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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.


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

http://www.un.org/en/events/telecommunicationday/

http://www.un.org/en/events/telecommunicationday/


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


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.


(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


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


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.


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.


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


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.


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


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.


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.


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.


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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respective sources.

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