Contents:
- Double Whammy: Inflation Up, IIP Down
- Hafeed Saeed and Terror Financing
- MLAs with Criminal Case in Delhi LA
- Hampi
- Storm Ciara
- Homo luzonensis: New human species found in Philippines
DOUBLE WHAMMY: INFLATION UP, IIP DOWN
Why in news?
- Government data showed industrial production contracted again in December 2019,
- Retail inflation(CPI) surged to an almost six-year high of 7.59%.
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a negative growth of 0.3% in December in comparison to the same month the previous year, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).
- The IIP had shown a positive growth of 1.8% in November, after three consecutive months of contraction.
- IIP contraction came largely on the back of a 1.2% slump in the manufacturing sector
- NSO’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed retail inflation had surged from 7.35% in December 2019 to 7.59% in January 2020, mostly due to costlier food items.
HAFEEZ SAEED AND TERROR FINANCING
Why in news?
- Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people and injured hundreds more, has been sentenced to jail in Pakistan for Five and a half years on terror finance charges.
- Saeed, a UN designated terrorist and head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was found guilty of “being part of a banned terrorist outfit” and for “having illegal property” by an antiterrorism court (ATC) in Lahore
MLAS WITH CRIMINAL CASE IN DELHI LA
Why in news?
- 61% of newly elected MLAs declared criminal cases as opposed to 34% in 2015
- The seventh Delhi Assembly have almost double the number of MLAs who have declared criminal cases against them compared to the sixth Assembly that was elected in 2015
- According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 43 out of the 70 newly elected MLAs, or 61%, have declared criminal cases.
Surge in assets
74% of the newly elected MLAs declared assets of over ₹1 crore, an increase from 63% in 2015. This time, 73% of AAP MLAs and 88% of BJP MLAs declared assets of over ₹1 crore.
HAMPI
Why in news?
Supreme court has supported the move of demolishing restaurants near Hampi by Karnataka government
Details:
The directions under The Mysore Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1961 was followed by Karnataka Government
More about Hampi:
- Modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Ballari district and others in and around that district in Karnataka, India.
- Located on the bank of Tungabhadra river(A tributary of Krishna), is a UNESCO world heritage site.
- It was the capital city during the four different dynasties of Vijayanagara kingdom.
- King Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva Dynasty was one of the greatest emperor of Vijayanagara kingdom.
- Around 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world’s second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing
- An ongoing war between Muslim Sultanates and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire led to the Battle of Talikota in 1565 CE
- The Italian Cesare Federici writing two years after the empire’s defeat states that “The Cities of Bezeneger (Vijayanagara) is not altogether destroyed, yet the houses stand still, but empty, and there is dwelling in them nothing, as is reported, but Tygres and other wild beasts”
STORM CIARA
- Storm Ciara is an extratropical cyclone, and the third named storm of the 2019–20 Ireland, Netherlands and UK windstorm season.
- Ciara brought heavy rain and severe winds across much of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden and other northern regions in Europe.
Extratropical Cyclone
- An extratropical cyclone (also called a mid-latitude cyclone) is a type of cyclone.
- It is a large low-pressure weather area with clouds, rain and heavy wind.
- They occur in areas that are between latitudes 30° – 60° from the equator.
- They are not the same as tropical cyclones or low-pressure weather areas from polar zones.
- They are actually many masses of cold and warm fronts producing rain, heavy wind, and sometimes tornadoes and even hail.
HOMO LUZONENSIS: NEW HUMAN SPECIES FOUND IN PHILIPPINES
- There’s a new addition to the family tree: an extinct species of human that’s been found in the Philippines.
- It’s known as Homo luzonensis, after the site of its discovery on the country’s largest island Luzon.
- Its physical features are a mixture of those found in very ancient human ancestors and in more recent people.
- That could mean primitive human relatives left Africa and made it all the way to South-East Asia, something not previously thought possible.
- The find shows that human evolution in the region may have been a highly complicated affair, with three or more human species in the region at around the time our ancestors arrive.
- One of these species was the diminutive “Hobbit” – Homo floresiensis – which survived on the Indonesian island of Flores until 50,000 years ago.
