Daily Current affairs - July 6th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Prime Minister of Israel Mr.
Benjamin Netanyahu replicas of 2 sets of relics from Kerala that are regarded
as key artifacts in the long Jewish history in India.
- They comprise two different sets of copper plates
that are believed to have been inscribed in 9-10th century C.E.
Government launches MERIT app
The government has launched the ‘MERIT app (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of
Income and Transparency)’ and the e-bidding portal for providing
e-Bidding solution to States to select Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for
procurement of power by transferring their domestic coal under the scheme of
flexibility in utilization of domestic coal.
- The web portal and mobile app for Merit Order
Despatch of Electricity (MERIT) have been developed in association with
POSOCO.
- The app displays extensive array of information
regarding the merit order such as daily state-wise marginal variable costs
of all generators, daily source-wise power purchases of respective
states/UTs with source-wise fixed and variable costs, energy volumes and
purchase prices.
J&K Houses adopt GST
resolution
Both the Houses of the Jammu
and Kashmir legislature on Wednesday passed a resolution adopting the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) through a presidential order.
- Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said GST would be
implemented “under the ambit of Article 370, ensuring adequate safeguards
for special status.”
BRICS ‘Beijing Declaration On Education’ Adopted For More
Academic Cooperation
BRICS ministers of education and assigned representatives have adopted
‘Beijing Declaration on Education’ in a recently held 5th meeting
of BRICS Ministers of education at Beijing.
- According to the declaration, members states –
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are committed to the
UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4)-Education 2030 which aims to“Ensure
inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning
opportunities for all” that was set within
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- The declaration reiterated support for the
BRICS Network University (NU) to collaborate in
the fields of education, research and innovation. It also encouraged
universities to participate in the BRICS University League.
ADB to lend $500 million for
roads in Rajasthan
The Asian Development Bank
(ADB) will give a loan of $500 million for strengthening of State Highways in
Rajasthan and improvement of traffic system and road safety.
- The State Highways investment programme, sanctioned
in May this year, will cover 2,000 kms of roads.
- The ADB has signed an agreement with the Union
government for releasing the loan's first instalment of $220 million.
Parliamentary secretaries’ appointment set aside
The Punjab and Haryana High Court have set aside the appointment of four
MLAs as chief parliamentary secretaries.
- However, the court, on the request of the Haryana
government, put a stay on the implementation of the decision for three
weeks.
- A Parliament Secretary is similar to a Minister of
State who assists a Minister in his or her duties.
India and Thailand Military exercise - Maitree 2017:
A 14-day joint military training exercise between India and Thailand
started in Himachal Pradesh.
- The aim of this exercise is to build and promote
closer relations while exchanging skills and experiences between the two
armies.
- Exercise Maitree 2017 is a continuation of a series
of joint exercises between the Indian Army and the Royal Thailand Army.
The previous edition of the exercise was held at Krabi in Thailand in
2016.
TERI ranked second among world’s climate think tanks:
International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG), an international body
which focuses on climate policies, has ranked The Energy Resources Institute
(TERI) among the top think tanks in the world.
- TERI was ranked under the category ‘2016 Top Climate
Think Tanks in the Rest of the World–Absolute Global Rankings’ during
ICCG’s 23rd annual conference of the European Association of Environmental
and Resource Economists (EAERE) in Athens in Greece.
India, Israel to set up $40 mn
research fund
India and Israel announced a
strategic partnership between the two countries after a meeting between Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, and
signed seven agreements in the fields of water, agriculture, space, including a
$40 million joint fund for research and development in innovation.
- The historic first-ever visit by an Indian Prime
Minister to Israel solidified the enduring friendship between their
peoples and raised the bilateral relationship to that of a strategic
partnership.
Pakistan successfully launched Nasr
Pakistan has successfully test-fired short-range surface-to-surface
ballistic missile ‘Nasr’.
- ‘Nasr’ is a high-precision weapon system with the
ability to be deployed quickly. It has a range of 60-70 Km.
#WeAreInternational, say
British universities
The #WeAreIntenational
campaign, launched by Sheffield University in 2013 following a clampdown on
rules governing international students, was relaunched at an event in Parliament
- The campaign focuses on the economic benefits that
students brought to individual universities and local economies and seeks
to highlight the role they should have in furthering Britain’s industrial
strategy going forward.
- In an effort to build public support as they seek to push for change to U.K. government policy, universities in Britain have revived a campaign celebrating the impact of international students on the country.
FinMin clarifies definition of
‘branded’ items for GST
The Ministry of Finance on
Wednesday clarified that for the purposes of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
applicability, an item will be deemed to be ‘branded’ if it carries a brand
name or trade name that is registered under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
- The notification… clearly defines ‘registered brand
name’ as brand name or trade name, which is registered under the Trade
Marks Act, 1999.
- In this regard, Section 2 (w) read with section 2
(t) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provide that a registered trade mark
means a trade mark which is actually on the Register of Trade Marks and
remaining in force.
ISB to study Aadhaar, its
implications
The Indian School of
Business announced a Digital Identity Research Initiative under which it will
partner with researchers and academic institutions to study Aadhaar and its
implications.
- The initiative has received support from Omidyar
Network through a grant of $2 million for a period of two years.
- In the initial phase, the research will cover the impact of Aadhaar in various areas.
