CURRENT AFFAIRS DESTINATION FOR UPSC & STATE CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATIONS
Jai Ram Thakur (BJP), the 52-year-old, five-time MLA from the Siraj constituency in Mandi district will be the sixth (as a person sixth, in number 13th) Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. -Mr. Thakur was first elected to the Vidhan Sabha in 1998 during the first Prem Kumar Dhumal government from the Chahiot constituency, which was renamed as Siraj after delimitation. -He will be the first Chief Minister from Mandi district, Read More …
The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) will set up 100 gurukulas across the country. -Each gurukulas will be headed by the gurus which will be selected from retired professors or historians, and be assisted by scholars or research officers. Their mandate would be to edit and translate manuscripts and finally publish four books each year. -To be initially set up in 15 institutions to conduct research on manuscripts in various Read More …
The parliamentary panel on empowerment of women submitted its report ‘Women in Detention & Access to Justice’ in Lok Sabha on December 23. As per the report, over 90% of custodial rapes in the country have been reported in Uttar Pradesh. -Uttar pradesh reported 95 cases of custodial rape, followed by two from Uttarakhand and one each from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. -However, the number of cases declined dramatically Read More …
According to the latest RBI data released on December 24, the gross non-performing assets (NPA) of public sector and private sector banks as on September 30, 2017 were Rs 7,33,974 crore, Rs 1,02,808 crore, respectively -Among the major public sector banks, State Bank of India (SBI) had the highest amount of NPAs at over Rs 1.86 lakh crore followed by Punjab National Bank (Rs 57,630 crore), Bank of India (Rs Read More …
World’s largest amphibious aircraft in production, China’s indigenous AG600, , took to the skies on 24 December for its maiden flight from the southern city of Zhuhai -This aircraft is codenamed Kunlong. With a wingspan of 38.8 metres (127ft) and powered by four turboprop engines, the aircraft is capable of carrying 50 people and can stay airborne for 12 hours. -According to Chinese state media, the amphibious aircraft has military applications Read More …
A team of scientists at Advanced Science Research Centre at the City University of New York has developed wonder material that is so hard that it can stop speeding bulet and as flexible as tinfoil . The scientists have named this very very thin material as diamene. According to scientists on impact from any fast-moving or heavy object, this graphene material becomes harder than diamond. That means when a bullet touches Read More …
Scientists have discovered the remains of a 150 million-year-old giant carnivorous marine reptile or Plesiosaur that lived in the waters of Antarctica. The creature is the first of its species located in Antarctica and the oldest creature ever found on the continent. The fossil was found in the Antarctic peninsula, in a paleontological deposit located 113 kilometers southwest of Argentina’s Marambio Airbase. -The discovery site was a two-hour helicopter journey Read More …
According to a global study, the combined effects of rising heat and humidity will affect India’s northeast the most in the world close to the end of the century, a global study says. Although humidity can greatly magnify the effects of heat, most climate projections tend to leave out this major factor that could worsen things. The new study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, projects that in coming Read More …
According to a new study Bottlenose dolphins in Panama’s Bocas Del Toro Archipelago are on the verge of extinction. -During the study, the researchers found that there are 80 bottlenose dolphins in Panama’s Bocas Del Toro Archipelago, and they are not interbreeding with Carribean bottlenose dolphins. -The researchers also added that local boat traffic is another factor which negatively affects the survival of these marine creatures. In 2012, the boat Read More …
According to conservationists The Asiatic cheetah which is also known as Iranian Cheetah is on the verge of extinction. Only less than 50 of the critically endangered species still alive. It is the second rarest cat species. -Iran, home to all these cheetah, has already witnessed the extinction of the Asiatic lion and the Caspian tiger. The warning comes in the wake of the United Nation’s decision to pull funding from Read More …
According to the government data, about 239 million people across 153 districts in 21 states drink high levels of arsenic water. – 65% of Assam’s population, or about 21 million people, is drinking arsenic-contaminated water, while it’s 60% in Bihar and 44% in West Bengal. As far as absolute numbers is concerned, Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of people, over 70 million, exposed to arsenic-contaminated water. -The World Health Read More …
Famous academic journal Science Magazine on Dec. 21 declared first observation of a neutron-star merger (Cosmic Convergence) as a ‘Science’s 2017 Breakthrough of the Year’. According to the journal the way the event was spotted, which involved detecting the gravitational waves that the spiraling neutron stars radiated before they merged was especially remarkable. -Those were detected by physicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). It is made up of the Read More …
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. –Mission Antyodaya (Under Union Ministry of Rural Development) is a convergence framework for measurable effective outcomes on parameters that transform lives and livelihoods. Real Difference comes about through Convergence as it alone simultaneously addresses multi dimensions of poverty. Professionals, Institutions and Enterprises make it Read More …
Project name: Ganga Gram Launched by: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Launched Date: 23 December, 2017 -The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) on 23 December, 2017 launched ‘Ganga Gram’ – a project for sanitation based integrated development of all 4470 villages along the River Ganga, at a multi-stakeholder sammelan held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. -Ganga Gram vision is an integrated approach for holistic development of villages situated Read More …
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ (IUCN) in its latest red list of threatened species (which was published in Tokyo in the first week of December 2017)upgraded the status of the two birds of New Zealand Okarito kiwi and the Northern Brown Kiwi from”endangered” to “vulnerable” because of a steady increase in population. -Some 91,523 out of nearly 1.9 million described species have been assessed for the Red List, Read More …
