Today GK Updates 26.12.2014 Current Affairs CL Tirupati More updates: bitsadda National: Centre launches Mission Indradhanush for vaccination of children Government has launched Mission Indradhanush which aims to cover all those children by 2020 that are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases. The diseases are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. Union Health Minister JP Nadda launched the mission on Good Governance Day. Under the programme, four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between January and June 2015. He said, 201 districts will be covered in the first phase and 297 will be targeted for the second phase. TN has highest proportion of singles Tamil Nadu has the largest proportion of people who are divorced, widowed or separated. Nearly 7.9% of the married people in the state are living without a partner. In comparison, 5.2% of the married population in the country is single. The Sample Registration System (SRS) report for 2013 says 13.1% of Tamil Nadu’s married women are living separately and a majority of them are in rural areas. In a stark indication of gender disparity, the report says only 2.5% of married men in the state are without a partner. Nationally, 2.5% of the married men and 8.3% of the married women are single. The other three southern states — Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh — too show a similar trend. While 7.3% of Kerala’s married population is single, in Karnataka the proportion is 7.1% and Andhra Pradesh 7%. Experts say migration too is a reason for more single women in Tamil Nadu. According to the report, if only population above 10 years is considered, 3% of the men and 15.4% of the women are single in Tamil Nadu has. The national average for this category is 2.9% for men and 10.1% for women. SRS is the largest demographic survey in the world, covering about 1.5 million households and 7.52 million people. IMD launches SMS-based weather alerts The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) – country’s national weather forecaster — has launched an SMS-based alert system for general public for dissemination of weather and disaster-related (cyclone, floods, heavy rains) information. Under this round-the-clock web-based operational system, the IMD will send SMS to individuals who would register themselves at the weather forecaster’s official website — imd.gov.in — for this purpose. Besides giving information about natural calamities, the system will also suggest what action needs to be taken, both by the authorities and the people. Sushaasan Express flagged off from Vajpayee’s birth place Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has flagged off ‘Sushaasan Express’ from the birth place of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Sushaasan (good governance) Express would run between Gwalior and Gonda via Hazrat Nizamuddin and Lucknow. International: Iran’s army begins massive drill The Iranian Army has staged massive maneuvers code-named Mohammad Rasoulallah to display the country’s military prowess. The first stage of the six-day military drill began on December 25, 2014. The exercises are to cover an area of 2.2 million square kilometers stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz all the way to the 10th parallel north in the north of the Indian Ocean. Iranian ground force commander announced that the country’s home-made high-precision missile Toufan, will be fired by the Army forces during the military drills. P3F anti-submarine and maritime surveillance planes have flown over the country’s southern waters to discover sub-surface vessels on the first day of the massive drills. During the first stage of the drill, which is the largest of its kind in the region, different ground units, fighter jets and air defense systems have been stationed. Israeli court orders destruction of settlement in West Bank An Israeli court ordered the destruction of a settlement in the West Bank in a decision that comes a decade after the first ruling to demolish the outpost. The Supreme Court ruling is the latest in the long series of demolition deadlines and postponements for the Amona wildcat settlement, which is home to some 50 families. Amona is the largest outpost in the West Bank and was built on lands near Ramallah privately owned by Palestinians, who were behind the court petition. The decision noted that there were still ongoing cases regarding the ownership of plots in the Amona settlement in other courts. Militants attack African Union base in Somalia; Killed 9 In Somalia, nine people were killed after al-Shabab militants attacked an African Union base on the edge of Mogadishu International Airport, the African Union Mission (AU) said. The al-Shabab fighters, some dressed in Somali National Army uniforms, breached the compound and tried to gain access to what African Union Mission called critical infrastructure. It said five attackers, three AU soldiers and one civilian contractor died in the ensuing struggle for control of the base and three al-Shabab militants were captured. The African Union has over 20,000 troops in the country to help the weak government battle al-Shabab. Sci. & Tech: Research reveals how ‘lung cancer spreads’ Scientists have revealed the mystery behind spreading of lung cancer. The researchers at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute discovered that the ties which lash cells together – controlled by a protein called TIAM1 – were chopped up when cell maintenance work goes wrong. Healthy cells routinely scrap old cell parts so they could be broken down and used again. But this process spiralled out of control in lung cancer cells, which scraped too many TIAM1 ties. Targeting this recycling process could stop lung cancer from spreading by keeping the cells stuck firmly together. Lead researcher, Dr Angeliki Malliri, at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at the University of Manchester, said that the research showed for the first time how lung cancer cells severed ties with their neighbours and start to spread around the body, by hijacking the cells’ recycling process and sending it into overdrive. Targeting this flaw could help stop lung cancer from spreading. Business & Economy: Date of filing property returns by central govt employees under Lokpal rules extended to 30th April Central government employees have got four more months to file details of their assets and liabilities under the Lokpal rules. The Department of Personnel and Training, DoPT, has extended the date from 31st December 2014 to till 30th April 2015for filing the property returns. In an order, DoPT said the formats for submission of statement regarding movable properties, debts and liabilities are also being revised and will be notified. As per the rules, every public servant shall file the returns of his assets and liabilities, including that of his spouse and dependent family members, on 31st March every year or before 31st July of that year. For the current year, the last date for filing returns was 15th September, which was later extended to December-end. China challenges India’s position as world’s top diamond polisher India’s long-held position as the world’s top diamond polisher is being challenged by soaring output from China, compelling India to seek help from ally and top rough diamond supplier Russia to defend its market share. India has traditionally relied on the middlemen in trading hubs of Antwerp, Tel Aviv and Dubai for its supply of rough diamonds, which mainly come from Russia or Africa. Most of the world’s diamond output is sent to India for cutting and polishing before being retailed. But China has managed to break the established trade route by getting diamonds directly from African mines in which Chinese companies have a stake. This has boosted the value of China’s net exports of polished diamonds by 72 percent in the past five years to $8.9 billion. India’s share has fluctuated between 19 and 31 percent. China deploys submersible in Indian Ocean to explore metals China’s deep-sea manned submersible carried out its first dive in the southwest Indian Ocean to look for deposits of copper, zinc and other precious metals. The submersible Jiaolong commenced its dive in hydrothermal area in Indian Ocean. China has already secured contracts to explore Indian Ocean for polymetallic sulphide ore and its research vessel has discovered two hydrothermal areas and four hydrothermal anomaly areas in February this year in southwest Indian Ocean. Earlier, China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has described the discovery of poly metallic deposits in the southwest Indian Ocean as “beyond anticipation”. The SOA said that scientists onboard the “Dayang-1″ research vessel also gained insights on the origins of carbonate hydrothermal areas and made successful attempts to explore for sulfide. Hydrothermal sulfide is a kind of sea-bed deposit containing copper, zinc and precious metals such as gold and silver. Those metals formed sulfides after chemical reactions and came to rest in the seabed in “chimney vents.” China has gained approval in 2012 to explore a 10,000 sq km polymetallic sulphide ore deposit in an international seabed region of the southwest Indian Ocean. The 15 year approval was secured by China from the International Seabed Authority (ISA). China has also obtained exclusive rights to explore a 75,000-square-km polymetallic nodule ore deposit in the east Pacific Ocean in 2001. LPG cash transfers world’s largest social benefit drive Pahal, or Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG (DBTL), has already surpassed Brazil’s famous Bolsa Familia programme, the centrepiece of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s social policy, and a similar project in China in terms of the number of beneficiaries. Some 2.3 crore LPG consumers were added and 1.8 crore, or 75%, of them brought under the scheme’s ambit since it was re-launched in 54 districts with a simplified mechanism on November 15. About Rs 549 crore subsidy was transferred. A total of 5.38 crore of the 15.38 crore consumers have their bank accounts or Aadhaar numbers linked for directly receiving cash subsidy. In comparison, Bolsa Familia is estimated to cover about 12 lakh and the Chinese programme 18 lakh. Sports: ICC announces details of opening events for World Cup 2015 The International Cricket Council, ICC has announced the details of opening events for the upcoming World Cup 2015. The opening events will be held both in Melbourne and Christchurch on February 12, 2015. Sachin Tendulkar, the brand ambassador for ICC World Cup 2015 will be the star attraction. The Cricket World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, starting from February 14, 2015. Teams from 14 countries will take part in the championship. Kidambi Srikanth ascends to fourth spot in BWF rankings Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year. The 21-year-old Indian, who clinched the China Super Series Premier before reaching the semifinals of back-to-back tournaments in Hong Kong and Dubai, jumped two places to join the elite club which comprises Prakash Padukone and national chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who were World No. 1 and 4 respectively in the past. Top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who also reached the semifinals of BWF’s World Super Series Final, has retained her number four position in the latest ranking released in Kuala Lumpur. Trott and Kenny to become cycling’s golden couple British cycling Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott and Jason Kenny are engaged to be married. Trott, 22, who won team pursuit and omnium gold at the London Olympics, said Kenny had given her the perfect Christmas present. Kenny, 26, like Trott won two gold medals in London in the team sprint and the individual sprint to add to the team sprint title he won in the 2008 Games in Beijing. Read and Share
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:01:08 +0000
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