Page 3 - montage
P. 3
The UIDAI, on 15 January 2018, announced face recognition as an additional layer of Aadhaar
authentication.
In an unprecedented act, four senior judges of the Supreme Court on 12 January 2018 held a press
conference and publicly accused Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra of selectively assigning cases to
judges of his choice without any rational basis.
Pratyush, India's fastest supercomputer yet, was unveiled at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
(IITM) in Pune on January 8, 2018.
The World Economic Forum, 13 January 2018, ranked India at 30th position on a global manufacturing
index - below China's 5th place but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
China, on 5 January 2018, tightened limits on critically important energy supplies to North Korea and
stepped up other trade restrictions under intensified UN nuclear sanctions.
As per the latest religion-wise data from the NFHS of 2015-16, average number of children born to a
woman over her lifetime, or total fertility rate (TFR), has dropped below replacement for all religious
communities barring Hindus and Muslims.
English city Birmingham was picked on 21 December 2017 as the replacement host for the 2022
Commonwealth Games.
Last year was the second hottest worldwide on record, just behind a sweltering 2016 with signs of climate
change ranging from wildfires to a thaw of Arctic ice, a European Union monitoring centre said.
Donald Trump, on 23 December 2017, signed into law USD 1.5 trillion tax bill, the most sweeping overhaul
in over 30 years.
The Supreme Court, on 9 January 2018, revoked its interim order on mandatory playing of national anthem
before movie screenings in cinema halls after multiple instances of vigilante patriotism.
Rekindling hope among many fighting for LGBT rights, the Supreme Court on 8 January 2018 decided to
revisit its December 2013 order upholding the constitutional validity of Indian Penal Code section 377
which criminalises same-sex relations between consenting adults.
India, on 28 December 2017, successfully test-fired an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile
from a test range in Odisha.
Henrietta H Fore was appointed as the new executive director of UNICEF on December 22, 2017.
Emissions from domestic biomass burning has emerged as the deadliest air pollution source in India with
it being responsible for around a quarter of the deaths caused by PM2.5, a global study found on January
11, 2018.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to India from 14 to 19 January 2018 closes a momentous twenty
fifth anniversary year of India-Israel relationship and its growing partnership.
According to the All India Survey on Higher Education unveiled by HRD Minister on 5 January 2018, ratio
of children opting for higher studies has remained fairly static over the last four years but the silver lining
is the narrowing of the gender gap with more girls now going to college.
Scientists, on 21 December 2017, discovered a new frog species in the fast flowing streams of Arunachal
Pradesh's Lower Subansiri district.
The US, on 4 January 2018, said it is suspending most of its security assistance to Pakistan until it takes
decisive action against groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network.
George Weah, the former football star, on 28 December 2017, won Liberia's presidential election, defeating
the vice-president, Joseph Boakai, in a runoff with 61.5% of the vote.
Casual workers remained the most affected post-demonetisation, with as many as 53 thousand workers
losing their jobs in 8 select sector during the first three months of 2017, according to a Labour Bureau
survey on December 30, 2017.
The triple talaq bill will now be pushed to the Budget session as Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine-die. The
triple talaq bill was listed in the Rajya Sabha on 5 January 2018, the last day of the winter session of
parliament.
Scientists, on 1 January 2018, discovered four new 'hot Jupiter' extrasolar planets orbiting dwarf stars.
March 2018 Competition Wizard 147
