HIMACHAL PRADESH

 

• Bill to promote academic excellence gets approval

 

• The Assembly passed the Himachal Pradesh State Higher Education Council (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2008.

 

• It was introduced by Minister for Education.

 

• The Bill aims at ensuring the autonomy of institutions of higher education in the state and making them accountable for promoting academic excellence. It will act as a bridge among the government, universities and regulatory bodies.

INTERNATIONAL

 

·        World’s First Floating Nuclear Power Plant : Akademik Lomonosov:

 

• Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s first floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) has become operational.

 

• It has latest security systems and is considered as one of safest nuclear installations in the world. However, environmentalists have dubbed it as ‘nuclear Titanic’ or ‘Chernobyl on ice’. It will be primarily used to power oil rigs in remote areas of Artic region where Russia is pushing to drill for oil and gas.

·        Germany adds Third Gender, ‘Diverse’, on Birth Certificates

 

• This comes after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right coalition had passed legislation permitting children born intersex to be registered as “miscellaneous”.
• Those born with sex traitsfor which the usual binary notion of male and female is inadequate can be identified by this third choice.
• Austria, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada and Portugal have all introduced legislation for a third gender option.

 

 

NATIONAL

 

·        The law on Sexual Exploitation is passed by J & K

 

• The state assembly of Jammu and Kashmir has passed law to ban sexual extortion of woman in offices and became the first state in the country to amend law on Sextortion.

 

• The new amendment prescribed the definition of misconduct and the demand for sexual favours also comes under the misconduct in Section 5.

 

• Indian Penal code is not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir and in place of IPC, a similar criminal law Ranbir Penal Code applies in the state.  The code was introduced by Ranbir Singh during the Dogra Dynasty and it came in effect from 1932.

 

·        NRTI: India’s first Railway University in Vadodara

 

• The Railway University will be first of its kind institution in the nation and the third in the world after Russia and China.

 

• It is named as the National Rail and Transportation Institution (NRTI).

 

• It will offer professional courses in technology and management of transportation networks.

 

• The Railways Ministry has sanctioned Rs 421 crore for the NRTI and its curriculum development for the next five years.

 

·        Cyclonic Storm Phethai

 

• Cyclonic Storm Phethai is the sixth named cyclone of 2018 North Indian Ocean Cyclone season. The previous five named cyclones are Sagar, Mekunu, Luban, Titli and Gaza.

 

• Cyclone Pethai has emerged as a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal around 900 kms off Chennai.

 

• It was expected to bring heavy rainfalls in the coastal areas of north Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

 

 

·        Operation Oliva: Coast Guard launches operation to safeguard turtles

 

• The Coast Guard launched an exercise along the serene sea waters of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Odisha to protect the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
• The Coast Guard  ‘Operation Oliva’ exerciseas part of its annual mission to ensure the safe mid-sea sojourn of breeding Olive Ridley sea turtles.

 

·        Indias first private UAV factory inaugurated in Hyderabad

 

• India‘s first private sector unit for manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was inaugurated by Telangana’s Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali at Adani Aerospace Park in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• The 50,000 square feet facility has been built by the Adani Group and Israel-based Elbit System.

 

• Soon, a virtual tour of railway heritage sites in trains, classrooms

 

• Soon, passengers onboard trains or students in faraway locations can take a tour of the National Rail Museum or see the Kalka-Shimla rail route without moving from their seats.

 

• Railways has tied up with Google’s education initiative to create and deliver virtual educational expeditions using 3-D imaging and virtual tours of its prominent heritage places.

 

• As a part of this project, Railways is considering providing virtual reality glasses to passengers on rent so that they can have a glimpse of the sites without actually being there physically. It is also planning to collaborate with schools and NGOs to take the glasses to classrooms.