ANDHRA PRADESH
- India’s first National Park for differently abled people inaugurated in Hyderabad
- Telangana government has inaugurated country’s first National Park for people with special needs.
- Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao inaugurated the park, which has speech therapist, physiotherapist, vocational training instructors for the differently-abled children.
INTERNATIONAL
- US puts Pakistan on Special Watch List
- The US has placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe violations” of religious freedom.
- It is the only country to be put under the newly-formed list.
- The Special Watch List is for countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but may not rise to the level of the CPC.
NATIONAL
· Forex Reserves scale record high of $409.366 billion in December 2017
- According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI),India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have scaled to a fresh record high of $409.366 billion as on December.
- The forex is reserve assets held by a central bank in foreign currencies. It acts as a buffer to be used in challenging times and used to back liabilities.
- Almost all countries in the world, regardless of the size of their economy, hold significant foreign exchange reserves.
- The components of India’s FOREX Reserves include Foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF). FCAs constitute the largest component of Indian Forex Reserves.
- Tamil Nadu leads the nation in higher education enrolment
- Tamil Nadu has emerged as the leader in the country in terms of Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education.
- The All India Survey on Higher Education report (2106-2017), released by Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar , saw the State lead with a GER of 46.9%.
- Among Union Territories, Chandigarh recorded 56.1%.
- GER for higher education is calculated with reference to the age group 18-23.
- Mamata Banerjee launches West Bengal govt’s official emblem
- The West Bengal government has launched its official emblem in a programme at Nabanna, two days after getting the approval from the central government.
- The official emblem is conceptualised and designed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
- Terming the occasion as historic, she said the state emblem – class="youtube-subscribe-button"> Subscribe on YouTube