ASSAM

• Assam most vulnerable to climate change in Indian Himalayas

• Among the 12 states in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), Assam is the most vulnerable to the changing climate, a Department of Science and Technology (DST) vulnerability assessment has found.

• The assessment is significant for India as a majority of its population is dependent on agriculture which requires water. The Himalayas are a source of many rivers which supply this water.
• Bordering eight countries, the Himalayan mountain range is the tallest in the world. It covers an area of about 4.3 million square kilometres and nearly 1.5 billion people depend on it for water, food and energy. In India, the IHR spans across 12 states — Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and (hill districts of) West Bengal.

• The vulnerability assessment was done on the basis of four major factors: socio-economic, demographic status and health, the sensitivity of agricultural production, forest-dependent livelihoods and access to information services and infrastructure.

• The report, however, emphasised that “vulnerability is a relative measure, which means that this assessment does not portray Sikkim, Uttarakhand or Arunachal Pradesh as having a low vulnerability in an absolute sense”.

• The study explained that states with a low per capita income, low area under irrigation, low area under forests per 1,000 households and high area under open forests have received a high vulnerability score.

INTERNATIONAL

·        Farout, the most distant solar system object ever seen

• Scientistshave discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our solar system, located over 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun. The new object has been nicknamed Farout.
• Earlier, 2018 VG18, the object is the first to be observed at a distance of more than 100 astronomical units from the sun. Farout is about 120 AU, or about 11 billion miles, from the sun. One AU is the distance from Earth to the sun or about 93 million miles.

·        USA pulls out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

• Russia has confirmed that the United States of America has decided to cancel the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was signed between Russian and the USAin 1987.
• The USA had already announced the withdrawal decision from the INF treaty in October 2018.
• The INF Treaty was signed in 1987 between US President Ronald Reaganand USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• The INF treaty banned the development, testing and possession of short and medium-range ground-launched nuclear missiles having range between 500-5,000 km.

NATIONAL

·        Lok Sabha passed the Surrogacy Regulation Bill

• The Lok Sabha passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016.The Bill aimed at banning commercial surrogacy to protect women from exploitation. It also proposed to allow only altruistic surrogacy by infertile Indian couples from a “close relative” only. The Surrogacy Bill was approved by the Cabinet in August 2016. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in November 2016 and was later referred to a parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare in January 2017.

• Singles, homosexuals and live-in couples cannot apply for surrogacy

• The couples who already have children will also not be allowed to opt for surrogacy

• It entitles only Indian citizens to avail of surrogacy, whereas foreigners, NRls and PIOs are not allowed to commission surrogacy in the country.

• Women within the age group of 23 years to 50 years and men aged between 26 and 55 years will be eligible to go in for surrogacy. The child, thus born, will be deemed to be the legal offspring of the intended couple.

• A woman can be a surrogate only once in her lifetime

• Gujarat emerges as best performing state in start-up ranking 2018

• Gujarat has emerged as the best performing state in the Startup Ranking 2018. The National Report on States’ Startup Ranking was unveiled by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi.

• Gujarat, with 100 percentile,
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