Current Affairs Summary-January 2018 - PSCprep-The biggest community of UPSC/PCS Aspirants

Current Affairs Summary-January 2018

2 new ginger species discovered in northeast: Hedychium chingmeianum: It was discovered in Tuensang district in Nagaland, both bordering Myanmar. It is an epiphytic plant and grows on trunks of tall trees
Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis: It was found growing in rock crevices, boulders and humus rich soil in the Shirui Hills in Ukhrul in Manipur
Vidarbha wins 2017 Ranji Trophy tournament
Arunachal Pradesh was officially declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) state. It is second State from Northeast, after Sikkim and overall fifth state afHimachal Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana to be declared ODF state
Scientists have discovered new species of frog named Mewa Singh’s night frog (Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi) in Kozhikode’s Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala in Western Ghats. It belongs to genus Nyctibatrachus (commonly known as night frogs) endemic only to Western Ghats mountain range. This group has total 36 number of night frogs including Mewa Singh’s night frog. It has been named in honour of wildlife scientist Mewa Singh for his contributions to behavioural ecology and primate studies.
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) became first countries of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to introduce Value Added Tax (VAT) for the first time to increase their revenue away from oil reserves. The other members of 6 member GCC- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar – have also committed to introduce VAT, though some have delayed plans
In Saudi Arabia, more than 90% of budget revenues come from oil industry while in UAE it is roughly 80%. Organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had long called for Gulf countries to diversify their sources of income away from oil reserves.
NASA is going to launch Parker Solar Probe in 2018 to explore the sun’s outer atmosphere.
India and Pakistan have exchanged list of their nuclear installations and facilities with each other under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear installations.

GAIL commissions India’s second largest rooftop solar plant in UP
State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has commissioned India’s second largest rooftop solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh. It is 5.76 MWp (Mega Watt peak) solar plant installed at GAIL’s petrochemical complex at Pata in UP. The plant has over roofs of warehouses covers a total area of 65,000 square meters.
India’s largest rooftop solar plant was commissioned in December 2015 by Tata Power Solar in Amritsar, Punjab. It is 12 MWp solar rooftop project
Government appoints Vijay Gokhale as new Foreign Secretary. He will succeed S Jaishankar
Scientists have discovered a new species of blind fish named Schistura larketensis inside a cave in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya. The fish has been named after Larket village, where the cave has been found to encourage local people to take up biodiversity conservation.
According to the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the eight core sectors expanded at fastest pace in more than year at 6.8% in November 2017.
These eight industries – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity – had witnessed a growth of 3.2 per cent in November 2016.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched Allied and Health care Professional Database portal to make data repository robust to ensure better systems and frameworks for healthcare workforce in country.
The Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) of Union Government has given its approval to Karnataka government for purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) under FAME India subsidised scheme.
FAME India Scheme
The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) India was launched in 2015 under the National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMM) aims at promoting eco-friendly vehicles in the country. It is being administered by the Heavy Industries Ministry.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has launched online portal NARI (nari.nic.in) for the empowerment of women. It has been developed by the Ministry to provide easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women.
NARI portal
The NARI portal will provide information to women on issues affecting their lives. The portal summarise over 350 government schemes and other important information.

e-Samvad portal
The MWCD also launched the portal to provide platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to interact with the ministry. Through it, NGOs and civil society can provide their feedback, suggestions, put up grievances, share best practices etc. This will help in formulation of effective policies and measures for welfare of women and children.

Parliament has passed Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 after it was passed by both the houses. The Bill amends Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and replaces Ordinance promulgated in November 2017 to pave way for tightening loopholes in existing code and make resolution process more effective.
Background
The IBC was enacted by the Parliament in 2016 to find time-bound resolution for ailing and sick firms, either through closure or revival, while protecting interests of creditors. Successful completion of resolution process is expected to aid in reducing rising bad loans (NPA-non Performing assets) in the banking system.
Key Features of Bill
The bill redefines resolution applicant mentioned in code as person who submits resolution plan after receiving invite by insolvency professional to do so. It amends provision related to eligibility in IBC to state that insolvency professional will only invite those resolution applicants to submit plan, who fulfil certain criteria laid down by him with approval of committee of creditors and other conditions which may be specified by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board.
It prohibits certain persons from submitting resolution plan in case of defaults. These include: (i) wilful defaulters, (ii) promoters or management of the company if it has outstanding non-performing debt for over year and (iii) disqualified directors, among others.
The bill bars the sale of property of a defaulter to such persons who is ineligible to be a resolution applicant during liquidation. It inserts provision to specify that person contravening any provisions of IBC, for which no penalty has been specified, will be punishable with fine ranging between Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 crore.

Parliament has passed the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017 with the approval of Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha already had passed the bill in August 2017.
The Bill seeks to amend National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Act, 1981. The Act establishes NABARD for providing and regulating facilities like credit for agricultural and industrial development in the rural areas.
Key Features of the Bill
The Bill allows Union Government to increase capital of NABARD from Rs. 5000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore. Further, it allows Union Government to increase the capital more than Rs 30,000 crore in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), if necessary.
The Bill provides that Union Government alone must hold at least 51% capital share of NABARD. Further, it transfers share capital held by RBI valued at Rs. 20 crore to Union Government. Currently RBI holds 0.4% of paid-up capital of NABARD and remaining 99.6% is held by Union government and this causes conflict in RBI’s role as banking regulator and shareholder in NABARD.
The Bill replaces terms ‘small-scale industry’ and ‘industry in tiny and decentralised sector’ with terms ‘micro enterprise’, ‘small enterprise’ and ‘medium enterprise’ as defined in MSME Development Act, 2006. Further, it allows NABARD to provide financial assistance to banks if they provide loans to the MSMEs.
The Bill substitutes references to provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 with references to the Companies Act, 2013. It includes provisions dealing with definition of a government company and qualifications of auditors.
The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Rajinder Khanna as Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA).

The Defence Ministry has given its final approvals for the procurement of 131 Barak missiles for Indian Navy and 240 precision-guided munitions (PGM) for Indian Air Force (IAF) together estimated at Rs.1,714 crore. The proposals were cleared by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It is a regular procurement through the revenue expenditure.
Precision-guided munitions (PGM)
The 240 KAB-1500 PGMs will be procured from Rosoboronexport of Russia at a cost of Rs.1,254 crore. PGM is variant of the KAB PGMs. It has been in service of IAF and has been employed by Su-30 fighter jets. Due to the value of the contract, the approval of Defence Ministry was required,” a defence official said. This procurement will address the deficiency of Precision Guided Munitions in IAF arsenal and also enhance offensive capabilities of the IAF.
Barak surface-to-air missiles (SAM)
131 Barak surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and associated equipment will be bought from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd for Rs.460 crore. They will be installed on all frontline warships of the Indian Navy. These are SAM designed to be used as a ship-borne anti-missile defence system.

Lok Sabha has passed The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to allow government to take up infrastructure projects within 100ms protected monuments for public works carried out by central government.

The Union Government has announced details of electoral bonds for political funding that can be routed by donors to political parties. The electoral bonds scheme was announced in Union Budget 2017 with an aim for increasing transparency in political funding. It makes India first country in the world to have such unique bonds for electoral funding. The electoral bonds will prompt donors to take banking route to donate, with their identity captured by the issuing authority.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has given its pre-qualification to Typbar Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TVC) developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech for global use

The strategic tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity to strategically important Leh region. On completion, it will be Asia’s largest 2-lane bi-directional tunnel.

India shares 1,643-km long border with Myanmar. It passes through four northeaster states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. At present both countries have unique visa-free movement regime for people living within 16 km on either side of the border.
Free movement regime (FMR) was bilateral agreement between India and Myanmar that allows free movement of Indian and Myanmarese citizens within 16 km of the border without visa restrictions for 72 hours. Its purpose is to alleviate insecurity of tribals living along India and Myanmar border as they still continue to have trans-border linkages with their kiths and kins.
This regime has been in place to protect traditional social relations among border people. However, it has been misused by militants and criminals who are using it to smuggle weapons, narcotics, contraband goods and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).
The Union Cabinet has approved Agreement between India and Myanmar on Land Border Crossing. It is an enabling arrangement for movement of people across border of both countries
The agreement will facilitate movement of people on basis of valid passports and visas which will enhance economic and social interaction between two countries. It will facilitate regulation and harmonization of already existing free movement rights for people ordinarily residing in border areas of both countries.

Scientists discover four new balsam species in Arunachal Pradesh
Scientists have discovered four new balsam species from various locations in Eastern Himalayas in northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh

Balsams are commonly known as jewel weeds because of diverse colour of their flowers. They are distributed throughout the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats, Sri Lanka, South East Asia, Africa and Madagascar.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved implementation of Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on 1,380-km Haldia-Varanasi stretch of National Waterway-1 (NW1) on Ganga River.
The project will be implemented at a cost of over Rs. 5,370 crore rupees with the technical assistance and investment support of the World Bank.

JMVP was announced by Government in 2014-15 Budget to enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 tonne vessels on the Ganga river. The project envisages the development of waterway between Allahabad and Haldia on Ganga River that will cover a distance of 1620 km

The 26th edition of annual World Book Fair was held in New Delhi. It was organised by National Book Trust (NBT), under Ministry of Human Resource Development in association with India Trade Promotion Organisation.
The theme for this year is ‘Environment and Climate Change’. It focuses on environment issues like climate change, global warming, and water pollution. European Union was Guest of Honour Country for this year’s book fair.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch two missions – GOLD and ICON later this year. They will team up to explore the ionosphere, located 96 km above Earth’s surface.
The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will be launched in January 2018 and Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched later this year.

The two missions will be complementary to each other. ICON will launched in low-Earth orbit (LEO) located at 560 km above Earth, like a close-up camera. GOLD will be launched in geostationary orbit over Western Hemisphere, about 35,398 km above earth. It will help in full-disk view of ionosphere and upper atmosphere beneath it every half hour.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) has announced that Atal Pension Yojana (APY) run by it has reached a subscriber base of 80 lakh and is growing at good pace. Uttar Pradesh is the highest contributing state at 11.41 lakh APY subscribers, followed by Bihar (8.87 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (6.60 lakh).
Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
APY became operational from June 1, 2015 with an aim to provide affordable universal access to essential social security protection to unorganized work force of country, which makes major chunk of labour force (88%). It had replaced Swavalamban scheme.
It is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years (thus minimum period of contribution by subscriber is 20 years). Under scheme, subscriber will receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending on his contribution, from age of 60 years.
There is no exit to the scheme before the age of 60. In case of death of subscriber, the spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled for the same amount of pension till his or her death.

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have scaled to fresh record high of $409.366 billion as on December 29, 2017. The surge was due to massive spike in foreign currency assets, which is key component of the reserves.

The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2017. The ceremony was organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US). The Golden Globe Awards are the annual awards that honour the best in Motion Pictures and American Television for the previous year.
This year The Shape of Water had received most overall nominations of show with seven, while Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Big Little Lies both won most awards with four each.
The three-day annual Flamingo Festival was held at Pulicat lake and Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary in Sullurpet mandal. Flamingo Festival is held every year to promote tourism in Pulicat and Nellapattu.
Key Facts
Flamingo Festival is being organised for the past 12 years. Migratory birds from Siberia have visit this place during winter season for breeding. Somewhere between 9,000 to 12,000 migratory birds arrive at Pulicat region for breeding this season.
Usually around 80 different avian species migrate to Pulicat for breeding. They hunt in shallow waters of lake and breed there. Once the breeding season concludes, they fly away to their native land with their offspring in tow.
Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary
Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is one of the biggest habitats for some hundreds of pelicans and other birds. It is located about 20 km north of the Pulicat Lake on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border. This sanctuary spread in an area about 459 hectares and plays important role in nesting of various birds especially migratory birds. Every year during winter season from October to March, different species of migratory birds, roosting migrants and some rare and endangered species from various parts of the world visit the habitat.
Pulicat lake
Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lake or lagoon in India after Chilika Lake. It is located on border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with over 96% of it in Andhra Pradesh and 4% in Tamil Nadu situated on Coromandal Coast in South India. The lake encompasses Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary. The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal and is home to Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Arani and Kalangi are two rivers which feed the lagoon. The Buckingham Canal, a navigation channel, is part of the lagoon on its western side.

Whip
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.

India’s fastest and first multi-petaflops (PF) supercomputer named Pratyush was unveiled at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). The supercomputer has been named as ‘Pratyush’ meaning Sun.
It will help India with better forecasts in terms of monsoon, extreme events, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, air quality, lightning, fishing, hot and cold waves, flood and drought among others.
Key Facts
Supercomputer Pratyush will be national facility for improving weather and climate forecasts and services under umbrella of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). Pratyush has 6.8 PF computational power installed at two MoES Institutes. 4.0 Peta Flops HPC facility at IITM, Pune and 2.8 Peta Flops facility at NCMRWF, Noida. (PF is a measure of a computer’s processing speed).
Pratyush is fourth fastest supercomputer in world dedicated for weather and climate research. It follows supercomputing machines in Japan, US and United Kingdom. It will improve rankings of Indian supercomputer from 300s to 30s in Top500 list, a respected international tracker of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
The key function of the High Performance Computing (HPC) facility will be monsoon forecasting using dynamical model which requires simulating weather for given month and letting custom-built model calculate impact of actual weather over coming months. It will enable to map regions in India at resolution of 3 km and globe at 12 km

California-based Private spaceflight company SpaceX has launched secret Zuma Mission for US government. It was launched on board of SpaceX Falcon 9 r…
Haryana become first state in the country to launch High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) portal. It has been launched as part of the High Risk Pregnancy Policy
Saudi Arabia has approved India’s plan to revive the option of ferrying Haj pilgrims via sea route to Jeddah. In this regard, both countries have signed a bilateral annual Haj 2018 agreement
Recently, Union Government for first time had notified that Indian Muslim Women can now go to Haj without male companion (Mehram).
Companies Act Amendment
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017. The Amendment Act amended some provisions of Companies Act, 2013.
Few provisions in the Amendment Act have important bearing on the working of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016. They will come into force on date as Government notify in Official Gazette. It aims to help in simplifying procedures, make compliance easy and take stringent action against defaulting companies.
Key Facts
Issuance of shares at a discount: It was prohibited by Section 53 of the Act. The Amendment Act allows companies to issue shares at discount to its creditors when its debt is converted into shares in pursuance of any statutory resolution plan such as resolution plan under IBC or debt restructuring scheme.
Payment of managerial remuneration in excess: It was required for company in general meeting for payment of managerial remuneration in excess of 11% of net profits as per Section 197 of parent Act. The Amendment Act now requires company which has defaulted in payment of dues, prior approval of bank or public financial institution concerned or non-convertible debenture holders or other secured creditor. For such payment of managerial remuneration shall be obtained by company before obtaining approval in general meeting.
Prohibition of registered valuer from undertaking valuation of any assets: Section 247 of Companies Act, 2013 them of any assets in which they have direct or indirect interest or becomes so interested at any time during or after valuation of assets. The Amendment Act now prohibits registered valuer to be appointment as valuer or three years after valuation of assets was conducted by him
BharatNet project
BharatNet project forms backbone for Digital India initiative. It aims to bring high speed broadband to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) through optical fibre. The project was approved by Union Cabinet in 2011 as National Optical Fibre Netwok.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year on January 9 to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.
This year’s PBD celebrated ASEAN-Indian partnership and was themed Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic ASEAN INDIA Partnership. This year marks 25 years of ASEAN-Indian Partnership

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year on January 9 to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.
This year’s PBD celebrated ASEAN-Indian partnership and was themed Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic ASEAN INDIA Partnership. This year marks 25 years of ASEAN-Indian Partnership
The day celebrated every year since 2003. It was chosen to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India in 1915.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is going to roll out National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis , a new scheme free treatment of Hepatitis C from the 2018-19 financial year.
Under the new scheme, the focus will be on anti-viral treatment of Hepatitis C which will be provided free at all government health set-ups. For this government has embarked budget of Rs 600 crore for the next three years.
Key Facts
The Health Ministry is looking at screening vulnerable groups, including drug users and people who underwent surgeries/ blood transfusion before 2002, when the screening protocol was not robust. Moreover it is in informal talks with Indian companies which manufacture Sofosbuvir on behalf of American pharma giant Gilead, to negotiate the price for a national programme. Sofosbuvir is recommended under the new WHO treatment guidelines for Hepatitis C

The Supreme Court has ruled that playing national anthem before screening movies in cinema halls is optional and not mandatory. The ruling modifies apex court’s earlier November 2016 order that made the playing of national anthem in cinemas mandatory.

Gujarat has topped among 22 states in the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index released by Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Punjab has acquired second position followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied top slot followed by NCT Delhi and Chandigarh. As regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed rocket scientist K. Sivan as next Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He will succeed A.S. Kiran Kumar and will have term of three years.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval to continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) till term of 14th Finance Commission i.e. 2020.
The continuation of scheme will entail annual allocation of Rs.3,950 crore and total outlay of Rs. 11,850 crores over next 3 years.
MPLAD Scheme
The MPLAD Scheme is Central Sector Scheme launched in 1993-94. It enables Members of Parliament (both elected and nominated) to recommend works for creation of durable community assets based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies in area of national priorities like drinking water, education, public health, sanitation, roads etc.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MSPI) is nodal ministry to coordinate work under scheme. The scheme is governed by set of guidelines (last revised in June, 2016). Under this scheme, the funds are released in the form of grants in-aid directly to the district authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per these guidelines.
The funds released under the scheme are non-lapsable i.e. if the fund for particular work is not spent in that year, it will be carried forward to the subsequent years, subject to eligibility.
The annual entitlement under the scheme per MP at present is Rs 5 crore. Role of MPs for the projects is only recommendatory i.e. they can only recommend their choice of works to concerned district authorities who implement these works by following the established procedures of the concerned state government.
Impact
Since its inception of the scheme, a total number of 18,82,180 works for Rs. 44,929.17 crore have been sanctioned till August, 2017 from MPLADS fund. It has resulted into creation of various durable community assets which have impacted the social, cultural and economic life of the local communities in one way or the other.

Mumbai’s Matunga station on Central Railway (CR) has entered the Limca Book of Records as first all-women station in India

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced two-tier security feature viz. Virtual ID and Limited KYC to address privacy concerns.
The move aims to strengthen security and privacy of Aadhaar data. It will also reduce the collection of Aadhaar numbers by various agencies.
Virtual ID
The Virtual ID will be random 16-digit number that can be generated from UIDA’s website and give for various purposes, wherever Aadhaar number is necessary to provide. It will be linked with biometrics of user that will give any authorised agency limited access of details like name, address and photograph.
Using it, Aadhaar-card holders do not need to share their actual 12-digit biometric ID for any authentication. User can generate as many Virtual IDs as they want. The older ID will get automatically cancelled at time new one is generated. It will be obligatory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept Virtual ID from their users.
Limited KYC
It was introduced to address issue of storage of Aadhaar number within various databases. It will only provide need-based or limited details of user to authorised agency that is providing particular service. It will evaluate Authentication User Agencies (AUAs) and split them into two categories: Global AUAs and Local AUAs.
Global AUAs will have access to full demographic details of an individual along with the ability to store Aadhaar numbers within their system.
Remaining AUAs will be branded as Local AUAs and will neither get access to full KYC, nor can they can store Aadhaar number on their systems. Instead, they will get tokenised number (UID Token) issued by UIDAI to identify their customers. It will be 72 character alphanumeric.

The 2018 Global Economics Prospect (GEP) released by the World Bank has projected India’s growth rate to 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5 for the next two years i.e. 2019 and 2020.
According to report, India, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), is estimated to have grown at 6.7% in 2017, higher than 6.5% estimated by Government.

The Union Cabinet has decided to fix three-year term of chairperson and the members of the board of the National Trust, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
In this regard, it has approved proposal to amend National Trust for Welfare of Person with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act (NTA), 1999.
Key Facts
At present, Section 4 (1) of NTA, 1999 provides that chairperson or member of board of National Trust will continue in office beyond prescribed term of 3 years until his successor is appointed by government. In case of resignation of chairperson, section 5(1) of act provides for him to continue in office until his successor is appointed by government.
The wording of above provisions of NT Act in its present form has resulted in continuation of chairman for indefinite period as no suitable successor could be found eligible for appointment. The proposed amendments to National Trust Act will avoid such situation and thus eliminate any chance of prolonged continuation in the same post by any incumbent.
National Trust
It is a statutory body under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Its mandate is to discharge two basic duties – legal and welfare.
It fundamental purpose, is to create enabling environment, i.e. provide opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) through comprehensive support systems which will lead towards development of an inclusive society.
Objectives of National Trust
Enable and empower PWD to live as independently and fully as possible within and close to their community as possible.
Facilitate realisation of equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation of persons with disability.
Extend support to its registered organisations to provide need based services.
Evolve procedures for appointments of guardians and trustees for persons with disabilities.
Tags: Cabinet Decisions o Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment o National o National Trust
India misses 2017 deadline for Kala Azar elimination
January 11, 2018

India has missed December 2017 deadline announced for elimination of Kala Azar (black fever) in 2017-18 Budget by the Union Government. Elimination in this case is defined as reducing annual incidence of disease to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
Endemic blocks
In recent times endemic blocks have increased from 61 to 68 in 17 districts of Bihar and Jharkhand. The active case findings rather than actual increase in disease are main reason for increase in number of endemic blocks. Moreover, little-known skin condition called Post Kala Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) – a red flag for transmission of Kala Azar-also has been growing steadily over the past few years.
Reasons for missing deadline
For elimination of Kala Azar, its vector needs to be eliminated first. But it is very difficult to eliminate vector as it dwells in wooden structure and escapes various measures to kill it. The majority of houses in endemic blocks are made from wood. Hence, to stop infection transmission, pucca houses need to be built.
Kala Azar
Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as black fever and Dumdum fever is most severe form of leishmaniasis. It is slow progressing indigenous disease caused by single-celled parasite of Leishmania family. It belongs to Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) family of diseases which affect poorest populations.
Its infection is transmitted by sand fly (Leishmania donovani), a blood-sucking pest, which is one-third size of mosquitoes and found in moist (humid) mud and sand and in close proximity to livestock.
It signs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, anemia, and substantial swelling of liver and spleen. It is treatable and requires a medical diagnosis. If untreated, kala-azar can kill within two years of onset of ailment.
It is second-largest parasitic killer in world after Malaria. It is endemic to Indian subcontinent in 119 districts in four countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal). India accounts for half the global burden of Kala-azar disease.

The National Youth Day is observed every year on 12 January to mark the birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher, thinker and youth icon of India Swami Vivekananda.

The Union Cabinet has approved number of amendments to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy. The purpose of amendments is to simplify and liberalise FDI policy in India to provide ease of doing business in country. The liberalized policy will lead to larger FDI inflows contributing to growth of investment, employment and income.
Key amendments approved
100% FDI for Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT) under automatic route.
100% FDI under automatic route in Construction Development.
Foreign airlines allowed investing up to 49% in Air India under government approval route.
FIIs/FPIs allowed investing in Power Exchanges through primary market.
Definition of ‘medical devices’ amended in FDI Policy.

Indu Malhotra: First woman lawyer to be directly promoted as SC judgeOverall she will be seventh woman judge in SC, since it was established 67 years ago. In 1989, Justice M. Fathima Beevi became first woman judge in Supreme Court. At present, Justice R. Banumathi is lone woman judge in SC which currently has a strength of 25 judges of total sanctioned strength of 31 (including 31).

Government think-tank National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has announced to rank 115 backward (aspirational) districts by April 2018. It was announced at ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ conference.
These 115 backward districts include 35 districts affected by Left Wing Extremists (LWE) violence, 55 districts just affected by LWE and another 15 including districts in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast affected by terrorism.
These 115 backward districts will be ranked on 10 socio-economic parameters which will include nutrition, education and health. Moreover NITI Aayog will also set up a mechanism for real-time monitoring of government’s development programmes by April 2018. It will also create dashboard which will reflect change in ranking of districts on continuous basis by the end of March 2018.

The Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bihar and Jharkhand for completion of balance works of North Koel reservoir project.

The Mandal dam as part of the project had threatened to submerge portions of the Palamau Tiger Reserve and Betla National Park. The National Wildlife Board (NWB) had cleared the project in June 2017 with certain conditions.
North Koel River
North Koel River rises on Ranchi plateau in Jharkhand. It joins the Sone River (only right bank tributary of Ganga River) a few miles north-west of Haidarnagar. Its principal tributaries are the Auranga and the Amanat. It meanders through the northern part of Betla National Park.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has refused to allow captive breeding of Chiru (Tibetan antelope), whose underfur is used for making famous shahtoosh shawls. Chiru is assessed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2017. It has been enlisted in Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. To enhance its protection, its prime habitats have been declared as Wildlife Sanctuaries viz. Karakorma Wildlife Sanctuary and Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Election Commission (EC) has constituted 14 member committee headed by Umesh Sinha to suggest changes to Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RP Act) in view of social media expansion.
Section 126 of RP Act, 1951 prohibits displaying any election matter by means of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency. It does not include social and new media under its ambit.

China has successfully launched two BeiDou-3 satellites to provide navigation and positioning services to countries along Belt and Road initiative (BRI) by the end of 2018.
The two satellites were designated as BeiDou-3 M7 and BeiDou-3 M8 (26th and 27th satellites) in BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

Indian Navy has decommissioned INS Nirbhik and INS Nirghat warships at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai (Maharashtra), after a glorious 30 and 28 years respectively in the service of the nation. These ships were inheritors of proud legacy as their original avatars were flag bearers of naval offensive action on Karachi Harbour during India-Pakistan war in 1971.

Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International has announced completion of its acquisition of Tata Chemicals’ 1.2 million tonnes per annum production capacity urea plant at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh.
The Rs. 2,682-crore acquisition deal includes transfer of all assets and liabilities (including working capital) relating to Babrala unit. It marks first foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s highly regulated urea sector.

According to wealth index released on basis of data from fourth round of National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4) Delhi is richest state and Jain wealthiest community in the country. Delhi and Punjab are richest states with over 60% of their households in the top wealth quintile. They are followed by Goa with 54.5% households in top bracket. Bihar is poorest state half of its households in the bottom quintile. Rajasthan has most equitable wealth distribution with similar number of households in all quintiles.

State wise wealth Distribution: Delhi and Punjab are richest states with over 60% of their households in the top wealth quintile. They are followed by Goa with 54.5% households in top bracket. Bihar is poorest state half of its households in the bottom quintile. Rajasthan has most equitable wealth distribution with similar number of households in all quintiles.
Wealth distribution in religious groups: Jains are the most prosperous religious community in India with 70% of its population in the top quintile. Only 1.5% of Jain households fall in lowest two quintiles. Sikhs follow next, with 59.6% of their people in the top wealth quintile. Hindus and Muslims have similar and also most equitable wealth distribution across all quintiles.
Community wise wealth distribution: Upper castes in India have almost double families in top quintile as compared to any other caste. Scheduled tribes are the poorest with 45.9% of their people in lowest quintile.
Rural and Urban wealth: Poverty is predominantly a rural phenomenon in India. 29% of rural India belongs to bottom quintile, while it is just 3.3% for urban India. 29% of the rural population has wealth levels equivalent to bottom 20% of the country’s population.
Concern: High levels of income and wealth inequality are matter of great concern in India. NFHS-4 statistics on disparity in wealth-holdings across various categories shows that there cannot be one size fits all policy if the government is serious about addressing this problem.

7th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) 2018 under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme was held in Bengaluru, Karnataka from January 14-20, 2018. The event was organised by Union Ministry of Culture
Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat Programme
It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Ekta Diwas (31st October 2016) on the occasion of birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Its objective is to
Strengthen cultural relations of various parts of country and to embolden mutual connection between people dwelling in different states.
The iconic Teen Murti Chowk in central New Delhi was renamed as Teen Murti-Haifa after Israeli City Haifa in solemn ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.
Teen Murti Chowk was named to mark role of the three cavalry regiments. The three bronze statues at Teen Murti represent Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who were part of 15 Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade in British Indian Army. The brigade had carried out victorious assault on fortified city of Haifa also known as Battle for Haifa on September 23, 1918, during World War I.

The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) unveiled India’s first agricultural-commodity options in Guarseed designed as hedge for farmers to safeguard against price risks. Guar gum is extracted from guar seed which is used by drilling companies to thicken water mixed with sand and pumped through shale rock cracks to extract gas. It is also used as thickening agent in products such as ice cream, bread, pasta, sausages and pastries.

Researchers from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) have discovered a new species of moth, scientifically named Elcysma Ziroensis from Talley Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh.
The discovery was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, an international journal on conservation and taxonomy.
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
It is a wildlife sanctuary as well as a bio-diversity hotspot located in Arunachal Pradesh. It is situated at altitude of 2400 metres with rivers like Pange, Sipu, Karing and Subansiri flowing through the Reserved Forest and Sanctuary. Talley is plateau with dense forest of silver fir trees, pine clad plateau of beautiful grandeur, and vast wasteland. It mainly comprises sub-tropical and alpine forests and has variety of flora and fauna, many of which are endangered. It is home to highly endangered species like clouded leopard. Pleioblastus simone is a bamboo variety only found in Talley Valley. Arunachal Pradesh as a whole contains 40% of the floral and faunal species in India.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position among 100 countries on its Global Manufacturing Index (GMI).
The index was released as part of WEF’s first Readiness for the future of production Report which analysed development of modern industrial strategies and urges collaborative action.

The India International Exchange (India INX) has listed the Indian Railway Finance Corporation’s (IRFC’s) green bonds on its debt listing platform-Global Securities Market (GSM).
With this, IRFC green bonds became first debt security to be listed on exchange at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat’s GIFT city. India INX’s GSM segment is India’s first debt listing platform. It allows raising funds in any currency of choice by both foreign and Indian issuers from investors across the globe.

Bangladesh, India and Nepal agreed on text of operating procedures for passenger vehicle movement (Passenger protocol) in sub-region under Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).
Decision in this regard was taken at meeting of High-level officials of three countries held in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It was convened and chaired by India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
Passenger protocol
The passenger protocol agreed upon is document detailing procedures for cross-border movement of buses and private vehicles for transport facilitation in subregion. It will be signed by three countries after completing necessary internal approval processes in their government. The delegations participating countries also agreed to continue to conduct trial movement of cargo vehicles along scheduled routes from April 2018 onwards, before finalizing protocol for cargo vehicular movement.
BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA)
The landmark MVA was signed by Transport Ministers of BBIN countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) in Thimphu, Bhutan in June 2015. India, Bangladesh and Nepal have already ratified MVA and have agreed to start its implementation among three signatory countries. Bhutan will bandwagon them after it ratifies the agreement.
The agreement will permit member states to ply their vehicles in each other’s territory for transportation of cargo and passengers, including third country transport and personal vehicles
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing technical, advisory, and financial support to BBIN MVA initiative as part of its assistance to South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program. Earlier trail runs for cargo vehicles under MVA were conducted along Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka routes which had successfully establishes their economic benefits.
SASEC program: It is projects-based economic cooperation initiative of ADB that brings together BBIN countries, Maldives, Sri Lanka and more recently, Myanmar. ADB (Manila) is secretariat of SASEC.

The Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle in third week of January in line with the increasing military cooperation between both countries.

The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to end Haj subsidy from this year as a part of its policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement.
This decision was taken based on the recommendations of Afzal Amanullah Committee and May 2012 Supreme Court order.
Key Facts
The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. It is 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.

Haj withot Mehram
Earlier, Union Government had allowed Muslim women above age of 45 to go on Haj without male company, in a group of at least four. Earlier, women were not allowed to travel without ‘Mehram’ (husband or a male first blood relation as guardian).

The NITI Aayog has launched first course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) at IIT Kanpur’s outreach centre in Noida.
This is first course conducted under Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) Program of Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. It is actively supported by NITI Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Maharashtra became first state in country to unveil Public Cloud Policy that virtually mandates state government departments to shift their data storage onto cloud.
Earlier in October 2017, State Government had formed four-member committee to draft policy framework on cloud usage, which had submitted a policy document that’s being now adopted as public cloud policy.

President Ram Nath Kovind presented Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2016 at function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards
The Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are recognised as among most coveted national honours bestowed on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars of performing arts in the country. They are given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are given in categories of music, dance, theatre, other traditional arts and puppetry, and for contribution and scholarship in performing arts. The award since 2003 consists of Rs. 1 lakh, a citation, an angavastram (shawl), and tamrapatra (brass plaque).

Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust in Odisha has won prestigious United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Award for Innovation in Tourism Enterprise at 14th UNWTO Awards ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.
The award was given in recognition of Mangalajodi’s business model that is both economically viable and environmentally sustainable based on principles of community ownership and Eco Tourism.
Key Facts
Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust is community owned and managed venture promoted by RBS Foundation India and Indian Grameen Services on banks of Chilika Lake in Odisha
The villagers of Mangalajodi were once associated with poaching of birds near Chilika Lake but now they stand as true defenders of wildlife in the region. The change was mainly due to a coordinated effort in implementing an awareness campaign on importance of preserving natural species and benefits associated with wildlife tourism.
The change has soared numbers of birds from 2000 (during peak unsustainable hunting) to over three lakh in the region. Moreover other visible impacts this change has resulted in increasing revenue through ecotourism, sharp fall in poaching incidents and increasing support of villagers.
Chilika Lake
Chilika Lake is largest coastal lagoon or brackish water lake in India and Asia and second largest lagoon in the world. It is located at mouth of Daya River, flowing into Bay of Bengal. It spread over Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on east coast of India, covering an area of over 1,100 km2
It is largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl found anywhere on Indian sub-continent. It is one of hotspot of biodiversity in country and some rare, vulnerable and endangered species listed in IUCN Red List of threatened Animals. It was designated as the first “Ramsar Site” of India on account of its rich bio-diversity and ecological significance.
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
UNWTO is United Nations agency responsible for promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. It is leading international organization in field of tourism. It promotes tourism as driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability. It offers leadership and support to sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. It is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Its membership includes 156 countries, 6 territories and over 500 affiliate members

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan crosses 1 crore mark
The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) has crossed one crore mark in antenatal check-ups. It was launched in 2016 to ensure comprehensive and quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women across country. It has provided quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women on the 9th of every month

India was admitted as the 43rd member of the Australia Group, an informal bloc (group) of countries that keeps a tight control over exports of substances used in making of chemical weapons.

The inclusion will help to raise India’s stature in the field of non-proliferation, though it is not signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and help in acquiring critical technologies. India is first South Asian nation to become its full-time member of Australia Group. It is also expected to strengthen India’s bid to enter 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Comment
With its admission into Australia Group, India is now part of three of the four key export control groups in world dealing with non-proliferation. This includes Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries that regulates trade in sensitive equipment and technologies to ensure there is no proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying payloads above 500kg for more than 300km. India had joined it in June 2016.
India had joined Wassenaar Arrangement, which is also an informal grouping of 42 countries, exercising control over the export of dual-use goods and technologies in December 2017.
Now, NSG, which controls the export of sensitive nuclear technologies and equipment, with the aim of preventing nuclear weapons’ proliferation is only export control group that India is not part of. China has repeatedly blocking India’s entry in NSG. Significantly, China is not member of Wassenaar Arrangement, MTCR and Australia Group.
India’s entry into three of four export control regimes burnishes its credentials i.e. a reference to country’s position that it has scrupulously adhered to rules governing non-proliferation of sensitive technologies and equipment.
Australia Group
It is multilateral export control regime (MECR) and informal group that works to counter spread of materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) by states or terrorist groups through harmonisation of export controls. It was established in 1985.
Coordination among participant countries of Australia Group helps them to fulfil their obligations under Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to the fullest extent possible. It has now has 43 members. China, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea are not its members.

Government has approved 2018 as National Year of Millets to boost production of the nutrient-rich millets and the sunrise agri industry involved in it. Earlier in November 2017, India had forwarded proposal to United Nations (UN) for declaring year 2018 as ‘International Year of Millets’.

Mauritius was largest source of FDI in India (21.8% share at market value) followed by USA, UK, Singapore and Japan. Singapore (19.7%) was major ODI destination, followed by Netherlands, Mauritius, and US.

German auto major Mercedes-Benz has unveiled India’s first BS-VI-compliant S Class car produced at its Pune facility. The BS-VI-compliant S Class car was unveiled more than two years ahead of Government’s deadline of April 2020 for switching to new BS-VI emission norms. BS-IV fuels contain 50 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, while BS-V and BS-VI grade fuel will have 10 ppm sulphur.

Government has announced a new batch of 9 smart cities under Smart City Mission. With the addition of these 9 smart cities in the fourth round, the total cities picked up under Smart City Mission have reached 99.

President Ram Nath Kovind on the recommendation of Election Commission of India (ECI) has disqualified 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs from Delhi, citing that they held offices of profit. In 2016, the ECI had issued show cause notices to 27 AAP MLAs from Delhi who held offices as parliamentary secretaries, after petition was filed seeking their disqualification.
What is ‘office of profit’?
Office of profit is a position in government which cannot be held by Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of Parliament (MP). The post can yield salaries, perquisites and other benefits. It has not been defined in Constitution or Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched the ‘Protocol for Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities’ in Goa. It has been developed under Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban for rating cities on 7-star rating system based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste management.
Key Facts
Indicators: These include Door to Door garbage Collection, source segregation, sweeping, scientific processing of waste, bulk generator compliance, scientific land filling, construction and demolition management, plastic waste management, dump remediation & citizen grievance redressal system etc.
Rating: Cities will be rated as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 star based on their compliance with protocol conditions specified for each of rating. City will be given rating of 3 star or above only after it is declared ODF (Open Defecation Free).
Cities can self-declare themselves as 1-star, 2-star or 4-star provided that MoHUA carry out additional verification through independent third party to certify cities as 3-star, 5-star or 7-star. Cities need to get themselves recertified every year to retain their star-status.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanichamy received UNESCO Award of Merit awarded to the iconic Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirapalli.
The award of merit was awarded by UNESCO Asia Pacific region for the reconstruction activities undertaken in temple without in least affecting its traditional splendour and Vedic rituals.
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple
It is considered as one of the most important of the 108 main Vishnu temples (Divyadesams). It is Vaishnava temple built in Tamil or Dravidian style of architecture. It is located on an islet formed by twin rivers: Coleroon and Cauvery. The temple complex is situated in sprawling ground of more than 156 acres.
The temple and 1000 pillared hall were constructed in the Vijayanagar period (1336-1565) on the site of an older temple. It has seven prakaras or enclosures. Its Gopuram also called as “Raja Gopuram is the biggest gopuram in Asia. It annually hosts 21-day festival during the Tamil month of Margazhi (between December and January) which attracts over 1 million visitors.
UNESCO Asia-Pacific awards for cultural heritage conservation programme
The UNESCO Asia-Pacific awards for cultural heritage conservation programme is aimed at acknowledging efforts taken to restore and conserve historical structures without affecting their heritage value. The awards are classified under four categories – Awards of Distinction, Awards of Merit, Award of Excellence and Award for New Design in Heritage Context.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced to increase number of AMRIT pharmacy stores by four times by end of 2018 from the existing 111 outlets in bid to make low-cost medicines more accessible.
So far, 52 lakh patients have been benefited by buying discounted drugs (60 to 90% less than market price) from AMRIT (Affordable medicine and reliable implants for treatment) stores and have saved over Rs. 267 crore. The total maximum retail price of medicines sold off these 111 AMRIT stores was Rs. 486 crore but their sale price was Rs 219 crore.
AMRIT scheme
The AMRIT (Affordable medicine and reliable implants for treatment) scheme aims to reduce expenditure incurred by patients on treatment of cancer and cardio vascular (heart) diseases to make health care affordable for poor. Its intended beneficiaries are patients suffering from cancer and heart diseases (non-communicable diseases).
Under it, retail outlets in the name of AMRIT pharmacy are opened to sell drugs for cancer and heart diseases at highly discounted rates on market rates. The project is implemented by government-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL) which is deputed to establish and run AMRIT chain of pharmacies across the country.
These drugs and implants under the scheme will be sold based upon authentic prescriptions from doctors. At the AMRIT outlets, 202 cancer and 186 cardio-vascular drugs will be available at reduced rate of 60 to 90% compared to market rates.

Chinese scientists for first time have successfully cloned two identical long-tailed macaques (monkeys), named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua using same technique that produced Dolly sheep two decades ago. These two identical long-tailed macaques were cloned using process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which involves transferring the nucleus of cell, which includes its DNA, into egg whose nucleus is removed.
Since cloned Dolly sheep was born in Scotland in 1996 using SCNT, scientists have successfully used this technique to clone more than 20 other species, including cows, pigs, dogs, rabbits, rats and mice. Similar work in primates earlier, had always failed, leading some scientists to wonder if primates were resistant.

India and Vietnam have signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to enhance cooperation in field of information and broadcasting and space cooperation.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has inked MoU with IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd for construction of the 14.150 km long, 2-lane bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir. This would be India’s longest road tunnel and longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia. On completion, the tunnel will provide all weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit was held in New Delhi to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of sectoral dialogue between two sides under the theme of “Shared Values, Common Destiny”.
It issued joint statement titled Delhi Declaration after the plenary session focusing on counter-terrorism, identity security, military cooperation, and bilateral financial support.
India and 10 ASEAN countries for first time mentioned cross-border movement of terrorists and made commitment to counter the challenge through close cooperation as part of the declaration.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched new Global Centre for Cybersecurity in a bid to safeguard world from hackers and growing data breaches – especially from nation-states. The centre will be headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and will become operational from March 2018

India’s highest peacetime military decoration is the Ashok Chakra
Shram Awards
Shram Ratna Award: No nomination was found suitable for it.
Shram Bhushan: 12 workers from SAIL, BHEL and TATA Steel Ltd. were selected.
Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana Award: 18 workers from Naval Dockyard, Ordinance Factory, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, TATA Steel, Hindalco Industries, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd., Brahmos Aerospace were selected.
Shram Shree/Shram Devi Award: 20 workers from Cement Corporation of India, Naval Ship Repair Yard, TATA Motors, Surat Lignite Power Plant, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. etc were selected.
Shram Awards
They were instituted in 1985 and are announced every year by Ministry of Labour and Employment. These awards are given to workers in PSUs, Departmental Undertakings of Central/State Governments and Private Sector units employing 500 or more workers.
Objective: It recognises workers for their distinguished performance, innovative ability, outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind. It also recognises outstanding contributions made by workmen as defined in Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 in organizations both in public and private sector
There are four types of Shram awards viz. Shram Ratna (monetary award of Rs. 2 lakhs and Sanad), Shram Bhushan (Rs. 1 lakh and Sanad), Shram Vir / Shram Veerangana (Rs. 60000 and Sanad), Shram Devi / Shram Shree (Rs. 40000 and Sanad).

Rotavac became first Indigenously developed vaccine from India to be pre-qualified by World Health Organisation (WHO). It means that vaccine can be sold internationally to several countries in South America and Africa.
So far, several vaccines from India have been pre-qualified by WHO, but Rotavac is first vaccine entirely developed locally to get this status in safety and efficacy.
Rotavac
Rotavac conceived and developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited. It protects against childhood diarrhoea caused by the rotavirus. It was developed under the joint collaboration between India and United States in area of medical research.
It was developed under public-private partnership (PPP) model that involved Ministry of Science and Technology, institutions of the US Government and NGOs in India supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The vaccine was built on strain of the virus isolated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi over 30 years ago. It has been included in India’s national immunisation programme. The vaccine was tested in field for over a year, have not shown any negative effect.

Rotavirus
It is a most common causative agent of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea (MSD) among infants below 11 months age group in India. It spreads from person to person due to bacterial and parasiting agents that are primarily transmitted through contaminated food or water. It is responsible for estimated 36% of hospitalisations for childhood diarrhoea around world and for estimated 200,000 deaths in low- and middle-income countries.

Atal Pension Yojana
The Union Finance Ministry has relaxed norms of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to allow small finance banks and payment banks to offer APY distribution. The move is expected to help expand coverage of the scheme and strengthen existing channels of APY distribution.

APY became operational from June 1, 2015 with an aim to provide affordable universal access to essential social security protection to unorganized work force of country, which makes major chunk of labour force (88%). It had replaced earlier Swavalamban scheme.
It is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years (thus minimum period of contribution by subscriber is 20 years). Under scheme, subscriber will receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000 per month, depending on his contribution, from age of 60 years.
There is no exit to the scheme before the age of 60. In case of death of subscriber, the spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled for the same amount of pension till his or her death.
Uttar Pradesh with 11.41 APY accounts is highest contributing state of the scheme followed by Bihar (8.87 lakh subscribers) and Tamil Nadu (6.60 lakh).

The APY scheme follows same investment pattern as applicable to National Pension Scheme (NPS) contribution of Central government employees.

India-Japan Smart Grid Pilot Project was inaugurated Panipat, Haryana to solve the various complications faced by the power distribution sector.

Kolkata, capital of West Bengal became first metro city in India to get floating market. It was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The floating market is located on lake at Patuli in South Kolkata which is 400 metres long and 60 metres wide. The lake has been transformed into the floating market similar to the one in Thailand.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) has launched Stree Swabhiman Initiative. Its aim is to create sustainable model for providing adolescent girls and women an access to affordable sanitary products by leveraging Common Service Centres (CSCs).
Stree Swabhiman Initiative
Under this initiative, Common Service Centres (CSC) will provide access to affordable, reliable and modern (eco-friendly) sanitary napkins (menstrual pads) to adolescent girls and women in rural areas. Its purpose is to improve awareness on menstrual health and hygiene of women, thus help to protect dignity and rights of women. Under this initiative, semi-automatic and manual sanitary napkin manufacturing units will be set up at CSC for producing affordable and eco-friendly sanitary napkins. These micro manufacturing units will be operated by women entrepreneurs and generate employment for 8-10 women.
Common Service Centres
CSCs are ICT enabled front end service delivery points at the village level for delivery of government and private services. They are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. They are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India.

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (World No. 2) has retained his Men’s Singles title by winning 2018 Australian Open.

The India-Vietnam Bilateral Army Exercise (VINBAX-2018) was conducted at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. It is the first military exercise between the two countries. The six day-long military exercise (from January 29 to February 3, 2018) was conducted as part of joint training undertaken with friendly foreign countries by Indian Army.

Himachal Pradesh Government has launched Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) project to promote organic farming. It was launched by Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur. The project aims to increase agriculture produce and the income of farmers by the year 2022.
Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)
ZBNF is set of natural farming methods where cost of growing and harvesting plants is zero. It is a farming practice that believes in natural growth of crops without adding any fertilizers and pesticides or any other foriegn elements. It is different from organic farming.
The word Zero Budget refers to zero net cost of production of all crops. This means that farmers need not purchase fertilizers and pesticides in order to ensure the healthy growth of crops. The inputs used for seed treatments and other inocluations are locally available in form of cowdung and cow urine.
It requires almost no monetary investment and envisages use of ‘Jeevamrutha’ and ‘Beejamrutha’. The main aim of ZBNF is eliminate use of chemical pesticides and uses biological pesticides and promote of good agronomic practices. Farmers use earthworms, cow dung, urine, plants, human excreta and such biological fertilizers for crop protection.
It lowers cost of inputs of farmers and gives better capacity to increase the incomes. It also protects soil from degradation and helps in retaining soil fertility and is climate change resilient.

According to recent report published by World Steel Association (WSA), India has overtaken US to become the world’s third largest steel producer in 2017.

Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) has inaugurated high performance computer system (HPC) or supercomputer Mihir (meaning sun) at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida. With this, MoES has acquired HPC facility total of 6.8 Peta Flops (PF) which has been installed at two of its constituent units: 4.0 PF HPC facility named ‘Pratyush’ at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and 2.8 Peta Flops facility at NCMRWF, Noida. It also improved India rank to 4th position after Japan, UK and US interms of dedicated HPC resources for weather/climate forecasts.

Indian Navy has launched Scorpene submarine INS Karanj at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, Maharashtra. It the third Scorpene class submarine built by MDL under ambitious Project 75 of the Indian Navy. In all, six scorpion submarines being indigenously built at MDL under Project 75 with help of French naval defence and energy company DCNS. The first of these, INS Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017 and second, INS Khanderi is undergoing sea trials. Remaining 4 submarines will be inducted gradually by 2020.
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has launched third version of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM 3.0) . The earlier version GeM 2.0 was launched as pilot project in August 2016.
GeM 3.0 will offer standardised and enriched catalogue management, powerful search engine, real time price comparison, template-based Bid and RA creation, demand aggregation, e-EMD, e-PBG, user rating, advanced MIS and analytics and more.

According to New World Wealth Report, India was ranked sixth in list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of US $8,230 billion in 2017.
The total wealth, refers to private wealth held by all individuals living in each country/city. It includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities. However it excludes government funds.

India and Pakistan have extended agreement of Thar Link Express, second solitary rail service between both countries for three more years i.e. till 2021. The Thar Express links Jodhpur (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) via Munabao (Rajasthan)-Khokhrapar (Sindh province) border crossing and carries only passengers.

India and Pakistan Rail service
India and Pakistan currently have only two trans-border trains. They are
Samjhauta Express: Operates on Delhi-Lahore route via Attari-Wagah border crossing. It carries both passengers and freight.
Thar Express: It links Jodhpur (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) via Munabao-Khokhrapar border crossing. It carries only passengers.

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