IPCI Info

31 May

31 May

International News Affairs

  • Today (31st May) is World No Tobacco Day.
    • This day is an annual awareness day sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1987 to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and encourage governments to adopt effective policies to reduce smoking and other tobacco use.
    • Theme of World No Tobacco Day 2017 : “Tobacco – a threat to development”
  • Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Spain in nearly 30 years, after he reached the country yesterday’s night.
    • The previous Indian PM to visit Spain was Rajiv Gandhi, in 1988.

MOUs & Agreements

  • India and Spain have signed 7 agreementsfollowing talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace in the Spanish capital.
    • The agreements signed were :
      • Agreement for Transfer of Sentence Persons
      • Agreement on visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports
      • MoU between Foreign Service Institute and Diplomatic Academy of Spain
      • MoU on Cooperation in Cyber Security
      • MoU on Cooperation in Organ Transplantation
      • MoU on Cooperation in Renewable Energy
      • MoU on Technical Cooperation in Civil Aviation
    • Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF)which markets its product under the brand name ‘Amul’ has signed an MoU with ISRO for fodder acreage assessment using satellite observation and space technology.
    • India and Germany has inked 12 agreements after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Modi and German chancellor Angela Merkel on a range of issues like trade, skill development, cyber security and terrorism.
    • India and Fiji have signed an MoU on defence cooperation after the delegation level talks between Minister of Defence, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley and the Minister of Defence and National Security of Fiji, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola in New Delhi.
      • The MoU envisaged cooperation on defence industry, military training, humanitarian assistance & disaster management.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

  • 3 day India Mobile Congress 2017 (IMC 2017) is scheduled to be held from 27th to 29th September 2017 in New Delhi.
    • This is the first time India is hosting its own mobile mega show.
    • Note : With a total subscriber base of over 1.18 billion, Indian telecom market is the second-largest in the world after China.
  • The Indian Railways has introduced ‘Buy Now, Pay Later‘ service for passengers to book tickets online first and make payment for the reservations within a window of 15 days.
    • The facility, which allows passengers to travel after five days of booking the ticket, is available for confirmed, waitlisted, and Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) berths.
  • The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Income Tax Department has the powers to seize undisclosed money even from bank accounts not owned by a person being probed, as long as the department is satisfied the money belongs to that person.
  • MoS for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today announced that India has emerged as the world’s third largest aviation market, with passenger traffic exceeding 10 crore in 2016-17.

New Appointments

  • The Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has appointed a renowned social and educational activist George Kurian as Vice-Chairman of National Commission for Minorities.
    • The other appointed members of the National Minority Commission are :
      • Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi (Chairman)
      • Sulekha Kumbhare
      • Sunil Singhi
      • Vada Dasturji Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor
      • Important Points to Note :
        • For the first time a Jain member (Sunil Singhi) has been appointed to the panel after the community was notified as minority in January 2014.
        • Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Jain are the six notified minority communities in the country.

Current Sports Affairs

  • Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli has become the only cricketer to get featured in the top 10 of the ICC Players Rankings for ODIs as he managed to stick to the third spot in the ODI batsman’s chart.

Careers

  • The results of the Civil Services Examination 2016 were declared by the Union Public Service Commission today.
    • The top three positions were secured by Nandini KR, Anmol Sher Singh Bedi andGopalakrishana Ronanki  A total of 1,099 candidates were recommended for appointment based on the written examinations held in December 2016 and a personality test.