WBCS Current Affairs 03/06/2017 to 09/06/2017 for WBCS Exam

The Importance of Current Affairs in W.B.C.S examinations is immense.Success inW.B.C.S  Prelims and W.B.C.S Mains Exam is mainly subjected to how well an aspirant is aware of the important current affairs. Preparation of current affairs for W.B.C.S is the key to unlock the exam.Continue Reading WBCS Current Affairs 03/06/2017 to 09/06/2017 for WBCS Exam.

1.India and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation have launched a partnership fund to promote sustainable development projects across the developing world. The India-UN Development Partnership Fund was launched on occasion of the World Oceans Day at a special ceremony held at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

2. Sahithi Pingali, a twelfth grader from Bengaluru will get a minor planet in Milky Way named after her as a reward for developing an integrated mobile phone app and lake monitoring kit to monitor pollution in water bodies. Sahithi Pingali had presented her paper titled “An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies” at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). For her paper, she got second position and was presented three special awards in the Earth and Environment Sciences category. In addition, she has also won a gold medal at the International Sustainable World Engineering Energy Environment Project (ISWEEEP) for her research work on Varthur lake. Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is considered as the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world. ISEF has partnered with the Ceres Connection program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory which will identify a minor planet. The planets are named after the budding scientists in order to motivate them by giving a name in space.

3. State-run oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) will revise the prices of petrol and diesel daily from June 16 throughout the country. The move is aimed at countering the practice of undercutting by private retailers as well as to bring India at par with the US oil market. Private retailers such as RIL and Essar are also expected to switch to the new pricing mechanism. At present, State-run oil marketing companies revise rates of petrol and diesel on the 1st and 16th of every month by taking into account the average international crude price in the preceding fortnight and the currency exchange rate.

4. Rohan Bopanna has won his maiden Grand Slam title along with his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski by winning the French Open mixed doubles trophy. This is Bopanna’s maiden Grand Slam title at French Open. With this title win he has become only the fourth Indian to clinch a major, The other three being Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza who all have won Grand Slam trophies for India. Bopanna-Dabrowski pair defeated the pair of Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Colombia’s Robert Farah by 2-6, 6-2, 12-10. This was only the second time that Bopanna managed to reach the summit clash of a Grand Slam in his career. In 2010, he had reached the finals of US Open with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq-Qureshi and lost to the Bryan brothers — Bob and Mike.

5. The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has cleared the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017, and thus legalising kambala. The bill will now be sent to the President for getting his assent.

In November 2016, the Karnataka high court had banned the kambala along with bull-cart race in the state while hearing a case filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) citing animal cruelty. The high court had stayed these traditional sports in view of the Supreme Court’s ban on jallikattu, a traditional bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu. Following protests by people and kambala organisers, Karnataka Assembly had passed Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017 on February 13, 2017 to allow kambala, the traditional buffalo race and bullock-cart racing. In April 2017, the Union Home Ministry asked the state government to modify or omit the phrase “subject to such other conditions as may be prescribed” in the sub-section 2 of section 3 of the Bill as this phrase would make it possible for the state government to include more sports involving animals through government notifications in the future. The state government made the modifications and sent it back to the union government. Kambala Kambala is the traditional slush track buffalo race that is held annually in coastal districts of Karnataka to entertain rural people of the area. Slushy/marshy paddy field track is used for Kambala. The sports season generally starts in November and lasts till March. The contest generally takes place between two pairs of buffaloes, each pair race in two seprate wet rice fields tracks, controlled by a whip-lashing farmer. In the traditional form of Kambala, buffalo racing is non-competitive and buffalo pairs run one by one in paddy fields. Besides, there is also ritualistic approach as some agriculturists race their buffaloes as a means to thank the god for protecting their animals from disease. But in recent times, Kambala has become an organised rural sport.

6. The following are the characteristic features of the elections conducted in the UK: Britain is a parliamentary democracy. The government should have the support of a majority of lawmakers in the elected lower chamber of parliament, the House of Commons. Thus, the national election is the election for the House of Commons. Voters will elect a member of Parliament for their local constituency. Voting is not compulsory in UK. Voter turnout at national elections has seen a decline since the 1950s, when it used to be over 80%. Britain follows the first-past-the-post electoral system. There is no system of proportional representation for candidates.

7. To form a majority government, a party theoretically must win in 326 out of the 650 regional constituencies. But in practice, a party needs to win only in 323 seats as the Irish republican Sinn Fein party does not take up any seats it wins in Northern Ireland. The upper house is called as the House of Lords whose members are un-elected. The monarch (Queen Elizabeth) enjoys the power to dismiss a Prime Minister or to make a personal choice of successor. However, the practice in UK is that the monarch does not exercise this right as its is considered as archaic. This is the practice since 1834. In addition, as a convention, the queen (monarch) does not get involved in party politics.

8. With an aim to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised the protocol for antibiotics. This revision is the biggest such revision of the antibiotics section in the 40-year history of the essential medicines list (EML).

WHO has divided the drugs into three categories — access, watch and reserve. It has also specified which category of drugs are to be used for treating common ailments and which are to be used to treat complicated diseases. As per the classification, commonly used antibiotics will be placed under the ‘access’ category. WHO has recommended that the antibiotics in this category be made available at all times as a treatment for a wide range of common infections. The drugs that fall under this category includes drugs such as amoxicillin which is widely-used for treating infections such as pneumonia. Second line of antibiotics which are slightly potent will be placed under ‘watch‘ category. WHO recommends that the drugs coming under this category be prescribed less to avoid further development of resistance. Example of drug that falls under this category is Ciprofloxacin, which is used to treat cystitis and upper respiratory tract infections like bacterial sinusitis and bacterial bronchitis. The highly potent drugs which should be used only as a last resort will be placed under the ‘reserve’ category. WHO recommends that these drugs be used only when all other alternatives failed such as life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, it succeeded the Health Organization, which was an agency of the League of Nations. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and its headquarters is located at Geneva. WHO flag features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing.

9. The Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping has established a one million dollar fund for boosting media cooperation in the five-nation grouping. During the inaugural session of the BRICS Media Forum held in Beijing, Xinhua News Agency and executive president of the Forum had announced that the Xinhua news agency will invest one million U.S. dollars for bolstering BRICS media.

The BRICS media forum is a joint initiative of Xinhua News Agency, Brazil’s CMA Group, Russia’s Sputnik News Agency and Radio, The Hindu group of publications from India, and South Africa’s Independent Media. BRICS Media is aimed at promoting six objectives including balanced reporting. It aims to create an alternative media narrative distinct from the media of western nations. The proposal is also aimed at joint development of BRICS digital media, financial information services and promoting people- to-people contacts
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was established in 2009. The BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] idea was first conceived by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs. In 2011, South Africa joined this informal group and BRIC became BRICS. So far, eight BRICS summits have taken place. The first formal summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries and all five are G-20 members. They are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs.

10. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has been conferred the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for global tobacco control. The award was presented to him by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia at the ‘National Consultation on Accelerating Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for achievement of SDGs’.

India is the second largest tobacco consuming country in the world with 27 crore users. The government has initiated various measures to reduce tobacco consumption in the country. These include large pack warnings with 85% pictorial health warnings on both the sides, launching of toll-free national tobacco Quitline and mCessation services, carrying out second round of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), increase in investment under the 12th Five Year Plan for expansion of National Tobacco Control Programme, which was recognized by WHO as a best practice in its Global Tobacco Control report, 2015. Apart from the above measures health ministry has also put a ban on smokeless tobacco products and works towards strengthening Tobacco Free film and television policy. As a result of various measures taken by the government, NGOs and civil society organizations, the tobacco use in the country is estimated to have reduced by 81 lakhs and youth consumption of tobacco has also seen marked decrease. A 54% relative reduction in prevalence of tobacco use among minors (15-17 years) and 28% reduction in the age group of 18-24 years has been reported.

The FCTC is the first international public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and subsequently entered into force on 27 February 2005. It provides a new legal dimension for international cooperation in healthcare in combating the tobacco epidemic. It has successfully helped to co-ordinate and energize the global struggle against tobacco. It is considered as one of the most widely embraced treaties in the history of WHO and UN. It is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health and was developed in response to globalization of tobacco epidemic. Under it, the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products was adopted to address the increasing illegal trade in tobacco products in November 2012.

11. Scientists have discovered the hottest known exoplanet, designated KELT-9b which is warmer than most stars in the universe. The study has been published in the journal Nature. Exoplanet is a planet that does not orbit the Sun and instead orbits a different star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf. They are also called as extrasolar planet.

The first planet outside our solar system was found out in 1995. With the help of NASA’s Kepler telescope, the discovery of planets has become easier. So far, astronomers have identified 52 potentially habitable planets and around 3,600 planets outside our solar system. With the launch of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by NASA in 2018, chances of studying planets and detecting a familiar atmosphere will increase manifold. JWST will succeed the Hubble space telescope.

12. NASA has selected 12 new astronauts including an Indian-American, Lt Col Raja “Grinder” Chari, from 18000 applications, Lt Col Raja Grinder Chari, 39, is a commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron as well as the director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He belongs to Iowa. His father is from India. He has obtained his Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT and has graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School. In total, NASA has selected seven men and five women who will comprise the 22nd class of American spaceflight trainees since 1959. This is the largest group of astronauts NASA has selected in almost two decades. The 12 candidates include six military officers, three scientists, two medical doctors, a lead engineer at SpaceX and a NASA research pilot. To get selected as astronauts, the candidates must meet some physical requirements as well as certain education and experience criteria. They should hold a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or have up to 1,000 hours of experience in piloting jets. After the completion of two years of training, the selected astronauts will be assigned various roles like performing research on the International Space Station (ISS) and flying on deep space missions.

13. According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2017, India continues to remain as a favourite destination for FDI even though tax related concerns remain as a deterrent for the foreign investors. Salient Highlights of the Report According to the report, the favourite destinations for FDI are the US, China and India. As per the report FDI inflows into a developing Asia has reduced by 15% to USD 443 billion in 2016. This decline is the first since 2012. Other than South Asia, the decline has affected the three sub regions of Asia. However, the report has observed that an improved economic outlook in major economies like ASEAN, China and India is expected to boost investor’s confidence thereby increasing the region’s prospects for 2017. In Asian region, major recipients like China, India and Indonesia have renewed their policies to attract FDI. This is expected to increase the FDI inflows in 2017. In South Asia, FDI inflows increased by 6% to USD 54 billion and outflows declined by 29% to USD 6 billion. FDI inflows into India remained stagnant at USD 44 billion. India’s outward foreign flows declined by about one third. Cross-border merger and acquisition deals have become important tools in the hands of the foreign multinational enterprises to foray into the rapidly-growing Indian market. The report has also noted that signing of tax treaty with Mauritius would have contributed to decline in instances of round tripping of FDI. for the first time, China has emerged as the world’s second largest investor of FDI. BRICS grouping (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Asia), which accounts for 22% of the global GDP has received only 11% of the global FDI inflows.

14. According to BMI Research, a Fitch group company, India is among the top five consumer markets in Asia offering retailers the strongest consumer spending growth of an average of 6.1% over the next five years. The other four countries are China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia.

15. Health Secretary C K Mishra has inaugurated the ‘Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh’, a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) in New Delhi. This centre would be the largest public sector human milk bank and lactation counselling centre available in North India Salient Highlights “Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh” has been established in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI). Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh will collect, pasteurize, test and safely store milk donated by lactating mothers and make it available for infants in need. With the establishment of this donor human milk bank, all newborns in and around Delhi will have access to life saving human milk irrespective of the circumstances of their birth. The centre will protect, promote and support breastfeeding by providing lactation support to mothers with the help of dedicated lactation counsellors. In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also launched Mothers Absolute Affection (MAA) programme to create awareness regarding breastfeeding among mothers for enhancing the child’s immunity. The facility will act as a dedicated centre to support breastfeeding and improve infant survival. The centre will act as teaching, training and demonstration site for other milk banks that will be established under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

17. The Reserve Bank of India has kept repo rate unchanged at 6.25% in its second bi-monthly monetary policy review. Reverse Repo rate has been kept unchanged at 6%. The RBI has cut the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 50 basis points to 20%. RBI has projected the headline inflation in the range of 2.0-3.5% in the first half of 2017-18 and 3.5-4.5% in the second half. According to the central bank, the implementation of GST is not expected to have material impact on overall inflation. It has observed that the 7th Pay Commission allowances, geo political, financial risk pose upside risk to inflation. RBI has reduced the growth projection for the current fiscal to 7.3% from 7.4%. The monetary policy decision has been taken by the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC). The RBI has also revised its target for gross value added (GVA) by 10 basis points to 7.3%. Background SLR is the portion of bank deposits that have to be invested in government bonds. Components of SLR include cash in hand, gold owned by the bank, balance with RBI, Net balance in current account & Investment in Government securities. SLR has to be maintained at the close of business on every day. Repo rate, or repurchase rate, is the rate at which RBI lends to banks for short periods. This is done by RBI buying government bonds from banks with an agreement to sell them back at a fixed rate. The objective of Repo is to inject liquidity in the system. If RBI wants to make it more expensive for banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate. Similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money, it reduces the repo rate. Reverse repo rate is the rate of interest at which the RBI borrows funds from other banks in the short term. This is done by RBI selling government bonds / securities to banks with the commitment to buy them back at a future date. GVA is another measure for economic growth.

18. The world’s first hybrid ‘aeroboat’ which has been built by an Indo-Russian joint venture has been unveiled at a start-ups event organized by Russia’s state-run Skolkovo Foundation. Salient Highlights The aeroboat is capable of travelling on land, water, snow and sand. It has been designed to access difficult terrain, such as flooded or marshy areas in which the regular boats cannot ply because of shallow water, patches of dry land or by marine vegetation. The aeroboats can handle steep slopes and embankments with out the requirement of marine infrastructure such as jetties. The aeroboat will have a room for 10 passengers and one crew member.

19. Hoshiar Singh, a 1994 batch officer of the Indian Telecom Service has been appointed as Registrar of Copyrights for a period of five years as per the recent order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The Office of Copyrights works under the aegis of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The office falls under the immediate control of a Registrar of Copyrights. The Office of Copyrights is mandated to protect the music and film industry besides addressing its concerns, among others. The Copyrights Office was established under Section 9 of the Copyright Act. The Registrar of Copyrights will be appointed by the Central Government, who would be required to function under the superintendence and directions of the Central Government.

20. India has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to provide USD 318 million as line of credit for developing Sri Lanka’s railway sector. The agreement was signed between Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance and Mass media, and Managing Director of India’s Export Import Bank in Colombo. Background In 2015, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka he had declared a line of credit of USD 318 million for the development of Sri Lanka’s railway sector. That visit of Prime Minister Modi was the first standalone bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister since 1987. The line of credit comes at the backdrop of increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean nation. China has made significant investments in Sri Lanka mainly in developing ports.

21. The Uttar Pradesh state government has planned to replace textbooks meant for Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board with the ones published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) with an aim to bring the curriculum of UP Board at par with the CBSE. The decision to introduce NCERT books is expected to come into force with the academic year 2018-19. Salient Highlights NCERT books would be made compulsory from Class IX to Class XII. Other than subjects like Krishi (agriculture) for both High School and Intermediate levels and Vyavsayik (business studies) for Intermediate levels all other subjects will have NCERT text books. These two subjects will continue to have UP Board textbooks as there are differences between the UP Board and the CBSE when it comes to syllabuses for these subjects. Class X and Class XII students who write their exams in the year 2019 will become the first batch of students to face the exams under the new system. In Uttar Pradesh, millions of students appear for Class X and Cass XII exams conducted by the UP Board every year. Last year the figure was 32.6 lakh for high school exams and 29.2 lakh for intermediate exams. In the state, over 35 lakh students study in and around 23,900 government, aided and unaided schools affiliated with the UP Board. The UP Board has also made several new additions in its syllabus like inclusion of new topics like GST and its implications.

22. The finance Ministry has asked all those ministries tasked with clearing foreign direct investment proposals in the 12 sectors that require government’s nod to take a decision on such proposals within 60 days. Last month, the Cabinet abolished the Foreign Investment and Promotion Board (FIPB), which was the authority for clearing foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals for a period of 25 years. A timeline of 4 weeks has been fixed for the transfer of all pending applications with the FIPB to the respective administrative ministries. Salient Highlights Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) would come up with standard operating procedures to process FDI proposals in consultation with the administrative ministries. This will be helpful in ensuring consistency of treatment and uniformity of approach. A panel led by the secretaries of the department of economic affairs (DEA) and the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) will be conducting a quarterly review on the pending proposals. Ordinary FDI applications pertaining to non-resident Indian (NRI)/export-oriented unit (EOU), food processing, single-brand retail trading and multi-brand retail trading proposals need to be decided in 60 days. FDI proposals by NRIs/EoUs requiring approval of the government will be dealt by the DIPP. DIPP will be the administrative ministry for this purpose. In addition, the DIPP will handle the applications related to imports of capital goods or machinery. Applications involving investments from “countries of concern” which require security clearance under to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) will be cleared by the Home Ministry. In addition, applications pertaining to private security agencies would be decided by the home ministry. The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) will be the authority to clear the proposals of financial services not under a regulator, or where there is more than one regulator or there is a doubt about the regulator. If the FDI proposals lacks clarity on the administrative department, then the DIPP will help in identifying the ministry. FDI proposal with respect to banks will be approved by the Department of Financial Services. Foreign investment proposals above Rs 5,000 crore will be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). FDI Approving Authorities after FIPB Abolition Mining: Ministry of Mines Defence: Department of production, Ministry of Defence Small arms: Ministry of Home Affairs. Broadcasting & Print Media: Ministry of Information and broadcasting Print Media: Ministry of Information and broadcasting Civil Aviation: Ministry of Civil aviation Satellites: Department of Space Telecom: Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications. Trading (Single brand and food products retail trading): Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry Financial Services not regulated by a regulator or where there is more than one regulator or in respect of which there is a doubt about the regulator: Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. Banking (Private & Public): Department of Financial services, Ministry of Finance. Pharmaceuticals: Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers

23. Kerala State government has come out with a green protocol to make the weddings in the state more nature-friendly. Salient Highlights As per the protocol, plastic and other non-biodegradable articles including disposable glasses and plates and thermocol decorations will not be permitted to be used in wedding ceremonies. Instead of these non-biodegradable articles, the marriage parties would be persuaded to use tumblers, plates and other utensils made of glass and environment-friendly metals. The protocol has been released as a part of the government’s anti-plastic drive and Green-Kerala Mission. Suchitwa Mission which is the state nodal agency for sanitation, has already launched the initiative on a pilot basis in Kannur, Ernakulam, Kollam and Alappuzha. The protocol is expected to be implemented in the rest of the districts soon. The Mission is colloborating with district administration, panchayat authorities and socio-cultural and religious outfit for implementing the green protocol initiative. For carrying out inspections at marriage halls, convention centres and hotels and other venues of the wedding ceremony, Special squads, comprising officials of Suchitwa Mission and Revenue Department will be formed. In cases of violations of the protocol, action would be taken depending on the nature of utensils and articles used in the ceremony.

24. Sachin Tendulkar will join other global celebrities like Dravid, Beckham, Novak Djokovic, Academy Award winning American actor Mahershala Ali, British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton and Australian actor Hugh Jackman for UNICEF’s ‘Super Dads’ campaign that highlights the critical role played by fathers in children’s early development. The initiative is aimed at celebrating fatherhood and highlights the importance of love, play, protection and good nutrition for the healthy development of the brains of the young children. Initiative The ‘Super Dads’ initiative is a part of UNICEF’s #EarlyMomentsMatter campaign that aims to increase understanding of how a child’s environments and experiences in early childhood can shape their future health, well being, ability to learn etc. UNICEF was established in 1946 by the United Nations to protect the children struggling to survive in the aftermath of World War II. UNICEF works to promote the rights and well-being of children and works in around 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action.

25. Sher Bahadur Deuba,70, has been elected as Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time. He was the only candidate who contested in the election as the main opposition party UML decided to end the obstruction of parliament and did not register its candidates for the election. Deuba managed to secure 388 votes in the 593 strong Parliament in order to prove his majority. Deuba has served as Nepal’s prime minister for three terms from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005. In 2005, during his third term he was sacked by the then King Gyanendra Shah in 2005 over his failure to hold elections and bring Maoist rebels to negotiations. The responsibility of conducting the local elections in the remaining four provinces will rest upon him. Background Sher Bahadur Deuba has become the 40th Prime Minister of Nepal. Last month, Maoist leader Prachanda Kamal Dahal resigned under a power sharing deal with the Nepali Congress leader. The CPN-UML decided to end the obstruction of parliament after the ruling parties agreed to hold local elections in the remaining provinces on June 28 as well as the provincial and parliamentary elections by January, 2018.

26. According to the Animal Discoveries 2016, New Species and Records, brought out by the Zoological Survey of India and Plant Discoveries 2016, by the Botanical Survey of India, 499 new species have been discovered from various parts of the country last year.

27. Vijaya Bank has stated that it plans to develop as many as 100 digital villages in various States across the country as part of its initiative to promote digital banking among the rural population. At present, Vijaya Bank is the only public sector financial institution to develop digital villages with focus on rural population. Already, the bank has developed 5 villages into Digital Villages. In the Digital Villages, the bank would offer Internet, free Wi-Fi connectivity, mobile payment facilities, ATM cards, online banking and will carry out a door-to-door campaign to educate the villagers. Vijaya Bank Vijaya Bank is a public sector bank with its corporate office in Bangalore. As on March 31 2017, the business worth of the bank is estimated to be ₹2,29,833 crore. As on August 2016, the bank has 1900 branches across the country. The bank boasts of about 13 lakh mobile banking users and 8 lakh Internet banking users.

28. The National Board of Wildlife has approved Rutland Island in South Andaman to be the site for the country’s long-range missile test facility. DRDO has been seeking the approval for the test facility since 2012. Taking into account the strategic importance of the project for country’s defence, the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife has approved the project. Reasons for Delay The project was continuously stalled by the environment ministry as the project involves diversion of 49.978 acres forest land, of which 0.84 ha falls in the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and 49.138 ha reserve forest within 10km of the Eco Sensitive Zone. Rutland island is also very rich in marine life. Significance The island is located at an ideal distance from the mainland where tests are typically launched from. The test facility is vital for DRDO’s plans to have a comprehensive testing facility in order to identify and track long-range missile tests. DRDO also requires a land-based test area to accurately track its long range missiles. The Rutland Island is ideally located due to its distance from mainland.
The state Chief Wildlife Warden has imposed certain conditions that are need to be fulfilled while implementing this project. The conditions include preparation of a specific marine and terrestrial wildlife conservation plan; installation of essential deflectors and anti-radiation screens around satellite antennas to reduce the harmful impact of radiation on biodiversity; Vessels used for construction must take only the approved route; Project authority must take necessary approvals from the Chief Wild Life Warden while entering into waters of Marine National Park; no forest material/fire wood is to be collected from forest area; and no effluent or domestic sewage should be discharged into sea/forest area.

30. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that it is working on a forecasting system that will give a 15-day warnings on the likelihood of a malaria or chikungunya outbreak across different regions of the country. Salient Highlights The services are aimed at providing custom, weather-related information to cope with challenges of a global warming and its associated impact of weather. Instances of extreme rainfall could mean instances of humid conditions and water logging that could precipitate vector-borne disease outbreaks. IMD will release five-day and 15-day forecasts of heat-waves, cold waves and disease outbreaks. IMD will offer this service by teaming up with the Medical Council of India and the Red Cross Society. IMD will customize the dynamical model for generating this service. The IMD’s National Climate Centre in Pune will be reorganised to offer such climate services. At present, the pune Centre is tasked with forecasting the monsoon and documenting monsoon-related statistics. IMD is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology in India. It functions under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It headquartered in New Delhi and operates hundreds of observation stations across India.

31. Habibganj railway station in the suburbs of Bhopal will become country’s first railway station to be redeveloped in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. On June 9, station redevelopment work in the railway station will be launched by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The idea is to develop Habibganj railway station as a as a world-class transit hub equipped with all amenities.

32. Government will retrofit 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7 districts in Andhra Pradesh. The project will be carried out by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) functioning under the Ministry of Power. This project will be the first rural LED street lighting project under the Government of India’s Street Lighting National Project (SLNP). In the first phase of the project, the districts of Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur and Chittoor will be covered. The total upfront capital cost of the project would be funded by French Development Agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD). Significance The project will help the gram panchayats to cumulatively save approximately 147 million units of electricity in a year. it will lead to a reduction of approximately 12 crore tonnes of CO2. The EESL will be made responsible for carrying out annual maintenance and warranty replacement exercises in these gram panchayats for a period of 10 years. Background Andhra Pradesh became the first state to get assistance from EESL to replace conventional street lighting with LED lighting after cyclone Hudhud caused extensive damage in Visakhapatnam. since then, EESL has installed an approximate 5,90,000 LED street lights in the State. These lights has helped the state to reduce over 65,000 tonnes of CO2 every year. Across the country, more than 23 lakh conventional street lights have been replaced by LED street lights in 21 States. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched ‘100 cities National Programme‘ on January 5, 2015 to replace conventional domestic lights with energy efficient LED lights. Similarly, Under the Street Light National Programme (SLNP), the government has set a target of replacing 1.34 crore conventional street lights with LED lights across the country. LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8 to 10 times that of CFLs, and therefore provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term. The benefits of LED lights are: (i) Electricity savings (ii) Reduction of load (iii) Reduction of consumer bills (iv) Greenhouse gas emission reductions.

33. Nepal has struck a major deal with China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) for developing a 1,200 MW Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project, which will be the biggest hydro project in Nepal having the potential to resolve its perennial power crisis. The MoU was signed in the presence of outgoing Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong. Salient Highlights As per the agreement, the hydro project would be built under engineering, procurement, construction and finance (EPCF) model. Under this model, CGGC will help arrange funds required to develop the project. funds would be made available in the form of soft loan or commercial loan from Chinese financial institutions. The EPFC model which makes the contracting firm responsible for making all the arrangements including mobilisation of financial resources is considered to be one of the most effective models for development of infrastructure projects. CGGC has been given the overall responsibility for executing the project. it will also conduct additional studies on and investigations into the project. A time period of one year has been allotted to conduct assessment of the hydropower project and arrange necessary funds for its development. CGGC, at present is constructing a 30 MW Chameliya Hydropower Project in the far-west and 60 MW Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project in Nepal.

34. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and UAE have suspended their diplomatic ties with Qatar. All the six countries have announced that they would withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar and eject Qatar’s diplomats from their territories. They have also planned to cut air and sea traffic. Reasons Saudi Arabia has accused Qatar for embracing various terrorist and sectarian groups that are aimed at destabilizing the region such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al—Qaida, the Islamic State group and other groups supported by Iran. Egypt has accused Qatar for supporting terrorist groups and taking an antagonist approach towards Egypt. Bahrain has accused Qatar of media incitement, support for armed terrorist activities and funding linked to Iranian groups for its decision. The decision has been taken after Qatar alleged that hackers took over state—run news agency’s website and published fake comments from its ruling emir about Iran and Israel. It had angered the Gulf Arab countries who responded by blocking Qatari—based media including Al—Jazeera. Qatar has long been accused by its Arab neighbours over its support of Islamists. Qatar’s support for the Sunni Islamist political group Muslim Brotherhood which has been outlawed by both Saudi Arabia and the UAE made Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2014 to recall their ambassadors from Qatar. Only after eight months, the ties were normalised after Qatar forced some Brotherhood members to leave the country. On May 27, Qatar’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had called Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to congratulate him on his re-election. This has also angered the Sunni Saudi Arabia which also sees Iran as its No. 1 enemy and a threat to regional stability. Qatar also remains as a key financial patron of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. It has allowed the stay of exiled Hamas official Khaled Mashaal in its territories since 2012. Implications Oil prices have seen a jump after the six countries announced suspension of diplomatic ties with Qatar as it affected some of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters. Qatar, a gas rich nation is also the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a major seller of condensate (a low-density liquid fuel) and refining product derived from natural gas. Qatar will be host to 2022 FIFA World Cup. Saudi Arabia has announced that it would seal its land border with Qatar cutting off the country from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.
Qatar is home to a major US military base, a sprawling al-Udeid Air Base, which is home to the US military’s Central Command hosting 10,000 troops. How this decision would affect American military operations is yet to be seen.

35. The 2017 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) titled ‘The Age of Focus‘ has placed India at the top position among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business in the retail sector. This is the 16th edition of the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). Salient Highlights The index has placed China at the second place. However, it has been stated that the China’s market size and the continued evolution of retail still make it one of the most attractive markets for retail investment. India’s rapidly expanding economy, relaxation of FDI rules and the consumption boom are said to be the key drivers for India’s top ranking in the GRDI. India’s retail sector is witnessing a growth at an annual rate of 20%. In addition, the retail sector is expected to double its size by 2020. Further, the retail sector has also derived benefits from the rapidly growing e-commerce. It is estimated that the sector would grow 30 percent annually and reach USD 48 billion by 2020. Rapid urbanisation and growing middle class is expected to boost the consumption across the country. The government has relaxed FDI regulations in key areas of the retail sector. Last year, the government took a decision to permit 100% ownership in B2B e-commerce businesses and for retailers that sell food products. In addition, the government’s effort to boost cashless payments and reform indirect taxation with a nationwide goods and services tax (GST) are also expected to boost adoption of formal retail. GRDI The GRDI is annually published by London-based business consultancy A T Kearney. The study is unique as it identifies the markets that are most attractive in present and also helps to identify those that offer future potential. The index ranks the 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide and analyses 25 macroeconomic and retail-specific variables.

37. The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) has projected a growth rate of 7.2% for India in the financial year 2017 as against 6.8% growth in 2016. Also, the bank in its report expects India’s growth rate to remain at 7.5% in 2018 and 7.7% in 2019.

The World Bank has kept the global growth forecast in 2017 and 2018 at 2.7% and 2.9% respectively. The bank has cited stronger demand from major advanced economies, increased trade flows to and from China, and a diminished drag from weak demand from commodity exporters to be the reason for recovery in trade growth in 2017. The bank has noted that India is recovering from the temporary adverse effects of demonetisation. Despite the slowdown in the growth rate, the world bank has stated that India still remains the fastest growing major economy in the world. According to the bank, the growth projections for China remained unchanged at 6.5% for 2017 and then 6.3% for the next two years 2018 and 2019. The report has stated that the domestic demand is expected to remain robust in India supported by ongoing policy reforms, especially the introduction of the Goods and Services tax (GST). World Bank World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Breton Woods Conference in 1944. World Bank is part of the United Nations system, but its governance structure is different. World Bank’s headquarter is situated at Washington DC. World Bank provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes. World Bank comprises only two institutions viz. the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). In contrast, World Bank Group comprises three more viz. International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

38. The Indian Army is expected to soon open up combat positions for women. This has been stated by Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat. The Indian Army has taken up this issue with the government. Salient Highlights Initially, women are to be recruited for positions in military police. At present, women are employed in select areas such as medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Army but are not offered combat roles due to operational concerns and logistical issues. As of now, only a few countries such as Germany, Australia, Canada, the U.S., Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and Israel have allowed women in combat roles. The role of military police are as follows: Policing the cantonments and Army establishments, To prevent breach of rules and regulations by soldiers, Maintain the movement of soldiers and logistics during peace and war, Handling prisoners of war and Aid the civil police whenever required.

39. Every year World Environment Day (WED) is observed on 5 June to raise global awareness worldwide for the protection of our environment and the planet Earth. It is the single largest celebration of our environment each year. The celebration of World Environment Day is a global initiative of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 2017 Theme: Connecting People to Nature. According to the UN, the theme “implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share.” 2017 Host Country: Canada. Canada is seeking to use World Environment Day to showcase to the world the beauty of its natural environment on land and water.

40. NASA will launch the Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket into the space that will release blue-green and red artificial clouds. The launch is expected to support space studies. The launch which was originally scheduled for May 31 eventually got delayed due to poor weather conditions. The ground stations will require clear skies to clearly view blue-green and red artificial clouds that will be produced as part of the test. These artificial clouds will be visible from New York to North Carolina.

41. The Ministry of Rural Development has selected Vizianagaram as one among the 17 districts for MGNREGA annual award. The award will be given to Vizianagaram for its effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act during the time period 2015-16. The district programme coordinator and District Collector would be presented the award at the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan to be held in New Delhi. The district has been chosen after the field verification carried out by the selection committee. The district was known to have generated works for 3,61,668 households in 2015-16 and disbursed ₹483.42 crore as wages to the workers with an average wage of ₹106. The works carried out under NREGA in the district include 5,000 farm ponds, 240 rain water harvesting structures, and 440 water shed works, and de-siltation of 3,427 minor irrigation tanks. Vizianagaram is a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

42. The UN security council has unanimously passed a resolution expanding targeted sanctions against North Korea after the latter launched its ninth ballistic missile test of the year. This is the first such resolution which is agreed upon by the United States and China since the US President Donald Trump took office.

The new resolution has slapped even more sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). It has condemned the North Korea’s continued proliferation of its nuclear and ballistic program. The new sanctions have extended a travel ban and asset freeze on senior officials, core military apparatus as well as the state entities that are directly responsible for North Korea’s illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The list of expanded sanctions also included state officials and banks. This is aimed at further restricting North Korea’s ability to finance its illicit activities. Sanctions have been applied on entities like Koryo Bank, Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People’s Army, and 14 other people, including the head of North Korea’s overseas spying operations. Background The UN Security Council had first imposed sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs in the year 2006. The UN’s sanctions against North Korea are in response to five nuclear tests and two long-range missile launches. North Korea has also launched several more ballistic missiles since then. The US has struggled a lot to slow down these programs as the North Korea has vowed to develop a nuclear -tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland. The countries like France and Italy has supported the new resolution. Veto powered Russia too have backed the measures taken by UN. It is to be mentioned that the United States has unilaterally imposed its own sanctions on some of the Russian firms for supporting North Korea’s weapons programs.

43. NASA is all set to launch the world’s first ever mission devoted for studying neutron stars. NASA will launch the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The NICER will be installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as an external attached payload. About a week after its installation, the NICER will begin observing neutron stars. The mission will focus especially on Pulsars. During the mission, NASA will also carry out the world’s first demonstration of X-ray navigation in space. Significance Pulsars are those neutron stars that appear to wink on and off like a cosmic lighthouse. As these pulsars send pulsations that are predictable. They can be used as celestial clocks for providing high-precision timing similar to that of the atomic-clock signals supplied through the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS signals, however, gets weakened if one travels beyond the orbit of the Earth. On the other hand, Pulsars remain accessible virtually everywhere in space making them an apt navigational solution for deep-space exploration. NICER will perform tests for the first time in a space technology that relies on pulsars as navigation beacons.
It is estimated that just one teaspoonful of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tonnes on Earth. There have been many models that attempt to describe the physics governing the interiors of neutron stars. The NICER mission will help in finally testing these theories with precise observations. Observation of neutron stars in the energetic X-ray band provides the greatest insights into their structure and the phenomenons like starquakes, thermonuclear explosions as well as of the most powerful magnetic fields known in the cosmos.

44. Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer has become the first Indian to be nominated as a member of the Umpires and Referees Committee (URC) by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He will serve for a term of two years which is further extendable. In another first Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer has also been recommended as the Technical Commissioner from Asia to the ITTF. His will serve in this capacity for a period of four years. Ganesan already serves as the chairman of the South Asian Federation technical committee and also as a member of the Technical Committee of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation. He also recently supervised the Asian Championships at Wuxi (China) as the competition manager. He had served as a deputy referee in the Kuala Lumpur World Championships 2016 and has officiated in various International competitions as Competition Manager and Referee like that of the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow.

45. Ireland’s Fine Gael party has elected a 38 year old Leo Varadkar as prime minister of Ireland. He will succeed Enda Kenny. Varadkar will be confirmed as prime minister when Irish parliament next sits on June 13. Leo Varadkar has earned the distinction of becoming Ireland’s first gay prime minister. His election is a striking sign of the Ireland’s rapid social change which was once a staunchly Catholic country. He will also be the youngest person ever and the first from an ethnic minority background to become the Prime Minister of Ireland. Mr Varadkar defaeted his rival Simon Coveney by garnering 60% of the votes to lead Fine Gael. Ireland decriminalised homosexuality in 1993. It also became the first country to adopt gay marriage in 2015. Leo Varadkar’s father is a Mumbai-born doctor. In 1970s, he met Miriam an Irish nurse in England whom he later married and moved to Ireland.

46. Samsung India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for setting up two new Samsung Technical Schools in Bengaluru and Jamshedpur as well as to renew the partnership for 10 existing schools being run across the country. Salient Highlights As a part of Samsung’s commitment to government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign, the company has announced the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship programme for girls and differently-abled trainees. Under this Programme, 1,000 girls and differently-abled trainees will be given a grant of up to Rs. 20,000. Also, a Meritorious Reward Programme for toppers has also been launched. The toppers among Samsung Technical School students will also be rewarded Rs 20,000. Samsung already runs 10 schools in the Sates of Rajasthan, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal. These schools are run in collaboration with Departments of Technical Education. Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate headquartered in Seoul. Samsung was founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-Chul. The group has diversified into areas including electronics, heavy industries, food processing, textiles, insurance, securities, retail, construction, ship building among others.

47. Market Regulator SEBI has formed a Committee on Corporate Governance under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak, the executive vice chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The move is aimed at improving the standards of corporate governance of listed companies. Salient Highlights The panel which is headed by Uday Kotak will also include representatives of Corporate India, stock exchanges, professional bodies, investor groups, chambers of commerce, law firms, academicians and research professionals and SEBI.

48. Shashi Shekar Vempati has been appointed as the CEO of Prasar Bharati based on the recommendation of the three-member committee headed by Vice President. The other two members of thecommittee was Chairman, Press Council of India and the Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, who was also the President’s nominee. Shashi Shekar Vempati will hold the post for a period of five years.

49. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has developed a wireless technology called ‘AmbuSens‘ for remote monitoring of condition of those patients who are ferried in ambulances. Salient Highlights AmbuSens will help in wireless monitoring of various physiological conditions of patients who are ferried in ambulances. The AmbuSens system includes both hardware and software. The ambulance and the hospitals will have laptops or tablets with internet connection to continuously monitor the health condition of the patients in real-time. The patients will be fitted with wireless body sensors. The technology will monitor the parameters like ECG, heart-rate, temperature and blood-pressure and can ensure remote monitoring of the patient’s condition even before they reach the hospital. The web interface of the system will offer easy-to-use graphical interface with data visualisation tools such as real-time ECG graph rendering. The graphical interface can be accessed from internet-enabled laptops, tablets and smartphones. The collected patient’s data will be held confidentially. This new system assumes significance at the backdrop of limited knowledge of medical technician who accompanies a critical patient in an ambulance. With this technology, the doctors will be able to instruct life saving medical interventions to the technician.

50. India has been ranked 137th in the Global Peace Index 2017, which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. In Last year’s index, India was ranked 141st. This is the eleventh edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI). The index is compiled every year by the Sydney-based think tank Institute for Economics and Peace. GPI is considered as one of the most comprehensive analysis that captures trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies. It has used 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation. Various parameters like the homicide rate, the ease of access to weapons, the impact of terrorism and the number of armed services personnel in the population were analyzed in preparing the multifaceted index of peace indicators. Salient highlights Top 10 Peaceful Countries Iceland (1), New Zealand (2), Portugal (3), Austria (4), Denmark (5), Czech Republic (6), Slovenia (7), Canada (8), Switzerland (9), Ireland (10). Top 10 Least Peaceful Countries Syria (163), Afghanistan (162), Iraq (161), South Sudan (160), Yemen (159), Somalia (158), Libya (157), Sudan and Central African Rep., both countries placed at 155th position and Ukraine (154). The index has covered 99.7% of the world’s population. The GPI 2017 has found that the global level of peace has improved by 0.28 per cent, with 93 countries improving, while 68 countries deteriorated. Six of the nine regions of the world has registered improvement. South America has registered the largest improvement as the fourth most peaceful region. The largest regional deterioration in score occurred in North America. The score for North America deteriorated entirely as a result of the US. Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world. The combined Middle East and North Africa was the least peaceful region in the world. As per the GPI, the economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2016 was $14.3 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, which is roughly equivalent to 12.6% of the gross world product.

For old current affairs click https://www.wbcsmadeeasy.in/wbcs4all/viewforum.php?f=67

Our own publications are available at our webstore (click here).

For Guidance of WBCS (Exe.) Etc. Preliminary , Main Exam and Interview, Study Mat, Mock Test, Guided by WBCS Gr A Officers , Online and Classroom, Call 9674493673, or mail us at – mailus@wbcsmadeeasy.in
Please subscribe here to get all future updates on this post/page/category/website