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TAMIL NADU A Digital Cardiac Catheterisation (Cath) Lab – was inaugurated at

Stanley medical college and Hospital, Chennai

The state-of-the-art Bi-plane digital subtraction angiogram cath lab was inaugurated by Health minister C. Vijaya Baskar, Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar and Transport minister M.R. Vijayabaskar

The lab, established at a cost of Rs 6.53 crore, can provide minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases at the hospital

With this equipment, block, weakness and leak in blood vessels can be treated without performing a surgery

EVERYDAY CURRENT AFFAIRS – JANUARY 5, 2019

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A 920-kg Thiruvallur statue – was sent to Malaysia – where it will

feature in the International Thirukkural conference in February 2019

The statue, made at a cost of Rs 2 lakh, was sponsored by Thanjavur’s Tamilthai Arakattalai

The second of tamil month of Thai (January 16) is considered as Thiruvalluvar day

Mylswamy Annadurai, former director of the Indian Space Research

Organisation – has been appointed as the Assistant Director of the

Tamil Nadu State council for Science and Technology

He will be in service for the remaining period of the present council

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NATIONAL Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) – has notified

the new food packaging regulations on January 3, 2019

The new regulations seek to amend the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011

The new regulations bar the use of recycled plastics and newspapers to wrap food articles

It also specifies the suggestive list of packaging materials to be used for different food product categories

The regulator had mandated the compliance of new regulations by the food businesses from July 1, 2019

INTERNATIONAL Pakistan – abolishes the ‘On-arrival’ visa facility for the Afghan

Nationals – citing security concerns and increase in terrorist

activities as the reasons

With the new rules, the Afghans have to apply for a visa from Pakistani embassies in Afghanistan hereafter to enter Pakistan

INDIA AND NEIGHBOURS Pakistan – declares ‘Panj Tirath’ hindu religious site as a ‘National

heritage’

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial government of Pakistan has announced the ancient hindu religious site in Peshawar of North Western Pakistan under the KP Antiquities Act 2016

Panj Tirath means five pools of water As per the hindu epic, Mahabharat, King Pandu belonged to this place and Hindus

will visit these water pools for bathing during the month of Karteek and worship the deity here under a tree in a separate temple for 2 days

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CONFERENCES & SUMMITS 106

th

edition of Indian National Congress – inaugurated by the PM,

Narendra Modi at Jalandhar, Punjab

Theme - ‘Future India: Science and Technology’ During the occasion, the PM proclaimed a new slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai

Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan’ adding to the former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s famous slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Jai Vigyan

Indian Science Congress is organised by the Indian Science Congress Association every year in the first week of January

The last edition of the congress was held at Manipur University in Imphal

PERSONALITIES Arunima Sinha, the Indian mountaineer - becomes the World’s first

woman amputee to climb Mount Vinson, highest peak of Antarctica

f Earlier she became the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in

2013 Arunima of Uttar Pradesh had lost one of her legs in a horrific incident, when she

was thrown off the moving Padmawati Express train for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by hooligans in 2011

Apart from Everest, Arunima has also scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Kosciuszko in Australia and Aconcagua in Argentina before this - as part of her mission to scale 6 highest peaks in 6 continents

In 2015, Arunima was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India

In the same year she also received the Tenzing Norgay National adventure award

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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT Scientists from Indian agricultural Research Institute – have

developed an ‘Agricultural Drought Monitoring and Early Warning

system’ – in association with University of Nebraska, United States

The system will assess a region based on various indicators using Satellite images and models to classify them as extreme, severe, moderate and normal

AWARDS Anindita Neogy Anaam, Kathak dancer - has been honoured with the

prestigious ‘National Nritya Shiromani’ award

The award was conferred during the 10th International Dance and Music festival

at Cuttack, Odisha US-based Anindita is a disciple of Pt Jai Kishan Maharaj, eldest son of Pt Birju

Maharaj, and Pt Rajendra Gangani Anindita is a recipient of prestigious national awards like Jayadev Rashtriya

Puraskar and Bidagdha Nartaki Samman for her outstanding achievement in the promotion of Kathak