Tatva Current Affairs

Hicky’s Bengal Gazette: 238th anniversary of India’s first newspaper celebrated                 Journalists and social activists celebrated 238th anniversary of India’s first newspaper the Hicky’s Bengal Gazette. 29 January is also celebrated Hicky’s Day to pay tributes to the fighter-journalist James Augustus Hicky who is considered as founder of journalism  India. Hicky’s Bengal Gazette               Hicky’s Bengal Gazette (Original Calcutta General Advertiser) was an English language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the  then capital of British India. It was founded by James Augustus Hicky. It began publication on January 29, 1780 and was published for two years.    It was the first newspaper printed in Asia. The newspaper in its time was strong critic of administration of Governor General Warren Hastings.  It was important for its provocative journalism well before its time and its fight for free expression in India.

Khelo India Pledge Launched at Khelo India School Games Carnival                  Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has launched Pledge for Khelo India at Khelo India School Games Carnival in Delhi. The pledge resonates with vision of Khelo India programme and is aimed at inspiring youngsters to build mass participation and excellence in sports. It also is promise to participant and encourages sportsmanship spirit. Khelo India School Games                   Khelo India School Games was launched under Khelo India Programme. It was held at multiple venues across Delhi from January 31 to February 8, 2018.  encompassed 16 sports disciplines under which overall 199 gold medals, 199 silver medals, 275 bronze medals, to were awarded. It aimed at  creating platform to showcase hidden talent, fostering young sports prodigies and creating awareness and cognizance about physical fitness as well as  good health amongst youngsters. Khelo India             programme The Khelo India Pr

India to host informal WTO Ministerial gathering in March 2018                              India has announced to host informal Ministerial meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO) in March 2018 in New Delhi to muster support for issues  also help to multi-lateral process.                It was announced by Deepak Jagdish Saksena, India’s ambassador and permanent representative to WTO during informal WTO ministerial gathering at  Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit. Key Facts                About 40 WTO members from both rich and developing nations are being called by India for this informal meeting to “revitalise” the  multi-lateral trade body. The objective of meeting is to discuss ways to revitalise WTO to ensure predictable and transparent system of rule-making  in the area of international trade.                 The meeting will be taking place after collapse of the WTO 11th Ministerial Conference (MC 11) held in Buenos Aires in Dec

IAF Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala posthumously conferred with Ashok Chakra              President Ram Nath Kovind awarded India’s highest peacetime military decoration Ashok Chakra (31) posthumously to Indian Air Force (IAF) Garud  commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala. He had laid down his life after gunning down two terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.   He is the third Ashok Chakra for the IAF and its first for ground combat. Other two IAF officers are Rakesh Sharma (first and still only Indian  citizen to go to space) and Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon posthumously decorated with the Param Vir Chakra in 1972. Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala          He had joined the IAF in 2005 and was ‘Corporal’ when he was martyred. He was part of small Garud commando batch  attached to Indian Army’s specialized counter-insurgency force, Rashtriya Rifles under the aegis of ‘Op Rakshak’ in J&K, when he was martyred. On November 18, 2017, the Rashtriya Rifles-Garud team, acting on i

UDAN Phase-II: 325 routes awarded; 40% for North East, hills The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has awarded 325 air routes under the second phase of government’s flagship UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam naagrik)  regional connectivity scheme. Around 40% or 129 of 325 air routes were awarded to newly created category of ‘priority areas’ that include Jammu and  Kashmir, Northeastern and hill states, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands, Key Facts The routes under phase-II were awarded to 15 airlines and helicopter operators after bidding process. These include major domestic airlines such as  SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways and Air India subsidiary Alliance Air and four helicopter operators — Heligo Charters, Heritage Aviation, Pawan Hans,  and Skyone Airways. Airports to be connected under phase-II : Total 78 airports i.e. 36 served airports, 13 underserved airports and 29 unserved airports will be connected.  In addition, 31 helipads/ heliports will be connected through

First International Dam Safety Conference held in Thiruvananthapuram            The first International Dam Safety Conference-2018 was held in Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) from January 23-24, 2018.            It was inaugurated by  Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and was presided over by Union Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal. Key Facts          This Conference is fourth in series organized under aegis of ongoing Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP). It was organized  jointly by Central Water Commission (CWC), Kerala Water Resources Department (KWRD), National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NITC), and College  Engineering, Trivandrum (CET).          As many as 550 delegates from over 20 countries, including US, Switzerland, Spain and Australia took part in the conference. Moreover, seven dam  safety manuals developed under DRIP were also released for implementation during the conference. Dam Health and Rehabilitation Mo

President felicitates 112 first ladies                                     President Ram Nath Kovind has felicitated 112 exceptional women achievers at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. These women achievers ‘FIRST LADIES’ are those who are first to set milestone of achievement in their respective fields. This ‘First Ladies’ is second leg of the ‘100 Women Achievers’ campaign of the Ministry.  Key Facts                These 112 women were selected after extensive  research process by Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD). They are those who have been first in any field like first woman judge, first woman  porter, first woman to head missile project, first para-trooper, first Olympian among others. Their felicitation aims to inspire other women to break  the glass ceiling and do women of India proud. Among those who were honoured by President include Bachendri Pal: first Indian woman to reach the Mount Everest summit; Deepa Malik: first woman to win a medal at

MeitY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative                                      The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative to strengthen cybersecurity ecosystem  in India in line Government’s vision for a ‘Digital India’. It was launched in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry  partners. Cyber Surakshit Bharat                  Cyber Surakshit Bharat is first public-private partnership of its kind. It will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity. The  founding partners include leading IT companies such as Microsoft, Intel, WIPRO, Redhat and Dimension Data. Its knowledge partners include Cert-In, NIC, NASSCOM and FIDO Alliance and premier consultancy firms Deloitte and  EY. Objective: Spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and  frontline IT staff across all government depa

India’s First Automatic Early Warning Dissemination System to come up in Odisha                India’s first automatic Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) will be commissioned by March 2018 in Odisha. The project aims to establish fool-proof communication system to address existing gaps in disseminating disaster warning up to community level. Key Facts                 The EWDS is a first-of-its-kind automatic public address system in the country. The project is being implemented under National Cyclone Risk  Mitigation Project with World Bank’s help. It will provide Odhisa’s entire population residing on 480 km length coastline a pre-warning siren in  of occurrence of natural disasters like tsunami or cyclone. It will help to warn vast population of state residing along its coast from  of occurrence of natural disasters like tsunami or cyclone.  It will help to warn vast population of state residing along its coast from State headquarters through loud sirens from towers i