1)There are two very imporatant positions where the Earth is closest and Farthest to the Sun.
There two Positons are Perihelions and Aphelions.
On January 3, the Earth will be at closest to the sun in a phenomenon called ‘Perihelion’.
On July 4, the earth will be at ‘Aphelion’ at 15,20,95,571 km from the sun, i.e. it will be at the farthest point from the sun.
2)President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe as President of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Some Facts about ICCR:
ICCR is an autonomous organisation of the government of India, tasked with strengthening India’s external cultural relations through exchanges with other countries and their people.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.
3)National Knowledge Network (NKN):- NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India network which facilitates the development of India’s communications infrastructure, stimulates research and creates next generation applications and services.
With its multi-gigabit capability, NKN aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift.
India has now decided to extend the NKN to the global research and education networks in Saarc nations.
NKN will be connected from Afghanistan to Delhi or Mumbai, from Bangladesh to Kolkata or Delhi, from Bhutan to Kolkata or Delhi, from Nepal to Kolkata or Delhi, from Maldives to Chennai or Mumbai and from Sri Lanka to Chennai or Mumbai.
4)CCEA approves construction of bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in J&K.
The Zojila Tunnel will be situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway (NH-1A).
The construction of this tunnel will provide all weather safe, fast and cheap connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.
5)Government announces details of electoral bonds for political funding.
The electoral bonds scheme was announced in Union Budget 2017 with an aim for increasing transparency in political funding.
Details:- Electoral bonds will be bearer instrument in nature of promissory note and an interest-free banking instrument.
These can be redeemed only through the registered accounts of a political party in a prescribed time frame.
Denominations: Electoral bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.10 lakh, and Rs.1 crore from any of the specified branches of State Bank of India.
Purchasers: A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond. The purchaser is allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfilment of all extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. It will not carry the name of the payee.
Validity: It will have a life of 15 days during which they can be used to make donations to registered political parties. The bond can be encashed by an eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorised bank.
The electoral bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in months of January, April, July and October with additional 30 days to be specified by Central government in year of general election so that this does not become a parallel currency.
Eligibility: Political parties that have secured not less than 1% of votes polled in last general election to Lok Sabha or Assembly can avail funding.
6)Australian scientists have developed the world’s first ‘speed breeding’ technique that can boost the production of the crop by up to three times.
DS Faraday: The scientists have used the technique to develop the new ‘DS Faraday’ wheat variety due for release to industry this year. DS Faraday is a high protein, milling wheat with tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting.
7)China to become world’s first country to launch a lunar probe on far side of moon.
8)Kerala’s Nilambur teak aka Malabar teak has found its place in the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry. GI tag denotes quality and origin of the products and helps keep unscrupulous commercial operators at bay.
It is the first Forest Product to get its own GI Tag.
9)Jangalmahal Utsab:- Jangalmahal Utsab was recently inaugurated at the Jhargam district in West Bengal.
The festival is organised in the state to promote tribal art and culture.
The world Junglemahal is used to refer four districts of the state — Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and West Midnapore.
10)“Bomb Cyclone”:- A massive winter storm called a “bomb cyclone” is hammering the eastern coast of the US, bringing snow, ice, flooding, and strong winds.
11)Typbar TCV:- It is a Typhoid conjugate vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech Ltd (BBL).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pre-qualified its typhoid conjugate vaccine.
The new vaccine was found to have given a longer immunity from typhoid than older vaccines and it required fewer doses for childhood immunisation.
The pre-qualification by WHO allows for the sale of the vaccines to UN agencies such as UNICEF and GAVI.
12)India is pushing forward its proposal to include Hindi as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Procedure to Make a Language as Official Language of UN:- The procedure for getting any language recognized as one of the Official Languages of the UN involves obtaining approval of the General Assembly. Such a proposal has to be approved by more than half of the members of the General Assembly where every member-State has a vote.
There are six official languages of the UN. These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. These languages are used at meetings of various UN organs, particularly the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Security Council.
There two Positons are Perihelions and Aphelions.
On January 3, the Earth will be at closest to the sun in a phenomenon called ‘Perihelion’.
On July 4, the earth will be at ‘Aphelion’ at 15,20,95,571 km from the sun, i.e. it will be at the farthest point from the sun.
2)President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe as President of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Some Facts about ICCR:
ICCR is an autonomous organisation of the government of India, tasked with strengthening India’s external cultural relations through exchanges with other countries and their people.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.
3)National Knowledge Network (NKN):- NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India network which facilitates the development of India’s communications infrastructure, stimulates research and creates next generation applications and services.
With its multi-gigabit capability, NKN aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift.
India has now decided to extend the NKN to the global research and education networks in Saarc nations.
NKN will be connected from Afghanistan to Delhi or Mumbai, from Bangladesh to Kolkata or Delhi, from Bhutan to Kolkata or Delhi, from Nepal to Kolkata or Delhi, from Maldives to Chennai or Mumbai and from Sri Lanka to Chennai or Mumbai.
4)CCEA approves construction of bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in J&K.
The Zojila Tunnel will be situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway (NH-1A).
The construction of this tunnel will provide all weather safe, fast and cheap connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.
5)Government announces details of electoral bonds for political funding.
The electoral bonds scheme was announced in Union Budget 2017 with an aim for increasing transparency in political funding.
Details:- Electoral bonds will be bearer instrument in nature of promissory note and an interest-free banking instrument.
These can be redeemed only through the registered accounts of a political party in a prescribed time frame.
Denominations: Electoral bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.10 lakh, and Rs.1 crore from any of the specified branches of State Bank of India.
Purchasers: A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond. The purchaser is allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfilment of all extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. It will not carry the name of the payee.
Validity: It will have a life of 15 days during which they can be used to make donations to registered political parties. The bond can be encashed by an eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorised bank.
The electoral bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in months of January, April, July and October with additional 30 days to be specified by Central government in year of general election so that this does not become a parallel currency.
Eligibility: Political parties that have secured not less than 1% of votes polled in last general election to Lok Sabha or Assembly can avail funding.
6)Australian scientists have developed the world’s first ‘speed breeding’ technique that can boost the production of the crop by up to three times.
DS Faraday: The scientists have used the technique to develop the new ‘DS Faraday’ wheat variety due for release to industry this year. DS Faraday is a high protein, milling wheat with tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting.
7)China to become world’s first country to launch a lunar probe on far side of moon.
8)Kerala’s Nilambur teak aka Malabar teak has found its place in the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry. GI tag denotes quality and origin of the products and helps keep unscrupulous commercial operators at bay.
It is the first Forest Product to get its own GI Tag.
9)Jangalmahal Utsab:- Jangalmahal Utsab was recently inaugurated at the Jhargam district in West Bengal.
The festival is organised in the state to promote tribal art and culture.
The world Junglemahal is used to refer four districts of the state — Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and West Midnapore.
10)“Bomb Cyclone”:- A massive winter storm called a “bomb cyclone” is hammering the eastern coast of the US, bringing snow, ice, flooding, and strong winds.
11)Typbar TCV:- It is a Typhoid conjugate vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech Ltd (BBL).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pre-qualified its typhoid conjugate vaccine.
The new vaccine was found to have given a longer immunity from typhoid than older vaccines and it required fewer doses for childhood immunisation.
The pre-qualification by WHO allows for the sale of the vaccines to UN agencies such as UNICEF and GAVI.
12)India is pushing forward its proposal to include Hindi as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Procedure to Make a Language as Official Language of UN:- The procedure for getting any language recognized as one of the Official Languages of the UN involves obtaining approval of the General Assembly. Such a proposal has to be approved by more than half of the members of the General Assembly where every member-State has a vote.
There are six official languages of the UN. These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. These languages are used at meetings of various UN organs, particularly the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Security Council.
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