Current Affairs 15th July 2017

Current Affairs 15th July 2017 - Important Points

• A supercluster of galaxies, Saraswati - Discovered by Indian scientists
• World Youth Skills Day 2017 observed globally on - 15th July 2017
• India-Russia celebrating - 70 years Diplomatic Relations
• Country's first solar powered DEMU train dedictaed to nation by - Railway Minister
• Who has been appointed as Chief Digital Officer of Tata Sons Group?- Aarthi Subramanian
• OECD releases Government at a Glance 2017 report on - 13th July 2017

Current Affairs 15th July 2017 -  Details

A supercluster of galaxies, Saraswati - Discovered by Indian scientists

A team of Indian scientists discovered Saraswati, a supercluster of 43 galaxies which is located in the direction of constellation Pisces Saraswati is one of the largest known structures in the nearby universe and is located some four billion light-years away from our planet.
It may contain the mass equivalent to more than 20 million billion suns with an estimation of 2 x 1016 (twenty thousand trillion) suns.
It has the capacity to contain thousands of suns along with billions of stars, gases,planets, dark matter and other bodies.  Saraswati is estimated to be stretched more than 650 million light years in distance.
The discovery is rare and very important as till date just four or five such superclusters in the entire universe are known so far for eg. ‘Shapley Concentration’ or the ‘Sloan Great Wall’.
Superclusters are the group of clusters of galaxies, are the largest structures of stars, planets and other heavenly bodies in the universe.

World Youth Skills Day 2017 observed globally on - 15th July 2017

The World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) was observed globally 15th July 2017.  The day is observed to create more awareness about training and skills development for today's youth,
in hopes of creating a better opportunity for them when it comes to employment.

This year, the United Nations along with WorldSkills.org organized campaigns SkillsForAll and WYSD to raise awareness about the youth importance developing skills.

SkillsForAll campaign was focused at creating awareness that everyone should have the opportunity to discover and develop  their talents. Through required skills communities, individuals and countries can create a more prosperous future

 India-Russia celebrating - 70 years Diplomatic Relations

India and Russia have been celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations, since then both the countries have grown by leaps and bounds. Most importantly, the relationship stood by the tests of time and survived despite many tectonic shifts in the areas of politics, economy, diplomacy and technology.
By recognizing the relationship significance, both the countries have decided to boost the strategic partnership to the next level of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” in December 2010

 Since then, the Indo-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership has been trying to explore new areas of cooperation at the multilateral level.
Following are some of the cooperation highlights -

• Russia is India's important partner in peaceful usage of nuclear energy.
• Construction of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) Units 1 & 2 (VVER 1000 MW units) is the example of healthy relationship between both the nations.
• Russia has been a strong supporter of India’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• Support from Russia towards India is also visible in the trilateral and multilateral forum such as BRICS, RIC and WTO.
• Russia is also a strong advocate for the membership of India in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Country's first solar powered DEMU train dedictaed to nation by - Railway Minister

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu dedicated country's first solar powered DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) train to the nation at an event at New Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station on 14th July 2017.

The 1600 Horse Power train with solar powered coaches has a special battery bank in order to use during night hours.
The solar panels will be powering all the electrical appliances inside.
The train will be running from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in Haryana.
This solar-powered DEMU train was launched in line with the Indian Railways ‘Solar Mission’ which will be helping to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
It is a path breaking leap towards making Indian Railways greener and more environment-friendly, spoken by Railway Minister on the occasion.
He said the train will be saving about 21000 Liters of Diesel and thereby bring cost saving of 12 Lakh rupees every year.

Who has been appointed as Chief Digital Officer of Tata Sons Group?- Aarthi Subramanian

Aarthi Subramanian was appointed as the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of Tata Sons Group on 13th July 2017 with effect from August 2017. Subramanian will be reporting to Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Executive Chairman of Tata Sons.

She is the Executive Director at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and is taking care of the company’s digital initiatives and delivery governance. She will going to serve on the board of TCS as a non-executive director too.

More about Aarthi Subramanian

• She has over 26 years of experience in the global technology sector.
• She started her career with TCS and worked in diverse roles in Sweden, the US, India, Canada and oversaw execution of large-scale technology projects
• She is a graduate of computer science from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal in India and holds a master’s degree in Engineering Management from University of Kansas, US.

OECD releases Government at a Glance 2017 report on - 13th July 2017

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 13th July 2017 released the Government at a Glance 2017 report. The report presents an index of countries that trust their governments the most.

India secured the topmost rank in the global index as around 73 percent people followed by Canada with 62 percent. The other three players in the list among top 5 are Turkey, Russia and Germany.

 Key Highlights

• The report finds that government spending averaged 40.9 percent of GDP in OECD countries in 2015, up from 38.8 percent in 2007.
• The number of government jobs as a share of total employment remained at 18.1 percent in 2015, in comparison to 17.9 percent in 2007.
• Government spending as a share of GDP is highest in France with 56.5 percent in 2016 followed by Finland (56.1 percent) and Denmark (53.6 percent).
• Government spending was lowest in 2015 in Mexico (24.5 percent), Ireland (29.5 percent) and Korea (32.4 percent).
• According to its survey conducted lately, the pay difference between top and middle managers is the highest in Australia, Chile, Canada and the UK.
• Denmark, Norway and Sweden have the highest levels of government employment which is at nearly 30 percent of total employment.
• Asian countries rely less on public sector staff with government jobs making up only 6 percent of employment in Japan and 7.6 percent in Korea.