February 7th, 2018

1. The Times Higher Education(THE) released the list of the best colleges in Asia in the Asia University Rankings 2018.
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  • 42 Indian Universities on the list, none in top 25. While the top 10 spots were secured by universities from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, India managed to improve its score on the index with a total of 42 found a place among just over 350 Universities.
  • Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Bengaluru was the topmost Indian University in the list coming in at rank 29. At rank 44 was the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, followed by IIT-Kharagpur at 60 with 11,016 students.
  • IIT-Roorkee, rank 65, IIT-Kanpur, rank 81 and IIT-Delhi, rank 86. At rank 100, Tezpur University in Assam was the last Indian university in the top 100 list.

2. President Shri Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav 2018 in Karnataka.
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  • President Kovind inaugurated Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav 2018 of Gommateshwara Bhagwan Sri Bahubali Swami at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka.
  • The Mahamastakabhisheka Mahotsav is celebrated once every 12 years. It has been celebrated for about a 1,000 years.
  • Static Part: National Parks in Karnataka:-Bandipur National Park, Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary,. Kudremukh National Park, Bannerghatta National Park, Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagarhole National Park., Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

3. Gadkari Inaugurates 5 Highways Projects Around Allahabad.
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  • Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation inaugurated/laid a foundation stone for 137 km of highways projects worth Rs 5632 crore around Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
  • Besides widening of national highways, this includes construction of a new, six-lane bridge over Ganga at Fafamau, Allahabad.
  • Gadkari said that his Ministry plans to build highways worth Rs 2 lakh crore in Uttar Pradesh before the government’s five-year term ends next year.
  • Static Part: Dudhwa National Park is in Uttar Pradesh.

4. Sushma Swaraj inaugurates Saudi cultural festival.

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  • External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has inaugurated Saudi Arabia’s annual ‘Janadriyah Festival’ where India has been invited as a guest of honor this year.
  • Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had said that India’s participation in the festival will be multifaceted and would take relations of the two nations “to new heights”.
  • According to the minister, the Indian pavilion at the festival will project a number of Indian themes and projects.
  • Static Part: Saudi Arabia:-Capital: Riyadh|Currency: Saudi Riyal.

5. Centre clears Rs 62crore for cleaning Sal river in Goa to abate pollution.
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  • The central government has approved a project at an estimated cost of Rs 61.7 crore.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had in 2015 identified the river stretch at Navelim as one of the 302 polluted rivers stretches across the country based on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels.
  • The project was approved by the Union environment ministry last week under its National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) which covers 31 rivers (other than Ganga and its tributaries) in 14 states.
  • Static Part: Goa:- Chief Minister- Manohar Parrikar|Governor-Mridula Sinha|Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park are in Goa.

6. Haryana launches ‘Gobardhan Yojana’ to support farmers.
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  • The Haryana government has launched the ‘Gobardhan Yojana’ to provide for the sale of organic manure and cow urine with an aim to benefit farmers.
  • A provision of Rs 11 crore has been made to provide benefits of various projects under this scheme, Khattar said while addressing villagers at a ‘Kisan Samman Samaroh’ in Nizampur village of Sonipat district.
  • Static Part: Haryana:-Governor-Kaptan Singh Solanki|Chief minister-Manohar Lal Khattar|Sultanpur National Park and Kalesar National Park are at Haryana.

7. Hardayal Prasad appointed as SBI Card MD & CEO.
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  • SBI Card, the country’s second-largest credit card issuer, has a new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer in Hardayal Prasad.
  • Prasad has taken over from Vijay Jasuja, who superannuated on January 31.
  • Prior to this appointment, Prasad was with State Bank of India, holding multiple leadership positions in the bank.
  • He had joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1983.
  • Static Part: State Bank of India-Chairperson
    Rajnish Kumar.

8. Kathakali maestro Madavoor Vasudevan Nair passes away.
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  • Kathakali maestro Madavoor Vasudevan Nair collapsed on stage and died while performing at Agasthyacodu Mahadeva Temple, Anchal. He was 89.
  • A recipient of several awards, including Padma Bhushan, he was the follower of the Kaplingattu School, the particular style of south Kerala.

9. English-American Actor John Mahoney Passes Away.
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  • Actor John Mahoney passed away after a brief illness in Chicago, the USA. He was 77 years old. He was well-known for playing the title character in the “Frasier” show.
  • He worked in films for nearly 35 years. His important works are “The American President,” “Moonstruck,” “In the Line of Fire,” and “Say Anything”.

10. India-UAE to ink 12 pacts during PM Modi’s visit.
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  • As many as 12 agreements will be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE later this week as India and the oil-rich Gulf nation look to intensify economic cooperation.
  • The agreements will include areas like finance and skills development.
  • Modi will start his visit to three West Asian countries – Palestine, the UAE and Oman – on February 9 with focus on cooperation in key areas of defense, security and counter-terrorism.
  • The Prime Minister will participate in the 6th World Government Summit in Dubai on February 10-11 in which India is a partner country.
  • This will be PM Modi’s second visit to the UAE. He first visited the country in August 2015.
  • Static Part: United Arab Emirates(UAE):-Capital: Abu Dhabi|Currency: Dirham|President-Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

11. 5th South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference Held in New Delhi.
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  • The Fifth edition of South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference was held in New Delhi. It was hosted by Public Procurement Division (PPD) of Ministry of Finance and All India Management Association (AIMA).
  • It was held under auspices of South Asia Region Public Procurement Network (SARPPN), which is sponsored and facilitated by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank. The theme this edition of the conference was “Public Procurement and Service Delivery”.
  • Static Part: The First edition of South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference was held in Kathmandu in 2010, second in Islamabad (2014), third in Dhaka (2015) and fourth in Sri Lanka (2017).

12. South Central Railway (SCR) Becomes first Rail Zone with 100% LED Lighting at Stations.
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  • SCR has attained the status of becoming the first zone in the Indian Railways to complete 100% LED lighting in all the 733 stations under its jurisdiction.
  • Static Part: 1. Piyush Goyal is the present Railways Minister of India.
    2. John Mathai was the first railway Minister of Independent India.