ASSAM

Assam’s connection with 1975 Emergency

Assam shares a dubious connection with the 21-day Emergency which was imposed in 1975. The then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and the then Congress president Devakanta Barua were both from Assam. Ahmed had, acting on advice of Indira Gandhi, declared the Emergency while Barua, a staunch loyalist of Indira, is remembered for his statement: ‘Indira is India and India is Indira.

There was a third from Assam, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, there as a close confidante of Sanjay Gandhi.

INTERNATIONAL

· US withdraws from United Nations Human Rights Council

The United Stateswithdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing it of a “chronic bias against Israel,” a move that activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult.
The United Nations Human Rights Council consists of 47 member states,with a specific number of seats given to each region of the world.
Members are elected by the U.N. General Assembly for three-yearterms and cannot serve more than two terms in a row.

· India, Russia to hold military exercise Indra 2018 during the second half this year

ð The tri-service joint Russia-India military exercise Indra-2018 will take place in an Indian military base in the second half of this year.

ð Russia has been a long-standing defence partner of India.

· Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the Richest Person in the World

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezoshas become the richest man in the world with a net wealth of USD 141.9 billion, as per the Forbes World’s Billionaires list.
Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, is the second-richest man in the world with USD 92.9 billion.
Warren Buffet ranked third place with a total of wealth of USD 82.2 billion.

· World is celebrating 4th International Yoga Day

4th International Yoga Day is celebrated across the world.
On December 11, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21as International Day Yoga.
800 differently-abled persons from across the country attempted Guinness World Record in Ahmedabad for ‘Largest Silent Yoga Class’ on International Yoga Day 2018.
The theme for Yoga Day 2018 is “Yoga for Peace.”

NATIONAL

· India may not sign international pact on child abduction

The government is unlikely to sign in near future an international treaty that makes inter-country abduction of children by parents a punishable offence.

Signing the Hague convention on civil aspects of international child abduction would be against the interest of women who flee bad marriages.

There has been a steady rise in parental abductions as more and more Indians go abroad to work or study. Children bear the brunt of parents’ marital disputes and are often forced to return to India by one of the quarrelling parents. In most cases, it is the mother who returns with the child.

The ministry is setting up a panel headed by the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Its members will include a representative of the embassy of the country from where the parent has fled with the child.

Shillong gets selected as the 100th Smart City

Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya has been selected as 100^thSmart City after evaluating the proposal submitted by it.

Till now, 99 smart cities had been selected in four rounds of competition and with today’s announcement, selection of 100 cities has been completed under the Smart Cities Mission.

Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016, 30 cities in June 2017 and 9 cities in January 2018.

With the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs.2,05,018 crores.

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