Daily GK Updates - 9th February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April last year on charges of espionage and terrorism: Pakistan claimed India has not responded to its questions on Indian prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav’s passport and details of his service. “It is regrettable that India has so far not given us any reply on how commander Kulbhushan Jadhav was in possession of the passport of Hussain Mubarak Patel, or any details of his retirement from Indian Navy. This prompted India to move the Hague-based International Court of Justice in May. Subsequently, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case. While Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3 in 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran, India maintains that he was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

2. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh to go on nationwide agitation against on February 20: The protest is against negligent attitude of the central government towards labour problems. RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has given a call for a nationwide agitation on February 20 to protest against “anti-labour policies” and is rethinking to attend Indian Labour Conference (ILC) later this month. The Kendriya Karya Samithi (national executive committee or KKS) meeting of BMS held at Ambaji in Gujarat on February 8 has called for “nationwide agitation against the central government’s anti-labour policies, BMS General Secretary is Virjesh Upadhyay.

3. Centre, states to fill posts on child rights panels and implement Juvenile Justice Act - SC: The Juvenile Justice Act is an act to consolidate and amend the law relating to children alleged and found to be in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection by catering to their basic needs through proper care, protection, development, treatment social re-integration, by adopting a child-friendly approach in the adjudication and disposal of matters in the best interest of children and for their rehabilitation through processes provided, and institutions and bodies established hereinunder and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The apex court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also directed the states to ensure that all positions in juvenile justice boards and Child Welfare Committees are filled up expeditiously and in accordance with rules.

4. NITI Aayog launches ‘Healthy States Progressive India Report’; Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu best performers: In an effort to better assess health outcomes across India, the NITI Aayog launched the Healthy States Progressive Report. Released by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Ministry of Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and India country director of World Bank Junaid Ahmad, the report is the first step to establish an annual systematic tool to measure and understand the complexity of nation’s performance in health. the Health Index has been evolved through comprehensive study and inputs from World Bank India and the Ministry of Health.

5. National Fisherfolk Forum demands Justice Chandrachud withdraw his ‘fish market’ remark: "Let us not reduce the dialogue in this court to the level of fish market,"Justice Chandrachud had said during a hearing of PILs seeking a probe into Judge Loya’s death, on February 5.  

6. Punjab - ‘We may not recover production cost of potato for third year in a row’: Under the new scheme announced in the recent Budget, a corpus of Rs 500 crore has been kept to help potato, tomato and onion growers. Despite the Centre announcing its new Operation Greens in the Union Budget last week, potato farmers of Punjab see little hope of recovering their production cost even this year, as harvesting begins in Doaba region, the potato belt of the state. Under the new scheme announced in the recent Budget, a corpus of Rs 500 crore has been kept to help potato, tomato and onion growers.

7. Bird flu alert sounded in Bhitarkanika National ParK (Odisha): Forest officials have sounded a bird flu alert at the habitats of migratory birds’ in Bhitarkanika National Park here following detection of flu infection in Karnataka. Precautionary measures have been initiated to find out possible flu infection of avian species. They are prone to carry the H5NI strain of avian influenza.

8. An area of about 43.6 hectares of Wullar lake is under encroachment in the Kashmir valley – J&K: In a written reply in Legislative Council, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh said that an area of about 43.6 hectares is under encroachment within Wullar lake and these families will have to shift from the lake area. Wullar lake, the largest freshwater lakes in Asia, is in Bandipora district of Kashmir division, 34 km north of Srinagar. The Revenue department has already moved a proposal in which nearly 20 acres of land has been identified outside the lake for rehabilitation of the affected families. 130 square kilometers of the lake is demarcated physically with the help of demarcation pillars, he said adding comprehensive Management Plan for the conservation of Wullar lake was formulated and work on the project was started in 2011-12.

 INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Maldives Political crisis-2018: A political crisis in the Maldives intensified on 6 February 2018, when President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency, and ordered the arrest of two judges of the Supreme Court of the Maldives and former President (as well as his half-brother) Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. This followed a Supreme Court ruling the previous day ordering 12 opposition MPs be released from detention and resume their seats in Parliament, giving the opposition control of the chamber and potentially paving the way for Yameen's impeachment.  Some observers have described the events as an autocoup.

2. India can play a role in Middle East peace process - Palestine Prez Mahmoud Abbas: The unilateral US decision to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was challenged at the UN General Assembly where 128 nations, including India, voted to turn down the move as "null and void". Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic Palestine visit, President Mahmoud Abbas said he will discuss with him India’s role in the Middle East peace process and the creation of a multilateral forum of negotiations to strike a final deal with Isarel. Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine, is reaching Ramallah on Saturday amid heightened tensions in the region after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

3. Indian journalist among two scribes arrested in Maldives: Two journalists (a British national and an Indian national) employed by French news agency Agence France-Presse were on Friday arrested in Maldives amid the ongoing crisis in the country. Money Sharma from Amritsar and Atish Ravji Patel from London, who are both AFP employees, have been arrested under Maldivian SoE decree for ‘national security purposes’.

4. Egypt launches assault on militants weeks ahead of election: Egypt began a major assault on against Islamist militants in the Arab world’s most populous country, aiming to crush their insurgency ahead of a three-month deadline set by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is seeking re-election. Residents reported seeing and hearing warplanes above the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, which is close to the area of operations in northern and central Sinai. Security forces have for years battled an Islamic State insurgency in North Sinai that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police. The militants have expanded their targets to include civilians over the last year or so.

5. China says US bill on Taiwan ties threatens stability: The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island's main source of arms. China regularly says Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in its ties with Washington. Beijing considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and integral part of “one China”, ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

6. Turkish warplanes strike Kurdish militia targets in Syria: Turkish warplanes resumed strikes on Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria’s Afrin region on Friday after a five-day lull that followed the shooting down of Russian warplane elsewhere in Syria, the Hurriyet newspaper and other media reported. Hurriyet said Turkey had halted air strikes as Russia worked on its air defence system after Syrian rebels shot down a Russian warplane in Idlib province on Feb. 3.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Delhi thrash Maharashtra by eight wickets, Bengal lose.Delhi thrashed Maharashtra by eight wickets to continue their unbeaten run in the domestic one-day cricket tournament for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Dharamsala. Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Delhi bowled out Maharashtra for 246 in exactly the last ball of the 50th over at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Stadium.

2. 2018 Winter Olympics: Schedule, Athletes to look out for and the political ramifications. 2018 Winter Olympics run from February 9-February 25 in PyeongChang, South Korea. This is the second Olympics for South Korea and the first Winter Olympics. It is the 23rd edition of the Winter Games.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Bosch’s India arm developing a slew of low-cost products: Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, a 100% owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, is developing a range of low-cost products in the areas of healthcare, aerospace, agriculture and electronic equipment meant for smart cities. With a team of about 15,000 engineers at its Bengaluru software development center, the largest outside Germany, the company is making “frugal” products meant for testing eyes, tracking traffic violations, pollution levels, stream airport logistics and for farmers. Robert Bosch India has invested about 10 million euros on its labs in Bengaluru, Coimbatore and one in Mexico to test and validate the products.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY:

1. IISc team identifies an early-stage biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease: Researchers at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have identified a potential biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease. The biomarker shows up very early in the disease process and well before clinical and even pathological manifestation of the disease. They also found that it is possible to reverse the disease process if identified early.

OBITUARIES:

1. The doyen of Odia literature Chandrasekhar Rath passed away: He was 89 and is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son. The eminent writer breathed his last while undergoing treatment for age-related ailments.Born on October 17, 1929 at Malapada village in Balangir district, the writer was nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award this year. Rath was conferred with several awards, including Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award and Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman, for his contribution in the field of literature.