18 th Oct 2018 Daily Current Affairs:

Transcription

1 18 th Oct 2018 Daily Current Affairs: Sabarimala temple reopens amidst protests, violence The police cane-charged protesters as the Sabarimala temple opened for the first time since the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry to women of all ages to the hill shrine. As many as 13 policemen and 200 protesters from Hindu fringe outfits were injured in the incidents. Nilackal, the base camp situated 20 km from Pampa, witnessed unruly scenes as a mob, allegedly linked to Sangh Parivar outfits, tried to block entry of women of menstrual age and hurled stones at them.

2 Section 144 CrPC has been clamped in four places since today morning in Sabarimala including the Sannidhanam, Ilavunkal, Nilakkal and Pampa. From Nilackal, pilgrims have to take State-run buses to reach Pampa, from where it is a 5-km trek to the Ayyappa temple. Till reports last came in, no woman devotee from the age group had made it to the shrine. The Lord Ayyappa temple has opened for the five-day-monthly pooja of the Malayalam month of Thulam, the first time since the apex court allowed entry of women of all age. 12 th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM): Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who reached the Belgian capital last night, will lead the Indian delegation at the two-day summit. The theme this year is, 'Global Partners for Global Challenges'. The summit will prioritise issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace. The meeting will bring together Heads of state of 30 European and 21 Asian countries, besides top representatives of the European Union and Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Apart from the opening ceremony, Vice President will participate in the plenary session of the summit and have interactions with various stakeholders. He will also have bilateral meetings with the Heads of State of various countries on the sidelines of the summit. On the first day, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to hold one to one meeting with the King of Belgians King Phillipe at Presidential Palace in Brussels (at noon time). Naidu is likely to discuss the bilateral matters and issues of mutual interest and cooperation.

3 He is likely to seek more cooperation to strengthen bilateral relations and also to deal with the global challenges through Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) platform. Lanka rejects the report of assassination: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena Wednesday called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "categorically rejected" reports in a section of the media about him alluding to the involvement of India in an alleged plot to assassinate him and a former defence secretary. A statement quoted him as saying that "mischievous and mala fide reports were utterly baseless and false, and seemed intended to create misunderstanding between the two leaders as well as damage the cordial relations between the two friendly neighbours." The President apprised PM Modi of the urgent steps taken by him personally and the government to "publicly reject" these reports. He also recalled his meeting with the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Wednesday morning. Prime Minister Modi appreciated the prompt steps taken by the President and his government to firmly refute the malicious reports by publicly clarifying the matters. He also reiterated India's emphasis on 'neighbourhood first' policy and the priority the government of India and he personally attach to developing even stronger all-round cooperation between the two countries. On other hand, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will reach New Delhi on a three-day official visit. Wickremsinghe, leading a high-level delegation will have meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further strengthen bilateral relations and boost economic cooperation.

4 The discussions will mainly be focused on improving economic cooperation between the two countries and implementation of MOU signed last year in this regard. Indian companies have agreed to invest in several infrastructure projects including LNG power plant and terminal, highways and railway lines as part of the agreement. However, the progress on several of the projects are slow and discussions will be aimed at fast tracking them. Sri Lankan government has also moved a cabinet proposal to have joint venture for development of oil storage tanks, which is currently under control of Lanka IOC, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Both sides may also review the progress into the ongoing negotiations for Economic and Technological cooperation agreement (ETCA). Both countries recently held 11th round of talks on ETCA meant to expand free trade agreement (FTA) beyond goods, to cover services, investment, etc. Beautiful Kulgod is the best village Kulgod village in Karnataka s Belgavi district is the most developed village in the country under the Antyodaya scheme of the Centre. Its score: 94 out of 100. There are signs of prosperity: a well-equipped gram panchayat office, branches of two nationalised banks, a co-op bank, a BSNL centre, a government primary school, three private high schools, an electricity customer care centre, a PHC, a veterinary hospital, and an ATM. With a population of 7,000 people, it has 5,200 voters. The economy is aided by agriculture, and nearly 90% of the area is irrigated by the Ghataprabha right bank canal and the Rameshwar lift irrigation project. There is a frequent bus service.

5 Beyond Class X, girls take a bus to the government college at Koujalagi, 6 km away. ESA Mission to Mercury: In a first-of-its-kind mission, a UK-built spacecraft will set off for Mercury to determine whether the plant, which is the closest to the Sun, contains water. The European Space Agency's (ESA) BepiColombo mission will send two orbiters to explore the planet where the surface temperatures reach about 450 degrees Celsius. Through the mission, the space agency hopes to get answers to the questions raised by the previous missions such as whether the planet holds water. The spacecraft will launch from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on October 20 and will take seven years to reach Mercury, arriving in During its 5.2 billion miles journey, the spacecraft will make a complex series of fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Mercury to help it slow down enough to avoid the huge gravitational pull of the Sun. The mission is aimed at expanding the existing knowledge surrounding Mercury. Despite being the nearest to the Sun, the tilt of the planet signifies that some of its areas are permanently in shade and temperatures can fall to minus 180 degrees Celsius, allowing ice to form on the planet. Through the mission, the researchers also look to learn more about Mercury's magnetic field. While it was thought that the planet was solid all the way through, some of the previous missions discovered a magnetic field suggesting that it may have a molten interior. Only two spacecraft have been to Mercury until now. The first one was NASA s Mariner 10, which flew past the planet in 1974 and 1975 and

6 second was US space agency's Messenger, which orbited the planet between 2011 and Though the spacecraft sent home a great deal of information, they also raised more questions. Puerto Rico s insects affected by climate change After bees and birds, insects and other arthropods have also suffered massive losses, a study from a Puerto Rico forest published showed, citing the impact of climate change. Measuring the population of arthropods, which includes insects, caterpillars, and spiders, is not simple but one method is to place sticky traps on the ground and in the forest canopy. Biologist Bradford Lister, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York used this method in in El Yunque National Forest in the U.S. Caribbean commonwealth of Puerto Rico. He returned there with another biologist in 2011 and 2012 to use the same methods. They found that the dry weight biomass of arthropods captured in sweep samples had declined by four to eight times, and by 30 to 60 times in sticky traps. This decline was accompanied by parallel reductions in insectivorous lizards, frogs, and birds, according to observations by the researchers. According to the model used by the researchers, the blame lies principally with global warming. They reach this conclusion by noting Puerto Rico s rising temperature over about 40 years. The mean maximum temperatures, recorded by a forest weather station, increased 2 C between 1978 and Indo-Nepal pipeline:

7 About seventy-five per cent of the petroleum pipeline jointly being constructed by India and Nepal has been completed, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) stated. 75 per cent progress in the first transnational pipeline connecting India and Nepalhas been achieved. The first petroleum pipeline extending from India's Motihari to Amlekhganj in Parsa is being jointly constructed by the Indian and Nepalese governments. The NOC is funding the construction of the pipeline on behalf of the Nepal government. India is pumping Rs 3.2 billion for the project, while Nepal will spend as much as Rs 1.2 billion for the construction of the pipeline. The Nepal and Indian governments had signed the agreement for the construction of the pipeline on August 24, 2015, in Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu. The pipeline stretches almost 69 kilometers, covering a distance of 32.7 kilometers in Indian Territory and, and 36.2 kilometers in Nepali territory. The pipeline has the capacity of supplying 200,000 liters of fuel on an hourly basis. A fuel pumping facility has been established in Motihari. Source: TH, ANI, IE,AIR