Current GS News in Brief (16-23 January, 2018)

1. 
   
   

   The US astronaut Jeanette Epps has been removed from her upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS) just months before launch. Dr Epps was to have been the first African-American astronaut assigned to the space station crew.

2. Shri Hardeep S. Puri , Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the Round 4 winning cities of National Smart Cities Challenge. Addressing a Press Conference on January 19, the Minister informed that Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of winning cities in this round of competition.
3. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) celebrated its 13^th Raising Day in New Delhi on 19 January, 2018. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), a specialized multi skilled, humanitarian force of the country, came into existence on January 19th, 2006 has been playing a vital role in Disaster Management and Community awareness for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the country.
4. In a path breaking initiative to empower Persons with Disabilities, 100 Accessible websites of various State Governments/UTs under Accessible India Campaign were launched by the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot on the occasion of ‘National Conference on Improving Accessibility’ in New Delhi on January 19, 2018. Accessible Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. The Accessible India Campaign has three important components viz Built Environment; Transport and Information and Communication Eco-system accessibility.
5. Patna will soon be amongst the few major cities along river Ganga to have 100 percent sewage treatment capacity to ensure that no waste water gets discharged into the river. The National Mission for Clean Ganga has put in place a comprehensive sewage management plan for the city, that will replace its existing, defunct system with one that will take care of its sewage treatment requirements till 2035.
6. The veteran Kannada actor and director K. Kashinath passed away on 18 January. He has not only acted but also directed and produced several Kannada films. Kashinath was recently seen in Chowka, released last year.
7. Nishagandhi Puraskaram 2018, instituted by Kerala Tourism for artistic excellence, presented to the legendary dancing duo, V.P. Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan, at the inaugural ceremony of the seven-day Nishagandhi Dance Festival. The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 1.50 lakh, a statuette of Sage Bharatha, and a citation.
8. Dr Sharmeen Mushtaq, a medical professional, became the first Kashmiri woman to participate the risky snow car rally in Gulmarg.
9. World Cup and 2005 Ballon D’Or winner Brazil’s Ronaldinho confirmed on January 17 his retirement from football. The 37-year-old’s last professional football match was in 2015 for Brazil’s Fluminense.
10. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on 17 January tendered an apology for posting a picture of an ‘ISKCON temple’ as ‘Puri Jagannath Temple‘ at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai.
11. Indian Naval Ship Vikramaditya, the largest ship in the Navy and the country’s only aircraft carrier was formally affiliated to The Bihar Regiment on January 18, 2018. The glittering ceremony was held onboard INS Vikramaditya in the Karwar Naval Base which is nestled amongst the picturesque Western Ghats.
12. According to the latest State of Environment Report, published by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), in 17 major rivers of the State, including the Ganges, the levels of Total coliform bacteria Count-TCC (found mainly in human faeces) are much higher than the permissible limit of MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml. The permissible limit as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guideline is 500.
13. Over eight lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas in the past three years, the J&K Assembly was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply to a question raised by National Conference MLA Mian Altaf Ahmad, health minister Bali Bhagat said while the highest number of 3,52,771 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2015, the number fell to 2,20,490 in 2016. However, he said the number rose to 2,60,003 last year.
14. Starting February 1, public will be allowed to take a boat ride through Thane creek (Mumbai) mangroves to watch flamingos and other wetland birds. The areas covered by the trip were declared a 1,690 hectare flamingo sanctuary in August 2016 to protect its bird population, including the flamingos that come there to feed during winter.
15. In Russia’s remote Yakutia region, temperature hit minus 67 degrees Celsius in some areas on 16 January.
16. British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor donated $1 million to five charities working with refugees worldwide on January 17, in a bid to alleviate the global crisis. Kapoor, born to an Indian father and Iraqi Jewish mother, won the Genesis Prize — dubbed the Jewish Nobel — last year, for his commitment to Jewish values.
17. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, 21, who became the face of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, was on 17 January, handed a three-month sentence on a contempt charge for obstructing clearance of a major protest encampment, to which he pleaded guilty. He was already on bail pending an appeal over a six-month sentence for another protest-related offence.
18. India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank Ltd on January 17 crossed Rs5 trillion market capitalisation for the first time, making it only the third Indian company and the first Indian Bank to achieve this milestone. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies which crossed market capitalisation of Rs5 trillion.
19. Moving to limit the fiscal slippage in 2017-18 ahead of the February 1 budget presentation, the finance ministry on January 17, pared its additional borrowing requirement before March 31 to Rs. 20,000 crore from Rs. 50,000 crore.
20. The Jewish community marked Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Mumbai visit with the launch of Namaste Shalom, a regular monthly magazine on bilateral relations between the two friendly nations. The magazine was launched at the Magen David synagogue at Byculla in south Mumbai on January 17.
21. The Royal Mail of United Kingdom will issue a stamp featuring Sophia Duleep Singh to mark 100 years since women, albeit over the age of 30, were allowed to vote in the UK. It is the first time a person of Sikh background has been featured on a Royal Mail stamp (she was born a Christian and died identifying as one too). Sophia was the daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh and granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the leader of the Sikh empire. She was born in England, in exile, after her father settled there.
22. A mobile application for scheduling ECHS appointment in Telangana and Andhra Sub-Area — TASAECHS — was launched by Major General N. Srinivas Rao on January 16, 2018. The app allows veterans to book online appointment with doctors/physiotherapists of all ECHS polyclinics in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
23. A signed wooden box, containing a set of 24 cigars from the personal collection of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, has been sold for $26,950 at an auction in the US. The Trinidad Fundadores cigar box retains its “Republica de Cuba” cigar warranty seal, which has been re-adhered to the cover.
24. M Arkadij Naiditsch from Azerbaijan wins the Delhi GM Open 2018 chess title, on 16 January, 2018.
25. Scientists have found that many of the genes that aid in the natural repair of injured spinal cord in the lamprey fish are also active in the repair of the peripheral nervous system in mammals, a finding that may eventually be harnessed to reverse spinal cord damage, even paralysis in humans. Lampreys are jawless, eel-like fish that shared a common ancestor with humans about 550 million years ago.
26. Dolores O’Riordan, the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Cranberries, died on 15 January, 2018 in London. She was 46.
27. People jumps over the burning haystacks with their cattle during Kichchu Haiisod on the occasion of Sankranti to celebrate the harvest season in Karnataka . It is 100 year old tradition followed throughout Karnataka to prepare the cattle to work on fields during summer.
28. According to a new study, humans – and not rats – could have been the cause for the spread of plague during the Black Death. The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in human history. It devastated European populations from 1346 to 1353 and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people. It has long been thought that the plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which lasted in Europe until the early 19th century, was spread by rats.
29. Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena on 14 January, 2017, reimposed a four-decade-long ban on women buying liquor just days after his finance minister lifted the restriction. Mr Sirisena said he had ordered finance minister Mangala Samaraweera to revoke the decision to overturn the 1979 law prohibiting the sale of any type of alcohol to women.
30. FrogFest, a first-of-its-kind exhibition at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), inaugurated on January 15, 2018 in New Delhi,“celebrates frogs in art and nature” to “build awareness on the need for conservation of these species and highlight their role in the natural world”. The exhibition has over 400 amphibians personally collecting these frogs from last 30 years, and over 40 countries. The exhibition will be open till April 2018.

31. According to a study by researchers associated with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), India loses agricultural produce worth over $11 billion — more than the Centre’s budgetary allocation for agriculture for 2017-18 — annually to weeds. At $4.42 billion, the actual economic losses due to weeds were found to be highest in rice, followed by wheat ($3.376 billion) and soybean ($1.56 billion). However, the average yield loss is the lowest in rice – 14 per cent in transplanted rice and 21 per cent in direct-seeded condition.

Current GS News in Brief (8-15 January, 2018)