Current Affairs Current Affairs - 30 August 2016 - Vikalp Education

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Current Affairs - 30 August 2016


General Affairs 

Kudankulam Plant Unit-2 Synchronised With Southern Grid
  • CHENNAI:  The 1000 MW second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) was test synchronised with the southern power grid today, marking generation of electricity from the unit and its supply to the grid, a top KNPP official said today.

    "Unit two of KNPP was test synchronised with the southern power grid today at 1117 hours. Presently the unit is supplying 245 MW to the southern grid," KNPP Site Director R S Sundar said.

    He said clearance was obtained from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for the first synchronisation of the unit with the southern grid.

    Mr Sundar said the unit would be shut down for mandatory inspection of turbine-generator after a few days of operation. "The power level will be increased in phases to 50, then 75 and 90 per cent and later to 100 per cent full power after obtaining necessary regulatory clearances," he said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, Unit 1 of KNPP has been operating continuously for 19 days since February 22 this year and has so far generated 11,269 Million Units of electricity from October 2013, he said.

    KNPP-2 attained first criticality on July 10 this year and subsequently various reactor physics experiments were carried out at low power.

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    It was done under supervision of experts from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, NPCIL and Russian specialists.

    On August 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had jointly dedicated to the nation the 1000 MW Nuclear Power Plant-I.

    KNPP has been set up using Russian VVER type reactors based on enriched uranium.

    Completion of Unit 1 was delayed in view of strident protests by local people, who raised safety concerns, before it became operational.

    Pressurised Water Reactor VVER-1000 had gone critical in July 2014 and the commercial operations started from December 31 the same year, with the unit coming to the aid of the then power starved Tamil Nadu.

Rahul Gandhi's UP Plan: 2,500 Km, 223 Constituencies, No Big Rallies
  • NEW DELHI:   Next week, Rahul Gandhi will launch a nearly month-long tour of Uttar Pradesh in a huge public outreach that will not include any large rallies, said Congress senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today.

    The Congress vice president will criss-cross 2,500 kilometres, covering about 223 of Uttar Pradesh's 403 assembly constituencies. Mr Gandhi, 46, will launch his tour on September 6 from Deoria in the eastern part of the state.

    Uttar Pradesh will choose its next government in six months.

    Mr Gandhi will meet with farmers, women and youth in intimate neighbourhood chats, said the Congress, and focus heavily on accusing successive governments of failing them and being unable to alleviate the backwardness and poverty of India's most populous state.

    The Congress last governed Uttar Pradesh nearly three decades ago. It has declared Sheila Dikshit, 78, as its presumptive chief minister. Mr Gandhi's mother, Sonia Gandhi, who is President of the party, was forced last month to cut short her roadshow through Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after she fell sick while campaigning.

    It is not clear yet how Mr Gandhi will conduct his tour or yatra. Raj Babbar, actor-turned-politician and head of the Congress in UP, is traveling through the state on a bus to rack up support.


    In the national election two years ago, the Gandhis were the only Congress MPs to be re-elected from Uttar Pradesh.

    The Samajwadi Party is hoping Akhilesh Yadav will be re-elected Chief Minister. Mayawati, who is a Dalit leader and heads the BSP, is asking for another shot as head of the state; she has been its Chief Minister four times. The BJP has not yet declared its nominee for Chief Minister.

Single Window Clearance To Facilitate Country's Filmmakers: Rajyavardhan Rathore
  • NEW DELHI:  Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore on Monday said that his ministry has launched single window clearance to facilitate the filmmakers in the country.

    He made these comments while addressing a seminar on "Cinematic Tourism- the Way Forward" held at Mahatma Mandir here.

    The seminar was organized by Tourism Department of Gujarat government.

    Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli has inaugurated the seminar which is considered as the pre-event seminar of Vibrant Gujarat 2017.

    It is reported that the seminar is aimed at projecting Gujarat as the new destination of cinematic tourism in coming years.

    Gujarati film industry has registered a record box office collection of 550 million rupees during the year 2015, which was only 70 million rupees in previous year.

Services Resume After Mangaluru-Bound Express Derailed In Kerala
  • KOCHI:  Railway resumed train services in Ernakulam and Thrissur route today, a day after rail traffic on the route was affected due to derailment of Mangaluru-bound express train near Karukutty, about 45 km from Kochi.

    The railways could commence the train services on the route at 7.15 am. Trains connected with electric engines have started running through both the tracks, a railway spokesman said.

    Several trains from Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions have been regulated today. Many trains are running late or rescheduled, railways said.

    Passengers of the Mangaluru-bound express train escaped unhurt yesterday when 12 of its bogies derailed amid heavy rains at Karukutty.

    Railways have ordered a probe into the incident which occurred at 2.55 am yesterday, shortly after the train 16347 Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Express left Aluva station and was running at a slow speed.

    No casualty was reported and all passengers had been taken to Thrissur for their onward journey.

LTTE's Prabhakaran To Be Reported As 'Missing' 7 Years After His Death
  • COLOMBO:  With some Tamil nationalists in Sri Lanka believing that Velupillai Prabhakaran may still be alive, a Tamil National Alliance leader has said the LTTE supremo's name could be reported to the newly setup Office of the Missing Persons (OMP).

    M Shivajilingam, a member of the northern provincial council told a local radio station Neth FM that he was willing to report Prabhakaran's name to the OMP set up by the government.

    "If his sister or the brother wants it reported to OMP I am willing to come forward on their behalf," he said.

    Prabhakaran, 54, was declared killed by the Sri Lankan government's troops on May 19, 2009 in Mullaivaikkal in the northern Mullaithivu district.

    The discovery of the body with a fatal head injury marked the end to the two-and-a-half-decade-long civil war with thousands of remaining LTTE cadres surrendering to the government troops.

    However, some Tamil nationalist hardliners had always doubted the government's version of the story and believe that Prabhakaran may still be alive having escaped the final battle zone in 2009.

    The OMP which the government has agreed to set up under its wider UN Human Rights Council resolution obligations has run into controversy with the opposition calling it a betrayal of the government troops who defeated the LTTE.


    The government claims that the OMP was meant to give redress to tens of thousands reported missing in the country due to various conflicts both in the south and the north.

    The International Red Cross (ICRC) had last month announced results from its survey which said that over 16,000 people remain missing in Sri Lanka after the end of the conflict in 2009.

Business Affairs 

Sensex gains in late trade to finish 120 points higher, Nifty tops 8,600; Tata Motors top gainer
  • The S&P BSE Sensex on Monday rallied in late trade to finish 120 points higher, but below its crucial psychological level of 28,000, while the broader Nifty50 topped its key 8,600-mark.
    The headline indices traded in a range after most Asian share markets tumbled as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated at Jackson Hole meeting that a US interest rate increase remains on the cards for this year.
    The 30-share index ended the day at 27,902, up 120.41 points, while broad-based 50-share index quoted 8,607, up 34.90 points at close.
    The caution about a potential US rate hike comes as Indian shares have lost momentum after hitting their highest in more than a year on August 9 as investors worry that valuations have become too expensive.

    "Valuation of stocks is overstretched as last quarter's results don't justify the high PE ratio of companies," said RK Gupta, managing director of Taurus Asset Management.
    Shares of Tata Motors rose 4.18 per cent, making them the biggest gainers on the Nifty, as investors took comfort from the performance of JLR and were hopeful about its outlook. The scrip was the top gainer on Sensex and Nifty.
    Adani Enterprises gained as much as 2.8 per cent, but ended flat after an Australian court dismissed a plea from activists to prevent mining at the Carmichael mine.
    IT stocks were the biggest laggards on the Nifty, with HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Tech Mahindra the top percentage losers.

      Rate cut possible only if inflation eases: Raghuram Rajan
      • Inflation projections are still at the upper limit of Reserve Bank's target and the policy rate can be cut only if inflation eases, outgoing Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Monday.
        Retail inflation shot up to nearly 2-year high of 6.07 per cent, while the one based on wholesale prices soared to a 23-month high of 3.55 per cent in July.
        "Inflation projections are still at the upper limits of RBI's inflation objective. With RBI needing to balance savers' desire for positive real interest rates with corporate investors' and retail borrowers' need for low nominal borrowing rates, the room to cut policy rates can emerge only if inflation is projected to fall further," Rajan wrote in the foreword to RBI Annual Report 2015-16.
        He said the short term macroeconomic priorities of the RBI continue to focus on bringing down inflation towards the government-set target of 4 per cent.
        So far, the RBI has followed a gentle glide path, aiming at 5 per cent by March 2017 after having brought it below 6 per cent in January 2016, Rajan said.
        RBI is also working with the government and banks on speeding up the resolution of distressed projects and completing the clean-up of bank balance sheets; ensuring banks have the capital to make provisions, support new lending, and thus pass on future possible rate cuts, he added.
        He said economic growth, while showing signs of picking up, is still below the levels that the country is capable of.
        The key weakness is in investment, with private corporate investment subdued because of low capacity utilisation, and public investment slow in rolling out in some sectors, he noted.
        The Governor said willingness of banks to cut lending rates is muted.
        "Not only does weak corporate investment reduce the volume of new profitable loans, their stressed assets have tightened capital positions, which may prevent them from lending freely," Rajan said.

        Govt receives over 4000 job applications via MyGov portal
        • In a bid to woo highly-skilled professionals from the private sector, the government, which had announced job vacancies on its MyGov website, has received more than 4000 submissions from various individuals who want to work for the government.
          The government positions were offered under various domains and specializations such as editorial writers, researchers, software and app developers, data scientists, graphic designers, video editors, advertising professionals, social media expersts and academic experts.
          To enable professionals from the private sector to join government services, the government had proposed to create a pool of resumes for various government positions. The government plans to use this data bank to hire individuals who have expertise in their respective domains on contractual basis.
          To submit the resumes, one has to use the hashtag of the respective position while uploading their resume. The resumes are then scrutinised by MyGov, and shortlisted resumes are contacted to take things forward. 

        Indo-US trade ties have broken every record: US Envoy
        • Indo-American trade has "broken every record", be it defence or agriculture, and the recent reforms in India like the GST will further push economic ties between the two nations, the US said on Monday.
          The enhanced bilateral relations are a result of a significant increase in government-to-government dialogue, US Ambassador Richard Verma said.
          "We have broken every record that we keep in every category... The highest two-way trade numbers ever between the countries last year has reached $109 billion; the highest defence trade numbers last year was $15 billion; we even did $6 billion cumulatively in agri trade," he said at the USA-India Innovation Forum here.
          It is a good story so far but "we can do better", he said.
          The recent reforms like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Bankruptcy Code, national IPR policy and relaxation of FDI norms would help in further pushing the economic ties between the countries, he added.
          Verma said India is working on improving ease of doing business and states too are competing with each other in this area.
          "We see competitive federalism taking place in states," he said, adding, "we are very excited and we really do believe that the best has yet to come".
          The US believes this because India is currently the world fastest growing economy in the word, it will have the largest middle class, college graduates, holders, and mega cities.
          "...two-third of the population is less than age of 35 and there will be massive investment in infrastructure... So, we are quite optimistic and we are quite excited about India," he said.
          To achieve this, India would have continuously take reform measures on the policy sides besides stronger Intellectual property (IP) framework, Verma said.
          Everyone thinks that it's US companies complaining about IPRs, but when one heard from Indian innovators, their first two or three issues will be that "we need a better IPR environment here in India".
          He also emphasised on the need for a change in business culture and focus on financing for industries.
          Along with ease of doing business, India needs to focus on the important issue of financing, most of which would come from the private sector.
          To stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, he said also emphasised on supporting people across genders.
          He said greater opportunity should be provided to all the people and not just the well-offs.
          Further, India and the US have made a lot of progress in areas like civil nuclear, defence and manufacturing, he said, adding that both the sides have also agreed to open consulate offices in each others' countries. .

          Ratan Tata, Nilekani to set up microfinance firm Avanti Finance
          • Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani and Vijay Kelkar have come together to set up a technology-enabled microfinance entity, Avanti Finance, which will focus on delivering affordable and timely credit to under-served and un-served segments in India.
            Tata and Nilekani are bringing in their investments from their respective philanthropic capital, and any gains will be reinvested in philanthropic causes, Tata Trusts said in a statement.
            Avanti Finance will apply for registration to the Reserve Bank of India in the coming days and will establish operations before the end of the financial year, it added.
            "Avanti will be a platform to impact the poor through credit at individual and community levels to create a lasting improvement in their livelihoods and standard of living, ushering prosperity," Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata said.
            The initiative aims to leverage on the social sector presence of Tata Trusts and other like minded partners and the rapidly evolving India Stack (Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile), UPI and payments bank ecosystem.
            Avanti would use this ecosystem and will innovate on product design in consonance with the indigenous needs, to deliver seamlessly for the end consumer.
            "Access to credit at an affordable cost is still a challenge. I am honoured to be part of Ratan's initiative that leverages on the Tata Trusts' rich legacy and aims to make a significant shift in achieving financial inclusion to the common man," noted economist Kelkar said.
            Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani said his participation in Avanti is more driven by social motivation rather than anything else with a view to serve the underserved and unserved and make the Tata Trusts and other likeminded partners philanthropy more effective.

          General Awareness

          Maharashtra CM unveils plan for Mumbai – Nagpur Super Communication Expressway

            • Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has unveiled a detailed plan for the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, a 706-km link that seeks to connect 24 districts and improve access from rural communities in the east to commercial hubs in the west.
              Mumbai – Nagpur Expressway :-
              The total length of this highway is 700 km from Nagpur to Mumbai, excluding the portions of NH 7 and NH 3 it covers at Nagpur-Butibori and Ghoti-Kalyan-Mumbai sectors respectively. This highway also covers the part portions of the Maharashtra State Highways at certain areas, which are now being rebuilt with National Highway Standards.
              This highway roughly covers the regions in Maharashtra as,
              • Vidarbha: 400 km,
              • Marathwada160 km and
              • Rest of Maharashtra : 140 km.
              Nagpur–Aurangabad–Mumbai express highway is a Maharashtra State Highway, as its area lies in the state of Maharashtra only, but built on the National Express Highway basis.
              • Express Highway, based on the govt approval and the formal announcement by state govt authorities, this highway is a project connecting two major cities Nagpur Aurangabad in Maharashtra to the capital city of Mumbai via the same link-route and in less than the distance covered by the NH 6.
              Super Communication Expressway :-
              The new road theoretically saves 65 km distance between the two cities and the travel time of nearly one-and-half hours. Though said so, ironically, if developed with 4 lane basis, as declared earlier by the State Public Works Dept, this highway can save more than 8 hrs of time between Nagpur and Mumbai, as compared toNH 6.
              • The highway, which will have at least three lanes on each side, will reduce travel time between the two cities from 12-16 hours.
              • The Rs 46,000-crore project, formally called ‘Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor’, also involves construction of agricultural centres, warehouses and other facilities that the state hopes will lead to creation of thousands of new jobs. The facilities will be set up near several nodes planned on the route.
              • According to the plan, the construction will begin in January next year and end in October 2019, a schedule officials may struggle to meet because of land disputes that generally plague major road projects. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is the implementing agency for the project.
              • The super expressway, which will pass through 10 districts, will need 8,520 hectares of land, while amenities planned along the stretch will require 1,500 hectares. Node development will require 10,800 hectares.
              • This is the first time Maharashtra will obtain space through land pooling. In such a system, farmers and plot owners transfer land ownership rights to the government or a single agency, which develops the space by building roads and other infrastructure? It then returns a small portion to the owners, who benefit from the higher market value of developed land.

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