Current affairs : April 7th, 2017 for all competitive exams
To encourage people with
depression to overcome stigma and seek treatment, the World Health Organisation
is focussing on the illness this World Health Day, April 7.
- The
public health community worldwide is recognising the damage caused by the
silence over depression and mental illness and has raised the slogan “Depression: Let’s Talk” to mark the day.
- In
India, the passage of the Mental Health Care Bill has steered the debate
in a positive direction.
- The
Mental Health Care Act, 2017 is a significant step towards destigmatising
psychological disorders, recognising an attempt at suicide as an act
committed under severe mental stress.
Rajya Sabha also clears 4 GST Bills
The Rajya Sabha on April 6
passed four Bills essential for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax, the
deadline for which is July 1. The Lok Sabha had passed these Bills on March 29.
- One
more piece of legislation, the State GST Bill, will have to be passed by
the legislative assemblies of States and Union Territories with
legislature.
- The
passage of the Central GST Bill, Integrated GST Bill, GST Compensation
Bill, and the Union Territory GST Bills followed a two-day debate in the
Rajya Sabha.
- The
GST is the collective property of the country in which States, political
parties and successive governments have taken part.
- It is the only tax levied by both the Centre and the States. The fact of the matter is that with the advantages of GST and the resultant free-flow of goods and services across the country, a lot of conveniences will come in. The GST Council will have the power to make suggestions regarding the rate under the GST.
PM laid foundation stone of Multi-Modal Terminal at Sahibganj
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi recently laid the
foundation stone of the multi-modal terminal at
Sahibganj, Jharkhand.
- The
terminal at Sahibganj is an important component of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for the augmentation of the navigation capacity of National
Waterway-1 (Ganga) from Varanasi to Haldia (1390 km).
- The
state of the art terminal at Sahibganj will have cargo handling capacity
of 2.24 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) on completion in 2019. The overall
cost of the Sahibgang terminal is estimated to be Rs 467 Crore.
- The Sahibganj Multi Modal Terminal will link the city and the landlocked state of Jharkhand to foreign shores through the Bay of Bengal.
Centre hands over to SC accreditation guidelines for NGOs,
Vos
The Centre has handed over to the Supreme Court the new guidelines framed
for accreditation of nearly 30 lakh NGOs and voluntary organisations
(VOs) in the country.
- The Ministry of Rural Development has framed
the accreditation guidelines to regulate “manner in
which the VOs/NGOs, which are recipient of grants, would maintain their
account, the procedure for audit of the account, including procedure to
initiate action for recovering of the grants in case of misappropriation
and criminal action.”
- NITI
Aayog has been appointed as the nodal agency for the purpose of registration and accreditation of VOs/NGOs
seeking funding from the Government of India. The Aayog has been also
tasked with maintaining of database systems to manage and disseminate information relating to
NGOs/VOs.
Centre kicks off programme on cyber physical systems
With autonomous vehicles and robot-executed surgeries
becoming commonplace around the world, the Department of Science and Technology
(DST) has initiated a Cyber Physical Systems
(CPS) programme.
- CPS
is an interdisciplinary field that
deals with the deployment of computer-based systems that do things in the physical world, such as, for instance,
the self-driven cars produced by Google and Tesla.
India takes over control of Kudankulam Unit 1
India has taken over full operational control of Unit 1
of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP). An agreement was signed in
this regard recently.
- With
the deal, the Russian and the Indian sides have confirmed fulfilment of
all warranty terms and obligations of the contractor (ASE Group of
Companies) for the construction of Unit 1.
- Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is situated in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Supreme Court proposes joint trial of Babri cases
Noting that the 25-year pendency of the dual Babri Masjid
demolition case trials in Lucknow and Raebareli amounts to “evasion of
justice”, the Supreme Court has indicated that it proposes to order a joint trial in a Lucknow court after reviving criminal conspiracy charges
against BJP veterans L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and other Sangh Parivar
leaders in connection with the razing down of the 16th century mosque in
Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 by kar sevaks.
- In
this context, the court has invoked its extraordinary constitutional
powers under Article 142.
- The
recent highyway liquor ban was also imposed by the court under Article
142.
Delhi road named after Bangladesh
founder Mujibur Rahman
The Park Street here will now
be known after Bangladesh’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, with the New Delhi
Municipal Council approving its renaming a day before Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina arrives on a four-day visit.
- The
NDMC arrived at the decision aimed at expressing a “friendly gesture”.
- The
decision was made through a circular motion as a council meeting could not
be convened.
4 ngos get Google’s $8.4 million
grant
To bridge the quality
education gap and provide students with tech-based learning solutions,
Google.org on
Thursday announced a grant of $8.4 million to four Indian ngos working to
improve education in the country.
- Pratham Books storyweaver, Pratham Education Foundation, Million Sparks Foundation and Learning Equality will receive the grants over the next two years to expand the work they have been doing.
Centre declares Kerala drought-hit
The Centre has declared
Kerala drought-hit, along with seven other States.
The declaration was based on
a memorandum submitted to the Union Ministry of Agriculture seeking assistance
for drought relief activities.
- The
eight States have been sanctioned an assistance of Rs.24,000 crore from the outlay for the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the number of mandays under
the scheme has been increased by 50 to take up drought relief works.
Israeli
firm signs $2 bn defence deal with India
State-owned Israel Aerospace
Industries (IAI) has struck a deal worth almost $2 billion to supply India’s
Army and Navy with missile defence systems, the company said on Thursday,
describing it as Israel’s largest-ever defence deal.
- IAI said in a statement it would supply an advanced air defence system, including medium-range surface-to-air missiles, launchers and communications and control technology to India for around $1.6 billion.
Ties severely damaged, says China
The row between India and China on the visit of the Dalai
Lama to Arunachal Pradesh has spiralled with the Chinese Foreign Ministry
asserting that the Tibetan leader’s visit to the State will escalate the
dispute in border areas and will damage Sino-Indian ties.
- Arunachal
Pradesh is at the heart of the Sino-Indian boundary dispute in the eastern
sector.
- The
dispute in this zone is over territory south of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh, which includes Tawang —
which is on the Dalai Lama’s itinerary.
Thailand’s king signs new constitution
Thailand’s new king has signed an army-drafted
constitution that sets the country on the path to elections
while cementing the grip of the military over any future government.
- The
constitution is the nation’s
20th since the absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932.
- The new charter introduces a different electoral system, a modified proportional method of choosing the 500 members of the lower house of parliament in which people vote for one of 350 constituency candidates; those votes are totalled to determine which of the remaining 150 party list seats go to which party. Under the previous system voters cast two ballots, one for the candidate and one for the party.
Monetary policy review: RBI
leaves repo rate unchanged
The Reserve Bank of
India has released the first Bi-monthly Monetary policy of the new
financial year (2017-18). GDP growth has hiked to 7.4% from 6.7%. Rates in
the newly released Monetary policy are as follows-
- Repo
Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) unchanged at
6.25%.
- The Reverse
Repo Rate (RRR) under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) has
been hiked to 6% from 5.75%.
- The Marginal
Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate are at 6.50%
decline from 6.75%.
- Cash
Reserve Ratio (CRR) remains unchanged at 4% and Statutory
Liquidity Ratio (SLR) also remains unchanged at 20.50%.
FMCG is highest paying sector in India: Randstad
FMCG is highest paying sector in India,
according to a survey by Randstad.
Employees of fast moving consumer
goods (FMCG) industry receive the highest salaries in India
at Rs.11.3 lakh a year as the average annual
cost-to-company (CTC) across all levels and functions.
- The FMCG sector is
followed by power and information technology, where employees earn average
annual salaries of Rs.9.8 lakh and Rs.9.3 lakh respectively,
according to Randstad 2017 Salary Trends Study findings.
TRAI asks Reliance Jio to
withdraw its free offer
Reliance Jio Infocomm’s
(rjio) attempts to widen its subscriber base through free services have finally
been thwarted, with the telecom regulator asking the operator to withdraw the
offer.
- While the operator has complied with the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) order, all those who have already
signed up will continue to get free services under the offer till July.
- Jio was expected to start charging
for its services from April 1. However, it extended the deadline to buy
the Rs.303 plan and other plans until
April 15.
- Under the Jio Summer Surprise offer, those who bought the ₹99 Prime membership by April 15, with a Rs.303 plan or higher, would be eligible for three months’ complementary services.
Twitter unveils ‘Lite’ version
Twitter rolled out a “data
friendly” version of the platform called Twitter Lite in India. The product
will use up to 70% less data while loading 30% faster, according to the
company.
- Twitter Lite, which can be accessed via a mobile or
Twitter browser eliminating the need to downloading the application,
supports 42 language including six Indian languages – Hindi, Bengali,
Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, and Marathi.
Brazil top FIFA rankings
Brazil has taken over from
European champions Spain at the top of FIFA’s world rankings released.
- Portugal meanwhile moved to third behind Spain, while
the Netherlands slipped back to fourth.
- The next rankings will be released on May 26, ahead of the June 11-July 11 World Cup in South Africa.
