20 expert members.
• Currently, there are four judicial members and two expert members on the tribunal. Only a
judge of a high court or Supreme Court can be a judicial member on the tribunal. Expert
members need to have been in any environment related field with at least 15 years of
administrative experience.
Solar Alliance comes into existence
• India’s global initiative, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) that aims at increasing solar
energy deployment in member countries, came into legal, independent existence. It is the
first treaty-based international intergovernmental organisation to be based in India.
• So far, 19 countries are part of the compact — Bangladesh, Comoros, Fiji, France,
Ghana, Guinea, India, Mali, Mauritius, Nauru, Niger, Seychelles, Somalia, South
Sudan, Tuvalu, Australia, Cuba, Malawi and Peru.
• India has committed itself to having 175,000 MW of renewed energy in the grid by 2022.
• The ISA is an Indian initiative, jointly launched by PM Narendra Modi and the president of
France on 30th November 2015 in Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN climate
conference.
• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of
them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between
the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Countries that do not fall within the
Tropics can join the ISA and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception
of voting rights.
• International Solar Alliance (ISA) has partnered with World Bank to launch Global
Solar Atlas at an ISA event at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Global Solar
Atlasis a free online tool that displays annual average solar power potential at any
location in the world and thus identify potential sites for solar power generation.
• Three programmes so far has been launched: 1. Scaling Solar applications for Agriculture
Use, 2. Affordable Finance at Scale and 3.Scaling solar Mini Grids
Biodiversity under alien attack

• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has for the first time compiled a list of alien invasive animal
species, totaling 157.This number excludes invasive microbe species.
• Just as alien plant species such as Parthenium hysterophorus(cotton grass) and Lantana
camara(Lantana) are known to harm agriculture and biodiversity, invasive animal species
pose a threat to biodiversity and human well-being.
• Phenacoccussolenopsis (Cotton Mealybug) is a native of North America but has severely
affected cotton crops in the Deccan. Among the invasive fish species, Pterygoplichthys
pardalis (Amazon sailfin catfish) has been destroying fish populations in the wetlands of
Kolkata.
• Achatina fulica (African apple snail) is said to be most invasive among all alien fauna. It is a
mollusc and was first reported in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But today it is found all
across the country and is threatening the habitats of several native species.
For details on Zoological Survey of India, refer to the previous edition of Revision Friendly
Current Affairs(Jun-Nov).
Odisha keen to translocate tigers from M.P. in February

• Buoyed by the relocation of villagers from the core area of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR)
and the presence of a healthy prey base, the Odisha Forest and Environment department
has expressed its keenness to translocate tigers from Madhya Pradesh to the STR in
February to increase the big cat population.
• Scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India have conducted a survey in Satkosia and found the
sanctuary fit for relocation of tigers.
Reduce pesticide residue in rice, States told

• After noticing the pesticide level in rice exceeding stipulated limit, which has led to problems
in export, major rice producing States in the South have been asked to take necessary steps
to reduce the pesticide residue.
• Export of rice has faced problems in the last few years in different markets such as the U.S.,
E.U. and Iran owing to detection of pesticides exceeding the prescribed maximum
residue limits (MRLs).
• Tricyclazole and Isoprothiolane, scientists say, are the two pesticides commonly used in
paddy cultivation to prevent blast disease, a major threat to the Basmati and non-
Basmati crops.
Centre formulates plan to tackle air pollution across the country

• The Centre has formulated the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to tackle increasing
air pollution across the country in a comprehensive manner.
• The NCAP focuses on a collaborative and participatory approach comprising all sources of
pollution and coordination between relevant central ministries, state governments, local
bodies and other stakeholders.
Artificial nests to shelter birds at Rabindra Sarovar

• The Lake Eco Lovers’ Forum of Rabindra Sarovar has put up five nests made of clay on
trees at the Safari Park to provide shelter to birds.
• The Rabindra Sarovar lake, in south Kolkata, is spread over 192 acres, comprising a large
water body with gardens and parks.
• Five nests made of earthen pots were hung from five trees to protect birds and their chicks
from cold, predators and air pollution.
• In July, as part of the initiative to save the greenery at Rabindra Sarovar, different projects,
such as ‘adopt a tree’ and ‘plant a tree’, were taken up within the compound where people
chose to spend money for the upkeep of a tree.
Lone great white pelican a visual treat
• A lone great white pelican (Pelecanusonocrotalus) at Asia’s largest freshwater lake,
Kolleru Lake is offering a rare visual treat to bird watchers.
• The feathered guest has been found spending the days with the grey pelicans and painted
storks at the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary in the Kolleru Lake in Krishna district, earning its
prey in the water body.
Kolleru Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in India located in state of Andhra
Pradesh. Kolleru is located between Krishna and Godavari deltas. The lake is fed directly by
water from the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru streams and is designated a wetland
of international importance in November 2002 under the international Ramsar Convention.
2017 may be among top three hottest years on record: UN

• The year 2017 will likely be among the three warmest years on global record,
according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• Arctic and Antarctic sea ice coverage remain at near record lows. 2017 may also be the
warmest year without an El Nino - a climate phenomenon that causes global temperatures
to shoot up.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a

membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International
Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. Established by the ratification of
the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United
Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical
sciences a year late
Bamboo not a tree: Parliament passes Bill amending Forest Act

• The Bill permits felling and transit of bamboo grown in non-forest areas. However,
bamboo grown on forest lands would continue to be classified as a tree and would be
guided by the existing legal restrictions.
• Under the Indian Forests Act, 1927 the definition of a tree includes palms, bamboos,
stumps, brush-wood, and canes. The Bill amends the definition of tree to remove the
word Bamboos.
• The important reason behind the government ceased to define bamboo as a tree is to
promote economic activity among tribals. The State of the Forest Report 2017 found that
India’s bamboo bearing area rose by 1.73 million hectares (2011) to 15.69 million hectares
(2017).
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented
under the British. The most famous one was the Indian Forest Act of 1878. Both the 1878 act
and the 1927 one sought to consolidate and reserve the areas having forest cover, or significant
wildlife, to regulate movement and transit of forest produce, and duty leviable on timber and
other forest produce. It also defines the procedure to be followed for declaring an area to be a
Reserved Forest, a Protected Forest or a Village Forest. It defines what is a forest offence,
what are the acts prohibited inside a Reserved Forest, and penalties leviable on violation of the
provisions of the Act.
Chennai oil spill: Update

• Eleven months after two ships collided off the coast of Chennai on January 28,
2017,resulting in an oil spill, officials of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) say they have
succeeded in biologically decomposing a portion of the oil mixture that was collected from
the coast into harmless components.
• Chocolate mousse may sound delicious but the nearly 250 tonnes of heavy fuel oil that
spilled from the ship, when acted on by sea water, became a thick, toxic sludge that was
life-threatening.
• In bioremediation, specific bacterial cultures are introduced that feed on the oil and
break it down into largely carbon dioxide and water.
Bejjur vultures show an increase in numbers

• Bejjur vultures are critically endangered long billed vulture or the Indian vulture
(Gyps Indicus) which, informally, came to be known after the name of the range where
the habitat is located.
• Bejjur vultures, now in Penchikalpet range of Kagaznagar Forest Division in
Kumram,Bheem,Asifabad district are able to add to their population in the normal course of
things.
Pranhita is the largest tributary of Godavari River covering about 34%of its drainage basin
conveying the combined waters of the Penganga River, Wardha River and Wainganga River
Scientists find a way to save wheat from stem rust disease

• Though the fungal epidemic caused by a strain of fungus Pucciniagraministritici (Pgt), called
Ug99, has not reached India yet, it has been lurking in the neighbourhood; in Iran and
Afghanistan for a while.
• The fungal strain, first detected in Uganda around 1999 (thus the name Ug99), is much
dreaded because 90 per cent wheat grown all over the world could be susceptible to it.
• This is because it can overcome the resistance conferred by a specific gene called Sr35
which is part and parcel of the most high-yielding wheat varieties.
• scientists from Australia, the UK and the US, have developed a DNA testing technique that
could identify whether the rust pathogen in a particular crop can overcome a novel rust
resistance gene that is being introduced in high-yielding wheat varieties in many countries.
• To do this, the scientists made use of the insight they gained from the discovery of a rust
virulence molecule that wheat plants detect to ‘switch on’ built-in resistance and stave off the
disease.
• The breakthrough would mean suspect samples could be analysed within hours in an
emergency rather than weeks, potentially saving crops from being destroyed.
West Delhi horses diagnosed with Glanders disease

• The infection is caused by the bacterium — Burkholderia mallei — and can be
ingested through contaminated water or feed.
• Symptoms include formation of nodular lesions in lungs and ulcers in the respiratory tract.
Acute cases result in coughing and fever, followed by septicaemia and death within days.
• The disease is highly infectious and contagious, and hence, a health risk for the
residents.
Bali declares ‘garbage emergency’ amid sea of waste

• The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to
marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.29 million metric tons is estimated to be
produced annually by Indonesia.
• Bali in November 2017 declared a “garbage emergency” across a six-kilometre stretch of
coast that included popular beaches Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak.
• Indonesia is one of nearly 40 countries that are part of UN Environment’s Clean Seas
Campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans. As part of its
commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 % by 2025.
• Clean Seas Campaign, is a global UN Environment initiative to reduce marine litter.
The Clean Seas Campaign was launched in January 2017. It aims to increase global
awareness of the need to reduce marine litter. The need for measures differs in different
parts of the world. Proper waste management infrastructure is lacking in some areas, while
in others the challenge involves the general public's awareness of the impact litter has on
the environment.
New Species Of Night Frog Discovered In India’s Western Ghats
• A new species of night frog has been discovered in the Western Ghats’ Malabar Wildlife
Sanctuary.
• The frog, Nyctibatrachusmewasinghi, is named after Dr. Mewa Singh, a professor at
the University of Mysore who has contributed to behavioral ecology and primatology and
to the conservation of the primates in India.
• Nyctibatrachusmewasinghi, or Mewa Singh’s night frog, is a light brown in coloration and
its belly is off white. It has slightly wrinkled skin. It differs from its known congeners due to its
small adult size, head that is equal to or slightly wider than it is long, and prominent granular
projections on much of its skin.
Scientists identify four new balsam species

• University of Calicut in Kerala have reported the discovery of four new species of
balsam from various locations in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Commonly known as jewel weeds because of the diverse colour of the flowers,
balsams are distributed throughout the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats, Sri
Lanka, South East Asia, Africa and Madagascar. The genus is scientifically named
as Impatiens, signifying the impatient nature of the fruits which explode suddenly
when touched.
• Impatiens Haridasanii,was named after Haridasan, former scientist, State Forest
Research Institute, Arunachal Pradesh, is characterised by small pure yellow flowers
and hairy leaves.
• Impatiens pseudocitrina, discovered from Anjaw district, sports bright yellow flowers with
small red spots on the throat and a long spur at the back.
• A magnificent species discovered from the Lower Dibang valley, Impatiens
nilalohitae grows to a height of more than one metre and has dark purple flowers with
pale yellow throat and green stalk. The name nilalohitae denotes the dark purple
colour in Sanskrit.
• Another spectacular balsam, I.roingensis, was found growing in Roing and Upper
Siang. The plant has clustered white flowers with yellow patch on the mouth and hooked
spur.
• The researchers have also reported the rediscovery of another species I.
agastyamalayensis from the Western Ghats after a gap of more than a century.
Ancient jumping genes may control coral bleaching in warming oceans

• Scientists have identified a gene that improves the heat tolerance of the algae that live
symbiotically with coral species, and could potentially help the corals adapt to some
warming.
• Symbiodinium is a unicellular alga that provides its coral host with photosynthetic
products in return for nutrients and shelter.
• However, high sea temperatures can cause the breakdown of this symbiotic relationship and
lead to the widespread expulsion of Symbiodinium from host tissues, an event known as
coral bleaching. If bleached corals do not recover, they starve to death, leaving only their
white, calcium-carbonate exoskeleton.
• Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi
Arabia have identified special genes, called retrotransposons.
• Retrotransposons are small genetic sequences that have the ability to replicate and position
themselves in new locations in their host’s genome. “The ability of retrotransposons to copy
themselves and integrate these new copies into the host genome makes them genetic
parasites, which could help the algae adapt more rapidly to heat stress.
For more on Corals and Coral bleaching refer to the previous edition of Revision friendly
current Affairs.
Species we lost in 2017 and the ones that managed to hold on

• According to the updated IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red
list, here are the species that were marked as “EXTINCT”.
• Christmas Island Pipistrelle, Christmas Island Whiptail-skink, Christmas
Island chained gecko and Gunthers Dwarf Burrowing skink.
• Here are the species that are under a high risk of extinction in the near future.
According to the updated list, they are placed under the "critically endangered” category.
• Western Ringtail Possum, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Plains Wanderer Green Poison
Frog, Perret's Toad, and Rose's Mountain Toad are also listed as critically
endangered.
• Thanks to conservation efforts and captive breeding, a few species have recovered and
moved from endangered to “vulnerable”.
• These include eSnow Leopard, North Brown Kiwi &Okarito Kiwi, Aberdare cisticola
and Ouvea Parakeet.
• The C. duncanensis which was termed 'extinct in the wild' last year has recovered
fully-thanks to conservationists. A native to the Pinzon Island in Equador, it faced
constant trouble from non-native rats who feed on its eggs.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working
in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in
data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission
is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to
ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable".
IUCN was established in 1948. It was previously called the International Union for the
Protection of Nature (1948–1956) and the World Conservation Union (1990–2008).
The organization is best known to the wider public for compiling and publishing the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species, which assesses the conservation status of species
worldwide
Mankidia denied habitat in Simlipal

• Mankidia, one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in Odisha, were
denied habitat rights inside the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) under the historic Scheduled
Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006,
• State Forest Department has objected on grounds that tribals could be attacked by wild
animals, especially tigers.
• Habitat’ as defined under Section 2(h) of the FRA (Forest Rights Act) includes the
area comprising the customary habitat and such other habitats in reserved forests
and protected forests of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities and
other forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes.
• Mankidia, a marginalised group that critically depends on making rope with siali fiber
that’s richly available in Similipal, would now be deprived of the non-timber forest
produce.
• Simlipal National Park is a national park and a tiger reserve in the Mayurbhanj district in
the Indian state of Odisha. It includes three protected areas — Similipal Tiger Reserve,
Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary. Simlipal National Park derives
its name from the abundance of semul (red silk cotton trees) that bloom here. This
reserve is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009.
Particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) (earlier: Primitive tribal group) is a

government of India classification created with the purpose of enabling improvement in the
conditions of certain communities with particularly low development indices.
‘Green’ crackers on the anvil

• Several CSIR laboratories have come together and are putting together a robust S&T
strategy for development of eco-friendly firecrackers and fireworks.
• The first phase will cover reduction of pollutants, while future strategies will cover removal of
pollutants from the compositions.
• Other than smoke-aggravating partially-burnt paper that sheaths the gunpowder in crackers,
metals in fireworks such as strontium and barium are toxic to human and animal
health, and the burning process produces other harmful emissions such as
polychlorinated hydrocarbons.
• A key ingredient in several crackers is perchlorate and replacing them with nitrogen-rich
materials or nitrocellulose could make them burn cleaner and produce less smoke. These
changes however will make crackers costlier.
Chocolates could be extinct by 2050 due to climate change, scientists have warned.
• According to experts, the cocoa tree, which need heavy rainfall for growth, are struggling to
grow due to warmer climates.
• Cocoa plants occupy a precarious position on the globe. They can only grow within a
narrow strip of rainforest roughly 20 degrees north and south of the equator, where
temperature, rain, and humidity all stay relatively constant throughout the year.
• By 2050, rising temperatures will push today's chocolate-growing regions more than 1,000
feet uphill into mountainous terrain — much of which is currently preserved for wildlife.
• So scientists are exploring the possibility of using the gene-editing technology CRISPR to
evolve crops that can survive environmental challenges.
• Over half of the world's chocolate now comes from just two countries in West Africa
— Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Domestic biomass burning deadliest source of air pollution: Study

• Emissions from domestic biomass burning has emerged as the deadliest air pollution source
in India with it being responsible for around a quarter of the deaths caused by PM2.5,
• The study does not take into account indoor exposure to biomass burning, especially in rural
areas where charcoal, firewood and animal dung are used for cooking in the absence of
cleaner fuels.
• According to the latest Global Burden of Diseases (GBD MAPS) report by the Boston-
based Health Effects Institute, residential biomass burning was behind 2,67,700 deaths or
nearly 25 per cent of the deaths attributable to PM2.5 in 2015.
West Bengal rivers are not fit even for bathing

• According to the latest State of Environment Report, published by the West Bengal
Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), in 17 major rivers of the State, including the
Ganges, the levels of coliform bacteria (found mainly in human faeces) are much
higher than the permissible limit of MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml.
• The permissible limit as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guideline is
500.
• Several stretches of the Ganges, known as Bhagirathi and Hooghly in the region (two
tributaries of the Ganges), have a total coliform count (TCC) much higher than the
permissible level of 500.
• The condition of rivers in north Bengal was not much different. While TCC in the Mahananda
river near Siliguri was 14,000, the Teesta recorded a TCC of 7,000 in Siliguri.
Water scarcity may hit thermal power
• India’s thermal power plants, about 90% of which rely on fresh water for cooling, risk facing
serious outages because of shortage of water, according to a new report by the World
Resources Institute (WRI).
• India lost about 14 terawatt-hours of thermal power generation due to water shortages in
2016, cancelling out more than 20% of growth in the country’s total electricity generation
from 2015.
• Water stress is defined as the ratio of total water withdrawal over available supply.
According to the report, not only does high water stress result in equipment shutting
down, it also results in a lower level of efficiency when it is running.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization that was
established in 1982 with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. The organization's mission is to promote
environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, and human health and well-being.
WRI's activities are focused on six areas: food, forests, water, energy, cities, and climate.
Major WRI initiatives include:
• The Access Initiative', a civil society network dedicated to ensuring that citizens have the
right and ability to influence decisions about the natural resources that sustain their
communities.
• Aqueduct, an initiative to measure, map and understand water risks around the globe.
• Champions 12.3, a coalition of executives to accelerate progress toward United
Nations Sustainable evelopment Goal Target 12.3 to tackle food loss and waste.
• Global Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring and alert system.
• LandMark, a platform providing maps and information on lands that are collectively held
and used by Indigenous peoples and local communities
• WRI Ross Center helps cities grow more sustainably and seeks to improve quality of life
in developing countries around the world.
• ' World Resources Report, WRI's flagship report series. Each report deals with a
different topic
Why world's largest flying bird is on verge of extinction in India

• Great Indian bustard (Ardeotisnigriceps) —no more than 150 are believed to be alive
worldwide, meaning in India and Pakistan.
• Now extinct across 90 percent of its subcontinent range, the last stand of the bustard
indicates the loss of the scrub land and grasslands. These birds are often found associated
in the same habitat as blackbuck.
• Its retreat also indicates growing pressures on open land in India for mining, agriculture,
grazing, power lines and other infrastructure.
• The Great Indian bustard is classified as “critically endangered” in the IUCN red list.
There are three species of the Indian Bustard:The Great Indian Bustard, the Bengal florican
and the Lesser Florican.
• Like the tiger, the bustard is supposed to be protected as a “Schedule I species” under
Wildlife Protection act, 1972.
• The main threat to Bustard comes from an ironic source: Renewable energy;
about18,700 birds die every month on power lines in Thar desert.
99% female: Skewed sex ratio in green sea turtles in warming climate
• The sex of hatchlings in sea turtles — and in a few other species such as alligators
and crocodiles —depends on the temperature of the sand in which the eggs incubate,
with warmer temperatures resulting in female hatchlings and cooler temperatures in male.
• The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website specifies the
temperature ranges that lead to offspring of one sex or the other: male when it is 27.7°C or
cooler, female when 31°C or warmer, and a mix of male and female baby turtles when
the temperature fluctuates between these two limits.
• Sex ratios in two nesting populations of green sea turtles in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Turtles of the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are genetically different from those of the
southern GBR. The results of the study, published in Current Biology, showed an alarming
female bias in turtles from the northern Great Barrier Reef, which is warmer than the
southern GBR: 86.8% female among adults, 99.8% female among sub-adults and 99.1%
female among juveniles.
The Green turtle is one of the largest sea turtles and the only herbivore among the
different species. Green turtles are in fact named for the greenish color of their cartilage and
fat, not their shells. In the Eastern Pacific, a group of green turtles that have darker shells are
called black turtles by the local community. Classified as endangered, green turtles are
threatened by overharvesting of their eggs, hunting of adults, being caught in fishing
gear and loss of nesting beach sites.
China Opens 'World's Largest Air Purifier' To Fight Pollution
• The world's largest air purifier is built in Xian in Shaanxi province of northern China and the
preliminary results have shown that smog levels have come down and there is some
improvement in the air quality.
• The world's largest air purifier will be able to effectively reduce smog over an area of 10
square kilometres.
• The system works through greenhouses covering. Polluted air is sucked into the
glasshouses and is heated up using solar energy. The hot air then rises through the tower
and passes through multiple layers of cleaning filters.
• The system in the air purifier also works during winters as coatings on the greenhouses
enable the glass to absorb solar radiation at a higher efficiency.
World's biggest flooded cave found in Mexico

• The Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to the study and preservation of
the subterranean waters of the Yucatan peninsula, said the 347-km cave was identified
after months of exploring a maze of underwater channel.
• The Yucatan peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Maya people, whose
cities drew upon an extensive network of sinkholes linked to subterranean waters
known as cenotes.
Watershed for water conservation in Rajasthan

• New targets have been set for third phase of the Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan to make
Rajasthan self-reliant in the water sector.
• The conservation of water resources will get the highest priority in the campaign,
while steps will be taken to increase groundwater level and improve surface water
flow in the watershed projects.
• The four-year-long campaign comprises four phases of one year each, during which
various works for conservation of water resources have been undertaken across the State.
Environment ministry to start ‘Himalayan Research Fellowships scheme’

• The union environment ministry has decided to start a ‘Himalayan Research Fellowships
scheme’ to create a young pool of trained environmental managers, ecologists and
socio-economists.
• This pool will help generate information on physical, biological, managerial and human
aspects of Himalayan environment and development.
• The fellowship scheme will be executed through various universities and Institutions working
in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and preference will be given to the Institutions from
north-eastern states.
• The financial support will be provided under the National Mission on Himalayan
Studies (NMHS) and the fellowships will be awarded for a maximum period of three years.
• Some of the broad thematic areas that are being focused on for research under the NMHS
are water resource management including rejuvenation of springs and catchments,
hydropower development, assessment and prediction of water-induced hazards, livelihood
options including ecotourism opportunities, biodiversity management including recovery of
threatened species and skill development.
India ranks 177 out of 180 in Environmental Performance Index

• India is among the bottom five countries on the Environmental Performance Index
2018, plummeting 36 points from 141 in 2016, according to a biennial report by Yale
and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum.
• Its overall low ranking — 177 among 180 countries — was linked to poor performance in
the environment health policy and deaths due to air pollution categories.
New population of 'walking fish' found in Tasmania
• The Red Handfish (Thymichthyspolitus) is found only in southeastern Tasmania, an
isolated island state.
• The handfish have an elongated body and use their pectoral fins in an unusual manner
to walk slowly over the sea bottom in search of food such as crustaceans and worms.
Rain in western hemisphere linked to currents in Atlantic Ocean, says study

• Changes in ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean influence rainfall in the western
hemisphere and the two systems have been linked for thousands of years.
• The study stressed that the Atlantic Ocean surface circulation is an important part of the
Earth’s global climate, moving warm water from the tropics towards the poles.
• This finding is important for two reasons. It shows that a correlation exists between
the currents and rainfall patterns, and that the correlation is evident in data sets that
cover different time scales.
A game of chicken: how India’s poultry farms are spawning global superbugs.
• The medicines, antibiotics, are given to the birds to protect them from diseases or to
make them gain weight faster, so that more can be grown each year for greater
profit.
• One drug typically given this way is colistin. Doctors call it the ‘last hope’ antibiotic
because it is used to treat patients critically ill with infections that have become resistant to
nearly all other drugs.
• Colistin is the last line of defence. It is the only drug left to treat critically ill patients with a
carbapenem-resistant infection.
• Colistin-resistant bacteria will spread on the chicken farms, in the air surrounding them,
contaminate the meat, spread to the farm workers and, through their faeces, flies will
spread it over large distances
Map of Panch Prayag (reference Lake formation at mouth of Gangotri Glaciar) formation issue)
ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE
North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS)

• The Union Cabinet approved the introduction of anew Central Sector Scheme of “North
East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS) from 2017-18 with 100%
funding from the Central Government to fill up the gaps in creation of infrastructure in
specified sectors till March, 2020.
• The new scheme will broadly cover creation of infrastructure under following sectors:-
(a) Physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power, connectivity and specially the
projects promoting tourism;
(b) Infrastructure of social sectors of education and health.
No debit card swipe fee for payments up to Rs 2,000

• Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) applicable on transactions made through debit cards, the
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar-enabled payments system up to and
including a value of Rs. 2,000 will be borne by the government for a period of two years with
effect from January 1, 2018.
• MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) is the charge paid by a merchant to a bank for
accepting payment from customers via credit or debit cards. It is expressed as a
percentage of the transaction amount.
Railways halts 2004 job scheme for children of staff opting for VRS
• The Railways has stopped an employment initiative launched in 2004, when it started
giving jobs to children of employees in the lower tier in return for voluntary
retirement, and decided to approach the Supreme Court to determine if the scheme is
Constitutionally tenable.
• The Liberalised Active Retirement Scheme for Guaranteed Employment for Safety Staff
(LARSGESS), which was started during former railway minister Nitish Kumar’s term in 2004,
was suspended indefinitely following an order from the Rail Ministry.
• The move comes after the Punjab and Haryana High Court said in July, while hearing a
case over the scheme, that it violated the Constitution on the “principle of equal
opportunity” for all in government jobs.
Lighthouse projects to spur digitization

• The government and the industry has decided to carry out a number of ‘lighthouse
projects’ to spur digitization in areas such as digital healthcare, education, BPO,
agriculture, localized content, etc.
• The digital economy is pegged at about $413 billion at present. MeitY expects IT/ITeS
sector to grow to $350 billion by 2025 from $160 billion, while the electronics sector is likely
to touch $300 billion by the same time (from $100 billion now).
Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)
• Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) under Foreign Trade Policy of India (FTP
2015-20) is one of the two schemes introduced in Foreign Trade Policy of India 2015-20, as
a part of Exports from India Scheme. (The other scheme is SEIS, Service Exports from India
Scheme).
• The Government of India has brought in the Merchandise Exports Incentive Scheme
(MEIS), replacing five other similar incentive schemes present in the earlier Foreign Trade
Policy 2009-14. The schemes that have been replaced by the MEIS scheme include:
• Focus Product Scheme (FPS)
• Focus Market Scheme (FMS)
• Market Linked Focus Product Scheme (MLFPS)
• Agri. Infrastructure incentive scheme
• Vishesh Krishi GraminUpajYojna (VKGUY)
Objective: To offset infrastructural inefficiencies and the associated costs of exporting products
produced in India giving special emphasis on those which are of India’s export interest and have the
capability to generate employment and enhance India’s competitiveness in the world market.
The MEIS is the most popular incentive for exporters, under which identified sectors are
given duty exemption scrips that are fixed at a certain percentage of the total value of their
exports. The scrips can be used to pay duties on inputs, including Customs duties.s
Railways appoints IRSDC as nodal agency for station redevelopment plan

• Indian Railways has decided to appoint its joint venture company Indian Railway Station
Development Corp. Ltd (IRSDC) as the nodal agency for its ambitious station
redevelopment programme, in an attempt to expedite the revamp of 400 A1 and A category
railway stations.
• Under the Rs1 trillion station redevelopment plan, Indian Railways plans to revamp 400
railway stations by monetizing 2,700 acres of spare railway land.
• IRSDC is a joint-venture firm of Ircon International Ltd and Rail Land Development Authority
(RLDA).
E-way bill to help monitor interstate movement of goods

• Starting February 1, 2018, all interstate movement of goods will be tracked with the
introduction of the e-way bill system under the Goods and Services Tax regime.
• The nationwide e-way bill system will be rolled out on a trial basis from January 16,
allowing traders and transporters to voluntarily test it out for a fortnight before it becomes
compulsory.
• As for intra-state movement of goods, States have been given time till June 1, 2018, to
implement the e-way bill system, so a fully integrated tracking system for all taxable
goods can be expected only then.
.
Sword of EU data norms over Indian IT, BPO firms

• The General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR), set by the EU, gives individuals complete
ownership of private data relating to them. This will have far-reaching implications for firms
that directly or indirectly handle the data of individuals.
• Businesses and organisations that serve the region must bear this in mind while handling
the data of people or data ‘subjects’ — as the regulation, which will come into force on May
25, 2018, refers to them.
• This imposes a huge compliance burden on Indian firms that deal with the data of people in
that region. Firms will have to comply with the provisions even if they don’t deal with data
directly but do it for a company that does business in the EU.
• The regulation, passed by the European Union in 2016, gave a two-year deadline for
enforcement. Under its provisions, individuals will have the right to check how their data is
used and whether it is being used lawfully. They will have a right to ask for its removal.
• Fines for non-compliance can amount to 2-4 per cent of the firms’ annual turnover or €10-22
million, whichever is higher.
Start-Up Incubators: DIPP(Department of Industrial Policy) For Tweak in CSR Norms

• Suggested that CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) guidelines should not have
stipulations around the location of the incubators. So long as it is an incubator supported by
the government, any corporate spend on such incubators should be counted for CSR no
matter where the incubator is located.
• Current CSR guidelines stipulate that only incubators located in government institutions
would be eligible for CSR. There is a need to move away from this location aspect.
• Business incubators are organisations that help speed up the growth of start-up and early
stage companies. Incubators solve for start-ups’ problems such as workspace, seed
funding, mentoring and training.
• The other suggestion from DIPP to MCA is that the current norm requiring only “tech
incubators” would qualify for CSR needs to be done away with. All the incubators should be
eligible and not only tech-based one.
Corporate Social Responsibility is a management concept whereby companies integrate social and
environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders.
• CSR is generally understood as being the way through which a company achieves a balance
of economic, environmental and social imperatives (“Triple-Bottom-Line- Approach”), while at
the same time addressing the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders. Under
Companies Act, 2013 any company with a
1. net worth of the company to be Rs 500 crore or more or
2. turnover of the company to be Rs 1000 crore or more or
3. net profit of the company to be Rs 5 crore or more
has to spend at least 2% of last 3 years average net profits on CSR activities as specified in
Schedule VII and as amended from time to time. Further as per the CSR Rules, the
provisions of CSR are not only applicable to Indian companies, but also applicable to branch
and project offices of a foreign company in India.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) urged the Centre to dilute its majority stake in
public sector banks (PSBs)
• CII urged the Centre to dilute its majority stake in public sector banks (PSBs), from the
current threshold of 52% ownership to 33% over the next three years, to complement
its ₹2.11 lakh-crore recapitalisation plan for these banks.
• The minimum government stake in PSBs had been relaxed to 52% from 58%, but the actual
holdings in many of these banks is more than 80%.
• CII had suggested the Centre set up a holding company for its banking stakes and distance
itself from day-to-day management of the PSBs. The holding company could be empowered
to raise resources and monitor banks’ performance.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a business association in India.CII is a non-

government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organization. Founded in
1895, it has over 8,300 members, from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs
and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 200,000 enterprises from around 250 national
and regional sectoral industry bodies.CII works with the Government on policy issues. The CII
Theme for 2017–18 is ‘India@75: Inclusive. Ahead. Responsible.
CAG picks flaws in Centre’s accounting

• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has highlighted several flaws in the
Union government’s accounting procedures for the financial year 2015-16, which could
have led to an understatement of the fiscal deficit and revenue deficit for that year.
• As a result of deficiency in estimating the expenditure on grants for creation of capital
assets, the provision included in the Budget at a Glance for grants for creation of capital
assets was underestimated by Rs 18,827 crore, which has also impacted the correct
estimation of effective revenue deficit.
• Due to the misclassificationof revenue expenditure as capital expenditure and vice
versa, the revenue deficit was understated by Rs 1,583 crore during financial year 2015-16.
• In addition to this, Rs 20,911 crore collected under levies and cesses were not transferred
to the relevant funds, which led to an “understatement of revenue/fiscal deficit by an
equivalent amount” during 2015-16.
• The CAG pointed out that the government had failed to meet the FRBM targets for
2015-16 on both the fiscal deficit and the revenue deficit.
The difference between total revenue and total expenditure of the government is termed as
Fiscal deficit. It is an indication of the total borrowings needed by the government. While
calculating the total revenue, borrowings are not included.
Revenue deficit arises when the government’s actual net receipts is lower than the projected
receipts. Revenue deficit signifies that government’s own earning is insufficient to meet normal
functioning of government departments and provision of services.
IMF and WB release the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) and Financial
Sector Assessment (FSA) respectively
• FSAP 2017 assessment acknowledges that India has recorded strong growth in recent
years in both economic activity and financial assets.
• FSAP, a joint program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB
involved in developing countries and region only), undertakes a comprehensive and in-depth
analysis of a country’s financial sector.
• Since September 2010, it is being undertaken in 25 jurisdictions (now 29), with systemically
important financial sectors, including India, every five years. Last FSAP for India was
conducted in 2011-12 and the report published by IMF on Jan 15, 2013.
Lok Sabha passes the Central Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• The Bill seeks to amend the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, through which the cess levied
and collected on high speed petrol and diesel is distributed for development of rural roads,
national highways, railways, state roads and border area roads.
• The present bill seeks to allocate two and a half per cent of the CRF generated to accelerate
the development and maintenance of national waterways by reduction of an equal
percentage from the share of national highways. This would tentatively generate about Rs.
2,300 crore revenues for national waterways.
The fuel which we use in compression ignition engine or diesel engine is called as diesel.
Diesel is generally categorized in two parts 1)HSD: High speed diesel and 2)LDO: Light diesel
oil.
HSD is normally used in the engine which runs above 750rpm such as in buses,
locomotives, trucks etc.
And LDO is used in below 750 rpm engines. Generally it is used in steady engines or to
burn in furnace.
Parliament passes Companies Amendment Bill
• A bill to amend the companies law to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate
strict action against defaulting companies and help improve ease of doing business in the
country, was passed by Parliament.
• The major changes include simplification of the private placement process; rationalization of
provisions related to loans to directors; replacing the requirement of approval of the central
government for managerial remuneration above prescribed limits by approval through
special resolution of shareholders; aligning disclosure requirements in the prospectus with
the regulations made by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India); providing for
maintenance of register of significant beneficial owners; and making offence for
contravention of provisions relating to deposits as non-compoundable.
• Under the Act, certain classes of profitable companies are required to shell out at least two
per cent of their 3- year annual average net profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) activities. In case of non-expenditure, such entities are required to provide the
reasons for it to the ministry.
Cabinet approves new Consumer Protection Bill

• It will replace the archaic Consumer Protection Act 1986, aimed at overhauling
consumer laws in the light of a changed economy – from online shopping to faulty
services, such as a botched-up hotel stay.
• The bill provides for the creation of a central consumer protection authority for the
first time, which will effectively be the national regulator for consumer rights.
• It also provides for prosecution of celebrities endorsing products with misleading
claims, including a ban and fines.
• The new bill will attempt to deal with issues arising out of disputes with regard to online
purchases. At present, there exists no law for refunds or dispute settlement regarding online
shopping. Businesses and manufactures will need to update their processes to
conform to the new law.
• Consumer grievances are currently heard by a three-tier consumer court system. This
will continue, but the new authority will have powers to initiate suo moto action and also
pass orders on matters of national importance down the three-tier system.
• Class-action suits will now be extended to consumer laws, so that a complaint
against a faulty product or service could be treated as an interest group of people in
similar circumstances.
Norms bar PSU staff from criticising government

• The Centre has issued a fresh set of norms to govern the conduct of central PSU
employees, which bars them from political activities and criticising government
policies or actions.
• The ‘Consolidated Model Conduct, Discipline and Appeal Rules for CPSEs’ also
prescribes that employees must not accept any gifts, refrain from consuming any
intoxicating drink or drug in a public place, not appear in a public place in a state of
intoxication, or use any intoxicating drink or drug to excess.
• According to the norms, no employee will make any statement, which has the effect of
adverse criticism of any policy or action of the Centre or State governments, or of the CPSE,
or which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the central public sector
enterprise (CPSE) and the public.
Coal India Board Clears way for SHAKTI Scheme

• Under the 'Scheme to Harness and Allocate Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India'
(Shakti), as much as 27.18 million tonnes of annual coal linkages have been booked by 10
successful bidders.
• The Central government introduced the 'Shakti' policy, replacing the earlier
discretion-based system of granting coal linkages.
• Under the new policy guidelines for allocation of coal linkages to various segments of power
sector issued by the Coal Ministry, Coal India or Singareni Collieries Company ltd are to
grant coal linkages on notified price on auction basis for power producers having already
concluded domestic coal based power purchase agreements.
What is prompt corrective action?

• To ensure that banks don't go bust, RBI has put in place some trigger points to assess,
monitor, control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled. The
process or mechanism under which such actions are taken is known as Prompt Corrective
Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is also known as Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio
(CRAR), is the ratio of a bank's capital to its risk. It is a measure of a bank's capital. It is
expressed as a percentage of a bank's risk weighted credit exposures.
Two types of capital are measured: tier one capital, which can absorb losses without a bank
being required to cease trading, and tier two capital, which can absorb losses in the event of
a winding-up and so provides a lesser degree of protection to depositors.
Action, or PCA.
• RBI has set trigger points on the basis of CRAR (a metric to measure balance sheet
strength), NPA(Non-Performing Assets) and ROA(return on Assets). Based on each trigger
point the banks have to follow a mandatory action plan.
RBI Financial Stability Report shows rising stress in agriculture and industry
• The Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Stability Report provides clues about sectors of the
economy that are improving and those that are not.
The Financial Stability Report (FSR), a biannual publication, reflects the overall assessment
on the stability of India’s financial system and its resilience to risks emanating from global and
domestic factors. The Report also discusses issues relating to development and regulation of
the financial sector.
Government moves amendments to plug loopholes in insolvency law

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2017,allows defaulting promoters
to be part of the debt resolution process, provided they repay dues in a month.
• This will aid promoters who had submitted resolution plans before the enactment of
an ordinance that barred them from taking part in the resolution process of the
companies.
• Further, it has paved the way for asset reconstruction companies, alternative investment
funds (AIFs) such as private equity funds and banks to participate in the bidding process.
• The bill has also sought to bring any individual who was in control of the NPA under the
ambit of the insolvency code. It lays out that the individual insolvency law will be
implemented in phases. It also allows guarantors of insolvent firms to bid for other firms
under the insolvency process.
For Details on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, refer to the previous edition of the revision
friendly current Affairs.
Centre to Infuse Rs 7577 crores in six PSBs

• The Finance Ministry has approved proposal for infusion of Rs. 7,577 crore in six weak
public sector banks (PSBs) as part of the recapitalisation plan to bolster capital adequacy
ratio.
• All these banks, which got capital support, are under prompt corrective action of the RBI.
The funding comes under Indradhanush plan of the Centre which promised Rs 70,000
crore over a period of four years ending March 2019.
• These banks include: Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Bank of
Maharashtra, IDBI and UCO bank.
Finance Ministry follows RBI, warns about cryptocurrencies
• The government has joined the Reserve Bank of India in cautioning potential customers
about investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, likening them to Ponzi schemes where
investors risk losing their money.
• Virtual Currencies(VCs) don’t have any intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind
of assets. The price of bitcoin and other VCs therefore is entirely a matter of mere
speculation resulting in spurt and volatility in their prices.
• There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi
schemes which can result in sudden and prolonged crash exposing investors.since
VCs are stored in an electronic format, this makes them vulnerable to hacking, loss of
password, malware attacks, etc. which could also result in a permanent loss of money.
• As transactions of VCs are encrypted they are also likely being used to carry out
illegal/subversive activities, such as, terror-funding, smuggling, drug trafficking and other
money-laundering acts.
For details on Virtual and Cryptocurrencies, please refer to the previous edition of Revision
Friendly Current Affairs (Jun-Nov).
RBI’s housing price index dips marginally

• The Reserve Bank of India’s quarterly HPI is based on transactions data received from
housing registration authorities in 10 major cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata,
Bengaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kanpur and Kochi.
Cheque-bounce case: New Bill in Lok Sabha to provide for interim compensation
• This Bill — Negotiable Instruments (amendment) Bill 2017 seeks to empower the Court to
direct the drawer of the cheque to pay interim compensation to the complainant.
• The interim compensation can be an amount not exceeding 20 per cent of the amount of the
cheque.
• Also, in the case of appeal by drawer against conviction, the Appellate Court may direct the
appellant to deposit such sum which should be a minimum of the 20 per cent of the
compensation awarded by the trial court.
.
Model Concession Agreement for PPP Projects in Major Ports

• The amendments in the MCA envisage constitution of the Society for Affordable
Redressal of Disputes - Ports (SAROD-PORTS) as dispute resolution mechanism
similar to provision available in Highway Sector.
• The other salient features of the revised MCA include the following: Providing exit route to
developers by way of divesting their equity up to 100% after completion of 2 years from the
Commercial Operation Date (COD).
• Concessionaire would pay Royalty on "per MT of cargo/TEU handled" basis which would be
indexed to the variations in the WPI annually.
• Introduction of Complaint Portal for the use of port users.
Extension of norms for mandatory packaging in Jute Materials

• Under the norms, it is compulsory to pack 90 per cent of food grains and 20 per cent
of sugar products in jute bags.
• The decision also mandates, in the first instance, the entire requirement for packing of food
grains would be placed in jute bags thus, making a provision for 100 per cent packing of
food grains in jute bags subject to the ability of the jute industry to meet the requirement.
• With a view to boost demand in the jute sector, the government has imposed a Definitive
Anti-Dumping Duty on import of jute goods from Bangladesh and Nepal with effect from
January 5, 2017.
• Known as the ‘golden fibre’ jute is one of the longest and most used natural fibre for
various textile applications. Jute requires a warm and humid climate with temperature
between 24° C to 37° C. Constant rain or water-logging is harmful. The gray alluvial
soil of good depth, receiving salt from annual floods, is the best for jute.
An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on

foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process
where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on
its own home market. To protect local businesses and markets, many countries impose stiff
duties on products they believe are being dumped in their national market.
More MSMEs register with M1 Xchange for online trade receivables discounting
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which were hitherto struggling to stay afloat
due to paucity of working capital, can bank on M1 Xchange, a digital platform that deals in
TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System).
• The use of TReDS is aimed at improving the flow of funds to the MSMEs by reducing
the receivables realisation cycles. TReDS will allow SMEs to post their receivables on the
system and get them financed.
• Trade Receivables Discounting System is a welcoming step by the RBI to regulate the
trade receivables between MSMEs, large corporations and financiers.
• TReDS is an institutional mechanism set up in order to facilitate the financing of trade
receivables of MSMEs from corporate buyers through invoice financing by multiple
financiers.
Bond yields drop after government cuts borrowing plan

• India’s 10-year bond yield slumped 17 basis points , its biggest drop in 14 months, after the
government said it will lower its additional borrowing programme to Rs20,000 crore from the
Rs50,000 crore notified earlier.
• A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Bond yields and prices move in
opposite directions.
WEF ranks India 30th on global manufacturing index; Japan tops
• Among BRICS nations, china is ranked 5th,Russia is ranked 35th, Brazil 41st and South
Africa at 45thplace.
• The report, which analyses development of modern industrial strategies and urges
collaborative action, has categorised 100 countries into four groups - Leading (strong
current base, high level of readiness for future); High Potential (limited current base,
high potential for future); Legacy (strong current base, at risk for future); or Nascent
(limited current base, low level of readiness for future).
• India has room for improvement across the drivers of production, except for demand
environment where is ranks in the top 5.
• It listed human capital and sustainable resources as the two key challenges for India.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Geneva,
Switzerland recognised in 2015 by the Swiss authorities as an "other international body”. Its
mission is cited as "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business,
political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry
agendas".
The forum is best known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos. The
meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders, international political leaders,
economists, celebrities and journalists for up to four days to discuss the most pressing
issues facing the world.
What is iCreate?
• iCreate centre in Ahmedabad. Called as the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and
Technology (iCreate) has been started to promote and nurture entrepreneurs by providing
them finance, mentors and technology.
• A joint venture between Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited (GMDC) and
Gujarat Entrepreneurship and Venture Promotion Foundation (GEVPF), iCreate is an
independent centre to promote Narendra Modi’s ‘Start-up India’ scheme.
• iCreate provides 13-week grooming program to equip an individual with the right skill
and tools required in the entrepreneurial world. At the end of this, the participants have
the option to pitch their idea for further development. The proposals are evaluated by an
independent panel and selected subsequently. Financial assistance up to Rs 50,000 is
provided by the venture for few deserving pitches.
• Students, existing entrepreneurs, traders, small sized businessmen can participate in the
program
India Steel Ministry Seeks Abolition of Met Coal Import Tax

• India’s steel ministry is seeking to remove import tax on coking coal to soften the impact of
rising costs on users of the key steel-making fuel and promote production of the alloy.
A bond is a loan that the bond purchaser, or bondholder, makes to the bond issuer. Governments,
corporations and municipalities issue bonds when they need capital. An investor who buys a government
bond is lending the government money. If an investor buys a corporate bond, the investor is lending the
corporation money. Like a loan, a bond pays interest periodically and repays the principal at a stated
time, known as maturity. A bond’s price always moves in the opposite direction of its yield.
• It also proposed removing taxes on ferro-chrome and ferro-nickel, ingredients used in

making stainless steel.
• Benchmark prices of premium coking coal have risen 34 percent over the past year, after
cyclone Debbie affected supplies from Australia, the biggest shipper of the commodity.
RBI, government may give banks more time to switch to IndAS

• The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may postpone the implementation of
new accounting standards for banks because of the legislative changes and additional
capital requirements the process would entail.
• Banks and non-banking financial companies are due to switch to Indian Accounting
Standards (IndAS) from 1 April 2018. They currently follow Indian generally accepted
accounting principles (GAAP) standards
• The implementation of IndAS for public sector banks requires an amendment to the
Banking Regulation Act.
• Under the current rules, banks set aside money to cover loans that have turned bad. Under
IndAS, they must make provisions after assessing the expected loss from the time a loan is
originated rather than waiting for a trigger event.
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, BILATERAL AFFAIRS AND GEOPOLITICS
Cabinet approves Agreement with UNESCO on establishment of International Training

Centre for Operational Oceanography in Hyderabad
• The purpose of this Agreement is to establish a training centre towards development of
capacity for the countries on the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR), African countries bordering
the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, small island countries under the framework of
UNESCO.
• The International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, hosted at the ESSO-
INCOIS (ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services) campus in
Hyderabad will be established as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) through an agreement to
be signed with UNESCO.
• The operational oceanography is an activity of conducting systematic oceanographic
studies towards providing information services to various sectors viz. fisherman,
disaster management, shipping, ports, coastal states, navy, coast guard, environment,
offshore industries for conducting their day-today operations.
• The Centre could contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal-14 (SDG 14)
related to building marine scientific research capacity in geographical area of the
Centre responsibility which will also fulfill the commitments to support Small Island
Developing States, Least Developed Countries.
ESSO-INCOIS is India's premier institution in operational oceanography providing several

services that include the ISO 9001:2008 certified Potential Fishing Zone Advisory Service,
Ocean State Forecast Service and Tsunami Warning Service. The International Training Centre
for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean) is currently operational with state-of-the-art
facilities at ESSO-INCOIS, Hyderabad
At fertility rate of 1.9, Bhutan headed for population reduction

• Bhutan may have become first country in the region to be headed for a reduction in
population.
• The Bhutan Living Standards Survey Report-2017 has revealed that the country has
achieved a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.9.
• TFR is defined as the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her
lifetime at the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population.
• Population stabilisation is said to be achieved at a TFR of 2.1 because at that fertility rate a
population just replaces itself. The World Health Organization (WHO) says this value
represents the average number of children a woman would need to have to reproduce
herself by bearing a daughter who survives to childbearing age. This means any number
lower than that would mean a population is actually on its way to a reduction.
WTO talks collapse as US plays spoilsport to India's demands

• While the developing world led by India and China had thrown their weight behind a demand
for an agreed solution on the issue of public stockholding of grain for food security, besides
domestic subsidies to the agriculture sector, developed nations such as the United States
and the European Union remained staunchly against it.
• India's food security programmes and its current public distribution system will not be
impacted by the indecision. However, to use the peace clause, India has to give
information to WTO about the size of its food subsidy bill till last year.
• Member nations simply committed to securing a deal on fisheries subsidies which
delivers on Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 by the end of 2019. They also
committed to improving the reporting of existing fisheries subsidy programmes.
Following India’s agreement with the US on the issue in 2013, the Bali ministerial conference
came up with the ‘peace clause’ that permitted implementation of India’s food security
programme till a solution was found. This allows India to procure and stock food grain for
distribution to the poor without being penalised by WTO members even if it breaches the
10 per cent subsidy cap prescribed by the multilateral trade body.
In the search for a permanent solution, India has proposed either amending the formula to
calculate the food subsidy cap of 10 per cent (based on the reference prices of 1986-88) or
allowing such schemes outside the purview of subsidy caps. India also plans to formalise the
Special Safeguards Mechanism, a long-standing demand of developing nations; these
allow countries to temporarily raise tariffs to deal with surging import and subsequent
price falls.
One in three Internet users in the world a child, says UNICEF

• One in three Internet users in the world is a child, according to UNICEF’s State of the
World’s Children report.
• The report explores the benefits digital technology can offer the most disadvantaged
children, including those growing up in poverty or affected by humanitarian emergencies.
• It examines how the Internet increases children’s vulnerability, including misuse of their
private information, access to harmful content, and cyberbullying.
The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund(UNICEF) is a United Nations (UN)

program headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental
assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is a member of the United
Nations Development Group.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund was created by the United
Nations General Assembly on the 11th of December 1946, to provide emergency food
and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II
Government, ASEAN in talks to take IMT highway up to Vietnam

• India and Asean countries held consultations on the extension of the 1,360 km IMT
highway — from Moreh in India to Mae-Sot in Thailand– to Laos, Cambodia and to
Vietnam.
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), has 10 member nations — Indonesia,
Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR,
Myanmar and Cambodia.
• Another area on which the government is working to connect India with South East Asia is
the IMT Motor Vehicle Agreement (IMT MVA). India, Myanmar and Thailand in 2014
commenced negotiations for finalising and implementing the IMT Motor Vehicle Agreement
(IMT MVA).
Income inequality in India worsens, but slower than Russia and China: report
• Income inequality in India has worsened over the past three-and-a-half decades and the top
10% of earners now corner more than half of the country’s national income in 2016.
• The given facts are according to The World Inequality Report 2018 published by
World Wealth & Income Database, which tracks information on income distribution.
• However, rise in income inequality has been more gradual in India since 1980 compared
to Russia, where it has been abrupt and compared to China, where it was moderate,
said the report.
• That indicates the role played by policies and institutions in evening out inequality, said
the report, which advocated “tax progressivity”—higher taxes on the rich—as an
effective tool to address inequality.
Proportional Taxes: A proportional tax system, also referred to as a flat tax system,
assesses the same tax rate to taxpayers regardless of income or wealth. Under a
proportional tax system, individual taxpayers pay a set percentage of their income
regardless of total income earned.
Progressive Taxes: The current Tax system in India is a progressive tax system, in that
the proportion of tax liability rises as an individual or entity's income increases. Tax
burdens are meant to be more of an imposition to wealthy, high-income earners than they are
to low- or middle-class individuals.
Regressive Taxes: Under a regressive tax system, individuals and entities with low incomes
pay a higher amount of that income in taxes compared to high-income earners. Regressive
taxes include real estate property taxes, state and local sales taxes as well as excise
taxes on consumables such as cigarettes, gasoline, airfare, or alcohol.
UN releases World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018

• In 2017, World Economic Growth reached 3 percent, the highest growth since 2011.The
global growth is expected to remain steady at 3 percent in 2018 and 2019.
• The Recent pickup in global growth originates from firmer growth in several developed
economies although East and South Asia remain the world’s most dynamic regions.
• In 2017, East and South Asia accounted for nearly half of global growth with China alone
contributing about one third.
• The End of recessions in Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and Russia also contributed to the rise in
the global growth rate between 2016 and 2017.
• Indian Economy is likely to grow by 7.2 % in 2018 and by 7.4 % in 2019.
AWS announces ‘Alexa for business’

• Amazon’s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), announced the availability
of its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Alexa for workplace.
• This will allow employees to use voice commands to execute tasks like starting conference
calls and managing meetings.
• Artificial intelligence (AI, also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence displayed by
machines, in contrast with the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other
animals.
• Colloquially, the term "artificial intelligence" is applied when a machine mimics "cognitive"
functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as "learning" and "problem
solving".
Xi Jinping backs China-Myanmar economic corridor

• China and Myanmar have moved a step closer to negotiate the China-Myanmar Economic
Corridor — an initiative that is being given high priority on account of the stalled
Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) connectivity proposal.
• The Y-shaped corridor can start from China’s Yunnan province, and head towards
Mandalay in Myanmar. From there it could extend towards the east and west to Yangon
New City and Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, in the Rakhine province.
• The China-Myanmar corridor will connect Beijing with the Indian Ocean.
• Negotiations for the formation of the BCIM corridor, which would link Kolkata with the
Chinese city of Kunming, have virtually stalled after Beijing went ahead with its plans to
establish the China-Pakistan economic corridor.
For details on BCIM corridor, refer to the previous part of current affairs revision series.
Pact between Myanmar and Bangladesh on Rohingya
• Bangladesh and Myanmar announced that they had signed a Memorandum of Agreement to
begin the repatriation of more than 6,20,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled to
Bangladesh in the past few months.
• A joint working group including officials from Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will be set up, and repatriation of the
refugees to Myanmar would begin by January 23, 2018.
• What sets this agreement apart is that talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar appear to
have been guided not by international agencies, but by China. After back-to-back visits to
Naypidaw and Dhaka by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
• Beijing announced that it favoured a “three-step” solution, comprising a ceasefire in
Rakhine, a bilateral repatriation deal for the Rohingya to Myanmar and long-term solutions
including the economic development of the Rohingya areas.
For more details on the Rohingya Crisis refer to the part of current Affairs revision series.
US to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

• Israel has always regarded Jerusalem as its capital city, while the Palestinians claim east
Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
• In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the US becomes the first country to do so since
the foundation of the state in 1948.
• Jerusalem is home to key religious sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity especially
in east Jerusalem.
• Israel annexed the sector from Jordan after the 1967 Middle East war and regards the entire
city as its indivisible capital.
• According to the 1993 Israel Palestine Peace Accords, its final status is meant to be
discussed in the later stages of Talks.
UN rejects U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital
• The status of Jerusalem must be determined through negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians leading to a final status agreement,” the five European nations said in a
statement at the end of the meeting.
• The resolution reaffirmed what has been the United Nations’ stand on the divided holy city
since 1967- that Jerusalem’s final status must be decided in direct negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians.
• India voted against US at United Nations on this issue.
• NDA government stuck to New Delhi’s principled position on Palestine followed over
the last seven decades, including by the UPA, as it voted in favour of a resolution at
the United Nations General Assembly which opposed and rejected US President
Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
• The resolution, co-sponsored by Turkey and Yemen, called Trump’s recognition “null
and void” and reaffirmed 10 Security Council resolutions on Jerusalem dating back to
1967, including requirements that the city’s final status must be decided in direct
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
UAE and Saudi form new group separate from GCC

• The UAE announced it has formed a new economic and partnership group with Saudi
Arabia, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a move that could
undermine the council amid a diplomatic crisis with Qatar.
• The new committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi
Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the
interest of the two countries.
• Qatar has long denied funding extremists but it restored full diplomatic ties with Iran during
the crisis. Doha shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran that gives its
citizens the highest per-capita income in the world.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern
countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and
Oman. The GCC was established in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 1981. The purpose of
the GCC is to achieve unity among its members based on their common objectives
and their similar political and cultural identities, which are rooted in Islamic beliefs.
Presidency of the council rotates annually.
U.S. pulls out of UN’s pact on migration

• The administration of President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from a
United Nations Pact (Global Compact on Migration) to improve the handling of migrant and
refugee situations, deeming it “inconsistent” with its policies.
• The country would continue its “generosity” in supporting migrants and refugees around the
world.
The Global compact for migration will be the first, intergovernmental negotiated agreement,
prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international
migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
In the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted in September 2016, the
General Assembly decided to develop a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.
The process to develop this global compact for migration started in April 2017. The General
Assembly will then hold an intergovernmental conference on international migration in 2018 with
a view to adopting the global compact.
New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants pledges to uphold the rights of Refugees, help
India opposes e-commerce negotiations at WTO; submits formal document

• India has opposed any negotiations on electronic commerce and submitted a formal
document at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) saying that it would continue the work
under the work programme on e-commerce based on the existing guidelines.
• The programme on e-commerce was adopted by the WTO countries in 1998, when
member countries agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions.
• Earlier, in the previous WTO deal on the Information Technology Agreement, India had
presumably agreed to abolish tariffs on hardware which squeezed the domestic electronics
manufacturing industry.
For details on WTO refer to the previous edition of Revision friendly current Affairs.
Petro: Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro announces launch of oil backed cryptocurrency

• In order to circumvent US led financial sanctions, Venezuelan President announced the
launch of the “Petro” backed by Oil Reserves
• It will be backed by Oil, Gas, Gold and Diamond reserves
• The Real currency Bolivar is in freefall, and the country is lacking basic needs like Food and
Medicine.
• This pivot away from US dollar comes after the recent rise of Bitcoin.
Information security pact needed for greater defence ties: USIBC official
• U.S. defence companies will not be able to partner with the Indian private sector under the
ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) policy, unless New Delhi concludes an agreement for
sharing classified agreement with the U.S.
• India and the U.S. have the General Security of Military Information Agreement
(GSOMIA) which was signed years ago and allows sharing of classified information from US
Government and American companies with Indian Government and Defence Public Sector
Undertakings (DPSU) but not with Indian private companies.
• To ensure Indian private companies are on a level playing field with the DPSU, an important
Modi government policy, an annex should be established allowing information transfer to
Indian private companies.
• This has significant implications for several upcoming big ticket defence deals under the SP
policy in which foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) have to partner with the
private sector to build defence equipment domestically. This includes the soon to be initiated
deal for a single engine fighter jet in which Lockheed F-16 is competing against SAAB
Gripen. The two companies have already tied up with Tata and Adani groups respectively if
they were to win the contest.
• However, this is different from the foundational agreements for which discussions are
underway. India and the U.S. concluded the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of
Understanding (LEMOA) last year and discussions are on for the other two namely —
Communications Compatibility And Security Agreement (COMCASA) and Basic Exchange
and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Information and Services Cooperation (BECA).
The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) was formed in 1975 as a business advocacy
organization to enlighten and encourage the private sectors of both India and United
States to enhance investment flows. The organization serves as a direct link between
business and Government leaders, resulting in increased trade and investment to strengthen
ties between the two nations.
LEMOA is a facilitating agreement that establishes basic terms, conditions, and procedures
for reciprocal provision of Logistic Support, Supplies, and Services between the armed
forces of India and the United States, signed on 29 August 2016.Logistic Support, Supplies,
and Services include food, water, billeting, transportation, petroleum, oils, lubricants, clothing,
communication services, medical services, storage services, training services, spare parts and
components, repair and maintenance services, calibration services, and port services.
Black money: India-Swiss data sharing

• India signed an agreement with Switzerland that would allow automatic sharing of
tax-related information from January 1 2018.
• While Switzerland has conformed to the global standards on automatic exchange of
information with the signing of the declaration, India, on its part, has promised to safeguard
the confidentiality of the data.
• It will now be possible for India to receive from September, 2019 onwards, the financial
information of accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland for 2018 and subsequent
years, on an automatic basis.
MEA launches SAMEEP to take Indian foreign policy to students across the country
India tops list of migrants living abroad at 17 million: UNThe 2017 International Migration
Report
• India has topped the list of people living abroad at 17 million with about 5 million
Indians residing in the Gulf region alone.
• The definition of international migrants used in the report is broad, taking into account
anyone living in a country other their own and includes refugees and economic migrants,
both those immigrating officially and those who do so "irregularly”.
• Mexico sent out 13 million migrants, the second highest number.
Nepal rejects India’s offer to jointly re-measure Mt Everest

• Nepal has rejected India’s offer to jointly re-measure the height of the world’s highest
peak Mount Everest following the massive earthquake in 2015 and will carry out the
exercise on its own.
• Nepal will, however, seek help from India and China for getting crucial data for the exercise
after the 2015 "Gorkha earthquake" that jolted Nepal, various doubts were raised by the
scientific community over the height of the peak.
• The Survey of India, a 250-year-old institute under the DST(Department of Science and
Technology), proposed re-measuring Mt Everest as an Indo-Nepal Joint Scientific Exercise
with Nepal’s survey department.
• Mt Everest, which is known by different local names by both Nepalese and Chinese, is
named after Sir George Everest, the first Surveyor General of India, who first measured its
height and established that it is the world’s highest peak.
Saudi Arabia, UAE introduce VAT in first for Gulf countries

• The 5% sales tax applies to most goods and services and analysts project that the two
governments could raise as much as $21 billion in 2018, equivalent to 2% of GDP.
• The other members of the Gulf Co-operation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and
Qatar - have also committed to introduce VAT, though some have delayed plans until at
least 2019.
• In Saudi Arabia more than 90% of budget revenues come from the oil industry while
in the UAE it is roughly 80%.
• In Saudi Arabia this included a tax on tobacco and soft drinks as well as a cut in some
subsidies offered to locals. In the UAE road tolls have been hiked and a tourism tax
introduced.
• But there are no plans to introduce income tax, where most residents pay 0% tax on their
earnings.
A value-added tax (VAT) is a type of consumption tax that is placed on a product whenever
value is added at a stage of production and at the point of retail sale. The amount of VAT that the
user pays is on the cost of the product, less any of the costs of materials used in the product that
have already been taxed.VAT is usually implemented as a destination-based tax, where the
tax rate is based on the location of the customer. Destination based tax (consumption tax)
are levied where goods and services are consumed.
India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations
• India and Pakistan exchanged lists of their nuclear installations under an agreement
that aims to prevent both sides from attacking such facilities.
• The Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear installations between India and
Pakistan that governs the exchange of these lists was signed on December 31, 1988 and
came into force on January 27, 1991.
• It ensures that both countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities that are
to be covered under the agreement on the first of January every year.
Signing of bilateral annual Haj 2018 agreement between India and Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia has given the green signal for India’s decision to revive the option of sending
Haj pilgrims through sea route. The practice of ferrying Haj pilgrims between Mumbai and
Jeddah by waterways was stopped from 1995.
• Another advantage with ships available these days is they are modern and well-equipped to
ferry 4,000 to 5,000 persons at a time. They can cover the 2,300-odd nautical miles one-
side distance between Mumbai and Jeddah within just 3-4 days. Earlier, the old ships used
to take 12 to 15 days to cover this distance.
• For the first time Muslim women from India will go to Haj without “Mehram” (male
companion). Separate accommodation and transport has been arranged for these women
Haj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and women “Haj Assistant” will be deployed for their
assistance.
• Women above 45 years of age, who wish to go for Haj but who don’t have a male
companion, are allowed to travel for Haj in groups of 4 or more women according to the new
Haj policy of India.
AAP government signs friendship agreement with Japan

• The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan on Tuesday
signed a friendship agreement for cooperation in various fields including environment,
cultural exchange, education and air pollution.
• The twin city agreement signed proposes agreement between the two countries in the areas
of environment, air pollution, culture, tourism and heritage, education and youth exchange.
It’s a three year pact.
Third edition of the geo-political conference, ‘Raisina Dialogue’, in New Delhi

• The event, jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer
Research Foundation (ORF), is a multilateral conference aimed at addressing
challenging issues globally.
• The theme of the dialogue this year is ‘Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas,
Institutions and Idioms’.
• Israeli PM, Netanyahu inaugurated the event and laid stress on the need to develop
economic, military and political power to emerge as a strong nation.
Nepal to get internet connection from China ending India’s monopoly
• Nepal has relied on India for internet services for long as the country is optically connected
with the southern neighbour through Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Biratnagar.
• Nepal Telecom and China Telecom Global launched their services after they wrapped up
the laying of optical fiber cables between Kerung in China and Rasuwagadi in Nepal, about
50 km (30 miles) north of Kathmandu.
• The initial speed of the Internet by Chinese fibre link via Rasuwagadhi border will be
1.5 Gigabit per second (gbps), less than that of 34 gbps by India.
Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk renamed after Israeli city Haifa

• The Teen Murti Chowk will be renamed as Teen Murti Haifa Chowk, in the centenary year
of the Battle for Haifa as a symbol of friendship between the people of India and Israel.
• The Israeli city was liberated from Ottoman occupation by Indian soldiers during
World War I. A large number of Indian soldiers of the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade
died during the battle to free the city and nearly 900 were buried in Israel.
• September 23 is celebrated as Haifa Day in India and Israel every year as a mark of
respect for the soldiers who lost their lives in the battle and to mark the end of 400
years of Turkish control over the city.
• The Teen Murti Chowk was named to mark the role of the three cavalry regiments. But no
one knows this today. the government should acknowledge the role played by the three
regiments of the Indian Army in the Battle of Haifa in 1918.
Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ to be held in Seattle

• Yet another edition of the joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle.
• Vajra Prahar’ is an Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted
alternately in India and the US. Though the exercise began in 2010, there was a gap of
three years between 2012 and 2015. The last edition was held in Jodhpur in March 2017.
This edition’s Indian Army team is from the Pune-headquartered Southern Command.
• The exercise will mainly focus on special operations in urban areas. The aim of the
exercise is to promote military relations between the two countries by enhancing
interoperability and mutual exchange of tactics between Special Forces.
India admitted to Australia Group

• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that India’s entry into the group which
aims to prevent proliferation of biological and chemical weapons, will ensure a more
secure world.
• India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2016 and the
Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) last year.
• The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use
Goods and Technologies is a multilateral export control regime.
• The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is a multilateral export control
regime. It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries to prevent
the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of
carrying above 500 kg payload for more than 300 km.
India offers ASEAN $1 billion

• India has offered a $1 billion Line of Credit to enhance physical and digital
connectivity with ASEAN nations.
• A line of credit is credit source extended to a government, business or individual by
a bank or other financial institution. It is effectively a source of funds that can readily
be tapped at the borrower's discretion. Interest is paid only on money actually
withdrawn
For details on ASEAN refer to the Previous edition of the revision friendly current affairs
(Jun-Nov)
India Ranks 81st On Global Talent Competitiveness Index

• While Switzerland continues to top the list released every year on the first day of the World
Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, India has improved its position from 92nd last year.
The index that measures how countries grow, attract and retain talent.
• India's ranking was the worst among the five BRICS countries in 2017 as well when China
was ranked 54th, Russian Federation was placed at 56th, followed by South Africa (67) and
Brazil (81).
• To further explore the dynamics that turn cities into talent magnets, this year the partners
launched the inaugural Global Cities Talent Competitiveness Index (GCTCI
INSEAD Business School, released the fourth edition of Global Talent Competitiveness
Index (GTCI). Produced in partnership with The Adecco Group and the Human Capital
Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI), the GTCI is an annual benchmarking report that
measures the ability of countries to compete for talent.
China invites Latin America to take part in One Belt, One Road
• China said the region was a natural fit for the initiative, which China has leveraged to
deepen economic and financial cooperation with developing nations worldwide.
• The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC is a regional bloc of Latin
American and Caribbean states thought out on February 23, 2010, at the Rio Group–
Caribbean Community Unity Summit, and created on December 3, 2011,
in Caracas, Venezuela, with the signature of The Declaration of Caracas. It consists
of 33 sovereign countriesthat does not include the United States or Canadain the
Americas representing roughly 600 million people.
WEF launches Global Centre for Cybersecurity

• The World Economic Forum announced a new Global Centre for Cybersecurity to help
build a safe and secure global cyberspace. The centre will be based in Geneva,
Switzerland, and will function as an autonomous organization under the auspices of
the World Economic Forum.
• The aim of the centre is to establish the first global platform for governments,
businesses, experts and law enforcement agencies to collaborate on cyber security
challenges.
Delhi Declaration of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit to mark the 25th

Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations
• ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit that began on January 25, 2018 in New Delhi,
under the theme of ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’.
• In a significant development, India and 10 ASEAN countries for the first time
mentioned “cross-border movement of terrorists” and made a commitment to counter
the challenge through “close cooperation
• Following is the Delhi Declaration of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit:
• The leaders, while recognising the achievements made over the past 25 years through
ASEAN-India dialogue relations and appreciating India’s contribution to the regional peace,
security and prosperity agreed to the following points:
• To further strengthen and deepen the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership for mutual benefit,
across the whole spectrum of political security, economic, socio-cultural and development
cooperation, in order to build a peaceful, harmonious, caring and sharing community in the
region.
• To continue to exert towards the full, effective and timely implementation of the Plan of
Action to Implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared
Prosperity (2016-2020).
• To further enhance high-level engagement and cooperation within the existing framework of
the ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership and ASEAN-led mechanisms, such as the ASEAN-
India Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
• To continue to support and contribute to ASEAN integration and ASEAN Community
building process, towards the realisation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.
List of Military Exercises

PARTICIPATING ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE
COUNTRY
Russia Indra
USA, Japan Malabar
Japan Sahyog-Kaijin
USA YudhAbhyas Red Flag
China Hand in Hand
France Shakti Varuna Garuda
UK Ajeya Warrior Konkan Indradhanush
Nepal Surya Kiran
Bangladesh Sampriti
Sri Lanka Mitra Shakti SLINEX
Thailand Maitree
Indonesia Garuda Shakti CORPAT
UAE DesertEagle
Oman Naseem AlBahr EasternBridge
Kazakhstan Prabal Dostyk
Mongolia Nomadic Elephant
Seychelles LAMITIYE
Singapore Bold Kurukshetra SIMBEX
Australia Ausindex
Kyrgyzstan Khanjar
ASEAN + Force 18
Maldives Ekuverin
South Africa,Brazil IBSAMAR
Indexes and India’s Rankings

Index Published by India’s
ranking
(2017)
Global Competitiveness index World Economic Forum 40
Global Innovation index Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO 60
Global Peace index Institute of Economics and Peace 137
Human Development index United Nation Development Programme 131
(UNDP)
World Happiness Index United Nation Sustainable Development 122
Solutions Network
Prosperity Index Legatum Institute 100
Ease of Doing Business index World Bank 100
Correction Perception Index Transparency International 79
Global Talent Competitiveness Global business school INSEAD in 81
index partnership with Adecco Group and Human
capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) of
Singapore.
Inclusive development Index World Economic Forum 60
Climate Change Performance German NGO and Climate Action Network 20
Index Europe
Logistics Performance Index World Bank’s 35
World Press Freedom Index Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) 136
Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable Development Solutions 116
Index Network(SDSN)
International Intellectual Property US Chamber of Commerce’s GIPC 43
Index
Global Hunger Index International Food Policy Research Institute 100
(IFPRI)
Global Human Capital Index World Economic Forum 103
Travel and tourism World Economic Forum 40
Competitiveness Index
Science and Technology

Lalji Singh, ‘father of DNA fingerprinting in India’, passes away
• Dr. Singh was one of the leaders instrumental in making DNA fingerprinting mainstream in
India, both at the level of research as well as for forensic applications.
• This was after techniques advanced by him led to DNA profiling being used to establish
parentage as well as solve some high profile crime cases in India.
• Based on his work he was tasked by the government — in the late 1990s — to establish the
Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) with a mandate of making it a nodal
centre for DNA fingerprinting and diagnostics for all species and several diseases.
• DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting, DNA testing, or DNA typing) is the
process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics, called a DNA profile, that is very
likely to be different in unrelated individuals, thereby being as unique to individuals as
are fingerprints (hence the alternative name for the technique).
NASA’s Juno probes depths of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

• Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the solar system’s most famous storm, is almost one-and-a-half
Earths wide and penetrates about 300 km into the planet’s atmosphere, according to data
collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
• The science instrument responsible for this in-depth revelation was Juno’s Microwave
Radiometer (MWR).
• Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a giant oval of crimson-coloured clouds in Jupiter’s
southern hemisphere that race counter-clockwise around the oval’s perimeter with wind
speeds greater than any storm on the earth.
• Measuring 16,000 km in width as of April 3, this year, the Great Red Spot is 1.3 times as
wide as the earth. Juno found that the Great Red Spot’s roots go 50 to 100 times deeper
than the earth’s oceans and are warmer at the base than they are at the top.
For more details of such space missions refer to the previous issue(Revision Friendly
Current affairs Jun-Nov)
New island offers clues in search for life on Mars: NASA

• The island of Hunga Tonga HungaHa’apai, the world’s newest island, rose from the
seabed about 65 km northwest of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa in late 2014 or early 2015.
• Islands like this might have worked on Mars two or three billion years ago — lakes and small
seas filling depressions, persistent surface waters.
• While the island — which initially measured one km wide, two km long and about 100
metres high — has undergone significant erosion, it is now expected to last anywhere from
six to 30 years, possibly because warm sea water combined with ash during the volcanic
explosion to create a concrete-like substance known as “tuff”.
New form of matter ‘excitonium’ discovered
• Scientists have proven the existence of new form of matter called excitonium - which was
first theorised almost 50 years ago.
• This has been done by Studying non-doped crystals of a transition metal—
dichalcogenide titanium diselenide (1T-TiSe2).
• Excitonium exhibits macroscopic quantum phenomena, like a superconductor and is
made up of excitons, particles that are formed in a very strange quantum mechanical
pairing.
How Exciton is formed?

• When an electron, seated at the edge of the crowded-with-electrons valence band
in a semiconductor, gets excited and jumps over the energy gap to the otherwise
empty conduction band, it leaves behind a “hole” in the valence band.
• That hole behaves as though it were a particle with positive charge, and it attracts
the escaped electron.
• When the escaped electron with its negative charge, pairs up with the hole, the
two remarkably form a composite particle, a boson - an exciton.
Google crunches data to help NASA find two new planets

• Alphabet Inc’s Google and NASA identified, using advanced computer analysis, two new
planets around distant stars, including one that is part of the first star system with as many
planets as Earth’s solar system.
• In this case, software learned differences between planets and other objects by analyzing
thousands of data points, achieving 96 percent accuracy, NASA said at a news conference.
• The data came from the Kepler telescope which NASA launched into space in 2009 as part
of a planet-finding mission that is expected to end next year as the spacecraft runs out of
fuel.
• The software’s artificial “neural network” combed through data about 670 stars, which led to
the discovery of planets Kepler 80g and Kepler 90i. The latter, a scorching, rocky mass 30
percent larger than Earth, is the eighth planet found to be orbiting the same star.
• Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly
programmed. In the past decade, machine learning has given us self-driving cars, practical
speech recognition, effective web search, and a vastly improved understanding of the
human genome.
For more details on Kepler Mission, refer to the previous edition of the Revision friendly
Current Affairs
A bacterium that can read man-made DNA

• All life on Earth uses the same four chemical letters, (A,T,C,G) known as bases, to store
genetic information in the form of DNA. Three bases form a codon, a genetic “word” that
represents one of 20 natural amino acids.
• A string of codons can be read by the machinery inside cells and turned into long chains of
amino acids. These chains fold up into proteins, which carry out many of the innumerable
jobs necessary for life.
• The newly engineered bacterium stores information using a six-letter genetic alphabet
comprising the four usual bases (A, G, C and T, or adenine, guanine, cytosine and
thymine) plus two artificial ones called NaM and TPT3.
• The bacterium can quite happily read an entirely new, human-created extension to the
standard genetic code, and use the instructions to produce proteins that no organism
naturally makes.
• The hope is that one day this method could be used to make new drugs, polymers or
catalysts.
Pluto may have liquid water oceans beneath icy surface: NASA
• Heat generated by the gravitational pull of moons formed from massive collisions could
extend the lifetimes of liquid water oceans.
• These frigid worlds are found beyond the orbit of Neptune and include Pluto and its moons.
• There is evidence that some may have layers of liquid water beneath their icy crusts.
Pluto, once considered the ninth and most distant planet from the sun, is now the largest
known dwarf planet in the solar system. It is also one of the largest known members of
the Kuiper Belt, a shadowy zone beyond the orbit of Neptune thought to be populated by
hundreds of thousands of rocky, icy bodies each larger than 62 miles (100 kilometers) across,
along with 1 trillion or more comets.
Oldest Monster Black Hole Ever Found Is 800 Million Times More Massive Than the Sun
• This newfound giant black hole, which formed just 690 million years after the Big Bang,
could one day help shed light on a number of cosmic mysteries, such as how black holes
could have reached gargantuan sizes quickly after the Big Bang and how the universe got
cleared of the murky fog that once filled the entire cosmos.
• Previous research suggested these giants release extraordinarily large amounts of light
when they rip apart stars and devour matter, and likely are the driving force behind quasars,
which are among the brightest objects in the universe.
• Astronomers can detect quasars from the farthest corners of the cosmos, making quasars
among the most distant objects known. The farthest quasars are also the earliest known
quasars — the more distant one is, the more time its light took to reach Earth.
MIT scientists create plants that can glow

• Plants to give off dim light by embedding specialised nano-particles into their leaves,
a major step towards using plants to illuminate the workspace.
• This technology could also be used to provide low- intensity indoor lighting, or to transform
trees into self- powered streetlights.
• The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp - a lamp that you don’t have to
plug in. The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself.
• To create the glowing plants, the team turned to luciferase, the enzyme that gives fireflies
their glow. Luciferase acts on a molecule called luciferin, causing it to emit light.
• Another molecule called co-enzyme A helps the process along by removing a reaction
byproduct that can inhibit luciferase activity.
Sun-Like Star Found Eating Its Own Planetary Offspring

• Researchers have found evidence to show that a Sun-like star 550 light years from Earth is
slowly consuming its "offspring" -- crushing one or more planets in its orbit into vast clouds
of gas and dust - like the ancient Greek god Cronus who devoured his children.
• The star, RZ Piscium -- located in the constellation Pisces -- is an insatiable "eater of
worlds".
FDA approvals for Gene Therapy

• FDA approves novel gene therapy to treat patients with a rare form of inherited vision loss.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Luxturna
(voretigeneneparvovec-rzyl), a new gene therapy, to treat children and adult patients
with an inherited form of vision loss that may result in blindness.
• Luxturna is the first directly administered gene therapy approved in the U.S. that
targets a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene.
• The FDA had eralier in august,2017 approved Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for certain
pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
• ALL is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, in which the body makes abnormal
lymphocytes.
Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the
future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells
instead of using drugs or surgery. Researchers are testing several approaches to gene therapy,
including:
Replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a healthy copy of the gene.
Inactivating, or “knocking out,” a mutated gene that is functioning improperly.
Introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease.
Although gene therapy is a promising treatment option for a number of diseases (including
inherited disorders, some types of cancer, and certain viral infections), the technique remains risky
and is still under study to make sure that it will be safe and effective. Gene therapy is currently
being tested only for diseases that have no other cures
India is all set to build a new LIGO gravitational wave detector by 2025
• The new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector will add to
the two already operational in the US.
• The LIGO India partnership is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council
(STFC) through its Newton-Bhabha project on LIGO.
• The Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology in Indore and Institute for
Plasma Research in Ahmedabad are in charge of building various parts of the system.
• This third LIGO detector will help pinpoint the origin of the gravitational waves that are
detected in future. The existence of these waves was first predicted by Albert Einstein 100
years ago in his general theory of relativity
For details on Gravitational waves refer to the previous edition of the current Affairs Revision
Series.
Mobile phone radiation harmful for a cockroach's health: Study
• A cockroach may survive a nuclear blast, but mobile phone radiation does no good to its
health, a study conducted on the insect has found.
• Exposure of Periplanetaamericana (adult male cockroaches) to “electromagnetic
radiation emitted by mobile phones resulted in sharp changes in the various enzyme
systems of body fat and haematological profile.
• The study concluded that “continuous exposure to electromagnetic radiation of cellphones
can result in widespread effects on the brain, neurons, developing cells and enzyme
systems” of cockroaches.
• Haematology deals with the scientific study of blood.
China successfully tests country's first photovoltaic highway

• China has successfully tested its first photovoltaic highway based on home-grown
technology, in the country's eastern Shandong province.
• The road is constructed using solar panels which have a thin sheet of clear concrete on top
of them, protecting the surface.
• The panels were built to transfer energy to electric vehicles passing on top of them.The
special section has three layers.
• The bottom is an insulator to prevent moisture from getting to the photovoltaic
devices in the middle layer, and the top is protective, made from transparent
concrete.
• The tested segment of highway can generate 817.2 kilowatts of power and is expected to
generate 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.The electricity generated through
this will be connected to China's national power grid.
• China becomes the second country to construct a photovoltaic highway. France was the
first country to introduce the world's first photovoltaic road fitted with solar panels in
late 2016.
NASA’s new telescope will have a view 100 times bigger than Hubble’s and could solve
key mysteries of the universe
• Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)—originally just a study—will move forward
into project phase.
• WFIRST will have the same precision and power of the Hubble Space Telescope, but
with a field of view 100 times greater. It can capture millions of galaxies in a single image.
• NASA outlined WFIRST’s two main tasks: to answer “fundamental questions about the
structure and evolution of the universe,” and to “expand our knowledge of planets beyond
our solar system.”
• In the 1990s, though, astronomers discovered that the expansion of the universe wasn’t
slowing down at all—it was accelerating. Today, it’s believed that some unknown, “dark”
type of energy is responsible for speeding up the universe’s expansion rate.
• The telescope’s other mission is to research exoplanets. WFIRST will employ a coronagraph
instrument, which can allow astronomers to photograph dim planets near bright stars.
Google’s new AI system can articulate like humans
• Google’s text-to-speech system called “Tacotron2” delivers an AI-generated computer
speech that almost matches with the voice of humans.
• The system first creates a spectrogram of the text, a visual representation of how the
speech should sound.
• That image is put through Google’s WaveNet algorithm, which uses the image and brings AI
closer than ever to mimicking human speech. It can easily learn different voices and even
generates artificial breaths
What are bosons and how did they get their name?
• Satyendra Nath Bose’s name was very much in the news when CERN discovered the Higgs
boson a few years back.
• Think of the many particles you have heard of, such as electron, proton, neutron, neutrino,
and photon. All the particles in this list, except the photon, are so-called matter particles.
The photon, on the other hand, is a quantum, or tiny bundle, of the electromagnetic field.
• The relation between matter particles and field quanta is simple — Matter particles
interact with each other by exchanging the appropriate field quanta.
• One fundamental difference between matter particles and field quanta is that while
you can squeeze in as many field quanta into a small volume, you cannot do so with
matter.
SpaceX launches secretive Zuma mission

• Zuma is headed for low-Earth orbit, but we don't know exactly where Zuma was built for the
U.S. government, and it's not unusual for the government to keep information about
sensitive payloads under wraps. Typically, these payloads involve a military concern, such
as national security, defense or surveillance.
• SpaceX has launched national security payloads in the past, including a spy satellite for the
National Reconnaissance Office, and an X-37B space plane for the U.S. Air Force.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., doing business as SpaceX, is a private
American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company. Founded in 2002 by
entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling
the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and
the Dragon spacecraft family, which both currently deliver payloads into Earth orbit.
India unveils Pratyush, its fastest supercomputer yet

• India’s supercomputing prowess moved up several notches after it unveiled Pratyush, an
array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops.
• One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a reflection
of the computing capacity of a system.
• Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated for weather and
climate research, and follows machines in Japan, USA and the United Kingdom
• The machines will be installed at two government institutes: 4.0 petaflops HPC facility at
IITM, Pune; and 2.8 petaflops facility at the National Centre for Medium Range
Weather Forecast, Noida.
NASA to launch two missions, GOLD and ICON to explore the ionosphere.
• The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will be launched
in January 2018, and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched
later this year.
• GOLD and ICON will team up to explore the ionosphere, a boundary area between Earth
and the space where particles have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons
and ions by the Sun’s radiation.
• These layers of near-Earth space are increasingly becoming a part of human domain as it is
home to radio signals used to guide airplanes, ships and Global Positioning System
satellites.
• NASA said the two missions were complementary. ICON will be in low-Earth orbit, at 560 km
above Earth, like a close-up camera while GOLD will be in a geostationary orbit over the
Western Hemisphere, about 35,398 km above the planet’s surface.
• One of the missions’ goals is to measure how upper atmosphere changes in
response to hurricanes and geomagnetic storms.
• GOLD will also explore how the upper atmosphere reacts to geomagnetic storms,
which are temporary disturbances of Earth’s magnetic field caused by solar activity.
At night, GOLD will examine disruptions in the ionosphere, which are dense, unpredictable
bubbles of charged gas that appear over the equator and tropics, sometimes interfering with
radio communications.
For details on various ongoing missions please refer to the previous edition of the Revision
friendly current affairs(Jun-Nov)
Typhoid vaccine prequalified

• WHO has prequalified the first conjugate vaccine to prevent typhoid fever called Typbar-
TCV® developed by Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech.
• The vaccine has long-lasting immunity, requires only one dose and can be given to children
as young as 6 months through routine childhood immunization programmes. Other Typhoid
vaccines are recommended for children over 2 years of age.
• Prequalification by WHO means that the vaccine meets standards of quality, safety
and efficacy, thus making it eligible for procurement by United Nations agencies,
such as the United Nations Children’s Fund.
• A conjugate vaccine is one that is composed of a polysaccharide antigen that is
fused to a carrier molecule.
• Typhoid disease is caused by Salmonella Typhi, a bacterium.
HPV vaccine gets immunisation nod

• The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), an advisory body that
recommends vaccines for India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), has given
the green signal to the introduction of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the
UIP.
• As on today, two HPV vaccines are available in India, developed by Merck Sharp &
Dohme (MSD) and GlaxoSmithkline (GSK), while one vaccine developed by an Indian firm
is in clinical trials.
• But a 2012 writ petition in the Supreme Court of India asks for the licences of the MSD
and GSK vaccines to be revoked, because they were allegedly approved by the Drug
Controller General of India (DCGI) without adequate clinical trials. This is why the inclusion
of these vaccines in the UIP will wait till the Supreme Court decides on the case.
• India has one of the world’s highest burdens of HPV-related cancer. Around 67,000
women die from this disease each year, more than India’s maternal mortality burden of
45,000.
Human papillomavirus infection is an infection by human papillomavirus (HPV)a DNA virus

from the papillomavirus family. Most HPV infections cause no symptoms and resolve
spontaneously. In some people, an HPV infection persists and results in warts or
precancerous lesions.Nearly all cervical cancer is due to HPV.
Bharat Biotech's diarrhoea vaccine gets WHO nod
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has awarded pre-qualification to the developing
world’s first rotavirus diarrhoea vaccine, ROTAVAC, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat
Biotech.
• The recognition will allow UN agencies and Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, to purchase
the vaccine from Bharat Biotech at significantly lower prices than those sourced from
global pharmaceutical majors and make it available in other developing regions
including Africa where diarrhoea kills thousands of children every year.
• ROTAVAC was developed as a result of a multi-country and multi partner
collaborative model for over two decades. The partnership included the Department of
Biotechnology, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Indian Institute of Science, the
All India Institute of Medical Science, the Christian Medical College, King Edwards Memorial
Hospital, the Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute, the Society for Applied
Studies, the US National Institutes of Health, the US Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, Johns Hopkins University and PATH.
MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat to strengthen Cybersecurity

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber
Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and
industry partners.
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat will be operated on the three principles of Awareness, Education
and Enablement. It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a
series of workshops on best practices and enablement of the officials with cyber-security
health tool kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats.
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will
leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cyber-security.
Contest is off but TeamIndus to still go to moon

• The $30-million Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP) organiser has also called off its 10-
year-old challenge — in which Team Indus was one of the five contestants.
• Team Indus had planned to send a lander-rover to the moon on an ISRO launcher.
Team Indus plans to still go to the moon multiple times in the next three to five years
The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) was announced in 2007, with the stated aim of
encouraging commercial spaceflight and exploration. The contest challenged privately
funded teams to put a robotic spacecraft on the moon, move the craft 1,640 feet (500
meters), and have it beam high-definition photos and video back to Earth
Centre announces four schemes to promote young scientists

• Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence(TARE) Scheme will connect the
educators to leading public funded institutions like IIT, IISc or national institutions like CSIR
to pursue research.
• The second scheme -- Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship -- offers support to 100
PhD scholars for training in universities/laboratories abroad up to 12 months during their
doctoral research.
• The third scheme --Distinguished Investigator Award -- offers a maximum of 100
fellowships to principal investigators of Science and Engineering Research
Board/Department of Science and Technology projects.
• The fourth scheme ‘Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR)’ aims
to encourage science writing.
NASA keen on India-made technology for spacecraft

• A new thermal spray coating technology used for gas turbine engine in spacecraft
developed by a Rajasthan-based researcher has caught the attention of a NASA scientist.
• The controlled segmented Yttria-Stabilised Zirconia (YSZ)-Plasma sprayed coating
technology, which could reduce the thermal spray coating cost by almost 50%.
New wheat variety can help fight diabetes

• A new variety of fibre-rich wheat that has the potential to help fight Type 2 diabetes and
bowel cancer has been developed.
• The new wheat variety was rich in amylose. The amount of resistant starch, a type of dietary
fibre, in products made from high-amylose wheat was 10 times more than those made from
regular wheat. Resistant starch is known to improve digestive health, protect against
the genetic damage that precedes bowel cancer, and help combat Type 2 diabetes.
• Food is digested in the small intestine. This starch reaches the large intestine and
disintegrates there, which reduces the speed with which glucose reaches the blood.
Diabetes is a chronic, often debilitating and sometimes fatal disease, in which the body either
cannot produce insulin or cannot properly use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone
that controls the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and kills the beta cells of
the pancreas. No, or very little, insulin is released into the body. As a result, sugar builds up in the
blood instead of being used as energy.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body can’t properly use the insulin that is released (called
insulin insensitivity) or does not make enough insulin. As a result, sugar builds up in the blood
instead of being used as energy
Total Lunar eclipse, Super Blue Blood Moon seen around the world
• During the lunar eclipse, the earth comes exactly between the sun and the moon and the
earth's shadow falls on the moon. If the three are almost exactly on the same line, it is called
a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will make the moon glow in a shade of orangey red
hence, the name ‘blood moon.
• A blue moon occurs when two full moons rise in the same calendar month. Generally,
a full moon can be seen once a month. Occasionally, in every three years or so, it happens
twice in one month. The second full moon of a month is termed as a blue moon
• The last Blue Moon occurred in July 2015. In 2018 however, it will occur twice, once in
January and second time in late March.
• A super moon occurs when the moon is at its closest point to Earth and appears to
be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal.
MISCELLANEOUS
Scorpene class submarine INS kalvari joins navy

• After almost two decades, the Navy inducted its first modern conventional submarine INS
Kalvari into the fleet. The Navy last inducted a conventional diesel-electric submarine, INS
Sindhushastra, procured from Russia in July 2000.
For more Details about class of submarines refer to the Jun-Nov revision friendly current
affairs.
New initiatives on Universal Health Coverage Day, 2017

• Universal Health Coverage Day is observed every Year on 12, December to
commemorate the first unanimous United Nations Resolution calling for countries to provide
affordable quality healthcare to every person, everywhere.
• Laqshya Initiative: Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative, Laqshya is expected to
improve the quality of care that is being provided to the pregnant mother in the Labour
Room and Maternity Operation Theatres, thereby preventing the undesirable adverse
outcomes associated with childbirth.
• The Ministry also released the operational Guidelines for Obstetric High Dependency Units
and Intensive Care Units.
• The Safe Delivery Application is a mHealth tool that can be used for health workers
who manage normal and complicated deliveries in the peripheral areas. The
application has Clinical Instruction films on key obstetric procedures which can help the
health workers translate their learnt skills into practice.
UNESCO names Kumbh Mela Intangible Cultural Heritage
• After ‘yoga’ and ‘Nouroz’, Kumbh Mela/ KumbhMela, the largest congregation of pilgrims on
the planet, has been listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage under UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).
• This inscription is the third in two years following the inscriptions of ‘Yoga’ and ‘Norouz’ on
1st December 2016
• The Kumbh Mela is held in Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik.
For detailed List of other Intangible heritage from India please refer to the previous edition of
Revision friendly Current Affairs.
Ajeya Warrior: India-UK third joint military training exercise in Rajasthan concludes
• The fortnight-long exercise, which was aimed at sharing best practices and experiences of
the two armies.
• Set in the backdrop of growing terrorist activities worldwide, the first and second
editions of the exercise were held at Belgaum in Karnataka and Westdown Camp,
Salisbury Plains Training Area, in the UK, in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
New scheme to curb graft in Karnataka

• With the existing Sakala scheme (2011) failing to curb corruption and deliver services
effectively in some of the key departments, the Siddaramaiah government has now
proposed to launch Sakala-2.
• The new draft gives more teeth to Sakala by steeply increasing the fine for delays —
from the present Rs. 20 to Rs. 250 - and by setting up a commission to implement the
scheme.
• This will address shortcomings in the existing Act by including a provision for imposing
penalty up to Rs. 50,000 on officials from their salary, if they fail to discharge duties/deliver
services within a stipulated period.
• The proposed Bill includes mandatory display of citizens’ charters and job charts in
all government departments, social audits and weekly public hearings, information and
facilitation centres and independent structures at the district and State-levels to hear
appeals related to grievance redress processes.
India’s digital gender gap could further marginalise women: Unicef

• With less than one-third of India’s internet users being females, the country’s girls and
women risk becoming further marginalised in society and at home if they remain digitally
illiterate in the backdrop of the country making a public push towards a more digital
economy.
• There is a digital gender gap as well. Globally, 12% more men than women used the
internet in 2017. In India, less than one third of internet users are female.
• Themed “Children in a digital world”, the latest “state of the world’s Children Report”
provides country-level examples to give a sense of the kinds of barriers girls and women
confront.
Army, Air Force conduct exercise to gauge offensive capabilities in Southern theatre
• The units from key formations of the Southern Command have joined hands with the
Indian Air Force to conduct a major exercise — ‘HameshaVijayee’ (always victorious)
— in the deserts of Rajasthan.
• The exercise is meant to evaluate the capability of the armed forces, to strike deep into
enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle.
India's First National Rail and Transportation University at Vadodara

• Ministry of Railways' transformative initiative to set up the first ever National Rail and
Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara to skill its human resources and build capability.
• The University will be set up as a Deemed to Be University under de novo category as per
the UGC [Institutions Deemed to be Universities] Regulations, 2016.
• A not-for-profit Company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 will be created
by the Ministry of Railways which shall be the Managing Company of the proposed
university. The company will provide financial and infrastructural support to the university,
and appoint Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor of the university. Board of Management,
comprising professionals and academics, shall be independent of the Managing Company
with full autonomy to perform its academic and administrative responsibilities.
• This university will set Indian Railways on the path of modernisation and help India become
a global leader in transport sector by enhancing productivity and promoting 'Make in India'. It
will create a resource pool of skilled manpower and leverage state-of-the-art technology to
provide better safety, speed and service in Indian Railways. It will support 'Startup India' and
'Skill India' by channeling technology and delivering knowhow, and foster entrepreneurship,
generating large scale employment opportunities.
• The university plans to use latest pedagogy and technology applications (satellite based
tracking, Radio Frequency Identification and Artificial Intelligence) to improve on-the-job
performance and productivity.
• Close collaboration with the Indian Railways will ensure that the stakeholders have access
to Railways' facilities, which will work as 'live labs' and they will be able to work on solving
real life problems. It will have 'Centres of Excellence' showcasing high-end, niche
technology like High Speed Train.
Methanol Economy for India: Energy Security, Make in India and Zero Carbon foot print
• The final roadmap for ‘Methanol Economy’ being worked out by NITI Aaayog is targeting
an annual reduction of 100 Billion $ by 2030 in crude imports. To promote this renewable,
alternate fuel a “Methanol Economy Fund” is also being contemplated.
• NITI Aaayog has drawn out a road map to substitute 10% of Crude imports by 2030, by
Methanol alone. This requires approximately 30MT of Methanol. Methanol & DME (Di
Methyl Ether) are substantially cheaper than Petrol and Diesel and India can look to reduce
its fuel bill 30% by 2030.
• Methanol is a clean burning drop in fuel which can replace both petrol & diesel in
transportation & LPG, Wood, Kerosene in cooking fuel. It can also replace diesel in
Railways, Marine Sector, Gensets, Power Generation and Methanol based reformers could
be the ideal complement to Hybrid and Electric Mobility. Methanol Economy is the “Bridge”
to the dream of a complete “Hydrogen based fuel systems”.
• Methanol burns efficiently in all internal combustion engines, produces no particulate matter,
no soot, almost nil SOX and NOX emissions (NEAR ZERO POLLUTION). The gaseous
version of Methanol – DME can blended with LPG and can be excellent substitute for diesel
in Large buses and trucks.
• METHNAOL 15 (M15) IN PETROL WILL REDUCE POLLUTION BY 33% & DIESEL
REPLACEMENT BY METHANOL WILL REDUCE BY MORE THAN 80%
The lowdown on diphtheria and its resurgence

• Diphtheria is a highly infectious disease, which usually shows up as a sore throat and
difficulty in breathing.It spreads through contact or cough and sneeze droplets, and is
caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae.
• In severe cases, the toxin secreted by this bacterium kills cells in the throat, and the debris
forms a wing-shaped grey membrane, disrupting breathing and earning diphtheria the name
“The Strangling Angel”.
• India continues to be a world leader in diphtheria today, with 3,380 cases and 177 deaths
reported in 2016. This year has seen worrying outbreaks in Karnataka, Kerala and
Telangana, among other States.
• Under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), all children below one year of age
are supposed to get three doses of the Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP) vaccine,
followed by two booster doses between 1-2 years and 5-6 years.
• Any disruption of vaccination programmes can trigger a deadly resurgence of diphtheria, as
historical precedents show. During the 1990s, an epidemic swept across the former Soviet
Union, making 1,57,000 people ill and killing 5,000 in eight years.
NITI Aayog’s road map for Methanol Economy comprises:
Production of methanol from Indian high ash coal from indigenous Technology, in Large quantities
and adopting regional production strategies and produce Methanol in large quantities @ Rs. 19 a
litre. India will adopt Co2 capturing technology to make the use of coal fully environment friendly and
our commitments to COP21
Bio-mass, Stranded Gas & MSW for methanol production. Almost 40% of Methanol Production can
be through these feed stocks.
Utilization of methanol as well as DME in transportation – rail, road, marine and defence. Industrial
Boilers, Diesel Gensets & Power generation & Mobile towers are other applications
Utilization of methanol and DME as domestic cooking fuel- cook stoves . LPG = DME blending
program.
Utilization of methanol in fuel cell applications in Marine, Gensets and Transportation
For details on UIP and Indradhanush mission refer to previous edition of Revision friendly
current Affairs.
India to pip China in LPG consumption

• India is set to surpass China as the biggest importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a
drive to replace wood and animal dung fires for cooking boosts consumption.
• LPG, a mixture of propane and butane, is used for cooking and transport, as well as in the
petrochemical industry.
• China, India and Japan together make up about 45% of global LPG purchases. India’s
biggest supplier by a large margin is the Middle East, which has so far enjoyed a virtual
supply monopoly.
• However, a surge in U.S. shale drilling, which yields LPG as a byproduct of crude oil and
natural gas output, means American LPG exports have started to appear in India.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) (methane stored at high pressure) is a fuel which can be used
in place of gasoline (petrol), Diesel fuel and propane/LPG.
Liquefied petroleum gas or liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), also referred to as simply
propane or butane, are flammable mixtures of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel in heating
appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles.
Shale gas is natural gasthat is found trapped within shale formations
Hi-Tech System to Detect Railway Track Defects

• Indian Railways is using Track Recording Cars (TRC) and Oscillation Monitoring
System (OMS) for detection of track defects in addition to manual inspection. Ultrasonic
Flaw Detection is also done using Single Rail Tester (SRT) and Double Rail Tester (DRT)
to check internal defects in rails.
• Procurement of six nos. Self-Propelled Ultrasonic Rail Testing (SPURT) Car for detection of
internal defects in rails is also planned. Further, it has been decided to undertake trial of
Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection (UBRD) System, Rail Fracture & Intrusion Detection
System using distributed optical fiber sensing and Loco-Vision Analytics and Rail Integrity
Monitor system (RIM) on some stretches for detection of broken rail.
• Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) based rail fracture detection system is planned on trial basis on
some stretches of Northeast Frontier Railway and North Central Railway.
• The implementation of Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection (UBRD) System, Optical Fiber
Cable (OFC) based System and Loco-Vision Analytics and Rail Integrity Monitor
system (RIM) shall be decided after successful completion of trial.
India ranked 60th most innovative country on the Global Innovation Index-2017
• India currently ranks 60th out of 127 countries on the Global Innovation Index (GII)
2017,Released jointly by WIPO, Cornell University, INSEAD, as compared to 66th rank
on GII 2016.
• In order to make India an innovation- driven economy, NITI Aayog, Department of Industrial
Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) together launched a
mega initiative “India Innovation Index” that will rank states on Innovations through country’s
first online innovation index portal that will capture data on innovation from all Indian states
on innovation and regularly update it in real time.
• Further, the Smart India Hackathon and Smart India Hardware Hackathon have been
launched to improve the innovative abilities of the students in the Higher Education
Institutions.
Government to assess impact of Hepatitis B immunization drive
• Under the health ministry’s plan, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) aims to
identify the barriers leading to low Hepatitis B coverage under UIP and study the impact of
the immunization done over the years.
• Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the
liver .The sequel to chronic hepatitis includes cirrhosis and hepato-cellular carcinoma
that pose long-term burden on the health system.
• The government introduced Hepatitis B vaccines in the UIP in 2007-2008.
Universal Immunization Programme:Universal Immunization Programme is a vaccination program

launched by the Government of India in 1985. It became a part of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood
Programme in 1992 and is currently one of the key areas under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
since 2005.
The program now consists of vaccination for 12 diseases- tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping
cough), tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, Hepatitis B, Diarrhoea, Japanese Encephalitis, rubella, Pneumonia(
Heamophilus Influenza Type B) and Pneumococcal diseases (Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Meningitis).
Hepatitis B and Pneumococcal diseases was added to the UIP in 2007 and 2017 respectively.
The other additions in UIP through the way are inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), rotavirus vaccine (RVV)
,Measles-Rubella vaccine (MR). Four new vaccines have been introduced into the country’s Universal
Immunisation Programme (UIP), including injectable polio vaccine, an adult vaccine against Japanese
Encephalitis and Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.
• India is committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a
collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations. The broad goals are interrelated
though each has its own targets to achieve. SDG 3.1 aims to achieve the elimination
of viral hepatitis by 2030.
• The health ministry is developing a comprehensive integrated three-year National Action
Plan for Viral Hepatitis (NAPVH) with the key objective of providing an actionable framework
of evidence based, priority interventions to support the national response for prevention,
control and management of viral hepatitis in the country.
India’s first pod taxi on the way, to follow U.S. safety norms
• The projected Rs. 4,000-crore pod taxi scheme — also known as Personal Rapid Transit
(PRT),which the NHAI has been mandated to execute it on Delhi-Gurgaon pilot
corridor (12.3 km) from Delhi-Haryana border to Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon on a PPP
(public-private partnership) basis.
Endo-atmospheric interceptor missile successfully tested
• India successfully test-fired an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile, capable of
destroying enemy ballistic missiles at low altitude.
• The missile is being developed as part the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system and it
was the third successful test this year.
• Shooting down an incoming missile at lower altitudes is more complicated than shooting at
higher altitudes due to the higher velocity of the missile.
The BMD consists of two interceptor missiles, the Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) for exo-
atmospheric ranges and the Advanced Area Defence (AAD) missile for endo-atmosphere
or lower altitudes.
electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS)

• With launch of e-HRMS, employees will be able to not only see all their details w.r.t
service book, leave, GPF, Salary etc., but also apply for different kind of claims/
reimbursements, loan/advances, leave, leave encashment, LTC advances, Tour etc.
on a single platform.
• This is a step in the direction of fully automated Human Resource Management System with
a target to bring all employees of Government of India on employee portal so that all
processes of personnel management from hiring to retiring will be on digital platform and
manual system of handling personnel management will be dispensed with.
With launch of the website ehrms.gov.in, five bigger modules covering 25 applications have
been launched. These are:
1. Personnel Information System- which has functionalities of self-updating by
employees.
2. Leave- Leave of all kind may be claimed and sanctioned through website that will
become part of service book.
3. LTC- All function related to LTC application, Eligibility Check, Sanction, Advance claim,
Final reimbursements, Leave encashment.
4. Loan/Advances- All kind of loan and advances can be claimed, sanctioned and paid
through it.
5. Tour:- All tour applications to be submitted through system and TA advance may also
be claimed.
E-service book- Already launched on 30.03.2017, will also be integrated.
Key ministries disagree over CAMPA fund

• Differences between the environment ministry and the finance ministry have become a
roadblock to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority
(CAMPA).
• This authority was envisaged as an independent body that would manage a corpus —
collected from industries that have used forest land for projects — that accumulates around
₹6,000 crore annually and is already worth around Rs 42,000 crore.
• These funds are meant to be used by states to implement agro-forestry in non-forest land to
compensate for felled forest. In spite of Parliament — after a fractious debate — signing
CAMPA into law last year, it is yet to come into existence.
• Power to disburse the funds should be with the CAMPA, however the finance ministry says it
should be routed through the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). That’s not ideal as it could
allow states to use it for purposes other than Afforestation.
• The CFI is the repository of government revenues and taxes and all funds channeled
through it require Parliamentary approval. Currently funds collected under CAMPA
directly go into the Public Account and from thereon to the states.
Artillery gun Dhanush’s induction into Army delayed

• The Dhanush is an upgraded version of the Swedish 155-mm Bofors howitzers, which
India procured in the mid-1980s, based on its original designs.
• The Army, which has not inducted any new artillery guns since the Bofors guns, is keen on
inducting Dhanush. Dhanush is a 155-mm, 45-calibre gun with a maximum range of 40 km
in salvo mode compared to the 39-calibre, 27-km range of the original guns.
Electric cars may soon sport green number plates

• Indian roads may see a new colour on the number plates of cars — a green one, with
the NITI Aayog planning such a move for electric vehicles.
• At present, the country has four kinds of number plates: White (with black numbers) for
personal vehicles, yellow for commercial vehicles, black (with yellow numbers) for self-drive
rental vehicles, and blue for embassy vehicles.
How a British war memorial became a symbol of Dalit pride

• The Koregaon Ranstambh (victory pillar) is an obelisk in Bhima-Koregaon village
commemorating the British East India Company soldiers who fell in a battle on
January 1, 1818, where the British, with just 834 infantrymen — about 500 of them
from the Mahar community — and 12 officers defeated the 28,000-strong army of
Peshwa Bajirao II.
• Babasaheb Ambedkar’s visit to the site on January 1, 1927, revitalised the memory of the
battle for the Dalit community, making it a rallying point and an assertion of pride.
• In 2005, the Bhima-Koregaon Ranstambh Seva Sangh (BKRSS) was formed to keep alive
the memory of this episode in Indian history and pay homage to those among the Dalit
community who fought for their self-respect in that battle.
• Relations between the Mahars and the Peshwas, who were Brahmins, grew strained
after the death of Baji Rao I in 1740, and reached their nadir during the reign of
Bajirao Rao II, who insulted the Mahar community and spurned their offer of service with
his army. This caused them to side with the English against the Peshwa’s numerically
superior army.
Lok Sabha passes bill to build public projects in protected monuments
• Amendments have been proposed in the legislation to the 1958 Act that prohibits carrying
out any public work or project or other constructions in any prohibited area around protected
monuments.
• A 'prohibited area' means land in the 100-metre radius around a protected monument.
Currently, construction is not allowed in the prohibited areas except for repair and
renovation work.
• The Bill also seeks to have a new definition of "public works" under the Act.
• The new law, will give relaxation only for government works to be carried out in
national interest and no private work will be allowed.
• There are more than 3,600 monuments and sites that are are centrally-protected under
the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India, which is responsible for their
maintenance.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Ministry of Culture, is the premier
organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.
Maintenance of ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains of national importance is
the prime concern of the ASI. Besides it regulate all archaeological activities in the country as per
the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.
ASI was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General.
The first systematic research into the subcontinent's history was conducted by the Asiatic
Society, which was founded by the British Indologist William Jones on January 15, 1784. Based
in Calcutta, the society promoted the study of ancient Sanskrit and Persiantexts and published an
annual journal titled Asiatic Researches. Notable among its early members was Charles Wilkins
who published the first English translation of the Bhagavad Gita in 1785 with the patronage of
the then Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings. However, the most important of the
society's achievements was the decipherment of the Brahmi script by James Prinsep in
1837.
Old, new players divided over enhanced oil recovery policy

• Enhanced recovery is a set of techniques through which oil companies can boost production
from otherwise lesser producing fields. The techniques comprise polymer injection and use
of Alkaline Surfactant among others for improved recoveries.
• Fields should have a minimum three years of commercial production to be considered
eligible for incentives. This provision has irked bidders who had won blocks in the
Discovered Small Field auctions.
• The qualifying criteria should be reduced by one year instead of three years of
commercial production for operator as they have recently won the blocks and they are
small block owners and need to be encouraged.
Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR) is the implementation of various techniques for
increasing the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from an oil field. Enhanced oil
recovery is also called tertiary recovery (as opposed to primary and secondary
recovery).there are three primary techniques for EOR: thermal recovery, gas injection, and
chemical injection. Using EOR, 30 to 60 percent, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be
extracted, compared with 20 to 40 percent using primary and secondary recovery
Army satisfied with Akash missile

• The Army is fully satisfied with the performance of the indigenously developed Akash short-
range surface-to-air missile (SR SAM) system.
• Akash has a range of 25 km and can simultaneously engage multiple targets in all weather
conditions and has a large operational envelope from a low altitude of 30 meters to a
maximum of up to 20 km.
• Akash was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme initiated in 1984
and is manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL).
Why do we need to know about prime numbers with millions of digits?

• An ongoing project – the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search– which aims to
discover more and more primes of a particularly rare kind, has recently resulted in the
discovery of the largest prime number known to date. Stretching to 23,249,425 digits, it is
so large that it would easily fill 9,000 book pages.
• The number, simply written as 277,232,917-1, (two to the power of 77,232,917, minus one) was
found by a volunteer who had dedicated 14 years of computing time to the endeavour.
• Mersenne prime is a prime number of the form 2n-1. For example, 7 = 23-1 and is a
prime, so it is a Mersenne prime. One the other hand 11 is a prime, but it is not of the form
2n-1. So it is not a Mersenne prime. Not all numbers of the form 2n-1 are primes either. For
example, 24-1 = 15 is not a prime.
• The number was discovered using a computer software called GIMPS which looks for
Mersenne prime numbers.
Ministry of Railway launches Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time
Information (SFOORTI) Application.
• Both passenger and freight trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections can
be viewed through this application. Position of Rakes for Specific Type of Stock can
be viewed through this application.
• Freight Operation Information System Map View–A Geographic Information System
(GIS) based monitoring and management tool has been designed and developed in CRIS
which provides layered views of freight trains on Indian Railways network which can help
plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations.
• Other important information like: Freight Train performance, Loading trends for major
commodities can also be obtained.
‘Make-II’ promise for arms firms
• Indian industry can suggest projects related to sub-systems for innovation and import
substitution under the revised Make-II procedure in the Defence Procurement
Procedure.
• Companies would get design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks to offer prototypes
and there is no limit to the number of companies which can respond to the Expression of
Interest (EoI).
• The potential ‘Make-II’ projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising of DRDO,
HQ (IDS), Department of Defence under a committee chaired by Secretary (Defence
Production).
• Make II procedure prescribes guidelines to develop and manufacture defence
equipment through Indian industry.
The procedure introduced in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) in 2006 to facilitate execution
of the ‘Make’ projects by the Indian companies with a view to promoting indigenous design and
development of defence equipment was tweaked last year when the ‘Make’ category was split into two
sub-categories.
The original scheme envisaged funding of the cost of the development of prototypes to the extent of 80
per cent by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This was increased to 90 per cent in 2016 and a new ‘Make
II’ sub-category was created to let the Indian industry undertake developmental projects on its own
without any funding by the MoD.
On January 16 this year, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by the Defence
Minister, decided to tweak it again to enable the MoD to accept suo-motu proposals from the
industry, including the start-ups, for undertaking projects under the ‘Make II’ category.
UIDAI to introduce facial authentication for Aadhaar

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to introduce facial
authentication for Aadhaar for people encountering issues with other forms of
biometric verification, like fingerprint and iris scanning.
• Specifically, the new feature will be allowed only when combined with "one more
authentication factor", like fingerprint, iris or OTP.
AICTE releases new model curriculum

• The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) formally released its new model
curriculum for engineering and technical courses reducing the credits to be earned for
an undergraduate degree from 220 to 160.
• The time freed would be utilised for practical and creative activities, including
hackathons.
• The top technical education regulator had also decided to make internships mandatory
for the award of degrees, as part of the exercise.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the statutory body and a national-
level council for technical education, under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development. Established in 1945 first as an advisory body and later on in 1987
given statutory status by an Act of Parliament, AICTE is responsible for proper planning and
coordinated development of the technical education and management education system
in India.
The Management Information System (MIS) portal for Anganwadi Services Training
Programme launched by WCD Ministry
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with National Informatics
Centre (NIC), has developed a Management Information System (MIS) portal for submitting
applications/estimates by NGOs for carrying out Anganwadi Services (ICDS) Training
through AWTCs/MLTCs.
• The first phase of the portal will enable NGOs to submit proposal to the respective
States/UTs. They, in turn, process the proposals and recommend requirement of funds for
running the Programme in the States/UTs. The Central government would further examine
the proposal and release the funds. It will ensure that funds are released timely and reach
the beneficiaries for training purpose.
Anganwadi is a type of rural mother and child care centre in India. They were started by the
Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to
combat child hunger and malnutrition. The centres may be used as depots for oral
rehydration salts, basic medicines and contraceptives. The responsibilities of Anganwadi
workers (AWW) are extremely significant. They ensure antenatal and postnatal care for
pregnant women and immediate diagnosis and care for new born children and nursing
mothers. They administer the immunisation of all children below the age of 6 years. In addition
they supervise the distribution of supplementary nutrition to children below the age of 6 as well
as pregnant and nursing women. Monitoring regular health and medical check-ups for women
and children is one of their key responsibilities
INS Karanj boosts Navy’s firepower

• The Navy’s third state-of-the-art Scorpene class submarine, INS Karanj, was launched
• Six Scorpene class submarines are being built under Project 75 by the Mazagon Dock
Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), Mumbai, under a $3.75 billion technology transfer signed in
October 2005 with the Naval Group of France.
• The Scorpene class is the Navy’s first modern conventional submarine series in almost two
decades, since INS Sindhushastra was procured from Russia in July 2000.
• The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class
submarine for the Indian navy. Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire 6
diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced Air-independent
propulsion (AIP) systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer duration and
substantially increase their operational range
Rapid Reporting System(RRS) for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls launched by Ministry
of Women and Child Development
• A web based on line monitoring for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls. The RRS will
facilitate the monitoring of the scheme and taking corrective measures by ensuring faster
flow of information, accurate targeting of the beneficiaries and reduction of leakages.
For details on Scheme for Adolescent Girls refer to the previous edition of the Revision
friendly current Affairs (Jun-Dec).
Stree Swabhiman Initiative for women Health and Hygiene

• The initiative by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) will
provide access to sanitary napkins to the girls and women in rural areas. Accordingly,
this move of central govt. will improve awareness on menstrual health and hygiene.
• The initiative will be implemented by the central government in coordination of the CSC
(Common Service Centers). The entire project will also be implemented within the country
at the ground root level.
• Moreover, setting up and maintenance of semi-automatic and manual process production
unit is easy and hassle free. In addition to this, each production unit will generate
employment for 8-10 women.
• The product (sanitary napkin) will be sold under the “Swabhimaan” brand name and
the Organization with the help of VLEs will obtain the trade license for marketing the sanitary
napkins at a subsidized rate.
ISRO launches its 100th satellite , through PSLV C40

• This mission was the longest flight of the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV), at two hours, 21 minutes and 62 seconds. It was also be the first mission after
the failure of the PSLV on August 31, 2017, where the heat shield malfunctioned, as a
result of which the satellite failed to enter orbit.
• Cartosat-2 Series Satellite is the primary satellite carried by PSLV-C40. will
demonstrate a new technology which will allow capturing of images at night.
• The imagery transmitted by Cartosat satellite will be related to areas of cartographic, urban
& rural applications, coastal land use, road network & monitoring and water distribution.
All About GSLV and PSLV
• Both PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite
Launch Vehicle) are the satellite-launch vehicles (rockets) developed by ISRO. PSLV
is designed mainly to deliver the “earth-observation” or “remote-sensing” satellites
with lift-off mass of up to about 1750 Kg to Sun-Synchronous circular polar orbits of
600-900 Km altitude.
• The remote sensing satellites orbit the earth from pole-to-pole (at about 98 deg
orbital-plane inclination). An orbit is called sun-synchronous when the angle between
the line joining the centre of the Earth and the satellite and the Sun is constant
throughout the orbit.
• Due to their sun-synchronism nature, these orbits are also referred to as “Low Earth Orbit
(LEO)” which enables the on-board camera to take images of the earth under the same sun-
illumination conditions during each of the repeated visits, the satellite makes over the same
area on ground thus making the satellite useful for earth resources monitoring.
• PSLV is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stage using solid rocket
motors and second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines. It also uses strap-on
motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage, and depending on the number of
these strap-on boosters, the PSLV is classified into its various versions like core-alone
version (PSLV-CA), PSLV-G or PSLV-XL variants.
• The GSLV is designed mainly to deliver the communication-satellites to the highly
elliptical (typically 250 x 36000 Km) Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The
satellite in GTO is further raised to its final destination, viz., Geo-synchronous Earth orbit
(GEO) of about 36000 Km altitude (and zero deg inclination on equatorial plane) by
firing its in-built on-board engines.
• Due to their geo-synchronous nature, the satellites in these orbits appear to remain
permanently fixed in the same position in the sky, as viewed from a particular location on
Earth, thus avoiding the need of a tracking ground antenna and hence are useful for the
communication applications.
• GSLV MK-II is a three-staged vehicle with first stage using solid rocket motor, second
stage using Liquid fuel and the third stage, called Cryogenic Upper Stage, using
cryogenic engine.
Office of profit: What & the why

• The word ‘office’ has not been defined in the Constitution or the Representation of
the People Act of 1951. But different courts have interpreted it to mean a position with
certain duties that are more or less of public character.
• However, a legislator cannot be disqualified from either the Parliament or state
Assembly for holding any office. It can be done for holding: a) An office; b) An office
of profit; c) An office under the union or state government; d) An office exempt by law
from purview of disqualificatory provisions. All four conditions have to be satisfied
before an MP and MLA can be disqualified.
Principles of declaring Office of Profit
Four broad principles have evolved for determining whether an office attracts the
constitutional disqualification.
∗ First, whether the government exercises control over appointment, removal and
performance of the functions of the office.
∗ Second, whether the office has any remuneration attached to it.
∗ Third, whether the body in which the office is held has government powers (releasing
money, allotment of land, granting licences etc.).
∗ Fourth, whether the office enables the holder to influence by way of patronage.
• Section 15(1)(a) of the government of national capital territory of Delhi act,
1991, says “a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being,
a member of the legislative assembly if he holds any office of profit” under the
government of India, a state or a union territory” other than an office protected
by law.
• The origin of this term can be found in the English Act of Settlement, 1701. In the
Westminster system, a parliamentary secretary is a Member of Parliament who
assists a Minister in their duties. Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers usually appoint
parliamentary secretaries from their own parties.
• Makers of the Constitution wanted that legislators should not feel obligated to the
Executive in any way, which could influence them while discharging legislative
functions. In other words, an MP or MLA should be free to carry out her duties
without any kind of governmental pressure.
Basic disqualification criteria for an MP are laid down in Article 102 of the Constitution, and
for an MLA in Article 191. They can be disqualified for: (a) Holding an office of profit under
government of India or state government; (b) Being of unsound mind; (c) Being an
undischarged insolvent; (d) Not being an Indian citizen or for acquiring citizenship of
another country.
The Supreme Court, while upholding the disqualification of Jaya Bachchan from Rajya
Sabha in 2006, had said, “For deciding the question as to whether one is holding an
office of profit or not, what is relevant is whether the office is capable of yielding a profit
or pecuniary gain and not whether the person actually obtained a monetary gain… If the
office carries with it, or entitles the holder to, any pecuniary gain other than
reimbursement of out of pocket/actual expenses, then the office will be an office of profit
for the purpose of Article 102 (1)(a)
India to be fastest growing economy again in 2018: World Bank

• After conceding its position as the fastest growing major economy to China for a year in
2017, India is likely to reclaim the position in 2018, with growth expected to accelerate to
7.3% in the year, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report.
• Global growth is projected to edge up to 3.1% in 2018, as growth in advanced
economies is projected to slow while growth in emerging economies is expected to
accelerate.
• The Bank said key risks to India are domestic in nature such as setbacks to reforms to
resolve corporate and financial sector balance sheet deterioration and debt write-offs
for farmers.
Sammakka Saralamma Jatara (Medaram Jatra)
• Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara held by forest dwelling Koya tribe of Telangana and surrounding
States, is the biggest Tribal festival in Asia which is attended by one crore people on an
average.
• The massive event is held bi-annually in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district to honour the
twin goddesses Sammakka and her daughter Sarakka..
• Several communities in Telangana society support Jatara as it is also a mythical
narrative of two tribal women leaders who fought against the Kakatiya rulers who
tried to annex their land and forests.
• Central government is likely to declare Medaram’s Sammakka-Sarakka/Saralamma Jatara a
national festival this year Union government had in 2015 declared Vanaj, a tribal dance
and music festival, as national festival.
4th International Conference on Dharma-Dhamma Held at Nalanda University.

• The Conference is being held in collaboration with the India Foundation, Ministry of
External Affairs and the Vietnam Buddhist University. This event is being organized as
part of the commemorative events to celebrate the silver jubilee of ASEAN – Indian
Dialogue Partnership with the active support of the Ministry of External Affairs,
Government of India.
• The overall theme of the Conference is “State and Social Order in Dharma-Dhamma
Tradition” which aims to facilitate cross-pollination of ideas and foster harmony at the global
level and also seeks to explore the shared values of the dharmic traditions that may provide
the guiding light to the world today and a vibrant sense of interconnectedness.
• The notion of Dharma-Dhamma, in its manifold manifestations, including truth and
non-violence, peace and harmony, humaneness and spiritual linkages and universal
fraternity and peaceful co-existence, served as a moral compass that guided people
in the Indian sub-continent through ages and continues to shape and sustain the
Indian cultural ethos.
• 3rd International Dharma-Dhamma Conference was held at Indore, Madhya Pradesh,
India, in 2015. Earlier, “Dharma Dhamma” conferences were held in Madhya Pradesh.
Master Plan on ASEAN connectivity 2025

• Master plan on ASEAN connectivity 2025 is the successor plan to the Master Plan on
ASEAN Connectivity that was adopted at the 17th ASEAN Summit on 28 October 2010
in Hanoi, Vietnam and also owes reassurance from the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on
ASEAN 2025.
• The Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 aims to achieve a seamlessly and
comprehensively connected and integrated Southeast Asia that will promote
competitiveness, inclusiveness and a greater sense of community.
• The five strategic areas of MPAC 2025 are namely sustainable infrastructure, digital
innovation, seamless logistics, regulatory excellence and people mobility.
The ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2020 (AIM) 2020
• The vision for the AIM 2020 is to propel ASEAN towards a digitally-enabled economy
that is secure, sustainable, and transformative; and to enable an innovative, inclusive
and integrated ASEAN Community.
• The AIM 2020 encompasses eight strategic thrusts that work together to support the
advancement of the ASEAN Community. This includes a focus on utilising ICT in the
Single Market; it encompasses the importance of New Media and Content, especially
on local content creation, in building ASEAN's ICT capacity and capabilities; and it
seeks to buttress the regional online ecosystem by providing Information Security
and Assurance to the ASEAN Community.
States rank 50000 Gram Panchayats under Mission Antyodaya

• In partnership with State Governments, Department of Rural Development has
completed the ranking of 50,000 Gram Panchayats on parameters of physical
infrastructure, human development and economic activities.
• Public institutions like Krishi Vigyan Kendras, MSME Clusters, other Skill Development
Institutions will all be involved in developing the fullest potential of these clusters for
enhancing productive employment and economic activities.
• Mission Antyodaya is a convergence framework for measurable effective outcomes
on parameters that transform lives and livelihoods. Mission Mode Project envisaged by
the Ministry of Rural Development. Comprehensive and integrated system for
enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness at Gram Panchayat Level.
China unveils vision for 'Polar Silk Road' across Arctic

• China hopes to work with all parties to build a ‘Polar Silk Road' through developing
the Arctic shipping routes.
• China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and
became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013.
• In 2017, the research vessel Xue Long became the first Chinese ship to navigate the
three major Arctic shipping routes: The Northwest Passage, Northeast Passage, and
Transpolar Sea Route.
• The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum which addresses issues
faced by the Arctic governments and people living in the Arctic region, established by
the Ottawa declaration, 1996.
• Members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the United
States, Sweden, Finland. India and china have observer status.
Geminid meteor shower

• Rocks and dust particles from space that are about to collide with Earth's atmosphere
are called meteoroids. Those that enter and streak through the atmosphere are called
meteors.
• Usually when comets, which are chunks of ice with lot of dust, come close to the sun, the ice
melts and the dust and rocks are left behind along the orbit of the comet. If Earth, in its
yearly motion around the Sun happens to pass through such a debris trail, they enter the
Earth’s atmosphere with considerable speed and due to friction in the atmosphere, burns up
and give rise to not only a single bright streak in the sky but numerous meteors, called
meteor shower.
• Geminid meteor shower is so named because the meteors appear to originate from the
constellation of Gemini in the night sky. It is not a comet but an unusual asteroid called
3200 Phaethon, discovered in 1983, that is the origin of the meteors.
• Asteroids are rocky bodies going round the Sun, originating from a region between
the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. Unlike the planets, their orbits are sometimes extremely
elliptical and intersect the orbit of Mars and even Earth. The Earth-orbit-crossing
asteroids are called Apollo Asteroids.
RemoveDEBRIS: Spring cleaning in outer space

• The RemoveDEBRIS mission, scheduled to be launched later this year, is being led by
the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) at the University of Surrey, UK, and is co-funded by the
European Commission and other partners, including prominent European space companies
and institutions.
• The mission, which started five years ago, aims to be a forerunner of missions to start
removing some of the largest objects in space.
• Once the main RemoveDEBRIS satellite platform is in orbit, it will showcase four methods
of capturing artificial debris targets. The targets will be two CubeSats (miniaturized
satellites provided by the SSC) that will be carried inside the main platform.
• The first demonstration involves a net that will be deployed (net capture) at the target
CubeSat. The second experiment will see the use of a harpoon, which will be launched at a
target plate made of “representative satellite panel materials”
• The third experiment using the other CubeSat involves vision-based navigation. Using
cameras and LiDAR (light detection and ranging), the platform will send data about the
debris back to the ground for processing.
• The final experiment will see the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft deploy a large dragsail to
speed up its de-orbiting process. As it enters Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will burn
up, leaving no debris behind.
• The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,collisional cascading or ablation
cascade), proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in
which the density of objects in low earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions
between objects could cause a cascade where each collision.
First for forest produce, GI tag for Nilambur teak

• Nilambur teak, known internationally for its superior timber quality and appearance has
been accorded the Geographical Indication(GI) status,
• It is known for its durability, earthy colour, and size. The wood is also resistant to
fungal decay and is rich in antioxidants making it ideal for construction purposes.
• The GI tag states that this type of wood originates and is a product of, the Nilambur
taluk of Kerala. Those who sell other types of wood under the guise of Nilambur teak will
be blocked from the market, thereby protecting native cultivators.
GI registration of Pokkali rice, one of the first Kerala produces to get the GI tag, meanwhile,
has been renewed. Other Kerala products with GI registration include Vazhakulam
Pineapple, Wayanadan rice varieties Jeerakasala and Gandhakasala, Tirur Betel vine,
Central Travancore Jaggery and Chengalikodan Nendran, a banana variety
Zero Budget Natural Farming

• Andhra Pradesh government is planning to scale up Zero Budget Natural Farming
(ZBNF) in the state in the next six to eight years through farmer outreach programs,
Recently Himachal Pradesh also launched initiatives for Zero budget Natural Farming.
• Andhra Pradesh has also partnered with Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF), a
collaborative initiative of United Nations (UN) Environment, World Agroforestry
Centre, and BNP Paribas for scaling up natural farming.
• The new farming technique entails use of traditional inputs for getting better
productivity from the field without hampering soil fertility that is a common result of
using chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
• It calls for usage of natural farming practices like low-cost locally-sourced natural
concoctions, inoculums and decoctions based on cow dung, cow urine and jaggery to
eliminate the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
• Debt is a problem for farmers of all sizes in India. Under such conditions, ‘zero budget’
farming promises to end a reliance on loans and drastically cut production costs,
ending the debt cycle for desperate farmers. The word ‘budget’ refers to credit and
expenses, thus the phrase 'Zero Budget' means without using any credit, and without
spending any money on purchased inputs.
3 out of 4 workers in India fall in vulnerable employment category: ILO

• According to the ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018 report,
while the global unemployment rate is expected to stabilize at around 5.5% over the
next couple of years.
• Vulnerable employment is often characterized by inadequate earnings, low
productivity and difficult conditions of work that undermine workers' fundamental
rights. It is defined as the sum of the employment status groups of own account
workers and contributing family workers.
• The high and persistent incidence of vulnerable employment in the region largely reflects
the fact that structural transformation processes, whereby capital and workers
transfer from low to higher value-added sectors, are lagging behind in large parts of
the region, with the exception of Eastern Asia.
Environment ministry launches pilot project for beach clean-up

• With the prime objective of enhancing standards of cleanliness, upkeep and basic amenities
at beaches, the ministry has launched a pilot project for beach clean-up and
development, also striving for the 'Blue Flag' certification for such identified beaches.
• The 'Blue Flag' is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education(FEE)
that a beach, marina or sustainable boating tourism operator, meets its stringent
standards.
India excludes Pakistan from a SAARC initiative

• India has excluded Pakistan from the list of SAARC member countries with which it will be
connecting its state-of-the-art National Knowledge Network (NKN) for sharing scientific
databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.
• NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India network which facilitates the development of India’s
communications infrastructure, stimulates research and creates next generation
applications and services.
• It enables collaboration among researchers from different educational networks such
as TEIN4, GARUDA, CERN and Internet2. It also enables sharing of scientific
databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.
• With its multi-gigabit capability, NKN aims to connect all universities, research institutions,
libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address
such paradigm shift.
Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust wins prestigious UNWTO Award

• Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust, a community owned and managed venture promoted
by RBS Foundation India and Indian Grameen Services on the banks of Chilika Lake
in Odisha, has won the prestigious United Nations World Tourism Organisation
Awards.
• The villagers of Mangalajodi, once associated with poaching of birds, stand as true
defenders of wildlife in the region today. The change was orchestrated by a coordinated
effort in implementing an awareness campaign on the importance of preserving natural
species and the benefits associated with wildlife tourism.
• Based on the principles of community ownership and Eco Tourism, UNWTO award for
Innovation in Tourism Enterprise recognises Mangalajodi’s business model that is
both economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
New species of blind fish discovered inside Meghalaya cave
• A new species of blind fish has been discovered inside a cave in East Jaintia Hills
district of Meghalaya.
• The fish -- Schistura larketensis -- gets its name from Larket village, where the cave
has been found.
• The species has apparently lost its sight living in the perpetual darkness inside the
cave. It has also lost its pigments too while adapting to its habitat in the dark waters
• Although there are about 200 known species of similar kind inhabiting streams and rivers
throughout Indochina and Southeast Asia, this is the first such discovery.
Schaller’s Wood Scorpion: New Species Discovered in Tripura

• Schaller’s wood scorpions are found in low elevations in parts of Tripura, including
Trishna and Bison National Park, and is likely to be found in Bangladesh too, which is
three km away.
• Also called dwarf scorpions, wood scorpions are unlike the large scorpions we
commonly see. Wood scorpions are only about three cm long and live in small
burrows on the ground, making them very difficult to spot.
• India is home to more than 125 species of scorpions. Nine of India’s 11 wood scorpions are
endemic to the country.
New night frog species found

• Scientists have discovered the Mewa Singh’s Night frog, belonging to a genus endemic
to the Western Ghats, from Kozhikode’s Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The frog’s genetically closest relatives are the Athirappilly night frog (found south of
the Palakkad Gap in Thrissur and Idukki) and the Kempholey night frog (found in the
northern Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka).
• Frogs in the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as night frogs, are found only in the
Western Ghats mountain range.
Flamingo festival at Pulicat
• Flamingo Festival 2018 is a three day event to welcome and celebrate the arrival of
migratory birds, especially Flamingos.
• The annual Flamingo Festival is celebrated at the bird sanctuary at Nelapattu, Pulicat
lake and the nearby Sullurupet town in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Various
migratory birds including Flamingo come to this part of Andhra Pradesh. This festival attracts
tourists from all over the world.
• Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary(Andhra Pradesh) is one of the largest Pelicanry in South-
East Asia with more than 1,500 Pelicans breeding an average every year.
Lok Sabha passes bill to hike salaries of judges

• The Bill proposes to hike the salary of the Chief Justice of India to Rs 2.80 lakh a month,
and that of judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of High Courts to Rs 2.5
lakh a month. Judges of High Courts will draw a salary of Rs 2.25 lakh a month once this
Bill becomes law.
• The salary hike, in line with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for
officers of all-India services, will come into force with effect from January 1, 2016.
India’s 1st Liveability Index To Be Launched To Rank Cities

• India’s 1st Liveability Index would be launched, which will rank 116 Indian cities and
inform us about their livability status.
• Besides metropolitans such as Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai, other state capitals
and big cities such as Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna and
others would be now gauged against important parameters, and a ranking would be created.
• Smart Cities would be considered on this list, besides all those cities which have a
population of more than a million people.
• 15 crucial factors which include governance, social infrastructure, education,
housing, open spaces, land use, energy and water availability, solid waste
management and pollution, employment, health and safety and security among
others would be tested and ranked.
• An international bidding process was followed under World Bank’s programme to
select ‘IPSOS Research Pvt. Ltd’ in consortium with the ‘Athena Infonomics India Pvt
Ltd’ and ‘Economist Group Ltd’ for creating this index.

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