TNPSC Current Affairs February 07, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs February 07, 2020 (07/02/2020)

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Female Genital Mutilation

Every year, February 6 is observed as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

What is Female Genital Mutilation?

It is the name given to procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical or cultural reasons, and is recognised internationally as a violation of human rights and the health and integrity of girls and women.

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Topic: Public Awareness and General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

Kumbhabhishekam

The ‘kumbhabhishekam’ (consecration) of the 1,010-year-old Brihadeeswarar Temple or the Big Temple is being held at Thanjavur. This enormously significant event was held after 23 years — and after the Madras High Court had settled an old argument over the ritual purification process only five days previously.

Background:

The judgment delivered on January 31 by the Madurai Bench of the court addressed the struggle for supremacy between the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions that lies at the heart of several cultural battles in the state — and which also played out in the kumbhabishegam ceremony.

What was the issue?

There was a dispute over which language should be used in the slokas at the kumbhabishegam. The Thanjai Periya Koil Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu (Thanjavur Big Temple Rights Retrieval Committee), an organisation that aims to restore Tamil traditions in the Sri Brihadishvara Temple, had demanded that the kumbhabishegam should be held only in Tamil. However, the government had told that the consecration will be performed in both Tamil and Sanskrit.

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Topic: Public Awareness and General Administration, Profile of States

Public Safety Act

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has slapped the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah besides two political stalwarts from the National Conference and the People Democratic Party.

What happens after PSA is used?

Within four weeks of passing the detention order, the government has to refer the case to an Advisory Board. This Advisory Board will have to give its recommendations within eight weeks of the order. If the Board thinks that there is cause for preventive detention, the government can hold the person up to two years.

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Topic: India and its Neighbouring countries

Bhutan’s new tourism fee

Bhutan will now impose a “sustainable development fee” (SDF) on Indian, Bangladeshi and Maldivian tourists.

The new levy, however, will not be applicable across Bhutan. To promote tourism in the less popular Eastern Bhutan, the SDF will not be levied on tourists travelling to 11 districts in the region.

The decision has been taken to protect the ecology of the country, amid a spike in visitors from India.

Background:

So far, tourists from the three countries had been exempt from a levy that other nationals had to pay — $250 per person per day during the peak season, and $200 per person per day during the low season. The low season is in the winter from December to February, and during the rains from June to August.

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Topic: Eminent Persons in News

Longest Spaceflight by a Woman: Christina Koch

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Christina Koch landed on the Earth on 6th february, 2020 after a record stay of 328 days on the International Space Station.

The previous longest single spaceflight by any womanwas 289 days by Peggy Whitson, also an American, who set that record in 2017.

Valery Polyakov of Russia holds the combine (i.e. for both men and women) record for the longest single spaceflight in history (438 days).

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Topic: Public Awareness and General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

Lucknow Declaration

It is a joint declaration adopted as an outcome of the first India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave which was held along the side-lines of the DefExpo 2020.

Aim: The Conclave was conducted with the aim of exporting India-made equipment to the African continent in keeping with long-standing defence partnerships since the 1950s.

The Declaration calls for deeper cooperation in the domain of defence industry including through investment, joint ventures in defence equipment software, digital defence, research & development, provisioning of defence equipment, spares and their maintenance on sustainable and mutually beneficial terms.