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  • WBCS Exam Current Affairs 14/05/2017 to 19/05/2017 For WBCS Exam
    Posted on June 7th, 2017 in Current Affairs, Weekly Current Affairs
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    WBCS Exam Current Affairs 14/05/2017 to 19/05/2017 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 Exam Current Affairs 14/05/2017 to 19/05/2017 For WBCS Exam.

    1. China and the 10 member of the ASEAN grouping have agreed to a framework of a legally binding code of conduct aimed at preventing disputes in the strategic South China Sea. Though the draft of the framework has been finalised, no details about the text of the framework agreement has been released. Also, no date has been given on which the full code of conduct is set to be adopted by the parties. However, all the parties have agreed to continue to constructively advance the negotiations and work towards the early conclusion of the code of conduct. Background China and the ASEAN members had committed to sign a code of conduct around 15 years ago. But the pace of the negotiations was slow as China claimed the South China in its entirety. ASEAN members like Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei also maintain claims in the South China Sea. In the absence of the code of conduct, each country followed a separate document called the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which has a provision committing parties to explore ways to build trust and confidence based on the principles of equality and mutual respect. Last year, China was enraged by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in Hague, the Netherlands, which in its ruling has rejected China’s claims to economic rights across large swathes of South China Sea in a case brought by the Philippines. 10 ASEAN Members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. South China Sea South China Sea is part of Pacific Ocean spreading an area of some 35 lakh square km with eight littoral countries / territories viz. China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam. It is strategically located in the international shipping route that sees the passage of world’s half of the merchant ships. The sea is rich in energy reserves including petroleum, mineral and fishing resources. It is made of some 200 tiny islands, coral reefs, shoals, sandbanks etc. grouped into three archipelagos of Spratlys, Paracels and Pratas. The Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal are also part of South China Sea. Several countries have made competing territorial claims over the South China Sea. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia’s most potentially dangerous point of conflict.Continue Reading WBCS Exam Current Affairs 14/05/2017 to 19/05/2017 For WBCS Exam.
    2. A team of scientists from the United States have discovered a possible cure for Ebola viruses. They have discovered the first natural human antibodies that are capable of neutralizing and protecting animals against all three major disease-causing ebola viruses. The findings could lead to the discovery of first effective ebolavirus therapies and vaccines. Scientists have discovered the broadly neutralizing antibodies from the blood of a survivor of the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak. Scientists have also pinpointed the human gene which is expected to be the source of the immune cells that produce these antibodies. These antibodies could emerge as a single therapy to treat all Ebola viruses.

    3. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar has banned open defecation and waste dumping on the floodplains of the Yamuna. It has also slapped an environment compensation of Rs 5,000 for people who violated the order. Apart from this, the NGT has also constituted a committee under the head of Delhi Jal Board CEO to oversee the cleaning works of the river and ordered it to submit reports at regular intervals. The tribunal has also ordered the Delhi government and the municipal corporations to immediately take action against those polluting industries which function in residential areas. These industries are held as the major source of pollution to the river. NGT’s above orders were issued after hearing a plea on the monitoring of execution of the ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Project 2017’.

    4. Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have developed the device ‘Nasofilters’ which is capable of restricting up to 95% of dust and air pollutants. Involving a cost of Rs 10, it is the cheapest naso filter available. The nano-respiratory filter is now ready for commercialisation. The researchers involved in the project was recently awarded with the “National Startups Award” by President Pranab Mukherjee. Salient Features The Nasofilter employs an incredible filter technology that gives protection against the finest particulate pollutants especially the PM2.5 concentration. It offers protection for at least eight hours and therefore helps in reducing the risk of respiratory diseases. The device has an assembly of millions of small-sized pores that creates a thin flexible membrane capable of capturing very small particles with high efficiency. The design of the filter provides good breathability and comfort. The filter is capable of getting struck with the user’s nasal orifice and would prevent the entry of foreign particulate matter like PM2.5 particles, bacteria and pollen allergens. Background According to a new study of global air pollution issued jointly by Health Effects Institute, a Boston research institute, India’s rapidly worsening air pollution has surpassed that of China’s to become the deadliest in the world. About 1.1 million people die prematurely each year in India which is an alarming increase of nearly 50% of premature deaths between 1990 and 2015 period. Particulate Matters are fine particles, less than fraction of the width of a human hair. These particles are released from vehicles, particularly those with diesel engines, industries, as well as from natural sources. They enter the bloodstream through the lungs, and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and cardiac disease. in addition it also results in severe respiratory problems, like pneumonia and asthma.

    5. Indian cricket team has retained its top position in the latest ICC Test rankings with 123 points. Indian team is six points ahead of second placed South Africa. Australia has been placed at the third place with 100 points followed by England at 4th (99 points), New Zealand at 5th (97 points), Pakistan at 6th (93 points), Sri Lanka at 7th (91 points), West Indies at 8th (75 points), Bangladesh at 9th (69 points) and Zimbabwe at 10th with zero points. While Indian and South African teams have improved their performance, Australia, England and Pakistan have made downward movements. In the recent matches, India registered series wins against West Indies last year and defeated New Zealand, England and Australia in home series. Out of the total 13 matches played in India, the Indian team have registered 10 wins, 2 loses and one draw. Other Rankings In the ICC ODI Championship Rankings, Indian team has been placed at third position after South Africa and Australia. In the ICC Twenty20 Championship Rankings, India occupies fourth position after New Zealand, England and Pakistan. In the ICC Women’s Championships Rankings, Indian Women’s team is at fourth position after Australia, England and NewZealand.

    6. The GST Council headed by finance Minister Arun Jaitley has finalised tax rates and has approved all the seven rules for the GST regime that is scheduled to be implemented from July 1. The remaining two rules of the GST pertaining to transition and return is under the examination of the legal committee. In total, the council has fixed the rates of 1211 items. It will decide rates of some other items and services in the coming days. Salient Highlights Out of 1211 items, 81% of the items will attract tax of 18% or less. Only the remaining 19% of items will attract a highest rate of 28% Household items like Sugar, Tea, Coffee and edible oil will attract 5% levy. Cereals and milk will be exempted from the tax. Manufactured goods will attract 18% levy. Luxury cars will attract 28% GST in addition to a cess of 15%. Small petrol cars will attract 28% GST plus a 1% cess, and diesel cars will be taxed at 28% plus 3% cess. Capital goods, a key asset for the manufacturing sector, will be taxed at 28%. Aerated drinks will fall under the 28% tax bracket. Significance The GST Council has not increased the overall tax in any of the 1211 items but have reduced tax on many items. For example, Soap, which is now taxed at the rate of 22-24%, will be taxed at 18%. The present tax incidence in excess of 28% on luxury items will be treated as cess and will be deposited in the corpus for compensating states if they suffer any revenue loss. Food items are expected to become cheaper. Daily use items like hair oil, toothpaste, and soap are kept in the 18% tax slab instead of 28%. The cost of energy generation is expected to become less as tax incidence on coal has been reduced from 11% to 5%. GST regime is expected to unify the whole of the country into a common market eliminating both Central and State levies. Also, GST is expected to increase state and federal tax revenues, ease inflation and boost economic growth by 1-2% points in the medium term.

    7. The 24th bilateral exercise involving Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy has commenced in South China Sea. SIMBEX stands for “Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercises“. The exercise will be held from May 18, 2017 to May 24, 2017. This edition of the bilateral exercise aims at increasing the interoperability among the two navies as well as developing a common understanding and procedures among the two navies for maritime security operations. The major thrust of the exercise will lie on Anti-Submarine Operations (ASN), integrated operations with Surface, Air and Sub-surface Forces, Air Defence and Surface Encounter Exercises.

    8. Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the prestigious Dan David prize as a recognition for his contributions made in the field of astronomy. Shrinivas Kulkarni, a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, is a pioneer in the field of time-domain astrophysics. He has been credited for building and conducting the Palomar Transient Factory, which is a large-area survey of the night sky that has turned up with thousands of stellar explosions. Shrinivas kulkarni would share the award with Andrej Udalski of the University of Warsaw and Neil Gehrels of NASA for their discoveries on time-domain astrophysics in the “Future” category of the prize. With this award, Shrinivas Kulkarni will join other prominent Indians who have won the Dan David prize like noted author Amitav Ghosh, music conductor Zubin Mehta and renowned chemist CNR Rao.

    9. Sanjay Gubbi of Karnataka and Purnima Barman of Assam have won the prestigious Whitley Award for their contributions in wildlife conservation. Whitley awards are popularly known as Green Oscars. The two Indians were among the six selected out of 169 applicants from 66 countries. Purnima Devi Burman has been selected for her efforts for the conservation of greater adjutant storks and its habitat. She created an all female network in three villages of Kamrup district to save the adjutant storks and their habitats. The global population of adjutant storks is 1200-1800. Around 800 of them are found in Assam and 150 in Bihar. Sanjay Gubbi has been selected for his contribution to protect tiger corridors in Karnataka. Gubbi who is wildlife biologist and scientist works with the Mysuru-based Nature Conservation Foundation. Gubbi is also a member of the State Board for Wildlife and works actively to mitigate conflict issues. In 2012, he was instrumental in securing the largest expansion of protected areas in India since 1970. He helped to increase the size of protected areas in Karnataka by 37%.

    10. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a collaborative mission between industry and academia called ‘Innovate in India empowering biotech entrepreneurs and accelerating inclusive innovation‘ that is aimed at accelerating research for early development of bio-pharmaceuticals. Salient Highlights The mission would attract an investment of Rs 1,500 crore from the central government over a period of five years. Half of the funding would be funded through a loan from World Bank. The mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking working under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The mission will focus on key areas that would supplement country’s technological and product development capabilities in the biopharmaceutical sector to enable the sector to become globally competitive over the next 10-15 years. The significance of the mission lies in the fact that National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015-2020 announced by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) lays emphasis on making the country achieve USD 100 billion biotech industry by 2025. The mission will concentrate on development of specific products such as vaccines, biotherapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics etc. Besides, the mission will also work on establishment of shared infrastructure and facilities. The mission will help in building and strengthening domain specific knowledge and management skills at the same time creating and enhancing technology transfer capabilities in public and private sector.

    11. Nearly after 30 years after the induction of Bofors howitzers, Indian Army will get its first artillery guns called M777 from BAE Systems. Swedish Bofors guns were inducted in late 1980s after which Army has not inducted any modern artillery guns. The two M777s has arrived in New Delhi and will be tested at the Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan. The two M777 guns will be used for compilation of firing tables. Indian Army has plans to equip 169 regiments with 3,503 guns by 2020.

    12. NITI Aayog has conducted the first Samavesh meeting of the National Steering Group and other knowledge partners under the co-chairmanship of Amitabh Kant, CEO and Ratan P Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog. The meeting was also attended by representatives of four States- Kerala, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Salient Highlights The objective of the meeting was to bring together 32 premier educational and policy research institutions to boost the development process, improve institutional capacity and forge a field level interface with the community in pursuance with the Prime Minister’s call for a New India 2022, In the meeting, Memorandum of Understands (MoUs) were signed between NITI Aayog and major think tanks across the country with an aim to create an atmosphere of evidence based policy research. This is the first ever initiative undertaken by the government to bring a huge number of institutions across diverse domain themes to deliberate together to promote inclusive development of the country. This network is expected to promote efficient knowledge sharing and information exchange among all partners in order to achieve a sustainable and more inclusive development in line with the National Development Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals and the 15 year Vision, 7 year strategy and 3 year action plan. NITI Aayog has been emphasizing upon the role that can be played by the country’s Premier institutes to promote for inclusive development of the country. As a part of Samavesh initiative, NITI Aayog will launch a new link in its website that would serve as a major repository of knowledge based reports and case studies across different sectors of the economy. NITI Aayog NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India was established on January 1, 2015 through a government resolution. NITI Aayog is essentially an advisory body that seeks to provide critical directional and strategic inputs across spectrum of key elements of policy to the centre as well as to the states. NITI Ayog was established by the government as a “Think Tank” which has no power to impose policies. NITI Aayog seeks to put an end to the slow and tardy implementation of the policy by fostering inter-ministry, inter-state and centre-state coordination. It has been envisaged to follow the bottom-top development approach whereby, it would develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans to the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.

    13. Brand finance in its 2017 report that lists India’s 100 most valuable brands has named Tata Group as the most valuable brand in India at an estimated brand value of $13.1 billion. Brand Finance is a global brand valuation and strategy consultancy firm. Tata Group has managed to top the list despite its brand value declining 4% from $13.7 billion in 2016. As per the report, the total brand value of India’s top 100 brands have surged 15% in 2017 compared to the global average of 11%. Overall 68 of India’s 100 most valuable brands have registered growth in value this year. Telecom operator Airtel at an estimated valuation of $7.7 billion has been ranked second in the list followed by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) with $6.8 billion. IT firm Infosys and State Bank of India have been ranked fourth and fifth in the list with an estimated value of $6.2 billion and $5.5 billion respectively. Backed by the addition of 35 new routes and increase in operations in the existing route, Indigo Airlines jumped from No. 95 in 2016 to No. 62 in 2017 in the Brand Finance list. Handset maker Micromax’s performance has suffered the most with its brand value dropping by 39% and fell to the 95th position in the list of top 100 brands. Air carrier Indigo Airlines gained the most. Indigo jumped from No. 95 in 2016 to No. 62 in 2017 in the Brand Finance list. The report has named ITC as the most powerful brand in the country. As per the report it is the country’s only AAA rated brand with a Brand Strength Index score of 86.

    14. Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave has passed away. He was 60. Anil Madhav Dave was born in Badnagar of Madhya Pradesh on July 6, 1956. He is a Member of Parliament representing Madhya Pradesh. Dave was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009. Last year, he was sworn in as a minister with independent charge of environment, forest and climate change. He was very passionate on implementing environmental projects including conservation of the Narmada river. He had also founded an organisation called ‘Narmada Samagra’ for conservation of Narmada.

    15. BSNL has inked agreements with Facebook and MobiKwik in order to popularize the internet and its value added services among its customers. Further, BSNL has also signed a third MoU with Disney Land India to offer premium online gaming services to its mobile customers. The series of MoUs signed by BSNL comes at the backdrop of a stiff competition faced by BSNL from private telecom companies like Airtel and Reliance Jio.

    16. The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal allowing for the construction of 10 indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). The reactors will have a capacity of 700 MW. These reactors will add 7000 MW capacity and will ramp up nuclear power generation in the country. Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both moderator and coolant. India’s first PHWR was constructed at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in technical cooperation with the Atomic Energy Canada Ltd (AECL). However, the Canada’s support was immediately withdrawn after India’s first nuclear experiment at Pokhran in 1974. India’s first nuclear power plant with a different design was built at Tarapur in Maharashtra. PHWR units are in operation in Rawatbhata, Kaiga, Kakrapar, Kalpakkam and Narora. Recently, it was announced that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is ready to sell Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 220 MWe or 540 MWe capacity to other countries.

    17. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new coal linkage policy to ensure adequate supply of the fuel to power plants through reverse auction. The new policy will help in ensuring fuel supplies to the power plants in an organised manner. Need Though, the government’s initiatives and prevailing market conditions to a large extent has helped to bring down the prices of the dry fuel and boosted the domestic production, a proper mechanism for providing coal linkages to power plants at competitive rates was lacking. The new policy will address this issue and will ensure proper sourcing of the dry fuel by the power plants as per their schedules. Coal linkage policy Coal linkage policy is a policy designated by the union government for the allocation of coal among thermal power plants. Inadequate availability of domestic coal coupled with high price for imported coal requires the government to allocate the available coal rationally among the power plants. This is especially necessary as the coal producing firms are public sector companies. Also, the pricing of coal is an another important issue. In this context, the government designates coal linkage policies to allocate coal among different thermal power plants.

    18. Anshu Jamsenpa, a native of Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh has scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to scale Mount Everest for the fourth time. Anshu Jamsenpa who is a mother of two children had already had ascaled Mount Everest twice in a season that too taking only a gap of 10 days between the two climbs. She scaled the highest peak twice in May 2011. She again conquered the peak on May 18, 2013.

    19. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes list of ‘Global Game Changers’. Mukesh Ambani has been ranked at the top for his efforts to bring the internet to India’s masses. This is Forbes’ second annual Global Game Changers list and includes 25 “intrepid business leaders” who are known to transform their industries and effect changes to the lives of billions of people around the globe.

    20. Income Tax Department (ITD) has initiated Operation Clean Money to investigate tax evaders. As a part of the operation, the government has launched a website on ‘Operation Clean Money’ operation.Salient Highlights The Operation Clean Money’ portal has been designed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Initial phase of the operation involves identification of around 18 lakh persons who have made large deposits or purchases between 9th November to 30th December 2016, which do not appear to be in line with the tax payer’s profile. The provision of online verification of these transactions is aimed at reducing the compliance cost for the taxpayers while optimising the resources of the Income Tax department. The PAN holders can view the information in the portal. The taxpayers would be allowed to submit online explanation without the need to visiti the Income Tax Office. As a reminder, e-mail and SMS will also be sent to the taxpayers for submission of online response on the portal. The IT department will make use of the data analytics to select cases for verification. After selection of cases, additional information requested would be communicated electronically. On getting the information, the portal will get dynamically updated. The taxpayers covered under this phase are required to submit their responses within 10 days in order to avoid further notice and enforcement actions under the Income Tax Act. The response provided by the tax payer would be analyzed against available information with the department. If response found justified, the verification would be closed. The verification will also be closed if the cash deposit has been declared under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY). Background Operation Clean Money was launched immediately after government’s demonetisation drive in order to bring the tax evaders with undeclared incomes under the tax net. The income tax department has so far identified about 1.8 million persons and asked them o explain their deposits, pay tax or disclose past undisclosed income through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

    21. In the report titled, World Economic Situation and Prospects, the UN has projected a 7.3% growth for India in 2017. Earlier in the report’s January edition, UN had forecasted a growth of 7.7% for the year. The revised report also has predicted an impressive 7.9% GDP growth for the year 2018 which is an increase from its January estimate of 7.6%.

    22. Mt Lhotse has recorded its first summit in 3 years. Mt Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world. Indian climber Debasish Biswas and a woman climber from New Zealand were the first to successfully climb Mt Lhotse after a team of Sherpas fixed the route to summit. John Snorri Sigursson of Iceland and Cian O Brolchain of Ireland also scaled Mt. Lhotse becoming the first mountaineer from their respective countries to summit Mt Lhotse. After the destruction caused by an avalanche above the icefall section in 2014 and the devastating earthquakes in 2015, the climbers could not summit Mt Lhotse in the past 3 years. Last year, the climbing expeditions were halted after the death of high-altitude worker Ang Furba Sherpa. In this season, more than 100 climbers along with their support staff would attempt to summit Mt Lhotse.
    Mt Lhotse Mt Lhotse (8,516 metre) is the fourth highest mountain in the world after Mt Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga. It is present on the border between Tibet and the Khumbu region of Nepal. In addition to the main summit, the mountain also comprises of smaller peaks like Lhotse Middle (8,414 m), Lhotse Shar (8,383 m). The main summit was first successfully climbed by the Swiss team of Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger on May 18, 1956.

    23. Ovais Sarmad who is an Indian national has been appointed by the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the post of Deputy Executive Secretary, which is a key post in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As per the U.N. Information Centre in Delhi, the appointment has been made after making wide consultations with the Conference of Parties. The appointment assumes significance as UNFCCC aims to slow down climate change.

    24. India and Palestine has signed five agreements during the 4 day visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to India. This is Abbas’s fifth visit to India and the third state visit after his earlier visits in 2008 and 2012. These 5 MoUs signed were on visa exemption for diplomatic passport holder, agriculture cooperation, cooperation in field of IT & Electronics, health sector and cooperation in the field of youth affairs and sports.

    25. As per the PFRDA-CRISIL report titled, Financial security for India’s elderly – The imperatives, India will begin ageing gradually and transform from ‘young’ to a ‘greying’ with every 5th Indian to be in 60s in contrast to every 12th person at present. By 2050, persons above the age of 60 would increase from the present 8.9% of the population to 19.4 %. Also, by 2050, the population of people above 80 is likely to increase from 0.9% to 2.8%. As of 2015, almost 90% of the population was below the age of 60 years and the proportion of working age population stood at 44% .

    26. Belt and Road Forum (BRF) is a gathering of world leaders from across the globe, organized by China to showcase its plans to build a network of trade routes under the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. As of now, 68 countries and international organisations have signed belt and road agreements with China. China has stated that the Belt and Road initiative is an open and inclusive platform to explore and co-develop the China-led blueprint of reviving the Silk Road. India, however, has boycotted the summit owing to sovereignty concerns related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Unlike India, none of the other countries have sovereignty related issues with OBOR initiative. Outcomes The two-day Belt and Road Forum identified and agreed on 270 deliverable goals of Belt and Road Initiative.The Forum resulted in signing of a joint communique by 30 heads of state that promised to implement plans for cooperation in trade and infrastructure programs across Asia, Europe and Africa. However, the forum ended with only promises of joint action by participating countries and did not result in establishment of an institutional framework for implementing the planned construction program. The Signatories to the joint communique also pledged their support for promoting a rules-based, open and multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core. China has assured the participating countries that it would not attempt to push a country’s political ideologies and systems onto another country during the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. China has taken the first step to institutionalise the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) by announcing that the next edition of the BRF would be held in Beijing in 2019 indicating that China will continue to control the Belt and Road Initiative. Infrastructure Deals Although India skipped the initiative, 6 of its neighbours namely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Afghanistan attended the summit and signed 20 infrastructure deals with China at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF). They have also sought China’s financial help for advancing infrastructure, power, banking and finance sectors. OBOR OBOR is an ambitious China’s ambitious development strategy and framework that aims to boost its connectivity and trade that will that will connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It comprises two components viz. the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. OBOR initiative is part of China’s revived 21st century Silk Road diplomacy that seeks to push it to take a bigger role in global affairs as a major global power. It is basically investment and trade promotion scheme aiming to deepen economic connections between China and rest of the world.

    27. Indian Navy and the Space Application Centre has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Data Sharing and Scientific cooperation in the field of Meteorology and Oceanology. As per the MoU, the scientific advancements and expertise achieved by SAC would be synergised into the Indian Naval efforts in order to keep the Indian Navy abreast with rapid developments that has taken place in the field of Environment Sciences and Satellite Data acquisition technology. The MoU has further enhanced the already established collaboration between the two organisations. The broad areas of cooperation under the MoU are: sharing of non-confidential observational data for pre-launch sensor calibration and post launch satellite data validation, operational use of SAC generated weather products, provisioning expertise for installation of various satellite data processing modules at Naval METOC organisations, performing calibration and validation for ocean models, transfer of technology to produce weather information, training on latest technology and sharing of subject matter experts between the organisations facilitating effective knowledge transfer.

    28. West Bengal State government has made Bengali mandatory in all schools, including private English medium schools. Henceforth, it would be compulsory for all schools including English medium schools affiliated to boards other than West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to teach Bengali as an optional subject from Class I so that students can study it either as a second or third language. At present, teaching of Bengali is not mandatory in the schools. Apart from Bengali, English and Hindi, students can opt for other languages such as Urdu, Gurumukhi, Nepali and Ol-chiki as the medium of instruction in schools of the State. Background The decision of the West Bengal government making Bengali compulsory in schools comes at the backdrop of Kerala government’s recent promulgation of an ordinance in April making Teaching of Malayalam compulsory in all schools of Kerala. Earlier, the Left Front government had abolished teaching of English in primary sections of West Bengal in 1984. But teaching of English was reintroduced in 1992 to Class V, in 1998 to Class III and finally in 2003 to all classes from Class I onwards.

    29. West Bengal State government has made Bengali mandatory in all schools, including private English medium schools. Henceforth, it would be compulsory for all schools including English medium schools affiliated to boards other than West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to teach Bengali as an optional subject from Class I so that students can study it either as a second or third language. At present, teaching of Bengali is not mandatory in the schools. Apart from Bengali, English and Hindi, students can opt for other languages such as Urdu, Gurumukhi, Nepali and Ol-chiki as the medium of instruction in schools of the State. Background The decision of the West Bengal government making Bengali compulsory in schools comes at the backdrop of Kerala government’s recent promulgation of an ordinance in April making Teaching of Malayalam compulsory in all schools of Kerala. Earlier, the Left Front government had abolished teaching of English in primary sections of West Bengal in 1984. But teaching of English was reintroduced in 1992 to Class V, in 1998 to Class III and finally in 2003 to all classes from Class I onwards.

    30. French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Edouard Philippe as the new prime minister of France. At 46, Edouard Philippe would be the second-youngest Prime Minister of France after Laurent Fabius (1984 to 1986), who was 37 at the time of appointment. Philippe is the Mayor of the port city Le Havre since 2010 and is a member of the Les Républicains party .

    31. The partnership of Deepti Sharma and Poonam Raut scored 320 in 45.3 overs in 45.3 overs to become the world’s first pair, either male or female, to forge a 300-run opening-wicket partnership in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The earlier best partnership for the first wicket in men’s cricket was 286 scored by Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya against England in 2006, and the best partnership for the first wicket for women’s cricket was 268 scored by Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins against South Africa in 2008.

    32. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Narmada Seva Mission for the conservation of river Narmada, which is a lifeline of Madhya Pradesh. Prime Minister released a road map for the series of steps to be taken for the conservation of Narmada river. The roadmap envisaging the conservation efforts has been taken after wide-ranging consultations with various stakeholders, including environmentalists, river conservation experts among others. The event was held at Amarkantak in Anooppur district of Madhya Pradesh. The event also marked the conclusion of ‘Namami Devi Narmade Sewa Yatra’.

    33. Kerala and Tamil Nadu have secured first and second rankings for the second consecutive year in public affairs index (PAI) released by the Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru. Gujarat has been ranked third followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra at the fourth and fifth position respectively in governance indicators. The last four positions among the large states has been occupied by Bihar (18th), Jharkhand (17th), Odisha (16th) and Assam (15th). Among the 12 small states which have been categorised as small as they have population less than two crore, Himachal Pradesh has been ranked first followed by Goa and Mizoram. Delhi which occupied third position in 2016 index has slipped to ninth position in 2017. The last four positions among small states have been occupied Meghalaya (12th), Arunachal Pradesh (11th) and Jammu and Kashmir (10th). Themes The survey was carried out based on 10 themes, 26 focus subjects and 82 indicators. The report was based on the following themes: essential infrastructure, support to human development, social protection, women and children, crime, law and order, delivery of justice, environment, transparency and accountability, fiscal management and economic freedom. In the category of essential infrastructure, Punjab has been adjudged as the best performer among all States followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. In the category of human development, Kerala, Maharshtra, and Punjab are the best performers while Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam are the worst performers. In implementation of social protection policies, Kerala, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are the best performers while Telangana, Haryana and Punjab are the worst performers as they lagged behind other states in executing various State and Central government schemes. In the category of women and children, Kerala has been adjudged as the best performer while Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra are poor performers. In the category of fiscal management, Telangana has been adjudged as the best performer while Andhra Pradesh has been labelled as the poor performer. In maintaining law and order, delivery of justice and environment categories, Tamil Nadu has been adjudged as the best performer but the state has been ranked last in the parameter of transparency and accountability in the administration. In the category of economic freedom, Gujarat has secured top rank while Bihar has secured the last rank. PAC Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru had come up with a Public Affairs Index (PAI) to rank governance inter-state by using data available in the public domain in key areas of governance. Public Affairs Centre (PAC) is a not for profit think tank, established in 1994 with a mandate to improve the quality of governance in India. The genesis of PAC is attributed to Dr. Samuel Paul in the early nineties. The objective of Public Affairs Index (PAI) is an attempt to bring together the states of the country which are culturally, economically and socially diverse, into a common data-driven framework in order to facilitate an interstate comparison. A well-framed methodology backed by statistical data from government sources, has been included in the study to provide insights into the subject of good governance.

    34. Indian Railways will install 19,000 high definition CCTV cameras at over 983 stations across the country under the Nirbhaya Fund at an approved cost of Rs 500 crore in order to ensure round-the-clock security to passengers including women. The cameras will be installed at platforms and waiting areas. The CCTV footages would be monitored by trained RPF personnel and the concerned station master will also be given access to the CCTV camera footage. Indian Railways has about 8,000 stations. Of these only 344 stations have been installed with CCTV cameras so far. Apart from them, the Shaan-e-Punjab Express is fully covered with CCTV cameras. Some of the ladies compartments of Mumbai suburban service are also covered with CCTV cameras under a pilot project. Similarly, the Hamsafar Express and the upcoming Tejas service will also be equipped with CCTV cameras.

    35. India has jumped 73 spots to be ranked 26th in World Bank’s electricity accessibility list. The country was ranked 99th in 2014. Out of the 18,452 villages which lacked electricity, over 13,000 has been provided access to electricity. In addition, a person applying for new electricity connection would be able to get the connection within 24 hours in areas where power infrastructure is available and in areas where there is no power infrastructure, electricity connection would be given in a week. The government’s rural electrification programme is on track for completion within the targeted 1,000 days.

    36. The United States will be selling high-tech Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) protective clothing worth $75 million to India. For the first time, the Pentagon has notified the sale of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) Support Equipment, the Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) protective clothing, to the US Congress. The entire package includes 38,034 M50 general purpose masks, 38,034 units of suits, trousers, gloves, boots and NBC bags; 854 aprons; 854 alternative aprons; 9,509 Quick Doff Hoods; and 114,102 M61 filters.

    37. Lewis Hamilton has won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position in the Formula One championship. This is Hamilton’s 55th career win and second win of the season. Mercedes’s Hamilton finished 3.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Third position was occupied by Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

    38. Defying calls to halt its weapons programme, North Korea has yet again test fired a ballistic missile that flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea between North Korea’s east coast and Japan, only 97 km from south of Russia’s Vladivostok region. The missile has invited calls for implementation of stronger sanctions against North Korea. The missile flew 700 km and reached an altitude of more than 2,000 km before landing into the sea. The missile is considered to have a range higher than an intermediate-range missile that North Korea successfully tested in February this year. An intercontinental ballistic missile has a range of more than 6,000 km.

    39. India will skip the two day grand OBOR summit organised by China to showcase its plans to build a network of trade routes under the One Belt, One Road (OBOR). OBOR is an ambitious China’s ambitious development strategy and framework that aims to boost its connectivity and trade that will that will connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. The summit is expected to be attended by nearly 65 countries. However, only 20 heads of state is expected to attend the summit. The US and Japan who were initially reluctant to attend the summit have decided to send a representative at the last minute. India, however, has refused to send any representative owing to sovereignty concerns related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The countries like Russia, South Korea, France, Germany and UK will send either ministerial or official delegations to the summit. As far as india’s neighbours are concerned, Pakistan is sending the largest delegation consisting of four chief ministers and five federal ministers. Others like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives will also have official representations. Bhutan will not participate as it has no diplomatic relations with China. India’s Concerns China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is a 3000 km project connecting Pakistan’s deep-water port Gwadar and China’s Xinjiang falls under the OBOR initiative of China. The CPEC passes through Gilgit-Baltistan region of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. The Chinese presence in the disputed region has raised sovereignty concerns for India. The Gwadar Port offers China to have its naval presence in the Arabian Sea and to the Indian Ocean. Already, China has plans to station its marines in Djibouti in Horn of Africa in Indian Ocean. The other projects under the OBOR in South and South East Asia also have security implications for India. Unlike India, none of the other countries have sovereignty related issues with OBOR initiative.

    40. A global cyberattack has crippled nearly hundred countries, including India. A cyber gang called Shadow Brokers, which is a mysterious organisation is held responsible for this massive cyberattack. The organisation has carried out the attack by stealing a hacking tool called ‘Eternal Blue’ from the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s powerful military intelligence unit. The hacking tool Eternal Blue gives unprecedented access to all computers using Microsoft Windows. It was developed by NSA to gain access to computers used by terrorists and enemy states. The cyberattack is considered as the biggest ransomware attack of its kind. As per security software company Avast, its researchers have observed more than 75,000 attacks worldwide in 99 countries including the UK, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Italy, and Egypt.
    Hackers have spread ransomware known as WannaCry, WanaCrypt0r 2.0, WannaCry and WCry, often through emails. The files in the infected computers gets locked up in such a way that the user cannot access them anymore. It then demands payment in cryptocurrency Bitcoin to retrieve the locked files. Finance ministers and central bank governors of G7 nations such as the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain have agreed to strengthen cooperation to counter cyber threats such as the present global online attack. Consequences The cyberattack has crippled many hospitals, schools and universities in Europe and Asia. Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is among badly affected. Other affected high profile victims are international shipper FedEx Corp, Spain’s telecommunications company Telefonica, Portugal Telecom and Telefonica Argentina, Germany’s railway operator Deutsche Bahn etc. According to Avast, the countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan are the top targets around the world. In India, Andhra Pradesh’s police computers have come under the cyberattack. Computers in 18 police units in Chittoor, Krishna, Guntur, Visakhatpatnam and Srikakulam districts have been affected.

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