Daily Gk 5th July 2017

Current affairs for IBPS RRB,RBI,DENA BANK,SSC CGL,UPSC,AFCAT

National

Achal Kumar Joti to be the next Chief Election Commissioner

·         Election Commissioner (EC) Achal Kumar Joti was on July 4 appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). He suceeds Nasim Zaidi.

·         Mr. Joti, 64, who was the Chief Secretary of Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, will take over as the head of the Election Commission on July 6, a notification issued by the Law Ministry said. Mr. Zaidi will demit office on July 5.

·         Mr. Joti, a 1975-batch IAS officer who joined the three-member Commission as an Election Commissioner on May 8, 2015, will be in office till January 17, 2018. He retired as the Gujarat Chief Secretary in January 2013.

·         A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

·         Mr. Joti, who will be the 21st CEC, has also served as the Gujarat Vigilance Commissioner and worked in various capacities in the State, including as the chairman of the Kandla Port Trust between 1999 and 2004 and the managing director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. (SSNNL).

All cities of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana to become ODF by October 2, 2017

Image Source World Bank

·         All the 1,137 statutory cities and towns in six States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand,Kerala and Telangana are set to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2 this year marking the completion of three years of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). This is based on the regular reports being received from States/UTs.

·         With Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chandigarh having already declared all the 281 cities and towns under their jurisdiction ODF, a total of 1,418 cities and towns would become ODF by this October, two years ahead of the mission deadline of October 2, 2019. These nine States account for 39% of the total 4,041 mission cities.

·         This was revealed during the review of progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) by Shri D.S.Mishra, Secretary(Urban Development).

Environment Minister to Lead Plantation Drive to Celebrate Van Mahotsav 

• Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan will lead a month-long drive to plant saplings to mark Van Mahotsav starting on July 5.   The plantation drive will be organised at Ram Lila Park, C. C Colony, Model Town and in District Park, Paschim Vihar on July 6.  The Minister will plant saplings and also distribute saplings for plantation to local residents. Dr. Harsh Vardhan has advised the people to plant native trees because they readily adapt to local climate, integrate into the eco-system, have a high survival rate and are helpful in supporting local birds, insect and animals.
• Recollecting the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s emphasis on ‘Van Dhan’ to enhance the country’s forest-based economy, while improving the biodiversity and living in harmony with nature has been a part of our culture for thousands of years, the Environment Minister requested all States and the people at large, to hold plantation drives during the monsoon season. 
•  Dr. Harsh Vardhan also referred to India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs) to create additional Carbon Sink of 2.5 to 3 Billion Tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030, as has been submitted to UNFCCC under the able guidance of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. 
• Van Mahotsav began in 1950, with a tree plantation drive, in which national leaders participated.  The festival of tree plantation was started by     Dr. K.M. Munshi, the then Union Minister for Agriculture and Food to create enthusiasm among masses for forest conservation and planting trees.  The festival was simultaneously celebrated in other states in India.

Centre plans partial removal of AFSPA in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh

·         The Centre is considering partial removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, a senior Home Ministry official said.

·         The Ministry has asked the two BJP-ruled States for their views and said that it was open to review the stringent law in other States like Manipur.

·         AFSPA gives powers to the Army and central forces deployed in “disturbed areas” to kill anyone acting in contravention of law, arrest and search any premises without a warrant and provide cover to forces from prosecution and legal suits without the Centre’s sanction.

·         It is effective in the whole of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (excluding seven Assembly constituencies of Imphal). In Arunachal Pradesh it is in force in 16 police stations and in Tirap, Longding and Changlang districts bordering Assam. Tripura withdrew AFSPA in 2015. It is not in force in Meghalaya (except a 20-kilometre area along the Assam border) and Mizoram.

·         “The notification extending AFSPA in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is issued for six months after a review twice a year. We have reduced this duration to three months and see if it could be withdrawn completely from certain areas. For the time being, the proposal is only for the two States but we are also looking for a similar solution in Manipur,” said the official.

• The Home Ministry issued fresh notification to continue AFSPA in Arunachal Pradesh on May 4 for three months; it would expire on August 8.

‘Make registration of marriages compulsory’

·         The Law Commission of India has recommended compulsory registration of marriages to protect gullible women who become victims of fake marriages.

·         In a report submitted to the Centre, the commission headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.S. Chauhan, said the lack of provisions for compulsory registration of marriages had proven disastrous for women and deprived them of societal recognition and legal security.

·         “Fraudulent marriages are on the rise especially among non-resident Indians. Compulsory registration can serve as a means to ensure that conditions of a valid marriage have been performed,” the commission recommended.

·         It said a minor amendment to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, including a provision for compulsory registration of marriage, would serve the purpose. The commission clarified that there was no need to amend any of the personal laws of religious communities.

·         The commission pointed to a 2006 ruling of the Supreme Court in Seema vs Ashwani Kumar that said marriages of persons who are citizens of India belonging to various religions should be registered compulsorily in their States.

Give genuine persons another chance to deposit demonetised money, SC tells Centre

·         The Supreme Court noted that the government cannot deprive genuine persons of their hard-earned money and property and pointed out that the Centre cannot close all options for such persons and should open a window for them to approach the authorities and exchange their demonetised notes for new currency.

·         "It is harsh if you close all options of exchange for genuine persons who were unable to deposit their [demonetised] notes within the stipulated period," a Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and D.Y. Chandrachud told the Centre.

·         "If I am terminally ill and could not deposit my money. I should be given an opportunity now to approach you and establish my facts... You can't just deprive me of my money because I am terminally ill," Chief Justice Khehar addressed Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar.

·         "You are taking away my money because I am terminally ill? Citizens are facing problems and you are there to solve them. If not, serious problems will arise... and you provision is at risk," Chief Justice Khehar orally observed.

International

Vietnam for greater Indian role in SE Asia

·         Opening new possibilities in Southeast Asia, Vietnam asked India to play a greater role in ASEAN’s strategic and security affairs. Speaking at the Delhi Dialogue IX, a platform for discussion between ASEAN and India, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said that India should support freedom of navigation in the South China Sea on the basis of international law and conventions.

·         “ASEAN supports India to play a greater role in the political and security domain, and create a regional rule-based region. We hope India will continue to partner our efforts for strategic security and freedom of navigation in South China Sea on the basis of international law and legal convention,” said the visiting leader.

• The Delhi Dialogue IX marks the beginning of the celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN diplomatic ties. The Vietnamese leader also indicated that a special India-ASEAN summit will be held in 2018.

Ramanujan symbolises talent of people of India: Netanyahu

·         Renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan symbolises the talent of people of India, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, emphasising that the two countries believe in the partnership of talent.

·         Expressing his admiration for Ramanujan, Mr. Netanyahu said he was one of the greatest mathematicians of all times.

·         “We have a great admiration for people of India. I told you about my late uncle professor, who was a mathematician at the Israel Institute of Technology. He told me many times about his admiration for the great Indian mathematician Ramanujan,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Ramanujan, who died at an early age of 32, has contributed to mathematical analysis, including infinite series and continued fractions.

New Israeli flower named after PM Modi

·         A new fast-growing Israeli flower was named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special gesture to mark the first visit of an Indian premier to the Jewish nation.

·         Israeli Crysanthumun flower will now be called “MODI”, officials said.

·         “New fast-growing Israeli Crysanthumun flower named in honor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be called “MODI”. Indeed, a #GrowingPartnership!,” Israel’s official twitter handle said in a tweet.

·         “Crysanthumun flower will be named in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The flower will be called ‘Modi’,” Office of the Prime Minister tweeted.

Contemporary Economic Development

Tap GST for jobs data: PM-appointed panel

·         The Centre could use lakhs of firms registered under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the sample frame to capture employment data through a new Annual Survey of Enterprises, the task force to improve India’s data on jobs set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended.

·         The traditional Employment-Unemployment Surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) every five years must be scrapped, the task force led by NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya which is expected to submit its report to the Prime Minister’s Office soon, is learnt to have recommended.

·         The last such survey was carried out in 2011-12 and the one due in 2016-17 was skipped.

·         Instead, a new periodic labour force survey (the first one has already begun this April) will be conducted annually to provide estimates of labour force, employment, unemployment, nature of employment and industry. To get more frequent employment trends data, an urban module of this survey will be updated every quarter.

Snapdeal rejects $700 million-$800 million Flipkart bid

·         The board of Indian online marketplace Snapdeal has rejected a bid worth $700 million-$800 million from Flipkart after due diligence by its bigger rival.

·         Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, Snapdeal’s biggest investor, is looking to sell the firm to Flipkart to secure a stake in India’s largest e-commerce player.

·         The offer by Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart last week is only for the Snapdeal online marketplace and doesn’t include the company’s logistics arm Vulcan Express or its digital payments unit FreeCharge.

·         SoftBank declined comment while Snapdeal, its shareholders Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital, and Flipkart were not immediately available for comment.

·         Snapdeal has been expected to fetch at least $1 billion from its sale to Flipkart.

Officers’ body opposes central bank CFO plan

·         The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to appoint a chief financial officer (CFO) is facing stiff opposition as its officers’ association has questioned the move on the grounds that such a requirement is neither a statutory nor a legal mandate.

·         In May, the Reserve Bank of India invited applications for the post of CFO with the rank of an executive director from outside the organisation. The RBI had said the CFO would be responsible for accurate and timely presentation and reporting of financial information of the central bank, and establishing accounting policies and procedures and ensuring compliance with regulations.

·         In a letter to Governor Urjit Patel, Reserve Bank of India Officers’ Association said the move to induct a CFO came as an “unpleasant shock” as they were not clear about the intended purpose for the move.

India scores well on FSB reform report card to G20

·         The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body for global financial system, has placed India in the league of countries that are ‘compliant or largely compliant’ on implementation of priority area reforms.

·         Ahead of the G20 Summit in Germany to be attended by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, among other world leaders, the FSB submitted its status report on progress in financial regulatory reforms in various jurisdictions, including India.

·         The report listed India as a ‘compliant’ jurisdiction with regard to Basel III reforms in risk-based capital and as ’largely compliant’ on liquidity coverage ratio.

·         Other countries that have been found to be ‘compliant or largely compliant’ on these metrics include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and the US.

·         At the same time, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK have been found to be ’materially non-compliant’ on at least one parameter.

·         With regard to the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), India figured among the countries where “final rule published but not in force, or draft regulation published“.

·         On compensation-related reforms, India is among the jurisdictions where “all except a few (three or less) FSB Principles and Standards implemented”, as per the FSB report.

·         On trade reporting in the over-the-counter derivatives market, India was among the countries where necessary regulatory framework was being implemented.

·         On shadow banking, the FSB report named India among the jurisdictions where the final implementation measures are in force for valuation, liquidity management and stable net asset for monetary market funds, while final adoption measures were taken for implementing an incentive alignment regime and disclosing requirements on securitisation.

·         The FSB also said the jurisdictions that have not had an IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) in the last five years are undergoing one in 2017-19 and these countries include India.

Kamarajar Port starts building 3 coal berths

·         Kamarajar Port, formerly known as Ennore Port, has started constructing three coal berths that would be ready by March 2018, said a top official.

·         “We will be investing close to Rs.1,000 crore on building two new berths and converting the existing iron ore berth into a coal berth,” said M.A. Bhaskarachar, chairman-cum-managing director, Kamarajar Port.

·         With the addition of three more coal berths, the cumulative coal handling capacity of KPL will touch 64 million tonnes per annum. The new berths will add 36 million tonnes of coal per annum. Besides, the port handles 3 million tonnes liquid cargo, 3 million tonnes of general cargo and two million tonnes multi-cargo and containers.

Science & Technology

Drug-resistant TB higher among children than expected: report

·         While detection of tuberculosis (TB) in children remains a challenge, it has now emerged that Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB is higher among children than expected. This has been described as a “worrying trend” by the Union Health Ministry.

·         As many as 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine cities have been diagnosed with TB. Nine per cent of these paediatric TB cases have been diagnosed to have MDR TB, according to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) that conducted the tests in collaboration with the Central TB Division under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).

·         FIND initially started a unique initiative for diagnosing paediatric TB in four cities of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata from April 2014 with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It has now scaled up the project to include additional five cities —Nagpur, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru and Guwahati. The project will start in Indore next week. The aim of the project is to provide rapid access to quality TB diagnosis for all presumptive paediatric TB patients in the project intervention areas.

Tirupati boy launches Kalam satellite

·         K. Yagna Sai’s childhood ambition was to become a pilot, but his determination helped him in designing a satellite and sending it to the outer space.

·         A native of Tirupati, Sai was part of the six-member team from Chennai-based Space Kidz India that designed KALAMsat, which was launched by NASA at Wallops, Virginia, on June 22. A B. Tech final year student at Hindustan University, Chennai, Sai was the ‘Lead Technician’ in the team that designed the satellite termed as world’s lightest (weighing a mere 64 gm) and also the first 3D-printed.

·         ‘KALAM Sat’, a femto category satellite named after former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, was one of the 86,000 entries received from across the globe, and the only one from India, for a contest conducted by IDOODLE and Colorado Space Grand Consortium, in partnership with NASA. It was a 3.8 cm cube satellite, made of reinforced carbon fibre polymer. This was the only satellite among the 70 cubes sent by the NASA rocket, while the other entries were experimental samples, say blood, chewing gum etc. to study their behaviour in space.

Samsung to invest $19 billion in chip, display plants

·         Samsung Electronics said it will invest 21.4 trillion won ($19 billion) in the next four years in its memory chip and display plants in South Korea.

·         The South Korean company’s announcement comes as the global memory chip industry enjoys a massive boom thanks to a surge in demand for microchips. Global tech companies have been increasing servers and data centers to handle more data from mobile devices and auto vehicles and also on expectations that adoption of artificial intelligence would create even more demand for handling data.

·         Samsung said by 2021, it will spend an additional 14.4 trillion won ($12.5 billion) to increase the capacity in its memory chip factory in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, which began operating in the day. Samsung said the 15.6 trillion won ($13.6 billion) chip plant, which broke ground two years ago, is one of the largest semiconductor production lines in the world.

Sports

Germany survive Chile onslaught to win Confederations Cup 2017

·         Germany survived a whirlwind assault by Chile and capitalised on an awful mistake by the South Americans to claim a 1-0 victory in a pulsating, bad-tempered Confederations Cup final.

·         Germany won the title for the first time after Lars Stindl scored the only goal in the 20th minute when Chile midfielder Marcelo Diaz gave the ball away on the edge of his own area.

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