Daily Current affairs - September 1st, 2017 for all competitive exams
The National Nutrition Week will be observed throughout the country from
1st to 7th September.
- The theme of the National Nutrition Week for 2017 is
“Optimal Infant & Young
Child Feeding Practices: Better Child Health”.
- The basic objective of this annual event is to
intensify awareness generation on the importance of nutrition for health
which has an impact on development, productivity, economic growth and
ultimately National development.
Minister of Women & Child
Development launches Scheme Implementation Guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Matru
Vandana Yojana
The Minister of Women &
Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi released the Guidelines of Pradhan
Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister, Shri
Narendra Modi had announced the pan-India implementation of this scheme w.e.f.
01st January, 2017.
- PMMVY is implemented by the Ministry of Women & Child
Development in collaboration with State Governments.
- Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi also released an important
training module for anganwadi workers called Early Childhood Care and
Education Training Module. The training module is designed to provide the
anganwadi workers a basic understanding of the ECCE curriculum and
pedagogical approaches to ensure optimal and holistic development of young
children so that they are ready to start formal schooling at the age of
six years. It also includes a component on psycho social development of
children below the age of three years, to help anganwadi workers counsel
parents/caregivers on early stimulation.
Swacch Vidyalaya Puraskar
2017
Ministry of Human Resource
Development Department has taken new initiative for furtherance of Swachh
Vidyalaya Campaign and instituted Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in 2016-17 to
recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in water, sanitation and hygiene
practices in schools. Swachhta in schools plays a significant role in
determining the health of children, attendance, dropout rate, and learning
outcomes.
- For the first time, government schools have been
ranked on the basis of Swachhta on various criteria viz. Water,
Sanitation, Hand washing with soap, Operations and Maintenance, Behaviour
Change and Capacity Building.
- 35 States and UTs participated in this Puraskar, at
District and State levels, in an online mode.
Nationwide programme to test
all TB patients
Beginning this month, health
authorities will commence a nationwide programme to test every tuberculosis
(TB) patient for signs of resistance to first-line drugs.
- This could also reveal a large number of hidden
tuberculosis patients, as well greater numbers of those with multiple
infections of TB and HIV.
- The new policy, called the Universal Drug
Sensitivity Test, which was formalised earlier this month, will be
implemented using a molecular diagnostic test called GeneXpert, a
US-developed technology tool being used worldwide since 2010.
- It can detect the TB bacterium as well check for resistance
to rifampicin, one of the standard key TB drugs, within 90 minutes.
Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports approves constitution of an Empowered Steering Committee (ESC)
Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports has approved the constitution of an Empowered Steering Committee (ESC)
on the basis of the recommendations of the interim report of the Task
Force.
- This was announced by the Minister of Youth Affairs
and Sports Shri Vijay Goel
- Task Force was constituted in September 2016 for
preparation of a comprehensive action plan, including short-term and
medium to long-term measures for effective participation of Indian
sportspersons in the next three Olympic Games to be held in 2020 (Tokyo),
2024 (Paris) and 2028 (Los Angeles).
- The 8-member Task Force submitted its interim report
on 22.05.2017 with focus on preparations in the short-term for 2020 Tokyo
Olympic Games.
India, U.S. eye states to
boost trade ties
India and the U.S. are
working on establishing a state-level engagement mechanism to widen and deepen
bilateral trade and investment ties.
- Towards this objective, the U.S.-India Business
Council (USIBC), will unveil within a fortnight a ‘State Engagement Task
force’ (SET) to ensure American and Indian companies align their interests
with the priorities of the State governments of both the countries.
- The move comes as India and the U.S. are set to
carry out a comprehensive review of bilateral trade ties.
- According to the American Enterprise Institute,
China was the ‘top import country’ for 23 U.S. States in 2016, followed by
Canada (14). India was neither a ‘top import country’ nor a ‘top export
country’ for any U.S. State.
India, China jointly oppose trade-distorting agri
subsidies
India and China, in a joint proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO),
have called for elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies given by
developed countries.
- The proposal counters the efforts of some WTO member
countries that are targeting the subsidies given by the developing
economies to their poor farmers while letting the developed rich nations
retain their huge farm subsidies.
- It is an important proposal by India and China in
view of the ongoing negotiations for the ministerial conference of
the WTO to be held in Buenos Aires in December.
World’s biggest X-ray laser gun
The world’s largest X-ray laser- European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL)-
is all set to open in Germany, promising to shed new light onto very small
things by letting scientists penetrate the inner workings of atoms, viruses and
chemical reactions.
- The 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) facility, which
took 8 years to build with funding from 11 countries, has been hailed as
one of the largest and most ambitious European research projects ever.
- It boasts a list of superlatives: the light’s
brilliance is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional
X-ray sources.
- The mega-project will generate extremely intense
laser flashes, at a mind-boggling rate of 27,000 per second, inside a
3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile) tunnel up to 38 meters (125 feet) below the
northern city of Hamburg.
Macron unveils flagship labour
reform programme
French President Emmanuel
Macron’s government unveiled a major overhaul of the labour code.
- A signature reform that will test his ability to
force through business-friendly changes and face down protests.
- France’s rigid labour regulations as key to tackling
the unemployment rate which is currently 9.5% — roughly twice the level of
Britain or Germany.
- The measures are aimed in particular at helping
small and medium-sized business by curbing the power of trade unions,
limiting unfair dismissal awards and allowing bosses to negotiate working
terms and conditions directly with their employees.
39 successes later, PSLV
launch fails
PSLV-C39 mission carrying
the replacement navigation satellite IRNSS-1H failed on August 31.
- This was the PSLV’s first failure — in what was seen
as a routine mission — after 39 continuously successful launches and only
the second such instance since 1993.
- The spacecraft was stuck in the heat shield in the
last and fourth stage of the launch vehicle; it did not release into space
as planned.
GDP growth boards slow train
at 5.7%
India’s GDP grew at 5.7%
between April to June this year — the slowest pace recorded in 13 quarters or
since the NDA government assumed office in May 2014 — led by a sharp decline in
industrial activity.
- The gross value added (GVA) in the economy grew at 5.6%,
same as the previous quarter but sharply lower than the 7.6% growth in the
first quarter of the last year.
Fiscal deficit in July: 92.4%
of estimate
India’s fiscal deficit at
July-end touched 92.4% of the budget mainly because of front loading of
expenditure by various government departments.
- According to data from the Controller General of
Accounts (CGA), In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit — the difference
between expenditure and revenue — was Rs. 5.04 lakh crore during
April-July 2017-18.
- During the same period of last financial year,
2016-17, it was 73.7% of the target.
- For 2017-18, the government aims to bring down the
fiscal deficit to 3.2% of the GDP. Last fiscal, it had met the deficit
target of 3.5% of the GDP.
Business & Climate summit 2017 held in New Delhi
BUSINESS & CLIMATE SUMMIT 2017 is being held in New
Delhi. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is
organizing the third edition of BCS.
- The Business & Climate Summit is the
leading annual forum for businesses, investors and policymakers on
climate action. It is where business and governments
come together to agree on a roadmap for reaching net zero emissions over the
next half century.
- It demonstrates how low carbon strategies are good
for business and good for growth – and builds the partnerships needed to
scale up and accelerate the low carbon transition.
Rajiv Kumar takes over as the
New Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog
Dr. Rajiv Kumar has taken
charge as the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
- A renowned economist, he replaces Shri Arvind
Panagariya as the head of the premier think tank of the country.
Rajiv Mehrishi made CAG
The outgoing Home Secretary
Rajiv Mehrishi was appointed Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG),
while former Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Secretary Sunil Arora was
appointed Election Commissioner to fill the vacancy in the three-member
Election Commission.
- Both are former IAS officers of the Rajasthan cadre.
- Mr. Mehrishi completed his two-year stint as Home
Secretary.
Shri Sunil Arora takes over as
new Election Commissioner
Shri Sunil Arora assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner of India
- Prior to joining as Election Commissioner, Shri
Arora was serving as Director General (DG), M/o Corporate Affairs since
15th December, 2016 after his superannuation.
India vs Srilanka 4th ODI
Highlights
Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
playing his 300th one-day-international.
- Kohli reached his 29th ODI century and becomes 3rd highest centuries in the world after
Sachin(49) and Ponting(30).
- Lasith Malinga who completed 300 ODI wickets, the fourth Sri Lankan to achieve the feat.
