CURRENT GK
1.Minister of Railways Inaugurates Madgaon leg of the Science Express :-
The IX Phase of the prestigious Science Express exhibition train which is on a Nationwide tour since 17 February 2017 reached Madgaon in Goa on 11 July 2017.
This phase of train is being referred as ‘Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS)’ highlighting the global challenge of climate change.
Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Inaugurated this Madgaon leg of Science Express today through Video Conferencing from Delhi. SECAS is focusing on Climate Change and Science & Technology.
- Odisha to set up international standard sports city :-
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced to set up the Kalinga International Sports City in the state capital to organize mega international events in future.
“The proposed sports city would make eligible to bid for most international competitions including Commonwealth and Asian Games.
With an aim to provide best of the sports infrastructures in other parts of the state, CM also announced to set up four satellite stadiums with world class infrastructures in four other municipal corporations– Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela.
3.2-day Conference on Crowd Management begins in Kerala :-
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) jointly with the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) is organising a two-day national-level conference on ‘Crowd Management’ at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, starting today.
The conference aims to strengthen the capacity of all the stakeholders to organise safe mass gathering events.
Shri E. Chandrasekharan, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Kerala, inaugurated the conference and stressed upon the need to understand risks related to crowded assemblies and to develop specific guidelines for planning and inter-agency coordination.
4.First Edition of WINGS 2017 – “Sab Uden, Sab Juden” Hosted in New Delhi :-
The First edition of WINGS 2017 – “Sab Uden, Sab Juden”- Expanding Regional Connectivity was hosted in New Delhi by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The Plenary session was chaired by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju and the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri Jayant Sinha was also present on this occasion.
India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets and currently the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world.It is projected to be the third largest aviation market by 2020.
5.Shri J P Nadda launches new family planning initiatives on World Population Day :-
“Mission Parivar Vikas will focus on 146 high fertility districts in 7 states with high TFR. Under this, specific targeted initiatives shall be taken for population stabilisation through better services delivery”.
This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare at a function organised by Jansankhya Sthirita Kosh (JSK) to mark the World Population Day, here today. Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State (HFW) also graced the occasion.
6.Women’s World Cup: India will be keen to bounce back against Australia :-
With its four-match unbeaten streak brought to a halt, India will be keen to bounce back and take a step towards securing a semifinals spot when it takes on Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup here on Wednesday.
India was on a dream run beating England, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka before South Africa disturbed its momentum with a massive win.
- Gujarat government to take out Narmada Rath Yatra :-
The Gujarat government has decided to celebrate the completion of Sardar Sarovar dam work on river Narmada by taking out a ‘Narmada Rath Yatra’ covering 10,000 villages across the state under the ‘Maa Narmada Mahotsav’ programme.
Gujarat CM launched a website having all the information related to the entire project, such as Narmada river basin, Sauni scheme, Sujalam Sufalam irrigation scheme and canal network.
8.India to celebrate Falun Gong :-
Falun Gong, the ancient Chinese holistic system that is banned in China, will be celebrated in India on July 15 with a parade and Human Word Formation in the capital. Organisers of the event, Falun Dafa Association of India, which has been teaching Falun Gong in India, said the event would highlight the persecution against the practitioners in China.
Apart from the parade of July 15, the group will hold events and public interactions at Gandhi Smriti, Rajghat on July 14 and 15.
9.President launches three digital initiatives in education sector :-
President Pranab Mukherjee launched two programmes and ‘National Academic Depository’ to take education to the remotest corners of the country with the help of technology.
The programmes Swayam and Swayam Prabha — for making education more accessible — and the depository were conceived and executed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Under Swayam, courses would be offered through digital classrooms with online study material available free of cost in videos.
Swayam Prabha would tap into the potential of Direct to Home Service wherein a person can install a dish antenna for about Rs 1,500 and have access to 32 digital educational channels run by the HRD Ministry.
‘National Academic Depository’ verified educational records would be digitally stored by universities or a board to counter forgery.
10.Ravi Shastri confirmed as India coach :-
After days of speculation and a few false starts, on Tuesday night, Ravi Shastri was named as the next head coach of the Indian cricket team.
Hours after acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Chaudhary insisted that there was no decision yet, but was expected by the end of the day, Shastri, who has been in charge of the team twice before, was appointed for the next three years, till the 2019 World Cup.
11.NITI Aayog sorts out the pending issues of Punjab with various Ministries of Union Government :-
NITI Aayog is closely working with the States to foster cooperative federalism through structured support and mechanisms. One of the mandates assigned to NITI Aayog is to offer a platform for resolution of pending issues with the Central Government to accelerate the implementation of developmental agenda of the States.
In this regard, a meeting was held on 11th July, 2017 under the Chairmanship of Dr.
Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog with the Senior Officers of Government of Punjab headed by Chief Secretary Sh. Karan Avtar Singh and officers of Central Ministries.
12.Unified Commanders’ Conference Deliberates on Tri-Services Synergy :-
The two day Unified Commanders’ Conference came to a close on 11 July 2017 at New Delhi.
The conference, which was attended by the RM, RRM, NSA, Service Chiefs and senior dignitaries from Tri-Services Establishments and the MoD discussed all relevant issues including functional and operational synergy, enhancement of training curriculum in Armed Forces Training Institutes among others.
13.No GST is applicable on free food supplied in anna kshetras run by religious institutions :-
There are media reports suggesting that GST applies on free food supplied in anna kshetras run by religious institutions. This is completely untrue. No GST is applicable on such food supplied free.
Further, prasadam supplied by religious places like temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, dargahs, etc. attracts Nil CGST and SGST or IGST, as the case may be.
14.The Minister of State of Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal to release a Compendium of CSR : Best Practices in India :-
The Minister of State of Corporate Affairs and Finance, Government of India Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal would Release the Compendium of CSR: Best Practices in Indiatomorrow, 12th July, 2017 at Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) Campus at Manesar, District. Gurgaon, Haryana.
Indian Social Responsibility Network (ISRN), a forum for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) are jointly organizing the Release of Compendium of CSR: Best Practices in India to highlight and motivate the best CSR practices of Corporate contributed under CSR projects towards nation building efforts for sustainable development.
