Current Burning Topics, News and Current Affairs

*28 Killed in Gujarat After Truck Falls into Drain*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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As many as 28 people, most of them women and children, were killed when a truck fell into a drain in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district on Tuesday, said local administration officials.

A dozen people were injured in the accident and were rushed to hospital. Rescue teams are using cranes to lift the victims. The fire brigade is also helping with rescue operations. Officials indicated the toll could rise as many of the passengers, who were on their way to a wedding, remained trapped under the truck which overturned, reported AFP.

The truck was carrying a wedding party of around 60 people. It toppled into a drain near Umrala on the Bhavnagar-Rajkot Highway. Initial investigations indicated the driver lost control causing the truck to swerve off the bridge and fall eight metres onto a dry riverbed. "Around 60 persons were travelling in the truck and most victims are women and children," Gujarat police inspector K.J. Kadapda told AFP.

To read full article - http://v.duta.us/CjeMSAAA

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Fire Breaks out at Eastel Metal Company Godown in Mumbai*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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A fire broke out at a godown of Eastel Metal Company in Kalachowki area of Mumbai on Tuesday. The Mumbai Fire Department declared it as Level-3 fire. Eight fire tenders and six water tankers have reached the spot to douse the fire, according to ANI report. No casualties have been reported so far.

To read full article - http://v.duta.us/nm4GRAAA

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Sri Lanka Declares Emergency After Buddhist-Muslim Clashes*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to rein in the spread of communal violence, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, a day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean island's central district of Kandy. Tension has been growing between the two communities in Sri Lanka over the past year, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.

Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise.

"At a special cabinet meeting, it was decided to declare a state of emergency for 10 days to prevent the spread of communal riots to other parts of the country," the spokesman, Dayasiri Jayasekara, told Reuters. "It was also decided to take stern action against people who are instigating violence through Facebook," he added, referring to postings on social media.

The government sent troops and elite police to Kandy after a mob set fire to a Muslim-owned shop, imposing a curfew there on Monday to prevent clashes between majority Sinhalese Buddhists and minority Muslims.

To read full article 🔗- http://v.duta.us/6iB2KAAA

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. *Government approves Rs 2,919 crore projects under Nirbhaya fund to create 8 safe cities.*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Government approves Rs 2,919 crore projects under Nirbhaya fund to create 8 safe cities.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has approved projects worth Rs 2,919 crore under Nirbhaya Fund for creating eight safe cities. They are Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata,Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

Key Facts

The projects for safe cities will have special focus on women safety in public spaces and quick response systems to create deterrence against crime. Plans for safe cities were prepared in coordination with municipal corporations and police commissionerates of these cities.

Delhi: Project worth Rs 663 crore was approved to enhance safety of public places like roads, schools and metro stations. It includes use of latest technology such as video monitoring, facial recognition analytics, and person tracking systems. It will also provide dedicated women safety patrol vans equipped with GPS tracking and on-board video feed sharing to the existing fleet of the Delhi Police.

Mumbai: Project worth Rs 252 crore was sanctioned to enable GIS mapping of criminal hotspots, video surveillance, training of investigating officers and quick response police teams. It will also strengthen Police Didi programme where in female police officers interact with women living in slums.

Chennai: It will receive Rs 425 crore for project that will create safe-zone clusters at hot crime zones, security in public transport, GIS-based crime mapping, capacity building of police authorities as well as a helpdesk service for women. Moreover, cyber-crime and legal assistance compensation lab will also be set up.

Ahmedabad: Rs 253 crore was approved for ABHAYAM Vans for quick response to women in distress, ‘She Teams’ of women for surveillance and One Stop Crisis Centres. The project also envisages redevelopment of Sabarmati River Front to make it more women friendly.

Kolkata: It will get Rs 181.32 crore for various schemes, including for strengthening nine women police stations.

Bengaluru: It will get Rs 667 crore for projects which will be utilised for setting up women police outposts and creation of safety islands.

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. *ICG C-162: Bharati Defence delivers interceptor boat to Coast Guard.*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Bharati Defence and Infrastructure Ltd (BDIL) delivered high-speed interceptor boat ICG C-162 to Indian Coast Guard (ICG) at BDIL jetty in Mangaluru, #Karnataka. It is fifth interceptor boat delivered by BDIL’s Mangaluru shipyard to ICG. The sixth boat will be delivered after three-and-a-half months of the delivery of the fifth boat.
ICG C-162 The vessel will be based at Kochi, Kerala and will be used for patrolling purposes. It can accommodate 11 crew members. The vessel was launched in January 2018 and has successfully completed the harbour and sea trials. It is 28 metres long with aluminium hull and weighs about 60 DWT.
It is designed for a speed up to 35 knots. It is fitted with new generation of Arneson Surface Drive propulsion system, propelled by two engines of 1650 kW each.

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*Maharashtra gets its very own 1st ever Mega Food Park in Satara*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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#Maharashtra got its own 1st ever Mega Food Park in Satara Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd was inaugurated at Village Degaon in Satara district. Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal unveiled the Satara Mega Food Park in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.  Satara Mega Food Park, first in Maharashtra, is the 12th Mega Food Park operationalized in the country so far and the 10th operationalized during the tenure of present government", Ministry of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal said. The Ministry is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.

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. *Haryana launches e-learning app for students making them more prone to digitalization*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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#Haryana always been considered as a state which needs progress and development. Making this wish come true the state has come up with an e-learning app for students.
The Haryana State Council of Educational Research and Training has developed a new mobile application‘Meri e-Pustak’. It has also started a test version of digi-LEP (learning enhancement programme) teacher training online course. While launching the app and test version, additional chief secretary (school education) Dheera Khandelwal said ‘Meri e-Pustak’ was developed for showcasing and spreading all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials. In the new ‘Meri e-Pustak,’ textbooks and all LEP, books of classes I to V would now be available on mobile application. The LEP support material was also available through the digi-LEP website and dig-LEP WhatsApp groups.

Haryana becomes the first state to be recognized by NCERT to have developed an in-house programme with ‘Meri e-Pustak’ of SCERT.

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. *Odisha Government Launches 'Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas' Programme*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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The #Odisha government has launched a programme Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas (Our Village, our development) to reach out to the people in rural areas and involve themselves in the developmental activities.  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has flagged off mobile video vans for ‘Ama Gaon Ama Vikas’ programme that will move across the State to highlight various welfare schemes at villages in the state.

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. *Karnataka Unveils Healthcare Scheme 'Arogya Karnataka'*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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#Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled a healthcare scheme named 'Arogya Karnataka' (Healthy Karnataka) aimed at benefitting about 1.43 crore households in the state. It will provide quality primary, secondary and tertiary treatment to both below-poverty-line (BPL) andabove-poverty-line (APL) families in the state.
Through the scheme, all households will get free treatment at government hospitals while for households, the state will bear about 30% of the treatment cost.

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. *Odisha state launches KHUSHI Scheme To Provide Free Sanitary Pads*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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The #Odisha government launched KHUSHI scheme to provide free sanitary napkins to school girls across the state.
The scheme will be implemented by the health and family welfare department of the state at a cost of 70 crores per year. Under the scheme, the state will provide free sanitary napkins to 17 lakh girls studying in Classes 6 to 12 in government and government-aided schools.
The announcement was made by the CM of Odisha Naveen Patnaik.

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. *Silver copper telluride (AgCuTe): Researchers develop thermoelectric compound*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Researchers have developed silver copper telluride (AgCuTe), a novel compound that exhibits poor thermal conductivity but shows good electrical conductivity. It was developed by researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru.


AgCuTe
The new material having thermoelectric properties is made from silver, copper, and tellurium. It shows high levels of thermoelectric performance i.e. exhibits poor thermal conductivity in 25-425 degree C range but shows good electrical conductivity.
Due to its low thermal conductivity, one end of 8 mm-long AgCuTe rod which is contact with waste heat remains hot while other end maintains cold temperature. This temperature difference results in generation of electrical voltage. The material also exhibits good electrical conductivity like metal at same time.

Significance:
The compound shows ideal promise asthermoelectric material for converting waste heat into electricity. Its potential applications as thermoelectric technology are in automobile industry, thermal, chemical and steel power plants where large quantities of heat are wasted.

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 *Marshall Islands to launch world-first digital legal tender*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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The Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean is set to become the first country in the world to recognize cryptocurrency as its legal tender and adopt transparent cryptocurrency as its legal tender and adopt the transparent crypto monetary system.
The parliament of the island has passed a law to create the digital currency call called “Sovereign” with symbol SOV to raise some hard cash to pay bills and boost the economy.
The Marshall Islands is partnering with Israeli fintech startup Neema to launch its SOV. It will have equal status with US dollar as a form of payment. SOV issued by the Marshall Islands will be different from other cryptocurrencies including bitcoin because it will be officially recognized by law as legal documents.

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. *Myanmar puts off border agreement with India*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Myanmar has indefinitely deferred signing agreement with India to streamline the free movement of people within 16 km along the open border between two countries. It has cited domestic compulsions and has asked for more time for the agreement to be sealed.

Background
India and Myanmar share 1,643 km unfenced border along four states viz. Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) and permit free movement regime. To give it shape, Central Government had asked four border states with Myanmar to distribute “border pass” to all the residents living within 16 km.
The agreement will facilitate movement of people on basis of valid passports and visas which will enhance economic and social interaction between two places.

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*Indian Military Ranked 4th Strongest In World, USA Tops*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Out of 133 countries, India is ranked fourth on a global index for its military strength, only the United States, Russia and China are ranked above India on the list, according to the latest report of the Global Firepower index 2017. Neighbouring Pakistan is ranked 13th. India maintained its position above France in the top five military powers in the world. The Indian Army is equipped with 4,426 combat tanks, 6,704 armored fighting vehicles, and 7,414 towed artillery guns, as per the list.

The Top 5 countries in the list are
1. USA,
2. Russia,
3. China,
4. India,
5. France.

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Iraq overtakes Saudi Arabia as Indias biggest Oil Supplier*


*🗞GN || Tuesday, 06 Mar. 2018*
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Iraq overtook Saudi Arabia to become India’s top crude oil supplier by supplying 38.9 million tonnes (MT) crude oil in the current financial year. It was fifth of India’s oil needs. India is 80% dependent on imports to meet its oil needs.
India had imported 184.4 MT of crude oil during April.
Saudi Arabia traditionally has been India’s top oil source but Iraq dethroned it. Saudi Arabia supplied 30.9 MT of crude oil in first 10 months.

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