1. Visual spectacle as grand anointment of Bahubali begins IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466 1 | P a g e 1. Visual spectacle as grand anointment of Bahubali

National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466

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1. Visual spectacle as grand anointment of Bahubali begins

Topic: Culture

More on the conference:

58.8fttall Gomateshwara statue soaked in various hues amid chants by devotees at S

hravanabelagola.

The nine day grand anointment of Bahubali, which is a visual splendour, began.

The ritual is held once in 12 years in reverence of the victorious king Bahubali,

who preferred spiritual pursuit to his throne.

The day’s events began with rituals at Kalasha Nagar, where kalasha

holders were provided accommodation. The kalashas and holy liquids meant for

the abhisheka were carried to the scaffolding, erected specially for the event.

Bhahubali:

Bahubali a much revered figure among Jains, was the son of Adinath, the

first tirthankara of Jainism, and the younger brother of Bharata Chakravartin.

He is said to have meditated motionless for one year in a standing posture

(kayotsarga) and that during this time, climbing plants grew around his legs.

After his year of meditation, Bahubali is said to have attained omniscience (Kevala

Gyana). According to Jain texts, Bahubali attained liberation from the cycle of births

and deaths (moksha) at Mount Kailash and is revered as a liberated soul (Siddha) by

the Jains.

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2. Stents

Topic: Science and Technology

Why in news:

Stents were in news regarding the price capping.

In medicine, a stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the lumen of an anatomic

vessel or duct to keep the passageway open, and stenting is the placement of a stent.

There is a wide variety of stents used for different purposes, from expandable

coronary, vascular and biliary stents, to simple plastic stents used to allow the flow of

urine between kidney and bladder.

Stent is also used as a verb to describe the placement of such a device, particularly

when a disease such as atherosclerosis has pathologically narrowed a structure such

as an artery.

Coronary stents are placed during a coronary angioplasty. The most common use for

coronary stents is in the coronary arteries, into which a bare-metal stent, a drug-

eluting stent, a bio absorbable stent, a dual-therapy stent (combination of both drug

and bioengineered stent), or occasionally a covered stent is inserted.

Vascular stents are commonly placed as part of peripheral artery angioplasty.

Common sites treated with peripheral artery stents include the carotid, iliac, and

femoral arteries.

A stent graft or covered stent is type of vascular stent with a fabric coating that creates

a contained tube but is expandable like a bare metal stent.

Ureteral stents are used to ensure the patency of a ureter, which may be

compromised, for example, by a kidney stone. This method is sometimes used as a

temporary measure to prevent damage to a blocked kidney until a procedure to

remove the stone can be performed.

National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466

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3. Surajkund

Topic: Culture

Every year in February, a grand and spectacularly colourful crafts fair, the Surajkund

Mela, is held in Faridabad, Haryana. It is attended by millions, including thousands of

international tourists who come to eat and shop from the stalls put up by various

States.

Surajkund (translation: the lake of the sun) is the site of one of the oldest surviving

monuments of Delhi, the city that was once called Dhillika.

The Tomar dynasty ruled from the 8th to the 11th century over the Delhi Haryana

region. Though their royal residence was in Lal Kot in Mehrauli, they built a city, a

reservoir, and somefortications in the area known even today as Anangpur or Anekpur

after the first Tomar ruler, Anangpal I.

It was Suraj Pal Tomar, in the 10th century, who built the huge water reservoir along with a sun temple on the western bank. (Anangpal Tomar II was succeeded by his grandson Prithviraj Chauhan. The Delhi Sultanate was established in 1192 after Prithviraj Chauhan’s defeat in the Battle of Tarain by the Ghorid forces.)

4. Emotional intelligence

Topic: Ethics

Definition:

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your and other people’s emotions; and manage them in better manner. It helps you control your own negative emotions. Then you can focus more on work than on mood, your productivity/efficiency/quality of work improves. As Lord Buddha said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else: you are the one who gets burned.”

Benefits of higher EI:

•Helps you make better decisions, perform under stress and against heavy-odds.

Helps you deal with uncertainty and change in personal and professional life. Otherwise “He who spends time regretting the past loses the present and risks the future.”

Helps you manage relations. You can later leverage those relations to get things done, to reach the places where you want to reach, to get the success you want to get.

You can motivate teammates and extract more work out of them.

You can manage unreasonable people in most situations.

You can bounce back from setbacks and defeats.

You’re least affected by office-politics.

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Because of above things, your stress is controlled and you’ve less chances of lifestyle diseases such diabetes and heart attack. You have less chances of become depressed or anxious.

EI helps developing Empathy towards others.

5. China will host 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit at Qingdao

Topic: International affairs Why in news:

China had taken over rotating chair of SCO after 17th SCO summit concluded in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan in June 2017.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization:

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security

organisation, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by

the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter was signed in June 2002 and entered into

force on 19 September 2003.

These countries, except for Uzbekistan, had been members of the Shanghai Five group,

founded on 26 April 1996 in Shanghai.

India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana,

Kazakhstan.

The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations' Central Asian security-related

concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and

extremism. However evidence is growing that its activities in the area of social development

of its member states is increasing fast.

Over the past few years, the organisation's activities have expanded to include increased

military cooperation, intelligence sharing, and counterterrorism.

Cultural cooperation also occurs in the SCO framework.

National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466

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6. Government inks 100 million loan agreement with NDB

Topic: Organisations in news Why in news:

Government has signed second Loan Agreement with New Development Bank (NDB) for financing of Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project for the Desert areas.

New Development Bank

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466

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According to the Agreement on the NDB, "the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments."

Moreover, the NDB "shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank."

The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members. The Agreement on the NDB specifies that the voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank.

The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members. The Agreement on the NDB specifies that the voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank.

The idea for setting up the bank was proposed by India at the 4th BRICS summit in 2012 held in Delhi. The creation of a new development bank was the main theme of the meeting.BRICS leaders agreed to set up a Development bank at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa on 27 March 2013.

The 7th BRICS summit in July 2015 marked the entry into force of the Agreement on the New Development Bank.

The bank's primary focus of lending will be infrastructure and sustained development projects.

The bank aims to contribute to development plans established nationally through projects that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Taking this into account, the main objectives of the NDB can be summarized as follows

1. Promote infrastructure and sustainable development projects with a significant development impact in member countries.

2. Establish an extensive network of global partnerships with other multilateral development institutions and national development banks

3. Build a balanced project portfolio giving a proper respect to their geographic location, financing requirements and other factors.

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7. Sex ratio at birth dips in 17large States, Gujarat tops list

Topic: Social issues More on the issue:

The sex ratio at birth (SRB) saw a decline in 17 out of 21 large states of the country, with Gujarat recording an alarming dip of 53 points, a Niti Aayog report stated and stressed on the need to check sex selective abortion.

According to the report, among the 17 states which recorded substantial drop of 10 points or more, in Gujarat the SRB fell to 854 females from 907 females per 1,000 males born registering a drop of 53 points from 2014 15 (base year) to 201516 (reference year).

Gujarat is followed by Haryana, which registered a drop of 35 points, Rajasthan (32 points), Uttarakhand (27 points), Maharashtra (18 points), Himachal Pradesh (14 points), Chhattisgarh (drop of 12 points), and Karnataka (11 points), the Healthy States, Progressive India report states.

“There is a clear need for States to effectively implement the PreConception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 and take adequate measures to promote the value of the girl child,” the report stated.

8. India State of Forest Report 2017 Released

Topic: Environment and ecology

More on the report:

India has shown an increasing trend in the forest and tree cover, in comparison to the global trend of decreasing forest cover during the last decade.

“India is ranked 10th in the world, with 24.4% of land area under forest and tree cover, even though it accounts for 2.4 % of the world surface area and sustains the needs of 17 % of human and 18 % livestock population”

Despite such tremendous population and pressures of livestock on our forests, India has been able to preserve and expand its forest wealth.

As per the latest FAO report, India is placed 8thin the list of Top Ten nations reporting the greatest annual net gain in forest area.

The latest assessment shows that there is an increase of 8, 021 sq km (about 80.20 million hectare) in the total forest and tree cover of the country, compared to the previous assessment in 2015.

“The total forest and tree cover is 24.39 per cent of the geographical area of the country”.

The encouraging trend is that there is much of the increase in the forest cover has been observed in Very Dense Forest (VDF), as VDF absorbs maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The increase in forest cover in VDF is followed by increase in open forest. ISFR 2017 has been prepared with the help of scientific tools.

Andhra Pradesh (2141 sq km), followed by Karnataka (1101 sq km) and Kerala (1043 sq km) have shown the maximum increase in forest cover.

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77,414 sq km in the country in terms of area, followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 66,964 sq km and Chhattisgarh (55,547 sq km).

In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep with (90.33 per cent) has the highest forest cover, followed by Mizoram (86.27 per cent) and Andaman & Nicobar Island (81.73 per cent)

National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 18-02-2018 Contact: 9632334466

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The present assessment also reveals that 15 states/UT’s have above 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover.

As per the ISFR 2017, the total mangrove cover stands at 4,921 sq km and has shown an increase of 181 sq km. All the 12 mangrove states have shown a positive change in the mangrove cover, as compared to the last assessment. Mangrove ecosystem is rich in biodiversity and provides a number of ecological services.

The information given in the report will serve as an important tool to monitor the country’s forest resources and plan suitable scientific and policy interventions for its management. It will also serve as a useful source of information for the policy makers, planners, State Forest Departments, line agencies involved in various developmental works, academicians, civil society and others interested in natural resource conservation and management.

9. ‘PaschimLehar’

Topic: Security

Why In News: Around 40 ships, submarines and fighter aircraft participated in 'Paschim Lehar', a tri-service

maritime exercise off India's western coast.

The objective of the exercise, which commenced on February 12, is to build interoperability.

This exercise includes participation of a large number of ships, submarines and aircraft from

the Western Naval Command of the Indian Navy.

Units from Eastern Naval Command, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard. The

Amphibious capabilities of the armed forces, along with the elements of Army Amphibious

Brigade will also be deployed and tested for operational tasking during the exercise.

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The exercise includes a number of weapon firings, including missile, gun and torpedo firings during the initial phase. The second phase is structured to validate and refine the operational plans of the Western Naval command .

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