Current Affairs 11th July 2017

Current Affairs 11th July 2017 - Important Points

• Asian Athletics Championships 2017: Concluded
• Stray Dog Zoos proposed by - Kerala Government
• New tax payer service module Aaykar Setu launched by - Union Government
• UNESCO World Heritage tag gained by - Okinoshima, Japan’s men-only island
• Agreement signed between and Union Government to set up - Center of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine
• The removal of Gelati Monastery of Georgia from the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger on - July second week
• World Population Day 2017 observed on - 11th July 2017
• Mini Saturns created from charged liquid droplets by - Scientists
• Golden Peacock Award for Eco Innovation for the year 2017 won by - IROAF
• Israel transfers authority for West Bank Electrical Substation to Palestinians on - 10th July 2017

Current Affairs 11th July 2017 - Details

Asian Athletics Championships 2017: Concluded

On the final day of the 2017 Asian Athletics Championship with five gold, one silver and three bronze medals, India finished on top of the medals tally, comfortably surpassing Kazakhstan and China.
China and Kazakhstan took the second and third places respectively in the medal tally.
India showed its best performance ever in the Asian Athletics Championships, grabbing a total of 29 medals, including 12 golds.

More about 2017 Asian Athletics Championships

• It was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships.
• It was held from 6th to 9th July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Olly, the Olive Ridley sea turtle, an endangered species that travels to Odisha's Rushikulya and Gahirmatha beaches for its nesting, was the mascot of this championship.
• Bhubaneswar is the third Indian city to host the Asian Championships. In 1989, it was Delhi and in 2013 it was Pune to hold the event.
• Around 800 athletes from 45 countries attended the event.
• The Championships were originally scheduled to be held at Ranchi, Jharkhand. However, after Ranchi's inability to host this event, Bhubaneswar was selected as the venue for this event.
• The previous championship was held in Wuhan, China from 3rd –7th June 2015.
• The Asian Athletics Championships are organized by Asian Athletics Association every two years.
• The winners of the Championships get a direct berth for the 2017 World Championships in London which are going to be held in August 2017.
• At the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships held in Wuhan, India bagged the third rank in the medal tally with a total of 13 medals.

Stray Dog Zoos proposed by - Kerala Government

The Kerala Government informed a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra that it is planning 'Stray Dog Zoos' across the state to keep them off the streets on 10th July 2017.

The State government has asked all district panchayats to keep aside two to three acres of land and label them as ‘Stray Dog Zoos’ for this purpose. This action was in response to a question from the Supreme Court on the construction of shelter homes for the stray dog population.

Stray dogs population has increased aggressively in the state over the years and has become a dangerous presence on the streets, especially after dark. There are over 1.16 lakh dog bite victims in the State and 22 have died due to dog bites as on date. Moreover, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and animal welfare activists refused to be convinced by the solution Kerala has arrived concerning about stray dogs.

The board gave its opinion that these dogs will become even more ferocious and their population will be increasing more in these zoos. Instead, the board suggested that the Kerala government should embrace the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules of 2001 which emphasize on immunization and sterilization of stray dogs.

Supreme Court's verdict on the stray dog menace in Kerala
After listening to both the sides, the Supreme Court ruled that it would examine the legal question as to whether the 2001 Dog Rules framed by the Union Government, will be prevailing over the state laws meant to curb the menace of stray dogs. The Supreme Court bench will hear the batch of pleas related to dog menace on 15th September 2017.

New tax payer service module Aaykar Setu launched by - Union Government

Arun Jaitley, the Union Finance Minister launched Aaykar Setu, a new tax payer service module on 10th July 2017. This module was launched in a mobile responsive android version along with the desktop version to increase mobile access experience.

Important highlights of the module

• At the time of launching the Aaykar Setu, Arun Jaitley stated that this e-initiative would be helping in minimizing physical interface between assesses and tax assessing authorities and thereby minimizing the chances of any tax harassment.
• Government has taken this  new step to liberate the direct communication between tax payers and  the Income Tax Department (ITD) , on a range of multiple informative and useful tax services aiming to provide tax information at their fingertips.
• The new tax payer service module compiles various tax tools, dynamic updates, live chat facility and important links to various processes within the Income Tax Department in a single module.
• The tax payers can get regular updates regarding forms, important tax dates and notifications on mobile numbers registered with the Income Tax Department.
• The taxpayers willing to receive such SMS alerts, will have to register their mobile numbers in the Aaykar Setu module.

UNESCO World Heritage tag gained by - Okinoshima, Japan’s men-only island

Okinoshima Island, an ancient religious site in Japan where women are banned and only male visitors are allowed and they also need to take off their clothes and take a naked bath before visiting the shrine, was declared as a UNESCO world heritage site on 9th July 2017.
Okinoshima, which is a part of the city of Munakata, Fukuoka in south-west Japan between the main island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.
More about Shinto Kami

• Shinto also called kami-no-michi is the ethnic religion of Japan focusing on ritual practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past.
  Kami are the spirits worshiped in the religion of Shinto.
• Area: The island covers an area of 97 hectares (240 acres) and has a maximum elevation of 244 meter (801 ft).
• Referred as the men-only island, the island is permanently manned by a Shinto priest who prays to the island’s goddess, in a tradition that has been kept up for centuries. The island is considered sacred by the local Munakata Taisha and has only one employee. The entire island is considered a Shinto Kami.

Agreement signed between and Union Government to set up - Center of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine

Agreement signed between and Union Government to set up - Center of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed an agreement with West Bengal Government to set up a state-of-the-art Center of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine in Kolkata on 10th July 2017 with an aim to strengthen the blood transfusion services in the state and the surrounding region.

Key Highlights of the MoU

• The Union Government approved this vital initiative with an outlay of approximately Rs 200 Crore towards manpower, equipment and running costs. The land for this initiative will be given free of cost by the West Bengal government.
• The National Blood Transfusion Council under National AIDS Control Organization will going to be the implementing division of the Ministry for this project.
• This project is a part of the Metro Blood Bank Project of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• It aims to set up state-of-the-art Centers of Excellence in transfusion medicine in the four metro cities- Mumbai,Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
• These are the high volume blood collection centers and with a state-of-the-art technology in transfusion medicine for component separation, processing of blood and quality systems.
• The MoU for setting up the Metro Blood Bank in Chennai has already been signed on 14th June 2016.

The removal of Gelati Monastery of Georgia from the list of UNESCO’s  World Heritage in Danger on - July second week

The World Heritage Committee decided to remove Gelati Monastery of Georgia from the List of World Heritage in Danger on 10th July 2017. This decision led to a major reduction in the boundaries of the Georgian site of Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery, as these were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1994 and on the List in Danger back in 2010. The new boundaries bar Bagrati Cathedral, which had undergone major reconstruction that was unsafe to its authenticity and integrity.  However, the decision retains the outstanding universal value of the Monastery of Gelati’s World Heritage.

 More about Gelati Monastery

• The Monastery of Gelati is a masterpiece of the Golden Age of medieval Georgia, founded in the west of Georgia in 1106.
• It is characterized by balanced proportions, smoothly cut large blocks and blind arches for exterior decoration.
• It was also a center of science,education and housed the Academy that was one of the most important centers of culture in ancient Georgia.

World Population Day 2017 observed on - 11th July 2017

The World Population Day was observed with the theme Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations on 11th July 2017.
Around the world, some 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using effective and safe family planning methods, for many reasons like lack of access to information or services, lack of support from their partners or communities.
Most of these women due to an unmet demand for contraceptives are in 69 of the poorest countries on earth.

More about World Population Day

• World Population Day is an annual event observed on 11th July.
• The day aims to raise awareness of global population issues.
• The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Program in 1989.
• The day also aims towards increasing people's awareness on various population issues such as gender equality, importance of family planning,maternal health, poverty, and human rights.
• The world population as on 1st January 2014 is estimated to be 7137661030.

Mini Saturns created from charged liquid droplets by - Scientists

Scientists have created miniature versions of the ringed planet Saturn by electrifying tiny drops of fluid. Researchers said that this creation of the ringed Saturn would help scientists to create new ways of generating microscopic and uniform particles and capsules often used in products such as inks, cosmetics, drugs,paints and ceramics.Created planet has more than aesthetic value.

Working of mini saturns

• When exposed to an electric field, a drop of electrically conductive liquid responds by forming two electrically charged poles.
• Past research showed that these poles can get pulled towards the sources of the electric field, taking on cone shapes.
• If the pull is strong enough, the cones tips can spray jets of droplets.
• When an electric field is applied to silicone oil drop suspended on castor oil,the drop can flatten and emit droplets rings from its equator. Experiments regarding this effect also called as electrospraying, often involved liquid drops surrounded by less electrically conductive fluids.
• In the new study, researchers from Northwestern University in Evanston in Illinois wanted to explore what happens when liquid drops are submerged in more electrically conductive fluids, specifically, drops of silicone oil suspended on castor oil.
• The experiment has revealed that if an electric field is strong enough then the equators of these squashed drops emit concentric rings of droplets, making the drops look like miniature versions of Saturn.
• Petia Vlahovska from Northwestern University told to 'Live Science' that in experiments, drops of silicone oil about 1 millimeter wide generated droplets and these were about 100 times smaller.
• Vlahovska noted they could generate rings in a very controllable way.
• She said that the future research will be exploring what materials can be used to produce this “ring of particles” effect.
• As the broader is the materials range, the wider the application would be.
• As stated by Live Science that Vlahovska and her co-author Quentin Brosseau are scheduled to detail their findings online July 20 in the journal Physical Review Letters at New York University .

Golden Peacock Award for Eco Innovation for the year 2017 won by - IROAF

Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) won the Golden Peacock Award for Eco Innovation for the year 2017 for introducing eco friendly and cost saving Dual Fuel 1400 HP Diesel engines on DEMU trains on 10th July 2017.

Indian Railways achieved a major milestone in the field of eco-friendly fuel technologies with this.
IROAF switched fossil fuels (Diesel) by environment friendly CNG in DEMU passenger train services.
The use of CNG in Train Sets for passenger transportation is done for the first time in the world. This innovation is expected to reduce emissions by bringing down NOx by 16 percent, CO2 by 6 percent and Particulate Matter by 18 percent besides achieving economy in fuel cost by 8 percent.

19 engines of DEMUs have been successfully converted into CNG based dual fuel engines with this technology till now. This technology of 20 percent substitution of diesel by CNG, has potential to save up to Rs 1360 crores every year if implemented over entire fleet of Diesel Locomotives of Indian Railways.

Israel transfers authority for West Bank Electrical Substation to Palestinians on - 10th July 2017

Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of Palestinian, and Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Energy Minister launched the first power plant in the West Bank that transforms high to medium voltage in Jenin, north of the West Bank on 10th July 2017. It is the first time that Israel has given the electricity infrastructure ownership to the Palestinian Authority.
The official ceremony included signing a commercial agreement between IEC (Israeli Electric Corporation) and the PNA (Palestinian National Authority) to enhance power supply through operating a new substation in the north of West Bank.
As per the agreement, the Palestinian National Authority will pay around USD 47 million to the Israeli Electric Corporation annually, in order to boost the supply of the new power plant by 60 Megawatts in full operation.

 More about West Bank

• This Bank is a landlocked territory close to the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia making the territory bulk now under Israeli control, or else under joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority control.
  The Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore.
• The Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5640 kilometers per square plus a water area of 220 kilometers per square, consists the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea.
• As of July 2015, The area has an estimated population of 2785366 Palestinians, 371000 Israeli settlers approximately, and another 212000 Jewish Israelis approximately in East Jerusalem.