Daily Current affairs - February 21, 2018 for all competitive exams
The Union Government has issued order setting up
the ‘NITI Forum for North-East’. The forum will be co-chaired by the
Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Mr Rajiv Kumar and Minister of State (I/C),
Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra
Singh.
- The NITI Forum for Northeast is tasked to identify
various constraints on the way of accelerated, inclusive and sustainable
economic growth in the North East Region of the country. It will also
review the development status in the NER.
- The forum will have its Secretariat in the Ministry of
DoNER.
Coal mining open for private sector
Opening up commercial coal mining for Indian and
foreign companies in the private sector, the Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs approved the methodology for auction of coal mines/blocks for sale of
the commodity.
- The government described the move as the most ambitious
reform of the sector since its nationalisation in 1973.
- Coal accounts for around 70% of the country’s
power generation, and the move for energy security through assured coal
supply is expected to garner attention from majors including Rio Tinto,
BHP, Vedanta, Anglo American, Glencore and Adani Group.
- The private sector was permitted to mine the fossil
fuel only for captive use.
Captive Generating plant means a power plant set up by any
person to generate electricity primarily for his or her own use and includes
a power plant set up by any co-operative society or association of persons
for generating electricity primarily for use of members of such co-operative
society or association.
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PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates UP Investors
Summit in Lucknow
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the
2-Day UP Investors Summit in Lucknow.
- The mega event has been organised by the Uttar Pradesh
government. It is aimed at showcasing investment opportunities and
potential across various sectors in Uttar Pradesh.
- According to the UP Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath, 900 MoUs have already been finalised ahead of the
Summit. Representatives from Mauritius, Japan, the Netherlands,
Finland, Czech Republic, Thailand and Slovakia will also participate
in the event.
Kerala Makes Vaccination Compulsory for School
Admissions
Kerala government has made vaccination compulsory
for school admissions from next academic year onwards.
- Parents will have to show details of shots given to
children at the time of enrolment in schools.
- The health minister of Kerala KK Shailaja has
released the new health policy draft. The move comes in the wake of stiff
opposition from certain communities against the vaccination drive.
India’s first non suburban railway station run
by women
The Jaipur city’s Gandhi Nagar station becomes India’s first
non-suburban railway station to be run entirely by women.
- The Gandhi Nagar station, catering mainly to residents
in the eastern and southern parts of the city, is located on the main
Delhi-Jaipur route.
Mumbai’s Matunga railway station, a suburban station on the
Central Railway line, became the first one last year to be run by an
all-women staff.
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Itkhori in Jharkhand to have world’s tallest
stupa
The world’s tallest Buddha stupa will be built at
Itkhori in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Raghubar Das has said.
- As per records, the 104-foot Buddhist stupa built by
King Ashoka at Kesaria in East Champaran of Bihar is presently considered
to be the world’s largest Buddhist stupa.
- The three-day festival is being held on the premises of
Maa Bhadrakali temple.
Haryana government launched 4 Subsidized food
canteens under 'Antyodaya Aahaar Yojna'
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar launched 4 food canteens at Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, and
Yamunanagar via video-conferencing from Chandigarh.
- These have been set up under the ‘Antyodaya Aahaar
Yojana’ to provide healthy, nutritious and hygienic food at only Rs 10 per
meal to all poor and needy.
In Sri Lanka, this tribe speaks Telugu
The Telugu diaspora is a large and vibrant
community found in almost every country where there are Indian-origin
populations. But they are migrants. So when an indigenous, Telugu-speaking
tribe believed to have been around for centuries outside India — in Sri Lanka,
to be precise — was identified, it attracted the attention of researchers.
- The CEO of Andhra Pradesh Creativity and Cultural
Commission (APCCC), Vizai Bhaskar, said that a team of anthropologists and
linguists will soon leave for the neighbouring country to gather more
information on the tribe.
- The Ahikuntaka (Telugu tribe) had been living on the
island for many centuries but its population was on the decline. “As per
our information, just a few hundred of them are left. They are not
migrants from India but natives of Sri Lanka.
India, Indonesia Joint Military Drill 'Garuda
Shakti' Begins
The Indian and Indonesian armies began
the sixth edition of their annual military exercise named 'Garuda
Shakti' in Bandung, Indonesia.
- The exercises will include experience sharing in
counter-terrorism operations, close quarter combat, and other areas of
special operations.
The exercise is conducted on a reciprocal basis and its
first edition was conducted in the year 2012 in India. The second edition was
conducted in Indonesia in 2013 and third in India in 2014. The exercise is
aimed at building and promoting positive relations between the two Armies of
India and Indonesia.
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Cobra Gold Military Exercise Held in Thailand
US Marines in Thailand for the Cobra
Gold training exercise took part in one of the wildest parts of the drills
- drinking cobra blood.
- This was the 37th edition of the exercise.
- This year, seven countries are participating
in Cobra Gold - the US, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South
Korea, and Singapore. Part of the drill involves jungle survival.
Cobra Gold is an Asia-Pacific military exercise held in
Thailand every year. It is the largest Asia-Pacific military exercise held
each year, and is among the largest multinational military exercise in which
the United States participates.
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China has the highest number of smart city
pilot projects
China has about 500 smart city pilot projects,
the highest in the world, according to a leading auditing and consulting firm.
- Over 1,000 smart city pilot projects are ready for or
are under construction worldwide. China is home to about 500 of them,
covering big and small cities, according to a report by Deloitte.
- It aims to nurture 100 new smart cities from 2016 to
2020 to lead the country’s urban planning and development.
China
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Capital
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Beijing
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Currency
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Renminbi
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President
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Xi Jinping
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Venezuela’s
digital coin makes a debut
Venezuela was set to become the first country to
launch its own version of bitcoin.
Officials say the so-called petro is backed by
Venezuela’s crude oil reserves, the largest in the world.
- Federico Bond, co-founder of Signatura said my
advice would be to tread very carefully with this especially considering
the track record of the Venezuelan government.
Venezuela
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Capital
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Caracas
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Currency
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Venezuelan bolívar
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President
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Nicolás Maduro
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Google can now detect heart disease through
AI-based retina scan
Using machine learning, scientists from Google
and its health-tech subsidiary, Verily, can now detect a person’s risk of
getting a heart disease.
- This new method scans the back of an individual’s eye
to analyse the factors that can cause heart disease, according to
a report by The Verge.
- Google and Verily’s scientists used machine learning to
analyse a medical dataset of nearly 300,000 patients, as per the report.
Newborn Mortality Rate: India 12th worst among
low-income countries
India has been ranked 12th-worst among
52 low-middle income countries based on the number of children dying
within the first month of their birth, which are 25.4 per 1,000 live births.
- Pakistan is the worst with 45.6 newborn deaths per
1,000 live births, according to the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF).
- Japan, with an NMR of 0.9 deaths per 1,000 live births,
has been ranked the world's safest country in which to be
born followed by Iceland (1) and Singapore (1.1).
Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths per
1,000 live births of children under one year of age. The rate for a given
region is the number of children dying under one year of age, divided by the
number of live births during the year, multiplied by 1,000.
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Malegam to head RBI panel to avert frauds
The Rs. 11,500-crore fraud at the Punjab National
Bank has prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a committee under
former board member Y.H. Malegam to look into the reasons and suggest steps to
prevent such occurrences.
- The committee will also look into the issue of huge
non-performing asset divergences — between what banks classify and what is
detected in RBI inspection — and recommend steps to address the issue. The
other members of the committee are Bharat Doshi, S. Raman and Nandkumar
Saravade. A.K. Misra, Executive Director, RBI, will be the
Member-Secretary.
The banking regulator said it had warned banks on three
occasions since August 2016 and advised them to implement safeguards from
risks arising from SWIFT infrastructure.
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R.K. Singh Inaugurates ‘International R&D
Conclave’ in New Delhi
Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New
& Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh inaugurated the ‘International
R&D Conclave’ in New Delhi.
- It is a two-day conference on Emerging Opportunities
and Challenges of R&D in Indian Power Sector.
- It has been organized by Central Electricity
Authority (CEA). The conference was stressed upon the need of a
dedicated R&D department in CEA to coordinate the research in the
power sector.
Kamal Haasan to launched his political party
Actor Kamal Haasan in Madurai to a rousing
welcome on the eve of the launch of his political party named as “Makkal Needhi
Maiam” which means “Justice for people Party”
- Haasan will begin his political journey from the
birthplace of former president APJ Abdul Kalam in neighbouring
Ramanathapuram district.
Academic Kapil Kapoor to head IIAS
Veteran academic Kapil Kapoor will be the next
chairperson of the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) at
Shimla, replacing Chandrakala Padia.
- A widely-respected academic, Mr. Kapoor taught for
decades at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as a professor at the Centre
for Linguistic and English Studies till 2005.
- He is at present Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi
Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya at Wardha.
Christian Coleman breaks world indoor record in 60 meters
Christian Coleman has set up a world record in 60
metres race.
- The World silver medalist ran the distance in 6.34
seconds at the US indoor national championships
- Fellow American Maurice Greene had held the record of
6.39 seconds for 20 years. The 21-year-old Coleman, who won the 100-metres
silver medal at last year’s world championships in London, said after
winning the race that he wanted to go get it.
Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and India are No. 1
in ODIs
India captain Virat Kohli has reclaimed
the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI batsmen rankings.
- While fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has become
the top-ranked ODI bowler, as per the latest reshuffling of the ranking.
- India, following their 5-1 series win over South
Africa, has become the No 1 team in the ICC ODI Championship.
