Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 18 February 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 18 February 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Govt set to revoke President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh

• A day after the Supreme Court refused to stop the dissident leaders and the Governor in Arunachal Pradesh from forming a new government, the Union Cabinet sought the revocation of President’s rule in the State imposed on January 26.

• The dissidents had staked a claim to form a government. Mr. Pul was accompanied by 19 rebel Congress MLAs, along with 11 BJP legislators, and two Independents.

Cabinet gives in principle approval to gravitational wave detector

• Days after an international team of scientists, including several from India, formally announced that it had detected gravitational waves from deep space, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said it had, “in principle,” approved a proposal to have a gravitational wave detector in India.

• Those connected with the project said it was an important development and marked the government formally acknowledging it but a final decision regarding the money, and how it would be spent, was still some time away.

• Current estimates suggest the project would cost at least Rs. 1,200 crore.

• The gravitational waves were detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) — a system of detectors in Washington and Louisiana.]

• Known as the LIGO-India project, it is piloted by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).

• The LIGO-India project will be jointly coordinated and executed by three Indian research institutions: the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune and Department of Atomic Energy organisations: Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar and the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT),Indore.

• Another ambitious mega- science project, the Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) project — a proposed, under-ground observatory in Tamil Nadu to detect ephemeral particles called neutrinos — had been cleared by the Centre in 2015, after several years of deliberations.

By year end at least one fighter aircraft from Private sector (Register and Login to read Full News..)

India and Nepal begin to repair strained ties (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

China deployed surface to air missile in disputed woody Island

• China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of the disputed islands it controls in the South China Sea, ratcheting up tensions even as U.S. President Barack Obama urged restraint in the region.

• The missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island. The island is part of the Paracels chain, under Chinese control for more than 40 year but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

• Images from civilian satellite companyImageSat International show two batteriesof eight surface-to-airmissile launchers as well as a radar system.]

• China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year, and has been building runways and other infrastructure on artificial islands to bolster its claims.

• Taiwan President-elect Tsai Ing- wen said tensions were now higher in the region.

World Health Organization needs $ 56 million to combat Zika virus (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

India’s most affordable smartphone will cost 251 rupees

• Noida-based smart-phone maker Ringing Bells is set to unveil India’s most affordable smartphone, priced at Rs.251, a move that is set to disrupt the booming Indian mobile handset market.

• The 3G handset, Freedom 251, features a 4-inch display, Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad- core processor and 1 GB RAM, according to details shared by the company.

• The Android Lollipop-based handset will have an onboard storage of 8 GB with support for expandable memory of up to 32 GB.

• It features a 3.2-MP rear and a 0.3-MP front facing camera and a 1,450-mAh battery.

• The mass market device will come with preinstalled apps including Women Safety, Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farmer, Medical, WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube.

• Bookings for the Freedom 251 will start on Thursday.

Department of Pharmaceuticals are expected to come up with bulk drug policy (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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