Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jun 22, 2017

ANSWER: Dalveer Bhandari

Explanation:
India decided to re-nominate Dalveer Bhandari for another term as the Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The nomination papers of Bhandari were filed on 19 June 2017 in New York.

The decision came after the Indian nominee, Neeru Chadha, won the election to one of the seven vacant seats to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The signatures from all four members of India’s national group at the Permanent Court of Arbitration were acquired on 18 June 2017. As per ICJ statutes, the national group has to submit nominations to the ICJ.

The current members of the Indian national group are former Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, retired Supreme Court Judge Girish Thakorlal Nanavati, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi and senior lawyer Harish Salve.

Dalveer Bhandari: Know More

• Born on 1 October 1947, Dalveer Bhandari is an Indian member of the International Court of Justice. He obtained degrees in the humanities and law from Jodhpur University and practised in the Rajasthan High Court from 1968 to 1970.
• Later, he obtained a Masters of Law from Northwestern University School of Law.
• Following his return to India, he again took up a law practice in the Rajasthan High Court from 1973 to 1976. In 1991, he was elevated to the Delhi High Court in March 1991.
• As a judge in the Delhi High Court, he also chaired the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, the Advisory Board of Delhi State, and the Delhi chapter of the International Law Association for a number of years.
• On 25 July 2004, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
• On 28 October 2005, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
• He was nominated by the Government of India as its official candidate in January 2012.
• In the elections held on 27 April 2012, he secured 122 votes in the United Nations General Assembly against 58 for his rival, Florentino Feliciano, who was nominated by the Government of the Philippines.
• He swore in as a member of the International Court of Justice on 19 June 2012.

ANSWER: Secondary Adjustment under section 92CE of IT Act 1961

Explanation:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on 15 June 2017 notified the Rule 10CB for operationalising the provisions of Secondary Adjustment under Section 92CE of Income Tax (IT) Act, 1961.

The provision prescribes the time limit of 90 days for repatriation of excess money. This time limit will begin when the primary adjustments exceeding INR 1 crore made in the year 2017-18 or later, attains finality.

In cases where the transfer pricing order is appealed against by the taxpayer, the time limit for repatriation will begin only after the appeal is finalised by the appellate authority.

The provision also prescribe the rate of interest for computing the income in case of failure to repatriate the excess money within the prescribed time limit.

Separate rates of interest are also prescribed for international transactions denominated in Indian currency and in foreign currency.

The rates of interest are applicable on an annual basis. The Income-tax Act, 1961 was inserted with the section 92CE through Finance Act, 2017.

The provisions of the same will come into effect from 1 April 2018 to provide for secondary adjustment by attributing excess money lying in the hands of the associated enterprise to make the actual allocation of funds.

The provision applies to the primary adjustments exceeding INR 1 crore made in respect of Assessment Year 2017-18 onwards.

ANSWER: 2045

Explanation:
Sweden in the second week of June 2017 committed to become a net-zero carbon emission emitter by 2045.

On 15 June 2017, Swedish lawmakers bound the country to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2045.

Only one out of country’s eight political parties did not support the Climate Act in parliament.

Lawmakers voted 254 to 41 in favour of the proposal, accelerating the nation’s previous target to become carbon neutral by 2050.

The vote makes Sweden the first country to significantly strengthen its climate targets since the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The legislation will come into force from the 1 January 2018, and will also see the establishment of an independent Climate Policy Council in addition to a four-yearly cycle for updating the nation’s climate action plan.

The government’s climate policy must be based on the climate goals.

The government is required to present a climate report every year in its budget bill.

Every four years, the government will draw up a climate policy action plan for how its climate goals will be achieved.

The first climate report will be presented in the second half of 2018, and the first action plan will be presented in 2019.

Sweden: Know More

• Capital: Stockholm
• Dialling code: +46
• Currency: Swedish krona
• Largest city: Stockholm
• Official language: Swedish

ANSWER: Kepler

Explanation:
NASA’s Kepler space telescope has spotted 219 new potential planets, among which at least 10 are almost the same size as that of the Earth with conditions suitable to host life.

The new data brings the total number of planet candidates identified by Kepler to 4034, of which 2335 have been verified as exoplanets.

So far, around 50 planets have been detected by Kepler that fall in the habitable zone and are close to the size of the Earth, among which more than 30 have been verified.

The new data is the most comprehensive and detailed catalogue release of potential exoplanets from Kepler’s first four years of data.

Exoplanets are planets that are located outside our solar system.

The data is also the final catalogue from the spacecraft’s view of the patch of sky in the Cygnus constellation.

This data will enable scientists to determine what planetary populations – from rocky bodies the size of Earth, to gas giants the size of Jupiter – make up the galaxy’s planetary demographics.

One research group used the Kepler data to make precise measurements of thousands of planets, the results of which suggest two distinct size groupings of small planets.

The team found a clean division in the sizes of rocky, Earth-size planets and gaseous planets smaller than Neptune.

Few planets falling between the groupings were also found.

The results have significant implications for the search for life.

The Kepler space telescope hunts for planets by detecting the change in a star’s brightness, as it drops when a planet is transiting from its front.

The final Kepler catalogue will serve as the foundation for further study to determine the prevalence and demographics of planets in the galaxy.

Kepler data set is unique, as it is the only one containing a population of these near Earth-analogues – planets with roughly the same size and orbit as Earth. Detecting planets in the galaxy will in turn help form the design of future NASA missions to directly image another Earth.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
India won six medals - two golds, two silvers and two bronzes - in the Wushu competition of the BRICS Games, which concluded here on 19th June.

Indian Wushu players gave tough competition to Wushu’s powerhouses China and Russia with other two teams Brazil and South Africa.

On 18th June , M. Gyandas won gold medal in Taijiquan/Taijijian, M. Bidheswari Devi won silver and L. Sanatgombhi Chanu won bronze in Taijiquan/Taijijian event.

On 19th June the second and final day of Wushu events, the Indian team won three more medals - one gold, one silver and one bronze in the Five-Nation Wushu completion.

Anjul Namdev clinched the gold medal in Changquan overall event, Ng. Toshibala won silver in Women’s Changquan event, and Sajan Lama settled for bronze medal in Nanquan allround Event.

Wushu: Know More

• Wushu is a martial art and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.
• It was developed in China after 1949, in an effort to standardize the practice.
• Olympic sport: No - but recognized by the IOC
• Also known as: Kung fu, CMA, WS

ANSWER: Afghanistan

Explanation:
President Ashraf Ghani has inaugurated the first Afghanistan-India air corridor during a ceremony at the Kabul international airport - a direct route that bypasses Pakistan and is meant to improve commerce.

Ghani, who thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Afghanistan-India air corridor, said the aim of the route is to create more opportunities and make Afghanistan an exporter country.

India is a big market for Afghan goods. Afghan agricultural products will for the first time head to India on cargo planes.

The first India-bound flight on 19th June included 60 tons of medicinal plants and a second flight will carry 40 tons of dry fruits from the southern Kandahar province.

Afghanistan: Know More

• Afghanistan is a mountainous landlocked country and all imports and exports depend on neighbouring countries.
• Even before relations between Kabul and Islamabad became strained over accusations of harbouring militants, Pakistan has stymied Afghanistan’s efforts to trade with India.
• After Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a transit trade agreement in 2010, Islamabad allowed Afghan trucks to carry goods up to the Indian border but barred them from ferrying any Indian goods through Pakistani territory.
• The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said the medicinal plants carried on the first flight were valued at $11 million.
• ACCI officials said the cost of transporting a kilogram of vegetables and fresh fruit from Kabul and Kandahar to Indian markets will be about 20 cents per kg, and the cost of a kilogram of goods from India to Afghanistan will be about 40 cents.

ANSWER: 20th June

Explanation:
June 20 marks World Refugee Day, celebrated around the globe to raise awareness about the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), who had to flee their countries due to conflicts and poverty.

The recent years have marked the most large-scale movements of people through the boundaries in almost seven decades.

According to the UNHCR, a total of 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced around the world.

This number includes 22.5 million refugees, comprising 17.2 million under the UNHCR mandate and 5.3 million Palestinian refugees registered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the number of unaccompanied children, as well as of children, who have become refugees and migrants has increased fivefold.

In 2015-2016, about 300,000 unaccompanied children moved to other countries to find asylum there. According to UNICEF, approximately 170,000 children sought asylum in Europe.

At the same time, about 92 percent of boys and girls were unaccompanied, when they arrived in Italy by sea from a number of states, including Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Egypt and Guinea.

ANSWER: Taj Palace

Explanation:
The iconic Taj Palace hotel in the city has acquired an ‘image trademark’, making it the first building in the country to get intellectual property rights protection for its architectural design.

It will ensure that commercial use of the image of its dome and grand exterior can be made only with the consent of Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris.

For more than a century the Taj dome has anchored the Mumbai skyline we are very proud to recognise its important role as a symbol of Mumbai’s people and its past through the trademark.

The dome of The Taj Mahal Palace, which stands on the waterfront in south Mumbai, has long been been `triangulation point’ for the Indian Navy which guides its vessels to the harbour.

The distinctive red-tiled Florentine Gothic dome, which crowns the elegant Indo-Saracenic arches and architraves of the hotel, sits 240 feet above the street level.

The architects modelled it on the dome of the Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus).

The hotel opened on December 16, 1903.

The hotel has hosted many eminent personalities, including Neil Armstrong, John Lennon and Barack Obama

ANSWER: AYUSH

Explanation:
The Ministry of Tourism has released the ‘Compendium on Guidelines for Ayush Facilities’ on June 21, 2017.

The National Medical & Wellness Tourism Board under the chairmanship of Minister for Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma has been repeatedly stressing on the need for benchmarking of facilities offered by the various service providers in the field of Medical and Wellness Tourism on the basis of globally accepted standards.

The constant endeavour of the Ministry of Tourism has been to promote institutions and processes that have achieved such standards in order to provide excellence in service quality.

On the demand from the industry and stakeholders including Ministry of Tourism; the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) has brought out accreditation standards and guidelines for AYUSH facilities in the country including Wellness Centres and Panchkarma clinics that are used by tourists.

The compendium includes accreditation available for the following facilities:

• Ayurveda Hospitals
• Yoga and Naturopathy Hospitals
• Unani Hospitals
• Sidha Hospitals
• Homeopathy Hospitals
• Panchkarma Clinics
• Wellness Centres

The accreditation against globally benchmarked standards would help the industry in providing uniform level of service quality.

The Ministry of Tourism provides Market Development Assistance (MDA) to Wellness Tourism Service Providers like Hospitals accredited by National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) and Medical Tourism facilitators (Travel Agents/Tour Operators engaged in Medical Tourism and approved by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for participation in events related to promotion of Medical and Wellness Tourism outside India.

The accredited service providers are also listed on the Ministry of Tourism website and in the Incredible India campaign which has a global reach.

This would help potential visitors to have knowledge about the institutions that have been accredited and would follow the quality standards.

The details of the accreditation standard are available on Ministry of Tourism’s website www.incredibleindia.org.

World over, holistic and alternative healthcare systems are gaining popularity due to the fact that many diseases are lifestyle related.

India has a rich heritage of medical wisdom that prevailed as Ayurveda and Siddha coupled the practice of Yoga that provides well-being for the Body, Mind and Soul.

Unani and Homeopathy with their roots outside India have also gained popularity here.

Today, due to advancement in ease and speed of travel, more and more people are travelling in search of better quality, affordable and timely healthcare and wellness options.

The Wellness Tourism industry globally is expected to reach 678 billion US Dollars by 2017 and it is one of the most important tourism products for India.

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
A MOU on the India-Russia unified technology assessment and accelerated commercialization programme, was concluded in Moscow in 20th June 2017.

The MOU aims at facilitating support enterprises to improve their global competitiveness through international cooperation, innovative activities and technology transfer.

The two agencies (DST and FASIE) will link the Indian and Russian organisations and institutions to develop user-friendly and easy mechanisms for assisting companies and research entities to jointly develop technology collaboration and joint projects.

The meeting concluded with an Addendum to the Agreement between DST and RSF on coordinated competition for conducting collaborating research.

Both sides would support young achievers (less than 39 years) in a competitive mode for joint collaborative research.

Next call for proposals would be made in 2018. Presently 17 joint projects are being supported by DST and RSF jointly.

Science and Technology cooperation between India and the Russian Federation has been one of the important pillars of the long standing and time tested bilateral relationship.

The vibrant partnership in science and technology has created a win-win situation which is driven by a sense of confidence and purpose in achieving together.

This deepening relationship has enabled the free confluence of researchers across disciplines and institutions both from academia and research laboratories.

The principles of collaborative advantage, reciprocity and mutual trust are the hall mark of the India-Russia S&T relationship.

India and Russia are celebrating 70th year of establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries. Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi and Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Moscow are also celebrating 10th year of their partnership.

Two sides are agreed to work for start-up companies and entrepreneurs and to establish Indo-Russian Bridge for Innovation.