4th Dec Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam 2017

Gwalior Light Railway

• The Gwalior Light Railway runs between Gwalior and Sheopur Kalan in Madhya Pradesh, covering 198 km in 12 hours.
• It is the oldest long-haul service to run on 2-ft narrow-gauge tracks in the world.
• It is laid during the rule of the Scindias (1895 – 1909).
• Scindia is a Hindu Maratha dynasty that ruled the Gwalior State.
• Scindia’s originally served as cavalrymen under the Bahmani Sultanate.
• Later they become a part of the Maratha Confederacy in the 18th and 19th centuries and a princely state of the colonial British government during the 19th and the 20th centuries.

Ethereum

• Ethereum is similar to Bitcoin in the sense that they are both open-source platforms based on blockchain technology.
• These decentralised payment network with its own cryptographic currency,  allows anonymous payments without the need for a bank or other third party.
• Ether is the digital currency of the ethereum blockchain and it is the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin.
• But while Bitcoin is limited to using blockchain technology for Bitcoin payments, Ethereum can also be used to build decentralised computational platforms.
• Ethereum technology allows for third party applications, not just the currency, to run on the network.
• It allows a number of apps to be built and it is also being used by start-ups to raise money with initial coin offering.

Kamov 226T

• India and Russia had signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) earlier this year to buy Kamov 226T helicopters.
• Under the agreement, India will buy few choppers off the shelf and remaining will be fully built in India.
• The Kamov 226T is a twin-engine light but multi-role chopper offers services for both military and civilian purposes.
• The helicopters will replace India's ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak.
• The military version of 226T is capable of working in extreme and difficult weather conditions and can be used effectively for reconnaissance, targeting and monitoring of transportation.
• The helicopter has a maximum speed of 250 km/hour and a cruise speed of 220 km/hour with maximum takeoff weight of 3,600 kg.
• The helicopters will now be built completely using digital technology as part of the pilot project.
• It is the first experience to create a new helicopter modification by using only software.

Chabahar Port

• The first phase of the chabahar port project known as the “Shahid Beheshti port” was inaugurated recently.
• It opens up a new strategic transit route between Iran, India and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan under the 2016 Indo-Afghan-Iran trilateral pact.
• The port lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast.
• India is also constructing a railway line between Chabahar and Zahedan to connect the port to rest of the Iranian railway network.
• It is further to be linked with Delaram-Zaranj road, built by India in Afghanistan that connects at Afghan-Iran border via rail through Zahedan.

• The port, through Zahedan railway network, could also be linked with the International North South Transport Corridor connecting India with Russia.
• Over a month ago, India sent its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan by sea through the Chabahar port, marking opening of the new strategic transit route.

India & CITES

• India has been awarded with the Certificate of Commendation from CITES for its regional and global effort to combat illegal wildlife trade.
• It was given to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).
• India is the only recipient of this Certificate of Commendation at the 69th Standing Committee meeting of CITES at Geneva.
• WCCB conducted and coordinated a species specific wildlife enforcement Operation, codenamed Operation Save Kurma.
• The operation aims to combat the proliferating illegal trade in live turtles and its parts from the country to destinations abroad.

CITES

• CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.
• It is also known as the Washington Convention.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild.
• It accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.
• Participation is voluntary, and countries that have agreed to be bound by the Convention are known as Parties.
• Presently, 183 countries across the world are signatory to the Convention.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, it does not take the place of national laws.
• Rather it provides a framework respected by each Party, which must adopt their own domestic legislation to implement CITES at the national level.

Source: The Hindu, BusinessLine