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  • Current Affairs 29th July 2017

    Updated : 29-Jul-2017

    Current Affairs 29th July 2017

    • Lok Sabha passes Companies Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on - 27th July 2017
    • DNA editing of human embryos done by - USA Scientists
    • Jhulan Goswami and Subrata Bhattacharya felicitated by Mohun Bagan on - 29th July 2017
    • International Tiger Day 2017 observed on - 29th July 2017

    Current Affairs 29th July 2017

    Lok Sabha passes Companies Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on - 27th July 2017

     The Lok Sabha passed the Companies Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on 27th July 2017 that seeks to amend Companies Act, 2013 to remove complexities and improve ease of doing business. The bill was passed with a voice vote and Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal moved this.

    Provisions added in the Bill

    • The limit on layers of subsidiaries and intermediaries has been removed by this bill.
    • This is in line with the Companies Law Committee’s (CLC) recommendations which further states that to impose such limits would be affecting the company’s structure and ability to raise funds.
    • It calls for a group of people who exercise beneficial control above 25 percent in a company to disclose such interest.
    • It removes the offer requirement letter that is issued to individuals to whom a private offer of shares has been made, but retains the provision related to notify the Registrar of the return of allotment.
    • It calls for an appointment of a technical member who must be at least of the level of an Additional Secretary.
    • It permits an Independent Director to have a financial relationship of up to 10 percent of his total income with the company.
    • It has made amendments related to the Selection Committee composition of the National Companies Law Tribunal and the National Companies Law Appellate Tribunal.

    DNA editing of human embryos done by - USA Scientists

    A group of scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University edited the DNA of viable human embryos efficiently and apparently with few mistakes. While scientist conducted this just as an experiment but were never intended to be implanted into a womb. The officials at Oregon Health & Science University confirmed on 27th July 2017 that the experiment was indeed conducted and it would be published in a journal soon.

    This was the first such work in the United States of America. Before this, experiments like this have been reported from China. The biologists deem the step as a great potential to avoid many genetic diseases. However, they have also raised fears of "designer babies"  if done for reasons which are less lofty, such as producing desirable traits.
    How the experiment was conducted?

    The Oregon scientists reportedly used a technique called CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, which allows specific sections of DNA to be altered or replaced.
    The technique is like using a molecular scissors to cut and paste DNA. It is much more precise than some types of gene therapy that cannot ensure that desired changes will take place exactly where and as intended.
    Germline changes are permanent with these gene editing and would be passed down to any offspring.


    More about CRISPR

    • There are segments of prokaryotic DNA containing short, repetitive base sequences.
    • They play a key role in a bacterial defence system, and form the basis of a genome editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas9 that  allows permanent alterations in genes within organisms.
    • The sequence of nucleotides is the same in both directions in a palindromic repeat.
    • The CRISPR/Cas system is a prokaryotic immune system that confers resistance to foreign genetic elements such as those present within plasmids and phages that provides a form of acquired immunity.
    • CRISPRs are found in almost 40 percent of sequenced bacterial genomes and 90 percent of sequenced archaea.
    • A simple version of the CRISPR/Cas system, CRISPR/Cas9, has been modified to edit genomes.

    Jhulan Goswami and Subrata Bhattacharya felicitated by Mohun Bagan on - 29th July 2017

    Mohun Bagan conferred former club captain and coach Subrata Bhattacharya with the prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna Award at the club's annual day programme in Kolkata on 29th July 2017.
    The city football giant also felicitated veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami from India Women's cricket team with a special award.
    Also, Former club striker Balwant Singh was awarded the Best Football Player of the Year prize.
    Best Cricket Player of the Year award was given to Debabrata Das.
    The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Former Bengal batsman Shyam Sundar Mitra.

    International Tiger Day 2017 observed on - 29th July 2017

    The 2017 International Tiger Day was observed on 29th July 2017 to give worldwide attention to the reservation of tigers. The International Tiger Day was celebrated with the slogan Fresh Ecology For Tigers’ Protection in 2017.
    This day's goal is to promote a global system to protect the natural habitats of tigers and to raise mass awareness and support for tiger conservation issues.

    Key Highlights

    • The day was founded in 2010 at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit aiming to double the big cat population by 2022. The seventh annual Global Tiger Day was celebrated in various ways around the world.
    • Local events have been organized in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India as well as non-tiger-range countries such as England and the United States.
    • The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) continued its promotion of the "Double Tigers" campaign by investing in rangers.
    • Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, will also be attending a Global Tiger Day event in New Delhi.
    • Only 3890 tigers are left in the world, as per the statistics of the World Wildlife Fund. Among them, India is at number one. Untill July 2016, there were 2,500 tigers in the country.
    • In 2016, WWF and the Global Tiger Forum had announced that the world's tiger population had finally increased after several decades of constant decline.
    • As per latest data by tiger experts, the world has lost 97 percent of all wild tigers in the span of over 100 years.
    • The World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum says that the number of wild tigers has gone up to 3890 from the earlier 2010 with an estimate of 3200.
    • There were 1 lakh tigers in 1915. Some species of tigers have already gone extinct.
    • India leads tiger population countries with an estimated population of 2226.
    • Despite countries such as India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan registering a rise in tiger population, the status of the animal still remains endangered.