Tatva Current Affairs

Article 35-A: SC adjourns hearing by 3 months The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of plea challenging Article 35A of the Constitution by three months. The apex court’s order came after it  was told by Centre that government has appointed a representative (interlocutor) to hold talks with all stakeholders to resolve Kashmir issue.  was hearing on batch of four petitions demanding scrapping of Article 35A on various grounds. The main petition was filed by Delhi-based NGO in 2014. About Article 35-A  Article 35A of the Constitution empowers J&K legislature to define permanent residents (PR) of state. It was added through  Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 issued under Article 370 of Constitution by the President of India and not by amending  constitution under Article 368. Permanent Residents The J&K Constitution adopted on November 17, 1956 defines Permanent Resident as person who was state subject on May 14, 1954, or who has been

India to host UN Summit on Conservation of Migratory Species in 2020 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that India will host next Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild  Animals (CMS) Conference of Parties 13 (CMS COP13) in year 2020. CMS COP is also known as a Global Wildlife Conference. Key Facts The announcement was made during 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties 12 (COP12) to CMS held in Manila, Philippines. It was held  from 23 to 28 October 2017 and was attended by over 500 delegates from more than 91 countries participated in the summit which is held once in three  years. The theme of the CMS COP12 was “Their Future is Our Future – Sustainable Development for Wildlife and People”. This was for first time the  summit was held in Asia. The CMS COP12 was also the largest-ever meeting in the 38-year history of the convention.

Scientists link new virus to kala-azar Scientists have found that parasite called Leptomonas seymouri hosting virus called Lepsey NLV1 may be also responsible for spread of kala-azar  (visceral leishmaniasis). Earlier it was believed that parasite Leishmania donovani (sandfly) alone is responsible for spread of the dreaded infection Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as black fever and Dumdum fever is most severe form of leishmaniasis. It is zoonotic  (or parasatic) infection transmitted by sand fly (Leishmania donovani), a blood-sucking pest, which is one-third size of mosquitoes and found in moist  (humid) mud and sand and in close proximity to livestock. It signs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, anemia, and substantial swelling  of liver and spleen. It is treatable and requires a medical diagnosis. If untreated, kala-azar can kill within two years of onset of ailment  Kala-azar belongs to Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) family of diseas

OPV Vikram:  first defence vessel built in private shipyard  Larsen and Toubro (L&T) handed over offshore patrol vessel (OPV) named “Vikram” to the Indian Coast Guard. It is country’s first-ever such defence  vessel to be built in a private shipyard. The vessel was indigenously developed in-house at L&T’s Kattupalli shipyard. Its entire design and construction processes have undergone dual certific...  OPV Vikram is first of seven vessels for which by Ministry of Defence had awarded Rs. 1,432-crore contract to L&T in March 2015. It will be  inducted into service by April 2018 after completion of extensive trials of equipment and machineries. Public Finance Management System (PFMS) The PFMS scheme has been rolled out by Controller General of Accounts at behest of Union Finance Ministry, Department of Department of Expenditure.  It is an electronic fund tracking mechanism compiles, collates and makes available in real-time, information regarding all government s

Ichthyosaur fossil discovered for first time in India Geologists for the first time have discovered 152 million-year-old fossil of Ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile in  Kutch desert region of Gujarath.  The specimen belongs to Ophthalmosauridae family of ichthyosaurs that lived in oceans between 165 and 90 million years ago. The 5.5 m long fossil was found inside rocks from esozoic Era, which ran between 252 and 66 million years ago along with fossils of ammonites and  and squid-like belemnites. The detail examination fossil’s teeth suggested that it was top-tier predator in its ecosystem and ate animals. Kilogram will get new measure from 2019 The International Conference of heads of Metrology Institutes held in Sevres, France has decided that the measure of kilogram will no longer be pegged  to cylinder. From 2019 onwards, it will be set by value of Planck constant in combination with definitions of meter and second In India, salt-shaker-sized cylinder wei

VIGILANCE AWARENESS WEEK 2017 30th October to 4th November  The 2017 Vigilance Awareness Week (VAW) will be observed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) from 30th October to 4thNovember, 2017 with theme “My Vision-Corruption Free India”. The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the Chief Guest at the Inaugural Function to be held on 30th October 2017. The purpose of observing VAW is to educate the public at large about the corruption related practices and also educating them how to report about it. PASSPORT POSITION RANKING India - 75th India’s passport has been ranked 75th out of 94 countries with a visa-free score of 51, according to the ‘Global Passport Power Rank 2017’ by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital. The list is topped by Singapore, followed by Germany, Sweden and South Korea. As per report, Singapore’s passport is the most powerful ranking with a visa-free score of 159. Afghanistan was on bottom most position (94th) with the scor

APPOINTMENTS  Suresh Sethi appointed as MD and CEO of India Post Payments Bank BHARATH MALA PARIYOJANA   The BharatMala project will include economic corridors (9,000 km), inter-corridor and feeder route (6,000 km), national corridors efficiency improveme. The project will be executed through Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH), NHAI, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation SUPREME COURT  DECLARES TRIPLE TALAQ ILLEGAL The Supreme Court on Friday took on board a petition by a West Bengal-based Muslim woman to declare the practices of ''talaq-e-bidat'' (triple talaq), ''nikah halala'' and polygamy under the Muslim personal laws illegal and unconstitutional.

WORLD POLIO DAY - 24 OCTOBER The World Polio Day (WPD) is observed every year by the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 24 to raise awareness about the hazards of the crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. The day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. There is no cure for this disease, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free. FIFA AWARDS - 2017 Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid’s Portugal striker, has been named the 2017 Best FIFA Men’s Player award. Lieke Martens of FC Barcelona and the Netherlands won the best FIFA Women’s Player award Zinedine Zidane

NOBEL PRIZES 2017 The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 Rainer Weiss ,  Barry C. Barish   and   Kip S. Thorne The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 was divided, one half awarded to Rainer Weiss, the other half jointly to Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne  "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves" . The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 Jacques Dubochet ,  Joachim Frank   and   Richard Henderson "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution" The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017 Jeffrey C. Hall ,  Michael Rosbash   and   Michael W. Young "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm" The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world" The Nobel Pea