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LawGiKLawGiKA Unique Monthly General Awareness Magazine
For CLAT, AILET and Other Law Entrance Exams in 2018
Eleventh EditionJune 2018
LAW Entrance Coach
Government’s ‘Gobar-Dhan Yojana’
launched for waste management
India leads the list of
‘World’s Most Polluted Cities’
India leads the list of
‘World’s Most Polluted Cities’
Cover StoryCover Story
Chamling: India’s Longest Serving
Chief Minister
20 New AIIMS to be setup
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 1
LawGiK - The Monthly General Awareness Magazine from Team Lawgicians
Eleventh Edition: June 2018
Editors: Ashish Agarwal, Manjuli Agarwal
Conceived, Owned & Published by:
CLAT Entrance Prep
Head Office & Study Center:
1
st floor, M-1/8C, Sector-B, Aliganj, Lucknow (U.P.)
(Near Novelty Cinema, Kapoorthala) Contact: 0522-4028190, +91 9984702002 Email: [email protected]
Facebook group for 10+2 Law aspirants:
www.facebook.com/groups/Lawgicians
www.Lawgicians.co.in
-: Contents :-
National Film Awards 2018 2
Modi: 9th Most Powerful Person 3
List of Important Days (National & International)
3
Current Affairs: Sports 4
Current Affairs: Awards & Honours 5
Current Affairs: National 5
Current Affairs: International 10
Current Affairs: Appointments & Resignations
13
Current Affairs: Anniversaries & Deaths
13
Current Affairs: Science & Tech 14
All rights reserved with the publisher. Copying in part or full, reproducing by any other means will attract is prohibited.
Though the editors and publishers have made serious attempts in maintaining the accuracy of the information provided in this magazine, yet we do not take responsibility for any loss or damage that happens due to the information provided here.
All disputes are subject to Lucknow jurisdiction only.
2 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
Cover Story:
National Film Awards 2018
The 65th National Awards ceremony was held in New
Delhi in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind. This
year, the jury was headed by director Shekhar Kapur. The
list of awards is as follows:
Best Actor (Male): Riddhi Sen for Bengali film
Nagarkirtan.
Best Actor (Female): Sridevi for the movie MOM.
Best Supporting Actor (Female): Divya Dutta for the
movie Irada.
Best Supporting Actor (Male): Actor Fahad Fazil for the
movie Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum.
Best Female Playback Singer: Shashaa Tirupati for her
song "Vaan" in the movie Kaatru Veliyidai.
Best Special Effects: Prabhas and Rana Daggubati's
magnum opus Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Best Choreography: Ganesh Acharya for Toilet Ek Prem
Katha's song "Gori Tu Latth Maar".
Best Action Direction: Abbas Ali Moghul for the movie Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Best Gujarati Film: DHH.
Best Hindi Film: Amit V Masurkar directorial Newton
starring Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi.
Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment:
SS Rajamouli's Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Best Film: Assamese film Village Rockstars.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Late actor Vinod Khanna.
Best Male Playback Singer: K.J Yesudas for his song
"Poy Maranja Kalam" in the movie Viswasapoorvam
Mansoor.
Best Children's Film: The film Mhorkya directed by Amar
Bharat Deokar.
Best Child Artist: Bhanita Das wins the award for the
Assamese film Village Rockstars.
Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film of a Director:
Pampally for the movie Sinjar.
Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration:
Marathi film Dhappa.
Best Special Effects: Prabhas and Rana Daggubati's
magnum opus Baahubali: The Conclusion.
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 3
Best Direction: Filmmaker Jayaraj for his Malayalam film
Bhayanakam.
Best Background Score: A R Rahman for MOM.
Best Educational Film: The Girls We Were and The
Women We Are.
Best Non- Feature Film: Water Baby.
Besi Audiography: Assamese film Village Rockstars.
Best Lyrics: J.M. Prahlad for the March 22 song Muthu
Ratnada Pyate.
Best Makeup artist: Ram Rajjak for Bengali film
Nagarkirtan.
Best Music Direction: Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai for
Best Music Direction. Noted music composer A.R.
Rahman has composed the music for the movie.
Best Tamil film: To-Let.
Best Assamese Film: Ishu.
Best Telugu film: Ghazi starring Rana Daggubati.
Best Bengali Film: Mayurakshi.
Best Kannada film: Hebbettu Ramakka.
Best Tulu film: Paddayi.
Best Ladakhi film: Walking With The Wind.
Best Malayalam film: Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum.
List of Important Days in MAY
May 3: Press Freedom Day; World Asthma Day
May 8: World Red Cross Day
May 9: World Thalassaemia Day
May 11: National Technology Day
May 12: World Hypertension Day
May 15: International Day of the Family
May 17: World Telecommunication and Information
Society Day May 24: Commonwealth Day
May 29: International Day of UN Peacekeepers
May 31: Anti-tobacco Day/ World No-Tobacco Day
SPECIAL FEATURE
Forbes ranks Narendra Modi “Ninth
most powerful person in the world”
(Image: DNAIndia)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked among
the top 10 most powerful people in the world, according
to the Forbes 2018 list. On the list of 75 of the World’s
Most Powerful People “who make the world turn”, PM
Modi was ranked ninth. Dethroning Russian President
Vladimir Putin who was on top for four consecutive years
as the most influential person on the planet, Chinese
President Xi Jinping has topped the list for the first time
ever.
Forbes’ annual ranking of The World’s Most Powerful
People identifies one person out of every 100 million
whose actions mean the most.” US President Donald
Trump has been ranked third, followed by German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Amazon chief Jeff Bezos
at fourth and fifth position, respectively. Besides Modi,
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is
ranked 32, is the only other Indian on the power list.
According to the Forbes, “Modi ‘remains hugely popular’
in the second most populous country on earth.” The
magazine cited Modi government’s November 2016
decision to eliminate India’s two largest banknotes in a
bid to reduce money laundering and corruption. “Modi
has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years
during official visits with US President Donald Trump
and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the
international effort to tackle climate change, as warming
affects millions of his country’s rural citizens.”
Explaining about Ambani, Forbes said the billionaire
industrialist’s Reliance sparked a price war in India’s
hyper-competitive telecom market with the launch of 4G
4 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
phone service Jio in 2016, which has signed on 160
million customers by offering free domestic voice calls,
dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones.”
There are 17 new names on the list this year, including
Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud (8), the Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia. Other new members include US Federal
Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (11), Exxon Mobil
CEO Darren Woods (34), President of South Korea Moon
Jae-in (54) and Special Counsel for the U.S. Department
of Justice Robert Mueller (72), Pope Francis (6),
Cofounder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill
Gates (7), French President Emmanuel Macron (12),
Alibaba Chief Jack Ma (21), CEO and Chairman of Tesla
Elon Musk (25), UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
(31), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (36), Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (57), Syrian President
Bashar Al-Assad (62), Philippines President Rodrigo
Duterte (69) and Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliph
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (73).
In compiling the list, Forbes said it considered hundreds
of candidates from various walks of life all around the
globe, and measured their power along four dimensions of
whether the person has power over lots of people,
financial resources controlled by each person, whether the
candidate is powerful in multiple spheres and that the
candidates actively used their power.
SPORTS
Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to win
five Champion League titles
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo created yet
another UEFA Champions League record as Real Madrid
went on to clinch the trophy by beating Liverpool 3-1 in
the final. The Portugal international became the only
player to win five titles in the Champions League era. He
surpassed former Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta and
former AC Milan No. 10 Clarence Seedorf, who won four
titles in their career. Former Real Madrid
winger Francisco Gento holds the record with six titles
from the Pre-Champions League era.
Ronaldo won his first Champions League trophy back in
2007/08 season for Manchester United.
India’s Shahzar Rizvi rises to number one in
10m air pistol world rankings
(Image: Hindustan Times)
World record holder Shahzar Rizvi has risen to the top of
the world rankings in men’s 10m air pistol in the latest
International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) charts.
The Indian Air Force man won a gold in the first ISSF
World Cup stage in Guadalajara, Mexico, in March with a
world record score of 242.3 in the finals.
He followed it up with a silver in the recently concluded
second World Cup stage in Changwon, Korea to ensure
his elevation as the world’s number one shooter in the
men’s 10m air pistol Olympic discipline. Jitu Rai, who won a gold in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was
at sixth in the men’s 10m air pistol rankings while Ravi
Kumar and Deepak Kumar were at fourth and ninth in
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 5
men’s 10m air rifle. In women’s 10m air pistol, another
CWG gold medallist Manu Bhaker was at fourth.
Justin Langer confirmed as new Australia head
cricket coach
Cricket Australia has chosen Justin Langer as its new head
coach, hoping the 105-test veteran will lead the national
team out of the fallout from the ball-tampering scandal in
South Africa. Langer takes over for Darren Lehmann,
who resigned after the embarrassing ball-tampering
episode in March. Australia’s two leading players captain
Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were banned
by Cricket Australia for 12 months. Langer played for
Australia for nearly 20 years, scoring 7,500 runs,
including 23 centuries.
Ball-tampering scandal: Lehmann quit as coach in the
days after the March 24 ball-tampering incident during the
third test in Cape Town, which resulted in Smith and
Warner handed the year-long bans and being sent home
from the tour. Cameron Bancroft, a player who tried to
use sandpaper to alter the surface of the ball, was given a
nine-month ban.
AWARDS & HONOURS
Olga Tokarczuk's 'extraordinary' Flights wins
Man Booker International prize
(Image: The Hindu)
Olga Tokarczuk has become the first Polish writer to win
the Man Booker International prize, which goes to the
best work of translated fiction from anywhere in the
world.
More than 100 novels were submitted for the 2018 award,
and Tokarczuk’s Flights saw off work by two former
winners – South Korea’s Han Kang and Hungary’s László
Krasznahorkai – to secure the £50,000 prize, which is
shared equally with her English translator Jennifer Croft.
Tokarczuk is a bestselling author in Poland, where she has
won numerous awards and is a household name. In
Flights, she meditates on travel and human anatomy,
moving between stories including the Dutch anatomist
who discovered the Achilles tendon when dissecting his
own amputated leg, and the tale of Chopin’s heart as his
sister transported it from Paris to Warsaw.
Flights, which is published by the tiny independent press
Fitzcarraldo Editions, is only the third of Tokarczuk’s 10
books to be published in English. Her 2009 novel Drive
Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is due out in
September 2018, while The Books of Jacob, a 900-page
historical epic that sold 170,000 copies in hardback in
Poland and won her a Nike award – known as “the Polish
Booker” – for the second time back in 2014, is due out in
2019.
NATIONAL
Sikkim's Pawan Chamling becomes India's
longest-serving chief minister
Pawan Chamling, the 68-year-old Sikkim chief minister
became the longest serving chief minister in the country.
Completing his 24th year in office, Chamling remembered
former West Bengal chief minister late Jyoti Basu, whose
record he surpassed.
The 68-year-old was sworn in as the chief minister of
Sikkim for the first time on December 12, 1994. Pawan
Chamling served as the Minister for Industries,
Information and Public Relations from 1989 to 1992 in
the Nar Bahadur Bhandari cabinet. After a series of
political upheavals in Sikkim, he formed the SDF in 1993.
6 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
(Mr. Pawan Kumar Chamling. Image: The Statesman)
Adult couple can live together without
marriage, says Supreme Court
An adult couple has a right to live together without
marriage, the Supreme Court said, while asserting that a
20-year-old Kerala woman, whose marriage had been
annulled, could choose whom she wanted to live with.
The top court held that live-in relationships were now
even recognized by the Legislature and they had found a
place under the provisions of the Protection of Women
from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
The observations came while the apex court was hearing a
plea filed by one Nandakumar against a Kerala High
Court order annulling his marriage with Thushara on the
ground that he had not attained the legal age of marriage.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that a girl can't
marry before the age of 18, and a boy before 21.
Nandakumar, who had approached the top court, will turn
21 on May 30 this year.
A bench of justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said
their marriage could not said to be "null and void" merely
because Nandakumar was less than 21 years of age at the
time of marriage. Such a marriage is not a void marriage
under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and as per the
provisions of section 12, which can be attracted in such a
case, at the most, the marriage would be a voidable
marriage. "It is sufficient to note that both appellant no 1
and Thushara are major. Even if they were not competent
to enter into wedlock (which position itself is disputed),
they have right to live together even outside wedlock," the
bench said.
The apex court had also clarified that a court cannot
interfere in the marriage of two consenting adult and cannot annul the marriage in a habeas corpus (a writ
requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a
judge or into court, for securing the person's release)
petition.
PRAAPTI App and Web portal launched
Minister of State (I/C) for Power has beneficially
launched a web portal and an App namely PRAAPTI
(Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power
procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of
generators), www.praapti.in
Lawgicians’s Champions Speak
PRAAPTI App and web portal has been developed to
bring transparency in power purchase transactions
between Generators and Discoms. The App and Web
Portal will capture the Invoicing and payment data for
various long term PPAs from the Generators.
This will help the stakeholders in getting month-wise and
legacy data on outstanding amounts of Discoms against
power purchase.
The app will also allow users to know the details related
to the payments made by the Discoms to the power generation company and when they were made.
PRAAPTI will also enable the consumers to evaluate
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 7
financial performance of their Discoms in terms of
payments being made to the generation companies.
The Portal would also help DISCOMs and GENCOs to
reconcile their outstanding payments.
The portal would facilitate relative assessment of various
State DISCOMs on Ease of making payments to various
Generation Companies, and will also help make
transactions in the power Sector more transparent.
Cabinet reshuffle: Piyush Goyal FM till Jaitley
returns, Smriti Irani loses I&B
In a cabinet reshuffle Railways and coal minister Piyush
Goyal will hold charge of the finance and corporate affairs
ministries till Arun Jaitley returns. Smriti Irani was
divested of the high-profile information and broadcasting
ministry and is now only in charge of textiles. Minister of
state in the ministry Rajyavardhan Rathore has been given
full charge of the I&B ministry. Minister of state for
drinking water and sanitation SS Ahluwalia has been
moved to the ministry of electronics & information
technology (MeitY). Alphons Kannanthanam has been
relieved of the post of MoS of MeitY to allow him to fully
focus on the tourism ministry ahead of Kumbh-2019.
Alphons holds independent charge of tourism ministry.
The Northeast gets its first solar powered
railway station
The Guwahati railway station has been running
completely on solar power for a year now. The project,
which was launched in April 2017, meets the power needs
of the entire station located in the heart of the city, considered to be the gateway into Northeast India.
In April 2017, a 700 KWp solar power plant was set up on
the roof of the station. Between April 12, 2017 and May
10, 2018 the plant has generated 7,96,669 KWh of power
while the average output daily is about 2,048 KWh. Rs
67,71,687 worth of electricity has been saved because of
the plant.
Cabinet approves National Biofuel Policy
The Cabinet approved the National Policy on Biofuels
which allows doping of ethanol produced from damaged
foodgrains, rotten potatoes, corn and sugar beet with
petrol to cut oil imports by Rs 4,000 crore this year alone.
Till now only ethanol produced from sugarcane was
allowed to be mixed in petrol. Cabinet approved the new
policy which categorises biofuels as First Generation
(1G), which produce bio-ethanol from molasses and bio-
diesel from non-edible oilseeds. Second Generation (2G)
ethanol can be produced from municipal solid waste and
Third Generation (3G) fuels like bio-CNG.
“The Policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol
production by allowing use of sugarcane juice, sugar
containing materials like sugar beet, sweet sorghum,
starch containing materials like corn, cassava, damaged
food grains like wheat and broken rice, and rotten
potatoes.” It also allows use of surplus food grains for
production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the
approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
Under the policy, “a viability gap funding scheme for 2G
ethanol bio refineries of Rs 5000 crore in 6 years in
addition to additional tax incentives, higher purchase price
as compared to 1G biofuels” will be provided. The policy
also encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms
for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, used
cooking oil and short gestation crops.
PM Modi inaugurates work on Asia's longest
Zojila pass tunnel
8 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone
to kick-start the work on Asia's longest bi-directional
tunnel. To be built at a cost of Rs 6,809 crore, the 14.2km
long tunnel will provide the all-weather land connectivity
to Ladakh region, which remains cut off from the rest of
the country during winters. The tunnel, which will come
up at an altitude of 3,528 metres high Zojila pass, is
expected to bring down the travel time from 3.5 hours to
15 minutes.
The Zojila pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on
the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National highway and remains
closed during winters due to heavy snowfall, cutting off
Ladakh region from Kashmir.
PM opens Rs 11K cr Eastern Peripheral
Expressway; 1st leg of Delhi-Meerut project
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 135 km-
long Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), which will
channel away traffic not destined for Delhi and reduce
vehicular pollution in the national capital. The six-lane
expressway cost 11,000 crore, and will connect Kundli
with Palwal in Haryana via Ghaziabad and Greater Noida
in Uttar Pradesh.
The EPE is part of a project that also includes a Western
Peripheral Expressway (WPE), and the two together form
a circle around Delhi. The project was conceived after a
Supreme Court order in 2005 asked the Centre to build a
peripheral expressway around Delhi by July 2016 to de-
congest and de-pollute the national capital.
The EPE has been completed in 500 days, ahead of a
target of 910 days. Access to the expressway is controlled
by toll gates at all entries and exits.
The EPE has a closed tolling system, where toll will be
collected only for the distance travelled. There are also
weigh-in-motion machines installed at all 30 entry points
to stop the entry of overloaded vehicles. Amenities for
users include petrol pumps, motels, wash rooms,
restaurants, shops and repair services.
The PM also unveiled the first phase of the 82 km-long
Delhi-Meerut Expressway. This 14-lane stretch extends 8
km from Nizammudin bridge to the Uttar Pradesh border,
and includes service lanes and a 2.5 metre wide cycle
track on either side.
Rustom-2 drone to be delivered to armed forces
by 2020: DRDO chief
The Rustom-II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which
is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will be delivered to
the armed forces by 2020.
The drone is being developed for use by all three services
of the Indian Armed Forces, primarily for intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The
medium-altitude prototype can fly at over 22,000 feet and
is a long-endurance UAV that has an 20 hours
approximate flight time.
Rustom-II can carry variety of payloads like Long Range
Electro Optic (LREO), Medium Range Electro Optic
(MREO), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR),
Commuunication Intelligence (COMINT), Electronic
Intelligence (ELINT) and Situational Awareness Payloads
(SAP) that help in performing missions even during the
night.
'UNEP happy to recognise CIAL as world's 1st
fully solar
The United Nations Environment Programme is happy to
recognise Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) as the
world's first fully solar energy-powered airport.
The power plant is accompanied by a solar farm, with
vegetables grown below and between solar panels. solar
energy reduces pollution and can compete with coal
powered power plants in terms of expenses. The price
of solar energy was cheaper, much better for
the environment and for mother earth.
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 9
President appoints Governors for
Odisha, Mizoram
The President appointed Governors to two poll-bound
states, Mizoram and Odisha. BJP leaders Kummanam
Rajasekharan and Prof Ganeshi Lal took over as Governor
of Mizoram and Odisha, respectively.
Rajasekharan succeeded Lt General Nirbhay Sharma
(retd) as Governor of Mizoram. Sharma completed his
tenure on May 28.
Lal filled the vacancy left by S C Jamir, who completed
his tenure as Odisha Govenor on March 21. Since then,
Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik was holding additional
charge of Odisha.
HRD Ministry launches Samagra Shiksha
scheme
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash
Javadekar launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school
education.
The scheme focuses on improving quality of education,
enhancing the Learning outcomes and using technology to
empower children and teachers. An annual grant of five
thousand to 20 thousand rupees will be provided for
strengthening libraries in schools. The scheme will focus
on digital education.
Samagra Shiksha, not just a new name but an entirely new
thought. It is an overarching program for boosting quality
school education with the inclusion of Digital technology,
introducing skill development at the school level. The
scheme subsumes three existing schemes: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shikskha Abhiyan
(RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) to treat school
education holistically, from pre-school to Class XII.
Samagra Shiksha is a program that unifies learning from
the pre-school to class 12 levels and encapsulates
elements of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya
Madhyamk Shiksha Abhiyan and teacher education.
The objectives of the scheme include: provision of quality
education, enhancing learning outcomes of students,
bridging social and gender gaps in school education
and promoting vocationalisation of education.
Strengthening teacher education institutions like SCERTs
and Diets to improve quality of teachers
An annual grant of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per school for
strengthening of libraries.
The scheme builds on grade-wise, subject-wise Learning
Outcomes and largest National Achievement Survey
(NAS)-2017-18 to strategize district level interventions
for improving quality of education. It will help to shift
focus of student learning from content to competencies.
The scheme envisages active participation of all
stakeholders especially parents, school management
committee (SMC) members, community and state
functionaries towards efforts to ensure quality education
to children. It also extends benefits of Kasturba Gandhi
Balika Vidyalaya scheme, under which girls from
disadvantaged sections are provided education with hostel
facility from class 6-8 to class 6-12. It is evidence of the
govt's commitment to provide quality education to equip
all children with varied skills and knowledge essential for
their development.
10 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
INTERNATIONAL
Vladimir Putin sworn in as Russia’s President
for fourth time
Vladimir Putin was sworn in as Russia’s President in
Kremlin for a historic fourth term. He has been the
country’s President for 18 years and will be in power for
another six years. The 65-year-old’s win was undisputed
as there was hardly any contenders left after his opponent
Alexei Navalny was barred from contesting. Putin
received more than 70% of the votes in the presidential
election. This could be Putin’s last term as President, with
the Russian constitution barring him from contesting
again after his fresh-term ends in 2024. Putin has been the
leader of Russia for almost all of the years in the 21st
century, he stepped down from his two-term presidency in
2008 because of term limits. He was named the Prime
Minister for a term of four years till he returned to
presidency in 2012.
India, World Bank sign USD 200 million loan
deal for national nutrition mission
The World Bank will provide a USD 200 million loan to
help the government achieve its goal of reducing stunting
in children 0-6 years of age from 38.4 per cent to 25 per
cent by the year 2022. "The Government of India signed a
loan deal worth USD 200 million with the World Bank
today for the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN
Abhiyaan)."
The POSHAN Abhiyaan, an overarching scheme for
holistic nourishment, was launched by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in March this year at Jhunjhunu,
Rajasthan. A large component of POSHAN Abhiyaan
involves gradual scaling-up of the interventions supported
by the ongoing World Bank assisted Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and
Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in
the country over a 3-year period. "The loan approved
today will support the first phase scale up to 315 districts
across all states and union territories (UTs)." With a focus
on improving the coverage and quality of ICDS nutrition
services to pregnant and lactating women and children
under 3 years of age, the project will include investments
in improving the skills and capacities of ICDS staff and
community nutrition workers. It also include instituting
mechanisms of community mobilisation and behaviour
change communication, strengthening systems of citizen
engagement and grievance redress and establishing
mobile technology based tools for improved monitoring
and management of services during the critical 1,000 day
window for nutrition impact.
Ireland overturns abortion ban in landslide
vote
Ireland voted by a landslide to ditch its strict abortion
laws in a landmark referendum hailed by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Saturday as a "quiet revolution". Final
results showed more than 66 percent of voters in what has
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 11
been a traditionally staunchly Catholic country backed
repealing the constitutional ban on terminations. The
government proposed allowing abortion in the first 12
weeks of pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in
exceptional circumstances.
Abortion is still banned in some 20 countries worldwide,
while others have highly restrictive laws in place. In the
European Union, predominantly Catholic Malta is the
only country with a total ban. 170,000 terminations
abroad Ireland introduced a constitutional ban on abortion
following a 1983 referendum. Terminating a pregnancy
carries a 14-year maximum jail term. The law was
tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life
is at risk.
Former chief justice Nasirul Mulk named
Pakistan's caretaker PM
Pakistan's former chief justice Nasirul Mulk was named as
the country's caretaker prime minister for a two-month
period, ending the political wrangling between ruling
PML-N and the Opposition ahead of the general elections
on July 25.
The caretaker government will remain in office until a
new government is set up through elections.
Mulk was born on August 17, 1950 in Mingora, Swat, in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He worked as lawyer and
judge for several years before his appointment as the 22nd
Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2014.
Colombia is first Latin American nation to join
Nato as 'global partner'
One year after reaching partnership deal through a peace
agreement with South America, Colombia has formally
joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Colombia joined the ranks of Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq,
Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand
and Pakistan.
The Paris-based economic organization was founded in
1961 and has traditionally included industrialized nations,
though in recent years it has extended its membership to
emerging economies.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an
intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North
American and European countries based on the North
Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
ASEAN India Film Festival held in New Delhi
ASEAN India Film Festival was held in New Delhi from
May 25 to 30, 2018. It was organised by Ministry of
External Affairs (ASEAN Multilateral Division.
The film festival was non-competitive and its tagline was
‘Friendship through Films’. Around 32 films from 11
countries were screened during six days festival. It was
aimed to serve as vehicle of Cultural Exchange by
providing access to new trends in filmmaking by
providing platform for exchange of ideas, culture and
experiences in the field of cinema.
The film festival provided platform for people from film
industries of respective member countries to explore areas
of cooperation in domain of cinema and cultural
cooperation. It also celebrated excellence of cinema by
exhibiting films from various ASEAN countries.
12 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
NEWS BUZZ
India cities dominate world air pollution
list
Fourteen Indian cities are among the world's 20 most
polluted, according to World Health Organization (WHO)
data. Delhi and Varanasi are among the 14 Indian cities
that figure in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world
in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, data released by the
WHO shows. And nine out of 10 people in the world
breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.
The northern city of Kanpur tops the list of world cities
with the highest PM2.5 levels in 2016. India's capital,
Delhi, is in sixth spot with average PM2.5 levels recorded
at 143.
Other Indian cities that registered very high levels of
PM2.5 pollutants were Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Lucknow,
Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and
Jodhpur followed by Ali Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait and a
few cities in China and Mongolia. While two cities:
Peshawar and Rawalpindi are in Pakistan.
‘World’s first’ women’s special train completes
26 years
The first ‘ladies special’ train in the world, started
between Churchgate and Borivali stations on the Western
Railway (WR) completed 26 years. It was on May 5, 1992
that the WR had introduced a suburban train service to
ferry only women passengers between the two stations.
Initially, there were only two daily services, but the
number has now gone up to eight services a day- four
each in the morning and evening peak hours. The ladies
special train service that first ran between Churchgate and
Borivali station was later extended up to Virar in 1993.
India sixth most vulnerable country facing
extreme weather events: Report
India is the sixth most vulnerable country in the world in
terms of facing extreme weather events with Haiti,
Zimbabwe, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Vietnam taking top five
positions in the fresh list of nations facing climate risk.
The ranking was released here by the Germanwatch, an
independent Berlin-based development and environmental
organisation, in its latest global climate risk index (CRI).
The Index put the United States (US) at 10th position with
Chinese Taipei, Macedonia and Bolivia being the other
three vulnerable countries in the list of top ten.
India was at number four in terms of CRI ranking last
year. The Germanwatch comes out with the CRI by
analysing number of deaths per 1,00,000 inhabitants,
extent of financial losses and loss per unit of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of countries.
The CRI indicates a level of exposure and vulnerability to
extreme events. CRI is based on the current and past
climate variability and also on climate change.
In the present analysis, only weather related events -
storms, floods and temperature extremes (heat and cold
waves) - are incorporated. "Geological incidents like
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or tsunamis, for which
data is also available, are not relevant in this context as
they do not depend on the weather and therefore are not
possibly related to climate change" are not incorporated.
Mekunu: Powerful cyclone strikes Oman,
Yemen; five dead, 30 missing
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 13
A cyclone more powerful than any previously recorded in
southern Oman slammed into the Gulf country and
neighbouring Yemen, deluging a major city with nearly
three years’ worth of rainfall in single day.
Cyclone Mekunu caused flash flooding that tore away
whole roadways and submerged others in Salalah, Oman’s
third-largest city, stranding drivers. Strong winds knocked
over street lights and tore away roofing.
India’s Meteorological Department said the storm packed
maximum sustained winds of 170-180 kilometers (105-
111 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 200 kph (124
mph). It called the cyclone “extremely severe.”
APPOINTMENTS &
RESIGNATIONS
ICICI Bank names Radhakrishnan Nair as
Independent Director
Radhakrishnan Nair has been appointed as an additional
(independent) director of the bank for five years. The
appointment is subject to the approval of shareholders.
Nair (63) is also an independent director of three
subsidiaries of the bank - ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Company, ICICI Prudential Trust and ICICI Securities
Primary Dealership. He is also a director at several other
companies.
RBI appoints Sudha Balakrishnan as its first
CFO
The Reserve Bank of India has appointed Sudha Balakrishnan as the first chief financial officer. Balakrishnan is a former executive of India's first and largest depository - National Securities Depository Limited. She joined the Central bank on May 15 and will have a three year term. Balakrishnan will be in charge of the Reserve Bank's balance sheet to ensure accounting policies and procedures comply with regulations. The new CFO will be in charge of the government and bank account department, which processes government transactions like payments and revenue collections. Balakrishnan
will also oversee the apex bank's investments in India and abroad.
ANNIVERSARIES / DEATHS
Former IAF chief Idris Hasan Latif passes
away at 94
Idris Hassan Latif, former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief
and the only Muslim to have served as head of any of the
three wings of the Indian armed forces, passed away.
He was the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal
Idris Hasan Latif, who spurned the offer to join Pakistan
Air Force after partition and rose to be the service chief.
Air Chief Marshal Latif was appointed as the Chief of Air
Staff on 31 August 1978 and he remained in saddle till
1981 when he retired. He subsequently served as the
Indian Ambassador to France and the Governor of
Maharashta. Born in June 1923 in Hyderabad, Latif was
commissioned in Royal Indian Air Force in 1942.
Sri Lankan filmmaker Lester James Peiris dead
Lester James Peries, a visionary director whose films
about the dynamics of family life in Sri Lanka brought
world recognition to that island nation’s movie industry,
died in Colombo, the capital. A contemporary of Satyajit
Ray, Peiris is regarded the “father of Sinhala cinema”. His
debut Rekava (Line of Destiny), made in 1956, is
considered pathbreaking for its realistic portrayal of the ethos of the rural Sinhalese, in a newly-independent
Ceylon.
14 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
Physicist EC George Sudarshan, nominated for
the Nobel 9 times, dies at 86
An eminent Indian-American theoretical physicist, EC
George Sudarshan passed away. Sudarshan had been
teaching as a professor at University of Texas for over 40
years. He served as Honorary Advisory Council Member
of Houston Sri Meenakshi Temple. He was associated
with the temple from 1977.
He discovered the V - A theory of weak interactions while
working on his PhD thesis under the late Robert E.
Marshak. He has made remarkable discoveries in many
fields of physics, including quantum optics, tachyons,
quantum Zeno effect, non-invariance groups, positive
maps of density matrices, quantum computation, etc. His
contributions include also relations between east and west
science, philosophy and religion. In 2007, the Indian
government recognised and awarded the physicist with the
second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan. He was
also awarded the Dirac Medal in 2010, which is known to
be given out to scientists who have made substantial
contributions in theoretical physics, computational
chemistry and mathematics. The renowned physicist was
even recommended for the Nobel Prize nine times but
never awarded.
Pakeezah actor Geeta Kapoor passes away
Veteran actor Geeta Kapoor passed away. The late veteran
actor had worked in over one hundred films with a major
role in Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah where she played
Rajkumar’s second wife. The film had Meena Kumari in
the lead.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
IISc team synthesises artificial enzyme
Nanomaterials that can behave like human enzymes have
now been successfully synthesized by a team of
researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Bengaluru. They produced the new nanozyme-
nanomaterial with enzyme-like activity by using
vanadium pentoxide nanocrystals of just 150-200 nm size.
The nanozyme was able to act like the natural antioxidant
enzyme glutathione peroxidase in our body and help
maintain the hydrogen peroxide levels within the
threshold. They synthesised the nanozyme with four
different morphologies nanowires, nanosheets,
nanoflowers and nanospheres. All four morphologies are
basically made of the vanadium and oxygen in the same
ratio. The methods of production is slightly different
giving each type a different shape, size and crystal facet or
plane.”
Kinetics and spectroscopy studies showed that the
nanozyme was able to bring down the level of hydrogen
peroxide. The nanozyme uses the same pathway as the
natural enzyme but without generating any free radicals.
The team then studied if the change in morphology
affected the catalytic ability and found that the
nanospheres showed the highest activity among the four
types, indicating that the surface-exposed crystal facets
play crucial roles in the catalysis.
Upgraded Pinaka rocket successfully test-fired
from PXE at Chandipur in Odisha
An upgraded version of Pinaka rocket, with a guidance
system and an enhanced range, was successfully test-fired
from the Proof & Experiment Establishment (PXE) at
Chandipur in Odisha.
LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition 15
The earlier Pinaka version, which was an unguided one,
has now been upgraded into a guided version, with a
navigation, guidance and control kit developed by the
Research Centre, Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad. The RCI
comes under the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO). the conversion helped in
enhancing the range and accuracy of Pinaka. If its range
was earlier 40 km, it is more than 70 km now.
The guided Pinaka was developed jointly by the
Armament Research and Development Establishment
(ARDE), Pune, the RCI, and the Defence Research and
Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad. The PXE,
Chandipur, provided the range and launch support.
Scientists create world’s first 3D-printed
human corneas
A human cornea has been produced with a 3D printer for
the first time - a development which is thought
could eventually help millions of people around the world
suffering from corneal blindness.
Pioneered by researchers at Newcastle University, it is
thought the technique could supply an unlimited number
of corneas - the transparent outer lens of the eye, that light
passes through before hitting the retina at the back.
Damage to it can distort vision or even lead to blindness.
Combining human stem cells from a healthy donor with
collagen and alginate - a chemical often used to produce
artificial limbs - the proof-of-concept research was able to
produce a “bio-ink” for a 3D bio-printer.
It was then able print off a model of a cornea using the gel
- building it by squeezing out the ink in concentric circles
– in less than 10 minutes.
Stem cells were then added and left to grow to create a
cornea which is theoretically ready for transplantation.
The unique gel - a combination of alginate and collagen -
keeps the stem cells alive whilst producing a material
which is stiff enough to hold its shape but soft enough to
be squeezed out the nozzle of a 3D printer.
Ruthenium (Ru): Fourth element showing
magnetism at room temperature discovered
Scientists have discovered that the chemical element
ruthenium (Ru) is the fourth element to have unique
magnetic properties at room temperature. The discovery
could be used to improve sensors, devices in the computer
memory and logic industry, or other devices using
magnetic materials.
So far only three elements on the periodic table have been
found to be ferromagnetic at room temperature - iron (Fe),
cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni). The rare earth element
gadolinium (Gd) nearly misses by only 8 degrees Celsius.
Researchers showed that Ru can be the fourth single
element ferromagnetic material by using ultra-thin films
to force the ferromagnetic phase. From an application
perspective, Ru is interesting because it is resistant to
oxidation, and additional theoretical predictions claim it
has a high thermal stability - a vital requirement for
scaling magnetic memories. Ruthenium is chemical
element with symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is rare
transition metal belonging to platinum group of periodic
table.
16 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | February 2018 Edition
Information sources:
www.thehindu.com
www.business-standard.com
www.indianexpress.com
www.gktoday.in
www.ndtv.com
www.scroll.in
www.business-standard.com
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
www.firstpost.com
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