Daily Gk 9th July 2017

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

National

Declaration of Historic City of Ahmadabad as a UNESCO’s World Heritage Property

·         It is under the dynamic and visionary leadership of the Prime Minister of India that India has been successful in securing the nomination of the “Historic City of Ahmadabad” on UNESCO’s World Heritage list on 8th July, 2017 during the 41st Session of World Heritage Committee.

·       This makes the walled city of Ahmedabad the first city in India and the third in Asia to be inscribed to the World Heritage List. In the past 3 years alone, India has managed to put five built heritage sites on the world heritage list of UNESCO.

·         India now has overall 36 World Heritage Inscriptions with 28 Cultural, 07 Natural and 01 Mixed site. While India stands second largest in number after China in terms of number of world heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia and Pacific) region, it is overall seventh in the world.

Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) sets gold standards by winning Golden Peacock Award for Eco Innovation for the year 2017

·         Indian Railways achieves a major landmark in the field of Eco friendly fuel technologies at Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) which has been awarded the coveted National level “Golden Peacock Award for the Year 2017 for Eco-Innovation” for substitution of fossil fuels (Diesel) by environment friendly CNG in DEMU passenger train services.

·         Use of CNG in Train Sets for passenger transportation has been done for the first time in the world. The CNG based dual fuel 1400 HP engine used in DEMU trains developed by IROAF has successfully substituted diesel fuel with CNG upto 20%.

·         Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute Of Directors (IOD), India in 1991, are now regarded as a benchmark of Corporate Excellence worldwide. Golden Peacock awards have become a hallmark of excellence, both locally & globally. Based on internationally recognised criteria, the credibility of these awards lies in the transparency depth & impartiality of the assessment process.

Tri-nation Malabar naval exercise begins

·         The US, Japanese and Indian navies began the Malabar Naval Exercise-2017 aimed at achieving deeper military ties between the three nations.

·         The 21st edition of the exercise, conducted ashore and at-sea, would include professional exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare.

·         Indian, Japanese and US maritime forces have an understanding and knowledge of shared working environment at sea. As members of Indo-Asia Pacific operations, the three maritime forces would look forward to continuing to strengthen the bonds and personal relationships, a press release said.

·         The Malabar exercise is taking place amid the military standoff between armies of the India and China in the Sikkim sector and Beijing ramping up its Baval presence in South China sea.

Terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims carried out by LeT, masterminded by Pakistani terrorist Ismail: J&K police

• The terror attack on Amarnath yatra pilgrims was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and was masterminded by a Pakistani terrorist Ismail, said Jammu and Kashmir's inspector general of police Muneer Khan to ANI news agency.
• Seven Amarnath pilgrims from Gujarat were killed and 14 others injured when terrorists opened fire on a bus near Batengoo in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

International

Japan’s men-only island gets UNESCO heritage tag

·         A men-only island in Japan where women are banned and male visitors must bathe naked in the sea before visiting its shrine, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

·         The tiny landmass of Okinoshima is permanently manned by a Shinto priest who prays to the island’s goddess, in a tradition that has been kept up for centuries.

·         Limited numbers are permitted to land on the island in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) — this year it was 200 — for a yearly festival that lasts just two hours, but they must adhere to strict rules.

·         Most importantly, they must be men, but they must also strip off and take a purifying dip in the ocean before they are allowed to set foot on the sacred ground of the shrine.

22nd World Petroleum Congress Opens in Istanbul

• The 22nd World Petroleum Congress, the largest gathering for the oil and gas industry, began in Istanbul with a view to addressing the challenges facing the sector.
• The World Petroleum Congress is organized every three years by the London-based World Petroleum Council and includes 65 member countries from around the world, representing over 96 percent of the global oil and gas production and consumption.
• Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan held meeting with the US Secretary of State and Energy Ministers around the world at the opening ceremony of 22nd World Petroleum congress (WPC) International Conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

India ranks 23rd in second Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2017

·         The second Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) has placed India at a high 23rd position out of 165 nations. Singapore has topped the Global Cybersecurity Index 2017.

·         The Index measures the commitment of nations across the world to cyber security. The GCI was released by the UN telecommunications agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

·         According to ITU only about half of all countries have a cyber security strategy or are in the process of developing one and urged more countries to consider national policies to protect against cybercrime.

·         India is ranked 23rd on the index with a score of 0.683 and has been listed in the "maturing" category.

Panama probe: JIT finds disparities in Sharif family income

·         A joint investigation team that probed the Panamagate graft case against Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has found “glaring disparities” between their known sources of income and their actual wealth in its final report submitted to the Supreme Court, a media report said.

·         The JIT that investigated the Sharif family’s business dealings has recommended that the National Accountability Bureau open a reference against Sharif and his family after the probe panel found “glaring disparities” between their known sources of income and their actual wealth, the Dawn reported.

Economy

A new tax payer service module ‘Aaykar Setu’, was launched by the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley

• A new tax payer service module ‘Aaykar Setu’, was launched by the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley. To enhance mobile access experience, a mobile responsive android version was also released along with the desktop version. Shri Jaitley stressed on the Government’s commitment towards continuously upgrading tax payer services. He said that this e-initiative would help in reducing physical interface between assesses and tax assessing authorities and thereby minimizing the chances of any tax harassment.   
• The new step is an effort by the Income Tax Department (ITD) to directly communicate with the taxpayers, on a range of multiple informative and useful tax services aimed at providing tax information at their fingertips. The module compiles various tax tools, live chat facility, dynamic updates, and important links to various processes within the Income Tax Department in a single module. The tax payers will also be able to receive regular updates regarding important tax dates, forms and notifications on mobile numbers registered with the ITD.

Gifts by employer up to Rs 50,000 exempt

·         Gifts from an employer to her/ his employee worth up to Rs 50,000 during a year are exempt from the GST (Goods and Services Tax) ambit, the Finance Ministry said.

·         "It is being reported that gifts and perquisites supplied by companies to their employees will be taxed under GST. Gifts upto a value of Rs 50,000 per year by an employer to his employee are outside the ambit of GST, " the ministry said.

·          However, gifts of value more than Rs 50,000, "made without consideration are subject to GST, when made in course or furtherance of business", it added.

Saint Teresa’s blue-bordered sari an Intellectual Property now

·         The famous blue-bordered sari of Mother Teresa, who has been canonised as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by the Vatican, has been recognised as an Intellectual Property of the Missionaries of Charity.

·         “The Trade Marks Registry, Government of India, has granted the registration of the trade mark for that pattern of blue border of sari,” Intellectual Property attorney Biswajit Sarkar said.

·         The diminutive nun of Albanian descent went around the streets of Kolkata since 1948 to be with the poor and the destitutes wearing a white sari with three blue borders, the outer border being wider than the two inner ones.

·         “The blue-designed border on the sari worn by nuns of Missionaries of Charity was recognised as Intellectual Property for the organisation on September 4, 2016, the day the Mother was canonised”.

Science & Technology

NASA plans to save Earth by knocking asteroid off its orbit

·         The target for the first-ever mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique for planetary defence, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is an asteroid that will have a distant approach to Earth in October 2022, and then again in 2024, NASA said.

·         “DART would be NASA’s first mission to demonstrate what’s known as the kinetic impactor technique, striking the asteroid to shift its orbit, to defend against a potential future asteroid impact,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary defence officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

·         The asteroid is called Didymos, Greek for “twin”, because it is an asteroid binary system that consists of two bodies, Didymos A, about 780 metres in size, and a smaller asteroid orbiting it called Didymos B, about 160 metres in size.

Scientists spot distant galaxy with newly formed stars from Hubble images

·         Scientists have spotted an edge-on disk galaxy studded with brilliant patches of newly formed stars, by using a new analysis to obtain sharper images of the distant universe captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. By applying the analysis to a galaxy magnified by a gravitational lens, astronomers obtained images ten times sharper than what Hubble could achieve on its own.

·         The galaxy in question is so far away that we see it as it appeared 11 billion years ago, only 2.7 billion years after the Big Bang.

Sports

India scripts history, tops medal tally at Asian Athletics Championships

image source indianathletics

·         India ended the four-day championship on top with their highest ever medal haul of 29 medals (12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze)

·         India's best came way back in the 1985 Jakarta edition where they had won 22 medals

·         China ended this edition on second position with 8 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze

·         Kazakhstan finished third with 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze while Iran ended on fourth with 4 gold and 1 bronze.

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