Current Affairs : 14 July, 2017- Health Minister J P Nadda launches the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22)

NATIONAL:

Health Minister J P Nadda launches the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22):

          J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22) at a function. The Strategic Plan gives year wise elimination targets in various parts of the country depending upon the endemicity of malaria in the next 5 years.

 Maharashtra enacts law against discrimination by caste panchayats:

Maharashtra has become the first State in the country to enact a law against social boycott from caste Panchayat. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his nod to implement the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill in the State.

 Maharashtra

• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis
• Governor: Vidyasagar Rao

 DIPP inks pact with a Punjab institute to set up TISC:

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) signed a pact with a Punjab state council to set up Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC).

At present, 500 TISCs operate worldwide and establishing such centre in India will give the host institutions an access to the global network, said by the Commerce and Industry Ministry. The centre would be established at Punjab’s Patent Information Centre under a World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) programme.

 High speed rail training centre to come up in Gujarat:

The country is all set to get its first cutting edge high-speed rail training centre in Gujarat.  “The construction will begin shortly after the foundation-laying ceremony is held in September,” said MD, National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), Achal Khare.

The facility will be built on the railway land of 4,400 metres at the cost of 600 Crore. The centre will have sample tracks and overhead electrical systems to test bullet train that has been proposed to hit the track in 2023 connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The training centre will be operational by 2020, according to the reports.

Gujarat

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

 Green tribunal declares area near Ganga as ‘No-Development Zone’:

An area of 100 metres from the edge of the Ganga between Haridwar and Unnao has been declared a “No Development Zone”, with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres of the river.

An environment compensation of 50,000 will be imposed on anyone dumping waste in the river. The NGT also directed the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to formulate guidelines for religious activities on the Ghats of the Ganga and its tributaries.

Coffee-table book on Dalhousie hill station launched:

Endowed with historical information and lavish images, a coffee-table book ‘Dalhousie…Through My Eyes’ was released by Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, who hoped the publication would help enhance tourism in the scenic hill station. It was authored by retired civil servant Kiran Chadha.

 Andhra, Telangana, Gujarat best in ease of doing business: NITI CEO

          Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat are the three best-performing states in “ease of doing business”, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

One the other hand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam fare worst in the rankings, while Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar are at the bottom.

In a First, India to Host 8th Theatre Olympics in 2018:

India will host the Theatre Olympics in 2018, first since the event’s inception in 1993, Ministry of Culture in association with National School of Drama (NSD) announced in New Delhi.

Naidu launches revamped NHB RESIDEX:

          Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Venkaiah Naidu has released the new version of NHB RESIDEX.

The revamped and expanded online user-friendly NHB RESIDEX captures upward and downward movements in the prices of residential real estate prices revealed that prices during January-March 2017 have increased over that of October-December 2016, in about half of the cities covered under the survey while the other half have either registered a decline or remained the same.

 Centre, UP govt sign MoU to set up AIIMS in Gorakhpur:

          Uttar Pradesh government has signed an MoU with the Centre for setting up of an AIIMS hospital in Gorakhpur.

The hospital will have 750 free beds and the project will cost 1,750 crore rupees. The foundation of the AIIMS at Gorakhpur was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

Uttar Pradesh

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Shri Ram Naik

 Kannada is compulsory in all schools:

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait said that Students will be taught Kannada in all schools in the State, including private, linguistic minority and Central board schools.

On Kannada-medium schools in border areas and in other States, he said the department was studying two reports on protecting Kannada, submitted by activist Vatal Nagaraj and writer Baragur Ramachandrappa.

Karnataka

• Capital: Bengaluru
• Chief Minister: Siddaramaiah
• Governor: Vajubhai Vala

INTERNATIONAL:

India contributes additional million dollars to UN partnership fund:

India has contributed an additional million dollars to a UN partnership fund launched to support sustainable development projects across the developing world.

India made one million dollars to the fund said by the India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin.

 UAE welcomes US-Qatar agreement on fighting terrorism financing:

UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan signing of the counter-terrorism memorandum between the United States and Qatar.

USA

• President of the United States: Donald Trump
• Currency: United States Dollar
• Capital: Washington, D.C.

United Arab Emirates

• Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham
• Capital: Abu Dhabi

BANKING & BUSINESS:

BRPL, TERI sign MoU to explore opportunities, research in solar rooftops:

Power giant BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for two years to achieve the common goals and objectives. The MoU was signed between Amal Sinha (CEO, BRPL) and AK Saxena, Director, TERI.

 Google acquires Bangalore-based artificial intelligence firm Halli Labs:

Bangalore-based-artificial-intelligence-firm-Halli-Labs-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />

American technology giant Google has acquired Bangalore-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Halli Labs for an undisclosed sum.

The firm which was co-founded by former chief technology officer of now defunct Stayzilla, Pankaj Gupta, announced the acquisition in a blogs post.

 No GST on sale of old jewellery by individuals:

Finance Ministry has clarified that the sale of old jewellery by an individual to a jeweller will not attract any GST as the sale is not for furthering any business.

 SBI to cut NEFT, RTGS charges by up to 75%, 18% GST will be applied:

In a push to digital payments, state-owned lender SBI will cut charges on electronic transfer of funds through NEFT and RTGS by up to 75 per cent, benefiting nearly 5.27 crore customers.

As per the revised schedule, the NEFT charge on fund transfer up to Rs 10,000 has been halved to Re 1, and to Rs 2 for up to Rs 1 lakh.

For transfers between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, the NEFT charge will be reduced to Rs 3 from the existing Rs 12. The charge above Rs 2 lakh has been fixed at Rs 5 as against the current Rs 20.

For RTGS transactions, the charges will be Rs 5 for transactions between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. Currently, the bank charges Rs 20 for such transaction.

SBI

Headquarters: Mumbai

CEO: Arundhati Bhattacharya

 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

Indian scientists discover ‘Saraswati’, a supercluster of galaxies:

Indian scientists have discovered Saraswati, a large supercluster of galaxies located in the direction of the constellation Pisces, and at a distance of 4,000 million (400 crore) light years away from Earth.

A team of astronomers from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, and members of two other Indian universities, have discovered this supercluster of galaxies.

 APPOINTMENTS:

Sandeep Patil named brand ambassador of indoor cricket team:

Former Indian batsman Sandeep Patil was named as the brand ambassador of the Indian Indoor Cricket Team.

          Patil, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, will be the face of the team in the lead-up to the 10th edition of the World Indoor Cricket Federation (WICF) World Cup.

 Subhash Garg takes over as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs:

Former Executive Director of World Bank Subhash Chandra Garg took charge as the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance.

Tata Sons appoints Group Chief Digital Officer:

                  Tata Sons has appointed Aarthi Subramanian to a newly-created post of Chief Digital Officer. Subramanian will up take up the new role in August.

AWARDS:

Vijaya Bank MD gets Skoch award:

Kishore Sansi, Managing Director and CEO of Vijaya Bank, has been conferred the ‘Personality of the Year’ award by Skoch Consultancy Services. The award is part of the ‘Skoch Banking and Financial Leadership’ series. Past recipients of the award include C Rangarajan, Dilip Parekh and Nandan Nilekani.

OBITUARY:

Liu Xiaobo, Chinese dissident who won Nobel prize, dies:

          Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, China’s most prominent political prisoner, died at a hospital in the country’s northeast. He was 61.

To check the previous day’s Current affairs and Quiz, click the below links:

CURRENT AFFAIRS : 12 JULY, 2017

CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ : 12 JULY, 2017

CURRENT AFFAIRS  : 13 JULY, 2017

CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ : 13 JULY, 2017