Daily Current affairs - July 31st, 2017 for all competitive exams
“Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-2” was recently launched by the government. The
scheme aims to fulfil the objective of inclusive growth of the government.
- Declining population of parsi community in India is
a matter of concern. Therefore, “Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-1” was
initiated in 2013 for containing the declining trend of population of
the Parsi community and reverse it to bring their population above the
threshold level.
- The main objective of the “Jiyo Parsi” scheme
is to reverse the declining trend of Parsi population by adopting a
scientific protocol and structured interventions, stabilize their
population and increase the population of Parsis in India.
- Ministry of Minority Affairs’ scheme has two
components: Medical Assistance and Advocacy/Counselling.
New gold bond scheme may draw more investors
The Government announced a few changes in its Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB)
Scheme recently.
- The primary change was the increase in the limit to
4 kg (from 0.5kg) for individuals, HUF and 20 kg for Trusts.
- This was probably done to encourage high net-worth
individuals, rich farmers as well as trusts to invest in these bonds. The
basic premise is that most Indians believe in gold as a time-tested and
safe asset class and prefer it over other forms of investment.
- The Government also introduced flexibility in the
scheme to design and introduce variants to cater to a cross-section of
investors.
- The sovereign gold bond was introduced by the
Government in 2015. While the Government introduced these bonds to help
reduce India’s over dependence on gold imports, the move was also aimed at
changing the habits of Indians from saving in physical form of gold to a
paper form with Sovereign backing.
Centre plans to remote-map
canals
The Centre plans to link all
canals via a geographical information system that would allow them to be
remotely mapped.
- V.K. Vohra, Commissioner (Irrigation) said that 99
projects, identified as a part of the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit
Programme, would have canals under satellite scrutiny to ensure that they
be completed on time.
- The Central government has earmarked Rs. 77,595
crore to states to complete a range of irrigation projects that have been
stuck for decades owing to lack of funds, with the water ministry
committed to ensuring that 99 such projects would be completed by
2020.
- Twenty-three would be completed by 2016-17 and 31 by
2017-18. One of the major reasons for the projects to remain incomplete
was inadequate provision of funds by the concerned State governments.
Supreme Court allows two broke firms to settle dispute
The Supreme Court, using its extraordinary constitutional powers, has
allowed two companies to withdraw from insolvency proceedings and settle their
loan dispute despite the case having been admitted by the National Company Law
Tribunal.
- It should be noted here that once the NCLT
admits a case for initiating corporate insolvency resolution process under
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, the case cannot be withdrawn
even if the parties have decided to settle.
- Article 142 provides
that “the Supreme Court in the exercise
of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is
necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before
it”.
Sharif picks brother Shahbaz
as successor
Pakistan’s ousted Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif picked his brother and Punjab province Chief Minister
Shahbaz Sharif as his successor and nominated former Petroleum Minister Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi as interim Prime Minister for 45 days.
- Mr. Sharif, who was disqualified by the Supreme
Court after a probe into his family’s assets following last year’s Panama
Papers revelations that linked his children to offshore companies, struck
a defiant note in the speech, taking credit for Pakistan’s nuclear tests
and recalling the history of the country’s military coups.
Trump to sign Russia sanctions
legislation
U.S. President Donald Trump
plans to sign legislation slapping punitive sanctions on Russia, Iran and North
Korea that the Congress approved this week.
The legislation bars Mr.
Trump from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees.
- The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the
House of Representatives pushed the measure through by a 419-3 margin.
Both were veto-proof numbers.
NASA unveils images of
breakaway iceberg
NASA has released stunning
dark images that show the movement of the trillion-tonne iceberg — one of the
largest ever recorded — that recently broke off from Antarctica.
- NASA’s Thermal Infrared Sensor on Landsat 8
satellite captured a new snap of the 5,800 sq. km. iceberg that split off
during July 10-12.
Bhattacharya receives Mohun
Bagan Ratna
Former India captain and one
of the best defenders in Indian football, Subrata Bhattacharya, received the
‘Mohun Bagan Ratna’, the highest honour conferred by the iconic club he had
served all his life as a player.
- Bhattacharya is the 17th recipient of the award that
was instituted in 2001.
- Former Indian women’s cricket team captain Jhulan
Goswami was given a special award for becoming the highest wicket-taker in
one-day Internationals.
- Former Bengal Ranji team captain Shyam Sundar Mitra
received the Lifetime Achievement award while Balwant Singh was named the
best footballer of the year 2016-17.
Other awardees
Best Cricketer of the year
(2016-17): Debabrata Das;
Best youth football player:
Deep Saha;
Best athlete: Lily Das;
Birth centenary award:
Dinanath Roy (posthumous) .
Pioneering researcher on the
brain’s plasticity dies
Marian Diamond, a
neuroscientist who studied Albert Einstein’s brain and was the first to show
that the brain’s anatomy can change with experience, has died. She was 90
- Diamond became famous in 1984 when she examined preserved slices of Einstein’s brain and found it had more support cells than the average person’s brain.
