SH- Current Affairs Update 08th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants, 

THE rankings 2018: 42 Indian Universities in list, none in top 25

The Times Higher Education (THE) released the list of the best colleges in Asia in the Asia University Rankings 2018 on 6 February.

• While the top 10 spots were secured by universities from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, India managed to improve its score on the index with a total of 42 finding a place among just over 350 Universities.
• Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Bengaluru was the topmost Indian University in the list coming in at rank 29.
• At rank 44 was the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, followed by IIT-Kharagpur at 60 with 11,016 students.
• IIT-Roorkee, rank 65, IIT-Kanpur, rank 81 and IIT-Delhi, rank 86. At rank 100, Tezpur University in Assam was the last Indian university in the top 100 list.

Sushma Swaraj inaugurates Saudi cultural festival

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has inaugurate Saudi Arabia’s annual ‘Janadriyah Festival’ where India has been invited as guest of honour this year, officials said.

• Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had said that India’s participation in the festival will be multifaceted and would take relations of the two nations “to new heights”.
• According to the minister, the Indian pavilion at the festival will project a number of Indian themes and projects.

First-ever Pelican Festival held at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary

Andhra Pradesh government has held the first-of-its kind, one-day Pelican Festival at the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary on Kolleru lake.

• Koleru is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the country.   
• Officials made elaborate arrangements to attract tourists for the ‘Pakshula Panduga’ at Atapaka village, located on the borders of the Krishna and the West Godavari districts.

Centre to link driving licence with Aadhaar

The Centre is in the process of linking driving licences with Aadhaar number to weed out fake licences and a software for this covering all states on a real time basis is under preparation, the Supreme Court was told.

• A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was informed about it by a court-appointed committee on road safety headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice K S Radhakrishnan.
• This assumes significance as a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is currently hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the enabling 2016 law.

Cloze Test: English Quiz

Dear Aspirants,

Directions (Q.1-10): In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a number. Find the suitable word from the options given against each number and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningfully complete:

Acid attacks, especially on women, are an issue of increasing (1). In order to (2) with such attacks, a threepronged (3) is currently under formulation. The first is providing (4)punishment to perpetrators, not only as proportionate punishment for their (5) but also to (6) potential offenders. The second approach is to (7) attacks by regulating (8) to acids. The third is constructing a compensation scheme for victims.

The Indian Penal Code did not have specific provisions to criminalise and punish acid attacks (9) earlier this year. If a person is convicted for (10) acid on another, and thereby causing temporary or permanent damage or deformity, a minimum imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment is now provided.

1.

1) value

2) welfare

3) gossip

4) concern

5) happening

2.

1) deal

2) do away

3) fight

4) solve

5) tussle

Reading Comprehension: English Quiz

Dear Aspirants, 

Directions (Q. 1-0): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. There are certain words in the passage printed in bold letters to lead you to find them out easily in order to help you in answering some of the questions:

Public sector banks are back in focus, not for the steep rise in bad loans, but for customer complaints against them. At first glance, the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme reveals that customers of PSBs had a litany of grievances, while patrons of private and foreign banks were quite content with the services offered to them. But one reason why PSBs account for about 65 per cent of the complaints is that these banks have a lion’s share — about three-fourths — of the loans and deposits in the banking system. If we consider the number of complaints per account or branch, nationalised banks, surprisingly, have fewer complaints than their private and foreign counterparts. Complaints from the rural and semi-urban population have witnessed an increase, implying the wider participation from these segments. But there is a lack of awareness about the ombudsman scheme or lack of access to it in these regions. While they account for about two-thirds of the bank branches in India, less than 30 per cent of the complaints were lodged from here.

Reporting such numbers only scratches the surface of the problem. The ombudsman scheme, which was launched two decades ago to provide a free grievance redress system in the face of rising complaints against banks, will now have to use the data to improve its functioning. Both the Centre and the regulator also need to act on longstandinggrievances. For years now, debit/credit card operations (21 per cent of complaints) and unfair banking practices (29 per cent) have made up a large chunk of the complaints. Customers have had a laundry list of woes regarding failure of withdrawals from ATMs, issue of unsolicited cards and insurance policies, and banks’ non-adherence to ‘fair practices’ or BCSBI (Banking Codes and Standards Board of India) codes. The BCSBI was set up a decade ago to supplement the ombudsman scheme. Hence, the wide non-adherence to these codes on the part of banks is inexcusable. What it highlights is the need for the RBI to follow up more stringently on ensuring that banks conform to norms.

SH- Current Affairs Update 07th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants,

President to inaugurate the Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav 2018

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, will be in Karnataka to inaugurate the Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav 2018 of Gommateshwara Bhagwan Sri Bahubali Swami at Shravanabelagola February 7, 2018.

• The Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav is celebrated once every 12 years.
• It has been celebrated for about a 1,000  years.

60 Solar Cities to be developed across country

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under its scheme “Development of Solar Cities” has approved/sanctioned 60 Cities including 13 Pilot and 5 Model Cities up to 12th Five-year Plan period.

• In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (IC) for Power & New and Renewable Energy, Shri R K Singh informed that the master plans of 49 Solar Cities have been prepared. 
• The Stake-holders Committees have been constituted in 21 Cities and Solar City Cells have been created in 37 Solar Cities.
• Solar PV projects with aggregate capacity of 8069.16 kWP and Solar Water Heating System with aggregate capacity of 7894 meter square collector area have been sanctioned under the programme.
• While Rs. 101.64 crore has been sanctioned, Rs. 25.92 crore has been released under scheme “Development of Solar Cities” so far.

India-UAE to ink 12 pacts during PM Modi's visit

As many as 12 agreements will be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE later this week as India and the oil-rich Gulf nation look to intensify economic cooperation.

• The agreements will include areas like finance and skills development.
• Modi will start his visit to three West Asian countries - Palestine, the UAE and Oman - on February 9 with focus on cooperation in key areas of defence, security and counter- terrorism.
• The Prime Minister will participate in the 6th World Government Summit in Dubai on February 10-11 in which India is a partner country.
• This will be PM Modi's second visit to the UAE. He first visited the country in August 2015.

SH- Current Affairs Update 06th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants,

International

Maldives declares state of emergency

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen has declared a 15-day state of Emergency, his aide Azima Shukoor announced on state television.

• The move gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects as Yameen refuses to comply with a Supreme Court order to release political prisoners.
• The latest crisis was triggered when the Maldivian Supreme Court ordered the release of some opposition leaders, including former president Mohammed Nasheed, after overturning their "terrorism" convictions.

Points to Remember

• The Maldives is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea.
• Male is the capital of Maldives while Rufiyaa is its currency.

Dubai named the world's busiest International Airport

Dubai International Airport says it has held on to its No 1 ranking as the world's busiest airport for ‘international travel’, after seeing some 88.2 million passengers in 2017.

• Dubai International Airport first surpassed London Heathrow as the world's busiest airport for international traffic in 2014.
• It has maintained the title ever since, with some 90 airlines flying into skyscraper-studded Dubai.
• The airport is home to the long-haul carrier Emirates.
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia remains the world's busiest airport overall.

SH- Current Affairs Update 05th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants,

National

Maharashtra to become first state to have Transgender Welfare Board

The long pending Transgender Welfare Board (TWB) will finally see light of the day with the Maharashtra government making a provision of Rs 5 crore for welfare of the community.

• Minister of State for Social Justice Dilip Kamble told that the Board will be set up in a month's time.
• It will look after education, employment, housing, and health schemes for transgenders and protect their Constitutional and human rights.
• Maharashtra will be the first such state to have such a Board, the minister said.

India’s biggest floating island released in Neknampur lake

On the occasion of World Wetland Day, city-based NGO Dhruvansh has introduced biggest floating island of India at Neknampur Lake, Hyderabad.

• The duo of Dhruvansh NGO, Madhulika and Neeraj Singh started Neknampur restoration programme in June 2016 adopting various cost effective methodologies to clean the lake.
• After successful introduction of 10×10 feet floating islands last year, the NGO introduced 2,500 square feet floating island with 3,500 wetland plants floating on this platform.

First defence industrial corridor between Chennai, Bengaluru

The first of the two defence industrial production corridors, as announced in the Union Budget, will link Chennai and Bengaluru.

• In his budget address, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government will develop two defence industrial production corridors.
• Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the first corridor will link Chennai and Bengaluru and will pass through Coimbatore and several other industrial clusters.

India's Super Computer Could Aid In Doubling Farmers' Income

The Union Budget saw much emphasis on doubling of farmers' income and accurate weather forecasts will play a major part in it.

• What could contribute to the doubling of farmers' income is India's most powerful Cray Super Computer - MIHIR - that will give more accurate weather forecasts.
• Built at a cost of Rs. 450 crore, MIHIR is housed in a badminton court-sized room at India's weather office near Delhi, and is capable of performing jobs equivalent to more than 2,500 high-end laptops, all working in tandem. 
• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Science Minister, says "MIHIR, named after the Sun God, will help in our weather forecasting capability and strength will increase tremendously and it will now become about eight petaflops." 
• Dr Vardhan said India will now also be ranked 4th, after Japan, UK and the US for dedicated HPC resources for weather/climate community.

Mukesh Khanna Quits as Chief of Children’s Film Society

Actor Mukesh Khanna said he has resigned as the chairperson of the Children's Film Society two months prior to the end of his term, alleging lack of support to take children's films to theatres and inadequate funding for the institution.

• His three-year term was scheduled to end in April.
• The actor is known for his portrayal in popular TV serial Shaktimaan.
• He made his debut on the small screen as Bhisham Pitamah in B R Chopra's Mahabharat.

SH- Current Affairs Update 04th, Feb 2018

Dear SH Aspirants,

International

World Cancer Day: 4 February

World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

• World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
• The primary goal of the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer by 2020.
• The theme for the World Cancer Day 2016-2018 is 'We can. I can.'

National

International Conference on 'Demetrios Galanos and His Legacy’

The International Conference on 'Demetrios Galanos and His Legacy’ was inaugurated at IGNCA in New Delhi.

• Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is organizing the 8-days International Conference.
• The 8-day long convention is being held in Delhi and Varanasi, in addition to organizing the exhibition and folk music of Greece.

Venkaiah Naidu to Inaugurate First International Kala Mela

The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the First International Kala Mela in New Delhi on February 4.

• The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma will also grace the occasion.
• Lalit Kala Akademi, the premier institution for the promotion of Art and Culture is organizing it at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi (IGNCA).

Environment Ministry launches ‘Green Good Deeds’ campaign

Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has appealed to the teaching community to join the “Green Good Deeds” campaign, launched by his Ministry to sensitise the people about climate change and global warming.

• The Minister reminded the teachers of their “Green Social Responsibility similar to corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).