Notes:
India has been ranked 81st out of 180 countries in the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2017, released by Transparency International (TI), which named the country among the “worst offenders” in terms of graft and press freedom in the Asia Pacific region. In 2016 India was in the 79th place among 176 countries. The index, which measures perception of corruption in the public sector, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. India’s score remained intact at 40 points in both 2016 and 2017. This year, New Zealand and Denmark scored the highest scores with 89 and 88 out of 100, respectively. Somalia was found to be the most corrupt country in the world. The 2017 index highlights that the majority of countries are making little or no progress in ending corruption, while further analysis shows journalists and activists in corrupt countries risking their lives every day in an effort to speak out.

Notes:
The Haryana government has officially launched the Parivartan scheme, which is designed to address 10 issues including cleanliness and pollution, in 46 developmental blocks of the state. The 10 issues include facilitation of financing, making agriculture profitable and sustainable, improving health services, implementing Swachh Bharat, decongesting market areas, engaging the youth, checking air pollution, ensuring availability of identity-related services, effective policing, and ensuring road order and conduct. Under this scheme, the state government will provide training (practical) to the employees and thus will create strong training workforce in the state. This is a unique scheme in order to ensure that the benefit of all government scheme must reach the people. 

Notes:
Flying officer Avani Chaturvedi from Madhya Pradesh has scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo. She flew a MiG-21 bison in her first solo sortie from IAF’s Jamnagar base in Gujarat on February 19. She is one of the three in the first batch of female pilots, besides Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, who were inducted in Indian Air Force fighter squadron in 2016. They were commissioned as flying officers after the government took the decision in 2015 to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis in three women pilots had undergone strenuous training programme to fly fighter jets. The IAF has already selected the next batch of three women trainee pilots for the fighter stream.

Notes:
The 6th edition of annual joint military exercise ‘Garuda Shakti-2018’ has started between Indian and Indonesian Army in Bandung, Indonesia on February 19, 2018. This joint exercise between Indian and Indonesian Special Forces highlights the increasing trust and cooperation between the two armies. The aim of exercise is to build experience sharing in counter-terrorism operations, close quarter combat and other areas of special operations. It is a two-week long joint Military drill.

Notes:
The Union Government will set up the ‘NITI Forum for North-East’ to identify various constraints on the way of accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the North East Region of the country and to recommend suitable interventions for addressing identified constraints. It will also review the development status in the NER. The forum will be co-chaired by the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER). The forum will have its Secretariat in the Ministry of DoNER. The Forum may examine and address any other issues which are of importance but not specifically spelt out in its Terms of Reference. It may devise its own procedure to conduct its business/meetings/fields visits or constitution of Sub-Groups etc.

Notes:
Kunhiraman Panoor (84), the renowned author and human rights activist, has passed away in Kannur, Kerala on February 20, 2018. He was known for his work ‘Keralathile Africa’, in which he portrayed the ill-fated, slavish lives of Kerala tribals. He had won the Kerala Sahithya Akademi award for comprehensive contribution in 2006.

Notes:
R.K. Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, has inaugurated the ‘International R&D Conclave’ in New Delhi. It is a 2-day conference on Emerging Opportunities and Challenges of R&D in Indian Power Sector. It has been organized by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The conference was stressed upon the need of a dedicated R&D department in CEA to coordinate the research in the power sector. The sessions in the Conference will focus on R&D activities in Thermal Generation, Hydro Generation, Renewable Energy, Transmission, Grid Operation, Distribution, Trading, Marketing and Tariff.

Notes:
The Kerala government has recently made vaccination compulsory for school admissions to Class 1 from the 2018-’19 academic year. Parents will have to show details of immunization shots given to children during enrolment in school. The health minister of Kerala KK Shailaja has released the new health policy draft. The move comes in the wake of stiff opposition from certain communities against the vaccination drive. Other provisions of the new policy include a standard treatment guideline for all hospitals, including private institutions, and transgender clinics at all district hospitals. An antibiotic guidelines committee will also be formed to prepare a policy for antibiotics. The purpose of the new health draft policy is to reduce maternal mortality rate from 66 per lakh to 30 per lakh in the short term, and infant mortality from 12 per lakh to eight. It aims to reduce neonatal mortality from seven per lakh to five. The draft envisages a new Kerala Public Health Act to cover all issues in the health sector.

Notes:
The Raja Lakhamagouda dam is a dam constructed across the Ghataprabha River in the Krishna River basin. It is situated at Hidkal village in Hukkeri Taluk of Belagavi district in North Karnataka. The dam with the height of 62.48 metres and 10 Vertical Crest Gates, impounds a large reservoir with a gross surface area of 63.38 Square kilometres, and storage capacity of 51.16 Tmcft. It is an earthen and masonry dam which caters to the Irrigation needs for over 8,20,000 acres, and Hydel power generation.

Notes:
The Khadi and Village Industries Board of Uttar Pradesh has signed a pact with Amazon India to facilitate online selling of Khadi products. As part of an MoU, Amazon India will educate, train and enable rural khadi artisans to directly sell their products to Amazon.in customers across the country under the brand of UP Khadi. The portfolio online will include products such as khadi shirts, kurtas, dhotis, towels and gourmet food which has a tremendous potential and demand in urban areas.