Top 5 Current Affairs: 5 February 2018

UP Government introduces mass marriage policy to discourage dowry

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath said on February 4, 2018 that the state government has come up with a mass marriage policy for the poor girls in the state, under which financial assistance worth Rs 35000 will be provided at each wedding.

The main aim of the policy is to discourage the practice of dowry. The Chief Minister made the announcement while speaking at an event where he and Union Social Justice and Empowerment minister Thawar Chand Gehlot distributed tricycles and other assisting devices to 4,115 differently-abled persons.

None of the cities in India meet air quality standards of WHO: Greenpeace

According to a report, Airpocalypse, released by Greenpeace India, people living in eight of every 10 Indian cities breathe toxic dust particles, PM 10, at levels exceeding national safety limits.

The report mainly brings together data on the quality of air and presence of particulate matter in the atmosphere in over 280 cities across the country. In many of the cities, the air quality has reportedly gone down from bad to worse with the National Capital Territory of Delhi recording the worst air quality in the country.

When two people get married, no one should interfere: Supreme Court against honour killings

The Supreme Court of India on February 5, 2018 ruled that two adults are free to get married and no third party be it parents or society or khap panchayats, have any right to cause harm to them.

The ruling was made against the acts of honour killing by three judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud. By ruling this, the apex court upheld the fundamental right of people by giving them liberty to decide about their marriage as per their wish and live peacefully.

Union Government approves new project to control pollution of River Sal at Navelin, Goa

The Union Government on February 4, 2018 sanctioned a new project to control pollution in River Sal at Navelim town, Goa.

The project was approved by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). It will be completed at cost of Rs 61.74 crore and this cost will be borne by the Centre and State on 60:40 basis.

Japan launches smallest rocket ever to carry tiny satellite into orbit

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on February 3, 2018 launched the world’s smallest rocket with the ability to put a tiny satellite into orbit. The rocket lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture, south-western Japan.

It carried a microsatellite TRICOM-1R, a three-unit CubeSat weighing about 3 kilograms. The satellite was developed by the University of Tokyo to capture images of the Earth’s surface. This satellite launch was a re-flight of the TRICOM-1 mission, which was lost in SS-520’s failure in 2017.