Current Affairs Assam – June 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of June 2018 )
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June 19, 2018
Google signs agreement with Central Water Commission to predict floods
The Central Water Commission (CWC) and Google signed an agreement for flood predictions across the country. CWC will be given access to various technologies developed by tech giant Google such as artificial intelligence and geospatial mapping for the flood management.
Google’s predictions will also provide more accurate flood warnings. Right now, the CWC issues warnings a day prior to the flood. After Google’s predictions, the warning period will increase to three days. It will help the occupants vacate the area in a managed manner.
Google Earth will be used in a research project to help visualise and improve flood management. Goolge would use high-resolution digital elevation model and computational resources to create deluge maps using CWC’s input on level forecast.
This project will help in efficient water management and preparations during the time of a crisis.
FACTFILE – Central Water Commission
- Central Water Commission is a premier Technical Organization of India in the field of Water Resources and is presently functioning as an attached office of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India.
- The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating, coordinating and furthering in consultation of the State Governments concerned, schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout the country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking Water Supply and Water Power Development.
RBI Revises Limits on the Housing Loan Limits under PSL
Recently, RBI revised the limit of Housing loans up to Rs 35 lakh, for dwellings costing less than Rs 45 lakh, will be treated as Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to give a fillip to the low-cost segment.
With a view to bringing convergence of the PSL guidelines for housing loans with the Affordable Housing Scheme, and to give a fillip to low-cost housing for the economically weaker sections and low income groups, the housing loan limits for eligibility under priority sector lending will be revised to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan centres, and Rs 25 lakh in other centres.
Currently, individual loans up to Rs 28 lakh in metropolitan centres and Rs 20 lakh in other centres, can be classified under priority sector, provided that the cost of dwelling unit does not exceed Rs 35 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively.
The RBI also revised the existing family income limit of Rs 2 lakh per annum for loans to housing projects for economically weaker sections and low income groups stands revised at Rs 3 lakh per annum and Rs 6 lakh per annum, respectively.
FACTFILE – Priority Sector Lending (PSL)
- PSL loans are relatively cheaper than market interest rate.
- Different categories under Priority Sector
(i) Agriculture
(ii) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(iii) Export Credit
(iv) Education
(v) Housing
(vi) Social Infrastructure
(vii) Renewable Energy
(viii) Others
Over 7,000 people from India filed applications for asylum in US in 2017
As per the UN refugee agency report, over 7,000 people from India filed applications for asylum in the US last year.
The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were displaced as of the end of 2017, out of which 16.2 million people were displaced during 2017 itself.
US was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half again as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Asylum claims from Venezuelans were at 29,900. Other nationalities from which significant no. of claims came in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400).
According to the report, there were 197,146 refugees as at 2017 end in India and 10,519 asylum seekers with pending cases. There are about 40,391 asylum seekers from India at the end of last year.
June 20, 2018
Governor’s rule imposed in Jammu and Kashmir
Governor’s Rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir with President Ram Nath Kovind giving his approval on J&K Governor N NVohra’s recommendation. Governor Vohra had forwarded his recommendation after BJP withdrew support for PDP government after accusing its former alliance partner of failing in arresting growing radicalisation, violence and discrimination of Jammu and Ladhak regions.
This is the eighth time that Governor’s Rule is imposed in the troubled state in last four decades.
Failure of governmental function results in Governor’s rule, imposed by invoking Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.
FACTCILE – Governor’s Rule in states
- The state’s governor issues the proclamation, after obtaining the consent of the President of India.
- If Governor’s rule is not revoked within six months of imposition, the President’s Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution of India.
- President’s rule refers to suspension of state government and imposition of direct Central Government rule in a state.
- Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, in the event that a state government is unable to function according to constitutional provisions, the Central government can take direct control of the state machinery.
- During the President Rule, the Council of Ministers is dissolved, vacating the office of Chief Minister. Furthermore, the Vidhan Sabha is either prorogued or dissolved, necessitating a new election.
- The executive authority is exercised through the centrally appointed governor, who has the authority to appoint other administrators to assist them.
Point2Remeber
- Following its landmark judgment in the 1994 Bommai case, the Supreme Court of India has restricted arbitrary impositions of President’s rule.
- Chhattisgarh and Telangana are the only states where President’s rule is Not imposed till now.
New system lets you control robots with brain waves
Scientists working in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a system that allows humans to control robots using brainwaves and simple hand gestures, preventing machines from committing errors in real time as the system can detect in real time if a person notices an error as a robot does a task.
The team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in the US demonstrated the system on a task in which a robot moves a power drill to one of three possible targets on the body of a mock plane.
They combining EEG and EMG feedback which enables natural human-robot interactions for a broader set of applications than using only EEG feedback.
By including muscle feedback, we can use gestures to command the robot spatially, with much more nuance and specificity. By harnessing the power of brain signals called “error-related potentials” (ErrPs), which researchers have found to naturally occur when people notice mistakes.
There’s no need to train users to think in a prescribed way. The machine adapts to human opearator, and not the other way around.
The team used “Baxter”, a humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics. With human supervision, the robot went from choosing the correct target 70 percent of the time to more than 97 percent of the time.
India spends less than Sri Lanka and Bhutan on public-health
India’s expenditure on healthcare as a percentage of it’s GDP still remains very miserable. According to the National Health Profile (NHP) 2018, India spends a meagre 1.02% of its GDP on healthcare, which is even lower than low-income neighbors like Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and considerably less than most countries with significant universal health coverage (UHC) services.
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, which spends 2.5%, 1.6% and 1.1% of their GDPs on healthcare.
Compared to other countries with UHC services, Sweden ranks the highest with 9.2% of GDP spent on health care, and Singapore ranks lowest with 2.2% spent.
India falls far below the lowest rank holder, Singapore. India ranks second last in the South Asian region.
WHO health financing report from 2017 showed that 67.8% of all health expenditure in India is from out of pocket. The world average is 18.2%.
India’s Way ahead in Health Sector
- The National Health Policy 2017 had proposed raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025.
- The Centre launch the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) “Ayushman Bharat” to cover over 10 crore poor families with an annual health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family.
World Refugee Day observed on June 20
As the World Refugee Day is celebrated on June 20, 2018, the United Nations reports says more than 8.5 million people are uprooted across the globe.
A new model, to help those uprooted from their homes, is now being tested based on equity, on justice and on humanitarian values and standards. Countries and communities need more systematic, long-term support as they take on the job of helping uprooted families. The Global Compact on Refugees to be adopted this year.
Of that total, 16.2 million were newly displaced last year. Some are forced to flee multiple times.
Point2Remeber
- Turkey is the country with the largest number of refugees, mostly Syrians, at 3.5 million at the end of 2017.
- The United States received the most new individual applications for asylum for the last year. Germany was second.
US withdraws from UN Human Rights Council
The US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and condemned its “shameless hypocrisy” in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence.
The decision was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who also criticized the council for a “disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel”.
FACTFILE – United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
- UNHRC is a United Nations body with mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world.
- The UNHRC has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis.
- The headquarters of UNHRC is in Geneva, Switzerland.
- The UNHRC was established by the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights that had been strongly criticized for allowing countries with poor human rights records to be members.
- UN Secretaries General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, former president of the council DoruCostea, the European Union, Canada, and the United States have accused the UNHRC of focusing disproportionately on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and many allege an anti-Israel bias- the Council has resolved more resolutions condemning Israel than the rest of the world combined.
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