Current Affairs for 1st July to 14th July 2017

Current Affairs for 1^st July to 14^th July 2017

June 21st was celebrated across the world as International Yoga Day to promote yoga and make it as a part of people’s daily routine. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a mass yoga demonstration to commemorate the 3rd International Day of Yoga at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the mass yoga demonstration at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow, on the occasion. The Yoga Day’s theme for this year was “Yoga for Health”.
ISRO has successfully launched PSLV C-38 putting Cartosat-2 Series remote sensing earth observation satellite and 30 other nano-satellites into their orbits. The fortieth flight of its highly reliable polar satellite launch vehicle lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on 23rd June. The satellite is the sixth in the Cartosat-2 series. It is the third earth observation satellite for India in space. It will provide spot-specific pictures in high resolution. Another highlight of the mission was the re-ignition of the rocket’s engine during its flight and meticulously reaching all the intended goals of the technology demonstration. This is the third time such a novel experiment has been put to use during ISRO space flights.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Communications Minister Manoj Sinha unveiled commemorative postage stamp to mark the completion of 50 years of the Passports Act-1967. Mrs Swaraj said this is an important occasion to introspect. She announced that the government has decided to issue passports in Hindi and English.
Rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana have been declared as the Defecation Free States of India under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin. Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, have already been declared Open Defecation Free.
A bipartisan bill seeking to revoke Pakistan’s status as major non-NATO ally (MNNA) to the US has been introduced in the House of Representatives by two top lawmakers. Introduced by Republican Congressman Ted Poe and Democratic lawmaker Rick Nolan, the legislation calls for revoking MNNA status of Pakistan, which was granted to it in 2004 in an effort to get the country to help the US fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
North Korea has carried out another test of a rocket engine, the latest in a series of engine and missile tests this year. The disclosure of the engine test came a day after the United States pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs.
European Union agreed to roll over economic sanctions against Russia for another six months because Moscow has failed to meet its Ukraine ceasefire commitments. EU president Donald Tusk said that the Union will extend economic sanctions against Russia for their lack of implementing the Minsk agreement. He said the decision will become effective on July 31, when the current measures are to expire.
GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley comprising of state finance ministers as members have decided to set up a five-member anti-profiteering authority to decide on levying the penalty if businesses do not pass on the benefit of price reduction to consumers under GST regime. The GST Council has also approved the anti-profiteering rules.
In order to ensure smooth GST implementation from 1st July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched a dedicated Webpage for facilitating taxpayers with regard to addressing issues related to Information Technology Services and Electronics goods.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) to enable members of its housing scheme to avail subsidy and interest subvention under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
The Reserve Bank has asked banks to provide “adequate details” of transactions in the passbooks and statements of accounts so that customers can crosscheck them. Earlier the Apex Bank had advised banks to avoid inscrutable entries in passbooks or statements of account and ensure that brief, intelligible particulars were entered with a view to avoiding inconvenience to depositors.
In Australian Open Super Series Badminton tournament in Sydney Kidambi Srikanth has entered the semifinals of Men’s singles. He defeated his compatriot B. Sai Praneeth in straight sets in an all Indian quarterfinal Srikant won 25-23, 21-17. In the women’s singles quarter-finals Rio Olympic Silver Medalist PV. Sindhu has bowed out of the tournament.
India crashed out of the Hockey World League after suffering a shocking 2-3 defeat at the hands of Malaysia in the quarterfinals in London with this win Malaysia have qualified for next year’s World Cup to be held in India.
Amid current standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in the Sikkim sector, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that the situation was triggered by Beijing. Hitting out at China for asking the Indian Army to learn from historical lessons, Mr. Jaitley said that India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962. He added that Bhutan had made it clear that the land in question belonged to it.
The Election Commission has fixed the August 5 as the date for the Vice Presidential election if the need arises for voting. The Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced in New Delhi that the last date for filing of nomination is July 18 while scrutiny will be done on July 19 and the last date for withdrawal has been fixed as July 21.
Union Minister for Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, M. Venkaiah Naidu has announced a new batch of 30 smart cities under Smart City Mission. The newly selected cities include Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Rajkot in Gujarat, Amravati in Andhra Pradesh, Patna and Muzaffarpur in Bihar among others.
Union Ministry of Science & Technology has launched National Bio-pharma Mission. It is a first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India.
Union HRD ministry has constituted a new nine-member panel headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan to frame a new National Education Policy. The other panel members belong to different sections and regions of the country reflecting the diversity of the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. The Prime Minister also released the coin and postal stamp in the honour of Shrimad Rajchandraji on his 150th birth anniversary at Abhay Ghat. Shrimad Rajchandraji was the guru to Mahatma Gandhi.
India and the US have asked Pakistan to make sure that its soil is not used for cross-border terror strikes. Both the countries have asked Pakistan to expeditiously bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai and Pathankot attackers to justice.
The US has designated Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist. The 71-year-old Salahuddin also leads the United Jihad Council, which is an umbrella organisation of militant groups operating in Kashmir.
India and the Netherlands signed three MOUs after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in Hague in the Netherlands. Prime Minister’s visit to the Netherlands has come at a time when both the countries are celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations.
India and Portugal have signed 11 pacts after in-depth talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa in areas like counter-terrorism, space and climate studies. It was the first-ever bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Portugal.
India has contributed five lakh US Dollars to the UN Peace Building Fund, expressing hope that more funding by nations will boost efforts by the world body to build and sustain peace.
Two Indian-Americans, Adobe Chief Shantanu Narayen and former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are among 38 immigrants to be honoured this year for their role in helping advance the country’s society, culture and economy. Narayen and Murthy will be honoured with the prestigious ‘Great Immigrants’ annual award on US's Independence day on Tuesday.
The government has reduced the GST rate on fertilisers from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. The decision was taken by GST Council at its meeting in New Delhi on 30th June which was chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Government has lowered interest rate on small saving schemes by 0.1 per cent for the July- September quarter. The move will prompt banks to lower deposit rates.
The Reserve Bank has said the ongoing accelerated reform initiatives like Goods and Sevices Tax and continuing political stability will push the economic growth scale to 7.3 per cent in terms of Gross Value Added -GVA in the current fiscal year.
Indian shooters Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Anish Bhanwala has bagged gold in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol and Men’s 25m Standard Pistol competition respectively in the Junior World Rifle/Pistol Championship held in Germany.
World No.11 Kidambi Srikanth sealed his second successive Super Series win by defeating reigning Olympic Champion Chen Long in the Australian Open summit clash in Sydney. Chen Long is World No.6 and also the current All England champion. Srikanth had lost all of his previous five encounters with Chen Long.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel has felicitated wizard of badminton Kidambi Srikanth for his lightning victories and the new-age Dronacharya Coach PGopichand for his great vision. Mr Srikanth while thanking Mr Goel said the support by sports ministry to Indian sports will definitely help every sport grow in the country.