18th March 2017 The Hindu and PIB Daily News and Current Affairs

18th March 2017

1)Five cities across the country with diverse geographical and climatic conditions will be the first to start using plastic bank notes of Rs. 10 denomination, with the Centre approving a field trial.

What are the advantages of Plastic Currency ?:
i)The plastic bank notes are considered to be cleaner than paper currency

ii)will last longer and 

iii)are difficult to counterfeit.

2)First Airbus Training Centre in Asia to be set up in New Delhi :- Airbus is setting up a greenfield training facility at Aerocity, New Delhi, to support India’s growing need for Airbus aircraft pilots and maintenance engineers.

India is the fastest growing domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to continue to grow at an annualised 9.3% over the next 20 years, outpacing the world average of 4.6%.



3)National Physical Laboratory(NPL)- CSIR dedicates the first “Pristine air-quality monitoring station at Palampur” to the Nation.

At this Centre NPL has installed state of art air monitoring system, greenhouse gas measurement system.

This will serve as reference for comparison of polluted atmosphere in India.

4)National Family Health Survey-4 indicates a reduction in malnourished children in the country:-
National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2015-16, there is a clearcut decline in malnutrition levels in the country. In NFHS-4, 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight and 38.4% are stunted indicating a reduction from the previous NFHS – 3 conducted in 2005-06, which reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48% stunted.

5)Skin diseases common among Valley food handlers: study:-

A study conducted by Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, has found that a large percentage of food handlers in Kashmir Valley suffer from infectious or non-infectious skin diseases,
induced by the food items they have to deal with.
The study revealed that skin lesion was the most common type of disease among food handlers.

6)Rajasthan prison inmates find an outlet for their creativity:  In the Central Jail the Prison inmates are creating Handicrafts and Paintings.

A departmental Store with the name : “Aashayein: The Jail Shop” is sells these.




7)Conduct divorce hearings via videoconferencing: SC
Divorce cases may be fought on video in future rather than in crowded courtrooms amidst strangers.

What it will do ??:- ‘It will spare couples the drudgery of coming to courts’.

Judiciary Gave Three Points For This:The judiciary justifies that this empathy towards women are based on three factors –

i)the constitutional scheme to provide women equal access to justice, 
ii)the power of the State to make special provisions for women and children 
iii)and duty to uphold the dignity of women.

8)Supreme Court handed over the Final Memorandum of Procedure to the Government :-

Background:- After making the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act i.e the NJAC as Null and Void, there were demands for reform in the way Indian Judges are selected. So in that backdrop MoP(Memorandum of Procedure) was Proposed.

This will include the role of Both Centre (Govt.) and Judiciary.

Why it took so much time :- There were 2-3  Pending issues in MoP.

What were the these issues:- i) Govt. in an earlier MoP said that in the times of National Security it can reject the names given by the collegium. The Judiciary was not agreeing to It.

ii) Govt. asked the S.C to set up a Secretariat in S.c and other 24 High Courts to assist the Collegium

iii)Also the Govt. asked S.C to form a Committee of Retired/Sitting Judges to help the Collegium in finding the names of the Candidate.

What has Happened Now :- Now the Judiciary has accepted this Provision of National Security but with a condition that it can reiterate the name of the Rejected Candidate.

It has also accepted the demand of a Secretariat in S.C and 24 H.C's but has refused to accept the demand for committees
of retired or sitting judges to assist the collegiums.

So In the Final Draft o MoP Collegium reserves the Final Call on the Judges Appointment.

9)U.S. puts North Korea on notice and said that if the activities of the rogue nation further escalates then Military Option is on the Table.

This marks a shit in the Policy of USA regarding North Korea.

It also Marks the end of Patience for USA.


Questions:- 

1) What is 8 degree Channel , 9 degree Channel and 10 Degree Channel??

2) What is 38th Parallel?

3) What is DMZ (De militarized Zone)?