NORTH-EASTERN STATES

• Arunachal Pradesh nods to much awaited Advertisement Policy 2018

• Arunachal Pradeshgave a nod to much awaited “Arunachal Pradesh Advertisement Policy 2018.” State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu approved Arunachal Pradesh Advertisement Policy 2018 which will enable the government to make payment of government advertisement bills to media houses on a timely basis.
• In another decision, the Cabinet approved the release of gratuitous relief of Rs 2,000 for all contingency and casual workers serving under Arunachal Government.
• Apart from approving the creation of 25 posts of Assistant Professors for government colleges of the state under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the Cabinet also approved enhancement of salary of teachers working under SSA and RMSA on contractual basis up to 22% with effect from April 1, 2018.
• The Cabinet directed the education department to ensure that salaries are disbursed by the first week of the subsequent month through the Aadhaar-based DBT through PFMS method. 

  INTERNATIONAL

   

  • World Cancer Day: 4 February

   

  • World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

   

  • World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.

   

  • The primary goal of the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer by 2020.

   

  • The theme for the World Cancer Day 2016-2018 is ‘We can. I can.’

   

  • Nepal gets a high Rs. 650 crore outlay

   

  • India’s annual financial allocation to Nepal for 2018-19 has nearly doubled under the Union Budget presented on February 1.

   

  • The External Affairs Ministry has been allocated a total Rs. 15,011 crore, which indicates a marginal increase of Rs. 1,321 crore over the previous year’s grant.

   

  • For India’s development and diplomatic engagement under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the Budget has allocated Rs. 5545 crore.

   

  • Bhutan is traditionally the largest recipient of Ministry’s allocation.

   

   

  NATIONAL

   

  • Venkaiah Naidu to Inaugurate First International Kala Mela

   

  • The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the First International Kala Mela in New Delhi on February 4.
  • The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma will also grace the occasion.

   

  • Lalit Kala Akademi, the premier institution for the promotion of Art and Culture is organizing it at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi (IGNCA).

   

  • Environment Ministry launches ‘Green Good Deeds’ campaign

   

  • Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has appealed to the teaching community to join the “Green Good Deeds” campaign, launched by his Ministry to sensitise the people about climate change and global warming.

   

  • The Minister reminded the teachers of their “Green Social Responsibility similar to corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

   

  • CRISIL, SIDBI Launch India’s First MSE Sentiment Index

   

  • The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley launched CriSidEx , India’s first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises ( MSEs) developed jointly by CRISIL & SIDBI.

   

  • CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative ) to 200 ( extremely positive) .

   

  • The parametric feedback was captured through a survey of 1100 MSEs in November –December.

   

  • CriSidEx will have 2 indices , one for the ‘survey quarter’ and another for the ‘next quarter’ once a trend emerges after few rounds of the survey , providing independent time series data.

   

  • The crucial benefit of CriSidEx is that its readings will flag potential headwinds and changes in production cycles and thus help improve market efficiencies and by capturing the sentiment of exporters and importers , it will also offer actionable indicators on foreign trade.

   

  • India’s biggest floating island released in Neknampur lake

   

  • On the occasion of World Wetland Day, city-based NGO Dhruvansh has introduced biggest floating island of India at Neknampur Lake, Hyderabad.
  • The duo of Dhruvansh NGO, Madhulika and Neeraj Singh started Neknampur restoration programme in June 2016 adopting various cost effective methodologies to clean the lake.
  • After successful introduction of 10×10 feet floating islands last year, the NGO introduced 2,500 square feet floating island with 3,500 wetland plants floating on this platform.

   

  • “A Century is Not Enough”: Autobiography of Sourav Ganguly

   

  • Former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly’s autobiography is soon-to-be-published and it is named “A Century is Not Enough”.

   

  • The book is co-authored by Gautam Bhattacharya and published by Juggernaut Books.

   

  • The book covers the ups and downs in more than a decade long career of the former Indian captain fondly called ‘Dada’.

   

  ·        Railways Ministry may introduce dynamic pricing system

   

  • The Railways Ministrythe current flex-fare system and is considering introducing a dynamic pricing system for train tickets, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said. Under dynamic pricing system, fares will be decided as per the season and demand.

   

  • The Fares will be automatically adjusted via artificial intelligence, algorithms or technology, to help trains have more occupancy.

  ·        India Lifts U-19 World Cup 2018

  

  • India defeated Australia to lift the Under 19 World cup for the fourth time.
  • The Men in Blue defeated the three-time champions Australia at Bay Oval, New Zealand.

   

  • Manjot Kalra scored a sensational unbeaten century and was named Man of the Match.

   

  • Shubman Gill was declared man of the series.