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  • WBCS Current Affairs 29th July to 4th August 2017 (Part 2)
    Posted on July 29th, 2017 in Current Affairs, Weekly Current Affairs
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    WBCS Current Affairs 29 Jul to 4th Aug 2017 (Part 2)

    36. The Haryana food and drugs administration department has banned flushing/mixing of liquid nitrogen with any drink or food article. The ban was imposed under section 34 of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSS), 2006. The ban comes after a cocktail accident (due mixing of liquid nitrogen in cocktail) at Gurgaon pub in April 2016 that burnt a hole in a man’s stomach. Under this ban, any eatery found using liquid nitrogen with any drink or food will be booked under section 34 (i) and (ii) of the FSS Act, 2006. The eatery may also face closure and/or a penalty. Liquid nitrogen: Liquid nitrogen is a colourless liquid having a boiling point of -195.79 °C. It is used to instantly freeze food and drinks. It is used in bars to quickly freeze ingredients, chill glasses and provide a smoky effect to drinks and also in molecular gastronomy. It is also used to cool computers and in cryogenic medical procedures like removing cancerous tissues and warts by freezing them. Harmful effects of liquid nitrogen: According to medical experts, any drink or food article whose preparation involves flushing/mixing of liquid nitrogen is harmful for humans. It releases a large volume of gas as it evaporates, which can burst the stomach if consumed in a sufficiently large quantity.Continue Reading WBCS Current Affairs 29th July to 4th August 2017 (Part 2).

    37. The United Nations (UN) World Day against Trafficking in Persons is observed every year on July 30 to raise awareness of the plight of human trafficking victims, and promote and protect their rights. Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation or sexual slavery for the trafficker or others. The 2017 theme of the day is “Act to Protect and Assist Trafficked Persons”. It highlights the large mixed migration movements of refugees and migrants. It also puts the spotlight on the significant impact of conflict and natural disasters, as well as the resultant, multiple risks of human trafficking that many people face. It also seeks to addresses the key issue concerning trafficking responses i.e. most people are never identified as trafficking victims and therefore cannot access most of the assistance or protection provided. Background: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had designated July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons by adopting resolution A/RES/68/192 in 2013,. The resolution had declared that the observance of the day is necessary to raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.

    38. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram have developed gelator that can suck up oil and congeal it. The gelator is hydrophobic material that has property of oleilophilic (oil-loving) and takes up oil when it comes in contact with it. It can be used to recover marine oil spills with a simple, efficient and cost-effective method. Key Facts: The gelator is developed using a cheap raw material mannitol and cellulose pulp through a one-step process. In this process the mannitol gets adsorbed on the cellulose fibre through hydrogen bonding. The adsorption process changes the cellulose matrix from being very hydrophilic (water-loving) to hydrophobic (water repelling). The property of gelator to self-assemble to form micro fibres makes congealing of oil possible and the oil loses its fluidity and gets trapped within the entangled fibrous network to form a rigid gel. Gelation essentially turns the liquid oil into semi-solid and this allows congealed oil to be simply scooped out using a scoop or a sieve. During the studies, it was found that the gelator was able to absorb and congeal 16 times its own weight of oil. Even, the absorbed oil can be recovered by applying pressure or fractionated by a simple distillation process. Applications: Gelator can also serve as a more efficient, quick and cost-effective way for absorption of crude oil from the sea following marine spill. Unlike other alternatives, the gelator can be easily applied over oil-water mixture and no solvent is needed for spraying it thus making it environment friendly.

    39. According to recently released OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report, India is the world’s third-biggest exporter of beef. Brazil was ranked as the world’s top beef exporter followed by Australia. The report was released jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD). Key Highlights of Report: India exported 1.56 million tonnes of beef in 2016. It is expected to maintain its position as the third-largest beef exporter, accounting for 16% of global exports in 2026 by exporting 1.93 tonnes that year. India imported 363,000 tonnes of beef in 2016 and the amount was projected to stay the same over the decade. The type of beef exported was not specified, but the exported meat appears to be mostly from buffaloes as the report has specified the animal for imports by Myanmar from India. It needs to be clarified whether the report classifies even buffalo meat as beef. The total world beef exports was 10.95 million tonnes in 2016 and it is expected to increase to 12.43 million tonnes by 2026. Till 2015, India was the world’s largest exporter of beef and had extended its lead over the next highest exporter, Brazil.

    40. Sri Lanka has signed a US $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70% stake of the strategic Hambantota deep-sea port to China. Hambantota port is a deep-water port in the southern tip of Sri Lanka. It sits close to busy east-west shipping lanes connecting Europe and Asia. The deal was signed between Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and China Merchants Port Holding Co. (CMPort). Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort will invest up to US $1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities. CMPort will be only responsible for commercial operations, while the SLPA will handle port’s operations, security and services. Comment: The port is expected to play a key role in China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), which will link ports and roads between China and Europe. It is also considered that, this deal gives an advantage to China in the bunkering business, which provides fuel to ships. India’s Concern: India is apprehensive that the port is part of Chinese ‘string of pearls’ with an objective to surround India and dock its military vessels. The String of pearls is a geopolitical theory on potential Chinese intentions in the Indian Ocean region. It refers to the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication extending from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan. These sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centres in Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Somalia.

    41. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has rolled out Muntra, India’s first unmanned, remotely operated tank at its Chennai lab. It has been launched in three variants Muntra-S, Muntra-M and Muntra-N for surveillance, mine detection and reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and biological threats. It is also likely to be used in Naxal-hit areas. Key Facts: Muntra-S is the country’s first tracked unmanned ground vehicle (tank) developed for unmanned surveillance missions. Muntra-M is for detecting mines and Muntra-N is for operation in areas where there is nuclear radiation or biological weapon risk. The Muntra variants have surveillance radar, an integrated camera along with laser range finder which can be used to spy on ground target 15km away – heavy vehicles or crawling men. This unmanned, remotely tele-operated tank has been successfully tested and validated at Mahajan field firing range in Rajasthan under dusty desert conditions.

    42. China has successfully produced natural gas from methane hydrate, also known as “flammable ice”, in an experimental project in the South China Sea (SCS). As part of the experiment, a drilling platform had produced a total of 309,000 cubic metres of natural gas from gas hydrate in 60 days. Methane hydrate has been identified as a potential new gas source for China, with the South China Sea thought to contain some of the world’s most promising flammable ice deposits. India, Canada and US are also believed to be looking at hydrates as an alternative energy source. Flammable ice: Flammable ice (also known as methane hydrate or methane clathrates) consists of methane trapped within water crystals. It is the world’s largest natural gas resource is trapped beneath permafrost and ocean sediment where low temperature and moderate pressure combine to trap methane in this specific way. The methane hydrate is highly flammable and energy-intensive fuel as one cubic metre of the compound can releases about 160 cubic metres of gas. It can break down into water and methane after temperature is raised or pressure is lowered. It is likely to be the world’s last great source of carbon-based fuel and has potential to be a revolutionary energy source that could cater future energy needs. Its vast deposits exist underneath all oceans around the globe, especially on the edge of continental shelves.

    43. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released Operational Guidelines for Planning and Implementation of Family Participatory Care (FPC) for improving newborn health. The guidelines are for all stakeholders involved in the process of planning and delivering newborn care. They will serve as a guiding document for those intending to introduce FPC in their facility as an integral part of facility based newborn care. Family Participatory Care (FPC): FPC has emerged as an important concept of health care as it provides partnership between health care staff and families in care of sick newborns admitted in the Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU). Under it, the capacities of parents-attendants are built in newborn care through a structured training programme (training guide and audio-visual module). Need for FPC: Sick and newborn are highly vulnerable and require careful nurturing in order to survive the neonatal period and first year of life. Under National Health Mission (NHM), more than 700 state of the art SNCU have been established across the country to provide 24 X 7 comprehensive care to the newborns by dedicated trained staff. In the recent years, it was realized that if parents are trained, during the stay of their babies in the hospital, to provide supportive care to their newborns, it will help in not only to improve survival of the babies after discharge but also cater psycho-social and developmental needs of the newborn. Key Operational Guidelines: The Operational Guidelines provides details of infrastructure, training, role of health care providers and steps in the operationalization of FPC in the newborn care unit. It also addresses various aspects of attitudes, infrastructural modifications and practice that will help in establishing FPC at SNCU. It also includes sensitization of State and District Managers on FPC, prioritization of SNCUs for initiating FPC, making required infrastructural enhancement in SNCU, creating family participatory care environment in SNCU. It also seeks to ensure availability of supplies for parents-attendants, role of healthcare providers for FPC implementation, training of SNCU staff for SNCU and institutional support for FPC. The guidelines will be shared with the states for implementation to further improve the quality of care provided in the SNCUs across the country.

    44. The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) has become the world’s first completely ‘green’ Metro system for adhering to green building norms for its residential colonies. In this regard, Delhi Metro has secured the platinum rating for adherence to green building norms for its 10 residential colonies from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). About Delhi Metro: The Delhi Metro is a metro system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad in National Capital Region (NCR). It is the world’s 12th longest metro system in length and 16th largest in ridership. It is built and operated by DMRC, a state-owned company with equal equity participation from Union Government and Government of Delhi. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has financed 60% of the project cost in the form of soft loan under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Other Achievements: In 2008, DMRC was the first railway project in the world to be registered by the United Nations under the CDM, enabling it to claim carbon credits. In 2015, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had registered DMRC as the world’s first transport sector project under the Program of Activities (PoA), making it the managing entity for all other Metros of India. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC): The IGBC is part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) formed in 2001. It offers a wide array of services including developing new green building rating programmes, green building training programmes and certification services. It also organises Green Building Congress, its annual flagship event on green buildings. It closely works with several State Governments, Central Government, World Green Building Council, bilateral multi-lateral agencies in promoting green building concepts in the country.

    45. The International Tiger Day (also known as Global Tiger Day) is celebrated every year on 29 July to raise awareness for tiger conservation. The goal of observance of the day is to promote the protection and expansion of the wild tigers habitats and to gain support through awareness for tiger conservation. On this occasion, special programmes are being organized all over the globe by many international organisations including the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) etc. organized events. Background: The International Tiger Day was founded in 2010 at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit. The summit had issued St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation with an aim to double the big cat population by 2022. The tiger is the largest of the world’s big cats with its distinctive orange and black stripes and beautifully marked face. It is has been founded that in the last century 97% of all wild tigers had disappeared due to many factors including habitat loss, hunting and poaching, climate change. According to WWF, only 3,890 tigers are left in the world, of them, India with more than 2500 tigers has the highest number.
    46. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has received final nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). The final clearance from RBI comes almost a year after NPCI launched the BBPS pilot project to make payment of utility bills easier. The pilot started in August 2016 with eight BBPS operating units that had received in-principle approval from RBI. The total number of Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units certified by NPCI now stands at 24. The certified units include 10 private sector banks, 3 public sector banks (Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank), five cooperative banks and six non-bank biller aggregators. About Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS):BBPS is an integrated bill payment system offering interoperable and accessible bill payment service to customers through a network of agents, enabling multiple payment modes and providing instant confirmation of payment. The BBPS initiative aims to provide a major push to digital payments as it is a big step forward in formalizing the bill payment system in the country. Under the BBPS framework, a customer will be able to pay several bills such as electricity, telephone, water, gas, and DTH television at a single location—physical or electronic—and receive instant confirmation once the payment is made. Nearly 45 crore bills are permitted under BBPS. Payments through BBPS can be made using cash, transfer cheques and electronic modes. Bill aggregators and banks, who will function as operating units, will carry out these transactions for the customers. At present the bulk of transactions on BBPS are of electricity bills. It contributes to about 180 million bills per month out of which only 10% is digital.

    47. The Union Ministry of Earth Science has launched Sagar Vani, an integrated information dissemination system on the occasion of its foundation Day. Sagar Vani is an integrated information dissemination system that will serve the coastal community, especially the fishermen community with the advisories and alerts towards their livelihood as well as their safety at Sea. Key Facts: Sagar Vani has been developed by ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) through the Industry M/s. Gaian Solutions Pvt. Ltd. It is a software platform where various dissemination modes will be integrated on a single central server. It includes Multi Lingual SMS, Voice Call/Audio Advisory, Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Mobile Apps (User/Admin modules), email, Fax, GTS, Digital Display Boards, IVRS, Radio/Television broadcast units, Cloud Channels, etc. The system also has facility to provide access to various stakeholders (State Fishery Departments, Disaster Management Authorities, NGOs etc.) so that they will be able to further disseminate these ocean information and alerts to the user community. This ‘Sagar Vani’ system compares with the most advanced countries’ services in terms of speed of delivery, diverseness of services and omni channel capabilities. It can disseminate services in local languages using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities.

    48. Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar was conferred with the Japan’s imperial decoration ‘Order of the Rising Sun’ award for his contribution to fostering Japan-India ties. Kumar had served as Special Envoy of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Japan during the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Japan to India in December 2013, and contributed to the success of the visit. About Ashwani Kumar: Ashwani Kumar is politician and attorney who formerly had served as Member of Rajya Sabha. He formerly had served as Union Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of State (MoS) in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was Accompanying Minister to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visited India in 2007. He was Chairman of the FICCI India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians established during the visit of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to India in 2005. Kumar also has contributed in promoting of Japan-India relations in the field of Science and Technology, as Council member of the STS Forum. The Order of the Rising Sun: It is the highest category of decoration of Japan. It was established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. It is awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in the following fields: international relations, promotion of Japanese culture, development in welfare, advancements in their field or preservation of the environment. Ratan Tata was also conferred the decoration in the past.
    49. The Lok Sabha passed the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Bill, 2017 by voice vote. The Bill declares the IIMs as institutions of national importance. The bill seeks to empower these institutions to attain standards of global excellence in management, management research and allied areas of knowledge. It also promises to grant administrative, academic and financial autonomy to these B-Schools and allow them to grant degrees. Key Highlights of Bill: The bill allows IIMs to grant degrees to their students. It also grants them complete autonomy, combined with adequate accountability. It establishes coordination Forum of IIMs as an advisory body. It empowers board of an IIM to drive the management of the institution. It will select Chairperson and Director of IIM. The board will have greater participation of experts and alumni. It will also include women and members from Scheduled Castes/Tribes. Besides, it adds provisions for periodic review of the performance of IIM by independent agencies and their results will be placed in public domain. Besides, it also has provision to place the Annual Report of the IIMs in the Parliament and CAG (Comptroller and auditor general of India) auditing their accounts. Background: IIMs are the country’s premier institutions imparting best quality education in management and are recognized as world-class management Institutions and Centres of Excellence. India has 20 IIMs now. All IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Earlier they were not authorized to award degrees. These awards were treated as equivalent to MBAs and Ph.D, respectively, but their equivalence was not universally acceptable, especially for the Fellow Programme.

    50. The Union Ministry of Earth Science has launched India Quake application on the occasion of its foundation day. The mobile app has been developed by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) for automatic dissemination of earthquake parameter (location, time and magnitude) after the occurrence of earthquakes. Key Features of India Quake app: The App facilitates information dissemination faster with no restrictions on the number of recipients. It will provide real time earthquake location information on mobile of the user. It also will help in reducing panic amongst people during an earthquake. The app will notify two categories of events scrutinized and unscrutinized. Unscrutinized earthquake events are those whose parameters have been estimated automatically by the software using the incoming waveform data from remote stations. In the case of scrutinized events category, the unscrutinized will be scrutinized and confirmed by the NCS. Background: The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Science operates national seismological network with 84 stations. These stations are connected to NCS headquarter for real time data communication through VSAT. In case of an earthquake, NCS locate these stations using data from its network and disseminate earthquake parameters to all concerned government departments and other stake holders through email, SMS and fax. However this causes some delay in dissemination and also restricts the number of recipients. India Quake app will overcome this problem.

    51. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has resigned from his post after the Supreme Court disqualified him in the Panama Papers case. This is the third time Nawaz Sharif has been unable to complete his term in the chief executive’s office. In a landmark judgment, a five Judge bench of Pakistan Supreme Court unanimously ruled to register a case against Nawaz Sharif and his family guilty of money laundering. Pakistan SC Ruling: Prime Minister had been dishonest to Parliament and the courts, in not disclosing his employment in a Dubai-based company in his 2013 nomination papers, and thus, could not be deemed fit for his office. It ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference in an accountability court in six weeks and the case must be completed within six months. It also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to issue a notification declaring the Prime Minister’s disqualification. Background: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and two sons were engulfed by corruption charges as pointed in Panama Paper leaks. The scandal had revealed that Nawaz Sharif’s sons, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz and his daughter Maryam Nawaz owned offshore companies illegally which managed their family’s properties. Panama Paper leaks: The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca based in Panama. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The documents had leaked the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. The leaks disclosed 12 national leaders among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known using these offshore tax havens. Key Facts: No democratically-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan has managed to complete a full term in office in the nation’s 70-year history. Only one Pakistani government has completed its full term, but it had two prime ministers. Besides, Pakistan also has witnessed three successful coups and spent more than half of its time under military rule.

    52. The World Hepatitis Day is being observed every year on July 28 around the world by World Health Organisation (WHO) to spread awareness about viral hepatitis. This year the theme of the Day is – “Eliminate Hepatitis”. The observance of the day seeks to encourage diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Hepatitis. Provide a single global platform to raise awareness about hepatitis and influence real change in disease prevention, testing and treatment. Hepatitis: Hepatitis is a viral infection which causes inflammation in the liver. It is a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. According to WHO, Hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.4 million people every year. About World Hepatitis Day: The day is being observed since 2010. It is one of the 8 official global public health campaigns marked by the WHO. It was established by resolution of WHO passed in in May 2010. The date 28 July was chosen to mark the birth anniversary of Professor Baruch Blumberg who had discovered hepatitis B virus. He was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1976) for this discovery.

    53. Scientists from Oregon Health and Science University, US for first time have successfully edited genes of human embryos to correct defective DNA that cause inherited diseases. They had used the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology to alter human DNA in single-cell embryos, which allows specific sections of DNA to be altered or replaced. Key Facts: In this experiment, scientists had used sperm donated from men who carried inherited disease mutations to demonstrate that the genes can be corrected. The one-celled embryos were created in the experiment, were never intended to be implanted into a womb and were only allowed to develop for a few days. They had used a process called “germline engineering” in which genetically modified organisms pass changes to their offspring to eradicate inherited disease. It allowed so-called permanent germline changes to pass down to any offspring. The research holds great potential to avoid many genetic diseases, but has raised fears of “designer babies”. It is also considered as a milestone in journey for giving birth to the first genetically modified humans. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology: CRISPR short form of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. It allows scientists to selectively edit genome parts and replace them with new DNA stretches. CRISPR is a collection of DNA sequences that direct Cas9 where to cut and paste. Cas9 is an enzyme that can edit DNA, allowing the alteration of genetic patterns by genome modification. CRISPR-Cas9 technology has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of blood diseases, tumours and other genetic diseases.

    54. The Supreme Court has ruled that the police cannot arrest the accused without conducting a preliminary inquiry under dowry harassment cases. The ruling was made by a SC bench of Justices A K Goel and UU Lalit. With this, apex court put an end to immediate arrest of the husband and his family members in the dowry harassment cases filed under Section 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Supreme Court passed the order keeping in view the fact of suspected misuse of the anti-dowry harassment law framed in 1983. Highlights of SC order: Now cases under Section 498A of IPC will be referred to Family Welfare Committees (FWC) must be constituted at every district and no arrest will be effected till the committee’s report is received. Such report may be then considered by the investigating officer or the magistrate on its own merit. FWC must comprise 3 members who may be social workers, retired persons, para-legal volunteers, wives of working officers and other citizens who are found suitable and willing. However, these committee members will not be considered as witnesses. There must be adequate material to show that the arrest is necessary to prevent the accused from committing any further offence. Moreover, designated police officer should be appointed to deal with such complaints. These directions will not apply to the offences involving tangible physical injuries or death. There will be also no routine impounding of passports or issuance of Red Corner Notice for the accused NRI. The personal appearance of all family members and particularly outstation members will be also not be required.

     

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