- Madhya Pradesh government has created a new spiritual department. The new Spiritual Department will be created by merging the Religious Trusts and Endowments Department and the Happiness Department.
- The entire State of Nagaland has been declared ‘disturbed area’ till June 2019, under the controversial AFSPA, which empowers security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior notice.
- The Ross Island was renamed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, the Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep. All three islands belong to the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago.
- The Ujjwala Sanitary Napkins initiative has been introduced by three oil marketing companies – IOCL, BPCL and HPCL. The three companies will set up 100 manufacturing units at the Common Service Centres (CSC) covering 93 Blocks across 30 districts of Odisha.
- The ELISA test is used in all blood banks to screen for HIV virus in blood samples.
- Maitri and Bharati are Indian stations in Antarctica.
- Raja Suheldev was a legendary king of the Bhar community.
- Gypsum is a major waste product of the fertilizer industry and coal fired power plants.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the draft National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2018. The NCIM will promote “availability of affordable healthcare services in all parts of the country”, the Centre said in a statement on Friday. The draft Bill will enable the constitution of a National Commission with four autonomous boards for the purpose of conducting overall education in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowarigpa.
- “Avangard” system is a Russian hypersonic missile which could fly at 20 times the speed of sound and manoeuvre up and down, meaning that it could breach defence systems.
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