Current Affairs July 11, 2017

1. Okinoshima island gains UNESCO World Heritage status

A men-only island in Japan where women are banned has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

• The tiny landmass of Okinoshima is permanently manned by a Shinto priest who prays to the island’s goddess, in a tradition that has been kept up for centuries.
•  Limited numbers are permitted to land on the island in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

2. Extension of NPS Fortnight

To promote and create awareness about the National Pension System (NPS) and improve the quality of services provided to the subscribers, PFRDA is observing NPS fortnight from 27th June, 2017 to 11th July, 2017 successfully.

•  NSDL has developed a link which encapsulates all the information and functionalities related to NPS subscriber, including ‘NPS Mobile App’.

3. Finance Minister Launches 'Aaykar Setu'

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a new tax payer service module called Aaykar Setu.

•  It compiles various tax tools, live chat facility, dynamic updates, and important links to various processes within the Income Tax Department in a single module.
• This e-initiative would help in reducing physical interface between assesses and tax assessing authorities and thereby minimizing the chances of any tax harassment.

4. Health ministry, signs MoU with WB

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Government of West Bengal to set up a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine at Kolkata.

• Government of India has approved this important initiative with an outlay of approximately Rs.200 Crores towards equipment, manpower and running costs.
• The move intends to strengthen the blood transfusion services in the State and the surrounding region.

5. Odisha to set up international standard sports city

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced to set up the Kalinga International Sports City in the state capital to organize mega international events in future.

• "The proposed sports city would make eligible to bid for most international competitions including Commonwealth and Asian Games.
• With an aim to provide best of the sports infrastructures in other parts of the state, CM also announced to set up four satellite stadiums with world class infrastructures in four other municipal corporations-- Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela.

6. Gujarat government to take out Narmada Rath Yatra

The Gujarat government has decided to celebrate the completion of Sardar Sarovar dam work on river Narmada by taking out a 'Narmada Rath Yatra' covering 10,000 villages across the state under the 'Maa Narmada Mahotsav' programme.

• Gujarat CM launched a website having all the information related to the entire project, such as Narmada river basin, Sauni scheme, Sujalam Sufalam irrigation scheme and canal network.

7. President launches three digital initiatives in education sector

President Pranab Mukherjee launched two programmes and 'National Academic Depository' to take education to the remotest corners of the country with the help of technology. The programmes Swayam and Swayam Prabha -- for making education more accessible -- and the depository were conceived and executed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

• Under Swayam, courses would be offered through digital classrooms with online study material available free of cost in videos.
• Swayam Prabha would tap into the potential of Direct to Home Service wherein a person can install a dish antenna for about Rs 1,500 and have access to 32 digital educational channels run by the HRD Ministry.
• 'National Academic Depository' verified educational records would be digitally stored by universities or a board to counter forgery.

8. First Edition of WINGS 2017 – “Sab Uden, Sab Juden” Hosted in New Delhi

The First edition of WINGS 2017 – “Sab Uden, Sab Juden”- Expanding Regional Connectivity was hosted in New Delhi by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

• The Plenary session was chaired by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju and the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri Jayant Sinha was also present on this occasion.
• India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets and currently the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world.It is projected to be the third largest aviation market by 2020.

9. India to import US crude for first time

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, has sealed a first deal to import crude oil from the US.

•  IOC have bought 2 million barrels of crude oil from North America comprising 1.6 million barrels of US Mars crude and 400,000 barrels of Western Canadian Select.
• US Mars is a heavy, high-sulphur grade which will be processed at IOC's newest refinery at Paradip in Odisha.

10. GMR gets Rs. 1,330 cr loan from Axis Bank

GMR Goa International Airports Limited (GGIAL), subsdiary of GMR Airports has successfully executed a debt facility arrangement for the development of the greenfield project at Mopa in north Goa by signing a common loan agreement with Axis Bank.

• The bank will provide the company with Rs 1330 crore. The Greenfield airport will be developed in stages and will be scaled up as per traffic growth demands.
• This airport will be a full service airport catering to domestic and international passenger besides freight services.

11. IROAF won Golden Peacock Award 2017

Indian Railways achieves a major landmark in the field of Eco friendly fuel technologies at Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) which has been awarded the coveted National level “Golden Peacock Award for the Year 2017 for Eco-Innovation” for substitution of fossil fuels (Diesel) by environment friendly CNG in DEMU passenger train services.

• Use of CNG in Train Sets for passenger transportation has been done for the first time in the world.
•  The CNG based dual fuel 1400 HP engine used in DEMU trains developed by IROAF has successfully substituted diesel fuel with CNG upto 20%.

12. Harinder wins South Australian Open title

India's Harinder Pal Sandhu beat Rhys Dowling of Australia 11-8 12-10 11-4 in the final to lift South Australian Open squash title.

• It was Sandhu's eighth title at the PSA level and the third this season after winning two in Malaysia in the month of May.