27-28 JUNE 2016
Noted Malayalam theatre artist Kavalam Narayana Panicker passes away
Veteran Malayalam theatre artist and poet Kavalam Narayana Panicker passed away on 26 June 2016 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was 88.
Who was Kavalam Narayana Panicker?
•Born on 28 April 1928, Panicker attended CMS College in Kottayam.
•He obtained a degree in Economics from S D College, Alappuzha and later a Bachelor of Law degree from Madras Law College.
•He started his career as a lawyer in 1955.
•In 1961, he was nominated as Secretary of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.
•He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare.
•In 1993, Erin B. Mee directed his play Ottayanin New York City.
•His notable works are Madhyamavyayogam, Kalidasa's Vikramorvasiyam, Shakuntalam,Karnabharam, Bhasa's Uru Bhangam, Swapnavasavadattamand Dootavakyam.
•He also directed two movies, Mani Madhava Chakyar: The Master at Work, and Parvati Viraham in Kuttiyattamform. Kuttiyattam is a form of Sanskrit theatre.
•In 1983, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Direction.
•In 2002, he was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
•He was awarded with the Padma Bhushanin 2007.
28 June
Scientists succeed in introduction of Sericulture in Poyen Village of Kargil
A group of scientists from Temperate Sericulture Research Institute of SKUAST, Srinagar, succeeded in introduction of Sericulture in Poyen Village of Kargil.
Development of Sericulture activities in Kargil will serve purpose of achieving cocoon productivity. It will ultimately increase employment and generate income for rural youth and tribal farmers.
Background
During 2015-16, 31 unemployed girls/women farmers received training at Poyen village and produced quality Bivoltine cocoons for the first time in Kargil district.
On the instructions of Chairman Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil Haji Mohd Hanifa Jan, 40 days intensive Bivoltine Silk Worm rearing training programme was organized in the same village jointly by the institute, CSR & TI, Central Silk Board, and Ministry of Textiles.
What is sericulture?
•Sericulture is the rearing of silkworms for the production of silk.
• Bombyx mori(the caterpillar of the domesticated silk moth) is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm.
•Silk was first produced in China as early as the Neolithic period.
•Sericulture has become an important cottage industry in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea and Russia.
•At present, Chinaand Indiaare the two main producers, with more
UP government declares all natural calamities will be treated as state disaster
Uttar Pradesh government in June 2016 declared that all natural calamities including unseasonal heavy rain, lightning, Loo and storm and others will be treated as state disaster.
As per the decision all victims of these disasters will be given relief as per provisions made under State Disaster Relief Fund by the Union government.
A large number of people suffer due to these natural causes every year and the new system introduced will greatly benefit the victims and their kin. He also apprised that the notification in this regard has also been issued.
Besides, bus stations across all 75 districts of state will soon have sanitary napkin vending machines. For this purpose, the state government is working to install coin-based automatic sanitary napkin vending machines at bus stations. Expected to be launched on World Population Day on July 11, the project would be rolled out in three phases.
Sujoy Bose appointed as CEO of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund
Sujoy Bose was on 27 June 2016 appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
His appointment was made by the Union Government following his selection by the Selection Committee constituted under Department Of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.
About Sujoy Bose
• Bose has extensive international experience in the infrastructure sector, including experience in raising funds from international investors.
• At present, Bose works as the Director and Global Co-Head of infrastructure and natural resources at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a part of the World Bank group.
• He has been associated with the IFC for last 24 years.
• He holds an MBA from Rice University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from St Xavier's College, Kolkata, India.
About National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
• NIIF is a quasi sovereign wealth fund announced in 2015 budget with a corpus of around 40000 crore rupees.
• NIIF was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 2013, duly authorized to act as investment manager.
• It was constituted with an aim to finance the requirements of India’s infrastructure sector, mainly through foreign investment.
• The government has already signed pacts with investors from Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Russia for the NIIF.
Odisha Government launches Kalinga Siksha Sathi Yojana
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on 27 June 2016 launched a new scheme Kalinga Siksha Sathi Yojana (KSSY) with an aim to provide education loan at 1 percent interest to students for pursuing higher studies.
The State government dedicated this scheme to former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik on his Birth Centenary. Patnaik had instituted Kalinga UNESCO award for the popularisation of science when he was only 35 years old.
Highlights of the Kalinga Siksha Sathi Yojana
• Poor students aspiring to pursue professional and technical education can now avail themselves of study loan up to 10 lakh rupees at one percent interest rate.
• This will be a major help for students pursuing higher education including Management, Law, Engineering, Medicine etc.
• It will reduce the loan burden of parents who are not able to effort money for higher education.
• Odisha government will provide a cost of 500 crore rupees from its own resources for this purpose.
Criteria For Availing the Loan
• Family income must be below 4.5 lakh per annum
• Security deposit as per bank rules
• Students will have to repay the loan amount after 4-5 years moratorium period
• Maximum 10 lakh loan can be availed
• Bankers to decide to whom loan would be provided
Gudni Johannesson wins Iceland’s presidential election
Gudni Johannesson on 26 June 2016 won Iceland’s presidential election. The history professor who ran as an independent in the election was able to secure 39.1% of the vote.
He will succeed Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who served 20 years as head of state.
The elections were held in the backdrop of the Panama Papers leak in April, which implicated several top officials of the country.
Johannesson, a history professor, who is a newcomer in the politics decided to run for the presidency after the leak and rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment.
Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman without party affiliation, came second with 27.9%. While David Oddsson, a former conservative prime minister and central bank governor won just 13% of the vote.
President in Iceland
A president, elected head of state, in Iceland holds a largely ceremonial position. The president is elected to a four-year term by universal adult suffrage and has limited powers. The constitution does not limit the number of terms the president is allowed to serve.
He acts as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity and carries the powers to block legislation.
There have been five presidents since Iceland became a Republic in 1944.
Sweden inaugurates world’s first electric road
Sweden on 22 June 2016 inaugurated a test stretch of an electric road. With this, the country has become one of the first countries in the world to conduct tests with electric power for heavy transports on public roads.
The test was conducted on parts of road E16. It involved a current collector on the roof of the truck cab feeding the current down to a hybrid electric motor in the truck.
Key facts related to the test stretch of the road
•The tests will continue up through 2018.
•They will provide knowledge of how electric roads work in practice.
•It will offer a glimpse on whether the technology can be used in the future.
•The experiment is based on the government’s goal of energy efficiency and a fossil fuel-free vehicle fleet by 2030. It will also contribute to strengthening Sweden’s competitiveness.
Three government agencies are partially funding the project. They are:
• Swedish Transport Administration:It is a government agency responsible for long-term infrastructure planning for all kinds of transport, i.e. road, rail, shipping and aviation. It owns, constructs, operates and maintains all state-owned roads and railways and operates a large number of ferry services.
• Swedish Energy Agency:It works for the use of renewable energy.
• Vinnova:It is the Swedish government agency that administers state funding for research and development.
Excessive blue light emitted by LED can adversely impact human health: AMA
A report released by the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Science and Public Health on 14 June 2016 claims that excessive blue light emitted by light emitting diodes (LED) can adversely impact human health. AMA report looked at the LED street lighting on US roadways.
It also adopted guidance for communities on selecting among LED lighting options to minimize potential harmful human and environmental effects.
Effects of LED light
• A large amount of blue light emitted by the high-intensity LED lighting appears white to the naked eye but it can create worse nighttime glare than conventional lighting.
• Discomfort and disability from intense, blue-rich LED lighting can decrease visual acuity and safety, resulting in concerns and creating a road hazard.
• Blue-rich LED streetlights that operates at a wavelength adversely suppresses melatonin during night, thus it directly have an impact on drivers.
• It is estimated that white LED lamps have five times greater impact on circadian sleep rhythms than conventional street lamps.
• The detrimental effects of high-intensity LED lighting are not limited to humans. Excessive outdoor lighting disrupts many species that need a dark environment. For instance, poorly designed LED lighting disorients some bird, insect, turtle and fish species.
The findings are similar to the findings of some surveys of recent past. These findings suggest that brighter residential nighttime lighting are associated with reduced sleep times, dissatisfaction with sleep quality, excessive sleepiness, impaired daytime functioning and obesity.
Community Guidelines
• It asks communities to minimize and control blue-rich environmental lighting by using the lowest emission of blue light possible to reduce glare.
• It asks for an intensity threshold for optimal LED lighting that minimizes blue-rich light.
• It also says that all LED lighting should be properly shielded to minimize glare and detrimental human health and environmental effects.
• Consideration should be given to utilize the ability of LED lighting to be dimmed for off-peak time periods.
PM Narendra Modi launches Projects for 20 Smart Cities in Pune
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 June 2016 launched several projects for 20 Smart Cities in Pune under the Smart City Mission.
The Projects were launched exactly a year after Union Government launched the flagship Smart City Mission in June 2015 by releasing the Mission Guidelines.
Highlights of the Projects
• Projects were launched in 20 cities selected in the first batch of mission through a city challenge competition.
• Pune stood second in the selected cities.
• Projects launched in Pune include slum rehabilitation, street and pedestrian walkway, modern buses with alternative fuels, traffic demand modelling project and city common mobility card.
• Ahmedabad has launched sewage treatment plant, housing project, smart learning in municipal schools.
• Bhubaneswar, which topped the list in the city challenge, has launched a railway multi-modal hub, traffic signalisation project and urban knowledge centre.
• In New Delhi Municipal Council, a mini-sewerage treatment plants, 444 smart class rooms, WiFi, smart LED streetlights, city surveillance, command and control centre were launched.
• The 20 selected cities would be linked through video conferencing.
Other Launches
• PM Modi also inaugurated the Make Your City SMART contest aimed at continuing citizen participation in the planning. Suggestions and designs suggested by the citizens will be incorporated by respective smart cities.
• A Smart Net Portal was also inaugurated to enable the cities under different urban missions to share ideas and source solutions for various issues during the implementation of various missions.
Background
• The Smart Cities mission, a project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was launched in June 2015 with the government releasing the guidelines and mission statement for the 100 Smart Cities project.
• The mission was allotted a budget of 48000 crore rupees for five years.
RBI publishes Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 June 2016 released the “Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018”. The vision reiterates the aims of building a “less-cash” society by encouraging greater use of electronic payments by all sections.
The objective is to ensure that a robust payments infrastructure is established in the country to increase accessibility, availability, interoperability and security.
Contours of Vision-2018
The broad contours of Vision-2018 revolve around 5Cs – Coverage, Convenience, Confidence, Convergence and Cost.
Coverage: Enabling wider access to a variety of electronic payment services
Convenience: Enhancing user experience through ease of use and of products and processes
Confidence:Promoting integrity of systems, security of operations and customer protection
Convergence:Ensuring interoperability across service providers
Cost: Making services cost effective for users as well as service providers
Four strategic initiatives to achieve 5Cs
To achieve these, Vision-2018 will focus on four strategic initiatives such as responsive regulation, robust infrastructure, effective supervision and customer centricity.
Responsive Regulation: Involve all stakeholders to promote twin objectives of enhanced coverage with interoperability of the payments system and convenience with security for the end-users in sync with emerging developments and innovations.
Robust Infrastructure:Aim is to increase the accessibility, availability, interoperability and security of the payment systems.
Effective Supervision: Aims to strengthen the resilience of the Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) and System Wide Important Payment Systems (SWIPS) in the country. This also envisages setting up appropriate oversight framework for new systems and augmenting the data reporting and fraud monitoring systems.
Customer Centricity: Envisages streamlining the customer grievance redressal mechanism, focus on building customer awareness and education, and initiate customer protection measures.
Expected Outcomes of Vision 2018
With continued efforts and based on Vision 2015-18, following five outcomes are expected from Vision 2018:
• Continued decrease in the share of paper-based clearing instruments
• Consistent growth in individual segments of retail electronic payment systems viz. NEFT, IMPS, Card transactions, mobile banking, etc.
• Increase in registered customer base for mobile banking
• Significant growth in acceptance infrastructure
• Accelerated use of Aadhaar in payment systems
How it is going to benefit?
With increasing use of technology-based innovative payment products, the strategic initiatives under Vision-2018 are expected to reduce paper-based instruments significantly. It will lead to accelerated growth in mobile banking and other modes of electronic payments.
Background
The RBI has periodically put forth its vision for payment and settlement systems in India, which enunciates the Bank’s objective to migrate to electronic payments and to ensure that the payment systems in India are safe, secure, authorised, efficient and accessible. The previous Vision document covered the period 2012 to 2015.
Social entrepreneur Zubaida Bai wins UN honour for corporate sustainability initiative
Zubaida Bai, Indian social entrepreneur, in the fourth week of June 2016 was named among the top 10 Local SDG Pioneers for 2016.
The 2016 Local SDG Pioneers is a part of the United Nations Global Compact’s Making Global Goals Local Businesscampaign.
The Local SDG Pioneers programme seeks out individuals who are demonstrating how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can enable business to unlock economic, social and environmental gains for the world.
Other nine 2016 Local SDG Pioneers are:
• Kerry Adler:Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of SkyPower Global, Canada
• Farzana Chowdhury:Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Green Delta Insurance Company Limited, Bangladesh
• Xiaohui Liang:Chief Researcher, Office for Social Responsibility of China National Textile & Apparel Council, China
• Claus Stig Pedersen:Head of Corporate Sustainability of Novozymes, Denmark
• Dina Sherif:Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder of Ahead of the Curve, Egypt
• Sonia Consiglio Favaretto:Press and Sustainability Managing Director of BM&FBOVESPA S.A., Brazil
• Patrick Ngowi:Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Helvetic Group, Tanzania
• Ulisses Sabará: President of Beraca, Brazil
• Ulysses Smith:Attorney at Linklaters LLP, USA
Who is Zubaida Bai?
•Zubaida Bai is an Indian social entrepreneur and engineer.
•She founded ayzh, a social enterprise which provides technology solutions to rural women.
•In 2009, she was named a TED Fellow.
•In 2011, her design for JANMA, a clean birth kit, was selected by INDEX Awards as one of 61 products globally designed to improve life.
About United Nations Global Compact
•The United Nations Global Compact is an initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies.
•It is a principle-based framework for businesses. It states ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
•The UN Global Compact was announced by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999.
•It was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000.
Xerxes Sapur Desai, founder of Titan, dies
Xerxes Sapur Desai, the man who founded Titan Co Ltd, died on 27 June 2016 following a prolonged illness in Bengaluru. He was 79.
Desai played a key role in introducing India to its first quartz watch in the late 80s when he set up Titan Co. Ltd (part of Tata Sons), after enduring years of resistance from state-owned HMT Watches.
About Xerxes Sapur Desai
• Desai joined Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1961 after graduating from Oxford University.
• He worked with Tata Press, Tata Chemicals and Taj Hotels before setting up Titan in 1986.
• The idea of Titan came about in 1979, but it took him seven long years to finally set up a factory in Hosur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, in 1986 with support from the Tamil Nadu government.
• With the success in watches, Desai got Tata's approval to start Tanishq, the jewellery business that is now a trusted brand and India’s largest jewellery firm.
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan: A scheme to boost healthcare facilities for pregnant women
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), an initiative of the Narendra Modi Government, was launched in June 2016.
The scheme aims at boosting the health care facilities for the pregnant women, especially the poor. It also seeks to protect pregnant ladies from infectious diseases.
Under the scheme, the pregnant ladies will be given free health check-up and required treatment for free on 9th of every month. The scheme will be applicable for pregnant women to avail in every government hospitals across India.
Key features of Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan
•All kinds of medical checkups under the scheme will be completely free.
•Tests will take place at the medical centres, government and private hospitals and private clinics across the country.
•Women will be marked differently based on their health problems so that doctors can easily detect the problem.
•The scheme is applicable only to the women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months.
•The women belonging to semi urban, poor and rural areas will be given preferences.
Nestle named Ukf Mark Schneider as CEO
Food and Beverage multinational Nestle SA on 27 June 2016 named Ulf Mark Schneider as its next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He is the CEO of Fresenius, a Germany-based healthcare company. He will join Nestle on 1 September 2016 and start as CEO on 1 January 2017.
He will succeed incumbent CEO Paul Bulcke, who will resign from the position on 31 December 2016. Bulcke has been named by Nestle board as its next chairman after incumbent Peter Brabeck-Letmathe retires in 2017.
50-year old Schneider will be the first outsider to run 150-year old Nestlé since 1922, when banker Louis Dapples was appointed to head the company after its only financial loss.
The appointment of Schneider highlights the increasing importance of health and nutrition for Switzerland-based manufacturer of Maggi noodles and Kit Kat candy bars.
Schneider appointment will expand the Nestle's capability to become one of the pre-eminent players in the Nutrition, Health and Wellness sector.
In this line, Nestle also unveiled plans to integrate its skin-health and health-sciences businesses into the main Nestle organization reporting directly to Schneider from January 2017.
The succession announcement comes against the backdrop of Nestle missing its sales target of organic growth of 5% to 6%, dubbed the “Nestlé Model”, for three years. The slowdown has been due to slowdown in major markets like Europe and China, strong Swiss franc and weak consumer prices.
About Ulf Mark Schneider
• He has been the CEO of Fresenius for over 13 years.
• Under his leadership company generated annual sales of 28 billion euro (31 billion dollar) and offers products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient treatments.
• He is a German and U.S. citizen with a doctoral degree from the University of St. Gallen and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About Nestle
• Nestle foundation was laid in 1866 with the setting up of Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company
• It was founded by German-born pharmicist Henri Nestle, who develops a breakthrough infant food in 1867
• In 1905 the company was merged with Anglo-Swiss to form what is now known as the Nestlé Group
• It sells more than 200 brands in 189+ countries with 436 factories in 85 countries.
Majuli in Assam declared as island district
Majuli: World’s largest river island located in the Brahmaputra River in Assam
Majuli was in news on 27 June 2016 as the Government of Assam approved its up gradation as a district. The approval was given by the State Cabinet in its first meeting after the formation of the government on 24 May 2016.
At present, Majuli is a Mohkuma, a sub division of the Jorhat District and represented by the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in the Assembly.
Key facts related to Majuli island
• Geographical features:It is a fluvial landform (a riverine delta), a unique geographical occurrence and a result of the dynamics of the Brahmaputra river system.
• It isbounded by the river Subanisriand her tributaries on the North West, the kherkatia Suli (a spill channel of the river Brahmaputra) in the northeast and the main Brahmaputra River on the South and the South west.
• It is the largest mid river delta system in the world.It is also comprised of many islets locally called the Chaporis.
• Its area has shrunk from about 1250 square kilometers in 1891 to about 515 square kilometers due to the erosion of river-bank.
• Vaishnavite cultural centre:It is the abode of the Assamese neo-Vaisnavite cultureinitiated around 15th century by the revered Assamese saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva.
• There are a total of 30 Sattras or Vaishnavite monasteries including the Dakhinpat Satrawhich was established in 1584 AD.
• Each Sattra, represents, within its region, a centre for cultural activities and even acts as a democratic institution to settle local disputes.
• Most of the villages associate with respective Sattra, and the villagers partake in the activities of their own Sattra during festivals and occasions.
• These sattra villages and other vernacular settlements house people from various ethnic origins all of whom have settled in Majuli like Mishings, Deori, Sonowal Kachari, Koch, Kaivartta and Nath.
• Flora and fauna: It is a hotspot for flora and fauna, harbouring many rare and endangered avifauna species including migratory birds that arrive in the winter season.
• Among the birds seen here are the greater adjutant stork, pelican, Siberian crane and the whistling teal.
• Agriculture: Paddy, mustard, potato, pulses, sugarcane, wheat are the main crops cultivated on the island.
• Various seasonal vegetables and fruits like orange, banana, pineapple, jackfruit, etc are also grown in abundant quantity.
• Recognition:In March 2011, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of the Union Ministry of Culture proposed to nominate the island for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list.The application is in pending.