CURRENT AFFAIRS DESTINATION FOR UPSC & STATE CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATIONS
Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the ruling African National Congress, ANC, was sworn in as South Africa’s new President on February 15, 2018. Mr Ramaphosa was elected as the new president of South Africa by the ruling party politicians after the resignation of Jacob Zuma. The country’s 400-member parliament, dominated by the ruling African National Congress Party (ANC), elected Ramaphosa yesterday to finish his predecessor’s term, which ends with elections in Read More …
Ethiopia’s prime minister has resigned on February 15, 2018 amid amid protracted anti-government protests. Mr Hailemariam Desalegn was in power since 2012. His stepping down is seen as an unprecedented even in the east African country. Since 2015 , many people have died in violence sparked initially by an urban development plan for the capital, Addis Ababa. Hailemariam, succeeded the former Marxist rebel Meles Zenawi in 2012, under whom he Read More …
इथियोपिया के प्रधानमंत्री श्री हेलेमैरियम देसालेग्न ने 15 फरवरी, 2018 को अपने पद से त्यागपत्र दिया। देश भर में व्यापक विरोध प्रदर्शन के पश्चात उन्होंने त्यागपत्र दिया। इथियोपिया में विरोध प्रदर्शन की शुरुआत वर्ष 2015 में राजधानी आदिस अबाबा की टाउनशिप योजना के पश्चात हुयी थी। इस विरोध प्रदर्शन में कई लोग अपनी जान गंवा चुके हैं। वर्ष 2016 में सरकार विरोधी प्रदर्शन को देखते हुये देश में आपात काल Read More …
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has resigned on 15 February after after the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party threatened to eject him from office via a parliamentary vote of no confidence. The 75-year-old, who was the country’s President for the last 9 years (From May 9, 2009), has been under increasing pressure to give way to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC’s new leader. Mr Zuma’s resignation followed weeks of Read More …
CPN-UML chairperson and Pro-China leader Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, popularly known as K.P.Oli on February 15, 2018 took oath as the 41st Prime Minister of Nepal. He became Nepal’s Prime Minister for the second time. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari appointed 65-year-old Oli as the country’s 41st prime minister. He had served as the country’s prime minister from October 11, 2015 to August 3, 2016. The Left alliance of the CPN-UML, Read More …
According to the the annual report by the ‘International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)’ India has the 5th largest defence budget in the world, at $52.5 billion in 2017 ($51.1 billion in 2016). It overtook the UK whose defence budget fell from $52.5 billion in 2016 to $50.7 billion in 2017. The report, titled ‘Military Balance 2018‘ says that although India has overtaken the United Kingdom in defence spending, yet Read More …
India and Russia on 14 February 2018 celebrated 70 years of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Both Indian and Russian delegations visited the Central State Farm (CSF) to commemorate the 70 years of agriculture relationship between the two countries. The CSF was set up in Suratgarh in 1956 with the assistance from erstwhile USSR. Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajender Singh Shekhawat and Read More …
Two ethnic armed groups of Myanmar, ‘the New Mon State Party and Lahu Democratic Union of Myanmar’ on 13 February, 2018 signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in Nay Pyi Taw in the presence of Aung San Suu Kyi. It is beliieved that this move will revive a flagging peace process that was overshadowed by continuing fighting in Myanmar. By signing the agreement, these two have joined the eight other groups Read More …
Chinese Engineers are building a high speed railway bridge off the coast of south-east China sea. It has been named as the ‘Pingtan Strait Railway Bridge’. The two-level structure is a whopping 11 kilometres long (6.8 miles) that connects Pingtan Island and its nearby islets to the mainland of Fujian Province. Since this bridge is being constructed on that region which is considered as a ‘no go zone’ for bridge Read More …
A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives that seeks to extend ‘the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)’ programme for next three years. The programme was expired on on the midnight of December 31, 2017. Trump’s ‘America First’ policy cloud was hanging on the fate of GSP. It was introduced by trade subcommittee chairman Dave Reichert, ways and means chairman Kevin Brady and Jackie Walorski and ways and Read More …
Minister of Development of North-East Region, Dr Jitendra Singh on 10 February 2018 inaugurated a two-day (10-11 February)’ International Conference on Unani Medicine’. The theme of this conference is ‘Integration of Unani System of Medicine in Mainstream Healthcare’. The conference is hosted as part of Unani Day Celebration in New Delhi. This conference is bening hosted with the aim of promoting integration of Unani Medicine in mainstream healthcare across the Read More …
A joint project between Britain’s Natural History Museum and University College London has revealed that today’s’ white English man ‘s modern ancestress had a dark skin. DNA analysis of the remains of a man, called ‘Cheddar Man’ who lived 10,000 years ago revealed that the first modern Briton had dark skin and blue eyes. The skeleton came to be known as “Cheddar Man” after the area in southwest England where the Read More …
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on February 7, 2018 approved the proposal for ratification of ‘Minamata Convention on Mercury’ and depositing the instrument of ratification enabling India to become a Party of the Convention. The approval entails Ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury along with flexibility for continued use of mercury-based products and processes involving mercury compound up to 2025. The Minamata Convention Read More …
The Union Cabinet on February 7, 2018 has given its approval for signing of Memorandum of Understanding for Secondment Programme between the Department of Economic Affairs (Indian Economic Service Cadre) and The Treasury, Government of Australia, for a period of three months. Under the Secondment Programme, one officer from the Australian Treasury shall be seconded to the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and one officer from the IES Read More …
As per the Times Higher Education’s (THE) ‘Asia University Rankings 2018, 42 Indian Univercities have find place in top 350 Univercities of Asia which is more than 9 to last year. Ranking was released on February 6, 2018. Last year 33 Indian universities were ranked in top 350 universities. Seven universities from India are ranked among the top 100. Among Indian Univercities, the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore remained Read More …
