Good Morning Friends,
You asked for it, so we are bringing to you the second edition of Facts in News.(FIN )
Lets make preparation easy for you.
If you would like to continue this for April or do it for January, February also.
If you leave 50 comments – you will get it for April
If you leave 100 comments , we will do it for February 2016 also 
Let us know in comments.
Also, if you want us to add something in these or if there are any errors, please let us know and we will add it.
It will make it better for all of us to study together.
Wishing you Success,
Always,
ForumIAS.com
| Bills, Programs, Policies, Schemes, Orders, Judgements | |
| Income > 10 Lakh = No LPG Subsidy | ● New directive by Govt Says if income > 10 lakh no LPG subsidy
● Earlier this was voluntary under Give It Up Scheme where people could by choice give up Subsidy |
| National Court of Appeal | ● A National Court of Appeal (NCA) with regional benches is being considered to be final court of appeal in all civil and Criminal Cases
● Supreme Court Bogged down by high pendency of cases ● Hence a Constitutional Bench has been set up by SC to debate for the need for NCA ● If NCA is set up, then SC will only hear Constitutional and Public law cases |
| Aadhar iIll 2016 | ● Passed in the Parliament as a money bill
● Money bill does not require approval of Rajya Sabha ● Opposition had concerns over mass surveillance, Govt said delivery of benefits and subsidies were more important |
| Pradhan Mantri Ujjwal Yojana | ● Scheme approved by Cabinet committee
● To provide 5 crore subsidized LPG connections to women of BPL in next 3 years ● Rs. 8000 crore allocated |
| Pradhan Mantri fasal Bima Yojana | ● Finance minister to include 50% of farmers under the scheme
● Low premium insurance scheme will provide relief for farmers(compensation will be higher) even if the crop is damaged by nature |
| Housing for All scheme | ● Financial assistance of 1.3 lakhs will be provided to homeless families for construction of pucca houses
● Beneficiaries will be entitled to 90 days of unskilled labour under MGNREGS ● Target to build 2.95 crore houses is 2022- India’s 75th year of independence ● Cost of unit shared between Central and state govt. is 60:40 in plain regions and 90:10 in the north east and the hilly regions. |
| Rural employment mobile app | ● Karnataka developed mobile app named “MGNREGA M-platform”
● Helps officials monitor MGNREGA ● Allows beneficiaries to monitor progress at every stage ● Reduce fund diversion and interference by middlemen ● Helps in collecting data for the government |
| OCI cards | ● Overseas citizen of India and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards were merged last year
● No visa will be required to enter India, OCI cards will be enough, but passport is necessary. ● OCI cards will be equipped with high security which cannot be tampered |
| Farmer suicides | ● 25,000 crore allocated to agricultural sector in Maharashtra
● Farmers distress and suicides forced the Govt of Maharashtra to take this step. |
| Women allowed in temples | ● Bombay high court verdicts says no law stops women from entering the temples
● Verdict came after a PIL was filed by activist Vidya Bal and advocate Nilima Varta ● Not only temple but also sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Mumbai where it all started ● But no verdict has been given on Haji Ali dargah |
| Clinical trials | ● Health ministry amended Drug and Cosmetic act exempting academic institutions from taking permission from DCGI for clinical trials
● DGCI is Drug Controller General of India ● Rule 122 DA refers to the clinical trials in D&C act ● This has come from the recommendations of Ranjit Roy Choudhury Committee |
| National & International Events | |
| Asia’s largest Tulip Garden | This has been opened up for Tourists; It is in Srinagar ; It is located on foothills of Zabarwan Range |
| World Sleep Day | ● On Friday before March Equinox (in 2016 it is March 18)
● 2016 slogan “Good Sleep is a Reachable Dream” ● To raise awareness about sleep disorders and to promote about sleep disorder prevention and management ● Annual event organised by committee of World Association of Sleep Medicine(WASM) |
| BRICS 2016 | ● 8th summit, Venue : Goa, India, Theme:Building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions for the grouping ● 7th summit: Ufa, Russia, 2015 |
| India France sign MoU | For 6 nuclear reactors in Jaitapur, Maharashtra |
| Nuclear Security Summit | ● Fourth summit to be held in Washington from 31 march
● Iran and DPRK not invited ● Russia not participating |
| National awards 2016 | Special jury award: Kalki Koechlin for her role in Margarita with a Straw |
| USAID and ADB MoU | ● US agency for International Development and Asian Development Bank signed MoU to $848 mn funding for solar parks in India
● Ministry of Renewable energy plans to build 25 solar parks across the nation with total capacity of 20000 MW |
| Economy and banking | |
| Safeguard duty | ● a trade remedy recognised by the World Trade Organisation
● temporary measure to counter the adverse impact caused to the domestic industry due to a sudden and unforeseen surge in (low-priced) imports of the item |
| Cabotage rules | ● Cabotage is transportation of good and people along the coast
● Transhipment is offloading from one ship to another for domestic or abroad ● Govt. has eased cabotage rules to encourage transhipment ● This will enable foreign vessels bring goods at any of the Indian ports which are meant to be shipped to other destinations |
| Cairn UK | Tax Department has asked for Rs. 10,000 crore tax + 18,800 Interest. |
| Science and Technology | |
| El -Nino | ● Heating of water in central eastern region of the equatorial pacific with average rise in temperature of 0.5 degrees celsius
● Meteorologists say 2016 will be normal monsoon (89cms of rainfall) ● 2015 was fourth time that El-Nino conditions were there in 100 years for more than successive 2 years |
| Microbeads | ● Small plastic pieces measuring less than 1mm in size made of PE,PP, PET, PMMA and nylon
● National Green Tribunal wants to ban these microplastics which are now packed in cosmetic products as exfoliating agents ● Water pollution increases, they are non biodegradable, ingested by marine organisms, fish and marine mammals |
| Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) | Resistance of a microbe to an antimicrobial medication that used to be effective in treating or preventing an infection caused by that microbe. |
| India’s Rotavirus vaccine launched-ROTAVAC | Health ministry launched rotavirus vaccine for diarrhea
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| Blood test to test TB infection | A set of 16 genes used as biomarkers to check if the individual has TB or not |
| Renewable plastic | Replacing styrene with lignin
This will bring cleaner and cheaper raw materials |
| Environment | |
| Biosphere reserves
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| New Shark and Ray species found | ● 13 species Sharks and Rays have been found in Indian waters
● They have been bar coded, ● DNA barcoding was successfully used for accurate identification of chondrichthyans which included the chimaeras, sharks, rays, and skates in the Indian waters ● Recently, the government had imposed a ban on the export of shark fins |
| Sumatran rhino | A critically endangered rhino found after 40 years in Borneo
Borneo is third largest island and is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Sumatran rhino is ● Smallest rhino ● Only asian rhino with 2 horns ● Covered with long hair |
| African catfish | ● Native to africa and middle east
● Nocturnal predatory fish feeds on living and dead ● High tolerance for oxygenated water |
| Persons in News ( Appointments, Awards , Deaths ) | |
| Htin Kyaw | First elected President of Myanmar in five decades ; Belongs to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy ( NLD ) , who won Elections in November 2015 |
| Dr Atiur Rehman | ● Governor of Central Bank of Bangladesh;
● Resigned because of a scam in Bangladesh Central Bank; ● Governor did not inform the government ● Loss due to scam = 80 million USD |
| Mother Teresa | Pope has approved Mother Teresa’s Sainthood |
| Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan | ● Eminent Shehnai player, dies at 77 due to kidney related problems
● Sangeet Natak Academy award in 2009 for contribution to Hindustani instrumental music ● “Banga bhushan” award by West Bengal government in 2012
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| Hinda Bha rwad | ● Animal rights activist consumed pesticide and died
● He wanted that cow be declared national animal |
| Sir Andrew Wiles | ● Won the Abel prize, Abel prize is given in the field of mathematics
● For his proof of “Fermat’s Last Theorem” ● He is professor at Oxford University’s Mathematical Institute. |
| Shreehari Aney | ● Maharashtra’s Advocate General resigned from the post after sharp disapproval from the opposition
● He demanded separate statehood for Marathwada in Maharashtra |
| Andrew Grove | Intel’s mastermind passes away at 79
First hire of Intel, the chipmaker company in 1968 |
| Pandit Shambhu Nath Sopori | Sitar player “Father of Indian Classical music” died
Father of well known Santoor maestro Bhajan Sopori Command over classical and Sufiana music shown in instrumental and vocal performances |
| Tim Chittock | Pedalled his cycle on Golden Quadrilateral in 24 Days
He is from New Zealand It’s a Guinness world record |
| Noor Inayat Khan Prize 2016 | ● Geetakshi Arora, student of University of London for her dissertation on “Goddess myths in graphic novels: Reimagining Indian feminity”
● Trust awards annual prize to post graduate student from SOAS, University of London, working in the area of gender studies and south asian history ● Noor Inayat, Indian descent, was a secret agent in WW2, sent to Nazi occupied area, she was betrayed and killed. |
| Places in News | |
| Chitradurga | ● DRDO to open a Aeronautical Test Range(ATR)
● Chitradurga is near Bengaluru ● Multi agency mega complex will also house facilities of BARC, ISRO, IISc |
| Palakkad Gap Ecosystem | ● A 45 Kms gap in the western ghats between Coimbatore in TN and Palakkad in Kerala
● Facing environmental destruction due to mining and deforestation ● Initiatives by Kerala Biodiversity Board have resulted nothing |
| Brussels attack | ● 34 killed at Zaventem airport by attack claimed by Islamic State
● Belgium has headquarters of NATO and European Union |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Emergency number | ● 112 to be the common emergency number for all services
● It was approved by Telecom commission after recommended by TRAI |
| ICGS Arnwesh commissioned | ● Fast vehicle vessel of Indian coast guard flagged off from Vishakhapatnam
● It main armament comprises 40/60 bofors gun |
| Rajasthan’s first IT day | ● RajNET a wide area network connecting state capital with all the panchayats
● Built as a multi mode connectivity network Will enable effective delivery of services like eMitra and MGNREGA Theme: “promotion of IT startups” |
| Iron Fist | Exercise of Indian Air Force. First held in 2013; Again being held in 2016 in Pokhran |
| Tobacco Pictorial Warnings | ● New regulations require that 85% of the front and back cover of cigarette packets should have anti cancer warnings;
● Parliamentary Panel is now asking that it should be 50% only as it will be too harsh on “tobacco industry”. ● But change comes into effect from April 1. Tobacco companies say – it will impact business and have shut down a number of factories. |
Too Bad. So Feb Issue isnt coming !
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