February 17 & 18 Current Affairs

State :

Tamilnadu :

UTS app crosses 1 million users mark

• The Unreserved Mobile Ticketing app has become a popular mode for the city’s commuters for purchasing train tickets.
• The number of users of the UTS mobile app in the Chennai Division of the Southern Railway has crossed the 1 million mark, with 10,31,029 passengers using the app in January.

TAKEAWAYS

1. The UTS app was first introduced on the Chennai Egmore–Tambaram suburban section in April 2015.

Luxury mall Palladium Chennai opens at Velachery

• Palladium Chennai, India’s uber luxury mall, opened its doors to the public at the Phoenix Market City on Saturday. It is located adjacent to the Phoenix Mall in Velachery.
• Dubbed as the single largest super regional shopping centre for luxury goods in Chennai, it houses more than 70 international brands

Bank deposits will be protected: Arvind Subramanian

• “Banks accept short-term money in the form of deposits and lend for long-term purposes. The system works on confidence. Two things are essential. One is effective regulation and second is deposit guarantee,” India’s Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said.

Kerala :

Minister calls bus operators for talks on February 18

• “Though the strike has affected the travelling public, we see no other way as the minimum fare hike from ₹7 to ₹8 and per km increase by 6 paise to 15 paise proposed from March 1 will put the industry into further crisis,” Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran said .

LDF need not acceptany new dangers: CPI

• The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government enjoys a clear majority and there is no need for it to accept any new dangers, CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran has said.Says those who left the front should come back

Krishna Menon memorial to be set up in London

• The first Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom will now have a fitting memorial in London. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan handed over a bust of V.K. Krishna Menon to officials from the Indian High Commission office in London on Saturday in Kozhikode, Krishna Menon’s home town.Chief Minister hands over bust to High Commission office .

KSBB to tap UN funds o concerve native crops

• The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is embarking on a mission to tackle the twin threats posed by invasive species and the erosion of agricultural biodiversity.Biodiversity board will simultaneously develop a model for invasive species management .
• “We have some models developed by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Wayanad. The project seeks to build on these models for germplasm conservation in all the agro ecological regions in the State,” he said.

Airports to be linked to waterways

• A direct waterway connectivity to the three international airports of the State is on the anvil as part of incorporating a multi-modal transport system linking air, land, and waterways.
• The waterway-airport connectivity has been proposed as part of a project kicked off by the State government to make the 610-km waterway from Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram to Bekal in Kasaragod navigable by 2022 .

Telangana :

Rationalisation of SBI branches almost complete

• The rationalisation of branches of State Bank of India (SBI) following merger into five of its associate banks in April last year has almost been completed in Telangana, at least for this financial year, wherever they were located in close proximity to each other.Most accounts shifted to merged branches in the State

Massive recruitment by Indian Railways

• The Ministry of Railways has announced one of the world’s largest recruitment processes for 89,409 posts in Group C Level I (erstwhile Group D) & Level II categories. Online applications have been invited for the Group C Level II posts like assistant loco pilots, technicians (fitter, crane driver, blacksmith, and carpenter) and Group C Level I (erstwhile Group D) posts like track maintainer, points man, helper, gateman, porter .
• 89,409 posts in Group C Level I and Level II categories to be filled .

The magic that seasonal guests bring with them

• large flocks of birds flying across the sky greet many in villages in the district. They make a beautiful spectacle, a true delight for villagers. These are painted storks migrating from distant places to their temporary abode in some of the villages in the district.

CPI(M) takes a dig at NDA government

• The Communist Party of India State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy lambasted the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, for imposing backbreaking economic burden on common people, by implementing “pro-corporate” economic policies.
• “The persons at the helm have earned notoriety for patronising tainted businessmen, causing colossal damage to the country’s economy,” he alleged .

Karnataka :

JD(S) rally: Traffic comes to a crawl

• Traffic started piling up on the busy Ballari Road by noon for the rally scheduled at 4 p.m. Police said around two lakh vehicles with JD(S) supporters moved towards Nitte college.
• The worse affected were people commuters heading towards the Kempegowda International Airport.

More solar-powered borewells to augment water supply

• Karnataka Renewable Energy Department Ltd. (KREDL) will help energise borewells in Bandipur Tiger Reserve to avoid water stress for wild animals this summer.The aim is to help avoid water stress for wild animals this summer .

e-Mobility campaign launched

• After approving ‘Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 2017’, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday launched the e-Mobility Awareness Campaign of the government by flagging off 50 Mahindra eVerito electric cars.

Andhra Pradesh :

Multi-crore water scheme a major fillip for Nellore

• Though the Nellore Municipal Corporation (NMC) could not get huge funds after failing to find a place in the list of national-level smart city projects two years ago, the city later got a major boost in the form of a 557-crore augmented drinking water supply scheme and another 580-crore underground drainage project.Plan to increase supply from 85 MLD now to 185 in 30 years.

TDP to blame for delay in rail zone: MLC

• BJP MLC P.V.N Mr. Madhav said that Yerrannaidu, as a native of Srikakulam, had an apprehension that the interests of his district would be compromised if the railway zone was carved. “Blaming the BJP for the delay is unwarranted and unnecessary,” he said .

State awaiting 167 cr. for MGNREGS wage bill: Lokesh

• Another letter from Andhra Pradesh goes to the Centre seeking funds. Besides the unfulfilled bifurcation promises, the outstanding funds related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has been added to the list of receivables.16 crore man-days of work costing ₹3,000 crore this fiscal’ .

India :

Over 40 Indian languages, dialects heading to extinction

• More than 40 languages or dialects in India are considered to be endangered and are believed to be heading towards extinction as only a few thousand people speak them, officials said.

Chabahar will be a golden gateway, says Narendra Modi

• Iran on february 17 joined hands with India to promote connectivity through the port of Chabahar and asked the United States to respect territorial sovereignty.
• Welcoming the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged for closer cooperation in the fields of energy, banking and countering terrorism.

Canadian PM Trudeau begins week-long India visit

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday arrived in India for a week-long visit, during which he will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on wide-ranging issues, including defence, and counter-terror cooperations. During his visit, Trudeau will interact with business leaders, representatives of the film industry, and students.

ED searches 45 locations, seizes ₹20 cr. assets

• “The searches were carried at 10 locations in Bengaluru, seven in Delhi, five each in Mumbai and Kolkata, and four each in Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Several premises in Patna, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati were also searched during the day,” said a senior ED official.

World :

Plane crashes in Iran mountains, 66 feared dead

• All 66 people on board an Iranian passenger plane were feared dead on Sunday after it crashed into the country's Zagros mountains, with emergency services struggling to locate the wreckage in blizzard conditions.

Florida high school shooter was on police’s radar in 2016

• A teenager accused of fatally shooting 17 people at a Florida high school was investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was receiving sufficient support, newspapers said on February 17 .Media reports say that a video with Nikolas Cruz speaking about buying a gun had raised concerns .

Stop blaming Pakistan for failures in Afghanistan: Gen. Bajwa to U.S

• Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa has claimed that there are no safe havens for terrorists in his country and asked the U.S. to stop blaming Islamabad for its failure in Afghanistan
• Gen. Bajwa asked the American leadership to instead search for the reasons for its failures in the war-torn country.

The long march into outer space

• China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), built in the heat of the rivalry between China and the Soviet Union in the sixties, has hit the headlines this month. On February 12, the space station was used for launching two Beidou-3 satellites. By 2020, these ‘eyes in the sky’, as part of a 30-member family, will become operational, rivalling the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) .The launch of the satellites showcases the steely resolve of China to quickly stamp its authority on the international aerospace .

Business :

Bankers face off over scam liability

• Senior officials of banks that were impacted due to the ₹11,500-crore fraud in Punjab National Bank had a face-off when they met on Saturday to discuss about who should bear the liability.
• According to sources close to the development, PNB has taken a stand of not paying its dues to others banks till the investigations are over.Impaired loans of the banking sector may rise to more than ₹20,000 crore .

RIL eyes 60,000 cr. digital industrial area

• Reliance Industries (RIL), along with global firms, is planning to invest more than ₹60,000 crore in Maharashtra in the next 10 years for establishing an integrated digital industrial area for the ‘fourth industrial revolution.’India can achieve more than China via fourth industrial revolution: Ambani.

Financial conditions improving: CII-IBA

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Financial Conditions Index, a key indicator in assessing short-term financial conditions in the Indian economy, for the ongoing fourth quarter of 2017-18 registered 53.2, an improvement of five points year-on-year .
• ‘Index notes government work in fiscal space’

Science :

TIFR team plays timekeeper to speeding electron bunches

• Physicists at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, have succeeded in studying electron bunches, kicked up to high speeds within a glass slab by a short duration laser pulse. They have measured the lifetime of these electron bunches within the material. And so long, this has been only guessed at. The work, published in The Physical Review Letters, lies at the forefront of high energy density science

Taking a walk in the fruit fly’s shoes

• The humble fruit fly which has helped humans win five Nobel prizes has now revealed to scientists how we walk and the brain cells that control this mundane activity.The insect’s nervous system resembles human spinal cord.

 Sports :

Klaebo does it again as Norway takes gold in men's 4x10km relay

• Klaebo outskied Spitsov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia, in the final 10 kilometers to capture gold for Norway in the men’s 4x10km relay Sunday at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea.
• Klaebo pulled away from Spitsov in the final 1.73 kilometers and had enough time to grab Norway's flag as he crossed the finish line.

Rotterdam Open: Federer finishes with a flourish

• Roger Federer celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings by winning the Rotterdam Open here on Sunday for his 97th title.In the Open era, only American Jimmy Connors has won more titles than Federer, with 109 .
• The 36-year-old, the oldest ATP No.1 in history, thrashed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided final.

Djoker cheers doppelganger

• Tennis ace Novak Djokovic has invited French lookalike Winter Olympic champion Pierre Vaultier for a get-together after the snowboard gold medallist noted the resemblance between the two men .

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