Daily Current affairs - July 13th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has
given its approval for upgradation and widening of 65 kms of Imphal-Moreh
Section of NH-39 in Manipur.
- This road project till Moreh in Manipur will touch
the Mynamar border through which we can go to Bangkok and further to
Indonesia and Malaysia. So, road link between India and Bangkok will be a
reality due to this vitally import international project.
- The project will be developed with Asian Development
Bank (ADB)’s loan assistance under the under the South Asian Sub-Regional
Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Road Connectivity Investment Program which
aims at improving road connectivity in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India
(BBIN).
- The project corridor is also a part of the Asian
Highway No. 01 (AH01) and acts as India’s Gateway to the East.
Union cabinet approved ISARC in Varanasi
The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI), South Asia Regional Center (ISARC) at campus of National Seed
Research and Training Center (NSRTC) in Varanasi.
- Under the proposal, a Centre of Excellence in Rice
Value Addition (CERVA) will be set up in Varanasi.
- This Center will be the first international Center
in the eastern India and it will play a
major role in harnessing and sustaining rice production in the region. It
is expected to be a boon for food production and skill development in the
eastern India and similar ecologies in other South Asian and African
countries.
Cabinet approves interpretative notes between India,
Bangladesh
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the Joint Interpretative Notes
(JIN) on the agreement between India and Bangladesh for the promotion and
protection of investments between the two countries.
- The JIN includes interpretative
notes to be jointly adopted for many clauses, including, the definition of
investor and investment, exclusion of taxation measures, Fair and
Equitable Treatment (FET), National Treatment (NT) and Most Favoured
Nation (MFN) treatment, expropriation, essential security interests and
settlement of disputes between an investor and a contracting party.
- Joint Interpretative Statements play an important
supplementary role in strengthening the investment treaty regime.
Various Railways initiatives launched
Following new railway initiatives were recently launched:
- RailCloud: Rail
Cloud works on popular Cloud Computing system. Most Important works are
done through Cloud Computing.
- NIVARAN-Grievance Portal: ‘NIVARAN-Grievance
Portal’ is the first IT application to be launched on the RailCloud. It is
the platform for resolution of service related grievances of serving and
former railway employees.
- Cashless treatment Scheme in Emergency
(CTSE): To provide immediate care to its retired
employees in ‘Golden Hour’ Railway Board has decided to roll out a
“Cashless treatment Scheme in Emergency’ (CTSE), in empanelled hospitals,
for retired employees and their dependent family members.
India will host Theatre Olympics
India will host 8th Edition of Theatre Olympics ‘The Biggest Theatre
Celebration of the World’ from February 17 – April 08, 2018.
- The Theatre Olympics, being held in India for the
first time, is being organised by National School of Drama, under the
aegis of Ministry of Culture.
- The Theatre Olympics was established in
1993 in Delphi, Greece, as the first international theatre festival. With
the tagline ‘Crossing Millennia’, this is an initiative to connect the
cultural past with the present and future, bringing the richness and
diversity of theatre heritage to the experiments and research of
contemporary theatre. The first country to host the Theatre Olympics was
Greece in 1995
No liquor ban for Arunachal,
Andaman
The Supreme Court allowed
Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to join the club of Sikkim
and Meghalaya, both of which enjoy full exemption from the court’s ban on sale
of liquor within 500 metres of National and State Highways.
- The court had clarified that there would be no ban
in these two States on highway liquor sales till September 30, 2017.
- Arunachal Pradesh argued that it had lost 50% of its
revenue following the December 15, 2016 ban, earmarking 500 metres
alongside highways as liquor-free zones. The State said 80% of its roads
are national highways.
A.P. government in principle
approval for iconic structures
London-based architecture
firm Foster+Partners has submitted the final designs for the buildings of
Andhra Pradesh’s capital city Amaravati. The Andhra Pradesh government in
principle agreed to the shapes of the buildings and plans put forth by the
architects, but and suggested a few changes.
- Among the various proposals, Two iconic structures
presented were those of the High Court and the Assembly, which will be
located at the centre of the city plan.
- The High Court building is designed in the shape of
a diamond shape, while the Assembly
design looks like a Buddhist stupa.
The architects apparently took a cue from the region’s history — the
Kohinoor diamond was found in a mine here (Kollur in Guntur district)
while Buddhist stupas are found across the State.
China sends PLA unit to man overseas base
China has dispatched People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel to man its
first overseas military base at Djibouti in the strategic Indian Ocean region,
a move likely to spark concerns in the U.S.
- The establishment of the PLA Djibouti base was a
decision made by the two countries after friendly negotiations, and
accords with the common interest of the people from both sides. The base
is aimed at ensuring China’s performance of missions, such as escorting,
peace-keeping and humanitarian aid in Africa and West Asia.
- Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a
country located in the Horn of Africa.
Malta to legalise gay marriage
The predominantly Roman
Catholic island nation of Malta is set to legalise gay marriage, joining much
of Western Europe by replacing the traditional “you are now husband and wife”
declaration in civil ceremonies with “you are now spouses.”
- The aim of the law, piloted by Equality Minister
Helena Dalli, is to “modernise the institution of marriage” to extend it
to all consenting adult couples.
- The passage of the law is the latest evidence of the
transformation of the once conservative island nation of about 4,40,000
people, where divorce was illegal until 2011. While abortion remains
banned in Malta, gay adoption has been made legal since civil unions were
introduced in 2014.
Scientists discover smallest
star known
Scientists have discovered
the smallest star in the universe — slightly larger than Saturn in size — which
may possibly have Earth-sized planets with liquid water in its orbit.
- Researchers from University of Cambridge in the U.K.
identified the star located about 600 light years away. It is called EBLM
J0555-57Ab.
- The star is likely as small as stars can possibly
become, as it has just enough mass to enable the fusion of hydrogen nuclei
into helium
- With a size just a sliver larger than that of
Saturn, the gravitational pull at its stellar surface is about 300 times
stronger than what humans feel on Earth.
UDAN ‘unites’ rivals Air Odisha,
Air Deccan
Air Odisha and Air Deccan,
who won the bid to operate flights on regional routes, have joined hands to get
a sweeter deal on aircraft imports .
- They plan to induct the 19-seater Beechcraft 1900D
aircraft for flight operations under the scheme for regional connectivity.
- Air Odisha has won the rights to operate 50 routes
and Air Deccan has bagged 34 routes through a bidding process. Both the
airlines will connect the most number of unserved and underserved airports
among the five airlines selected to operate flights under the UDAN scheme.
Bitcoin trade may come under SEBI
The government is considering the introduction of a regulatory regime for
virtual or crypto currencies, such as Bitcoin, that would enable the levy of
the Goods and Services Tax on their sale.
- The new regime may possibly bring their trading
under the oversight of the stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI).
- Proper regulation of these currencies will “promote”
a formal tax base, while keeping a tab on their use for illegal activities
such as money laundering, terror funding and drug trafficking.
CPI inflation slows to 1.54%,
IIP at 1.72%
Inflation measured by the
Consumer Price Index (CPI) slipped below the central bank’s lower tolerance
level to 1.54% in June and industrial output growth decelerated to 1.72% in May.
- Inflation in clothing and footwear slowed to 4.17%
from 4.4% in May, while the fuel and light category witnessed a sharper
slowdown, with the reading easing to 4.54% from 5.46%.
- In the IIP, mining and quarrying witnessed a sharp
slowdown in May, contracting 0.89% from a growth of 3.23% in April.
Manufacturing activity also slowed to 1.21% from 2.35%.
Panwar takes charge as skill
university V-C
Former civil servant Lalit
K. Panwar took charge as the first Vice-Chancellor of the country's first skill
university, run by the Rajasthan government, at Jamdoli.
- The Rajasthan-ILD Skill University will soon start functioning from a sprawling 33-acre campus of the Institute of Leadership Development near the famous Sisodia Rani Garden at Jamdoli.
