Assam Current Affairs June 22 - 28, 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of June 22-28, 2018 )
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June 22
SEBI Introduces Major Changes In Respect of IPO and Share Buyback
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made some key decisions to address the concerns of companies coming up with the IPO issue, to effect better price discovery in the current global market volatility.
The new regulations regarding simplifying language, removing redundancies, bringing them in line with Companies Act provisions and buyback period has been properly defined to provide clarity for the issuers and the shareholders. It also decided to keep the limit of foreign investor’s shareholding unilateral across market platforms.
FACTFILE – Initial public offering (IPO) or stock market launch
- IPO is a type of public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also retail investors
- AnIPO is underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges.
- Through this process, colloquially known as floating, or going public, a privately held company is transformed into a public company.
- IPO can be used to raise new equity capital for the company concerned; to monetize the investments of private shareholders such as company founders or private equity investors; and to enable easy trading of existing holdings or future capital raising by becoming publicly traded enterprises.
Delhi boy inventeddevice for hearing impaired
MadhavLavakare, a seventeen year Delhi boy invented a device for hearing impaired.It is a low-tech device that would help the hearing impaired. Inspired by Google Glass, Madhav Lavakare’s gadget called ‘Transcribe’ is priced at a whopping 96.5% lesser than the Google’s device.His basic nature is to “solve problems, no matter what the obstacle is”, but ‘Transcribe’ is a product of love.
Transcribe device
- It was developed using cheap electronic parts and basic concepts of Physics.
- All one does is to wear the glasses and the person on the other side who wants to communicate, talks over a smartphone. An app transcribes the speech to text, which is then sent to a chip attached to the glasses.
- The text is flashed on a transparent screen in front of the person “using careful optics to ensure image is enlarged and far in front of your eyes.”
- The hardware is based on a cheap Arduino (an open-source computer hardware and software company) microchip
- Priced at Rs. 3,500, Madhav will take it up commercially.
RBI asks Banks to upgrade ATMs Security
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave strict timelines to upgrade Banks’ ATMs or else face action. The action amid the slow progress made by banks in addressing security issues.
As per the RBI timeline, banks have to implement a host of security measures by August 2018 and upgrade all ATMs with supported version of operating in a phased manner by June 2019.
There are more than 2.06 lakh ATMs across the country and there has been an increase in number of ATM frauds.
In April 2017, the RBI through a “confidential circular” to banks had highlighted concerns about the ATMs running on Windows XP and/or other unsupported operating systems. The banks were also asked to put in place suitable controls enumerated in the illustrative list of controls.
Upgrade Measures
- Banks and white label ATM operators have been asked to implement security measures such as BIOS password, disabling USB ports, disabling auto-run facility, applying the latest patches of operating system and other softwares, terminal security solution, time-based admin access by August.
- They have to implement anti-skimming and whitelisting solution by March 2019. Further, all the ATMs have to upgrade with supported versions of operating system.
- RBI asked banks to upgrade their ATMs, and uninstall Microsoft Windows XP from all systems by June 2019.
- Any deficiency in timely and effective compliance with the instructions may invite appropriate supervisory enforcement action under applicable provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and/or Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
Kerala abolishes plantation tax, announces moratorium on agriculture income tax
Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan announced a slew of initiatives in the assembly, including abolition of plantation tax, moratorium on agriculture income tax and legislation to take over closed estates, claiming to revive the crisis-driven plantation sector.
Plantation sector of Kerala
Kerala has some of the biggest tea, rubber and other plantations in the south.
Plantation is the single largest private employer in the formal sector and forms almost 42% of the state’s gross value of total crop production.
The plantation sector have been bogged down by lower price realization, high production cost, among others, so much so that the total turnover crashed from about Rs20,000 crore five years ago to Rs9,751 crore last year.
The plantation tax was an age-old levy that existed only in Kerala and much contested between the government and the planters.
June 23
Ambubachi Mela begins in Kamakhya Temple
The Ambubachi Mela, which was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, got off to its actual religious beginning at the Kamakhya Temple atop the Nilachal Hills in Guwahati. The annual four-day celebration will continue from 23 June to 26 June.
The shrine is expecting a record footfall of over 25 lakh pilgrims during the mela festival period. The Kamrup (Metro) district administration has set up several camps for one lakh devotees, with the biggest one inside the old Central Jail complex at Fancy Bazaar.
FACTFILE – The Kamakhya Temple also Kamrup-Kamakhya
- It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the mother Goddess Kamakhya.
- It is an important pilgrimage destination for Hindus and especially for Tantric worshipers.
- It is one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Pithas.
- It is situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam, India.
- It is the main temple in a complex of individual temples dedicated to the ten Mahavidyas: Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika.
- Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples.
- A scholarly study of the Kamakhya Temple was authored by Kali Prasad Goswami, AdariSurendra.
- In July 2015, the Supreme Court of India transferred the administration of the Temple from the Kamakhya Debutter Board to the Bordewri Samaj.
Govt delays setting up Kaziranga Eco-Sensitive Zone
Declaration of Kaziranga National Park’s peripheries as an Eco-Sensitive Zone continues to in limbo, as even after three years of the government preparing a draft proposal for this. Various conservationists now raising doubts over the government’s commitment to protect the pristine habitat.
The draft proposal for the Kaziranga Eco-Sensitive Zone was prepared on June 18, 2015 based on the feedbacks received from the public on an approach paper published in April 2015.
The proposed eco-sensitive zone of Kaziranga encompasses parts of four districts, one autonomous council and involves several stakeholder departments and institutions.
Later in February 2016, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, after deliberating on the proposal, flagged some issues and asked the State government to send a revised proposal.
Many section of the society by industry lobbies, particularly those in Karbi Anglong and Nagaon, had been opposing the move.
According to the proposal prepared earlier, several activities would be prohibited in the eco-sensitive zone, like commercial mining, saw mills, polluting industries, setting up of big industries or power plants, production of hazardous substances, discharge of effluents into water bodies, etc.
The proposal will promote activities like home-stays to benefit the local communities. It had earmarked a separate eco-tourism zone for the benefit of the communities.
Swachh Survekshan 2018 – Indore is India’s cleanest city
Cities and towns across India are awarded with the title of ‘Swachh Cities’ on the basis of their cleanliness and sanitation drive as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that was launched in 2014.
Among the states, Jharkhand is the cleanest state in the country, followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh and West Bengal is at the bottom.
The Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) has emerged as the cleanest cantonment in the country, followed by Almora and Ranikhet Cantonment in the second and third positions respectively.
The first Swachh Survekshan was conducted in 2016 to assess cities based on their solid waste management practices.
FACTFILE – Swachh Survekshan 018
- Among cities, Indore, Bhopal and Chandigarh took the top three spots. Mumbai is the cleanest capital city.
- West Bengal, with 19 of the 25 dirtiest cities, fared among the four dirtiest states, followed by Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura.
- Eight of the ten worst performing cities in the recently concluded SwachhSurvekshan 2018 were from West Bengal, including last ranked Bhadreswar, in a list of 485 cities.
- For the 2018 survey, over 2,700 assessors from Karvy Data Management Services Ltd visited 4,203 urban bodies.
- Among cities, Chennai came last among the top 100. Bengaluru didn’t even make it to the list.
University of Michigan developed World’s smallest computer ‘Michigan Micro Mote’
The University of Michigan created a computer smaller than the world’s smallest computer,as it could help cure cancer and be used in a variety of other researches.
The computer developed is a micro-computing device measures just 0.3mm x 0.3mm, as against IBM’smade world’s smallest computer which measures 1mm x 1mm.
Designed as a precision temperature sensor, the new device converts temperatures into time intervals, defined with electronic pulses. The intervals are measured on-chip against a steady time interval sent by the base station and then converted into a temperature. The temperature sensor is small and biocompatible, so it can implant it into a mouse and cancer cells grow around it, to investigate variations in temperature within a tumour versus normal tissue and changes in temperature to determine success or failure of therapy.
This miniature computing device could be used in a variety of researches, including pressure sensing inside the eye for glaucoma diagnosis, oil reservoir monitoring, biochemical process monitoring, audio and video surveillance and tiny snail studies.
The device packs RAM, photovoltaics, processors, wireless transmitters and receivers. Instead of the conventional radio antennae, the system uses visible light to receive and transmit data and the base station provides light for power and programming.
Michigan Micro Mote loses all prior programming and data as soon as they lose power.
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