Table of Contents
President’s Secretariat
• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, gave his message on the eve of World Tuberculosis Day, which is observed every year on March 24.
•I am happy to learn that the World Tuberculosis Day is being observed every year on 24th March, 2018 to commemorate the day Dr. Robert Koch discovered the Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in 1882.
• TB continues to be one of the biggest public health challenges in our country.
• The time has come for all of us to join hands in a historic movement to eliminate TB from India by 2025.
•On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, I call upon all stakeholders to come together for this fight against Tuberculosis and to undertake all the necessary steps to achieve the goal of zero TB deaths.
Prime Minister’s Office
• The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on the day of their martyrdom.
• The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev was a watershed moment in our history.
• Every Indian is proud that these three great men belong to our land.
• At the peak of their youth they sacrificed their lives so that others can live a life of freedom and dignity, the Prime Minister said.
Vice President’s Secretariat
• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has paid tributes to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary.
•Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia is one of the most remarkable personalities of 20th century India. He combined scholarly zeal with a penchant for grassroot level politics.
•His rich thoughts continue to shape socio-political discourse. I bow to Dr. Lohia on his Jayanti”, the Prime Minister said.
Department of Space
•ISRO has entered into a Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), which is one of the country’s leading PSUs, to transfer the technology for the manufacture of space grade Li-Ion cells.
•ISRO uses Li-Ion batteries as power sources for satellite and launch vehicle applications due to their high energy density, reliability and long cycle life.
Department of Space
• Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO at Thiruvananthapuram has successfully developed the technology to produce space grade Li-ion cell, demonstrated the performance of the cell under varioustesting conditions and established its cycle life characteristics in accelerated mode.
• This Li-ion cell Technology Transfer will enable BHEL to produce space grade Li-Ion cells which can meet the country’s space programme requirements. This technology can also be adopted to cater to the Li-Ion cell requirement for other national needs.
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
• Maize production in India has seen a boom in recent years which has been possible due to increase in area as well as productivity.
• Shri Singh said that during 1950-51, India produced only 1.73 MT, which has reached 25.89 MT in 2016-17 and is expected to cross 27 MT in 2017-18.
• The average productivity in India is 2.43 ton/ha.
•In India, Maize is the third most important foodgrain after wheat and rice.
• only 25% of India’s population uses it as a food crop.
• The four states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan account for more than half of the total maize production.
•India is among the top five exporters of Maize worldwide.
• Area under hybrid varieties is increasing thereby leading to improved nutrition and availability of low-cost high quality food.
• This has resulted in demand increasing at a much faster pace.
•He said the presence of poultry and starch industry in this Summit signifies that there is a serious demand for maize in the country.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
•Government has amended the E-waste (Management) Rules in a move to facilitate and effectively implement the environmentally sound management of e-waste in India.
•Dr. Vardhan highlighted that the amendment in rules has been done with the objective of channelizing the Ewaste generated in the country towards authorized dismantlers and recyclers in order to formalize the ewaste recycling sector.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
•He pointed out that the collection targets under the provision of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the Rules have been revised and targets have been introduced for new producers who have started their sales operations recently.
• The phase-wise collection targets for e-waste in weight shall be 10% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the EPR Plan during 2017-18, with a 10% increase every year until 2023. After 2023 onwards, the target has been made 70% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the EPR Plan.
Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology
• The Centre today issued a notice to Cambridge Analytica asking it to reveal the entities that have hired them in allegedly using data of Indians from the breach in Facebook database.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology, asked the controversial data mining company to send in its response on six queries by 31st of this month, failing which it may face legal action.
Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology
• The Ministry said, the Government is deeply concerned about such developments and is committed to ensuring the protection of the fundamental right of privacy and safety and security of data for every citizen of India.
•It said, while the Government is cognizant of the positive role played by social media in promoting awareness and acting as a tool for social cohesion and empowerment, breach of privacy cannot be tolerated.
Special Topic
• Facebook should pay a heavy price over revelations that it became an accessory for Cambridge Analytica (CA) to game US presidential elections and the Brexit referendum.
• CA allegedly created a database of 50-60 million Americans
•It then launched information warfare targeting these people through fake news, ads and blogs.
• This is a scary case of privacy violation that denies an individual the right to informed consent.
• Though Facebook claims to have done course correction the damage has been done.
1. It could not protect the personal data given to it by users from being hacked by someone who then sold it to a firm that used the data for forging a targeted and personalised information assault.
2. It did not, or could not, stop fake news flooding its site by bots and paid humans meant to further a political goal.
3. It carried political advertisements in the US and Britain paid for by foreigners, and was less than forthcoming on the extent of the practice until pressed by the media and authorities.
• A larger investigation is needed and the global footprint of such practices identified.
•India must develop the capacity to audit social media sites and hold them to account, if and when they breach expected norms of conduct.
• The Election Com mission must ask for social media transparency on who pays for ads, authenticity of news carried and authenticity of those who post.
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