Daily Gk 8th July 2017

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

National

Former Indian Ambassador to US Naresh chandra passes away in Goa

·         Former Indian Ambassador to US Naresh Chandra (82) died at Manipal hospital at Dona Paula near Panaji due to multiple organ failure.

·         Mr. Chandra, a bachelor, had served as the Cabinet Secretary from 1990-92 and was the Indian Ambassador to the US from 1996 to 2001. 

Rasleela, processions by NRIs in host countries planned to mark 70 years of independence

·         Rasleela, songs in regional languages, special trains and processions by NRIs — these are among the attractions the Centre has planned for a seven-day celebration to mark 70 years of India’s independence.

·         Officials across Ministries are busy drawing up plans around their departments to impress a committee of senior Union Ministers that will review them from July 15.

·         The Railway Ministry is planning to run theme trains over five days from August 15, 2017.

National convention on Digital Initiatives 9th July 2017

·         President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has launched the SWAYAM, the portal that takes high quality education to the doorstep of everyone, in the National Convention of Vice Chancellors of all Universities in the Country, and Heads of IISc/IITs/IIMs/NITs/IIITs at Vigyan Bhawan. Along with this, he has also launched the SWAYAM Prabha – the 32 DTH channels operationalised for telecasting high quality educational content free of charge using the GSAT-15 satellite transponders. The function was organised on the eve of the Guru Poornima, a day for salutation to the teachers.

·         With the launch of SWAYAM, India has become one of the few countries in the World which has its own online interactive learning platform that provides, not only video lectures, reading material but also assignments/quizzes that could end up in securing credits after completing the assessment system.   

1993 Mumbai blasts accused held in U.P. after 24 years

·         Qadeer Ahmed, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was arrested from his native district of Bijnore in western Uttar Pradesh, 24 years after the attack.

·         He was arrested in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad and the Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad, a U.P. ATS spokesperson said. Ahmed is an accused under TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act) and has been absconding all these years.

PM seeks U.K.’s help on Mallya, Modi

·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his British counterpart Theresa May to ensure the U.K.’s cooperation to bring back economic offenders, as India works hard for the return of liquor baron Vijay Mallya and former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

·         Mallya has been in the U.K. for months, escaping arrest warrants. A London court is hearing a case on his extradition.

·         Mr. Modi met Ms. May at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Both leaders also discussed the whole range of bilateral ties. In a tweet after the meeting, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the Prime Minister asked for the U.K.’s “cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders.”

‘Corruption under Naidu went up to Rs. 3.75 lakh cr.’

·         The quantum of corruption under Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s watch had gone up to Rs. 3.75 lakh crore and the YSR Congress Party would take the details to every household with evidence, said YSR Congress Party president Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy at the third party plenary.

·         Releasing the second edition of the “Emperor of Corruption” at the party plenary session, Mr Jagan said Mr. Naidu was responsible for corruption to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh crore in capital lands and an equal amount in the Visakhapatnam land scam. Adding the corruption in irrigation project contracts, GENCO, earth, sand and liquor auctions, the total touched the Rs. 3.75-lakh crore, Mr. Jagan said.

Kerala boat races off to colourful start

·         The season of snake boat races in Kerala started off in a grand way with the race held on the Pamba river at Champakulam in Kuttanad. The State will witness a host of races in various districts in the coming months.

·         Six snake boats ( chundan ), each with about 100 oarsmen, and 10 smaller boats thrilled thousands of spectators lined up on either side of the river in the afternoon. A mass drill of the boats and an exhibition race preceded the event, popularly known as ‘Champakulam Moolam vallomkali’. ‘Ayaparambu Pandi chundan ’ won the race.

International

Petroleum Minister to represent India at 22nd World Petroleum Congress at Istanbul, Turkey

·         Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan will be visiting Istanbul, Turkey from 10 - 12 July 2017 to represent India at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) International Conference.

·         During his participation at the Conference, Shri Pradhan will be chairing a Ministerial Session on the subject “Current Economic Strategies in Indian Oil & Gas Sector” and a Plenary Session on ‘Supply and Demand Challenges for Oil, Gas and Products’.

·         The Minister will be launching an event on Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) as a part of process of promoting the upcoming oil & gas bidding rounds in India.

India emerging as front-runner in fight against climate change: World Bank

·         India is emerging as a front runner in the global fight against climate change, the World Bank has said, noting that the solar power is gradually displacing coal as an energy source in the Asian country.

·         “With a sweeping commitment to solar power, innovative solutions and energy efficiency initiatives to supply its people with 24x7 electricity by 2030, India is emerging as a front runner in the global fight against climate change,” the World Bank said in a news report published on July 7, 2017.

·         According to the World Bank, with its conscious choice to use significantly more clean energy to fuel its growth, India is contributing to global efforts to save the planet from the effects of climate change.

Iraq PM Haider al-Abadi announces 'victory' over Islamic State

·         Iraq’s prime minister celebrated with troops after they drove Islamic State militants from some of their last strongholds in Mosul, even as heavy fighting continued in a small portion of the Old City neighborhood.

·         Iraqi state TV reported that Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul to declare victory over IS in the more than eight-month old operation to drive the militants out.

• The militants captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in a matter of days in the summer of 2014. Nizal acknowledged that many of his men were among those who fled the city at that time in a humiliating defeat for the country’s armed forces.

EU-Norway crab row could fuel Arctic oil tensions

·         On the face of it, a relentless battle between the European Union and Norway in a remote part of the Arctic is about snow crabs.

·         But the real fight may go beyond who gets to catch the modest crustaceans around Svalbard, a unique Norwegian archipelago in the Barents Sea. The EU and Norway’s conflicting interpretations of the 1920 Svalbard Treaty signed in Paris are at the heart of the problem.

• The treaty recognises Norway’s “full and absolute sovereignty”, but gives the signatory nations an equal right to economic activities on Svalbard and its territorial waters. The core issue is to agree on the geographical scope of the treaty and how far all signatory states benefit from an equal access to resources.
• The snow crab, first recorded in the Barents Sea in 1996, is an invasive, and more importantly, a sedentary species as it lives in permanent contact with the seabed. This means that the rules that apply to snow crabs are more similar to oil than to fishing.

Contemporary Economic Development

Scheme for IPR Awareness - Creative India; Innovative India launched

·         Taking forward the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy 2016, a 'Scheme for IPR Awareness - Creative India; Innovative India' has been launched by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

·         The Scheme aims at raising IPR awareness amongst students, youth, authors, artists, budding inventors and professionals to inspire them to create, innovate and protect their creations and inventions across India including Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 cities as well as rural areas in the next 3 years.

Remove barriers, reduce subsidies to open up trade, says Christine Lagarde

·         Warning against complacency in the current phase of global economic recovery, IMF chief Christine Lagarde has asked the members of G20 group, which includes India, to step up reforms by reducing trade barriers and subsidies to promote a level playing field.

·         Complementing the G20 leaders for adopting an action plan to strengthen the global financial safety net during the two-day Summit that ended last night, Ms. Lagarde said the world needs to continue to collaborate to address risks and ensure strong, sustained, balanced and inclusive growth.

Two large groups bid to supply equipment for Chabahar port

·         Two major Indian conglomerates have bid for supplying key equipment for the strategic Chabahar Port in Iran, while the process is on to expand financial eligibility criteria to attract more bidders, an official said.

·         This comes against the backdrop of India being keen on expediting work on this port, located in the Sistan-Baluchistan province on the energy-rich Persian Gulf nation’s southern coast that can be easily accessed from India’s West coast, bypassing Pakistan.

·         “Two major Indian conglomerates have bid for supplying four key mounted quay cranes at Shahid Beheshti Port, Chabahar,” an official who did not wish to be named said. “The bids are under evaluation and a final call will be taken soon.”

SEBI tightens P-Note rules

·         Continuing to tighten norms for participatory notes, markets regulator SEBI came out with guidelines for issuance of such instruments where the underlying assets are derivatives.

·         “The ODI issuing FPIs shall not be allowed to issue ODIs with derivative as underlying, with the exception of those derivative positions that are taken by the ODI-issuing FPI for hedging the equity shares held by it, on a one to one basis,” Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a circular.

·         The regulator has also clarified on existing ODIs (Offshore Derivative Instruments), also known as participatory notes, where the underlying assets are derivatives.

·         In such cases, where the underlying derivatives position are not for purpose of hedging the equity shares, the issuing FPI (Foreign Portfolio Investor) has to liquidate such ODIs latest by the date of maturity or by December 31, 2020, whichever is earlier.

·         SEBI also advised ODI-issuing FPIs to liquidate such ODI instruments prior to the timeline.

Science & Technology

New spider species named after Harry Potter character

·         Potterheads, take note! A wolf spider crab species has been named after Aragog — a giant, talking arachnid from J K Rowling’s popular fantasy Harry Potter series.

·         Researchers, including those from University of Tehran in Iran have named the newfound spider ‘Lycosa aragogi’ which has a one inch long body (excluding the legs), with two black and three white stripes of setae, or hairs, on its upper body.

·          “We found out that there was an extreme similarity between our spider and Aragog as he was depicted in the second film,” Mr. Zamani said.

·         “Since it was also the 20th anniversary of the series, we thought it might be a good idea and celebration of this wonderful franchise,” Zamani was quoted as saying by ‘Live Science’

·         The spider was spotted in a mountainous region of southeastern Iran’s Kerman Province.

Easy access to H1N1 drugs raises fears of resistance building up

·         Concerns regarding a build-up of resistance to antiviral drugs used to treat swine flu are surfacing, after two such drugs — Oseltamivir and Zanamivir — were taken off the restrictive Schedule X of the Drugs and Comestics Rules. Now under Schedule H1, the drugs can be stocked by all chemists.

·         Central health authorities have also advised doctors to prescribe the drugs based on strong symptoms, without opting for the swab test. Medical experts say these decisions could lead to misuse and eventually, severe drug resistance.

·         Oseltamivir and Zanamivir are antiviral drugs that block the actions of influenza virus types A and B in the body. While Oseltamivir is available as tablets, Zanamivir comes in powder form.

Sports

BCCI panel short-lists ‘difficult’ Lodha reforms

·         The BCCI’s special committee — tasked with identifying “difficult to implement” Lodha panel reforms — has come up with a list of four.

·         The issues that remain from the committee’s first meeting are: one State, one vote; the three-year cooling-off period; the demarcation of the functions of appointed professionals and elected office-bearers; the tenure of Apex Council members.

Asian Athletics Championship — Indian medal winners on Day 4

·         India collected four more golds on the final day to take its total to 12 and finished the table topper, ahead of super power China, with its best-ever finish in these championships.

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