1- Bangladesh Supreme Court uphelds death sentence of Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid

Bangladesh Supreme Court’s appellate bench upheld the death sentence of war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid. Decision in this regard was taken by 4-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha. The court has found Mujahid guilty of systematically killing intellectuals in the end of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. He is the third Jamaat leader to appeal in appealed in Bangladesh Supreme Court, but court ruled against them and upheld their death sentences. Two other Jamaat leaders are Quader Mollah and Kamaruzzaman. They were executed in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Background

During the liberation war Mujahid was leader of the infamous Al-Badr, a militia group that was raised by Pakistan to crush the Bangladeshi independence struggle movement during the Liberation War. Earlier in 2013, International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) had sentenced him to death for his war crimes such as genocide, conspiracy in killing intellectuals, torture and abduction.

2- Union Government announces additional package of Rs. 2,437 crore for J &K

Union Government has announced an additional package of 2,437 crore rupees for reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It was announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi. The fund will be used for relief and rehabilitation work. Around 75,000 kacha and pakka houses will also be rebuilt under the grant which were damaged in 2014 floods.

Background

In September 2014, continuous unprecedented heavy rainfall had caused Jhelum, Chenab and Tawi rivers and their tributaries to flow above the danger mark. They had flooded the catchment areas, particularly low lying ones for more than two weeks in the state which had severely affected livelihoods and had damaged the basic infrastructure in the state. After the floods Union Government had given 2,602 crore rupees to the state. It included 770 crore rupees from Prime Minister Relief Fund, 1,602 crore rupees was released under State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

3- Election Commission suspends recognition of PA Sangma-led National People’s Party

Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended recognition of the PA Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP) which was a recognized state party in Meghalaya. The recognition of NPP was suspended under para 16A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 after the party failed to file the election expenditure statement incurred in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. ECI decision in this regard comes in line  with Supreme Court’s judgement in the case of Common Cause Vs Union of India and others. In this judgement SC had made compulsion for all political parties to file their election expenditure statement within 75 days of assembly elections and 90 days of Lok Sabha elections.

In case of NPP, they failed report their election expenses even after ECI had slapped two show cause notices in this regard. With this, NPP became first party to be suspended under Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, for its failure to follow the lawful directions of the ECI.

About National People’s Party (NPP)

NPP was founded in January 2013 by P A Sangma, nine-time Member of Parliament from Meghalaya. Election symbol of party was Book. It is a national-level tribalcentric political party. It had most of its influence concentrated in the state of Meghalaya. At present NPP has one Lok Sabha member- PA Sangma from Tura constituency from Meghalaya. It also has 4 members in Rajasthan Legislative assembly and 2 in Meghalaya Legislative assembly.

4- BSNL to set up 40,000 wi-fi hot spots India

State owned telecommunications giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced to set up 40,000 Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) hot spots across the country. This project will come in lines with new digital architecture which is part of Union Government’s flagship Digital India Programme. The 40,000 wi-fi hot spots project will be entailed with an investment of about 6,000 crore rupees. The project is likely to be completed by 2018. It was announced by Union Minister of Communications & IT Ravi Shankar Prasad after launching the Wi-Fi facility at Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. BSNL has installed the Wi-Fi facility at the premises of Taj Mahal as part of the Union Government’s plan to provide free internet services at major tourist places across country. BSNL has introduced this Wi-fi facility with support of Quadgen, a Bengaluru-based company. The service will freely available to everyone including tourist for half-an-hour. After half-an-hour the Wi-fi services will cost 30 rupees an hour.

5- Japan’s Cookpad acquires India’s Cucumbertown

Tokyo based online recipe network Cookpad has acquired Cucumbertown, a Bengaluru-based social network for cooks and chefs for an undisclosed amount. After this acquisition Cucumbertown will remain independent subsidiary under Cookpad. By acquiring Cucumbertown, Cookpad has entered into Indian market that represents a market and culture that is rich in culinary heritage. It will also enable acquired company to scale to international markets and monetize.

Earlier in 2014, Cookpad had acquired numerous startups from various countries including English language app Allthecooks, Dapur Masak in Malay, Mis Recetas site in Spanish  and  NetSila from Lebanon. Cucumbertown was funded in October 2012 by Cherian Thomas and Arun Prabhakar. Since then it had grown from a simple recipe-sharing network to a food blogging platform. Presently, it has its reach to more than 160 countries and has millions of users. The company had raised capital from Silicon Valley, Helion and Ludlow ventures. The  start up company has two offices in the Bay Area and Bengaluru city in Karnataka.

6- Sunil Chhetri becomes first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals

Sunil Chhetri has become the first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals. He achieved this feat in his 87th match i.e. during 2018 World Cup qualifying match between India and Guam. However, India lost this match to Guam by 1-2 goals. It was India’s second successive defeat in the preliminary joint qualification second round.

Earlier India had lost the heir first match against Oman. Top three Indian goal scorer footballers are Sunil Chhetri: He had scored 50 goals in 87 matches. At present, he is captain of Indian Football team.

Bhaichung Bhutia: He had scored 42 goals in 107 matches. He is former captain of Indian Football team.

IM Vijayan: He had 40 goals from 79 matches.

Sunil Chhetri was born 3 August 1984 in Secunderabad district of Telangana. Currently, he plays as a striker for Bengaluru FC in the I-League. He had started his professional career in 2002 with Mohun Bagan FC.

7- Researchers create World’s thinnest bulb from graphene

Researchers have created the world’s thinnest light bulb using graphene as filament. It was created by team of scientist led by Young Duck Kim comprising members from Columbia University School of Engineering, Seoul National University and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. 

Features of Bulb

The bulb uses graphene, a perfectly crystalline form of carbon as a filament. The filament is attached to metal electrodes and suspended the strips above the substrate. After current is passed through filament it heats up to over 2,500° C and produces exceptionally bright light.

Applications: The new type of thinnest bulb can be used as broadband light emitter. It can also be integrated into chips which will pave the way towards the realisation of atomically flexible, thin and transparent displays. It will also help to boost graphene-based on-chip high speed optical communications.

8- US bans Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHOs)/ Trans fats by 2018

United States (US) has announced to curb and eliminate majority of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) commonly called trans-fats from the country’s food supply by 2018. This decision of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) comes after intensive lobbying by health advocates and scientists that artificial oils raise the risk of heart diseases by clogging arteries. In this regard, US FDA has revoked the status of PHOs as a food additive from current status of safe food product. Henceforth food manufacturers in US will be no longer be able to use the PHOs in food without prior approval of FDA. Implication The new policy will help to prevent at least 20,000 coronary heart attacks each year and 7,000 deaths from coronary heart disease in US. It will also serve as lessons for the regulation on trans-fat use in foods in developing countries such as India where heart related diseases are on rise.

Background

In United States the popularity of trans fats had soared in the 1940s. Since then it had emerged as a key ingredient in major food products as it was cheap to produce with a long shelf life. In 2006, the FDA had mandatorily insisted all food manufacturing firms to include trans fat content information on labels of each product. In November 2013, FDA had recognised trans fats as a threat to public health. WHO also consider trans fats as toxic for consumption at certain levels. 

9- Maharashtra Government gives nod to IT & ITES policy 2015

Maharashtra Government has given nod to new Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) policy. Decision in this regard was taken by State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai.

Key highlights of Maharashtra IT & ITES policy 2015

• Aims at making state an IT, animation and gaming industry hub by attracting 50,000 crore rupees of investment and creating 1 million jobs in nest five years i.e. by 2020.
• Promotes a walk-to-work concept by proposing the construction of integrated IT townships along with residential apartments and social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, multiplexes, malls and parks etc.
• Offers 200% additional floor space index (FSI) over the base FSI for IT parks. This decision will help to reduce rents of commercial space in the IT parks.
• Simplification in rules for payment of premium for getting additional FSI. In this case additional FSI is consumed in Mumbai Metropolitian Region (MMR) and Pune, the premium will be calculated at a flat 30% of ready reckoner rates. While in the rest of the state it will be charged at 10% of the ready reckoner rate.
• Offers IT industry exemption from payment of stamp duty and electricity duty.  
• It will offer electricity to the IT sector at the industrial tariff, which is lower than what the commercial sector pays.
• Directs municipal corporations to charge property tax at the residential rate and not at commercial rates.
• Exempts IT industry from value added tax (VAT) and local taxes such as entry tax and octroi.

Current status of IT industry in Maharashtra

Presently, Maharashtra ranks second in the country for the exports of IT & ITES after Karnataka. Last two IT policies of state in 2003 and 2009 had played important role to attract investment of 3.24 trillion rupees and had created 465 private and 37 public IT parks along with 748,000 direct jobs.

10- Charles Correa, face of contemporary architecture in India passes away

India’s greatest contemporary architect Charles Correa passed away in Mumbai following a brief illness. He was 84. He had played a pivotal role in the creation of architecture for post-Independence India. He was known for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and use of traditional methods and materials for construction.

About Charles Correa

Charles Correa was born on 1 September 1930 in Secunderabad, Telangana. His famous Works: Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (1958–1963), Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Bhopal (1967), National Crafts Museum, New Delhi (1975–1990), Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (1982), Jawahar Kala Kendra (Jawahar Arts Centre), in Jaipur, Rajasthan (1986–1992), British Council, Delhi (1987–92), McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, Boston (2000–2005), City Centre (Salt Lake City) in Kolkata, Champalimaud Centre for The Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal (2007–2010). He was Chief Architect for Navi Mumbai along with Shirish Patel and Pravina Mehta from 1970–75. He also had served as first Chairman of the National Commission on Urbanization and was appointed by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. He is founder of Mumbai’s Urban Design Research Institute (established in 1984) dedicated to protect the environment and improve lives of urban communities.

Awards and Honours: He had been awarded the Padma Shri (1972), Padma Vibhushan (2006) by Government of India. He was also awarded Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1984) by the Royal Institute of British Architects, 7th Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1998), Praemium Imperiale of Japan.

11- Book on 20th century Dogri literature by Dr. Vijay Seth released

A comprehensive book in Dogri language on the Dogri literature of 20th century entitled ‘Beehmi Sadi Da Dogri Da Gadya Sahitya : Ik Jayzaa ’ was released in Jammu and Kashmir. The book has been written by a noted Dogri language scholar Dr. Vijay Seth. The book based on extensive research work and incorporates five chapters chronologically covering the development of essays, literary sketches, travelogue, memoirs, biographic and autobiographical literature in Dogri. In this book the author has elaborated basic elements of various forms of Dogri prose and also has incorporated critical analysis of each form of Dogri prose taken up in the book.

About Dogri language

Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in India and Pakistan. In India, it is chiefly spoken in states like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and northern Punjab. It is one of 22 official languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of Constitution. It was inserted in this schedule by 92nd Constitutional amendment Act, 2003 along with Maithili, Santali and Bodo. Dogri speakers are called Dogras and the Dogri-speaking region is called Duggar.

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