Current Affairs July 1, 2017 –  India donates 16,000 books to historic Jaffna library

NATIONAL

J&K likely to clear GST by July 6:   

    Jammu and Kashmir, the only state which failed to meet the June 30 timeline for the GST rollout, is likely to clear the legislation by July 6.

    State Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, who attended the launch of the GST said, in view of differences among the political parties, the state government had set up an all-party consultative group to find a common ground.   

Jammu and Kashmir

• • Capital: Srinagar
  • Chief Minister: Mehbooba Mufti
  • Governor: Narinder Nath Vohra

PM Modi to address CA day celebrations of ICAI:

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend 68th Chartered Accountants Day function and GST event in New Delhi.

    The national professional accounting body of India, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India – ICAI celebrates its Foundation Day as the “Chartered Accountant’s Day” on 1st July every year.

    It was established on 1949 as a body corporate under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the Parliament to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India. ICAI is the second largest professional Accounting and Finance body in the world in terms of membership.

President of India inaugurates an exhibition of art works at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata and receives first copies of two Coffee Table books:

    The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated an exhibition of art works at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata.

    He also received the first copies of two Coffee Table books ‘Images and Impressions – Profile and Persona of Pranab Mukherjee’ and ‘Pranab Mukherjee 100 Frames’ from the Governor of West Bengal, Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi who formally released these books.

Mizoram celebrates 31st anniversary of Mizo peace accord:

    The 31st anniversary of the signing of the historic Mizo peace accord between the Union government and the erstwhile underground Mizo National Front (MNF) was celebrated today in Mizoram.

    The Mizo Accord was signed on June 30, 1986 ushering in an era of peace after 20 years of violence and disturbance in the state.

Mizoram

• Capital: Aizawl
• Chief Minister: Lal Thanhawla
• Governor: Nirbhay Sharma

PM Modi attends centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad:

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first stop in his two-day visit of Gujarat was Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad which was home to Mahatma Gandhi from 1917 to 1930.

    Taking part in the centenary celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram, PM Modi termed the Ashram as Mahatma Gandhi’s tapbhoomi or the land where he did spiritual practice and said that the place has enlightened the entire humanity.

Gujarat

• Capital: Gandhinagar
• Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
• Governor: Om Prakash Kohli

INTERNATIONAL

Germany legalises gay marriage:

    A clear majority of German MPs have voted to legalise same-sex marriage, days after Chancellor Angela Merkel dropped her opposition to a vote.

GERMANY

• Currency: Euro
• Capital: Berlin

Putin signs official order extending ban on Western food imports:

    Russia has renewed retaliatory sanctions against the European Union after the bloc extended bans against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

    President Vladimir Putin signed a official order, extending the counter-sanctions until the end of 2018. The decree extends a ban on Western food imports for another 18 months.

RUSSIA

• Russian President: Vladimir Putin.
• Currency: Russian ruble
• Capital: Moscow

India offers help to Sri Lanka’s Northern Province:

    India has expressed willingness to further partner Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial administration in development initiatives, emphasising the need for a clear economic programme identifying specific areas.

    `Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu called on Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran in Jaffna, the former’s first visit to the Tamil-majority north after assuming charge in Colombo.

Sri Lanka

• Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
• Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
• Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe

India donates 16,000 books to historic Jaffna library:

    Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu handed over as many as 16,000 books to the iconic Jaffna public library.

    The collection will be kept at the ‘India Corner’ in the library, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated during his maiden visit in 2015. “The titles cover topics ranging from culture, literature, philosophy, and politics to science”.

Lipstick Under My Burkha to open Indian Film Festival of Melbourne:

    Alankrita Shrivastavas Lipstick Under My Burkha, which was deemed too “lady oriented” by India’s censor board, will be the opening movie at the 2017 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).

    The director is ecstatic about the film being a part of the fest, which is to be held from August 10-22.

BANKING & BUSINESS

Orient Green to sell biomass operations to promoter Firm:

    Orient Green Power Company Ltd. (OGPL), an independent renewable energy-based power generation firm, has decided to sell the bulk of its biomass operations to its promoter company, SVL Ltd., or its subsidiaries.

    This will see the Chennai-based OGPL holding mostly wind assets. It has wind assets to the tune of 425 MW, and biomass assets worth 96 MW. The move to sell biomass operations comes even as OGPL and IL&FS Wind Energy are in parleys to merge their wind assets to create a company with 1.2 Giga Watts (GW) of operating assets. IL&FS Wind has an operating capacity of 775 MW.

RBI report sees India’s economic growth rate at 7.3% in 2017-18:

    The Reserve Bank said the ongoing accelerated reform initiatives like Goods and Service 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.

Reliance Jio launches AAE-1, world’s longest 100Gbps submarine cable system:

    Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd announced the launch of the Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system.

    A submarine cable system consists of telecom and internet cables on the seabed between land-based stations. These carry telecommunication and data signals across stretches of oceans.

    AAE-1, the longest 100 Gbps (gigabits per second) technology-based submarine system, will stretch over 25,000 km from Marseille, France, to Hong Kong, with 21 cable landings across Asia and Europe.

APPOINTMENTS

Pachnanda is new ITBP chief:

    R.K. Pachnanda, a 1983-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, took over as the 29th Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief.

    Pachnanda, who is succeeding Krishna Chaudhary, is the only IPS officer who has served in all the central forces and agencies – BSF, CRPF, CISF, SPG, NDRF, CBI and now in ITBP.

SN Subrahmanyan to take charge as L&T CEO & MD from July 1:

    SN Subrahmanyan will take charge as the CEO and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro, which will also mark the end of nearly two-decade-long tenure of A M Naik at the helm.

    Subrahmanyan is currently the Deputy Managing Director and President of the company.

KK Venugopal to replace Mukul Rohatgi as Attorney General of India:

  Senior advocate K K Venugopal will succeed Mukul Rohatgi as the Attorney General of India. His name has been cleared for appointment following the decision of Mr Rohatgi to step down as the top law officer.       

Shamma Jain appointed Indian envoy to Greece:

    Senior diplomat Shamma Jain was today appointed as India’s ambassador to Greece.

    A 1983-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Jain is currently serving as Indian envoy to Panama.

AWARDS

Bagan Ratna award for Subrata Bhattacharya:

    Former India defender Subrata Bhattacharya will get this year’s Mohun Bagan Ratna award.

    The club chose Bhattacharya for the honour at a meeting. A well-known defender Bhattachrya, 64, played for Bagan from 1974 to 1990.

Health Ministry’s mobile app eVIN wins GSMA Asia Mobile Award:

    Indigenously developed mobile application for digitising vaccine logistics, eVIN, has won the prestigious GSMA Asia Mobile Award 2017 (AMO) for outstanding contribution to the UN’s sustainable development goals in Asia.

    The Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) is an online real-time vaccine logistics management system developed and implemented by the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The ceremony, held during the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Shanghai.

Indian origin boy Arnav Sharma aces Mensa test, scores 162 points, beats Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking in IQ:

    An 11-year-old boy has scored higher in an IQ test than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. The so-called genius benchmark is set at 140 and Arnav Sharma gained a score of 162 – the maximum possible result you can achieve on the paper.

SPORTS

Wayde Van Niekerk Breaks 300m World Best And Bolt’s Meet Record At Ostrava:

   Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has tipped South African athlete Wayde van Niekerk to succeed him as track and field’s most dominant athlete.

    Van Niekerk won a gold medal in the 400 metres at the Olympic Games in 2016 and has continued his rapid form into this year.

History Events of the Day

NATIONAL DOCTORS DAY: July 1st 2017

    Doctor’s Day in India was established by the Government of India in 1991 to be recognized and celebrated every year on 1st of July as National Doctors day.

    It is celebrated on 1st of July on the birth and death anniversary of the most famous physician of India Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (Dr. B C Roy) to pay lots of honor and tribute.

OBITUARY

Nandakumar passes away:

Nandakumar, former Controller of Printing of The Hindu Group, passed away here. He was 75.

Iconic French leader Simone Veil dies at 89:

    French politician Simone Veil, who survived the Holocaust and led campaigns for the legalisation of abortion in France in the 1970s, died. She was 89 years old.

FRANCE

• • France President :Emmanuel Macron
  • Currencies: Euro, CFP franc
  • Capital: Paris

Former CPI legislator N Gurusamy dead:

    Former Puducherry CPI legislator and veteran freedom fighter N Gurusamy died at the government general hospital.