Current Affairs 19th-20th February 2017

Current Affairs 19th-20th February 2017 - Important Points

• World Day of Social Justice was observed on – 20th February 2017
• Altamas Kabir passed away, he was - Former Chief Justice of India (CJI)
• India's rank in the Index of Economic Freedom in 2017- 143
• Which volcano Of India is active again - Barren Island
• India's vaccine regulatory body NRAI has been given highest ratings by – UN's WHO

Current Affairs 19th-20th February 2017 - Important Points

World Day of Social Justice was observed on – 20th February 2017

World day of Social Justice was observed on 20th February 2017 with the theme of “Preventing conflicts and sustaining peace through decent work.”

More about this Day

•  This day is celebrated to promote efforts to tackle several issues like exclusion, unemployment and poverty.

• This day was created by United Nations General Assembly in 2007 with the goals and objectives of the World Summit for Social Development and the 24thsession of the General Assembly.

• Its objective is to promote full employment and decent work, access to social well-being, gender equity and justice for all.

Altamas Kabir passed away, he was - Former Chief Justice of India (CJI)

Former chief justice of India Altamas Kabir died on 19th February 20, 2017 due to prolonged illness in Kolkata. He was 68 at the time of his death.

More about Altamas Kabir

• He was the 39th Chief Justice of India served from September 2012 to July 2013.

• AltamasKabir was born in Calcutta in 1948.

• He graduated from PresidencyCollege in History.

• Later, he studied law with the University of Calcutta.

India's rank in the Index of Economic Freedom in 2017- 143

India ranked 143 in the Index of Economic Freedom in 2017 released in the third week of February.

Important Highlights

• The Heritage Foundation, US’s Think Tank released this Index.

• It was the 23rd edition where the Index analyzed economic policy developments of 186 countries. 

• There are 49 countries that achieved their highest economic freedom scores ever. These countries include China and Russia.

• Only Afghanistan (163) and Maldives (157) among South Asian Countries were ranked below India.

• India slipped to 143rd rank from 123rd rank in 2016 because of major contribution of corruption, poor management of public finance, and underdeveloped infrastructure.

Which volcano Of India is active again - Barren Island

The only volcano of India, Barren Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islandsis active again.

Key Highlights

• The volcano is erupting in small intervals of 5 to 10 minutes. The researchers observed only ash clouds during the day. However after sundown, red lava foundations spew from the crater into the atmosphere.

• It lies about 138 km northeast of the territory's capital, Port Blair in the Andaman Sea.

• It was first erupted in 1787 then in 1994-11995 and then in 2005-2007.

India's vaccine regulatory body NRAI has been given highest ratings by – UN's WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) from UN announced that the National Regulatory Authority of India (NRAI) meets the WHO’s Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) requirements for vaccines.

Important Highlights

• WHO gives highest rating to Indian vaccine production ecosystem.

• The assessment was done for 14 different functions. Out of them, 9 functions have met the ‘Level 4’ standards, while remaining 5 functions have met the ‘Level 3’ standards.

• Level 4 standard indicates good results and sustained improvement trends. While, the level 3 reflects systematic process based approach, early stage of systematic improvements, data availability regarding conformance to objectives and existence of improvement trends.