Current Affairs July 2017

1. Current Affairs
July 2
Anirudh Reddy

2. India

3. GST training under PMKVY
 The Central government has launched a GST Training programme to skill 2 lakh
youths in 6 months on how to handle tax compliance issues like invoice making.
This program will be under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

4. Malaria Elimination Plan(2017-2022)
 Malaria elimination deadline has been set at 2027
 Female Anopheles mosquito/plasmodium protozoa
 Ronald Ross (1902) / Tu Youyou (2015) – anti malarial drug Artemisin
 World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Sri Lanka Malaria-free
 dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis,Zika fever

5. M-cap
 Reliance Industries Limited/Mukesh Ambani/Rs. 5 lakh crore mark in market
capitalization for the first time.
 TATA Consultancy Service was the first company to hit the Rs. 5 Lakh crore mark in
July 2014.
 Reliance/TCS/HDFC
 Apple/Alpahbet/Microsoft

6. BharatNet project
 the backbone of Digital India
 BharatNet Project is the new brand name of the National Optical Fibre Network
 provide broadband connectivity to all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through
optical fibre
 Digital India – digitally empowered society
 3 areas – infrastructure/ governance and services /empowerment

8. India-Japan civil nuclear agreement
 Japan to export nuclear power plant technology and finance for nuclear power
plants in India.
 It will also assist India in nuclear waste management and could undertake joint
manufacture of nuclear power plant components under the Make India initiative
 India signed a landmark nuclear deal with the US in 2008
 But with Japanese companies in possession of critical technologies
 Fukushima accident
 Why nuclear power?

10. Paika Rebellion
 1817 – Odisha -200 years- leadership of Baxi Jagandhu Bidyadhara
 the Paika Rebellion of 1817 was India’s first organized rebellion against British Raj.
 Paika - peasant militias of the Gajapati rulers of Odisha who rendered military
service to the king during times of war while taking up cultivation during times of
peace
 The British, having established their sway over Bengal Province and Madras
Province to the north and south of Odisha, occupied it in 1803.
 Paikas attacked British symbols of power, setting ablaze police stations,
administrative offices and the treasury .

11. Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana
 under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-
NRLM).
 an alternative source of livelihoods to members of Self Help Groups under the
DAY-NRLM by facilitating them to operate public transport services in backward
rural areas.

12. Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana
(PMVVY)
 a pension scheme exclusively for senior citizens aged 60 years and above.
 guaranteed interest of 8% for 10 years
 Life Insurance Corporation of India has been given the sole responsibility to
operate the scheme

13. World Economic Outlook
 In the July World Economic Outlook Update by the International Monetary Fund,
India’s projected GDP growth is at 7.2% for 2017-18, up from 7.1% in the last year.
 Reports
 Ease of doing business – World bank
 Global financial stability report – IMF
 Corruption perception index – transparency international
 Intellectual property index- US chamber of commerce
 World happiness report –UN sustainable development solutions network

14. 498A of IPC
 The Supreme Court has ruled that police can’t arrest an accused without
conducting a preliminary inquiry in dowry harassment cases under S. 498A of the
IPC.
 husband or the relative of the husband/ non-bailable
 all the accused are to be arrested as soon as the case is filed

15. Delhi Metro
 The Delhi Metro has become the world’s first completely ‘green’ Metro system
 green building norms for its residential colonies.
 Delhi Metro has secured the platinum rating for adherence to green building
norms for its 10 residential colonies from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

16. Apni Gaddi Apna Rozgar
 Punjab government has recently announced the launch of its flagship ‘Apni Gaddi
Apna Rozgar’ scheme
 UberMoto – 100 bikes
 Under the scheme, the state government will be providing commercial two
wheelers and four wheelers to unemployed youth at subsidized rates.

17. Jiyo Parsi
 aims at containing the declining trend of population of the Parsi community and
reverses it to bring their
 population above the threshold level.
 Parsi/Iran/Zorastrianism/Zend avesta

18. World

19. Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
 Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister, released the National Trade Facilitation Action
Plan.
 He said that the WTO-Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) was a major milestone for
the global trading system.
 TFA- outcome of WTO’s 9th Bali (Indonesia) ministerial package of 2013.
 aims to simplify customs regulations for the cross-border movement of goods
 Lowering import tariffs and agricultural subsidies/Abolish hard import
quotas/Reduction in red tape at international borders

20. Country Report on terrorism
 US State Department’s Country Report on terrorism
 India had the 3rd highest number of terrorist attacks in 2016
 The Top 3 countries are Iraq, Afghanistan and India.

21. Nawaz Sharif
 Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has resigned from office
 Supreme Court of the country disqualified him due to the Panama papers scandal.
 No democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan has successfully completed a
full term in office in the country’s entire history.

22. India Beef export
 India’s is the world’s 3rd biggest exporter of beef according to the OECD-FAO
agricultural Outlook 2017-2026.
 Brazil is the world’s top beef exporter and then Australia.
 ban the sale of animals for slaughtering.

23. Hambantota deep-sea port
 Sri Lanka Ports Authority has signed a US $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70% stake of the
strategic
 Hambantota deep-sea port to China. This port is a deep- water port in Southern Sri
Lanka.
 Part of china’s Maritime Silk road
 The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road --- The One
Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR)
 Other ports
 Chabahar Port – Iran – built by India
 Gwadar Port – Pakistan – built by China

26. Technology & science

27. SOHUM
 low cost hearing screening device for newborns
 It has been invented by School of International Biodesign (SIB) startup Sohum
Innovation Labs India Pvt Ltd under Department of Biotechnology (DBT) supported
(SIB).
 It is a low cost portable device which uses brain-stem auditory evoked response, a
best screening choice.

28. spider silk
 Super-stretchy and strong artificial (synthetic) spider silk,
 By scientists of University of Cambridge.
 The synthetic spider silk mimics properties of spider silk,
 Spider silk one of nature’s strongest materials for a range of applications such as
making eco-friendly textiles and sensors.

29. first Bio-CNG (bio methane) bus
 TATA Motors launched India’s first Bio-CNG (bio methane) bus at the Urja Utsav,
bioenergy programme, organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
 Fossil Fuel – Oil/Natural Gas/Coal

30. space observatory
 India’s first dedicated space observatory AstroSat along with other space and
earth-based
 observatories like Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope have detected a massive
coronal explosion on Proxima Centauri, one of sun’s closest star neighbour.
 The explosion has sent out powerful solar flare having energy about 100 times a
typical solar flare

31. Aarambh mobile app
 Aarambh mobile app
 maintenance contracting and community contracting for
 maintenance of rural roads was recently launched by Union Ministry of Rural
Development.

32. Codex Alimentarius / Food Code
 At its 40th session in Geneva, Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has
 adopted three Codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and
thyme.
 It is for first time pepper, cumin and thyme, spices will have such universal
standard

33. Gene Editing – CRISPR Cas9
 Scientists from the Oregon Health and Science University, USA have successfully
edited the genes of human embryos to correct defective DNA that cause inherited
diseases, for the first time.
 They used the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology to alter it and used a
process called germline engineering.

34. Sagar Vani
 an integrated information dissemination system
 will serve the coastal community, especially the fishermen community with the
advisories and alerts towards their livelihood as well as their safety at Sea.

35. Sprites
 World’s smallest spacecrafts - ‘Sprites’ by Breakthrough Starshot Initiative-Stephen
Hawking and Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner
 are successfully travelling in low Earth orbit and
 communicating with systems on Earth.
 These six prototypes of Sprites launched in June 2017
 smallest spacecrafts to have managed to established contact with ground stations.

36. Bio-glue
 super strong flexible Bio-glue for wound healing without causing toxicity.
 It has been inspired by an adhesive material (glue) secreted by slugs that sticks to
biological tissues

37. Liquid Nitrogen
 The Haryana government has banned flushing/mixing of liquid nitrogen with any
drink or food article.
 . The ban comes after a cocktail accident (due mixing of liquid nitrogen in cocktail)
at Gurgaon pub in April 2016 that burnt a hole in a man’s stomach.

38. Environment

39. , underwater ghost nets
 which are essentially abandoned, lost or dumped fishing nets have emerged as the
greatest killers of the marine ecosystem off Kerala coast.
 These ghost notes may have long-term implications for marine life if no proper
correctives are taken to deal with them.
 It may become major threat to the natural habitat and breeding ground of
underwater fish.

40. Hywind
 The world’s first floating wind farm in Scotland
 which aims to bring power to 20,000 homes is being built at the
 The floating wind farm technology will allow wind power to be harvested in waters
that are too deep for the existing bottom—standing turbines particularly installed
in shallow waters.

41. flammable ice- frozen mixture of water and
gas
 China
 natural gas from methane hydrate also known as “flammable ice”
 experimental project in the South China Sea.
 South China Sea thought to contain some of the world’s most promising
flammable ice deposits.

42. PEOPLE IN NEWS

43. Superwoman
 Lilly Singh aka Superwoman - Canadian YouTuber
 UNICEF has appointed her as its newest global goodwill ambassador.

44. IIFA Awards
 The 18th International Indian Film Academy Awards was held in New York.
 Neerja won the best film,
 Shahid Kapoor won the Best Actor award -Udta Punjab
 Alia Bhatt won the Best Actress award - Udta Punjab
 Aniruddha roy Chowdhury won best director for Pink

45. Nelson Mandela
 18th July is celebrated as Nelson Mandela International Day. The Nelson Mandela
Foundation dedicated this year’s Mandela Day to Action Against Poverty.

46. Ram Nath Kovind
 India’s 14th President.
 After K R Narayanan, he will be the second Dalit leader
 Ram Nath Kovind was born in Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh and is an advocate by
profession

47. Lal Krishna Advani
 Veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani received the Lifetime Achievement Awardfor
his contributions as a Parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha.

48. E. Mammen
 E. Mammen, a freedom fighter
 pacifist and a follower of MK Gandhi.

49. Sanjay Kothari
 Secretary to the President-elect Ram Nath Kovind
 Was the Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board
 Ashok Malik was named as the Press Secretary

50. SPORTS

51. 2017 Wimbledon title
 Roger Federer vs Marin Cilic of Croatia.
 8th Wimbledon title and 19th Grand Slam.
 He is now Wimbledon’s oldest champion succeeding Arthur Ashe, who was 32
when he won in 1976.
 Grand slams – 4 major tournments
 Australian Open in January, - Federer
 the French Open in May and June – Nadal
 Wimbledon in July
 US Open in August and September

52. Harinder Pal Sandhu
 won the Victoria Open squash tournament held in Melbourne,Australia
 after beating Rex Hedrick from Australia.

53. World Para Athletics
Championships 2017
 Karamjyoti Dalal from India has won the bronze medal at the in discus-throw.
 Sundar Singh Gurjar who won gold in men’s javelin throw event
 Amit Saroha who won silver in the club throw event.
 biennial Paralympic athletics event, were first held in 1994 in Berlin, Germany

54. ICC Women’s World Cup
 England beat India by 9 runs to win the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup that
 This was England’s 4th title win among the 11 editions
 The Player of the Series was Tammy Beaumont
 The most successful team in the tournament over the years has been Australia (6
times)
India has one the World Cup twice

55. H S Prannoy
 H S Prannoy won the 2017 Yonex US Open Grand Gold badminton tournament
championship.
 This is his third grand prix gold in badminton

56.  Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari won the Hungarian Grand Prix.

57. DEFENCE

58. USS Gerald R Ford
 the world’s largest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Naval Station Norfolk,
Virginia has been inducted into the US Navy.

59. Operation Vijay
 The 18th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas was celebrated across India.
 This day celebrates the success of Operation Vijay and recognises the sacrifice of
Indian soldier during the 1999 War with Pakistan.

60. Shachi and Shruti
 Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited
 launched the first 2 Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels- Shachi and Shruti
 at the shipyard in Pipavav, Gujarat.
 They are the first warships to be launched by a private sector shipyard in India.

61. Muntra
 Muntra, India’s first unmanned, remotely operated tank
 Defence Research and Development Organisation at its Chennai lab.
 It has been launched in three variants Muntra-S, Muntra-M and Muntra-N for
surveillance, mine detection and reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and
biological threats