Assam Current Affairs June 08-14, 2018

Current Affairs Assam – June 2018

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

June 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | June 2018 Quiz

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June 12

World Day Against Child Labour   observed on 12th June

India along with the whole world observed the “World Day Against Child Labour” on 12th June.

The governments, employers and workers organisations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world observed the day to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.

The campaign aims to accelerate action to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.8 of safe and secure working environments for all workers by 2030 and SDG target 8.7 of ending all forms of child labour by 2025.

FACTFILE – World Day Against Child Labour

  • The World Day Against Child Labour is an International Labour Organization (ILO)-sanctioned holiday first launched in 2002 aiming to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour.
  • It was spurred by ratifications of ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for employment and ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour.
  • The World Day Against Child Labour, which is held every year on June 12, is intended to foster the worldwide movement against child labour in any of its forms.
INS Sindhukesari, rolled out after upgrade in Russia

INS Sindhukesari, India’s diesel-electric submarine, which was undergoing repairs and upgradation, was rolled out from the workshop of the Zvyozdochka Shipyard of Russia.

The 2,300-tonne Sindhughosh class conventional submarine will be floated out for outfitting over the next several days. This is the second upgrade for the submarine, which will extend INS Sindhukesari’s service life by 10 years to 35 years.

Another submarine INS Sindhuraj is also currently at the Zvyozdochka Shipyard for repair and upgrade.

FACTFILE – INS Sindhukesari

  • INS Sindhukesari has the pennant number S 60 and it was commissioned into the Indian Navy on February 16, 1989.
  • The submarines have a displacement of 3,076 tonnes, a maximum diving depth of 300 meters, top speed of 17 knots, and are able to operate solo for 45 days with a crew of 53.
  • The submarines have six torpedo tubes. They can carry four conventional missiles, 18 torpedoes and 24 mines to hit enemy targets.

 

RBI Proposes stricter Norms for Large Borrowers

The Reserve Bank of India has come up with draft guidelines to restrict the amount of short-term cash big firms can rise against receivables and stocks, to instill credit discipline among big borrowers.

For borrowers having aggregate fund based working capital limit of ₹150 crore and above from the banking system, a minimum level of ‘loan component’ of 40% shall be effective from 1 October 2018. The 40% loan component will be revised to 60%, with effect from 1 April 2019.

So now the borrowers having working capital arrangement of Rs. 150 crore and above from banking institutions will need to withdraw minimum 40% as loan component from the total limit and rest as cash credit.

RBI also proposes to fix the tenure of such loans at over 7 days. The new norms will build credit discipline among large borrowers and also push them into raising funds from the money market.

FACTFILE – Main Functions of RBI

  • Monetary Authority – Formulates implements and monitors the monetary policy, to maintaining price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
  • Regulator and supervisor of the financial system – Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country’s banking and financial system functions.
  • Manager of Foreign Exchange – Manages the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.
  • Issuer of currency – Issues and exchanges or destroys currency and coins not fit for circulation, to give the public adequate quantity of supplies of currency notes and coins and in good quality.
  • Developmental role – Performs a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives.
  • Banker to the Government – Performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments; also acts as their banker.
  • Banker to banks – Maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks.
Scientists develop technology to recycle vaporized water from power plants for drinking needs

A team of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, US have developed a low-cost solution to harvest high-quality distilled water from cooling towers of power plants to meet the increasing drinking water demand across regions.

  • The researchers, who had started improving the efficiency of fog collectors by using electric forces, ended up developing a system which could help recover water that was lost in plumes of cooling towers of power plants.
  • The new approach involves zapping the air that is rich in fog with a beam of electrically-charged particles, or ions. The water droplets become electrically charged and can be drawn towards a mesh of wires placed on their path. The droplets can then be drained into a container.
  • Capturing evaporated water is an established distillation process, and the new solution would help capture pure water, even if the cooling water was salty or contaminated. The water could then be piped to a city’s drinking water system, or used in processes that require pure water, such as in a power plant’s boilers.
  • The findings could solve drinking water problems across regions, given the fact that power plants are the largest industrial user of water, and are exceedingly contributing to water-stress.
  • In India, almost 90% of thermal power generation depends on freshwater, which is used for cooling of power plants. But, much of that water is lost as clouds of vapour, since the currently used systems to capture droplets are not very efficient.
Assam government to introduce ‘Sanskar’ awareness programme against superstitions

The Assam government announced the launch of an awareness campaign called ‘Sanskar’ to create awareness programme against various superstitious practices.

In the wake of recent incidents triggered by superstitions, the state government has decided to launch this campaign in all development blocks and panchayats.

Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) would be the nodal agency and the programme would involve all deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and all government departments concerned in a district. Local bodies, womens’ organisations, voluntary organizations, media persons, leading citizens, academicians, MPs and MLAs are also included. Birubala Rabha, a social activist, will also be involved .

FACTFILE – Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC)

  • The Assam Science Technology & Environment Council (ASTEC) was constituted in 1986-87 as an autonomous Council of the Department of Science Technology & Environment, Govt. of Assam.
  • It assist in implementation of some of the major programmes in the sectors of science &technology, remote sensing, energy (non-conventional & renewable sources) and environment as the institutional organization of the Department.
Paytm tops by Volume and Axis Bank tops by value: Mobile banking rank

According to SBI’s annual report for 2017-18, Axis bank has the highest value share of mobile banking transactions by 17.2% whereas Paytm tops by Volume (22%).

Highlights of the Report

  1. Paytm tops the chart by volumes with 22% and by value it is 0.25%.
  2. ICICI has 17.1% share by value and 9.7% by volume.
  3. SBI has 19.5% by volume in January 2018 compared to 25% at the end of March 2019.
  4. By value share SBI has 16.8% from 44.4% in 2017.
  5. Mobile-banking usage itself has seen a steep jump, with volumes soaring a steep 91 per cent to 1,871 million in FY18 from 977 million in FY17.

June 13

US approves $930 million Apache attack choppers deal to sell to India

The US government has approved a deal to sell six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian military for a price of $930 million. The agreement has been passed to the US Congress for approval.

In addition to aircraft, the contract includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance and hundreds of Hellfire anti-armor and Stinger air-to-air missiles. This purchase will provide an increase in India’s defensive capability to counter ground-armored threats and modernize its armed forces.

Atal Tinkering Labs to be setup in 3000 more schools

Niti Aayog selected 3000 more schools for setting up of Atal Tinkering Labs under the Atal Innovation Mission. Each selected schools will get Rs 20 lakh, over a period of five years, for stting up the facility.

5,441 schools are already selected for establishing ATLs in every district of the country in near future.

FACTFILE – Atal Tinkering Labs

  • The Atal Innovation Mission is a flagship initiative of the Narendra Modi government to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
  • Atal Tinkering Labs are aimed at developing innovation and entrepreneurial skills among the children.
  • It will create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country and revolutionising the innovation eco-system.
  • The Atal Tinkering Labs ATL is a work space where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands on do-it-yourself mode; and learn innovation skills. Young children will get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
  • The Atal Tinkering Labs create innovators, Atal Incubation Centres and support to Established Incubation Centre ensure that innovations are taken to the market and help create enterprises around these innovations.
Retail inflation rose to 4.87% in May, industrial output grew by 4.9% in April

As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India’s provisional consumer price inflation(CPI) rose to 4.87% in May 2018 This is higher than the final figure of 4.58% for April.

The retail inflation rate in urban areas was 4.88% in May 2018 and in rural areas it stood at 4.72%. The Consumer Food Price Index showed an inflation of 3.10% in May 2018, compared to 2.80% in April.

Retail inflation was highest in West Bengal, at 8.18%, and the lowest in Delhi, at 2.47%, the data showed. India’s industrial output grew by 4.9% in April 2018 compared to the same month last year.

The factory output had grown by 4.4% in March, the slowest expansion rate in five months. Manufacturing grew at 5.2% in April, compared to 4.4% in March. Mining grew at 5.1% as against 2.8% in March, and electricity at 2.1% as against 5.9%.

FACTFILE – The Consumer Price Index (CPI)

  • CPI measures changes in the price level of market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
  • It examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care.
  • It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
  • Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living.
Indian Army test-fires Smerch rockets

Indian Army’s Smerch guided missile-cum-multi barrel rockets successfully hit targets around 90 kilometres away, at a trial conducted at Rajasthan’s Pokhran field firing range.

The rockets were developed jointly by India and Russia, two versions of the Smerch – 9MMF and 9.55K – were test-fired.

FACTFILE – Smerch rockets

  • The missiles-cum-rockets are state-of-art technology and their direction can be controlled/changed to hit moving targets
  • The Smerch uses stabilisers made at Kanpur’s Ordnance Factory Board.
  • The stabilisers are the wings of the rocket which cannot be fired without them.
  • The 48.5 tonne Smerch with the Indian Army can fire seven types of rockets.

June 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | June 2018 Quiz

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