President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurates Mahamastakabhisheka Utsav
Today, President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the 88th Mahamastakabhisheka Utsav of Lord Gommateshwara in Sharavanabelagola in Hassan district of Karnataka.
Mahamastakabhiseka of Gommateshwara (known as Bahubali) takes place once in 12 years.
It is an important Jain pilgrimage center and lakhs of tourists visit Shravanbelagola to see a monolithic stone statue (57 feet tall) that is anointed from head to feet during the Utsav.
Note: The event is being held under the leadership of His Holiness Swasti Sri Charukeerthi Bhattarakha Swamiji of Shravanabelagola from 17-25th February 2018.
Govt doubles import duty on sugar to 100%, hikes chana to 40%
According to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) notification, govt. has doubled the import duty on sugar to 100%(currently 50%) and raised duty on chana to 40% (Currently 30%) to protect domestic farmers.
The higher tax has been imposed with immediate effect and without an end date.
The move is aimed at curbing cheaper imports and ensure remunerative prices to domestic growers.
In case of the sugar industry, ex-mill rates have fallen below the cost of production, affecting their ability to make cane payment to farmers on time.
In case of Chana, the government wants to contain inward shipments in view of record production of pulses to nearly 23 million tonnes this year.
Pelican festival held at Atapaka bird sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh
The first-of-its-kind ‘Pelican Bird Festival-2018’ was held in Atapaka Bird Sanctuary at Kolleru lake (freshwater lakes) in Andhra Pradesh.
It was organized jointly by Krishna district administration and Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA).
Every year Over 5,000 pelican birds from various countries reach Kolleru lake during winter by traveling over 3500 km.
Recently, Atapaka Bird Sanctuary has been recognized as one of the largest pelicanry in the world.
UP Govt. launches DASTAK Campaign
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath has launched massive door to door campaign 'DASTAK' against Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES) and Japanese Encephalitis.
The war cry of DASTAK is ‘Darwaja khatkhatao, AES aur JE ko bhagao’.
Now, the whole state machinery with the help of UNICEF will go door to door in 38 JES and AE affected districts which mostly fall in the Tarai region of the state which contributes to about 60% of the total AES cases all over the country.
Children of 600 schools in the affected areas will also be part of this campaign.
Haryana Govt. launches ‘Gobardhan Yojana’
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has launched the ‘Gobardhan Yojana’ to provide for the sale of organic manure and cow urine to benefit farmers.
under this scheme, a provision of Rs 11 crore has been made to provide benefits of various projects.
In Union Budget-2018-19, The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has announced the ‘Gobar-Dhan’ scheme.
The South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference (SARPPC) held in New Delhi
The South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference (5th edition) was held in New Delhi.
The Conference was hosted by Public Procurement Division (PPD) of Ministry of Finance and All India Management Association (AIMA).
The theme this edition of the conference was “Public Procurement and Service Delivery.
The First Conference was held in Kathmandu in 2010, second in Islamabad (2014), third in Dhaka (2015) and fourth in Sri Lanka (2017).
Obituaries
Senior TDP leader Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu passes away
Senior TDP (Telugu Desam Party) leader, former Andhra Pradesh minister Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu (71-year) passed away at a hospital in Hyderabad.
Naidu was elected to the AP Assembly for six terms from Puttur and Nagari constituencies.
He had served as a minister of education and forests in the cabinet of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder-president, N T Rama Rao.
Note: In in 1983, Muddukrishnama Naidu began his career as a lecturer before joining politics on the invitation of N T Rama Rao.
Kathakali maestro Madavoor Vasudevan Nair (89-year) passed away while performing at Agasthyacodu Mahadeva Temple, Anchal.
He was the recipient of several awards including Padma Bhushan.
Madvoor had worked as a faculty in the Thekkan Kalari (Southern school of Kathakali) of Kerala Kalamandalam.
Science & Defence
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy blasts off at Cape Canaveral
SpaceX (USA’s private space organization) has launched ‘the world’s most powerful rocket’ ‘Falcon Heavy’ from Kennedy Space Centre near Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA).
It was launched from the same launch pad, from where Apollo 11 moon rocket was launched.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy is carrying CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster to an orbit near Mars.
This rocket generated 22,819 kilonewtons (5.13 million pounds) of thrust through 27 Merlin engines.
The two side-boosters successfully separated from the center main-stage rocket and flew back to Earth for safe simultaneous touchdowns on twin launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Tesla Roadster is supposed to be sent into a virtually indefinite solar orbit, on a path taking it as far from Earth as Mars.
Note: Falcon Heavy will rank as the world's most powerful existing rocket, with more lift capacity than any US space vehicle since the era of NASA's Saturn 5 rockets that took astronauts to the moon some 45 years ago.
