Daily GK 8th june

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Daily Gk 8th June 2017

National

Election to the Office of President of India, 2017 notification released by Election Commission

• The term of office of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India,  is ending on 24th July, 2017.   As per Article 62 of the Constitution,  an election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing President is required to be completed before the expiration of  the term.
• The law provides that the notification for election shall be issued on or after  the sixtieth day before the expiry of term of office of the outgoing President.
• Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Presidential and Vice – Presidential Elections Act, 1952, and the Presidential and Vice – Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of election to the office of the President of India in the Election Commission of India.
• The Election Commission is mandated to ensure  that the election to the office of the President of India, which is the highest elective office in the nation, must be a free and fair election and the Commission is taking all necessary steps for discharging its constitutional responsibility. 
• The President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of:
• Elected members of both Houses of Parliament, and
• Elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States including National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• The nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of the States are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore, they are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the Legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election.

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Korea for export credit of USD 9 billion

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) and Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) for export credit of USD 9 billion for infrastructural development in India and for the supply of goods and services as part of projects in third countries. 
• The MoU is proposed to be signed between the two banks during the forthcoming visit of the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, to Seoul, Korea during 14-15 June 2017 for the Annual Financial Bilateral Dialogue. The decision is expected to promote the country’s international exports, and deepen political and financial ties between India and Korea. The export credit will be utilized through lending by EXIM Bank for promoting projects for priority sectors, including smart cities, railways, power generation and transmission etc., in India and for the supply of goods and services from India and Korea as part of projects in third countries.
• The Joint Statement issued in 2015 during the visit of the Prime Minister to the Republic of Korea stated that Korea intends to offer USD 10 billion of infrastructural development in India. The package was subsequently prepared to comprise of USD 1 billion from the South Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) as government to government funding and USD 9 billion as export credit from KEXIM. The credit of USD 9 billion from KEDIM is to be through a formal MoU to be signed between KEXIM and EXIM Bank.

Cabinet approves agreement between India and Cyprus on Merchant Shipping

·         The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the Agreement between India and Cyprus on Merchant Shipping, which was signed in April 2017.

·         The Agreement in Merchant Shipping will pave the way for cooperation in eliminating any hindrances which may hamper the development of sea trade between the two nations.

·         The MoU will encourage participation in the transport of goods between the countries, and also from third countries. The MoU further seeks to enhance cooperation for employment, improvement of conditions of work and for the welfare of seafarers employed on each other’s vessels.

Health Secretary inaugurates Vatsalya Maatri Amrit Kosh, a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre

• Shri C K Mishra, Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) inaugurated the ‘Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh’, a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), New Delhi.
• Speaking on the occasion, Shri C K Mishra congratulated the LHMC, Delhi for this initiative and said that this would be the largest human milk bank and lactation counselling centre available under the public sector in North India. The Health Secretary further added that it is envisaged that with this donor human milk bank, all newborns in and around Delhi will have access to life saving human milk regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Mr Nils Ragnar Kamsvag, Ambassador of Norway to India, was also present at the occasion.
• “Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh” is established in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).

National Level Conference on "Capacity Building of SDRFs-2017" concluded

• The two-day National Level Conference on "Capacity Building of SDRFs-2017" concluded. The conference was inaugurated by the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.
• The conference was organised by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to develop a synergy and to highlight way ahead to strengthen the response capabilities of SDRFs.
  
  On the second day of National level conference on capacity building of SDRF-2017, the Union Home Secretary, Shri Rajiv Mehrishi addressed the delegates from the states.
• He emphasized that NDRF and SDRFs to work together on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) by educating the community and adopt new technologies to tackle the new emerging challenges besides their primary role.
• He underlined the strengthening of SDRF by specialized training and equipping with latest gadgets for prompt and timely response to disaster. The Home Secretary also assured State representatives to provide every possible help for making SDRF a self- contained response Force.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates “Saath Hai Viswaas Hai, Ho Raha Vikas Hai” Exhibition

• Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu Minister for Information & Broadcasting has said that the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister in the last 3 years had worked tirelessly towards the development agenda wherein various initiatives had been taken to transform the lives of people.
• The Government is committed to fulfill the aspirations of emerging New India which is hungry for development. A new movement – Making of Developed India (MODI) had started in the country that is resonating across all sections of society.
• The Minister stated this while inaugurating the “Saath Hai Viswaas Hai, Ho Raha Vikas Hai” Exhibition at Indira Niketan Park, Sarojini Nagar. Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for I&B was also present on the occasion.
• The Exhibition comprises of 90 panels which covers various themes such as Prosperous Farmers Prosperous Nation, Government for the People, of the People, by the People, Visionary Government – Securing India’s Future, India’s Rise in the Global Order, Harnessing Yuva Shakti for New India, Decisive & Bold Government, Empowering Gaon & Garib for New India, Empowering Women, Reform to Transform and Government that cares.

International

India to join SCO in Astana

·         India says it is willing to join hands with Pakistan and China to combat terrorism.

·         Announcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s weekend visit to Astana, Kazakhstan, where India will be admitted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the External Affairs Ministry said the fight against terrorism was “incumbent” on all.

·         “We are going to Astana to become full member of SCO, and we know the obligations and functions of the member states,” said Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay explaining that counter-terror collaboration with members of the SCO, such as China and Pakistan, was also a possibility.

·         “We participate with many countries, including Pakistan, in the U.N. peacekeeping operations, and terrorism is a fight which is incumbent on all countries,” Mr. Baglay said.

• India and Pakistan signed the memorandum of obligations on 24 June 2016 at Tashkent, thereby starting the formal process of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as full members. The acceptance process will take some months, by which they are expected to become full members by this month meeting at Astana in 2017.

Brazil's president faces key court session in campaign case

·         Judges on Brazil's top electoral court argued whether to accept new evidence of alleged illegal campaign contributions that stem from a sweeping probe of graft in Latin America's largest nation as they consider a case that could force President Michel Temer from office.

·         The ruling on revelations from recent plea bargains would be a strong indication of how the court is leaning, and testy debate showed sharp divisions between the judges who appear to favor accepting the damaging revelations and those who oppose. The latter camp includes Superior Electoral Tribunal President Gilmar Mendes, who has called the president whose political fate he is deciding "a friend of decades."

·         At issue is whether the 2014 campaign of Temer, then vice president, and former President Dilma Rousseff received illegal financing. If the court finds it did, Temer could be removed from office, adding further to the country's corruption-fueled political turmoil.

Contemporary Economic Developments

The Central Government abolished various Cesses in the last three years for smooth roll-out of GST

• The Central Government in the last three General Budgets viz 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 has gradually abolished various cesses on goods and services in order to prepare the ground for smooth roll- out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) from 1st July, 2017.
• The Central Government has taken this step in stages by abolishing various cesses so that it is easier to fit in various goods and services in different tax slabs for GST.
• The Central Government in its General Budget 2015-16 had abolished Education Cess, including Secondary and Higher Education Cess on taxable services, and exempted Education Cess on excisable goods as well as Secondary and Higher Education Cess on excisable goods.

• Wealth tax was abolished in the Union Budget ( 2016 - 2017 ) presented by Union Finance Minister of India Mr. Arun Jately on 28-Feb-2015.
• In its General Budget 2016-17, the Central Government abolished cess on cement, strawboard, three cesses including cess on Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines by amending Labour Welfare Cess Act, 1976, Tobacco cess by amending the Tobacco Cess Act 1975, and Cine Workers Welfare Cess by amending the Cine Workers’ Welfare Cess Act 1981 among others.
• In its General Budget 2017-18, the Central Government abolished Research and Development cess by amending the Research and Development Cess Act.

India’s Seafood Export at all-time High in 2016-17 : MPEDA

·         Riding on a robust demand for its frozen shrimp and frozen fish in international markets, India exported 11,34,948 MT of seafood worth an all time high of US$ 5.78 billion (Rs 37, 870.90 crore) in 2016-17 as against 9,45,892 tons and 4.69 billion dollars a year earlier, with USA and South East Asia continuing to be the major importers while the demand from the European Union (EU) grew substantially during the period.

·         Frozen shrimp maintained its position as the top item of export, accounting for 38.28 per cent in quantity and 64.50 per cent of the total earnings in dollar terms. Shrimp exports increased by 16.21 per cent in terms of quantity and 20.33 per cent in dollar terms. Frozen Fish was the second largest export item, accounting for a share of 26.15 per cent in quantity and 11.64 per cent in dollar earnings, registering a growth of 26.92 per cent in terms of value.

India to remain among top 3 investment destinations till ’2019

·         India will remain among the top three investment destinations globally till 2019, according to a survey by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

·         UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2017 also said India ranked 10th in terms of FDI inflows in 2016, with $44 billion coming in, as in 2015. Over the next two years, India will be behind only the U.S. and China in terms of investment attractiveness, the report added.

·         “In terms of projections for the future, the United States of America, China and India are the top prospective destinations for FDI,” the report said. “Business executives surveyed by UNCTAD say that they maintain their confidence in developing Asia’s economic performance.”

Science & Technology

WHO revises antibiotics protocol

·         In an effort to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has divided the drugs into three categories — access, watch and reserve — specifying which are to be used for common ailments and which are to be kept for complicated diseases.

·         Commonly used antibiotics will be under the ‘access’ category; the second line of antibiotics, slightly more potent, have been categorised under “watch” and potent drugs to be used only as a “last resort” fall under the ‘reserve’ category. This is the biggest revision of the antibiotics section in the 40-year history of the essential medicines list (EML).

BNHS completes first pan-India common bird monitoring progamme

·         Data compiled from the first pan-India Common Bird Monitoring Programme (CBMP) organised by the Bombay Natural History Society's (BNHS) for all three seasons in succession will soon be available in the public domain.

·         However, participation remained almost entirely centred in Maharashtra where BNHS, founded 1883, runs several outreach initiatives from its landmark headquarters in Hornbill House, named after the bird that is its mascot.

·         Responding to keen interest from birding enthusiasts, the summer count for Maharashtra, which drew the most participants, has already been released. Planned as an annual exercise, the monsoon count was launched on September 11, 2016, followed by the count for winter on January 15, 2017, ending with the most recent summer bird count tabulated on any one day over the week from April 9 to 16, 2017, since it was found that a single date forced many volunteers to drop out unavoidably.

Sports

Bopanna enters final of French Open mixed doubles

·         India’s Rohan Bopanna earned himself an opportunity to become only the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam trophy by reaching the French Open mixed doubles final with partner Gabriela Dabrowski, in Paris.

·         Bopanna and his Canadian partner, seeded seventh, shocked third seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5 6-3 in the semifinals.

·         This is only the second time in his career that Bopanna had reached the summit clash of a Grand Slam. In 2010, he had made the final of US Open with Pakistani parter Aisam-ul-haq- Qureshi and lost to legendary Bryan brothers -- Bob and Mike.

·         They will now fight it out with Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Colombia’s Robert Farah, who knocked out Casey Dellacqua and Rajeev Ram 6-7(5) 6-3 10-5 in other semifinal contest.

·         Only three Indians have so far managed to lay hands on a Grand Slam trophy -- the legendary Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.

source:cl

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