Daily Current Affairs Capsule for UPSC and State Civil Services- 15th August 2018
Current Affairs in Short| Fast and Quick Revision
Contents
3rd Railways Station Cleanliness Report Released: Jodhpur, Marwar declared cleanliest rail stations
- This was the third edition of audit cum cleanliness survey conducted by Indian Railways to increase the level of cleanliness.
- Conducted under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
- It was conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI).
- Top 5 A1 category Stations (out of 75): Jodhpur (1st), Jaipur (2nd), Tirupati (3rd), Vijayawada (4th), Anand Vihar Terminal (5th)
- Top 5 A category stations (out of 332): Marwar (1st), Phulera (2nd), Warangal (3rd), Udaipur (4th), Jaisalmer (5th)
- Top Zonal Railways Rankings: North Western Railway
NASA’s New Horizons’ latest data suggests there could be a hydrogen wall at the end of our solar system.
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- Hydrogen wall is a “signature of the furthest reaches of sun’s energy”.
- New Horizons was launched in 2006, and is still travelling through space
- New Horizon’s Mission: to map the surfaces of Pluto and Charon, to study Pluto’s atmosphere and to take temperature readings.
- The mission will complete what NASA calls the Reconnaissance of the classical solar system.
- it will make the U.S. the first nation to send a space probe to every planet from Mercury to Pluto.
US plans to build Space Force
- United State is planning to create a “space force” or a sixth branch of the American armed forces.
Australia restarts its adoption programme with India
- Australia has decided to recommence the Adoption Programme with India, as per Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption.
- The adoptions from India had earlier been suspended by the Government of Australia eight years ago, on the reported charges of trafficking of children for Inter-country adoption
- What is Hague Convention: The Hague Convention protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad
- Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA): A statutory body under Ministry of Women & Child Development
- It functions as the nodal body for the adoption of Indian children
NITI Aayog launches “Pitch to MOVE”
- “Pitch to MOVE” is a mobility pitch competition that aims to provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury.
- Started in collaboration with Invest India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).Aim: To identify and reward the start-ups offering innovative solutions for shared, connected, and environment-friendly mobility.
Mahadayi Tribunal Verdict is out
- The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal for sharing of water has delivered its final verdict.
- The tribunal has allowed Karnataka access to 13.4 tmc of water.
- The share of Goa was pegged at 24 tmc
- Maharashtra got the lowest share of 1.33 tmc for meeting its in-basin needs with respect to five projects.
- The Mahadayi river basin drains an area of 2032 square kilometres of which 375 square km lies in Karnataka, 77 sq km in Maharashtra and the remaining in Goa.
Uttarakhand high court appoints itself legal guardian of cows in the state
- The Uttarakhand high court would henceforth act as the legal guardian of cows in the state.
- The court has invoked the ‘parens patriae’ doctrine for cow protection
- The court banned the slaughter of cows, bulls, bullocks, heifers or calves in the state and ruled that no person shall sell beef or beef products in any form in Uttarakhand.