13th September Current Affairs

India

WCD issues advisory against ‘Momo challenge’

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) issued an advisory against the ‘Momo challenge’.
• Momo is a social media account on WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube, which uses the image of a horror artwork to induce curiosity among children, challenging them to communicate with an unknown number.

• The challenge consists of a variety of self-harming dares and ends with a suicide challenge.
• Moderate earthquake in Assam’s Kokrajhar
• A moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale was recorded in Kokrajhar district of Assam.
• Tremors were also felt in parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Daga in Bhutan.
• Kokrajhar district is an administrative district in Assam, predominantly inhabited by the Boro tribe.

• Manas National Park is located in Kokrajhar district.
• Native plants choked in Western Ghats
• The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the National Board for Wildlife to look into the issue of the removal of invasive trees in the Western Ghats.
• Invasive species like eucalyptus, wattle, pine and cypress trees, as well as Lantana camara plants, are proliferating across the Nilgiris upper slopes.
• Prosopis juliflora, parthenium and eupatorium have spread ón the lower slopes.

Sports

• ICC Test rankings: India still on No. 1
• India continued to be at the No.1 position in the ICC Test Team Rankings in September, after completing a 1-4 series against England at The Oval.
• The Virat Kohli-led side had started the series at 125 points but after the series loss, it is now on 115 points followed by South Africa. 

• England improved its ranking to the fourth spot in the ICC Test Team Rankings after a series win over India.

Business

• States may gain from oil price rise
• A research report of the State Bank of India (SBI) predicts that the rising fuel prices could fetch States a substantial windfall gain of around Rs. 22,700 crore.
• Alternatively, a $1/barrel increase in oil prices translates, on an average, into Rs. 1,513 crore revenue gain to all the major 19 States.

• This windfall gain might push down the States’ fiscal deficit by 15-20 basis points.

Awards & Appointments

• Mudgal to head awards panel
• Justice Mukul Mudgal was named the chairman of the 11-member selection committee to select Dronacharya and Dhyanchand awardees for 2018.
• The retired judge was previously appointed to probe into the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.

• Mukul Mudgal is currently the deputy chairman of the FIFA Governance Committee and Review Committee.