(Current Affairs) National Events | July : 2017

National Events

Govt took the first step towards divesting its stake in Air India

  • The Narendra Modi government took the first step towards divesting its stake in ailing national carrier Air India, with an ‘in-principle’ approval from the Cabinet and the formation of a ministerial group under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to work out the fine print for the airline’s strategic sale.
  • Sixty-four years after the airline was nationalised and over a decade after the previous NDA government put a proposed sale of Air India in cold storage, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for its disinvestment.
  • Plans to privatise the airline resurfaced when Mr. Jaitley told Doordarshan last month that the government would prefer investing money in social welfare sectors instead of financing the national airline’s debt of over Rs. 50,000 crore.
  • The Cabinet also approved hikes in allowances for Central government staff based on modified recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. This will benefit over 48 lakh employees and cost the exchequer Rs. 30,748 crore a year.

Multi-disease testing devices for Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) on released new advice to countries, recommending the use of multi-disease testing devices for Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis.
  • A single device called the GeneXpert can be used to diagnose TB and HIV infections, and quantitatively measure HIV and hepatitis C viral loads. India recently procured 600 GeneXpert machines for the National Tuberculosis programme.
  • The WHO is recommending use of these state-of-the-art portable machines the size of a microwave oven, which can run molecular tests. However, most countries do not use them for multi-disease testing.
  • “With the power and adaptability of molecular technologies, we are in an era of great advancement for the rapid diagnosis of many diseases using single platforms,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme.
  • The Petya/Notpetya ransomware is the second major global ransomware since WannaCry hit over 3,00,000 computers across 200 countries in May.
  • Petya, like the recent WannaCry ransomware that infected over 300,000 computers worldwide, uses the Eternal Blue exploit as one of the means to propagate itself. However, experts have warned of bigger damage this time.

GSAT-17, the country’s newest communication satellite to be ched

  • GSAT-17, the country’s newest communication satellite to be launched, will soon join the fleet of 17 working Indian communication satellites in space and augment their overall capacity to some extent.
  • The 3,477-kg spacecraft was set to be launched on June 29 from the European space port of Kourou in French Guiana at the time of writing this report.
  • GSAT-17 is the second passenger on the European booster, Ariane-5 ECA VA-238, according to ISRO and the European launch company Arianespace.

India’s first underwater metro tunnels completed

  • On June 20, the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) completed the construction of India’s first set of underwater transportation tunnels.
  • The two tunnels, 16.1 metres apart, with a diameter of 5.5 metres each, link the two banks of the Hooghly river — Howrah Maidan and Sealdah on one side with Kolkata on the other.
  • The tunnels are at a depth of 13 metres below the riverbed, and 30 metres from the land surface.
  • With the completion of the tunnels, India has joined a select group of nations that have underwater transport, he said, adding that the feat comes almost 33 years after the first metro train in the country opened its doors for the public in Kolkata in 1984.
  • The tunnels are part of the 16.6 km East West Metro route, a major transport project in the city with an estimated cost of Rs. 8,996 crore, of which about 5.8 km traverses an elevated corridor and 10.8 km will run underground.
  • The 520 metre-long tunnels under the river are part of the 10.8 km underground stretch.
  • Interestingly, the two bridges over the Hooghly — connecting Kolkata with Howrah — took a longer time.
  • While it took six years for the iconic Howrah Bridge to be completed since its commissioning in 1943, for Vidyasagar Setu the time taken was much longer — about 13 years.
  • National Monument Authority and competent authority Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu said all construction above the ground, including the Mahakaran Metro Station, shall be beyond the 100-metre prohibited area of Centrally Protected Monuments.
  • While the city will have to wait till 2020 for train services between Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake, the first phase of the East-West Metro between Salt Lake and Phoolbagan in the city will start next year.

Disabled people hired in good numbers by IT companies

  • Information Technology companies, 4% of which had made their office buildings employment friendly, have started hiring disabled people in good numbers.
  • Thanks to a Union government initiative where it contributes to the provident fund of physically challenged employees with salary over Rs. 25,000, Hyderabad’s IT industry has hired close to 132 new staff in various posts.
  • The government of India will pay the PF of these employees for a period of three years. National Association of Software and Service Companies’ Foundation has been mooting the disabled friendly move for over a three years now.
  • The foundation had also popularised the scheme by interfacing between national and local government partners.
  • NASSCOM has been holding career guidance drives for physically challenged for almost three years. In a recent career motivation workshop held in the city where NASSCOM partnered with Microsoft, a good 3% of young girls who attended were physically challenged.
  • The foundation has also been conducting closed-door leadership roundtables in the city to get more employers on board. Such meets are meant to be a key advocacy tool when it comes to people with disability.
  • In fact, a group of 10 to 15 companies which already remodelled their buildings to make them more disability friendly are also leading the advocacy for employing physically challenged people.
  • The city’s IT area is expected to be completely disabled friendly by the year 2022, a handout given by the State IT department had ascertained in 2016.
  • The 5,700-kg Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat S EAN shared by two satellite operators was also put on the same booster as co-passenger. It was a pre-dusk launch in the South American space port.
  • The spacecraft was approved in May 2015 with an outlay of Rs. 1,013 crore, including its launch fee and insurance. GSAT-17, built mainly for broadcasting, telecommunication and VSAT services, carries over 40 transponders.
  • Designed and assembled at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, GSAT-17 has been at the Kourou space port since May 15, undergoing pre-launch checks and tests. Project Director Prakash Rao and a rotating team of over 20 ISRO engineers have been attending to it during the period.

Thirty more cities have been added to the Centre’s Smart Cities Mission

  • Thirty more cities from across the country have been added to the Centre’s Smart Cities Mission, with a proposed investment of Rs.57,393 crore in various projects under the scheme.
  • Marking the second anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, Union Urban Development Minister announced the new cities added to the scheme in the third round.
  • It takes the total number of cities to 90. With the addition of the 30 cities, 23 States and four Union Territories have been included in the Mission.
  • As in the previous two rounds, the cities were picked on the basis of the proposals they submitted for the Smart Cities Challenge.
  • Tamil Nadu emerged as the State with the highest number of cities selected in this round, with Tirupur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tiruchi making it to the Mission.
  • Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat had three cities each selected for the Mission.While Jhansi, Allahabad and Aligarh made it from U.P., Rakjot, Gandhinagar and Dahod were the picks from Gujarat.
  • Among the 11 State capitals selected were Bengaluru in Karnataka, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Aizawl in Mizoram and Gangtok in Sikkim.
  • Mr. Naidu said that the proposed investment in these 30 cities was Rs.57,393 crore under various smart city plans. With that, the total investment for smart infrastructure development for the 90 cities had gone up to Rs.1.91 lakh crore.
  • Of the 30 cities added to the Mission, 26 had proposed affordable housing projects, 26 cities would take up school and hospital projects, and 29 would carry out redesign and redevelopment of roads.

Pakistan says execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav to stay till ICJ process

  • Pakistan will not carry out the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the former Naval officer convicted on terror charges, until the process in the ICJ is over, even if that takes two to three years, Pakistan’s High Commissioner has said
  • India went to the ICJ at The Hague on May 8 this year to appeal against the death sentence handed to Mr. Jadhav.
  • In the appeal India urged the court to call Pakistan’s military court trial against Mr. Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016, “illegal” on the grounds that Pakistan had not granted India consular access, nor accepted his family’s appeals.
  • The ICJ has set the next dates for India and Pakistan to present their written submissions, or ‘memorials’ on September 13 and December 13 respectively.
  • Confirming that Mr. Jadhav has some steps to go in the appeal process in Pakistan as well, Mr. Basit said he would be able to appeal for clemency first to Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa and President Mamnoon Husain if his appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals.

GJM decided to pull out of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration

  • The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) decided to pull out of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) after a meeting of 14 political parties and social organisations in the Darjeeling Hills.
  • The parties unanimously decided to continue the shutdown, and proposed an all-India coordination committee to take up the issue of Gorkhaland.
  • The GTA is an autonomous body, created after an agreement signed by the GJM, the West Bengal government and the Centre in 2011. The GJM has administered it so far.
  • The meeting, which was attended by almost all parties in the hills, including the Jan Andolan Party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front and the All India Gorkha League, all considered the rivals of the GJM, put the onus of restoring normality on the State government.
  • A large number of Gorkhaland supporters gathered at Gymkhana Club, where the meeting began with homage to the three GJM supporters who were killed in a violent agitation on June 17.
  • Tension prevailed on the sixth day of the strike. Rallies and processions were taken out.

India and Afghanistan inaugurated a dedicated air freight corridor service

  • Adding a new dimension to bilateral ties, India and Afghanistan inaugurated a dedicated air freight corridor service.
  • The corridor which passes through the airspace of Pakistan was launched with a cargo aircraft flight flagged off by Afghanistan President Dr. Ashraf Ghani.
  • The dedicated air corridor was planned during the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ghani in Kabul in September 2016.
  • The norms for no-fly list to rein in unruly passengers are expected to be ready early next month, the government said amid a parliamentarian being barred by domestic airlines for allegedly creating ruckus.
  • A revised Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) is being finalised after receiving comments from the stakeholders.
  • The Civil Aviation Ministry has already come out with draft rules for a ‘national no-fly list’ of unruly passengers for all domestic carriers, under which the flying ban could extend from at least three months to an indefinite period.
  • Lok Sabha member from TDP J.C. Diwakar Reddy was barred by major airlines after he allegedly created a ruckus at the Vizag airport when he was denied boarding by IndiGo.
  • This is the second incident involving a Lok Sabha member after Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Gaikwad was banned by carriers for some time after he had assaulted an Air India staffer.

Central India to receive monsoon by 22nd June

  • The monsoon system, forecast to establish itself over Central India by June 15, will be delayed by a week. This is unlikely to affect the overall rainfall in June and is seen as a part of the monsoon’s natural variability.
  • There is moisture in the air and thunderstorm along with rain…but the monsoon has been delayed [over Central India] because of strong rain in the east.
  • As of June 17, the country got 79.6 mm of rain, 9% more than the average 72.8 mm it receives in the first fortnight of June. Rain in Central India is 21% more than what is normal for this time.
  • IMD said rainfall was likely to be 96% of the historical average in northwest India, 100% of the LPA (the 50-year average of the monsoon rains) over central India, 99% of the low pressure area (LPA) over the south peninsula, with a model error of plus or minus 8%.

Challenges of linking Aadhaar with Pan card

  • The simple act of paying your income tax to the government — an article of citizens’ faith that is not exercised by enough Indians with incomes over Rs. 2.5 lakh a year if you go by India’s low direct tax base — will never be the same again.
  • Having a PAN (permanent account number) card from the Income Tax department will no longer be enough to file your returns.
  • Starting July 1, the government has made it mandatory for taxpayers to link their Aadhaar number to their PAN cards in order to be able to file returns. Aadhaar numbers have also been made mandatory for all those applying for a new PAN card after July 1.
  • Among several changes appended to this year’s Finance Bill that did not figure in the budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced a new Section, 139 AA, in the Income Tax Act of 1961.
  • This new Section stipulates that all PAN cardholders share their Aadhar number with the tax authorities so that the two documents can be linked, and makes quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for all PAN card applications and to file income tax returns.
  • The new provision also states that the existing PAN cardholders who fail to link their Aadhaar numbers will have the legal status of their PAN card revoked and those cards will be held invalid for all other purposes.
  • However, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the move with the argument that it runs foul of the court’s earlier decision on Aadhaar-related petitions that the unique ID number cannot be made mandatory.
  • PAN cards are mandatory not just for filing income tax returns, but also for deposits above Rs. 50,000 into bank accounts as well as purchasing property, among other things. The universe of taxpayers in India is smaller than the number of PAN cardholders.
  • Aadhaar was introduced as a unique identification system that would pay off the government’s investment in capturing people’s biometric information by plugging leaks and benefit-cheating in welfare programmes for the poor through real-time authentication of the beneficiary’s identity.
  • Most taxpayers, barring those earning up to Rs. 10 lakh a year who still get cheaper LPG cylinders, are not eligible for subsidies.
  • Effectively, the Centre has managed to expand the ambit of Aadhaar beyond subsidy beneficiaries, thus making it a more universal identification system.
  • Those who already have an Aadhaar number must ensure they quote it in their returns as tax experts warn that any attempt to conceal the same would be tantamount to providing false information and invite prosecution under the income tax law, with punishment that could include imprisonment and fines.
  • The Supreme Court may have offered limited relief to taxpayers, but the bigger battle over the Aadhaar programme will continue in its corridors as and when a Constitutional Bench is formed to examine Aadhaar-related concerns about right to privacy and human dignity as limbs of Article 21 of the Constitution.

David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize

  • Israeli author David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize, sharing the £50,000 award with translator Jessica Cohen.
  • Mr. Grossman, the first Israeli writer to win the prize, is now expected to enjoy a spike in international sales for A Horse Walks Into a Bar .
  • Mr. Grossman’s book unfolds over the course of a stand-up show during which comedian Dovelah Gee exposes a wound he has been living with for years and the difficult choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him.
  • Since he started writing in the late 1970s after being fired from public radio following anger over his critical coverage, Mr. Grossman has won numerous Israeli and international awards.
  • His 1986 novel See Under: Love is viewed by a number of critics as his masterpiece, delving into the Holocaust and the generation of Jews that followed.
  • Other works have included The Yellow Wind , a prescient, non-fiction look at Israel’s occupation ahead of the first Palestinian Intifada that erupted in 1987.
  • His 2008 novel To the End of the Land , published after the death of his son Uri, contemplates the effects of war while portraying Israeli life.
  • In 2011, he was part of a group of seven prominent writers from around the world to appeal to the United Nations Security Council to sanction the Syrian government over its actions in the civil war which began that year.
  • The Man Booker International Prize was introduced in 2005 and up to last year was awarded in recognition of a body of work by a living author whose work was written or available in English.
  • It is different from the Man Booker Prize for Fiction that is awarded every year for the best original novel, written in English and published in the U.K.

Cabinet has approved the extension of the interest subvention scheme for farmers to 2017-18

  • Amid growing protests over farm sector distress, the Cabinet has approved the extension of the interest subvention scheme for farmers to 2017-18. Short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakh will receive a subvention of 5%, effectively reducing the rate for farmers to 4%.
  • The government has earmarked a sum of Rs. 20,339 crore for this. The interest subvention scheme will continue for one year and will be implemented by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Reserve Bank of India.
  • The Central government will provide interest subvention of 5% per annum to all prompt payee farmers for short-term crop loan up to one year for loan up to Rs. 3 lakh borrowed by them during the year 2017-18.
  • Farmers unable to repay the short-term crop loans on time will receive an interest subvention of 2%. The scheme has been running since 2006-07, under which farmers are eligible for interest subvention of 2% for crop loans of up to Rs. 3 lakh.

The amount of rainfall in the Earth’s tropical regions will significantly increase

  • The amount of rainfall in the Earth’s tropical regions will significantly increase as our planet continues to warm, a new NASA study warns.
  • Most global climate models underestimate decreases in high clouds over the tropics seen in recent NASA observations, according to research led by scientist Hui Su of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the U.S.
  • Globally, rainfall is not related just to the clouds that are available to make rain but also to the Earth’s “energy budget” — incoming energy from the Sun compared to outgoing heat energy.
  • High-altitude tropical clouds trap heat in the atmosphere. If there are fewer of these clouds in the future, the tropical atmosphere will cool.
  • Judging from observed changes in clouds over recent decades, it appears that the atmosphere would create fewer high clouds in response to surface warming.
  • It would increase tropical rainfall, which would warm the air to balance the cooling from high cloud shrinkage.
  • Rainfall warming the air also sounds counterintuitive — people are used to rain cooling the air around them, not warming it. Several kilometres up in the atmosphere, however, a different process prevails.
  • When water evaporates into water vapour on the Earth’s surface and rises into the atmosphere, it carries with it the heat energy that made it evaporate.
  • In the cold upper atmosphere, when the water vapour condenses into liquid droplets or ice particles, it releases its heat and warms the atmosphere.
  • Observations over the last 30 to 40 years have shown that this zone is narrowing as the climate warms, causing the decrease in high clouds.
  • Researchers at JPL and four universities compared climate data from the past few decades with 23 climate model simulations of the same period.
  • Climate modellers use retrospective simulations like these to check how well their numerical models are able to reproduce observations.

Launch of the world’s largest floating solar farm

  • As the United States was withdrawing from the Paris climate pact, China’s clean energy ambitions were being reflected in the launch of the world’s largest floating solar farm.
  • The 40-megawatt power plant has 1,60,000 panels resting on a lake that emerged after the collapse of a coal mine in central Anhui province.
  • It is part of Beijing’s effort to wean itself off a fossil fuel dependency that has made it the world’s top carbon emitter, with two-thirds of its electricity still fuelled by coal.
  • The solar facility went online around the time of President Donald Trump’s much-criticised June 2 decision to withdraw from the international accord aimed at saving the planet from climate change catastrophe.
  • His move shifted the spotlight onto China and whether it will take on the leadership mantle in the fight against global warming.
  • The Beijing forum also put a spotlight on efforts taken by Chinese authorities and companies to develop renewable energy.
  • It has been the world’s largest investor in clean energy since 2012, spending $88 billion on wind and solar power last year.
  • China’s solar capacity more than doubled in 2016. The official goal is for 20% of Chinese power consumption to come from low-emission energy, including nuclear, by 2030, compared to 11% currently.
  • Beijing hopes to combat endemic air pollution, but is also motivated by financial interests, as the country “is already reaping the economic benefits” of clean energy, Ms. Clarkson said.
  • With the U.S. administration out of the Paris pact, China has signalled its readiness to deal with U.S. local governments to advance its climate agenda.
  • California Governor Jerry Brown used the Beijing conference to seek partnerships with China on climate change, and was given the red-carpet treatment by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

India became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

  • India became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), ending an administrative process that began two years ago.
  • India’s membership at the SCO was announced by the President of Kazakhstan, NursultanNazarbayev, who also welcomed Pakistan as a new member into the organisation.
  • “India and Pakistan are now members of the SCO. It is a very important moment for us,” President Nazarbayev said, concluding the two-year accession process.
  • New Delhi has acceded to a set of 38 documents covering a range of activities of India in the organisation which began in 2001 in Shanghai.
  • India and Pakistan were admitted as observers in 2005 and began the administrative process of joining the organisation, which began in 2001 in Shanghai, in 2015.
  • Ceremony, however, comes in the backdrop of India-Pakistan tension over cross-border terrorism and India’s objection to China’s Belt and Road Initiative which passes through territories that India claims.
  • Highlighting India’s concerns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s arrival into the organisation would boost the fight against terrorism.
  • Mr Modi’s other focus was on connectivity where he touched upon the concern that territorial sovereignty and integrity should be maintained while building greater connectivity.
  • India recently stayed away from the summit on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the landmark US$ 50 billion project of President Xi Jinping of China, as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor of the BRI passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
  • Earlier, President Xi and Mr. Modi met on the sidelines of the summit in Astana following which Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar described the bilateral ties between the two countries as a “factor of stability” in the age of global instability.

CPCB is working on coming up with a Water Quality Index

  • A certain and easy way to find out pollution levels in water will be introduced in the coming weeks.
  • Based on the proposal of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is working on coming up with a Water Quality Index, on the lines of Air Quality Index (AQI).
  • A committee has been formed with senior environment scientists from Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other States to formulate models to assess the water quality.
  • The members felt that the present classification was not rational. The committee, which met twice till now, has closely studied similar models existing in Australia and Canada.
  • Taking four perimeters into consideration, the committee has developed three different models.
  • The Pollution Control Boards of various States are at present testing the models and checking for the accuracy of the output.
  • By this month end, the final draft of the Water Quality Index will be ready and it will reviewed by the Chairman of the CPCB after which it will be made public.
  • The pollution boards will use the formulae developed by them to check for the quality of the water bodies and upload it on their websites.
  • The committee members also want to classify the lakes, groundwater and the coastal waters across the country based on the Water Quality Index.

The country is likely to get more rain than was originally forecast

  • The country is likely to get more rain than was originally forecast in April, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
  • Rainfall would be ‘normal’ and around 98% of the Long Period Average (LPA), the IMD said in an update. This is 2% more than the 96% or ‘near normal’ rain it had forecast in April.
  • In the update, the IMD also said rains in July and August, the most important monsoon months for the kharif crops, would be 96% and 99% respectively, of what was normal.
  • Spatially too, the IMD expects a balanced geographical distribution.
  • The season rainfall is likely to be 96% of the historical average in north-west India, 100% of the LPA over central India, 99% of the LPA over the south peninsula, and 96% of the LPA over north-east India, with a model error of ± 8 %.
  • The LPA is a 50-year average of the monsoon rains in India.
  • The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has registered the child-friendly HIV drug in oral pellet form, ending months of uncertainty for the HIV community.
  • This has opened up crucial supplies from Cipla Pharmaceuticals, a market leader in the HIV segment, to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACO), which had been struggling to source quality assured paediatric formulations of the drug.
  • India ran out of Lopinavir syrup, a child-friendly HIV drug, in March after Cipla — the sole manufacturer of the drug — stopped production consequent to non-payment by the Health Ministry.
  • The drug’s adult version has to be swallowed whole and thus cannot be administered to infants and young children.
  • In March, over 600 children had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for a quick resolution to the matter.
  • On May 25, an expert committee of the CDSCO had permitted the child-friendly and heat-stable pellet formulation of the HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) to be registered.
  • The pellets, which come in capsules and are dosed by weight, can be sprinkled (but not stirred or crushed) over a small amount of soft food. For infants — who must be able to swallow them — the pellets can be added to a spoonful of breast milk or put on the infant’s tongue.

IMD says El Niño is weaker than predicted

  • The India Meteorological Department’s optimism about more rainfall is largely premised on hopes that a strong El Nino, which, as per its earlier forecast, was expected to surface in the later half of the monsoon, would now be much weaker than anticipated.
  • In April, the IMD had said there was a 38% chance of near normal rains (96% of the LPA). Now the models showed a 50% chance.
  • The El Nino — characterised by surface waters of the equatorial Pacific warming up by more than half a degree — is known to dry up monsoon rain every six out of 10 years.
  • A positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is said to buffer the impact of El Nino and contribute to better rains.
  • The IOD is a swing in surface temperatures that turns the western Indian Ocean alternately warmer and then colder than the eastern part of the ocean.
  • In April, the IMD shifted to using a new monsoon forecast system, called a dynamical model that works by supercomputers simulating the weather and extrapolating it.
  • It plans to make this as the base for all future forecasts, ranging from short-term weekly forecasts to the trajectory of the four-month- long monsoon.
  • However, for its June update, the IMD chose to rely on its workhorse statistical model that forecasts the monsoon based on six meteorological parameters.
  • The dynamical model, according to the IMD statement, showed monsoon rains to be 89 cm or 100% of the LPA.
  • Private weather forecaster Skymet said it was sticking to its “below normal” forecast at 95% (with an error margin of +/-5%) of the LPA. Rainfall for July stood at 94%, while for August it was 93% of the historical average.

India says it has signed the agreement for protection of climate

  • India rejected U.S. President's allegation that it had joined the Paris climate agreement for a large financial incentive.
  • External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj described the allegation as “unreal” and said India did not join the agreement for “financial greed.”
  • We signed the agreement for our commitment to protection of climate,” Ms. Swaraj said, explaining the reasons for India joining the agreement.
  • “Worship of forests, worship of rivers, worship of mountains continue even now in India. These actions are part of India’s ethos that are five thousand years old. These are all heritage of India.
  • That is why I am rejecting the allegations completely and that is why India will continue to remain in the Paris agreement framework, whether the U.S. continues in it or not,” she said.
  • Ms. Swaraj also flagged the growing focus on H-1B visas in the U.S. as an Indian concern, and said the government was alert to the risks on this front. “Since 2004 a cap has been in place for 65,000 visas.
  • There are no changes in the lottery process and in visas for our Ph. D students; but, yes, we have concerns.
  • I want to assure the country that we are in touch with U.S. Congress members and the Trump administration so that no amendments are brought to the law so that Indian interests are not hurt.”
  • The External Affairs Minister said that as of now, there were no plans of a meeting between Mr. Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the SCO summit scheduled in Astana for June 8 and 9.
  • “We are willing for talks on all issues. Second, talks should be held between two parties. Third, terror and talks will not go ahead together — these are our three pillars.
  • Pakistan needs to create humane conditions for facilitating humanitarian ties with India. I myself went for the Heart of Asia summit, but within a week we were given the attack on Pathankot,” she said.

313 species of animal and 186 of plants discovered in the country last year

  • On World Environment Day, India has 499 reasons to cheer: 313 species of animal and 186 of plants have been discovered from various areas of the country last year.
  • Animal Discoveries 2016, New Species and Records , brought out by the Zoological Survey of India on Monday, and Plant Discoveries 2016 , by the Botanical Survey of India, bring the glad tidings.
  • Of the new animal species, 258 are invertebrates and 55 vertebrates. As many as 97 species of insects, 27 of fish, 12 species of amphibians, 10 of Platyhelminthes, nine of Crustacea and six of reptiles have been discovered and described by the scientists.
  • There are 61 species of moths and butterflies (order Lepidoptera) and 38 of beetles (Coloeptera).
  • Most of the new species were from the four biological hotspots of the country — the Himalayas, the Northeast, the Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
  • Animal Discoveries 2016 says that for the first time, the number of animal species in the country, including protozoa, has crossed one lakh — 1,00,693 is the exact count.
  • Plant Discoveries 2016 says that along with 186 new species, scientists have discovered seven new genera, four subspecies and nine new varieties from India, taking the number to 206.
  • The geographical distribution of the new plant species reveals that most discoveries were made in the Western Ghats (17%), followed by the Eastern Himalayas (15%), the Western Himalayas (13%), the Eastern Ghats (12%) and the west coast (8%).

EVM went unchallenged, with CPI deciding only to understand its functioning

  • The electronic voting machine (EVM) went unchallenged, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) deciding only to understand its functioning and the Nationalist Congress Party opting out.
  • Calling it a mutual learning exercise, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told presspersons that the memory and battery numbers of the machines could not be provided to the NCP in advance as they were kept sealed in warehouses.
  • The EC, through a letter to the NCP, said the party conveyed that it would only participate in the event as an “academic exercise”.
  • The NCP’s representatives also had two rounds of meetings with the EC, and a detailed interaction with the Technical Experts Committee on EVMs.
  • Expressing hope that the exercise had put to rest all the doubts about EVM security, Dr. Zaidi said the NCP could participate in future.

U.S. stopped implementation of commitments under the Paris agreement

  • The U.S. has stopped implementation of its commitments under the Paris climate agreement signed by 195 countries in 2015.
  • The accord “would undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty…,” Mr. Trump, who had campaigned in the 2016 election promising to pull out from it, said.
  • The Paris agreement gives undue advantage to India and China, “the world’s leading polluters”, at the cost of U.S. interests, Mr. Trump said, unravelling a critical area of mutual interest and cooperation between New Delhi and Washington in recent years.
  • India ratified the agreement last year, and former President Barack Obama considered it as a defining legacy of his tenure.
  • Mr. Trump’s tirade against India, whose per capita carbon emission is one-tenth of the U.S., comes ahead of a likely visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington later this month.
  • “India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries,”

World’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite is at stake

  • Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump meet for the first bilateral in Washington.
  • At stake is the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO.
  • The satellite aims to study global environmental change and natural disasters. However, climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration.
  • Mr. Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that “the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”.
  • Recently, the U.S. walked out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty while India continues to honour its commitments.
  • Can a middle ground be found or can the jointly-made satellite escape President Trump’s anti-climate change gaze?
  • This is what is worrying scientists at Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, where at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory work has begun in full earnest to realise the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite called NISAR.
  • Scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad are also anxious as they go about fabricating unique components for the massive satellite.

India will formally become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

  • India will formally become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) within a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said as he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the annual bilateral summit.
  • Mr. Putin said,“I would like to remind that process was launched in 2015 in Ufa, Russia. Russia has always supported this and given full assistance to it.”
  • “Very soon, in one week, we are going to meet in Kazakhstan (for SCO)” where India’s membership will be confirmed, he told Mr. Modi.
  • Mr. Modi thanked Putin for his “active role” in getting India SCO membership.

Nandini K.R. from Bangalore topped the Civil Services Examination

  • Nandini K.R. from Bangalore topped the Civil Services Examination 2016, the final results of which were declared by the Union Public Service Commission.
  • An Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Ms Nandini, who hails from Kolar in Karnataka, cracked the exam in her fourth attempt.
  • Anmol Sher Singh Bedi, who graduated with a B.E. degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani, secured the second rank.
  • “It is like a dream come true. I always wanted to be an IAS officer,” Ms Nandini told PTI from the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics in Faridabad, where she is undergoing probation.
  • “I put in a lot of effort. After getting selected in the IRS in 2014, I had taken the exam again in 2015 but could not crack it. I took the test again and topped it. It is a wonderful experience,” she said.
  • The top 10 candidates included Bilal Mohiuddin Bhat from the remote border district of Handwara in North Kashmir.
  • Currently a Indian Forest Service officer based in Lucknow, Mr Bhat would have crossed 32 years, the cutoff age for appearing for the examination, in November this year. He had appeared for the examination four times.

New centres of influence and new engines of growth are emerging says PM

  • Enhancing bilateral trade, nuclear and technology cooperation will be at the top of the agenda, but multilateral issues will hold centre stage during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at St. Petersburg.
  • “New centres of influence and new engines of growth are emerging,” he said adding that India and Russia were “natural partners” in fighting terrorism, and promoting a multipolar international system.
  • The PM’s words are significant as they come amid a visible strain in India-Russia ties that have further strained since his last meeting with President Putin in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October 2016, and rising discomfort over Russia’s growing alliance with China and ties with Pakistan.
  • The BRICS meeting came against the backdrop of the Uri attacks, as well as Russia’s decision to go ahead with military exercises with Pakistan despite the Modi government’s publicly stated policy of “isolating” Pakistan.
  • At the BRICS meet, as well as in December 2016 at the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, MEA officials conceded, Russia was not as forthcoming in support of their formulations on “cross-border” terror as India expected.
  • India’s other worry has been over Russia folding into Chinese President Xi’s prestige project, the Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI) on the back of the Chinese investment in the $400 billion Russia-China Power of Siberia gas pipeline that is expected to be operational by 2019-2020.
  • India’s strident objections to the B&RI and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor on sovereignty issues led to it boycotting the B&R Forum in Beijing in May, whereas President Putin met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping in the first such meeting of its kind instead.
  • The grouping is particularly problematic for India, given that it will enter the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Pakistan next week, when Mr. Modi travels to Kazakhstan.
  • During the summit on June 1, PM Modi and President Putin are expected to spell out a “joint vision statement” aimed at re-energising the relationship on the bilateral, and also the multilateral sphere.
  • In an editorial this week, Mr. Putin called the two countries “equal partners in international affairs”, suggesting that a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and India, as well as developing the International North South Transport Corridor would be a part of it.

Rajasthan High Court asked the State to get the cow declared a national animal

  • Rajasthan High Court asked the State to get the cow declared a national animal and wanted the penalty for cow slaughter raised from the 10-year prison term to life term.
  • The 139-page judgment, delivered by Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma on the day of his retirement, listed 11 benefits of cow urine and seven advantages of consumption of cow ghee and panchagavya.

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