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National
Mental Health Care Bill passed in Rajya Shaba
- Mental Health Care Bill, a bill which seeks to decriminalize suicide and provide better healthcare for people suffering from mental illness was passed
- provides for protection and promotion of rights of persons with mental illnessduring the delivery of health care in institutions and in the community.
- Mental Health Care Bill 2013 says that any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to be suffering from mental illness at the time of attempting suicide and shall not be liable to punishment under section 309 of Indian Penal Code (IPC)
- As of now, a person who attempts to commit suicide is charged under section 309 of IPC
- There were 134 official amendments to the bill,which took almost an hour to be passed clause by clause.
- bill seeks to provide better medical care to mentally ill besides ensuring their basic rights.
U’khand tops in industry, service sectors growth: Assocham
- Trade Body ASSOCHAMputs Uttarakhand on the top on its study in terms of growth in the industry and service sectors in the last ten years.
- study also highlighted the state’s economic growth and industrial development as it has recorded the highest Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5 per centand12.3 per cent respectively in during the last ten years from2004 to 2015.
- growth figure achieved by the small state is much higher than the national average growth of about 7 per cent in the same decade.
- state’s contribution to the nation in terms of economy has shown significant growth from a tiny 0.8 percent in 2004-05 to 1.2 % in 2013-14.
- state has produced negative growth in terms of agriculture as the sector covers the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) from over 22 per centin 2004-05 to 9 per cent in 2014-15.
Quit India movement 2 against social evils
- Maharashtra government has launched the Quit India Movement 2 against various social ills,
- centre will run a fortnight-long campaign to revitalize patriotism among the society, the campaign named Azadi 70 Saal — Zara Yaad Karo Qurbani.
International
India remains as the Number one among the Wikipedia’s Priorities
- India is expected to remain the “number one most strategic region” in the global plans of the Wikipedia, the free Internet encyclopedia that allows its users to edit most of its content.
- India became the largest, most popular general reference work on the Internet, and among the top 10 most-visited sites in the world.
- Coping with India’s “huge size and diversity”. “Hindi Wikipedians as a community have such a hard time meeting up across different states and even countries”.
- WikiConference India 2016 ended in the twin towns of Chandigarh-Mohaliin August.
Business and Economy
RBI makes no changes in Repo rate and CRR in its third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Review
- The Reserve of India (RBI) in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent citing upside risk to March 2017 inflation target.
- retail inflation ruling above its projection of around 5 per cent for FY2017, the RBI held the rate steady and in the current financial year, the RBI last cut the repo rate in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review, in April by 25 basis points to 6.50 per cent.
- RBI kept the cash reserve ratio of scheduled banks unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities
- It is noted that RBI Governor Raguram Rajan is set to retire on September 4 after a three-year term with plans to return to academia in the US.
- HDFC, Max group merge life insurance businesses to create company worth Rs 67,000 crore
- boards of HDFC and Max Financials group have given their nod to merge their respective life insurance entities.
- will pave the way for more consolidation in the life insurance space.
- boards of HDFC Life, Max Life, Max Financial Services and Max India decided to amalgamate their businesses to create a Rs 25,500-croreentity under the label of HDFC Life through a3:7 share swap under which a Max shareholder will get three HDFC Life shares for every seven in an old share deal.
- Max promoter group will be paid a non-compete fee of Rs 850 crore over four years. The boards of HDFC Life, Max Life and Max Financial Services approved the scheme of arrangement for merging the insurance businesses
- five companies will have stakes. While HDFC will have the lion’s share of stake [42.5%], Standard Life will have a 24% stake. Mitsui Sumitomo will have 7.8%, Max Group will have 6.6% and Axis Bank will have 1.2%.
- the merged entity, which will have an asset base of Rs 1.1 trillion, will overtake ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd as India’s largest private insurer.
RGIC ties up with SVCB to foster the spread of the Insurance Policies on a Pan – India Basis
- Reliance General InsuranceCompany Ltd, Non-life insurer declare a bancassurance tie-up with Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank (SVCB)
- Reliance General will distribute its insurance products to the customers of SVCB.’ SVCB is having a network of 194 branches
- fourth big partnership by Reliance in bancassurance, apart from the tie-up
withIndusInd Bank, Bank of India and Andhra Bank and expects to boost our top line by up to 10 per cent through these tie-ups and alliances. - Bancassurance tie-up forms an important part of Reliance General’s growth strategyand the company has been forging strong alliances with various banks to enhance its distribution footprint in India.
Ponzi schemes not under our purview: SEBI
- SEBIhas clarified that any regulatory purview over Ponzi schemes will come under purview of state governments.
- SEBI’s clarification come as a response of the Supreme Court which asked what the government and the market regulator were doing to check the “menace” of schemes
- A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraudin which fraudulent companies woos clients promising a large profit in short term at little or no risk at all.
- Ponzi schemes do not fall under the regulatory purview of SEBI, such schemes were banned under the Prize Chit and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978 and the State government concerned is the enforcement
NTPC, CSIRO collaborate for research in low emission tech
- NTPC has entered into a collaboration with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research in low emission technologies.
India slaps anti-dumping duty on steel products from 6 nations
- India imposedanti-dumping duty on certain hot-rolled steel products from six nations including China and South Korea with an aim to guard domestic players from cheap imports.
- An anti-dumping duty of USD 474-557 per tonne was imposed on ‘hot-rolled flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel’ import from China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia.
- anti-dumping duty imposed shall be effective for a period not exceeding six months, unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier and shall be paid in Indian currency.
- anti-dumping duty of $474 per tonnewas imposed on import of hot-rolled flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel of a width up to 2100 mm and thickness up to 25 mm from Korea and Japan.
- similar anti-dumping duty was slapped on import of similar products from China, the exporter company beingAngang Steel Company Ltd and Zhangjiagang.
- Imports of the same from Indonesia, Russia and Brazil too attracted $474 per tonne duty.
- Hot rolled flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel not in coils of a width up to 4950 mm and thickness up to 150 mm imported from Korea, Japan, China, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia would attract $557 per ton anti-dumping duty
People in News
Takehike Nakao Re-elected again as the President of ADB
- Asian Development Bank Board has re-elected Takehiko Nakaoas the multilateral funding agency’s president for a five-year term beginning 24 November, 2016
- he was the sole nominee after ADB’s Governors were invited from May 31 to June 30, 2016, to make nominations for the organization’s presidency.
- Nakao was a senior official in the Ministry of Finance, Japan, where he gained extensive experience in international finance and development.
- Nakao also taught international finance as a Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo in 2010 and 2011.
- Nakao holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo and a M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
- Asian Development Bank was conceived in the early1960sas a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world.
- ADB assists its members, and partners, byproviding loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
- ADB is composed of 67 members, 48 of which are from the Asia and Pacific region.
Hero Moto Corp strengthens its Boards members to accelerate growth
- Two-wheeler maker Hero Moto Corp Ltd reappointed Pawan Munjal as its chairman, managing director and CEOfor a period of five years.
- also elevated its head of operations and supply chain Vikram Kasbekar as a director on the company’s board.
- Hero MotoCorp has also appointed Ms Neerja Sharma as the Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer
- Kasbekar’s elevation to the board of directors is a part of its initiative aimed at consolidation of leadership at home and accelerate global expansion.
- changes come days after Sunil Kant Munjal, the former joint managing director of the company, announcing his decision to leave Hero MotoCorp, headed by his elder brother Pawan, to focus on some other group entities besides pursuing his other interests.
Union Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra gets new head of the boards
- Pawan Kumar Bajaj as Managing Director of UBIand Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bank of Maharashtra.
- Marathe is Executive Director in Bank of India
- Marathe is Executive Director in Bank of India
Former Arunachal Pradesh CM Kalikho Pul commits Suicide
- Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul allegedly hanged himselfon Tuesday morning at his residence in Itanagar
- it is found that he has been suffering from depression.
- He was an Indian politician and acting Chief Ministerof the north-eastern state ofArunachal Pradesh for a brief time in 2016.
- He was elected five times from the Hayuliang Vidhan Sabha constituency representing the Indian National Congress.
- With the support of a few elected members of Congress and the opposing Bharatiya Janata Party, he took Chief Ministership of Arunachal Pradesh.
- the Supreme Court of Indiaruled against this appointment on various grounds.
- The police officials confirmed that a suicide note was found but did not divulge the contents of it.
- Pul’s supporters protested in Itanagar demanding investigation byCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in this death.
Veteran journalist Barendrakrushna Dhal dead
- Odisha’s legendary Journalist and Columnist Barendra KrushnaDhal passed away following a prolonged illness
- He started his journalistic career in ‘Matrubhumi’ in 1960 and worked there for about 25 years.
- He worked in different language newspapers like in Odia, English and Bengali.
- He was also a correspondent at Bengali News Paper Aajkaland editor of Odia daily ‘Swaraj’ for a brief period.
- He was also elected as the president of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
- Dhal had received Sahitya Akademi award in 1993.
Modern Yoga Father T Krishnamacharya’s son TKV Desikachar Passes Away
- TKV Desikachar, son of Indian yoga master T Krishnamacharya, passed away in Chennai on August 8
- K.V. Desikachar went on to develop Viniyoga, an approach that tailors the practice to each students unique condition.
- he enthusiastically began formal training with his father in his 20s, shortly after completing his bachelor’s degree in engineering.
- In 1976 he founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, a yoga center in Madras, India.
- Drawing on his father’s teachings, Desikachar went on to develop Viniyoga, a highly individualized approach to yoga that tailors the practice to each student’s specific physical condition, emotional state, age, cultural background, and interests.
Science and Technology
Endosulfan may cause DNA damage in animals
- Indian researchers have found that mice and rats exposed to endosulfan suffer from DNA damageand genomic instability and impaired DNA damage response.
- Genetic abnormality and increased cancer occurrences have been seen in people who have had occupational exposure of 2-70 microgram/litreof endosulfan in blood.
- Five animals per group were studied and the experiment was repeated many times. Three different concentrations of endosulfan were tested on animals and four doses of each concentration were given at 24 hours interval.
- Endosulfan is one of the most toxic pesticideson the market today, responsible for many fatal pesticide poisoning incidents around the world
India’s first e-Market place for Online selling of goods and services by Govt. Departments
- “e-marketplace”for online purchase of goods and services by various central government ministries and departments.
- Government procurement of select goods and services is now possible at a one-stop online marketplace,an arrangement aimed at improving transparency and bringing down corruption.
- platform is launched on a pilot phase of ‘Government e-Marketplace’ (GeM), an end-to-end procurement system for common use goods and services by government buyers developed byDirectorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D).
- Items such as computers, office equipment and stationerycan be purchased online in the pilot stage. Apart from goods, GeM provides facility for engaging taxi services with multiple options of hiring like spot, daily use, monthly or annually.
- a buyer can carryout direct purchase of goods and services up to Rs. 50,000 and beyond this through price comparison, bidding or reverse auction.
Environment and Ecology
Country gets its first tiger repository
- Wildlife Institute of India(WII) will establish repository on tigers, under its new Tiger Cell in Dehradun. This is first such repository in India.
- Dehradun-based WII has worked with National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on tiger Conservation and population and created data base which includes about 23,000 images of tigers.
- Upon this if a tiger skin is recovered it can check where the tiger might have come from.
- Tiger Cell will be headed wildlife scientist V. Jhala which will be funded by the NTCA, a statutory body under the Environment Ministry.
Sports
Anderson topples Ashwin from top spot in ICC bowler rankings
- In the latest MRF player Rankings for Test Bowlers England Speedster James Andersonhas topped the list.
- The English cricketer replaces India off Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
- Pacer has reached his career best by claiming the top position month back in May 31. The race was among Ashwin, Pakistani bowler Yasir Shah and Anderson.
- progress of the pacer was significant after he showed impressive performance in the test series against England.
Abhijeet Gupta retains Commonwealth Chess championship crown
- Former world junior Chess champion Abhijeet Guptahas won the 20th Commonwealth Chess championship crown 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- He is the third Indianto win this prestigious championship, after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna.
- This is the second crown consecutively after the maestro won 19th Championship.
- International Master Tania Sachdevclinched a gold medal. Besides all the medals won by the Indians players in the senior category
- Grandmasters S L Narayanan and Deep Chakkravarthygot the silver and bronze medals respectively in the open section.