Daily Current affairs - August 19th, 2017 for all competitive exams
To create awareness about Beekeeping and uses of its products including
Honey, Tribal Cooperative Marketing
Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) is celebrating World Honey Bee
Day (WHBD) on August 19 across the Country.
- The main theme of celebrating WHBD
is to save Indian honey bee.
- TRIFED is an apex organisation at National
Level and functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of
Tribal Affairs.
FM asks states to cut VAT on
petro products
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has written to all Chief Ministers urging them to reduce Value Added
Tax (VAT) on petroleum products used in the manufacture of goods as the current
system was leading to cascading of taxes on such goods under the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) regime.
- Currently, crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel
and aviation turbine fuel are out of GST purview. All other petroleum
products fall under the new indirect tax.
Rajasthan govt. grants
reservation for Gujjars
Bowing to pressure from the
Gujjar community, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan has
decided to increase reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from the
present 21% to 26%. A Bill to this effect will be tabled in the upcoming
monsoon session of the State Assembly.
- A Cabinet sub-committee led by Social Justice and
Empowerment Minister Arun Chaturvedi assured the Gujjar leaders during
marathon talks that the revised OBC quota would be split to grant 5%
reservation to the “Most Backward Classes”.
- The new category will include Gujjars and four other
castes — Banjara, Gadia-Lohar, Raika and Gadaria.
NHRC issues notice on
Rohingyas
The National Human Rights
Commission issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs over the
planned deportation of about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar, asking
for a detailed report within four weeks.
- Taking cognisance of media reports, the government’s
plan to deport the Rohingyas by setting up “detention centres”, the NHRC
observed that the “refugees are no doubt foreign nationals but they are
human beings.”
- NHRC highlighted the Supreme Court’s decisions that
say the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 of the
Constitution apply to all, irrespective of their citizenship.
- It observed that its intervention in the matter was
appropriate given the potential implication on the human rights of the
Rohingyas.
India, US to establish new ministerial dialogue
India and US have resolved to enhance peace across the Indo-Pacific region
by establishing a new 2-by-2 ministerial
dialogue that will elevate their strategic consultation.
- The India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, once
described by the US State Department as the “signature mechanism for
advancing the United States’ and India’s shared priorities,” will now be
replaced by the new dialogue in which the foreign and defence ministers
will participate.
- Composition: The
new dialogue format will involve the Indian foreign minister and the US
secretary of state as well as the Indian defence minister and the US
defence secretary.
No data from China on Brahmaputra this year
Hinting at China’s responsibility for the current spate of floods across
the northeastern States, India has accused Beijing of not sharing any
water-related data about the Himalayan rivers in the current year.
- The Brahmaputra and the Sutlej are the two major
trans-border rivers that enter India directly from China.
- There is an existing mechanism named India-China
Expert-Level mechanism started in 2006 to share hydrological data during
the flood season for Brahmaputra and Satluj rivers.
- Under the MoUs, the hydrological data is to be
shared between May 15 to October 15 every year. However, the same has not
been shared this year.
Tamil to head Sri Lanka Navy,
first since 1970
Sri Lanka’s President
Maithripala Sirisena appointed an officer from the island’s Tamil minority to
head the Navy for the first time since a separatist war erupted 45 years ago.
- Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah is the first Tamil to
head a wing of the military since 1970, even though Tamils make up around
15% of Sri Lanka’s population.
NASA successfully places next generation tracking and
data relay satellite TDRS-M into orbit
NASA’s third and final in a series of next generation communications
satellites has successfully been placed into orbit. The Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite-M (TDRS-M) was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V
rocket.
- When ready, TDRS-M will become part of NASA’s Space
Network providing navigation and high-data-rate communications to the
International Space Station, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, rockets and a
host of other spacecraft.
- The TDRS fleet is a critical connection delivering
science and human spaceflight data to those who can use it here on Earth.
- TDRS-M will expand the capabilities and extend the
lifespan of the Space Network, allowing researchers to continue receiving
and transmitting mission data well into the next decade.
Artificial womb raises hope for premature babies
An artificial womb has been successfully used to incubate healthy baby
lambs for a period of one week, and researchers hope the technology will one
day be able to do the same for extremely premature babies.
- Researchers have shown that preterm lambs were
successfully maintained in a healthy, infection-free condition with
significant growth, for a period of one week using ex-vivo uterine
environment (EVE) therapy.
- EVE therapy could prevent the severe morbidity
suffered by extremely premature infants by potentially offering a medical
technology that does not currently exist.
- The artificial womb is a high-tech amniotic fluid
bath combined with an artificial placenta.
HDFC Life files draft
prospectus
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
Company (HDFC Life) has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering
(IPO).
- The firm may offer 29.98 crore equity shares
constituting 14.97% of the fully diluted post-offer paid-up equity
capital.
- The IPO will see Housing Development Finance
Corporation (HDFC) and Standard Life (Mauritius Holdings) selling 19.12
crore equity shares and 10.86 crore equity shares, respectively.
- HDFC Life revived the IPO plan after its proposed
merger with Max Life failed due to regulatory hurdles.
New series Rs 50 currency
notes in fluorescent blue colour
The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) will soon issue a Rs 50 currency note in Mahatma Gandhi (New)
Series, which will be fluorescent blue in colour.
- The bank notes of Rs 50 denomination
issued by the RBI in the earlier series will continue to be
legal tender.
- The new denomination has motif of Hampi with chariot on the reverse, depicting the country's cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is fluorescent blue. The dimension of the bank note will be 66 mm x 135 mm.
Vishal Sikka quits as Infosys
CEO, shares take a beating
Vishal Sikka, CEO and
managing director of Infosys, resigned and Infosys’s board accepted Mr. Sikka’s
resignation “effective immediately,” co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan.
- Mr. Sikka had agreed to continue as executive vice-chairman and would hold office until a new permanent chief executive officer and managing director takes charge, which should be no later than March 31, 2018.
