The Daily Brief – 15th & 16th August

By Praveen Dwivedi -
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The Daily Briefs are a comprehensive update of current affairs for the day. If you’d like to receive updates for current affairs every day, you’ll need to subscribe by entering your email address at the right side of this page. The previous Briefs can be accessed at the archives here. You can thank Sayan Bhattacharya in the comments below for this brief! Also, check out our test series!

  • The largest volcanic region on Earth has been discovered by scientists of the University of the Edinburgh, two km below the surface of the vast ice sheet in west Antarctica. They have found 91 previously unknown active volcanoes in the region known as the West Antarctic rift system, adding to the exiting 47 volcanoes that existed before making it the largest volcanic region in the world.
  • According to a recent study conducted by scientists from data taken from NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite(OCO-2), the monster El Nino of 2014-16 caused over 3 billion tonnes of carbon to get released into the atmosphere pushing carbon dioxide concentration to record levels.

  • The Supreme Court recently asked asked the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government to take “all steps to rehabilitate the widows of Vrindavan so as to bring them to a stage where they can live with dignity”. The verdict was based on a PIL filed almost 10 years ago by the Environment and Consumer Protection Foundation highlighting the plight of widows of Vrindavana.

  • The Olympic Task Force recommended steps to improve sports in India in its extensive report titled “Preparation for 2022 Tokyo Olymics and Paralympic Games” to Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas. The eight member committee has emphasised on the need to be “athletic-centric, coach-led and system driven”. The task force included national badminton coach P. Gopichand, gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and former hockey captain V. Rasquinha.

  • An unusUal breed of fruit bat has been officially recognised as a new species. The bat was previously called Yoda due to its resemblance to Stars Wars Jedi master. It has been renamed as Happy(Hamamas) tube nosed fruit bat. Its formal name is Nyctimene Wrightae after conservationist Deb Wright.
  • On the occasion of World Elephant Day on 12th August 2017 the Union Environment Minister launched the Gaj Yatra. It is a nation wide campaign to protect elephants and will be covering 12 elephant range states.
  • India will be hosting the next steering committee meeting of the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline as decided in the sixth joint Inter Governmental Committee(IGC) Meeting.
  • The Union Home Ministry is set to give up its power to impose the ‘disturbed areas’ tag on Assam and Manipur, both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The move effectively means that it will be the States’ decision to either continue the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) or revoke it. Assam will see the central government give up its power to continue or discontinue AFSPA for the first time since 1990 when it was first invoked in Assam.
  • Indian track and field sprinter Milkha Singh has been appointed as the WHO Goodwill ambassador for Physical activity in the South East Asia region.

    Today’s Quiz

    Where has the world's largest volcanic region recently been discovered at?





    To which state government did the Supreme Court recently order to undertake rehabilitation of its widows who are known to live in miserable conditions in one part of that state?





    What did the Union Environment recently launch on the occasion of World Environment Day?





    Which country will be hosting the steering committee meeting of the TAPI pipeline?





    In which state is the union government giving up its power to continue or discontinue AFSPA for the first time since 1990?





    Which Indian sportsperson was recently appointed as the WHO Olympic Goodwill Ambassador for South Asian region?









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