-The three-day long (28-30 December, 2017) 78th session of the Indian History Congress concluded at the Jadavpur University campus. A condemn resolution was passed on the attack on freedom of speech. The aim of conducting Indian History Congress is for promotion and encouragement of the scientific study of Indian History, holding Congresses and publishing of the proceedings, bulletins, memoirs, journals and other works. Its first session was held in Poona in 1935
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-According to documents accessed recently at the British Library in London, in the days preceding India’s Independence on August 15, 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, had come close to buying the port of Marmagoa rom Portugal.
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–Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents The ban is likely to anger elite solo mountaineers, who enjoy the challenge of climbing alone.
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-Pakistan has decided to set up a new the Azad Pattan Hydropower Project of over 700 megawatts in Pakistan occupied Kashmir through foreign financing at an estimated cost of $1.51 billion by 2022. The Azad Pattan Hydropower Project is a run-of-the-river scheme located on the Jhelum in PoK’s Sudhanoti district and about 90 km from Islamabad.
–Rajneesh Gurbani of Vidarbha, became only the second bowler to take a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy Final after B Kalyanasundaram for Tamil Nadu against Bombay in 1972/73 in Chennai.
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–Cattle carcasses disposed in the open on land adjoining Bharatpur’s Keoladeo National Park (KNP) — a world heritage site — has become a health hazard for migratory birds and tourists. Migratory birds can fall sick if they eat meat of dead cattle.
–Drought in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand has triggered large-scale migration as rabi sowing has come down by almost half this year and there is not enough employment opportunities available locally. Low rainfall has hampered rabi sowing, forcing the locals to move out to big cities in search of livelihood options.
-The Donald Trump administration has said the United States will withhold $255 million in military aid to Pakistan as it expects Islamabad to take decisive action “against terrorists and militants on its soil.
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-All police stations in Telangana will have social media accounts in the New Year for communicating with people on a daily basis.
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–Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano experienced its biggest eruption of the year in the last week of December 2017, spewing clouds of gas and showering ash into the sky. The volcano, which roared back to life in 2010 after four centuries of silence, has been erupting steadily since 2015, displacing more than 3,000 families.
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-Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has introduced eight new varieties of rice, groundnut, sunflower, sugarcane, bottle gourd and Malai vembu. A fine rice variety Aduthuri 51 (154-day duration), suitable for samba season was released. Other crops that were introduced are Vampan Cowpea-3, groundnut variety Tindivanam 14, Sunflower Co H 3, Sugarcane Co G, suitable for making good quality jiggery, Co-06022, capable of withstanding drought, Bottle gourd Co H 1 and Malaivembu variety Mettupalayam 2.
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-The renewable energy sector in the country has added close to 12 GW of new capacity during the first 11-months of calendar year 2017. The total installed capacity of wind power stood at 32,747 MW. Solar was the second major segment with total capacity of 16,612 MW, which includes 864 MW of solar rooftop capacity. Bio power occupied the third position with 8,182 MW. Small hydro and waste-to-power accounted for 4,399 MW and 114 MW, respectively.
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-According to the latest estimates from the Central Statistics Office, the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) at constant prices was 7.5 per cent, 8.0 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. The growth in GDP at constant market prices was 5.7 per cent and 6.3 per cent in Quarter 1 (Q1) and Quarter 2 (Q2) of 2017-18 respectively.
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–Palestinian National Authority had recalled its Ambassador to Pakistan Walid Abu Ali for sharing dais with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
-Although not as well-known as the kung fu, karate and judo styles of martial art, the Korean hapkido is slowly but surely catching on in India — with the fifth edition of a national-level championship having concluded recenltly in India. One of the people working to popularise this sport in India is Hapkido Association of India founder Tarsem Sharma.
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-Former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah has been elected Liberia’s new president by a wide margin as the West African nation faces its first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years. Vice President Joseph Boakai conceded, congratulating the ex-soccer star. With more than 98% of votes counted, Weah received 61.5% of the ballots while Boakai received 38.5%. Africa’s first female president, Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is stepping aside after two terms at the head of the nation founded by freed American slaves.
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-In a digital initiative to promote high quality Indian engineering products across the globe, an e-catalogue of Indian companies adhering to internationally accepted quality and standards was released by engineering export promotion body EEPC India on December 29.
-BJP MP Hema Malini said a limit should be fixed on how many people could live in a city to avoid tragedies like the one that struck a Mumbai pub where 14 people were killed in a fire. Some restrictions should be imposed on population. First of all, each city should have certain population, certain limit. After that they [people] should not be allowed.
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-According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer welfare, about 10 crore soil health cards have been issued to the farmers over the last three years. A study was conducted (on the impact) and it was found that those who used these cards properly, are able to save urea usage by 8-10 per cent. This also led to increase in productivity of cultivable land.
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-China successfully tested its first photovoltaic highway based on home-grown technology in the country’s eastern Shandong province on December 28. The road has wireless charging systems for electric vehicles. The road is constructed using solar panels which have a thin sheet of clear concrete on top of them, protecting the surface.
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–Hyderabad may soon get its first ‘robocop’, with the launch of a prototype in the city on December 29. This five-foot-seven-inch tall ‘smart police robot’, weighing 43 kg, is not yet capable of chasing down criminals.
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Jitu Rai on December 29, won the men’s 50m pistol national title with a new national record score of 233 at the 61st National Shooting Championship in Thiruvanantpuram. Rai got the better of Omkar Singh who shot 222.4 in the finals while Jitu’s army teammate Jai Singh secured bronze with an effort of 198.4. Rai’s score of 233 was a new record in the finals of the event.
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-The report of the health of a billion-plus Indians has shown that the major burden of disease is from non-communicable disease and injuries and that this burden is not uniform across the states.
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-The Indonesian island of Bali has declared a “garbage emergency” after the country’s most popular tourist beaches were inundated with a rising tide of plastic waste. A 3.6-mile stretch of beach on the island’s western coast was declared an emergency zone after authorities realised that the volume of plastic being washed up was endangering the tourist trade. After China, Indonesia is the second largest contributor to ocean debris.
-The WHO is set to include “gaming disorder” for the first time in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is used by more than 100 countries. The latest version of the manual, last updated in 1990, will be published in May next year. By adding “gaming disorder” to the ICD, WHO will make the health condition an official diagnosis that can be used by health care workers, including doctors.
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-In a unique way to stop people from urinating in the open, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has asked its workers to “whistle and make sound with a stick” to discourage such behaviour. The new method has been named “Lathi, Seeti” (stick, whistle) plan.
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-The government is working on a policy to bring down the annual oil import bill by $100 billion by 2030 through extensive use of methanol in cooking gas and transportation fuel. A staggering trade deficit of $51 billion with China has prompted the government to conduct a study on the impact of Chinese imports and the extent to which they have displaced domestic production.
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The commerce ministry will also seek to identify Chinese products that can be substituted competitively by domestic products through this indepth study for the period between 2007-08 and 2016-17.
-Israel will award an exploration licence to a consortium of Indian state firms led by ONGC Videsh in an auction of its offshore gas fields that saw tepid response from global companies
-The government has scrapped its previous directive to state oil companies to raise the price of subsidised cooking gas cylinders by ₹4 every month. The government had directed oil companies in May 2017 to raise prices by ₹4 per cylinder every month until the subsidy was eliminated on March 2018 or till further order, whichever was earlier.
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-The Lok Sabha on December 28, passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which seeks to ban instant triple talaq after a charged debate in the House, with several Opposition members warning the proposed law will make a civil offence a criminal wrongdoing.
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-A Japanese researchers claimed to have developed a new type of glass that can heal itself from cracks and breaks. Glass made from a low weight polymer called “polyether-thioureas” can heal breaks when pressed together by hand without the need for high heat to melt the material. Research was led by Professor Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo.
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-Israel will name one of its new high speed rail line station of Jerusalem after US president Trump.
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-According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the number of cities where the standards of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) exceeded norms increased from 18% to 29% in 10 years. In 2007, none of the cities were in the critical category — that is 1.5 times the permissible limit. In 2016, 12% of the cities where NOx was being monitored entered the critical list. The main sources of NOx pollution are vehicles and thermal power plants. Some experts are also concerned that the use of cleaner fuel, which tries to curb particulate pollution, may lead to increase in NOx pollution.
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-An agreement for IBRD Credit of USD 40 Million from World Bank for “U.P. Pro-Poor Tourism Development Project” was signed on December 28 between Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. John Blomquist, Acting Country Director of the World Bank (India). The Project Objective is to increase tourism-related benefits for local communities in targeted destinations. The project is expected to have far-reaching social, economic and environmental benefits by targeting local communities and entrepreneurs near some of the main tourist and pilgrimage attractions in Uttar Pradesh, namely, Agra as well as Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Govardhan in the Braj region.
The criteria presently followed for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe are : (i) indications of primitive traits, (ii) distinctive culture, (iii) geographical isolation, (iv) shyness of contact with the community at large, and (v) backwardness. However, these criteria are not spelt out in the Constitution.
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According to the Union Ministry of Power, financial losses of UDAY states have reduced from Rs.51,589.51 crores in FY 2016 to Rs.34,826.87 crores in FY 2017.
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-According to the Ministry of Shipping, the effective rated capacity of 12 Major Ports is now 1,359 MT per annum and capacity at desired occupancy is 989 MT per annum.
-According to the Gallup survey, Americans have voted former US President Barack as the most admired man for the 10th year in a row.
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-The Rajya Sabha on December 27, passed the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy Bill, 2017, that seeks to declare the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, Vishakhapatnam as an institute of national importance.
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-One of four sitars made in 1961 by Kolkata-based instrument maker Nodu Mullick for the iconic Pandit Ravi Shankar has been gifted by his family to the British Museum in London, where it is on display as one of its most valuable possessions from south Asia.
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-As per the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its audit report tabled in Parliament, more than eight years of delay in starting the commercial operation of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) has caused a loss of over ₹10,000 crore to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a body responsible for operating nuclear reactors. KKNPP is situated at Kudankulam in Thirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.
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-The 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC), scheduled to be held at Osmania University, Hyderabad, from January 3-7, will now be held at Manipur Central University, Imphal, in March 2018.
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-According to a research report by ratings agency CARE, India’s NPA ratio of 9.85%— which excludes restructured assets that are around 2% higher than NPA — is one of the highest in the group of ‘high-NPA’ nations. The only countries with a higher NPA than India are Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece. Even among the troubled PIIGS, Spain has a lesser ratio of bad loans compared to India.
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–The richest people on earth became $1 trillion richer in 2017, more than four times last year’s gain, as stock markets shrugged off economic, social and political divisions to reach record highs. The 23% increase on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, compares with an almost 20% increase for both the MSCI World Index and Standard &Poor’s 500 Index. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos added the most in 2017, a $34
-The Lok Sabha on December 27 approved a bill to hike cess on luxury vehicles from 15% to 25% with a view to enhance funds to compensate states for revenue loss following the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The bill, seeks to replace the ordinance which was issued in September to give effect to the decision of the GST Council. The GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill, 2017, was passed by the House.
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-China’s financial capital Shanghai will limit its population to 25 million people by 2035. It is part of a quest to manage “big city disease”. According to the State Council the goal to control the size of the city was part of Shanghai’s master plan for 2017-2035. As per Chinese state media, ‘big city disease arises when a megacity becomes plagued with pollution, traffic congestion and a shortage of public services, including education and medical care.
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-SENSEX, the benchmark index for 30 shares of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) crossed 34,000 for the first time on 26 December, 2017. So far this year, the Sensex has gained 27.73%. It took 62 days to reach 34,000 from 33,000.
-The Odisha government decided on 26 December to set up a unique ‘Heritage Cabinet’ and an Odia Language Commission as part of its move to preserve the relics and monuments in the state and enrich its rich culture and language.
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The Central government has decided to borrow additional Rs 50,000 crore during January-March 2018. This will raisw the gross market borrowing target of the central government to Rs 6.3 lakh crore for the financial year 2017-18.
-China and Pakistan have decided to extend their $57 billion pet project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.
-Famous actress HEATHER MENZIESURICH , who portrayed Louisa von Trapp in 1965 film ‘The Sound of Music’ dies aged 68.
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