Manipur to set up fast-track court for drug offenders: CM
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said a fast-track court will be set up by March to try increasing drugs-related cases in the state.
Manipur had become a conduit for drug trafficking in the northeast since border trade with Myanmar was legalised in 1995.
Officials are concerned over increasing smugglings of gold, precious stones, narcotics drugs and chemicals used in manufacturing drugs.
INTERNATIONAL
· India Ranks 44th In Global Intellectual Property Index, US Tops
India increased “substantially”its score in the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, ranking 44th among 50 nations, according to the US Chambers of Commerce report.
Last year, India ranked 43rd out of 45 countries in the Index.
The top 3 countries in the list are-
The USA.
The United Kingdom.
Sweden
India’s overall score has increased substantially from 25% in the 5th edition of the Index to 30% in the 6th edition, according to the annual report prepared by the Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC)of the US Chambers of Commerce.
· Guinness World Record attempted for playing Ice Hockey at highest altitude
To set a record in the Guinness book for ice hockey on the world’s highest altitude, an international level tournament was organized at Chiba Kargyam in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Five international teams from USA, Germany, Canada, Slovakia and Russia and a local team participated in the tournament.
It was jointly organized by the Hockey Foundation, USA, Ladakh Winter Sports Club and Lalok Winter Sports Association.
AIR correspondent reports that with a mission to set a record in Guinness World Record, the ice hockey tournament was held at recently built international standards open ice hockey rink at an altitude of 4371 meters above the sea level.
2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics will take place at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea on February 9, 2018.
The site of the opening ceremony Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium was built specifically for the games.
These Games will feature 102 events in fifteen sports disciplines.
Peace will be the central theme of the games.
NATIONAL
11 states are now open defecation free: Government
The government informed the Lok Sabha that till date 11 states and union territories (UTs) have been declared open defecation free (ODF) under Swachh Bharat Mission.
The government is taking various steps under the SBM to make all states in the country ODF, the minister of state in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, said in a written reply.
· Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on 4-day visit to Palestine, UAE, Oman
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the Gulf and West Asian regionfor the fifth time since 2015.
In his statement prior to his departure to Palestine, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, the Prime Minister said, this region is a key priority in India’s external engagement and he is looking forward to strengthening India’s growing and important ties with West Asia and the Gulf region through the visit. He said India enjoy vibrant multi-dimensional ties with the countries in West Asia.
Expressing his gratitude to the King Abdullah II of Jordan for facilitating the transit, he said he looks forward to meeting him in Amman today.
On his first visit to Palestine, he was looking forward to the discussions with President Mahmoud Abbas and reaffirmed India’s support for the Palestinian people and the development of Palestine.
· First Ever Chat Based Job Search App ‘Empzilla’ Launched
The first ever of its kind in the country chat-based job search mobile app ‘Empzilla‘ is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost-effective.
The mobile app gets the conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employers.
· Haryana emerges as first champion of Khelo India School Games with 38 gold medals
Haryana youngsters outclassed others by achieving the highest number of medal tally in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India School Games.
The competition concluded in New Delhi.
The sports powerhouse won 102 medals including 38 gold medals, 26 silver medals, 38 Bronze medals. Maharashtra (110) finished second overall while Delhi (94) came third.
Punjab and Kerala won the boys’ and girls’ gold medals respectively in Basketball competition.
On the final day, Haryana emerged with the best haul of five medals, including one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
Haryana archers showed impressive performance and won one gold medal on the final day. It clinched two silver and two bronze medals from Archery on the same day.
· CCEA approves enhancement of target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved to enhance target base of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from 5 crore to 8 crores.
The revised target of PMUY will be achieved by 2020 with an additional allocation of Rs. 4,800 crore.
The decision comes in the wake of the huge response to PMUY from the women particularly in rural areas and to cover such households not having LPG connection.
This move will address practical difficulty faced in implementation of MUY, namely, targeting genuinely poor households left out of Socio-Economic Cards.
Territorial integrity of North eastern states won’t be compromised: Rajnath
Territorial integrity of Assam and other northeastern states will not be compromised when the final Naga peace accord is inked, home minister Rajnath Singh assured Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The insurgent group NSCN-IM’s key demand is to integrate the Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur, which has been strongly opposed by the three states, currently ruled by the BJP.
The NSCN-IM has been engaged with peace talks with the interlocutor of the central government since 1997 when it announced a ceasefire agreement after a bloody insurgency movement which started in Nagaland soon after the country’s Independence.
INTERNATIONAL
‘Aadhaar’ is Oxford’s first Hindi word of the year
Dictionaries at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
‘Aadhaar’ also becomes the first Oxford Dictionaries Hindi Word of the Year.
The accompanying shortlisted words include Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and Bahubali.
· India Cheapest Country To Live In After South Africa: Survey
India is ranked second only to South Africa as the cheapest country to live or retire, according to a recent survey of 112 countries by GoBankingRates.
The survey ranked nations on the bases of four key affordability metrics. The metrics are Local purchasing power index, rent index, Groceries index, and Consumer price index.
India’s local purchasing power is 20.9% lower, rent is 95.2% cheaper, groceries are 74.4% cheaper, local goods and services are 74.9% cheaper.
The top three most expensive countries in the survey are Bermuda (ranked 112), Bahamas (111), and Hong Kong (110).
NATIONAL
· Economic Survey 2018: Brief Summary
The Economic Survey, an annual publication of the Finance Ministry, is presented in both houses of Parliament during the Budget Session. It is a review of the developments in the country’s economy over the previous one year.
Sticking to the practice started last year, finance minister Arun Jaitley will present Union Budget 2018 on 1 February.
It presents a summary of the performance of the government’s major development programmes undertaken during that period.
It also details the main policy initiatives of the government.
The Survey sees FY19 GDPgrowing 7-7.5% vs 75% in FY18.
The Due to higher expected increase in imports, net exports of goods and services are slated to decline in 2017-18.
The Exports biggest source of the boost to growth.
It points out that the GDP growth has averaged 7.3% for the period from 2014-15 to 2017-18, which is the highest among the major economies of the world.
Demonetisation helped share of financial saving to rise.
The ratio of domestic saving to GDP reached 29.2 percent in 2013 to a peak of 38.3 percent in 2007, before falling back to 29 percent in 2016.
The Sanitation coverage in rural India increased substantially from 39 percent in 2014 to 76 percent in January 2018. With the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on October 2, 2014, the sanitation coverage in rural India increased substantially.
So far, 296 districts and 307,349 villages all over India have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).
India is gradually improving its performance in Science and Technology. In 2013, India ranked 6th in the world in scientific publications. Its ranking has been increasing consistently. The growth of annual publications between 2009 to 2014 was almost 14%. This increased India’s share in global publications from 3.1% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2014 as per the Scopus Database.
The foreign exchange reserves grew by 14.1% on a year-on-year basis from the end of Dec 2016 to end of Dec 2017.
The forex reserves as per 2016-17 were estimated at USD 370 billion. It grew to USD 409.4 billion in 2017-18.
· VINBAX: India and Vietnam hold first military exercise in Jabalpur
The India-Vietnam Bilateral Army Exercise (VINBAX-2018)was conducted at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
It is the first military exercise between the two countries.
The six-day-long military exercise (from January 29 to February 3, 2018) was conducted as part of joint training undertaken with friendly foreign countries by Indian Army.
VINBAX-2018 was Table Top Exercise to carry out training for Peace Keeping Operations under United Nations (UN) mandate.
The Defence ties between India and Vietnam have been on an upswing with the primary focus being cooperation in the maritime domain.
· International Bird Festival To Be Held In Dudhwa National Park
A three-day international bird festivalwill be held at the Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh in February 2018 with nearly 200 leading ornithologists expected to attend.
The purpose of the international bird festival is to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to give it a distinct international identity besides highlighting its traditional Tharu arts, culture, and heritage.
· Asias biggest auto testing track inaugurated in Madhya Pradesh
Union Minister Babul Supriyo and Madhya Pradesh Industrial minister Rajendra Shukla inaugurated Asia’s biggest auto testing track in Pithampur of Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh.
The country’s research and development activities in the sector of automobile engineering and technology will get a boost, due to the construction of the auto testing track in Pithampur.
Pithampur will emerge as a hub of the automobile industry in future.
Union Minister further mentioned that the state government has provided 4 thousand acre land to NATRiP and the National Auto Testing Track has been developed on 3 thousand acre land.
Automobile units can be established by the industrialists on the remaining one thousand acre land.
· Sandeep Lamichhane Becomes 1st Nepal Player To Get IPL Contract
Sandeep Lamichhane became the first cricketer from Nepal to land a deal an IPL contract.
He was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the player’s auction.
The 17-year-old, the only Nepal player in the IPL auction, was sold at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
The leg-spinner rose to prominence with a successful outing at the 2016 U-19 World Cup where he guided Nepal to a creditable eighth place.
He hogged the limelight by becoming the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 scalps in six innings.
