Doubt Classes

1st June 2017

Daily Gk by Doubt Classes

National

Rajasthan High Court recommends declaration of cow as national animal

·         The Rajasthan High Court recommended that the Centre declare the cow as a national animal and increase the punishment for cow slaughter to life imprisonment.

·         In a slew of directions passed on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the court asked the State Chief Secretary to take steps to get the suggestions implemented.

·         Disposing of the PIL moved by Jago Janata Society regarding the conditions at Hingonia gaushala in Jaipur, the court also appointed a committee of lawyers to keep a watch on the cow shelter's functioning. The Forest Department was asked to plant 5,000 saplings every year in the gaushala to keep it green.

·         The judgment was delivered by Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma at the High Court's Jaipur Bench on his last working day. The judge had earlier issued interim directions several times since 2010 for the upkeep of the gaushala, where a large number of cows had died recently due to unhygienic conditions.

India signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for USD 36 Million for “Himachal Pradesh Public Financial Management Capacity Building Program”

• An agreement for IBRD Credit of USD 36 Million from World Bank for “Himachal Pradesh Public Financial Management Capacity Building Program” was signed y in New Delhi by Shri Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.
• The Implementing Entity Agreement was signed by the Additional Director, Treasuries, Accounts and Lotteries, on behalf of Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP), and the Country Director (India) on behalf of the World Bank. The objective of the project is to improve the efficiency of Public Expenditure Management and Tax Administration in Himachal Pradesh.
• The Program is expected to contribute to enhancing efficiency of key departments, improving budget credibility, strengthening systems and procedures to improve fiscal discipline, improving revenue administration to increase fiscal space, and targeted organizational reforms including human resource reforms.
• The Program focuses on the priority areas identified by the GoHP, which were articulated in various stakeholder workshops during Program preparation.
• The programme size is USD 45 million, of which USD 36 million will be financed by the Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded out of State Budget. The programme duration is 5 years.

President Mukherjee approves NCSC officials' appointment

·         President Pranab Mukherjee approved the appointment of officials in the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

·         The officials have been appointed for a period of three years with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.

·         Ram Shankar Katheria has been appointed as chairman while L. Murugan as positioned as vice-chairman of the Commission.

·         K. Ramulu, Yogendra Paswan and Swaraj Vidwan have been designated as the member of the Commission.

International

India, Spain sign seven agreements

·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Madrid as part of his four-nation tour aimed at boosting bilateral ties.

·         India and Spain signed seven agreements, including on cyber security and technical cooperation in civil aviation. The agreements were signed after Prime Minister Modi held wide-ranging talks with Mr. Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace in the Spanish capital.

·         The two sides agreements on transfer of sentenced persons and visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports.

·         Five MoUs were signed between the two countries on cooperation in organ transplantation, cyber security, renewable energy, civil aviation and one between India’s Foreign Service Institute and Diplomatic Academy of Spain.

·         Mr. Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Spain since 1988, praised the Spanish Prime Minister saying under Mr. Rajoy’s leadership the country has undergone economic reforms “which is also the biggest priority of my government.”

·         Spain is India’s seventh largest trading partner in the European Union. Two-way trade totalled $5.27 billion in 2016.

Aleksandar Vucic sworn in as Serbia's new president amid protests

·         Populist leader Aleksandar Vucic was sworn in as Serbia's president, pledging to work for peace and stability in the war-weary Balkans while strengthening the country's armed forces.

·         Hours before the oath in parliament, Vucic's supporters clashed with opposition groups that were prevented from protesting in downtown Belgrade. Opposition groups said there were no injuries.

·         Later, a few thousand people joined an opposition protest against Vucic. Carrying banners that read "not our president" or "against dictatorship," opposition supporters marched through the Belgrade city center, blocking traffic while chanting slogans against Vucic and blowing whistles.

·         "There are two roads for Serbia: one led by Vucic, which is the road of dictatorship and destruction of freedom, and the road of freedom and democracy cherished by the people who gathered here," said liberal leader Sasa Jankovic, who trailed Vucic at the presidential vote last month.

Blast hits Kabul’s diplomatic quarter

·         The massive truck bomb attack in Kabul that killed at least 90 people has also damaged several embassies in the city’s highly-fortified diplomatic quarter.

·         The French, Chinese and Turkish embassies were among those hit, the three countries said adding that there’s no immediate signs of injuries to their diplomats. 

·         The BBC said a driver for the British broadcaster was killed and four of its journalists were wounded. 

Russia fires cruise missiles, targets IS positions in Syria

·         Russians warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired four cruise missiles at the Islamic State group’s positions in Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

·         The announcement came as Syrian government troops pushed ahead in their offensive against IS and militants in central and northern Syria.

·         Moscow said in a statement that the Admiral Essen frigate and the Krasnodar submarine launched the missiles at IS targets in the area of the ancient town of Palmyra.

·         Syrian troops have been on the offensive for weeks in northern, central and southern part of the country against IS and U.S.-backed rebels under the cover of Russian airstrikes, gaining an area almost half the size of neighbouring Lebanon.

·         Most recently, Syrian troops and their allies have been marching toward the IS stronghold of Sukhna, about 60 km northeast of Palmyra.

Contemporary Economic Developments

The Base Year of the Index of Eight Core Industries has been revised

·         The Base Year of the Index of Eight Core Industries has been revised from the year 2004-05 to 2011-12 from April, 2017. The shift is in line with the new base year of Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The industries covered in the Index of Eight Core are namely Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.

·         These remain the same as in the 2004-05 series. The revised basket of Eight Core Industries is aligned to the new series of IIP (2011-12) as far as possible. The revised Eight Core Industries have a combined weight of 40.27 per cent in the IIP. The detailed data based on the revised series since April, 2012 are given in Annexure.

·         The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stands at 118.6 in April, 2017, which is 2.5 % higher compared to the index of April, 2016. Its cumulative growth during April toMarch, 2016-17 was 4.8 %.

Swachhta Pakhwada successfully celebrated across the country by the Department of Consumer Affairs

·         The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution celebrated Swachhta Pakhwada from 16th to 31st May, 2017. The Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Sh. Jagdish. Prasad Meena, briefed the media on the successful completion of the Swachhta Pakhwada and informed that the Consumer can play a pivotal role in the Swachhta Mission in New Delhi.

·         The Pakhwada was initiated by an oath taking ceremony which was attended by the officers and staff of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The aim of the Swachhta Pakhwada observed by the Department was to spread swachhta awareness and implementation across the country with a focus on role of the Consumer in taking a leadership role for sanitation initiatives. In this direction, a series of activities were undertaken such as Nukkad Natak, slogan writing competition, poster making competition, essay writing competition, special drives for cleaning of the work place and removing of old and unwanted articles from the office premises. The Department through its own staff members performed Nukkad Natak at various places including Krishi Bhawan and INA Market.

·         Through Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV, All India Radio and Private FM Channels across the country, the consumers have been informed about their responsibilities to keep the country clean, under the Jago Grahak Jago campaign.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) sign $100 million loan to finance Solar Rooftop projects

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab National Bank (PNB) signed a $100 million loan — to be guaranteed by the Government of India — that will finance large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings throughout India.

• The PNB will use the ADB funds to make further loans to various developers and end users to install rooftop solar systems. 

• This is the first tranche loan of the $500 million multi tranche finance facility Solar Rooftop Investment Program (SRIP) approved by ADB in 2016.

• The financing includes $330 million from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and $170 million from the multi donor Clean Technology Fund (CTF) administered by ADB.  The first tranche loan of $100 million would be financed entirely from the CTF. 

• “The project is aligned with the goal set by Government of India to increase the country’s solar rooftop capacity by 40 GW by 2022, and would also contribute to Government's efforts to promote solar energy solutions as affordable and sustainable energy sources,” said Mr. Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who signed the Guarantee Agreement for Government of India. The loan agreement was signed by Mr. H.K. Parikh, General Manager on behalf of PNB.

• The entire Solar Rooftop Investment Program will cost $1 billion, inclusive of ADB $500 million funding, and the projects financed under the program will install solar rooftop system of around 1 GW capacity. This will contribute to the climate change goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 11 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the typical 25-year lifetime of rooftop solar systems.

Provisional Estimates of Annual National Income, 2016-17 And Quarterly Estimates of Gross Domestic Product, 2016-17

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has released the Provisional estimates of national income for the financial year 2016-17 and  quarterly estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2016-17, both at constant (2011-12) and current prices.
• The estimates of Quarterly GDP have been compiled using the new series of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Wholesale price Indices (WPI). The new series of IIP and WPI with base 2011-12 was released by CSO and the Office of Economic Advisor (OEA), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, respectively on 12th May, 2017.
• Accordingly, Annual estimates of GDP for the  years  2011-12 to 2015-16, which were released on 31st January 2017 have been revised on account of using new series of IIP and WPI.   Growth rates of GDP for the years 2011-12 to 2015-16, based on the new series of IIP and WPI and old series of IIP and WPI.

Trade unions oppose Centre’s move to privatise Air India

·         The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), affiliated to the CPI (M) voiced its opposition to the Centre’s move to consider privatisation of Air India, saying the move was not required as the national carrier was registering profits in recent times.

·         CITU said the Air India management should not be held responsible for “bungling and disastrous experiments by successive governments” which had left the national carrier, which was registering profits till 2007, debt-burden.

·         “After prolonged losses since 2008, Air India has started making operating profit. For the year 2015-16, it was Rs 105 crore and for 2016-17, estimated operating profit is going to be around Rs 300 crore,” Tapan Sen, general secretary at CITU said.

Plan for Indian SEZs in Bangladesh hits bump

·         India’s plan to step up investments in Bangladesh by setting up three mega Special Economic Zones (SEZ) exclusively for Indian companies in the latter’s territory has hit a major hurdle.

·         Citing “constraints, including inadequate infrastructure and lack of uninterrupted power supply” at Mongla, Bheramara and Mirsarai – the sites in Bangladesh for the proposed Indian SEZs, representatives of India Inc. told the Centre at a meeting that it will not be commercially viable to set up SEZs in the locations.

·         Expressing reluctance in taking forward the proposal, India Inc. also referred to “ambiguity and uncertainty regarding incentives offered by the Bangladesh Government to develop the SEZs,” the sources said.

·         To lure investments into its SEZs, Bangladesh had offered incentives, including exemption from income tax, VAT, customs duty and stamp duty, removal of ceiling on FDI, full repatriation of capital and dividend, no curbs on issuance of work permits as well as resident visas and citizenship for investments over a certain limit.

Orient Cement to buy 2 cement units from Jaypee for Rs 1,946 cr.

·         C.K. Birla Group firm Orient Cement has signed definitive agreements with Manoj Gaur led Jaypee Group to buy two of its cement units for Rs 1,946 crore.

·         The first agreement was signed by Orient Cements to buy 74% stake in Bhilai unit of Jaypee Cements for enterprise value of Rs 1,450 crore.

·         Bhilai Jaypee Cement Limited (BJCL) is a joint venture between Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (JAL) and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and has an integrated PSC cement capacity of 2.2mtpa consisting of a clinkerisation unit in Satna area in Madhya Pradesh and a grinding unit in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.

·         Another agreement was signed for the acquisition of the Nigrie Cement Grinding Unit as going concern from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. (JPVL) for a total consideration of Rs496 crore.

Chola MS raises Rs 100 crore through NCDs

·         Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited has raised Rs 100 crore by privately placing non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

·         The company offered on private placement of 1,000 unsecured, subordinated, fully paid-up, listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures. These have a face value of Rs 10, 00,000 each and are offered at par.

·         The coupon rate is 8.75%. The NCDs have a maturity period of 10 years with a call option after five years.

·         The NCDs have been assigned a credit rating AA+ (Outlook: Stable) by rating agencies CRISIL and ICRA.

·         The NCDs will be listed on National Stock Exchange. The funds thus raised would be used to facilitate business growth by further strengthening the company’s solvency, said S.S. Gopalarathnam, managing director and chief executive officer of Chola MS.

BEL plans Rs 2,500 cr. spend on defence R&D

Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) plans to spend Rs 2,500 crore on R&D to develop and enhance indigenous products and technologies for the military by 2020.

The state-owned defence electronics manufacturer plans to develop solutions in military communications, radars, electronic warfare suites, weapon systems and electro-optic devices, BEL Chairman and Managing Director M.V. Gowtama said here on Wednesday.

With orders worth Rs 40,000 crore in the pipeline, the company expects to touch a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal.

For the year ended March 2017, BEL posted a net profit of Rs 1,548 crore on turnover of Rs 8,825 crore.

BEL plans to spend Rs 700 crore during the year, mainly on new facilities in Ananthapur and Machilipatnam and the Product Development & Innovation Centre in Bengaluru.

Science & Technology

First Scorpene submarine Kalvari to be commissioned by July

·         The first of the six Scorpene submarines being built in India under technology transfer is likely to join the Navy by end of July, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said.

·         Kalvari is going through its final phase of trials and we are hopeful that in July-August we will take delivery,” he said speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Navy-FICCI seminar on “Building India’s future Navy: technology imperatives.”

·         Six Scorpene submarines are being built under Project-75 by Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) with technology transfer from France.

NASA to fly Solar Probe Plus right into sun’s atmosphere in 2018

• Wearing a nearly 5-inch coat of carbon-composite solar shields, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will explore the sun's atmosphere in a mission that begins in the summer of 2018.
• It's not a journey that any human can make, so NASA is sending a roughly 10-foot-high probe on the historic mission that will put it closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever reached before.

• The probe will have to withstand heat and radiation never before experienced by any spacecraft, but the specially designed mission will also address questions that couldn't be answered before. Understanding the sun in greater detail can also shed light on Earth and its place in the solar system, researchers said.
• This is NASA's first mission to the sun and its outermost atmosphere, called the corona., the craft -- initially called the Solar Probe Plus -- was renamed the Parker Solar Probe in honor of astrophysicist Eugene Parker.

• "This is the first time NASA has named a spacecraft for a living individual," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Sports

Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Raina in list of top 100 athletes

·         India captain Virat Kohli, former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and stylish left-handed batsmen, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, have found places in this year’s ESPN World Fame 100 list that made its debut last year.

·         While Kohli is placed in the 13th spot and Dhoni in the 15th, Yuvraj and Raina have been ranked 90th and 95th respectively, said a media release in Mumbai.

·         The list is ESPN’s ranking of the 100 most famous active athletes in the world.

·         Heading the list is top Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo while NBA great Lebron James, another soccer star Lionel Messi and tennis ace Roger Federer are the top four athletes, in that order.

·         The others in the top ten are: Phil Mickelson, Neymar Usain Bolt, Kevin Durant, Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods.

·         The ranking is based on a formula devised by ESPN director of sports analytics Ben Alamar, which combines endorsements, social media reach and other data to create a comparative ranking system, the media release explained.

·         In February, 28-year-old Kohli joined the likes of Bolt, Rickie Fowler and Thierry Henry as a Puma endorser and his eight-year deal with the shoe company is worth more than 100 crore rupees, the largest ever for an Indian athlete, the release said.

Source :CL