Daily Current affairs - August 8th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Centre’s move seeking “larger debate” over Article 35A of the
Constitution, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to
define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and
privileges to them, has triggered a political storm with several
parties warning against any tinkering of the provision.
- Article 35A is a provision in the Constitution that
empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define permanent residents
of the state. It was added through the Constitution(Application to
Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954, issued under Article 370.
- The Jammu and Kashmir Constitution was adopted on
November 17, 1956. It had defined a Permanent Resident as a person who was
a state subject on May 14, 1954, or who has been a resident of the state
for 10 years, and has lawfully acquired immovable property in the state,
the article.
Centre extends Assam’s ‘disturbed area’ tag for another
month under AFSPA
The Centre has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Assam for one more
month, declaring the entire state of Assam as a “disturbed” area due to various
violent activities by insurgent groups ULFA, NDFB, and others.
- The Union home ministry has also declared Meghalaya’s border areas adjoining Assam, and three districts in Arunachal Pradesh as “disturbed” under the AFSPA for two more months with effect from August 3.
'Dawn of cruise tourism in
India’ inaugurated in Mumbai
In order to promote cruise
tourism in India, a special event, ‘The dawn of cruise tourism in
India’ was inaugurated in Mumbai.
- The preparedness of Mumbai Port and Ministry of
shipping to host cruise vessels in the country is revealed to a
worldwide audience at the event.
- It also saw the launch of three reports, “Mumbai
Port SoP’s for cruise operations”, “Road map for Sea cruise tourism” and
“Cruise terminals in India”.
Second phase of measles-rubella vaccination drive
launched in eight states, UTs
Aiming to eliminate measles and curb instances of rubella by 2020, the
Centre has rolled out the second phase of its measles-rubella (MR) vaccination
campaign in the country. Nearly 3.4 crore children across eight states and
union territories — Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,
Telangana, Uttarakhand, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu — will be
covered in this stage.
- The Union health ministry’s campaign against the two
diseases intends to cover approximately 41 crore children in a phased
manner, making it the largest-ever worldwide. Under the measles-rubella
(MR) vaccination campaign, all children in the age group of 9 months to
less than 15 years will be vaccinated in a phased manner across the
nation.
FMCG Britannia to set up
largest plant in Maharashtra
India’s leading FMCG
Britannia Industries would set up its largest plant in Maharashtra in a
food park at Ranjangaon.
- There will be an investment of Rs 1000
crore at the Ranjangaon food park over a period of four to five years
with an employment potential for 3000 people.
Nine High Courts oppose all-India judicial service
Nine High Courts have opposed a proposal to have an all-India service for the lower judiciary, eight have sought changes in the
proposed framework and only two have supported the idea. However, most of the
High Courts want the administrative control over the subordinate judiciary to
remain with the respective High Courts.
- The government had given a fresh push to the
long-pending proposal to set up the new service to have a separate cadre
for the lower judiciary in the country. The idea was first mooted in the
1960s. Seeking to overcome the divergence of views, the government had
recently suggested to the Supreme Court various options, including a
NEET-like examination, to recruit judges to the lower judiciary. There
were vacancies of 4,452 judges in subordinate courts in the country.
- The quality of judicial officers in the
subordinate judiciary is a matter of concern. The ever
continuing decline in their quality will delay delivery of justice,
increase pendency of cases, impair quality of judgments, and in turn
affect competence of higher judiciary as well.
- The proposal for setting up an AIJS, in the lines of
Indian Civil Service, is hanging fire for more than five decades despite
there were several proposals and decisions including that of the apex
court, in its favour.
NCRB merged with bureau of police research
The government has merged the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) –
which, over the years, has been the principal source of reference by policy
makers, police, criminologists, researchers and media – both in India and
abroad, with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
- NCRB’s functions will now be placed under the
Director General of BPR&D, who
will oversee all the data collection related to Crime in India, Accidental
Deaths and Suicides, Prison Statistics and Fingerprints.
Amazon India, Telangana
Handloom dept ink pact
Amazon India has signed
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Telangana Department of
Handloom and Textiles, to educate, train and enable weavers and artisans
to directly sell their products to Amazon customers across the country.
- According to a statement issued by the e—commerce
giant, with over 17,000 handlooms in the state, this association
will further help elevate popular handloom products from clusters such as
are Pochampally, Warangal, Gadwal, Narayanpet and Siddipet which
have a tremendous potential and demand in urban areas.
India, Iran Call For Early Operationalisation Of Chabahar
Port
India and Iran have expressed commitment for early completion and
operationalisation of Chabahar Port besides strengthening bilateral ties.
- India has also conveyed it’s readiness to aid Iran
in taking up operations in Chabahar Port during the interim period between
the actual activation of contract. The Iranian side earlier had requested
India to provide up to 150 million dollar credit and had made it a
condition for activation of the Chabahar Port contract.
- India and Iran had signed a pact for the development
of Chabahar port in May 2016.
Iran signs its biggest-ever
car deal with France’s Renault
Iran’s official news
agency says two Iranian companies have signed the country’s biggest-ever car
deal with French multinational automobile manufacturer Group Renault to
produce 150,000 cars, beginning in 2018.
- The Euro €660 million — or $778 million
— deal follows the lifting of international sanctions after Iran’s
2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.
Usain Bolt was beaten by
Justin Gatlin in 100m final
Justin Gatlin tore up
Usain Bolt's farewell script as he stole world 100m gold with the run of his long
and controversial career. Bolt was left with only a bronze in his final
individual 100m race as 21-year-old Christian Coleman made it a USA one-two.
- The 35-year-old Gatlin, twice banned for doping, came through almost unnoticed in lane seven in 9.92 seconds, with Coleman's 9.94 holding off the greatest sprinter of all time.
