Current Affairs 18th July 2017

Current Affairs 18th July 2017 - Important Points

• Bill passed to boost defence cooperation with India by - US House of Representatives
• Kazan and Budapest to host 2022, 2024 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships announced on - 17th July 2017
•  Nelson Mandela International Day celebrated across the world on - 18th July 2017
• “Sohum” an innovative newborn hearing screening device launched by - DBT
• Venkaiah Naidu named as NDA's vice-presidential candidate on - 17th July 2017
• Panel to design its own state flag appointed by - Karnataka government
• Martin Landau, American film and television actor died on - 15th July 2017
• Venkaiah Naidu as Information and Broadcasting Minister replaced by - Smriti Irani
• Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill scheduled for consideration in Lok Sabha on - 18th July 2017
•  Strange signals coming from star 11 light years away detected by - Astronomers

Current Affairs 18th July 2017 - Details

Bill passed to boost defence cooperation with India by - US House of Representatives

The US House of Representatives passed National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018, a USD 621.5 billion defence policy bill that proposes to advance defence cooperation with India on 14th July 2017. The House 344-81 passed NDAA-2018.

An amendment in this regard was moved by Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera moved this amendment in this regard. The US Senate will be approving this and then it can be sent to the White House for the approval fo the US President Donald Trump.

Key Highlights

• The State Department and the Pentagon have been asked to make a strategy that addresses common security challenges, the role of American partners and allies in India-US defense relationship,role of the defense technology and trade initiative.
• It also asks them to address how to enhance security agreement, the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation.
• Following the passage of the National Defense Authorisation Act, 2018, the Defence Secretary and State Secretary have 180 days to develop a strategy to advance defense cooperation between the United States and India.

Kazan and Budapest to host 2022, 2024 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships announced on - 17th July 2017

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced on 17th July 2017 that the Russian city of Kazan and Hungarian city Budapest have been chosen to host the 2022, 2024 Short Course Swimming Championships respectively.
FINA took this decision about the host cities for both of the events in a meeting at Budapest, the venue of the 2017 World Aquatics Championships.
Other than the Russian and Hungarian metropolis, Hong Kong and Taipei City were the other two candidates. Also, the Chinese city of Hangzhou is set to host the Short Course Swimming Championships in 2018, while Abu Dhabi will going to be the venue in 2020.

 More about International Swimming Federation

• The International Swimming Federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland is the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to administer international competition in water sports.
• It is one among the several international federations administering a given sport or discipline for the IOC and/or international community.
• The Federation currently oversees competition in five aquatics sports: synchronized swimming, swimming, diving, open water swimming and water polo.

 Nelson Mandela International Day celebrated across the world on - 18th July 2017

Nelson Mandela International Day was observed across the world on 18th July 2017, the day the great South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, Nelson Mandela, also the late President of Africa, was born. The day is observed every year with the slogan “Take Action! Inspire Change.”
The United Nations asks individuals across the globe to mark the day by making a difference in their communities, on the occasion of this day.
The day is an occasion for everyone to take the responsibility to make changes in the world for the betterment. This year’s Mandela Day has been dedicated to ‘Action against Poverty’ by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to honor his leadership and devotion to fight poverty
and promoting social justice for all.
Do you know?
18th July is declared as "Nelson Mandela International Day" by The UN General Assembly in November 2009 in recognition of the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.

“Sohum” an innovative newborn hearing screening device launched by - DBT

SOHUM, an indigenous developed newborn hearing screening device, was formally launched on 17TH July 2017 by the Minister of State for Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, YS Chowdary at Prithvi Bhavan, New Delhi.  School of International Biodesign (SIB), a startup M/S Sohum Innovation Labs India Pvt. Ltd, developed this device.

Key Highlights

• This device is a low cost and unique device which uses brainstem auditory evoked response, the gold standard in auditory testing to check the hearing response in a newborn.
• It measures auditory brain waves with  three electrodes, which is placed on the baby’s head. When stimulated, these detect electrical responses generated by the brain’s auditory system. If there is no response that means the child cannot hear.
  As of now, this technology is prohibitively expensive and not accessible to many.
  Start-up SOHUM has made the technology appropriate for the resource constrained settings and is aiming to cater to nearly 26 million babies born every year in India.
• This is non-invasive battery operated device , hence babies do not need to be sedated,as currently it is done by that way and it is risky testing in process at present.
• Another key advantage over other testing systems is the patented, inbuilt algorithm that filters out immediate surrounding noise from the test signal.
• For now, the device has been installed in five clinical centers only that are running the hearing screening program.

Venkaiah Naidu named as NDA's vice-presidential candidate on - 17th July 2017

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu was named as the NDA’s candidate for the Vice-Presidential Elections 2017 on 17th July 2017 that are scheduled to take place on 5th August 2017. BJP leader Amit Shah after BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi made this announcement. Naidu is counterpart of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who was chosen by an alliance of 18 opposition parties, including Congress.

Important Highlights

• He is currently serving as the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the BJP led government.
• Born in Andhra Pradesh in 1949, he is one of the most senior members of the cabinet and has a keen interest in development of backward areas and farmer issues.
• He is bachelor in politics as well as law,he became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at a very young age.
• As a student leader, he joined ABVP in 1973 and then was elected as the student president of the Andhra University Colleges.
• In 1972, During the Jai Andhra movement, Naidu emerged as a leader, taking charge of the agitation in Nellore.
• He was elected as the Member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in April 1988.
• He also became the National President of BJP in 2002.

Panel to design its own state flag appointed by - Karnataka government

The Congress-led Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka has constituted a nine-member committee to check the possibility of designing its own ‘state flag’.
Principal Secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture headed the panel is expected to prepare a design for a separate state flag and soon submit a report looking into the legal sanction of the same to the state government.
If the move does get legal sanction then it would be making Karnataka the only second state in the country to officially have its own flag after Jammu & Kashmir, which has special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.
Important Details

• The social activists suggested the government to design a separate flag for the state and grant statutory standing for it.
• Under the constitutional powers of a state, no law can prohibit a state from having its own flag.
• The national flag code also authorizes the use of other flags subject to the regulation by the court at present.
• But, the state flag should not dishonor the national flag in any manner. It should always be hoisted below the India's national flag.
• So far Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in the country to have a separate flag of its own due to its special status.
• Other than this, the only two other de facto state flags belong to Sikkim and Karnataka.

Martin Landau, American film and television actor died on - 15th July 2017

Martin Landau, who won the Oscar and appeared in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” as well as in the television series of the “Mission: Impossible” in the 1960s was died on 15th July 2017. He died due to unexpected complications during a short hospitalization at UCLA Medical Center.
He won his Academy Award (Oscars) for his poignant portrayal of washed-up Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood during 1994.

More about Martin Landau

• He was born on 20th June 1928.
• He started his career as a newspaperman at age of 17 at the New York Daily News where he was a staff cartoonist and illustrator while studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
• After five years at the News, Landau suddenly quit to try his hand in acting. His film career started in 1950s, with supporting role appearances in North by Northwest in 1959.
• Along with that, he played regular roles in television series Mission Impossible, which garnered a Golden Globe award and several nominations for Emmy Awards.
• He continued to perform in film and television and also headed the Hollywood branch of the Actors Studio until his death in 2017.

Venkaiah Naidu as Information and Broadcasting Minister replaced by - Smriti Irani

Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on 18th July 2017 was given additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the post to contest for the Vice-President election as the candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Also, Union Minister of Mines Narendra Singh Tomar has been handed over the charge of the Urban Development Ministry, which was also held by Naidu.
Naidu had resigned as the Union Minister on the night of 16th July 2017 after he was named by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its vice presidential candidate against Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi who will be the opposition's nominee.

Interesting facts about Smriti Irani

• Born on 23rd March 1976, Smriti Zubin Irani is an Indian politician who joined BJP in 2003, former model, television actress and producer.
• She is the Parliament member, being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Gujarat.
• For the 14th Lok Sabha, she contested against Kapil Sibal unsuccessfully from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi in 2004 general elections.
• She was appointed the National Secretary of BJP in early 2010 and Later on she was also appointed the All India President of the BJP's women's wing, BJP Mahila Morcha.
• She was sworn in as a member of parliament from Gujarat to the Rajya Sabha in August 2011.
• She contested the 2014 general elections against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi constituency of Uttar Pradesh, where she lost to Gandhi by 107923 votes.
• On 26th May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed her as the Minister of Human Resource Development in his cabinet.
• But, her appointment was criticized by many people because of her lack of formal higher education.
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development was taken away from her in July 2016, and she took the Ministry of Textiles instead during a cabinet reshuffle.

Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill scheduled for consideration in Lok Sabha on - 18th July 2017

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is scheduled to be brought up for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on 18th July 2017.
The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill 2017 is also scheduled for consideration and passing in the lower house.
Along with this, the Requisition and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy Bill, 2017 are also scheduled to be introduced in the Lok Sabha.
While, bills up for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha are Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Admiralty Bill, 2017.

More about Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017

• The bill was introduced by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in Lok Sabha on 10th April 2017.
• The Bill amends the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 by extending the deadline for teachers in order to acquire the prescribed minimum qualifications for the appointment.
• Under this Act, if a state does not have proper teacher training institutions or a sufficient number of qualified teachers, the provision to possess minimum qualifications is relaxed for a period of not exceeding five years i.e. until 31st March 2015.
• The Bill has further added to this provision by stating that those teachers who do not possess the minimum qualifications as on 31st March 2015 will be acquiring the minimum qualifications within a period of four years i.e. by 31st March 2019.

 Strange signals coming from star 11 light years away detected by - Astronomers

A star located just 11 light-years away from Earth is sending out strange radio signals that has confused the scientists. These strange signals are appeared to be coming from a little-explored red dwarf star, Ross 128 which is not known to have any planets surrounding it.
As per the researchers, the unusual signals were picked up in almost periodic bursts. They have informed that further investigation is needed to find the source of the signals. The radio signals were detected on 12th May 2017 using the Arecibo Observatory, a large radio telescope located in Puerto Rico.
On 17th July 2017, the confirmed strange signals were coming from Ross 128.

More about Ross 128

• It is a small star in the equatorial zodiac constellation of Virgo with the apparent magnitude of 11.13, which is too faint to be seen with the unaided eye.
• It is the twelfth closest star to the Solar System and was first catalogued in 1926 by American astronomer Frank Elmore Ross.
• This low mass star has a stellar classification of M4 V, which places it among a category of red dwarf stars.
• It has 15 percent of the mass of the Sun and 21 percent of the Sun's radius, but generates energy so slowly that it has only 0.036 percent of the Sun's visible luminosity.
• It is classified as an active flare star since it can undergo unpredictable and dramatic increase in luminosity for a period of several minutes.