GS TIMES Current Affairs News Quick Revision January 2018 1. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL) signed an agreement on 31st January, 2018, for financing the shared infrastructure of two large Solar Parks in Madhya Pradesh. 2. Dennis Peron, the activist who fired up the movement to legalise medical marijuana in California (USA) died on 27 January in a San Francisco hospital. Also a prominent figure in San Francisco’s gay community, Peron was credited as a pioneer in recognising the health benefits of pot during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. 3. According to some reports, the German auto industry has conducted diesel exhaust tests on both monkeys and humans. The tests were reportedly carried out by a research group funded by major German auto companies. 4. Vijay Keshav Gokhale, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1981 batch, and an expert on China and East Asia, took charge as the foreign secretary on January 29, 2018. Gokhale succeeds S Jaishankar, who was the foreign secretary for three years. Gokhale served as secretary (economic relations) in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) earlier. Gokhale was India’s ambassador to China from January 20, 2016, to October 21, 2017 and has served as India’s envoy to Malaysia and Germany. He had played a key role in negotiations to resolve the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year. 5. 44 new cases of leprosy was detected during survey in Kerala. 6. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, launched the Pulse Polio programme for 2018 by administering polio drops to children less than five years old, at the Rahstrapati Bhawan on the eve of the National Immunization Day, which is observed on 28 January. More than 17 crore children of less than five years across the country will be given polio drops as part of the drive of Government of India to sustain polio eradication from the country. 7. The legendary Indian tradition of ‘teacher-and-student’, referred to as the “Guru-Shishya Parampara” will be celebrated in grand style at the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Khelo India School Games (KISG) at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on January 31. 8. According to a report published by National Law University in Delhi, Maharashtra has overtaken Uttar Pradesh as the state with the most prisoners on death row. 9. Renowned French Chef Paul Bocuse died in Lyon, France at the age of 91 years. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a proponent of "nouvelle cuisine", a healthier form of cooking. 10. A US Republican senator, Rand Paul, has introduced a bill to block civilian aid to Pakistan. Paul’s bill proposes diverting $1.28 billion from the state department and $852 million from USAID meant for Pakistan towards building highways in the US. 11. Veteran Bengali film actress Supriya Devi died on 26 January, 2018. She was 85. Born in 1933, Supriya Devi was known for her work over five decades. She had made her debut in Uttam Kumar-starrer Basu Parivar in 1952 and never looked back after Sonar Harinopposite Uttam Kumar in 1959. Chowringhee, Bagh Bandi Khela and Meghe Dhaka Tara were among her classics. She received the Padma Shri and West Bengal government's highest civilian award Banga Vibhushan, besides the Filmfare East Lifetime Achievement Award. 12. American journalist Elizabeth Hawley, whose fifty years chronicling summits and tragedies in the Himalayas earned her the moniker "the Sherlock Holmes of the mountaineering world", died on 26 January, 2018 aged 94 in Kathmandu. She built a reputation as one of the most authoritative voices on Himalayan mountaineering after moving to Nepal in 1959 as a journalist, where she continued to live up to her death. 13. Paul Romer stepped down as the World Bank’s chief economist on 24 January, 2018, after he came under fire for saying that Chile’s rankings in a closely watched “Doing Business” report may have been deliberately skewed under socialist President Michelle Bachelet. 14. Delhi lifted their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after defeating Rajasthan by 41 runs. The final match was played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 15. India and the United States are expected to hold the inaugural edition of the simultaneous meetings of their defence and external affairs ministers — called two-by-two — in Washington DC in April, 2018. 16. Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh on 26 January, 2018 hoisted one of the ‘tallest’ and biggest illuminated national flags in Northeast India as part of the Republic Day celebrations. The Tricolour, measuring 20 ft by 30 ft, was hoisted on a 100ft pole on the premises of Imphal International Airport, 7km south of Imphal on 26 January, 2018. 17. China on 26 January 2018, outlined its ambitions to extend President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming. Releasing its first official Arctic policy white paper, China said it would encourage enterprises to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages, paving the way for Arctic shipping routes that would form a Polar Silk Road. 18. A 10-year-old Indian-origin boy Mehul Garg, nicknamed Mahi, in the UK has become the youngest applicant in a decade to get the highest score in Mensa IQ test, beating geniuses like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. He scored the maximum score of 162 to become a member of Mensa, the High IQ Society. His score is two points higher than Einstein and Hawking and places him in the top one per cent of people in the world who achieve this distinction. 19. According to a study by scientists from New Delhi’s International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), two Siddha medicines (Amukkara Churanam and Nilavembu Kudineer) commonly used in south India can prevent the dengue virus from replicating and the chikungunya virus from entering the body, resulting in no or very mild symptoms,. 20. Visiting Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte showed keen interest in Aadhaar, India’s unique identity number programme, in a bilateral meeting with PM Narendra Modi. 21. Actor Kamal Haasan has named his statewide political tour starting February 21 as ‘Naalai Namathey’ (Tomorrow is ours) after the title of the film starring MGR. 22. The tiger population at Rajasthan’s Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is now the highest in the park’s history at 67, with the numbers becoming more than what the park can handle, leading to tigers straying out into nearby areas. 23. The results of underwater surveys by the Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI), Tuticorn, revealed that rising sea temperatures caused by climate change, which killed corals in different parts of the world during the third and longest global coral bleaching event between 2014 and 2017, also destroyed coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) and Konkan coast. A rise of 2-3 degrees Celsius in sea-surface temperatures killed 16% of corals in GoM between March and October 2016. An increase of one degree Celsius killed 8% corals around the Sindhudurg island fort in the Malvan Marine Sanctuary (MMS), in December 2015. 24. Gujarati bus driver Sheikh Salim Gafur, who braved terrorists’ bullets and saved 48 Amarnath pilgrims on July 10 last year, will be awarded the Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, the second highest honour given to civilians for gallantry. 25. A dozen animals have been disqualified from Saudi Arabia’s annual camel beauty contest because their owners used botulinum toxin or Botox injections to make their lips and faces look more alluring. 26. The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), an advisory body that recommends vaccines for India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), has given the green signal to the introduction of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme. 27. Odisha chief minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik on 24 January, 2018, suspended MP Baijayant Jay Panda from primary membership of the party for 'antiparty activities'. 28. No team competing in the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge will make a launch attempt to reach the moon by March 31. 29. US fantasy and science fiction author URSULA K LE GUIN died in Portland, Oregon, aged 88. She is best remembered for the global bestselling Earthsea series, in which an apprentice sorcerer fights against the powers of evil. In a career that spanned decades, she published more than 20 novels, wrote children’s books, dozens of short stories, volumes of poetry and collections of essays. 30. SARAS PT1N (14 seater) designed and developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), a frontline aerospace research laboratory, has successfully made its maiden flight on January 24, 2018. The primary objective is to evaluate the system performance in about 20 flights and the data collected from this shall be used to freeze the design of production version aircraft. The production version aircraft will be of 19 seat capacity and will undergo civil / military certification. 31. A Bengal variety of juvenile monitor lizard (Varanus Bengalensis) found mostly in the Indian subcontinent, was seize at Heathrow airport London. Monitor lizards take several years to reach adult size but once fully grown they can be up to two metres long. 32. Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shri Rakesh Srivastava launched the Management Information System (MIS) portal for Anganwadi Services Training Programme in New Delhi on January 23. The Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC), has developed a Management Information System (MIS) portal for submitting applications/estimates by NGOs for carrying out Anganwadi Services (ICDS) Training through AWTCs/MLTCs.