Around
INDIA
# Centre’s flip-flops on Cauvery River row continues:
- On April 27, 2018, Centre filed a review petition in the
Supreme Court seeking two weeks time to frame the Cauvery water-sharing
“scheme” (already the Supreme Court gave the Centre May 03 as the deadline to
submit the report on the issue); when the central government made the
submission orally before CJI, the CJI told “our order stands” which made the
Centre to withdraw the petition
- Centre’s flip-flop is crystal clear that it is more concerned
about the Karnataka Assembly Elections which are due to held on May 12, 2018
# NDMA conducted its first-ever mock exercise on Bio – Disasters
at Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport , Patna
TAMIL
NADU
# Madras High Court
dismissed a writ appeal by S. Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case, seeking her release on humanitarian grounds since she had
been in jail since 26 years
# A burst in ONGC pipeline ruined a paddy field in the village
of Thanjavur District
# The Madras High Court dismissed writ petition filed by the DMK
and a few others seeking a direction to the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu
Legislative Assembly to disqualify Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. P. Panneerselvam
and his team of 10 MLAs for having voted against a motion of confidence moved
by Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Feb 18, 2017 when the two
leaders were not on good terms
- The Bench said that, it would not be appropriate for the High
Court to issue such a direction since the Supreme Court was seized of the larger
constitutional issue of the power of the courts to give such rulings
- The judges also said that, separation of powers of the
judiciary, the legislature and the executive being an important feature of the
Indian Constitution and it will not be appropriate for the court to take over
the function of the Speaker
STATES
SCAN
# Haryana: Government has appointed international female shooter
Gauri Sheoran as the brand ambassador for its two health-related programmes viz
measles – Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya
Karyakram (RBSK)
# Himachal Pradesh: Government has decided to introduce free
heli-ambulance services in order to help patients in the far flung and
inaccessible areas of the State
# Maharashtra: Government announced the launch of “Startup Week
2018” from June 25 – 29, 2018 with an aim to promote entrepreneurial eco-system
# Manipur: Shirui Lily Festival 2018 was held in Ukhrul Dt
# Sikkim: Former Footballer Baichung Bhutia launched his
political party named “Hamro Sikkim Party”; he joined Trinamool Congress and
contested from Darjeeling Lok Sabha Constituency in 2014 and Silguri Assembly
Constituency in 2016 (both in West Bengal but did not win); later he resigned
from Trinamool Congress in 2018
# Telangana: Government made another request to the Centre to
clear a State legislation that proposes to enhance reservation for Muslims and
STs to 12% and 10% respectively for admission into educational institutions and
for State Services
BILATERAL
ISSUES
# Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi and Chinese President, Mr.
Xi Jinping held the first round of informal talks in Wuhan City of China
(second round of informal summit between the leaders likely to happen in India
in 2019)
- Indian Prime Minister said that “The two countries together
constitutes about 50% of the world economy and another 50% was shared by the
rest of the world for 1600 years”
# Kazakhstan has launched a 72-hour-long transit visa free
regime for Indian citizens from April 17, 2018 to Dec 31, 2018
# The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in collaboration
with the Embassy of Israel in India and the Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel
organized an exhibition title “To the End of Land” – contemporary art from
Israel on the occasion of 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two
countries
WORLD
# The leaders of North and South Korea pledged to work for the
“complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” in the first international
Korean summit (held at Panmunjom village in South Korea) more than a decade [List of Korean Summits]
# USA: Former CIA Director, Mr. Mike Pompeo was sworn in as the
70th US Secretary of State
MISC
# Durishetty Anudeep (Telangana) topped the Civil Services
Examination, 2017; after women candidate topped the examination for the past
three consecutive years, this time it was a male candidate
# CSIR was awarded the National Intellectual Property Award 2018
in the category “Top R&D Institution / Organisation for Patents and Commercialisation”
# BARC has developed “Bhabha Kavach”, a next-generation
bulletproof jacket for the Indian armed forces, which is cheaper and much
lighter as compared to the ones which are used currently
# “Fejervarya goemchi”, a large-sized brown frog, measuring 41
to 46 mm, has been discovered in Goa
