Notes:
Prof. Namvar Singh (92), renowned Hindi literary critic and author, has passed away in New Delhi on Feb 19. Born on 28th July 1926 in a village in Varanasi, Singh was the first chairman of JNU’s Centre of Indian Languages. He had authored over a dozen books including ‘Chhayavad’ and ‘Dusri Parampara Ki Khoj’ among others. He received Sahitya Academy Award for literary criticism in 1971 for ‘Kavita Ke Naye Pratiman’. He had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha election as a candidate of Communist Party of India in 1957 from Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh.

Notes:
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has recently launched a new micro insurance plan ‘Micro Bachat’. It is a regular premium, non-linked, participating endowment micro insurance plan, which offers a combination of protection and savings. For the first time, a micro insurance plan has been launched providing coverage up to Rs 2 lakh. This plan provides financial support for the family in case of unfortunate death of the policyholder during the policy term and a lumpsum amount at the time of maturity for the surviving policyholders. This plan is available for standard healthy lives only in the age group of 18-55 years without undergoing any medical examination. The policyholder need not undergo any medical examination.

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On 22nd February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been honored with the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize – 2018 for his contribution to international cooperation and fostering global economic growth. The award credited ‘Modinomics’ for reducing social and economic disparity between the rich and the poor. The Peace Prize committee also credited him for his contribution toward reginal and global peace through a proactive policy with countries around the world.The award was presented to him by the Seoul Peace Prize Foundation at a grand ceremony in Seoul. A short film on the life and achievements of Prime Minister Modi was also screened at the event. He dedicated the $200,000 prize money to ‘Namami Gange Programme’, which is flagship programme of his government to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of River Ganga.Modi is the 14th recipient of the award and the past laureates included former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and renowned international relief organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

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Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad from India has been elected as the new Vice-President of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) for a four-year term at the AHF Congress in Gifu, Japan. Beside him, Ms. Asima Ali has been elected unopposed as one of the executive board members of the AHF. Mushtaque Ahmad is currently serving as the President of Hockey India, while Ali of Hockey Jammu & Kashmir is the Vice-President of the national federation. The AHF Executive Board manages the affairs of the continental federation, implements the decisions of the AHF Congress, supervises over the AHF CEO and professional staff, as well as appoints the AHF Committees.

Notes:
Indian Hockey Captain Manpreet Singh has been honoured with the 2018 Player of the Year award by the Asian Hockey Federation while women’s team striker Lalremsiami bagged the Rising Player of The Year prize. Manpreet led the Indian team to an unbeaten streak at the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat where the team was declared joint winners with Pakistan. He also contributed to the team’s silver medal win at the FIH Champions Trophy in Breda and continues to remain instrumental in the Indian midfield. The 18-year-old Lalremsiami put up an impressive performance as a striker at the 2018 World Cup. She was also a part of the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires where the under-18 team won a silver medal. The Indian men’s team was awarded the 2018 Best Performance of The Year for being the only Asian side to have reached the top eight at the World Cup in Bhubaneswar.

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Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been elected third time unopposed as the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The elections of the office bearers and executive committee members of WFI for the next four-year term (2019-2023) were held at the Constitution Club of India (CCI). Along with Brij Bhushan, I.D. Nanavati has been elected as the Senior Vice President, V.N. Prasood as the Secretary General and Satyapal Singh Deshwal as the Treasurer. Singh, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Kaiserganj constituency of Uttar Pradesh, was the chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games 2018 held in Jakarta and Palembang.

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The New Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line will be the world’s highest railway line, which will consists of total 30 stations. It will lie along the Indo-China border & is expected to be completed by the year 2022. This new rail line will not only increase tourism but, will also help the armed forces. And also, the journey from Delhi-Leh will be completed in half time. The estimated cost of the project is pegged at Rs 83,360 crore. Once complete, the 465-km railway line will be the world’s highest railway track. At its highest point, the track would be at a height of 5,360 m above sea level. The 52% of the total 465 km length will pass through tunnels. The longest tunnel will be 27 km long. The total length of the tunnels is expected to be around 244 km. The project will also have almost 400 small bridges, 124 major bridges and about 74 tunnels. Once completed, trains on this line will run at a speed of 75 Kmph, which will reduce the time required to travel between New Delhi and Leh from 40 hours to just 20 hours. Leh is the most important town in Ladakh region of J&K State having approximately 1.5 lakhs population. It has a high footfall of Indian & Foreign tourists each year.

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The horrific forest fire has recently broken out in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. The fire is estimated to have gutted 2,000 hectares of the forest. Hundreds of forest department officials along with local volunteers have been trying to douse the fire. However, strong winds and dry grass have aided the fire to spread towards the roads on National Highway 67. As a result, NH 67 (which connects Ooty to Mysore) had to be closed for vehicles. There have been reports of loss of wildlife, but nothing has been confirmed so far. The Bandipur reserve is one of the first national parks in India and has the highest tiger density anywhere in the world. It has also been declared as an important area for elephant conservation. The reserve covers an area of 87,400 hectares and along with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nagarahole National Park form one of India’s ecologically diverse regions. It is home to vulnerable species like elephants, gaurs, tigers and Indian rock pythons.

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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a member of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) party, has been re-elected for a second four year term. The 76-year-old Buhari defeated his main rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with a margin of around 4 million votes. Buhari has been lauded for his progress against the insurgent group Boko Haram, which has killed more than 10,000 and displaced millions.

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The Himachal Pradesh government has again declared Monkeys as vermin for the next one year in 11 districts’ 91 tehsils and sub-tehsils of state. Monkeys were declared as a vermin species because have been adversely affecting crops and causing harm to humans. Hence, this allows state forest authorities and people to carry out extermination (hunting/poaching) of monkeys on a large scale. Vermin are wild mammals and birds that are harmful to crops, farm animals or that carry disease. As per Section 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972, States can send a list of wild animals to the Centre requesting it to declare them vermin for selective slaughter. The Central Government may by notification, declare any wild animal other than those specified in Schedule I and part 11 of Schedule H of the law to be vermin for any area for a given period of time. As long as the notification is in force such wild animal shall be included in Schedule V of the law, depriving them of any protection under that law.