9 PM Current Affairs Brief – February 7th, 2018

A roster of questions  Context: The allocation of cases in the Supreme Court, with division of work among the judges according to various subject categories, raises more questions rather than being fair and transparent. The new roster: The new roster for allocation of cases in the Supreme Court comes in the light of dissatisfaction at… Continue reading A roster of questions 

Agni 1 test-fired off the Odisha coast Context: India successfully test-fired its short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-1 with a strike rang of over 700 km from a test range off the Odisha coast. Key facts about Agni-1 The 15-metre-long Agni-I weighing 12 tonne can carry payloads up to 1,000 kg. The Strategic Forces Command… Continue reading Agni 1 test-fired off the Odisha coast

Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh to be part of India’s tiger census Context: Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh will be a part of India’s Tiger estimation exercise What is the news? India’s Tiger Census which had began last year will be coordinated by Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh How will this coordinated effort be beneficial? Simultaneous tiger counting by… Continue reading Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh to be part of India’s tiger census

First family tree for tropical forests Context: A new discovery published in the international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, necessitates a new classification system for plant communities About the Study: To classify tropical forests based on their genetic relationships, scientists contributed almost one million tree samples of 15,000 species from tree plots… Continue reading First family tree for tropical forests

Don’t dump this junk here, says SC Context: The Centre had come to the court with the voluminous affidavit containing a collection of schemes, official correspondence and other documents on solid waste management across the country. But the court refused to take it on record.’ Dengue death The court was hearing a PIL on the… Continue reading Don’t dump this junk here, says SC

RBI likely to keep repo rate on hold (The Hindu ) Context: The six-member monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is expected to maintain the status quo for the third straight review meeting as retail inflation is hovering close to the central bank’s upper tolerance limit. Introduction: Consumer price index-based inflation… Continue reading Untitled

The manufacturing muddle Context: The Union Budget has reinforced the correction of the Inverted Duty Structure (IDS) which has adversely impacted manufacturing for decades. Inverted Duty Structure (IDS): Inverted duty structure is a situation where import duty on finished goods is low compared to the import duty on raw materials that are used in the… Continue reading The manufacturing muddle