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  • Current Affairs 25th June 2017

    Updated : 25-Jun-2017

    Current Affairs 25th June 2017 - Important Points

    • 53 New Projects for 9 Cities Approved in Odisha unde - Amrut Scheme
    • Congress-led opposition names Meira Kumar as a - Presidential nominee
    • 5th Open Defecation Free state - Haryana
    • Cartosat-2 along with 30 nano-satellites launched by - ISRO
    • Seafarer Day 2017 observed on - 25th June 2017
    • World Heritage coral reefs likely to vanish by year 2100 due to - CO2 emissions

    Current Affairs 25th June 2017 - Details

    53 New Projects for 9 Cities Approved in Odisha unde - Amrut Scheme

    The Odisha government approved 53 urban projects under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) on 22nd June 2017.
    These projects will be developed with approximately total investment of 5 hundred 38 crore rupees
    Now the total projects to be carried under Amrut scheme in the State has reached 148, since its launch in 2015-16 fiscal.  With fund sharing pattern of 50:50 between the Center and state government, these new projects would be carried out in nine cities including Berhampur, Cuttack,Baripada, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur Rourkela,Puri and Balasore.
    The scheme is aiming to strength drinking water distribution network, storm water management, up gradation of city transport  system, development of sewerage system and development of parks.
    A state level high power steering committee (SHSPC) presided by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi approved the new projects. Padhi said that Nine cities with one lakh population were now being covered under the Amrut scheme for Rs 1600 crore.

    Other than approving the new projects, Padhi also reviewed the status of earlier approved 95 projects under the this scheme and directed the housing and urban development department to ensure timely completion of projects. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched AMRUT on 25th June 2015 with the focus to develop infrastructure in 500 cities and towns with a population of one lakh and above.
    Rajasthan is the first state in the country that will be submitting State Annual Action Plan under this scheme. This scheme is dependent on public-private partnership model (PPP) model.

    Congress-led opposition names Meira Kumar as a - Presidential nominee

    Former Lok Sabha speaker, Meira Kumar was chosen as the Congress-led Opposition’s presidential candidate against BJP-led NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind. Congress President Sonia Gandhi made the announcement on 22nd June 2017. The decision was taken during a meeting of the opposition which was attended by leaders of 17 parties including Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja, Nationalist Congress Party leader National Conference’s Omar Abdullah and Sharad Pawar, DMK’s Kanimozhi.
    Speaking on the occasion, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Kumar was the unanimous choice of all the 17 parties and that other parties would also be urged to support her.

    Interesting Facts

    • She was born in Bihar’s Arrah district and she is five-time Member of Parliament.
    • She served as the first woman speaker of Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014 during the UPA-II ruling.
    • She was elected without any opposition.
    • She has been a part of the 8th,11th, 12th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.
    • She served as a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment under
    • Manmohan Singh's Government between 2004 and 2009.
    • She is a law graduate and holds a Master's degree in English literature with an advanced diploma in Spanish.
    • She also joined IFS in 1970 and spent her life in many countries.

    5th Open Defecation Free state - Haryana

    Haryana was declared as the 5th Open Defecation Free (ODF) state of India under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) on 22nd June 2017. Uttarakhand was decalred as the 4th state to be open defecation free on the same date itself. Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar made this declaration during a Swachh Bharat Program organized in ONGC, Dehradun. 

    With this, Haryana and Uttarakhand join the Sikkim league, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the first three states respectively to be declared as Open Defecation Free. There are 21 districts, 124 blocks, and 6083 gram panchayats in Haryana and they all were declared themselves as ODF in formal declarations held in Chandigarh.

    Cartosat-2 along with 30 nano-satellites launched by - ISRO

    The National space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched India’s ‘Cartosat-2 Series’ satellite and 30 other co-passenger payloads on 23rd June 2017. Polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV C-38 launched the satellite and its co-passengers from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at 9.29 am. 

    This was PSLV's 40th flight, the satellite launch vehicle and the 17th flight of PSLV in XL configuration with the use of solid strap-on motors. The PSLV C38 rocket carrying India’s Cartost-2 Series satellite along with its co-passenger was launched after a 28-hour countdown that started at 5.29 hours IST on 22nd June 2017. The rocket was armed with solid strap-on motors to give enough thrust to carry them to a 505 km sun-synchronous orbit.

     Seafarer Day 2017 observed on - 25th June 2017

    (DotS) The Day of the Seafarer was observed on 25th June 2017 by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) with the theme 'Seafarers Matter'. The theme of this year aims to engage ports and seafarer centers particularly to give demonstration the importance of seafarers to them. The idea is for ports and seafarer centers to represent and share best practices in seafarer welfare and support,and to organize special activities for seafarers in order to observe this day.

    Do you know?
    This day was established in a resolution taken during the 2010 Diplomatic Conference in Manila.
    It was proclaimed with an aim to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all across the world to international seaborne trading and civil society as a whole.

    World Heritage coral reefs likely to vanish by year 2100 due to - CO2 emissions
    The World Heritage Center of UNESCO released the global scientific first assessment of climate change affects on World Heritage coral reefs on 23rd June 2017.

    Increase in ocean temperature in the past three years have affected 21 of 29 World Heritage reefs to grave heat stress and caused some of the worst bleaching ever observed to them at iconic sites like Papahanaumokuakea in USA, the Lagoons of New Caledonia in France, Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,Stated in the assessment.  NOAA (United States National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) developed this assessment report with the help of satellite data Coral Reef  Watch and also received the support from the French Agency for Biodiversity.
    Important Highlights

    • The analysis shows that all the 29 coral-containing World Heritage sites would come to an end as functioning coral reef ecosystems by  the end of this century if this CO2 continue emitting in the environment with the same rate only.
    • There are 29 coral reefs which are globally important on UNESCO’s World Heritage List which are experiencing existence threats, and their loss would be devastating economically and ecologically both.
    • The cultural, social and economic value of coral reefs is estimated at USD 1 trillion.
    • Recent projections have indicated that loss of reef ecosystem services due to climate change will be approximately USD 500 billion or more per year by 2100,  with the huge impact on people who rely on reefs for their day-to-day subsistence.
    • The last three years were the hottest on record, and they caused a global bleaching event that reached 72 percent of World Heritage-listed reefs.