Current GS News in Brief (8-15 January, 2018)

  1. The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) in New Delhi on 15 January, 2018. The two-day workshop was organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
  2. Tthe Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on January 15, unveiled the Khelo India Anthem for the Khelo India School Games Commencing on January 31, 2018. The anthem is conceptualized by Ogilvy, composed by Louis Bank and the film has been produced by Nirvana Films. Khelo India School Games will be held at multiple venues across Delhi
  3. A health worker from Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, Geeta Verma Verma has featured in the World Health Organization (WHO) calendar for the year 2018. Hailing from Sapnot village of Karsog Tehsil, Verma found mention in the WHO calender for her efforts to ensure hundred per cent coverage of her area of operation under the measles and rubella programme.
  4. Scientists have created a potent antibacterial agent called SAAP-148, that killed drug-resistant microbes and even eradicated stubborn pathogens growing in biofilms, which can be 10 to 1,000 times more tolerant to antibiotics than free-living bacteria. They say the compound, a short protein fragment , could be a promising drug candidate in the ongoing battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
  5. NASA scientists have spotted the farthest known galaxy in the universe, a primitive cluster of stars just 500 million years old. An intensive survey deep into the universe by NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes has yielded the image of the galaxy named SPT0615-JD, stretched and amplified by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
  6. Hyper-reactive brain networks could play a part in the hypersensitivity of fibromyalgia, a condition characterised by widespread, chronic pain. A new study finds that patients with fibromyalgia have brain networks primed for rapid, global responses to minor changes. This abnormal hypersensitivity, called explosive synchronisation (ES), can be seen in other network phenomena across nature.
  7. According to a new study, a fibre-rich diet can have a positive influence on chronic inflammatory joint diseases, leading to stronger bones.
  8. Researchers at Delhi’s CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) have for the first time identified a calcium sensor protein (STIM1) that independently regulates both skin cancer and pigmentation. The STIM1 protein does so by activating two independent signalling pathways.
  9. A cross-sectional study by Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR- IITR) of over 400 kitchen workers in Lucknow and Coimbatore showed that almost 50% of them suffered from poor lung functions and microalbuminuria.
  10. Preet Kaur Gill, who was the first Sikh woman elected to the House of Commons in the June 2017 election, has been appointed a junior minister for international development in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s team. Gill, 45, will shadow the work of international development secretary Penny Mordaunt.



  11. French President Emmanuel Macron on 12 January joined calls by bakers for France’s traditional baguette to be recognised as one of the world’s cultural treasures on UNESCO’s list of “intangible heritage”.
  12. The third Science Film Festival of India (SFFI) will be held in Goa from January 16 to 19. The film festival is organised by Vidnyan Parishad, Goa, with an aim to boost the science film making culture of India.
  13. The fossilised remains of a giant burrowing bat that lived in New Zealand millions of years ago have been found on the country’s South Island.
  14. To showcase farmers’ culture and traditions, the Karnataka government held ‘Sankranti Suggi-Huggi Habba’ on January 14.
  15. In keeping with the government’s Digital India initiative, the Ministry of Tourism on Friday unveiled the Incredible India Digital Calendar 2018.
  16. Scientists using images from from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have detected eight sites where huge ice deposits near the Martian surface are exposed on steep slopes, a potential source of water that could help sustain future human outposts
  17. According to the Travel Hacker Guide of travel search engine Kayak, Srinagar and Port Blair are this year’s most wallet-friendly destinations, recording significant drops in average flight prices. And Bangkok has overhauled Dubai as the most popular destination amongst Indian holidaymakers.

  18. The amphibious warship USS Portland (USA) is set to get a radical new version of the Navy’s laser weapon fitted for a historic test. The laser weapon will be fitted to the ship. It paves the way for laser weapons to be integrated across the Navy fleet.

  19. To celebrate the idea of unity in diversity, the Ministry of Culture is organising the 7th edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat matrix in Karnataka beginning January 14, 2018.

  20. The Centre for Transportation Research and Management (CTRAM), an autonomous body of Transport Professionals in the country, organized a National Rail Transport Seminar with the theme “Railways for Sustainable Development” in New Delhi on 13th January, 2018
  21. For the first time in history, a crowdsourced team of amateur citizen scientists has discovered a multi-planetary system. Located 620 light years away, the system contains five exoplanets, and possibly a sixth, the majority of which are super-Earths. It’s called K2-138, where “K2″ signifies that it was discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope during its K2 mission—an exoplanet-hunting mission that’s been ongoing for the past three years.
  22. US Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, a career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, has resigned, telling the State Department he no longer feels able to serve President Donald Trump.
  23. Shahrukh Khan along with Hollywood star Cate Blanchett and legendary musician Sir Elton John will get the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Khan will get the award for “his leadership in championing children’s and women’s rights in India.
  24. Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat inaugurated a workshop and an Exhibition on CBRN Defence Technologies to showcase the Products and Technologies developed towards CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) threats at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi on January 12.
  25. Saksham (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav) is an annual flagship event of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India.
  26. According to the Pew research, Muslims are expected to surpass Jews as the second-largest religious group in the United States of America by 2040.
  27. The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is hosting its international conference, World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), along with Nasscom, in Hyderabad from February 19 to 21. Touted to be the ‘Olympics of the IT industry’, the conference is coming to India for the first time.
  28. Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after more than five years of living in asylum at the nation’s embassy in London
  29. India’s crude steel production rose nearly 6% to hit an all-time high of 101.28 million tonnes (MT) in 2017. India is the third largest producer of crude steel in the world after China and Japan. The country is now aiming to grab the second spot.
  30. Renowned wrestler and coach Sukhchain Singh Cheema (68), who was a Dronacharya Awardee, died in a road accident on 10 January. Cheema, who was a bronze medallist in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games, is the son of ‘Rustum-e-Hind’ title winner and Olympian Kesar Singh Cheema.

  31. Newly-found fossils suggest moths and butterflies have been on Earth for at least 200 million years – at least 70 million years longer than previously thought. Scales from the wings of at least seven species of ‘Lepidoptera’ – the group that includes moths and butterflies – were found in a sample of ancient rock in Germany.

  32. A turkey-sized dinosaur that once roamed the Australian-Antarctic rift valley 113 million years ago has been discovered. It appears the plant-eating dinosaur became trapped in a log jam where it died in pain and became immortalised. The new find sheds light on the diversity of the small, bipedal herbivorous dinosaurs called ornithopods. The partial skeleton named Diluvicursor pickeringi or Pickering’s Flood-Running dinosaur was found in sea cliffs near Cape Otway in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria.

  33. Scientists are planning to launch a small telescope into the Earth’s orbit that will monitor the flares and sunspots of small stars to assess how habitable the environment is for planets orbiting them. The spacecraft, known as the Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is a new NASA-funded space telescope and will be launched in 2021.
  34. Telecom operator Reliance Jio is rumoured to step into the cryptocurrency game with its own digital currency called JioCoin.
  35. The Supreme Court on January 11, 2018 set up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice SN Dhingra to supervise further probe into 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.
  36. Ministry of Railways on January 11, 2018 launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) App for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.
  37. An expert team of IAF mountaineers had successfully scaled highest peaks of six different continents earlier and had recently embarked upon its culminating expedition to Mt Vinson in Antarctica to complete Mission Seven Summits. A five member team led by Gp Capt RC Tripathi VM(G) was flagged off by Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC, Chief of Air Staff, on 08 Dec 17.
  38. A minor fire occurred on INS Shivalik, a stealth multi-role frigate, in Visakhapatnam on January 10, 2018.. The fire occurred in the naval stores compartment located in the front side of the ship. INS Shivalik is the lead ship in the Shivalik class and is a multi-role stealth frigate, built by Mazagon Dock, Mumbai. The ship is undergoing refit at Naval Dockyard.
  39. Rajiv Bindal, a five-time MLA, was unanimously elected Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on 10 January, 2018. He was one of the senior Ministers in the Dhumal government of 2007-12. Mr. Bindal would be the 16th Speaker.
  40. Due to high silt deposit in the in the Brahmaputra river, Migratory birds like Ruddy Shelducks are having a tough time finding food this year.
  41. A young Nepali woman died of suspected smoke inhalation while she was banished to a shed for menstruating under an ancient tradition of ‘Chhaupadi’ banned more than a decade ago,
  42. Stephen K. Bannon stepped down on January 9 from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart News. It is said that he had questioned President Donald Trump’s mental fitness and disparages his son Donald Trump Jr. in a new book published recently.
  43. Gujarat, which houses a rich population of lions, will now see an exercise to find out if tigers also inhabit the State. The last time a tiger was spotted in Gujarat was way back in 1985. Now, over three decades later, a census has been.
  44. Punjab’s Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on 10 January, 2018 announced ₹24 lakh for the development of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur memorial in Chappar Chiri.
  45. The government on 10 January, 2018 appointed renowned scientist Sivan K as the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to replace of A S Kiran Kumar. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved his appointment as secretary, Department of Space and chairman of Space Commission for a tenure of three years. Sivan, at present Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, will succeed Kumar, who was appointed on January 12, 2015. He graduated from Madras Institute of Technology in aeronautical engineering in 1980 and completed Master of Engineering in Aerospace engineering from IISc, Bangalore in 1982, according to his biodata.
  46. Matunga Railway Station has entered into Limca Book of Records 2018. Matunga Railway Station has become the first station in India which has all women staff managing the operations of the stations.
  47. Women have outnumbered men, making up for 50.4% of the registered voters in the final electoral rolls in Meghalaya. The voters’ list has names of 18,30,104 voters, of which 9,23,848 are women,
  48. The 5th Bilateral Technical Meeting on cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine between Govt. of India and Malaysia was held on January 10, 2018, at New Delhi which was a part of agreement signed between both countries in 2010.
  49. Aanchal Thakur won the first international medal in skiing at FIS International Skiing Competition in Turkey. The Manali resident grabbed a Bronze medal in the slalom race category at Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by Skiing’s international governing body, Federation International de Ski (FIS) at the Palandoken Ski Centre, in Erzurum in Turkey.
  50. Government has successfully divested 2.52 % of paid-up capital in National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) for an amount of Rs. 1200 crore approx. (Rs. 980.05 crore from non-retail investors and Rs. 232 crore approx. from retail investors) through Offer for sale (OFS) mechanism.
  51. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on January 10, approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Canada for cooperation in the field of Science & Technology. The MoU will provide a mechanism and help to foster scientific cooperation between R&D and academic institutions of India and Canada.
  52. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the International Conference of PIO Parliamentarians, being organised by Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad – Bharat in association with the PIO Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, in New Delhi today (January 10, 2018).

  53. According to the Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index which was updated on January 10, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the richest person with a net worth of USD 106 billion.

  54. A naturalized American from India has been stripped of his US citizenship, the first case under a government initiative designed to clamp down on fraudulent immigration, widened under the Trump administration.

  55. The Delhi Cabinet approved on January 9 a new scheme Mukhyamantri Teerthayatra Yojana for lower- and middleclass senior citizens to go on free religious pilgrimages. Under the Mukhyamantri Teerthayatra Yojana, the Delhi government will select 77,000 devotees every year for an all-expenses-paid trip on five designated routes: Haridwar-Rishikesh-Neelkanth, Ajmer-Pushkar, Amritsar-Anantpur Sahib, Vaishnodevi-Jammu, MathuraVrindavan. At least 1,100 senior citizens, aged 60 and above, will be chosen from each of Delhi’s 70 assembly segments.
  56. B R Sharma, a special secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, will head a 12-member inter- ministerial committee which would take a final call on the playing of the national anthem in cinema halls and public places and recommend, if needed, changes in existing laws.
  57. Scientists have found a star that is almost identical to the Sun, except for the chemical composition, making it a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for the study of the solar body’s variability and effect on the Earth’s climate. The star is located 120 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus.
  58. The two-day 18th All India Whips’ Conference, 2018 concluded in Udaipur, Rajasthan on 9 January. The Conference was jointly inaugurated on 8th January, 2018 by Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Ananthkumar and Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje, who was also the Chief Guest in the Inaugural Function.
  59. The 1st PIO-Parliamentarian Conference was addressed by Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi in New Delhi on January 9, 2018.
  60. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda presides over the ‘First Health Ministers Roundtable on Food Safety & Nutrition’ in New Delhi on January 9.
  61. The Commerce & Industry Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhu chaired a Meeting of the Task Force of the Artificial Intelligence for India’s Economic Transformation at Udyog Bhawan in New Delhi on January 9. The Task Force is created with the members from Industry, academia and Government to suggest policy intervention with respect to use of Artificial Intelligence and giving inputs for the Industrial Policy on 24th August, 2017.
  62. On December 28, Indian troops had foiled attempts by Chinese road building teams to build a track around one kiolometre inside Indian territory in Tuting.
  63. Indian astrophysicists have unearthed a nearly 5,000-year-old rock carving in Kashmir which, they believe, is the oldest record of supernova and sky chart found in human history. The rock carving — known to be the earliest form of human expression — found in Burzahama region in Kashmir is on an irregular stone slab with a size of about 48 cm by 27 cm.
  64. The Jammu-Kashmir Government is launching a major welfare initiative ‘Muhafiz’ for the workers in the unorganized sector to provide them institutionalized socio-economic security. Under the scheme Under the scheme named “Muhafiz” (Guardian), around 3 lakh workers registered with Jammu and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (JKBOCWWB), will be covered under accidental, life and disability insurance besides providing educational scholarships to their children.
  65. In-line with the philosophy of the Government to make systems and procedures digital and transparent, Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), (headquartered at Lucknow),the research arm of Ministry of Railways, has launched “New Online Vender Registration System”.
  66. China editor for British Broadcasting Corporation Carrie Grace resigned on January 7, protesting gender-based pay disparities In a letter published on her blog , Gracie said there was a “crisis of trust” at the BBC, where she worked for 30 years, as it was “breaking equality law and resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure”.
  67. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the secretive Zuma Mission of USA government on January 7, 2018. It launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
  68. An international group of over 50 scientists including three Indians have first time found out how the bacteria Helicobacter pylori survive in highly acidic environment of the human stomach. H. pylori causes peptic ulcer, and chronic infection can also lead to gastric cancer.
  69. The latest data sent to the Union Home Ministry by all states and UTs, 9,474 students committed suicide in 2016 — at a rate of more than one every hour — with Maharashtra (1350) and West Bengal (1147) recording the most, while there was none reported in Lakshadweep.
  70. According to the journal Scientific Reports, astronauts on lengthy space missions risk suffering from “space fever”. Weightlessness resulting from low gravity is linked to an increase in body temperature of about 1C. Such a change develops gradually over around two-and-a-half months.
  71. A Recent data shows that there are more Indian students in China than in the United Kingdom. It is due to NEET fallout.
  72. Atomic scientist Prof Baldev Raj, 70, passed away in Pune on 6 January while attending a conference in Pune. Having held several key posts, Raj was serving as the direction, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, since 2014.
  73. Recent data put out by the Union Health Ministry’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has indicated that food poisoning is one of the commonest outbreaks reported in 2017. This is apart from acute diarrhoeal disease (ADD). According to the data, 312 of the 1,649 outbreaks reported till the third week of December 2017 were due to ADD and 242 were due to food poisoning.
  74. The Indian wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha claimed a unique record to his name by becoming the first Indian keeper to affect ten dismissals in a Test match. With that, he overtook Mahednra Singh Dhoni, who previously claimed nine dismissals in a Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in 2014. The 33-year-old also went past Farokh Engineer’s record of 82 dismissals to become the fifth most successful wicketkeeper of India. Saha completed the feat in just 60 innings, 23 more than held by Farokh.
  75. An authentic age proof document is now a must for women visiting the famed Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala in Kerala, where the entry of female devotees in the age group of 10-50 is banned.
  76. Indian Railways has decided to deploy “Drone” cameras (UAV/NETRA) for various railway activities especially project monitoring and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure. It has been given directions to Zonal Railways to procure such cameras. This is in-line with Railways’ desire to use technology to enhance safety and efficiency in train operations.

  77. The West Bengal government on 5 January, 2018, inaugurated its own State symbol. The logo highlights the ‘Biswa Bangla’ theme, and also features the national emblem, the Ashoka Pillar. Many States like Odisha, Bihar and Telangana have their own seals and logos.

  78. An Iranian oil tanker Sanchi collided with a Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal, and caught fire off China’s eastern coast, leaving its entire crew of 32 missing and causing the tanker to spill oil into the sea.
  79. Iran has banned the teaching of English in its primary schools. Irani educational officers has termed early English learning a cultural invasion.
  80. As many as 1,463 entities account for bad loans of ₹100 crore or more in 21 public sector banks (PSBs), finance ministry data showed. In State Bank of India (SBI) alone, 265 accounts had bad loans of more than ₹100 crore each, totalling ₹77,538 crore, at the end of the September quarter. Among the nationalised banks, Punjab National Bank topped the chart with 143 non-performing asset (NPA) accounts carrying over ₹100 crore each.
  81. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi attended the Annual Conference of DGPs and IGPs on 7th and 8th January at the BSF Academy at Tekanpur, Madhya Pradesh.
  82. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (Kerala) scored a historic victory on 7 January, with the inauguration of the Shamshabad diocese with pan-India jurisdiction, excluding the existing 30 dioceses, something they lost in 1886 to the Latin Church.
  83. According to a parliamentary panel report, enrollment in government run primary schools are coming down whereas enrollment in English medium primary school is going up. As per the report, new admissions to government primary schools had come down by 15% while they had gone up by 33% in private schools (see box) between 2010-11 and 2014-15.
  84. A book ,‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House‘, written by Michael Wolff’, has questioned the mental health of US president Donald Trump.
  85. A new research has found that an increase of just 2°C (3.6°F) in global temperature could lead to considerable desertification in the world, making it drier. The desert-like state, however, could be avoided by a large extent if the global warming is limited to 1.5°C (2.7°F).

 

 

 

 

 




CURRENT GS NEWS IN BRIEF (1-7 JANUARY 2018)

CURRENT OBJECTIVES/QUIZ (1-10 JANUARY 2018)

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