Daily Current affairs - July 5th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The 9th edition of the Delhi Dialogue was recently held in New Delhi. The
Delhi Dialogue is an annual event to discuss politico-security, economic and
socio-cultural engagement between ASEAN and India. It has been held annually
since 2009.
- The theme for Delhi Dialogue 9 is
“ASEAN-India Relations: Charting the
Course for the Next 25 Years”.
- Delhi Dialogue is a conference in
which policymakers converge to discuss a range of issues relating to
India-Asean relations.
Linking Aadhaar and PAN is not
mandatory for all
It has now become mandatory for everyone to link their PAN with Aadhaar
with effect from July 1, 2017, as per the income tax laws. However, the
government has exempted certain class of individuals from linking these two
documents subject to certain conditions.
- CBDT has notified that Section
139AA of the Income Tax Act is not applicable to the following
individuals:
1.
Those categorised as Non-resident Indians as
per the Income Tax Laws.
2.
Not a citizen of India.
3.
Is of age 80 years or more at any time during
the tax year.
4.
Residents of the states of Assam, Meghalaya
and Jammu and Kashmir.
UDAY covers 97% of discom
debt: Centre
The government announced,
about 97% of the total outstanding debt of all state power distribution
companies (discoms) has been covered under the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana
(UDAY).
- So far, 86% of the restructurable
debt has been revamped under the scheme.
- The 26 states and 1 UT which have
joined the UDAY scheme account for total outstanding debt of Rs. 3.82 lakh
crore. Hence, about 97% of the total outstanding debt of all State discoms
has been covered under UDAY.
Centre may partially lift AFSPA
The Centre is considering partial removal of the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Home Ministry has
asked the States for their views on AFSPA withdrawal and said that it was open
to reviewing the stringent law in other States like Manipur.
- AFSPA, enacted in 1958, gives
powers to the army and state and central police forces to shoot to kill,
search houses and destroy any property that is “likely” to be used by
insurgents in areas declared as “disturbed” by the home ministry.
- The Act provides army personnel
with safeguards against malicious, vindictive and frivolous prosecution.
‘Rukmini’ keeps eye on dancing ‘dragon’ at sea
With China increasing its naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region amid
the ongoing Sikkim stand-off, the Indian Navy is keeping an eye on the ‘dragon’
with the help of its ‘eye in the sky’, Gsat-7 also called Rukmini, the Navy’s
own dedicated military satellite that was launched in September 2013.
- It has helped the Navy monitor the
Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as it has a nearly 2,000 nautical mile
‘footprint’.
- The multi-band communication-cum
surveillance satellite, which is operating from the geo-stationary orbit
(at 36,000km altitude), provides real-time inputs to naval warships,
submarines and maritime aircraft and networking capabilities to its naval
assets on the high seas.
Malabar war games to begin
from July 10
The Indian Navy will join
Japan and U.S. counterparts in the annual Malabar war games in the Indian Ocean
from July 10 with a strong focus on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) amid
increasing forays by Chinese submarines into the region.
- Three carriers from India, Japan
and the U.S. will take part in the Malabar exercises off India in the
Northern Indian Ocean. The harbour phase of the exercise will happen on
July 10 at Chennai.
- India’s only aircraft carrier INS
Vikramaditya will join the 10-day Malabar exercises for the first
time and the U.S. is fielding its USS Nimitz aircraft carrier
while Japan is bringing its largest helicopter carrier JS
Izumo. The U.S. is also expected to have seven or eight ships. Japan
is sending two ships for the exercise.
Van Mahotsav celebrates in India
Van Mahotsav, a week-long festival, is being celebrated in different parts
of India. It is usually celebrated between 1 July to 7 July. Programmes like
screening of short films and documentaries, seminars and exhibition, painting
and poster competitions are organised to mark the occasion.
- Van Mahotsav began in 1950, with a
tree plantation drive, in which national leaders participated. The
festival of tree plantation was started by Dr. K.M. Munshi, the then Union
Minister for Agriculture and Food to create enthusiasm among masses for
forest conservation and planting trees.
- Van Mahotsav is usually observed
in the first week of July every year and is celebrated on
different days in different parts of India.
North Korea claims it tested
intercontinental missile
North Korea on Tuesday
claimed it successfully test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic
missile, a potential game-changing development in what may be the world’s most dangerous
nuclear stand-off.
- The launch appeared to be North
Korea’s most successful missile test yet.
Drug-resistant TB higher among children than expected:
report
While detection of tuberculosis (TB) in children remains a challenge, it
has now emerged that Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB is higher among children
than expected. This has been described as a “worrying trend” by the Union
Health Ministry.
As many as 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine cities have been
diagnosed with TB. 9% of these paediatric TB cases have been diagnosed to have
MDR TB.
Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR TB) is a specific form of TB that does not
respond to “ordinary” TB treatment. As a result it is difficult to treat and
needs specialised treatment.
Sun Pharma, BioLogics in $56
mn pact
Drug major Sun Pharma and
South Korean firm Samsung BioLogics announced a long-term manufacturing
agreement for Tildrakizumab to be used for treatment of psoriasis.
- The contract value is $55.5
million (more than Rs. 359 crore).
Officers’ body opposes central
bank CFO plan
The Reserve Bank of
India’s (RBI) decision to appoint a chief financial officer (CFO) is facing
stiff opposition as its officers’ association has questioned the move on the
grounds that such a requirement is neither a statutory nor a legal mandate.
- The officers’ association argued
that since no accounting standards strictly applied to a central bank, it
was not clear why the central bank should have a CFO.
- The RBI had said the CFO would be responsible for accurate and timely presentation and reporting of financial information of the central bank, and establishing accounting policies and procedures and ensuring compliance with regulations.
