Assam Current Affairs – July 01-07 , 2018

Current Affairs Assam – July 2018

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of July 2018 )

July 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | July 2018 Quiz 

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July 5

NGT notice to TN over state govt’s order to close the Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) sought a response from the Tamil Nadu government and the State Pollution Control Board on a plea moved by metals and mining giant Vedanta Ltd challenging the state government’s order to permanently close the Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin.

Acting NGT Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim heading a bench, issued notices to the state government and the pollution board while seeking their responses before July 18. The Tamil Nadu government had ordered the pollution board to seal and “permanently” close the group’s copper plant following violent protests over pollution concerns.

In April 2018, the Tamil Nadu pollution control board rejected Sterlite’s plea to renew the Consent To Operate, saying the company did not comply with the stipulated conditions, following which the government issued a permanent closure order on May 28, 2018.

The plea by Vedanta Ltd has sought permission to operate the unit and also declare TN Govt’s order to close the plant as unlawful and illegal.

FACTFILE  – National Green Tribunal (NGT)

  • The National Green Tribunal has been established on 18 October, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
  • It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.
  • New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other four place of sitting of the Tribunal.
ISRO tests crew escape system

The Indian space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system, which is a critical technology for human spaceflight. The crew escape system was lifted off at 7 am at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The crew escape system is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort. The first test (Pad Abort Test) demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad.

The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km under the power of its seven specifically designed quick acting solid motors to take away the crew module to a safe distance without exceeding the safe G-levels.

FACTFILE – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

  • ISRO is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore.
  • Its vision is to “harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.
  • It was formed in 1969, succeeding the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai.
  • It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.
YES BANK Receives SEBI Approval to Launch Mutual Fund Business

YES BANK, India’s 4th largest private sector Bank has received the final regulatory approval (Certificate of Registration) from the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to commence its Mutual Fund business. This approval is subsequent to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval granted to YES BANK to sponsor a Mutual Fund.

This strategic initiative will further complement YES BANK’s retail liabilities and wealth management strategy, and also allow it to build on the Bank’s ‘DIGICAL’ distribution network to provide customers a seamless Investment and Banking experience.

YES Asset Management (India) Limited (‘YAMIL’) will operate out of the YES BANK Group Headquarters at YES BANK Tower, Lower Parel Innovation District, Mumbai. The operational set-up for YAMIL including a robust technology architecture, partnerships for Fund Accounting & Custodian Services and Registrar & Transfer Agent services is already in place.

This approval marks another significant milestone in YES BANK’s growing presence in the Indian financial markets. The Bank has also recently received the final license from SEBI to launch its Custodian of Securities business.

FACTFILE  – Yes Bank

  • Yes Bank is India’s fourth largest private sector bank, founded by Rana Kapoor and Ashok Kapur in 2004.
  • Yes Bank is the only Greenfield Bank licence awarded by the RBI in the last two decades.
  • YES BANK is a “Full Service Commercial Bank”, and has steadily built a Corporate, Retail & SME Banking franchise, Financial Markets, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Branch Banking, Business and Transaction Banking, and Wealth Management business lines across the country.
  • Yes bank was listed in the stock exchanges of India post its IPO in May 2005 at an issue price of Rs.45
Ericsson launches innovation center in IIT-Delhi

Ericsson has launched India’s first 5G innovation and hub center in IIT-Delhi, focused on developing 5G tech, which has several applications. While 5G technology is set to see its global debut sometime later this year in the US.

Compared to 4G which operates on the 900MHz band, 5G will operate at higher frequencies, going all the way up to a massive 28GHz and will allow transfer of very large amounts of data, pretty fast, and with minimum data loss.

Potential applications of 5G in the near future include usage in emerging technology like mixed reality, developing smart cities, smart agriculture, and perhaps most importantly, Internet-of-Things devices. 5G’s high speed and low latency could potentially pave the way for myriad uses in industry digitalization, such as autonomous driving, remote robotic surgery, and augmented reality (AR) support for field maintenance and repair.

In India, Ericsson is currently in talks with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Cellular Operators Association of India about deploying 5G technology. Telecom operators in India may purchase 5G spectrum sometime in 2019 and hopefully, India will adopt 5G by 2023.

Cashless healthcare for State Govt employees to start soon

A delegation of the Sadou Asam Karmachari Parishad (SAKP) had a discussion with state Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over various long-pending demands of the employees’ body. The SAKP said in a statement that the Government agreed on starting cashless healthcare for the employees from October 2018 onwards besides agreeing on abolition of efficiency bar (EB) and on having fixed pay for muster roll workers at the level of grade IV employees’ pay.

“The grade pay anomalies are to be examined by the Government. The process for Modified Assured Career Plan Simplification (MACPS) will also start. We have also called for a clear-cut process for the family pension scheme” it said.

July 6

Home Ministry to launch website to lodge cyber complaints

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs to launch an online portal where people can file complaints regarding cyber crimes. Every citizen should remain vigilant and aware with police being on guard to reduce the rate of cyber crimes.

The ministry had earmarked Rs 25,000 crore for Police modernisation and to deal with increasing rate of cyber crime in the country.

FACTFILE – Cybercrime

  • Cybercrime is a crime that involves a computers and internet.
  • The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target.
  • Cybercrime may threaten a person or a nation’s security and financial health. Issues surrounding these types of crimes have become high-profile, particularly those surrounding hacking, copyright infringement, unwarranted mass-surveillance, sextortion, child pornography, and child grooming.
  • These also creates problems of privacy when confidential information is intercepted or disclosed, lawfully or otherwise.
  • Internationally, both governmental and non-state actors engage in cybercrimes, including espionage, financial theft, and other cross-border crimes.
  • Cybercrimes crossing international borders and involving the actions of at least one nation state is sometimes referred to as cyberwarfare.
Banks finalised Inter-Creditor Pact

Indian banks have finalised the inter-creditor agreement which will help them in the speedy resolution of stressed assets. The inter-creditor agreement will apply only to bad loans worth Rs 50-500 crore.

This mechanism would thrust responsibility on the lead banks that have the largest exposure in stressed assets, and other banks will be informed of the progress.

Under the scheme, the lead bank will prepare a resolution plan, including empanelling specialists and other industry experts, for turnaround of the assets within the stipulated time frame and implement the plan in 180 days.

Then independent screening committee will validate due process within 30 days at the most and the resolution would proceed if banks holding alteast 66 percent of debt approves it. Once the plan is approved, the lead bank will execute the action plan.

FACTFILE – Indian Banks’ Association (IBA)

  • Indian Banks’ Association was formed on 26 September 1946 as a representative body of management of banking in India operating in India – an association of Indian banks and financial institutions based in Mumbai.
  •  With an initial membership representing 22 banks in India in 1946, IBA currently represents 237 banking companies operating in India.
  • Indian Banks’ Association is managed by a managing committee, and the current managing committee consists of one chairman, 3 deputy chairmen, 1 honorary secretary and 26 members.
Bank credit and deposits grows at 12.84% and 7.59%

Bank credit grew by 12.84 per cent to Rs 86,16,408 crore in the fortnight ended June 22, 2018. In the year-ago fortnight, bank loans stood at Rs 76,35,689 crore. The advances had risen by 12.67 per cent to Rs 85,98,703 crore.

Bank deposits had risen by 7.59 per cent to Rs 113,53,525 crore, compared with Rs 105,51,910 crore in the period ended June 23, 2017.

In May month, non-food bank credit increased by 11.1 per cent year-on-year, compared with an increase of 4.1 per cent in May 2017.

Loans to industry rose by 1.4 per cent in May 2018, against a contraction of 2.1 per cent in the month in 2017.

Advances to agriculture and allied activities increased by 6.4 per cent in May 2018 as compared to an increase of 7.4 per cent in May 2017. 

Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but instead promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.

A deposit is the monetary amount that is placed with some entity. The deposit is a credit for the party (individual or organization) who placed it, and it may be taken back (withdrawn), transferred to some other party, or used for a purchase at a later date.

The ABB (India) signed MOU with IIT Roorkee to develop smart electricity distribution network

The ABB (India) Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee to technical cooperation for the construction of an operational smart electricity distribution network and management system in the campus. This is to serve as a pilot project for the Smart Cities mission of the government.

FACTFILE – Smart Cities Mission

  • Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Govt of India with the mission to develop 100 cities across the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable.
  • The government has so far selected 100 cities as part of the Smart Cities Mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015.
  • The selected cities would take up various project, including ‘smart’ roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, building cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and pan-city projects like integrated command control centre.
  • Under the scheme, each city will get Rs 500 crore from the Centre for implementing various projects and around same amount will have to be contributed by the state or urban local bodies. 

 July 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | July 2018 Quiz 

 

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