GUJARAT
- Surat to launch message helpline for youth
- Surat is all set to become first city in the country to have a dedicated 24×7 text messaging helpline to provide counselling to young people in distress, especially students who feel anxious before board examinations.
- Vandrevala Foundation, a non-government organization, running crisis helpline with Gujarat Police under Suraksha Setu initiative to provide support to students appearing in examinations is holding talks with the US-based Crisis Text Line (CTL) to introduce text messaging hotline in the Diamond City by merging text data from WhatsApp and mobile phones.
- Vandrevala Foundation had set up Gujarat’s first helpline in partnership with Gujarat Police in 2013 and it was christened ‘Jivan Aastha’ for the ease of Gujarati callers. On any given day, minimum 80 callers call up the hub but this increases to over 300 calls during examinations. Seeing tremendous response, a second hub was set up in Gandhinagar, again in association with Gujarat Police.
INTERNATIONAL
- India stands worlds 2nd largest arms importer says SIPRI
- According to the latest report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the world’s second largest importer of major arms in 2014–18 and accounted for 9.5% of the global total. Saudi Arabia which holds the long-held tag as largest importer accounted for 12% of the total imports during the period.
- Russia accounted for 58% of Indian arms imports in 2014–18, compared with 76% in 2009-13. Israel, the U.S., and France all increased their arms exports to India in 2014-18.
- The Russian share in Indian imports is likely to sharply go up for the next five-year period as India signed several deals including S-400 air defence systems, four stealth frigates, AK-203 assault rifles, a second nuclear attack submarine on the lease, and deals for Kamov-226T utility helicopters, Mi-1
- UK Parliament rejects Prime Minister’s Brexit deal for a second time
- UK Members of Parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May‘s Brexit deal, which sets out the terms of the UK’s exitfrom the European Union (EU), for the second time.
- MPs voted by 391 to 242 to reject the deal.
- The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
- Brexit is an abbreviation for “British” and “exit” referring to the UK’s decision in a June 23, 2016 referendum to leave the European Union (EU).
- The UK joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath.
Gk bit – Difference between Europeun Union and Schengen area
- The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states.The EU has developed an internal tariff-free single market and ensures the free movement of all EU citizens between the 28 countries.
- The Schengen Area is an zone made up of 26 European states which have officially abolished passport and other types of border control at their mutual borders. For visitors to the EU it effectively means that the Schengen Area acts as a singular country, i.e. once anyone enters one Schengen country he has entered them all.
- ETIAS (The European Travel Information and Authorization) grants access to all countries included in the Schengen agreement
- India-Bangladesh Jointly Inaugurated 4 Development Projects
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, jointly unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh, through video conferencing.
- This was the sixth such video conference between PM Modi and Prime Minister Hasina.
- E-plaques were unveiled for the following 4 development projects:
♦ Supply of buses and trucks,
♦ Inauguration of 36 community clinics,
♦ Inauguration of 11 water treatment plants, and
♦ Extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.
NATIONAL
- Areca nut gets ‘Sirsi supari’ geographical indication tag
- Arecanut (also known as supari or betel nut) is the latest entrant in the list of agricultural produce with a GI (geographical indication) tag.
- The Registrar of Geographical Indications, Government of India, accorded a GI tag, ‘Sirsi Supari’, to areca nut grown in Sirsi, Siddpaur of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka.
- ‘Sirsi Supari’ is unique in taste from areca nuts grown in other parts of the country due to the differences in the chemical composition of different areca nuts.
- The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines GI as a search sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities due to that origin.
- Industrial growth slows to 1.7% in January 2019
- Industrial output growth stood at 1.7 per cent in January this year on account of slowdown in the manufacturing sector.
- According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data released, factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 7.5 per cent in January last year.
- During April-January 2018-19, industrial output grew at 4.4 per cent as against 4.1 per cent in the same period previous fiscal.
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