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Facts in News (July Edition II)
Bills, Programs, Policies, Schemes, Orders, Judgements

Headline Description
Second  Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

Anniversary of celebrated the second anniversary of Skill India Mission on the World
Skill India Youth Skills day on 15th July.
Mission  On the occasion, MSDE announced a national training Programme to
certify GST practitioners under its flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
 The event also witnessed the distribution of certificates for short-
term/ Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) certificates to candidates
trained under PMKVY.
 To keep up with the changing competitive world, new accreditation
and affiliation guidelines for ITIs were released by the guests of
honour.
 MSDE also launched Takshashila - a portal for trainers and assessors.
National  NPTEL is a joint initiative of the IITs and IISc.
Programme on  It offers 160 free online courses in various categories like agriculture,
Technology computer science, management studies, mathematics and basic
Enhanced sciences, engineering and humanities.
Learning  In news because IIT-Kharagpur has decided to create awareness
about this programme among the students from eastern India.
 While over 5 lakh students had enrolled for NPTEL courses this year,
only about 7% of them are from eastern India.
Jan Dhan  Deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have touched Rs. 64,564 crore.
deposits surge  Out of this amount, Rs. 300 crore came in the first seven months of
demonetisation.
 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana aims at bringing hitherto unbanked
areas and people under a formal banking system.
 The bank accounts can be opened with a zero balance under the
scheme.
Aadhaar and  A 9-judge Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) will hear the question
right to privacy whether privacy is a fundamental human right and is part of the basic
structure of the Constitution.
 Petitioners have argued that right to privacy is part of Article 21, the
right to life, and interspersed in Article 19, though not explicitly
stated in the Constitutions.
 Two judgements of the SC – the M.P. Sharma case verdict
pronounced by an 8-judge Bench in 1954 and the Kharak Singh case
verdict of 1962 by a 6-judge Bench – had concluded that privacy was
not a fundamental or ‘guaranteed’ right.
 Though smaller SC Benches have, over the years, differed and held
that privacy is indeed basic to our Constitution and a fundamental
right.
Traditional  Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a pioneering Indian
Knowledge of initiative to prevent exploitation and to protect Indian traditional
Indigenous knowledge from wrongful patents mainly at International Patent
Medicinal Offices.
Systems  TKDL contains Indian traditional medicine knowledge available in
public domain and pertains to classical/ traditional books related to
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Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in a digitized format and is available in

five international languages (English, French, German, Spanish and
Japanese).
 Under the Scheme funds are provided to CSIR, the implementation
agency of the TKDL Project.
National Bamboo  National Bamboo Mission has been renamed as National Agro-
Mission renamed Forestry & Bamboo Mission (NABM).
as National Agro-  Under the Mission, steps are taken to provide assistance to
Forestry & farmers/bamboo growers for nursery establishment, plantations in
Bamboo Mission non-forest area, imparting training for preparation of nurseries &
bamboo plantations, establishing of bamboo markets for farmer
products, etc.
Manav Suraksha  A draft law to deal with mob lynching was prepared by the civil
Kanoon society led by the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching.
(MASUKA)  It is likely to be introduced in the parliament as a private member’s
bill.
Admiralty Bill  The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill,
2017 has been passed by both the houses of the parliament.
 It seeks to consolidate the laws relating to admiralty jurisdiction, legal
proceedings in connection with vessels, their arrest, detentions, sale
and other related matters.
 While earlier only the High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras
could take up maritime cases, the Bill extends the power to the High
Courts of Karnataka, Kerala, Hyderabad, Orissa and Gujarat, besides
any other High Courts as notified by the Centre.
Rajya Sabha  Rajya Sabha has passed the Indian Institute of Information
passes the IIIT- Technology Public Private Partnership (IIIT-PPP) Bill 2017.
PPP Bill 2017  The bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha.
 This bill is required to grant degrees to the students IIITs set up in
PPP mode.
 It will also grant statutory status to the fifteen IIITs established in PPP
mode and declare them Institutes of National Importance.
NITSER  NITSER (National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and
Amendment Bill Research) Amendment Bill has been passed in Rajya Sabha.
passed in Rajya  The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in March, 2017.
Sabha  The Bill proposes to introduce two new Institutions namely Indian
Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati and
IISER Berhampur in the Second Schedule of the NITSER Act, 2007.
 Five IISERs at Kolkata (2006), Pune (2006), Mohali (2007), Bhopal
(2008) and Thiruvananthapuram (2008) mandated with promoting
quality education and research in the sciences were established.
 With the establishment of the two new IISERs there are now seven
IISERs.
Compulsory  The Lok Sabha has passed a Bill that offers untrained teachers
Education teaching in schools time till March 31, 2019 to acquire B. El. Ed
(Amendment) (Bachelor of Elementary Education) or D. El. Ed. (Diploma in
Bill, 2017 Elementary Education) qualifications to hold their jobs as teachers.
 This was done through an amendment to the Right to Education Act,
2009.
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National
Ramakrishna  In 2015, the Central government decided to bring workers in all

Math institutions charitable and religious trusts, employing more than 20 workers,
to stay out of under the social security fold.
EPFO coverage  So, all religious trusts and places – maths, temples, gurudwars, and
churches – employing at least 20 workers were required to extend
provident fund benefits to their staff.
 However, Institutions under the Ramakrishna Math and
Ramakrishna Mission will continue to remain outside the purview of
the Employees’ provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
 EPFO- The Employees' Provident Fund is a retirement benefit
scheme that’s available to all salaried employees working in a formal
sector. This fund is managed by Employees Provident Fund
Organisation of India (EPFO) which is a statutory body.
Amarnath yatra  Amarnath yatra is an annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Lord Shiva
in J&K.
 The yatra remains open only for
 In news after a terrorist attack on 10th July left 8 dead and another
incident on 16th July where 17 died after a bus carrying the pilgrims
fell into a gorge.
Highest voter  The total value of the votes of the Electoral College, which comprises
turnout for 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs, is 10,98903.
presidential  In terms of the value of the votes, the Sikkim Assembly has the
elections lowest of 7 and UP the highest of 208.
 A total of 771 MPs were eligible for participating in the election
process.
 The presidential election in Monday recorded probably the highest
ever turnout of over 99%.
Low water storage  The storage in all four reservoirs of the Cauvery basin – Krishnaraja
in Cauvery basin Sagar, Kabini, Hemavati and Harangi – is currently 21.43 tmcft which
is less than 50% of what it was last year.
 Cauvery is originates in the Kodagu hills in Karnataka.
 It flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
 Its tributaries are which include Shimsa, Hemavathi, Honnuhole,
Arkavathi, Kapila, Lakshmana Theertha, Kabini, Lokapavani,
Bhavani, Noyil and Amaravathy.
 The sharing of waters of the Cauvery River has been the source of a
serious conflict between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Debate on J&K’s  J&K has a special autonomous status under Articles 35A and 370.
special status  The Centre has asked the Supreme Court for a detailed heading on
the special status granted to J&K.
 Its special status is sourced from the 1954 presidential order, which
gave special rights to the State’s permanent residents.
 Earlier, the J&K High Court had ruled that Article 370 though titles
as ‘Temporary Provision’ and included in Para XXI titled
‘Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions’ has assumed place
of permanence in the Constitution and is beyond amendment or
repeal.
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Cauvery water  At the time of the 1924 agreement for water sharing, Tamil Nadu was
dispute entitled to develop only 21.38 lakh acres for irrigation.
 However, even as the 1924 agreement continued, the State had
developed 28.2 lakh acres for irrigation utilising 566 tmcft of Cauvery
water.
Cattle laws  Answering to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Harsh
Vardhan said that under the distribution of legislative powers
between the Union of India and the states under Article 246(3) of the
Constitution, the preservation of cattle is a matter on which the
legislature of the states have exclusive powers to legislate.
International  The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is bracing for a
Civil Aviation safety oversight audit by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation Organisation(ICAO), in November this year.
safety audit  ICAO is UN body.
 ICAO conducts audit in areas related to legislation, organisation,
licensing, operation, airworthiness, accident investigation, air
navigation and aerodromes.
Paika rebellion  Odisha government has proposed to the Centre to declare the Paika
Rebellion of 1817 as the first war of independence.
 The President of India has inaugurated the 200th anniversary
celebrations of the Paika Rebellion of Odisha (July 20, 2017).
 Pre-dating what has been popularly regarded as the fist war of
independence in 1857, the Paika Bidroha (Paika Rebellion) of 1817 in
Odisha briefly shook the foundations of British rule in the eastern
part of India.
 Paikas were essentially the 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.
 They unfurled the banner of rebellion against the British under the
leadership of Baxi Jagandhu Bidyadhara as early as 1817 to throw off
the British yoke.
Institutes of  The Lok Sabha has passed a Bill to declare the Indian Institutions of
National Information Technology (IIITs) as Institutes of National Importance
Importance (INIs).
President of India  Ram Nath Kovind becomes the 14th President of India.
 He received 65.6% of vote defeating the Opposition’s joint candidate
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who secured 34% of the vote.
 The value of each vote of an MP was 708.
 Among the States, each vote in Uttar Pradesh had the highest value
of 208, while each vote from Sikkim had the lowest value of 7.
CAG audit finds  A CAG audit report tabled in Parliament has found severe
deficiencies in deficiencies in the catering services of the Indian Railways and
Railways food critical deficiencies in the availability and quality of War Wastage
and army’s Reserve ammunition supplied by Ordnance Factory Board.
ammunition
reserves
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Invisible money  Union Finance Minister has blamed the Election Commission for
in polls failing to check the use of ‘invisible money’ in elections.
Speaker suspends  Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has suspended 6 Congress MPs
6 MPs for five days for “unruly behaviour” and “disrupting the proceedings
of the House.
 As per the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Lok
Sabha, the Speaker has been vested with the powers to suspend a
member of the parliament for unruly behaviour.
A memorial for  PM Modi inaugurated a memorial for the ex-President of India APJ
APJ Abdul Kalam Abdul Kalam at Peikarambu in Tamil Nadu.
 The memorial has replicas of rockets and missiles on display on
which Kalam had worked.
 It was built at a cost of Rs. 15 crore on land allotted by the Tamil
Nadu government at Kalam’s village Peikarambu.
SC uses its  The Supreme Court has used its extraordinary powers to allow two
extraordinary companies to withdraw from insolvency proceedings and settle their
powers loan disputes, despite the case being admitted to the National
Company Law Tribunal.
 Once the NCLT admits a case it cannot be withdrawn.
 However, the SC has the powers to do “complete justice” under
Article 142 of the Constitution.
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International
Peacekeepers  Indian peacekeepers in South Sudan have rescued more than a dozen
rescue humanitarian workers who came under heavy firing from unknown
humanitarian gunmen.
workers  The troops were serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan
(UNMISS) at Pibor.
 As of June this year, a total of 7676 Indian peacekeepers are serving
in UNMISS.
 The UN has no military forces of its own, and member countries
provide, on a voluntary basis, the military and police
personnel required for each peacekeeping operation.
 India is one of the largest contributor to peacekeeping force
Jadhav’s mercy  Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is “analysing” the
plea evidence against Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been
sentenced to death by a military court on spying charges.
 The International Court of Justice in The Hague had halted his
execution in May on India’s appeal.
Indonesia  Indonesia has named waters in its exclusive economic zone that
renames part of overlap with China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea as the
South China Sea North Natuna Sea, an assertion of sovereignty.
 China claims most of the South China Sea, putting it in dispute with
many Southeast Asian nations.
 China has also carried out extensive land reclamation and
construction on reefs and atolls to bolster its claims.
 Philippines also has claims to the South China Sea
USA recertifies  US President Donald Trump has reluctantly agreed to recertify that
Iran deal Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement brokered
by President Barack Obama.
 Earlier, Trump had strongly criticised the Iran deal.
 Later, the Trump administration unveiled new economic sanctions
against Iran over its ballistic missile programme and for contributing
to regional tensions.
 Iran’s parliament, Majlis, has voted to increase funds for the
country’s missile programme and for Quds Force, the foreign
operations wing of the Revolutionary Guards in response to USA’s
“adventurism” in the region.
 Quds Force leads Iran’s military role in Syria and Iraq.
China-India  China has insisted on withdrawal of Indian troops from the Doklam
boundary issue plateau as a precondition for negotiations.
 India shares a 4000 km long boundary with China.
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India-Japan Civil  The India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of
Nuclear deal Nuclear Energy entered into force on July 20, 2017.
 The pact was signed in Tokyo during the visit of PM Modi to Japan
in November 2016.
Indo-Srilanka  An Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed in July 1987 by the then Indian
Accord of 1987 PM Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka’s President J.R. Jayewardene.
 With the accord Sri Lanka promised a constitutional rearrangement
to share power with the Tamil minorities in the island nation.
 The Accord has completed 30 years.
Social
Kapu community  Police has laid a seize to stop Kapu leader Mudragada
demands BC Padmanabham’s proposed ‘Chalo Amaravati’ padayatra from July 26.
status in Andhra  The Kapus are demanding BC status for the community in the State.
Pradesh
Rights over  The All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) has demanded that the
Minor forest Odisha government deregularise kendu leaves (or tendu) to allow it s
produce direct trading though gram sabhas.
 Forest dwellers have the right of ownership, access to collect, use, and
dispose of Minor Forest produce like kendu leaves under Section
3(1)(c) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
 Maharashtra has already given the freedom to gram sabhas to either
manage or sell kendu leaves on their own with support of the
government departments or ask the forest department to do it.
 More than 100 gram sabhas in the area, are doing it with financial
support from the Maharashtra Tribal Development Corporation.
 This has increased the income of kendu leaf collectors.
Lingayat a  Lingayat ministers in Karnataka demand recognition of Lingayat as a
religion? religion.
 They say historically Lingayat was an independent religion founded
by Basavanna in the 12th century and it had never been part of
Hinduism. On the contrary it fought values based on the laws of
Manu.
 Lingayats were spread across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana,
Andhra Pradesh and other states.
 However, CM B.S. Yeddyurappa said that there was no difference
between Veerashaiva (the old Shaiva faith) and Lingayat (as the
followers of Basavanna call themselves) and that they are part of
Hinduism.
Tribal areas in  The Odisha Cabinet has decided to establish Special Development
Odisha Councils for nine tribal dominated districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar,
Sundergarh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri
and Nabarangpur.
 The councils will have representation from every tribe present in the
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district and will have decision-making powers and financial resources

to preserve, promote and develop their unique socio-cultural
identities and their economic capacities, he added.
 All the 62 tribes in the State will have representation in these councils.
 Tribals in Odisha constitute 22% of the State’s population and nearly
10% of the nation’s tribal population. Of the 62 distinct STs in the
State, 13 belong to the particularly vulnerable tribal groups.
Cabinet approves  The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime
revision of cost of Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of
Socio Economic Department of Rural Development for revision of cost of Socio
and Caste Census Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011).
2011  SECC allows ranking of households based on their socio economic
status.
 SECC-2011 provides the government the names and number of
families in each Panchayat and details their status on seven
deprivation parameters.
 The advantage of SECC is that it provides for programme specific
customized priority list to suit programme objective and budget
space to address specific deprivation.
 Before the availability of SECC -21011 data, Below Poverty Line (BPL)
list prepared in 2002, by States/UTs was being used for identifying
beneficiaries of development programmes and schemes.
District Mineral  The Centre for Science and Environment has said that Odisha’s
Foundation District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is not prioritising important social
(DMF) in Odisha areas as far as fund utilisation is concerned.
 Odisha is making the highest collection under the DMF in the country
with total cumulative collection of Rs. 1,932.5 crore followed by
Jharkhand with Rs. 1,056.2 crore and Chhattisgarh with Rs. 1,042
crore.
 Odisha’s six districts, including resource rich Keonjhar, Sundargarh
and Jharsuguda, have largely ignored vital areas like healthcare and
welfare of women and children in spite of faring very poorly on
health, mortality and nutrition indicators.
“Jiyo Parsi  “Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-2” was launched to increase the
Publicity Phase- population of Parsis in India.
2”  “Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-1” was initiated in 2013 for containing the
declining trend of population of the Parsi community and reverse it
to bring their population above the threshold level.
 Ministry of Minority Affairs’ scheme has two components: Medical
Assistance and Advocacy/Counselling.
 The scheme has been successful. 101 babies have been born in Parsi
community.
 Parzor Foundation was an important link between the Parsi
community and the government in success of “Jiyo Parsi” scheme.
And the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai; the Bombay
Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and Federation of Zoroastrian Anjumans of
India have also played a key role in this regard.
Slum Yuva Daud  The 12th and the final Slum Yuva Daud was held at Karol Bagh with
participation of around 6000 youngsters.
 It is an initiative to motivate the youth to work for a better tomorrow
and engage them in constructive activities to deter them from drug
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abuse, criminal activities and terrorism etc.

 The Slum Yuva Daud is part of the Adopt Slum Campaign initiated
by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan.
 Total 12 Slum Yuva Runs were organized across Delhi with a
combined participation of 60,000 youth.
Pradhan Mantri  The Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) was launched
Vaya Vandana on 21st July.
Yojana (PMVVY)  PMVVY is a Pension Scheme announced by the Government of India
exclusively for the senior citizens aged 60 years and above which is
available from 4thMay, 2017 to 3rd May, 2018.
 The Scheme can be purchased offline as well as online through Life
Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India which has been given the sole
privilege to operate this Scheme.
 Scheme provides an assured return of 8% p.a. payable monthly
(equivalent to 8.30% p.a. effective) for 10 years.
 Pension is payable at the end of each period, during the policy term
of 10 years, as per the frequency of monthly/ quarterly/ half-yearly/
yearly as chosen by the pensioner at the time of purchase.
 The scheme is exempted from Service Tax/ GST.
Every third child  A report released by Action-Aid India has revealed that every third
bride in the world child bride in the world is an Indian.
is Indian  Over 10 crore Indians, including 8.5 crore girls, are married off before
they turn 18.
 75% of child marriages took place in rural areas as on 2011.
Mentally retarded  The Supreme Court has held that a “mentally-retarded” adult cannot
adult not a child be considered a child and given refuge under the Protection of
Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012.
 The mother of a rape victim had moved the Supreme Court to
expand the definition of the term ‘child’ in Section 2(d) of the POCSO
Act.
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Health
“Sohum”- An  Government has launched an indigenously developed newborn

innovative hearing screening device – SOHUM.
Newborn hearing  This innovative medical device has been developed under
screening Device Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and
Technology.
 Sohum is a low cost and unique device which uses brainstem
auditory evoked response, the gold standard in auditory testing to
check for hearing response in a newborn.
 The portable Sohum Hearing Screening measures auditory brain
waves via three electrodes placed on the baby’s head. When
stimulated, they detect electrical responses generated by the brain’s
auditory system. If there is no response, the child cannot hear.
 The battery-operated device is non-invasive, which means babies do
not need to be sedated, which is the current, and risky, testing in
process at present.
New oversight  Supreme Court has agreed with the government’s proposal of five
panel for MCI eminent medical practitioners to oversee the functioning and
decisions of the Medical Council of India.
 The tenure of the previous Oversight Committee led by former Chief
Justice of India R.M. Lodha has expired.
National Board for  The Ministry of AYUSH has constituted a National Board for
Promotion and Promotion and Development of Yoga & Naturopathy (NBPDYN) for
Development of regulation of education & practice of Yoga & Naturopathy.
Yoga and  Also, Ministry of AYUSH has in association with Quality Council of
Naturopathy India (QCI) has developed a scheme for voluntary certification of
Yoga professionals.
Detecting  The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE)
disabilities in has urged its affiliated schools to detect specific learning disabilities
primary school in children at an early stage.
 CISCE has also asked schools to abide by the Right of Persons with
Disability Act 2016, which says educational institutions should
detect specific learning disabilities among children and take
measures to help them overcome it.
 In the 2016 Act, the types of disabilities have been increased from
existing 7 to 21 and the Central Government will have the power to
add more types of disabilities.
 Persons with ‘benchmark disabilities’ are defined as those certified
to have at least 40 per cent of a disability specified in the act. Every
child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18
years shall have the right to free education.
Privatisation of  The Health Ministry and the NITI Aayog have developed a
health services framework to let private hospitals run select services within district
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hospitals.
 Under this Public Private Partnership, care for only 3 non-
communicable diseases – cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, and
cancer care will be provided.
 Private hospitals will bid for 30-year leases over portions of district
hospital buildings to set up 50 or 100-bed hospitals in smaller towns
across the county.
 The State governments will provide Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to
the private players.
AIDS  Latest UNAIDS report has revealed that more than half of all People
Living with HIV (PLHIV) now have access to HIV treatment.
 Further, globally AIDS-related deaths have almost halved since
2005.
 As of last year, 19.5 million of the 36.7 million HIV+ patients had
access to treatment.
 Deaths caused by AIDS have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to 1
million in 2016.
 India has 2.1 million PLHIV, with 80,000 new infections annually, as
of 2016.
 90-90-90 target: diagnose 90% of people who are HIV+; get 90% of
the diagnosed HIV+ people on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of
those on antiretrovirals should be virally suppressed.
Compensation for  A labour court in Odisha’s Keonjhar district has awarded a
silicosis death compensation of Rs. 46 lakh combined to the families of those whose
bread-winning male members died of silicosis.
 Silicosis is a preventable occupational lung disease.
 The labourers used to work in a mining unit where pyrophyllite was
ground to powder.
 Subsequently, they developed breathing problems as a result of
years of inhalation of crystalline silica.
WHO lauds India  A WHO report notes that tobacco use in the country has fallen from
for fight against 34.1% to 28.6%, comparing data from two rounds of the Global
tobacco Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in 2009-10 and 2016-17.
 The number of tobacco users has reduced by about 81 lakh.
 The National Health Policy 2017 has set a target of “relative
reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use by 15% by 2020 and
30% 2025”.
Pharmacopoeia  The Government has established Pharmacopoeia Commission for
Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy under the Ministry of AYUSH.
Indian Medicine  Prime mandate of the Pharmacopoeia Commission is to steer the
and Homoeopathy work of developing quality standards of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani
and Homoeopathic drugs and publish and revise Ayurvedic & other
Pharmacopoeias, Formularies and regulatory compendia of these
drugs.
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Policy for  The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has launched a
haemoglobin policy on the Prevention and Control of haemoglobinopathies.
disorders  This new policy for haemoglobin disorders like thalassaemia and
sickle cell anaemia will improve their screening and treatment.
 Supported by the National Health Mission, Blood Cell and the
Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, the guidelines provide for
screening of pregnant women during antenatal check-up, pre-
marital counselling at college level and one-time screening for
variant anaemia in children.
 Thalassaemia is a genetic blood disorder characterised by the
abnormal production of haemoglobin. The abnormality leads to
improper oxygen transport and deformation of RBC.
 Sickle Cell Disease is a inherited haemoglobin disorder that requires
lifelong management.
A symbol for  The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is trademarking a symbol to
allopathic doctors distinguish allopathic doctors from practitioners of other schools of
medicine.
 The IMA has got a NOC from the Intellectual Property Office to
trademark a red cross with the letters ‘Dr’ in the centre, on a white
background, and is now registering it.
 However, the emblem closely resembles one of the emblems of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, and has been recognised
since the 1864 Geneva Convention as a distinctive sign for medical
relief teams on battlefields.
 Also, India’s Geneva Convention Act, 1960, prohibits the use
(without the Central Government’s permission) of ‘any design or
wording’ that resembles the Red Cross emblems closely enough to
be mistaken for it.
CAG report on  A performance audit of India’s private hospitals by the Comptroller
private hospitals and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that a majority of the
institutions is evading tax.
 The private sector accounts for 80% of out-patient care and 60% of
in-patient care in the country.
 According to State-wide data from the Department of Industrial
Policy and Promotion, the health sector attracted Foreign Direct
Investment of Rs. 23, 169.91 crore between April 2000 and September
2016.
 Yet, the report states that most private hospitals and practitioners
did not submit valid Permanent Account Numbers.
NFHS-4 shows  Data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16), India
decreasing trend fact sheet reveals decline in percentage of women in the age group
in under age 20-24 married before age 18 years.
marriages  As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16), the
percentage of women in the age group 20-24 married before age 18
years is 26.8 which was 47.4 in National Family Health Survey
(NFHS)-3 (2005-06), thus showing decreasing trend.
 Data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16), India
fact sheet have also revealed that Women age 15-19 years who were
already mothers or pregnant has shown a decreasing trend.
 Further, Institutional births have shown an increasing trend with
mother’s education and household wealth quintile.
Page 12
 Similar trend is observed in case of full immunisation of Children

(12-23 Months) and mothers who had at least four Antenatal care
visits.
Economy and Agriculture

IBBI notifies rules  The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has been given
for bankruptcy powers to start probes against service providers registered with it
probe without intimating them.
 IBBI is implementing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
 Insolvency professional agencies, professionals, entities and
information utility are considered as service providers under the
Code.
 The Code, which provides for a market-determined and time-bound
resolution of insolvency proceedings, became operational in
December 2016.
IRDAI's  The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for IRDAI's
admission as a admission as a signatory to International Association of Insurance
signatory to Supervisors (IAIS).
International  The IAIS is a global framework for cooperation and information
Association of exchange between insurance supervisors.
Insurance
Supervisors
Co-location  The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has filed a consent application
with the SEBI to settle the co-location matter.
 Co-location refers to the facility wherein brokerages can house their
servers inside the exchange to get better speed for trade execution.
 Since, the broker’s server is placed close to that of the exchange, the
latency is reduced.
Special safeguard  India has said the outcomes of the upcoming 11th Ministerial
mechanism Conference of WTO must include a permanent solution on public
stockholding for food security purposes and finality on the
agricultural SSM as well.
 Special safeguard mechanism (SSM) of WTO allows the developing
nations to temporarily hike tariffs to counter sudden import surges
or price falls.
Six private players  Six leading private telecom players understated their revenues by
short-changed over Rs. 61,000 crore, depriving the exchequer of Rs. 7,697.62 crore.
government  This was revealed in a report of the CAG.
Page 13
Reliance Jio  Reliance has unveiled a low-cost feature phone capable of accessing
unveils low-cost media content on tis high-speed network.
feature phones
Minimum  A part of the agricultural price policy, MSP is the price at which the
Support Price government offers to procure farmers’ produce during the season.
 The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs announces the MSP at
the start of each sowing season, taking into account the
recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and
Prices (CACP).
 The purpose is to provide a fair return to efficient farmers and to
protect the interest of consumers by keeping the prices of food and
other agricultural commodities at reasonable levels.
 Also with MSP, farmers are incentivised to grow crops, which are
short in supply.
MPC members to  The government appointees on the Monetary Policy Committee will
get Rs. 1.5 lakh be paid Rs. 1.5 lakh per meeting.
per meet  All the members of MPC, including the Governor, will need to
observe a “silent period” of seven days before and after the rate
decision for “utmost confidentiality”.
 Each member of the MPC has one vote and in case the number are
equal, the governor has the casting vote.
 All members need to disclose their assets and liabilities and update
this information once every year.
Payments bank  Payments bank comes under a differentiated bank licence since it
cannot offer all the services that a commercial bank offers.
 In particular, a payments bank cannot lend.
 It can take deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh per account and can issue debit
cards but not credit cards.
 The main objective is financial inclusion and provide banking
facilities to migrants, labourers, low income households and small
businesses.
 A payments bank can work as a business correspondent of another
bank.
 They can also distribute simple financial products like mutual fund
units and insurance products.
 Minimum paid-up capital requirement is Rs. 100 crore.
Banking  The Banking Regualtion (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in
regulation the Lok Sabha.
(Amendment)  The Bill seeks to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and
Bill, 2017 replace the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance
promulgated in May.
 It allows the RBI to open an insolvency resolution process in respect
of specific stressed assets.
GDP growth  The International Monetary Fund’s July World Economic Outlook
forecast Update retained India’s projected GDP growth rate for 2017-18 at
7.2% and at 7.7% for 2018-19.
 The report said that thought activity slowed following
demonetisation, growth for 2016-17 was higher than anticipated on
Page 14
the back of government spending and stronger momentum in the

first part of that year.
Nifty crosses  Rising from its base value of 1,000 in November 1995, the 50-
10,000 mark share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) breached the
10,000-mark for the first time on 25th July.
 While the index opened above the 10,000 mark, during intra-
day trading it touched a high of 10,011.3 before closing almost
flat at 9,964.55.
 Incidentally, the Nifty took a little over nine years to move from
1,000 in November 1995 to 2,000 in December 2004.
 But it took less than five months to move from 9,000 on March 3
to 10,000 on Tuesday.
RECP talks  The 19th round of the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee meeting was held at
Hyderabad.
 The RCEP is a proposed mega Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
involving 16 Asia Pacific nations including India and China.
 It aims, among other things, to liberalise investment norms in the
region, besides boosting trade by dismantling most tariff and non-
tariff barriers.
 India has reservations regarding the potential adverse impact of
eliminating duties on its local manufacturing and job creation. It also
has been opposing binding norms on opening up the e-commerce
sector.
Codex norms  The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has adopted three
Codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and
thyme.
 The adoption of Codex standards for the three spices will help evolve
a common standardisation process for their global trade and
availability.
 The Codex Alimentarius or “Food Code” is a collection of standards,
guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius
Commission.
 The Commission, also known as CAC, is the central part of the joint
FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations)/WHO (World Health Organisation) Food Standards
Programme.
 With the adoption of Codex standards, member-nations would now
have reference points and benchmarks to align their national
standards for spices with Codex.
Indradhanush  The CAG has found lacunae in implementation of the Centre’s
scheme to ‘Indradhanush’ scheme to recapitalise public sector banks (PSBs).
recapitalise public  The CAG report says that the scheme was not implemented in a
sector banks manner envisaged.
 As per the scheme, a portion of the recapitalisation was to be based
on the bank’ performance. However, this was not followed during
disbursal of funds.
Page 15
 The parameters used to determine whether banks required capital

changed from year to year and in some years the rationale for
capitalising banks was not even recorded.
 The audit report said the scheme’s target of raising Rs. 1.1 lakh crore
from the markets by 2018-19 was not likely to be met.
 The report added that said some banks that did not qualify for
additional capital as per the decided norms, were infused with
capital, and in some cases, banks were infused with more capital than
required.
Accelerated  The Centre is planning to link all canals under Accelerated Irrigation
Irrigation Benefit Benefit Programme (AIBP) via geographical information system that
Programme would allow them to be remotely mapped.
 AIBP was launched in 1996/97 for providing financial assistance, to
expedite completion of ongoing major/medium irrigation projects in
the county.
 The objective was to accelerate the implementation of those projects
which were beyond resource capability of the states or were in
advanced stage of completion.
 During 2015-16, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)
was launched and AIBP was subsumed into it.
Registered  The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has said 4,445
complaints complaints have been registered against CAs as on June 30 this year.
against CAs  Punishment has been awarded in 402 cases until March 2017.
 ICAI is a statutory body established under the Chartered
Accountants Act, 1949.
 It regulates the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.
Technology park  The first of its kind Women Technology Park (WTP) has been set up
for women in Telengana.
 Women are being identified and brought to the park to expose them
to latest technology and entrepreneurial ideas.
 The WTP is sponsored by Science for Equity, Empowerment and
Development (SEED) Division under Department of Science and
Technology.
 It is now engaged in demonstration and dissemination of rural
technologies related to weaving, metal art ware, banana fibre
extraction, construction and habitat services, agro and forest-based
processing technologies.
NHB Residex  NHB Residex is a set of benchmarks that aims to track housing price
indicators across Indian cities.
 It has been launched by the National Housing Bank.
 Originally flagged off in July 2007, the index was discontinued in
2015 and was refurbished and re-introduced earlier in July.
 It now has enhanced city coverage (rising from 26 to 50, to be
eventually raised to 100), a new base year (2012-13) and new data
sources (with data from banks and home finance companies and
market surveys).
Hyper-  It is a term used to describe the dramatic increase in international
globalisation trade witnessed for about a decade and a half from the early 1990s up
to the global financial crisis of 2008.
Page 16
Defence and Security

 India will be hosting the 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space

India to Host
Global (GCCS) in 2017, one of the world’s largest conference on Cyber Space
Conference on and related issues.
Cyber Space 2017  The GCCS is taking place outside OECD nations for the first time.
 The theme for the GCCS 2017 is ‘Cyber4All: An Inclusive,
Sustainable, Developmental, Safe and Secure Cyberspace’.
 The conference to take place on 23rd & 24th of November 2017 in New
Delhi.
First meeting of  The first meeting of the newly constituted Islands Development
Islands Agency (IDA) was held on 24th July.
Development  It was chaired by the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.
Agency  The IDA was set up on June 01, 2017 following the Prime Minister’s
review meeting for the development of islands.
India making a  A group of Indian scientists are working on a mission to send a
submersible researcher in a spherical submersible vehicle, half a kilometre
vehicle to scout into the recesses of the Indian Ocean.
the sea  If they succeed, it will pave the way for a bigger mission to send
a three-member team in a titanium sphere, 6,000 metres into the
sea to scout for little-known life-forms and precious metals.
 The National Institute of Ocean Technology is coordinating the
mission and taking support of the Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited, Tiruchi and ISRO, to fabricate the submersible vehicle.
 Titanium is the preferred material to make submersibles as it can
withstand the enormous pressure of water at great depths.
Page 17
Naval Offshore  Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) has launched the
Patrol Vessels first two Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs), Shachi and Shruti, at
their shipyard in Pipavav, Gujarat.
 The ships are part of a five ship project being constructed for the
Indian Navy.
 The primary role of NOPVs is to undertake surveillance of the
country’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) besides operational
tasks such as anti-piracy patrols, fleet support operations, maritime
security of offshore assets, coastal security operations, and protection
of shipping lanes.
 The NOPVs would increase the ocean surveillance and patrolling
capabilities of the Indian Navy.
 These two NOPVs are the first warships to be launched by a private
sector shipyard in India.
CAG spots  A CAG report tabled in the Parliament has revealed that over 70% of
weaknesses in the under vehicle scanners (UVS) installed at Indian Air Force (IAF)
missile defence bases were non-functional.
system  It also said that the IL series of aircraft, which provides vital transport
support to the IAF during contingencies, “has not been upgraded,
and continue to fly with 1985 vintage avionics”.
Royal Edinburgh  The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an international event of

Military Tattoo military music performance undertaken by the Armed Forces.
2017  It is the largest tattoo performed in the world in the Edinburgh Castle
Esplanade, Scotland.
 The Indian Navy Band will be performing in this prestigious event
scheduled from 01 to 26 Aug 17 for the first time.
 The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is well renowned event with
over 50 bands participating, and nearly 8500 visitors attending the
daily performances.
 Apart from India, bands from countries like Australia, France,
Germany, Japan, etc, would also be performing at the tattoo this year.
Page 18
CAG reports  A CAG report tabled in UP Assembly has revealed that nearly 48% of
UP police personnel are still using the .303 bore rifles, declared
obsolete in 1995.
 Another audit report of CAG presented in the Parliament has flagged
delay in construction of corvettes for anti-submarine warfare and lack
in equipment fitting.
NIA arrests J&K  7 second-rung separatist leaders were arrested by the National
separatist leaders Investigation Agency (NIA) for their alleged role in “creating unrest”
in the Kashmir valley.
 NIA was formed after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
 It functions as the central counter terrorism law enforcement agency
in India
Page 19
Science and Technology

Bots and automated  Twitter is working to build new tools and features to stop bots or
accounts automated accounts from spreading misinformation.
 Globally, there is concern over social media platforms being used
to spread misleading or false stories.
Fire-retardant, rust-  Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and

resistant material Research (IISER) Kolkata have synthesised a hybrid molecular
material that is hydrophobic (water hating) as well as fire-proof.
 The organic-inorganic hybrid material was synthesised by
combining polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and
diphenylalanine.
New galaxy  Scientists have discovered a very distant galaxy, some 10
discovered thousand million light years away, which is about 1,000 times
brighter than the Milky Way.
 It is the brightest of the submillimetre galaxies, which have a very
strong emission in the far infra red.
 Scientists led by Anastasio Diaz-Sanches from Polytechnic
University of Cartagena (UPCT) in Spain used gravitational
lensing that acts as a sort of magnifier, changing the size and
intensity of the apparent image of the original object.
 The galaxy is notable for having a high rate of star formation. It is
forming stars at a rate of 1,000 solar masses per year, compared to
the Milky Way which is forming stars at a rate of some twice a
solar mass per year.
GM mustard release  DMH-11 is a variety of mustard developed at Delhi University
faced another hurdle that employs genes from soil bacteria.
 DMH-11 is a hybrid variety of mustard developed by crossing a
traditional variety of mustard, called Varuna, and an East
European variety.
 The GEAC, India’s apex regulator for genetically modified seeds,
had cleared GM mustrd for environmental release and use in
farmer fields in May this year.
Ransomware attacks  A total of 34 incidents of infections from the two global
ransomware attacks, WannaCry and Petya, were reported to the
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
 WannaCry and Petya infected thousands of computers
worldwide in May and June, respectively.
 Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a
computer and restricts users’ access to affected files by encrypting
them until a ransom is paid to unlock it.
Major solar flare in  Space-based observatory, AstroSat has detected a powerful solar
Proxima Centauri flare sent out by the Sun’s closest star neighbour, Proxima
Centauri.
 Proxima Centauri is a cool dwarf star situated a little over four
light years away.
Page 20
 Last year’s discovery of Proxima Centauri B – a planet orbiting

Proxima Centauri and its lying in the habitable ‘Goldilocaks’ zone
has raised hopes of finding life there.
 However, now this solar flare, with an energy of 10-raised to-30
ergs, makes it quite improbable for the planet to host a life form.
Novel approach to  Scientists at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science,
cancer drug discovery Jadavpur, Kolkata have used a novel approach to drug discovery.
 They did this by attaching or linking a DNA sequence of interest
to gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles and picking those
molecules that target and bind to the DNA sequence for further
study.
 This approach helps in rapid identification of potential DNA
binding molecules for cancer therapy.
Outer Space treaty  The Outer Space Treaty which laid the foundation for an
completes 50 years international space law, came into force in October 1967.
 It came after a decade long space race between the Cold War
rivals, the US and the USSR.
 It bars its signatory countries from placing weapons of mass
destruction in orbit of the Earth, on the Moon or any other
celestial body or the outer space.
 The treaty aims the use of space exploration for peaceful
purposes.
Page 21
Environment
Endangered  The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is a globally

Egyptian vultures threatened vulture species found in India.
 It is classified under the ‘Endangered’ red list of the IUCN.
 The species is popularly known as safed giddh (white vulture) in
Hindi.
 According to BirdLife International, the present global breeding
population of the Egyptian vulture is estimated to be 12,000 to
38,000 individuals.
 In news as the bird has found an undisturbed and safe roosting
space at the Punjabi University campus in Patiala.
Mango production  After two years of bumper production, the mango produce in UP
dips is going to be around 15 to 20 lakh tonnes, a drop of more than
50%.
 Varieties of mangoes – Dussheri, Chaunsa, Rataul, Lucknawa
Safeda, Langda
 Reasons might be saturation in trees and exhaustion of their
natural cycle after two years of bumper produce and the sudden
dip in temperature at the time of flowering (around January) and
huge range of temperature thereafter.
Bio-methane bus  Tata Motors has rolled out the country’s first bio-CNG (bio-
methane) bus.
Coral bleaching  Bleaching has damaged the world’s northernmost coral reef in
Japan.
Rare Northern river  The rare Northern river terrapin (Batagur baska) is a critically
terrapin endangered turtle species.
 It has a river estuarine habitat.
 In India it is found in West Bengal and Odisha.
Krishna-Godavari  Field surveys done in the KG basin has revealed land subsidence
basin ranging from 1.5 ft to 5.4 ft over 130-year period, leading to
seawater ingress.
 The resulting increase in soil salinity has affected farms. Increased
coastal erosion has also damaged structures.
Mount Abu receives  Mount Abu has received an unprecedented 770 mm of rain in 24
unprecedented hours.
rainfall  Mt. Abu is located at an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea level.
 It is Rajasthan’s on hill station, located in Sirohi district.
Gangotri glacier  The Gangotri glacier has retreated 0.15 sq km between 2007 and
retreated 0.15 sq km 2016.
in 9 years  The melting of the glacier has been studied by the ISRO by taking
Survey of India maps of 1962 as the base.
 The ISRO study has also revealed that between 1962 and 2005 loss
in area of Gangotri glacier was 3.19 sq km and between 1990 and
Page 22
2007 it was 0.13 sq km.
High Altitude Cloud  A high altitude cloud physics observatory has been established at
Observatory Munnar (Kerala), in Western Ghats.
 It is used to observe cloud and rain processes over that region with
state of the art observations.
 Such facility will enable understanding of rainfall distribution and
will allow better characterization of rainfall processes in the
numerical models used for prediction of monsoon rainfall.
Petrol, diesel car New diesel and petrol cars will be banned by 2040, as part of a
face ban in UK package of measures designed to improve air quality in Britain,
and meet tough EU rules on emissions, particularly around
nitrogen dioxide emissions.
 Last year, Norway announced plans to phase out new petrol and
diesel vehicles by 2025, via a green tax system.
 France will end the sales of these vehicles by 2040.
 Germany’s Bundesrat called for petrol vehicles to be phased out by
2030.
“Sagar Vani” - An  Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment,
Integrated Forests & Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan has launched an app
Information “Sagar Vani”.
Dissemination  The ‘Sagar Vani’ will serve the coastal community, especially the
System fishermen community with the advisories and alerts towards their
livelihood as well as their safety at Sea.
 The services will be disseminated in local languages using advanced
artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
‘India Quake’ – An  A Mobile App has been developed by the National Centre for
App for Seismology (NCS) for automatic dissemination of earthquake
Earthquake parameter (location, time and magnitude) after the occurrence of
Parameter earthquakes.
Dissemination  Any citizen can download this App and get the real time earthquake
location information on his/her mobile.
India all set to  The Green Climate Fund (GCF) functions under the financial
access resources mechanism set up under the United Nations Framework
under the Green Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide support to
Climate Fund for developing countries in combating climate change.
Finance Climate  So far, one project from India on “Installation of Ground Water
Action Recharge System” in Odisha has recently been approved by the GCF
for $34 million.
 Another proposal on coastal areas has already been submitted to the
GCF Secretariat and several more projects are in the pipeline.
Zealandia  In an attempt to unlock the secrets of the “lost continent” of
Zealandia, scientists are setting sail on a drill ship Joides Resolution.
 Zealandia, which is mostly submerged beneath the South Pacific,
Page 23
was once part of the Gondwana super-continent but broke away

some 75 million years ago.
 Scientists say that Zealandia is a distinct geological entity that met
all the criteria applied to a continents.
 Covering five million square kilometres, it extends from south of
New Zealand northward to New Caledonia and west to the Kenn
Plateau off Australia’s east.
Data on tiger  In 2017, till 29th July, 62 tigers died of natural or unnatural causes
deaths and 14 cases of seizure of body parts had been reported from across
the country.
 July 29 is observed as International Day of Tigers.
 29 deaths (46%) occurred outside tiger reserves. While, in 2016, 37%
deaths occurred outside tiger reserves.
 India is currently home to 70% of the world’s tiger population in
over 17 States and 50 sanctuaries across the country.
 India is a part of the St Petersburg target, commonly referred to as
the global wildlife conservation goal TX2, which aims to double the
tiger numbers in the participating countries by 2022.
Page 24
Culture
Kerala boat race  A league of races has been conceptualised by Nehru Trophy Boat
Race Committee.
Carbon dating  Carbon dating has confirmed that the archaeological site at
confirms Tamil Nadu Keezhadi in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu dates back to the
site is from Sangam Sangam era. The site is nearly 2,200 years old.
era  At Keezhadi, excavations were carried out up to a depth of 4.5
meters and samples were collected from a depth of 2 meters.
 A total of 72 potsherds with Tamil Brahmi script were found at
Keezhadi which had several Tamil names.
 Carbon dating is a widely accepted tool to ascertain the age of
archaeological and historical remains.
Kavirajamargam  Kavirajamargam (way of the king of poets) is the earliest
available work in Kanada language.
 It was authored by Srivijaya and belongs to 9th century.
 Recently, it has been translated in English by RVS Sundaram and
Deven M Patel.
 Kavirajamargam uses traditional Kanada metrical compositions
and several meters borrowed from Sanskrit.
Page 25
Persons in News
Fields Medal winner  Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian-born mathematician who was the
Mirzakhani dies at 40 first woman to win the coveted Fields Medal, has died after a
battle with cancer. She was 40.
 Mirzakhani was a Professor at Stanford University in California.
 In 2014, Ms. Mirzakhani won the Fields Medal, the equivalent of
the Nobel Prize for Mathematics, which is awarded by the
International Congress of Mathematicians.
 The award recognised her sophisticated and highly original
contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems,
particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces
such as spheres.
 She had already won the 2009 Blumenthal Award for the
Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics and the 2013
Satter Prize of the American Mathematical Society.
U.R. Rao, formers  Udupi Ramachandra Rao, former chairman of the Indian Space
chairman of ISRO Research Organisation is no more.
dies  He was an acclaimed space scientist acknowledged as the father
of Indian satellite technology.
 He was behind the launch of the first Indian satellite Aryabhata in
1975.
 He was also responsible for 18 early satellites including the
landmark Bhaskara, APPLE, the Indian Remote sensing Satellites.
 In 1984, Dr. Rao succeeded Satish Dhawan as ISRO chairman.
Prof. Yash Pal dies  Dr. Yash Pal died at the age of 90 years in Noida in 25th July.
 He began his career as a professor at the TIFR. He went on to hold
several senior position in government as Chief Consultant with
the Planning Commission from in 1983, Secretary, Department of
Science and Technology from 1984 to 1986) and as chairman of the
University Grants Commission (UGC) for five years from 1986 to
1991.
 He was also the director of the Space Applications Centre, a wing
of ISRO.
 He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and India’s second
highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2013.
 In 1993 he led the MHRD panel on the issue of overburdening
school children. The report of the committee, entitled Learning
without Burden, remains a seminal document on Indian
education.
 He also chaired the NCERT’s steering committee for the the
National Curriculum Framework in 2005.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become the world's richest
is now the richest person, overtaking Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
man in the world  As a result of a jump in the share price of Amazon, Bezos’ net
worth has reached $90.5 billion, ahead of Bill Gates’ $90 billion.
 Amazon shares were up 1.7 per cent at $1,070.72 and have risen
some 24 per cent over the past four months, adding some $17
billion to the net worth of the 53-year-old Bezos.
 Among the billionaires gaining ground is Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg, who has an estimated worth of some $72.9 billion.
Page 26
Miscellaneous
Ramon Magsaysay  The Raman Magsaysay Awards are named after the Philippine
Awards president who died in a 1957 plane crash.
 The Awards are regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.
 The awards are to be presented in Manila on Aug. 31.
 The six awardees are: - Yoshiaki Ishizawa, a Japanese historian
who helped Cambodians preserve the Angkor temples.
 Gethsie Shanmugam, a Sri Lankan teacher who counselled war
widows and orphans to overcome their nightmares.
 Abdon Nababan, an Indonesian working for the return of large
tracts of forest land to indigenous communities.
 A Singaporean businessman Tony Tay, who leads the cooking of
6,000 meals a day for the destitute.
 A Philippine theatre group which stood up to a dictatorship.
 Lilia de Lima, a Filipino who oversaw the opening of job-
generating export processing zones.
Page 27

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Facts in News (July Edition II)

Bills, Programs, Policies, Schemes, Orders, Judgements

Second  Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in a digitized format and is available in

Ramakrishna  In 2015, the Central government decided to bring workers in all

district and will have decision-making powers and financial resources

abuse, criminal activities and terrorism etc.

“Sohum”- An  Government has launched an indigenously developed newborn

 Similar trend is observed in case of full immunisation of Children

Economy and Agriculture

the back of government spending and stronger momentum in the

 The parameters used to determine whether banks required capital

Defence and Security

 India will be hosting the 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space

Royal Edinburgh  The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an international event of

Science and Technology

Fire-retardant, rust-  Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and

 Last year’s discovery of Proxima Centauri B – a planet orbiting

Endangered  The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is a globally

2007 it was 0.13 sq km.

was once part of the Gondwana super-continent but broke away

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