Current Affairs 19th February 2016

Important Points : 

• BHEL commissioned 270 MW unit of GVK power plant in - Punjab
• Who has received Raksha Mantri’s Trophy for Best Service Hospital - Eastern Command
• Who has inked a new law imposing sanctions against North Korea - US President Obama 
• Who has approved building of 82000 houses for poor in urban areas of 163 cities - Union Government 
• Scientists discovered five Jupiter-like Planets
• Who has discovered discovered 2D Semiconducting Material made of Tin Monoxide - Indian-origin Ashutosh Tiwari

Details : 

BHEL commissioned 270 MW unit of GVK power plant in Punjab

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 18th February 2016, a 270 MW generation unit at the Goindwal Sahib Thermal Power Project of private producer GVK Power & Infra in Punjab was commissioned by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL).

About Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd

• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was established in 1964 by Government of India. 
• It manufactures the power plant equipments.
• In the year 1974, Heavy Electricals (India) Limited was merged with BHEL.
• It is India's largest engineering and manufacturing company of its kind.

Who has received Raksha Mantri’s Trophy for Best Service Hospital - Eastern Command

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 18th February 2016, Raksha Mantri’s Trophy for Best Service Hospital was received by the Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata. The hospital’s Commandant Major General TS Ahluwalia was conferred with the trophy and citation by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Commandant Surgeon Rear Admiral AA Pawar for INHS Asvini, Mumbai, received the trophy for the Second Best Hospital.

Do You Know : 

• In the year 1989, the Raksha Mantri’s Trophy was instituted to create a healthy competition among the Command Hospitals of the defense.
• The hospitals are adjudged on the basis of a number of objective criteria by a Committee headed by Director General Health Services (Armed Forces).

Who has inked a new law imposing sanctions against North Korea - US President Obama 

On 18th February 2016, a new law imposing new sanctions against North Korea was inked by United States (US) President Barack Obama. The new law is titled North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016.

The motive of the new law is to punish North Korea for its provocative recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

On 12th February 2016, after North Korea refused to stop its nuclear programme, the law was passed by the US Congress.

South Korea's Parliament adopted a resolution denouncing DPRK's fourth nuclear test.

Who has approved building of 82000 houses for poor in urban areas of 163 cities - Union Government 

On 18th February 2016, The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation approved construction of around 82000 houses for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in urban areas of 163 cities. 

The cities are in Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Rajashtan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Telangana. State wise number of houses sanctioned  

• Telangana – 22817
• Uttarakhand - 484
• Mizoram – 8922
• West Bengal - 27830 houses
• Jharkhand—2337
• Bihar – 13315
• Rajasthan – 6052

An investment of over four thousand crore rupees is needed out of which 1226 crore rupees will be provided by the Union Government under the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana (Urban).

Scientists discovered five Jupiter-like Planets

Among the important Discoveries, Five new Jupiter-like planets that orbits very close to their host stars were discovered by a team led by Pierre Maxted of the Keele University in Staffordshire of UK. The planets which are discovered shows similar characteristics like our solar systems biggest planet Jupiter,

The Wide Angle Search for Planets-South (WASP-South) instrument—an array of eight cameras was used to study the planets in their light curve by observing selected regions of the southern sky.

WASP-119 b, WASP-124 b, WASP-126 b, WASP-129 b and WASP-133 b has been designated to the newly discovered planets.

Orbital period of the five planets are 

• WASP-119 b – Its orbital period is 2.5 days, mass of 1.2 of the mass of Jupiter and is typical hot.
• WASP-124 b – Its orbital period is  3.4 days and is a much younger parent star.
• WASP-126 b – It has a low surface gravity which could be good for transmission spectroscopy. 
• WASP-129 b – It has high surface gravity and the longest orbital period.
• WASP-133 b – It has the shortest orbital period and is slightly bigger than the solar system's most massive planet.

Who has discovered discovered 2D Semiconducting Material made of Tin Monoxide - Indian-origin Ashutosh Tiwari

Among the important Discoveries, On 15th February 2016, a new kind of 2D semiconducting material for electronics that is made up of the elements tin and oxygen or tin monoxide (SnO) was discovered by the Engineers belonging to the University of Utah, the USA.

The team of the engineers was led by Indian-Orgin Ashutosh Tiwari.

The only one atom thick 2D SnO material allows electrical charges to move through it much faster than conventional 3D materials such as silicon and will facilitate development of much speedier computers and smartphones.