[CA] News: June 29, 2017

Around INDIA

# ISRO launched GSAT-17 from the European Space port of Kourou in French Guiana

- GSAT-17 is the second passenger on the European booster, Ariane-5 ECA VA-238

- It is India's 18th Communication satellite

# Race for Rashtrapathi Bhavan: Ms. Meira Kumar filed her nomination papers

# President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to attend the 125th Birth Anniversary of Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis in Kolkata today

# Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi to visit Gujarat from June 29-30, 2017

- Centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram

- To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Shrimad Rajchandraji, a Guru to Mahatma Gandhi

# Election Commission of India (ECI) to launch a ‘Special Drive to enrol left out electors, with a special focus on first time electors from 1st July , 2017 , so as to move in the direction of Commission’s motto that 'NO VOTER TO BE LEFT BEHIND’ .

# Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas inaugurated Swasth Saarthi Abhiyaan and Fuel Conservation Workshop

# The first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India will be formally launched tomorrow.The program named Innovate in India (i3) will witness an investment of USD 250 million with USD 125 million as a loan from world Bank and is anticipated to be a game changer for the Indian Biopharmaceutical industry. It aspires to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector.

# 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Mustafa Dossa dead

# Union Cabinet approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Israel on National Campaign for Water Conservation in India.

# Union Cabinet approved signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between India and the United States of America on Homeland Security.

# Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the recommendations of the 7th CPC on allowances with some modifications. The revised rates of the allowances shall come into effect from 1st July, 2017 and shall affect more than 48 lakh central government employees.

# Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval to fourth tranche recommendations of NITI Aayog on strategic disinvestment of CPSE (strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries) based on the recommendations of Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD).

TAMIL NADU

# Union Home Ministry has called for a report on the gutkha scandal

# State Government is mulling an agreement with air ambulance service providers to lift patients in the event of accidents involving mass casualties; health department have asked the district collectors to identify the latitude and longitude where a helicopter could land during an emergency

# Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Indira Banerjee administered the oath of office to six new judges; with these appointments, the total judges strength of the High Court has increased to 54 (total sanctioned strength is 75)

# Government launched an online portal www.tnsand.in, in order to make it easier for consumers and builders to buy sand for construction purposes

STATES SCAN

# Jharkhand: Chief Minister, Mr. Raghubar Das inaugurated country’s biggest fresh water aquarium in Ranchi

# Kerala: Mr. Loknath Behra is appointed as DGP

BILATERAL ISSUES

# Amid a standoff in the Sikkim sector of the border, China warned India that future visits of its pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nathu La pass will depend on whether it will "correct its errors"

# India-Thailand joint military exercise named Ex Maitree 2017 in Himachal Pradesh from July 3 to 17

WORLD

# Australia: the Sydney Opera House is illuminated for Badu Gili, an event celebrating Australia's aboriginal culture. Badu Gili means "water light" in the language of Gadigal people, the traditional owners of the Opera House site

# China: Navy launched its biggest new generation destroyer weighing 10, 000 tonnes as part of the Communist giant's ambitious plans to become a global naval power

# Germany: is set to legalise same-sex marriage; the reform would grant full marital rights, including child adoption, to gay and lesbian couples, who in Germany are now only able to enter so-called Civil Unions

# Nepal: millions of Nepalis voted in the country's first local elections for two decades, a key step in its post-war transformation from feudal monarchy to federal democracy

ECONOMICS

# Commerce and Industry Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman has written a letter to all Members of Parliament to consider setting up co-working spaces/incubators for Startups in their constituency under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme Fund (MPLADS)

# Aadhaar-PAN card linkage from July 01, 2017

SPORTS

# Roger Federer defeated Alexander Zverev to lift the ninth Halle Open title

# Junior World Shooting Championship (held in Suhl, Germany): India's Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Anmol won gold in the mixed team event

- With 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze, India placed second in the medals table behind China, which topped with 9 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze

MISC

# Rajesh V. Shah as Chairperson of NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology)

# Dr. Manoj Soni, former Vice Chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, took the Oath of Office and Secrecy as Member, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC); the Oath was administered by the UPSC Chairman Prof. David R. Syiemlieh.

# The words "Chana" and "Chana Dal" were added to the OXford English Dictionary

- "Chana" means Chickpeas and "Chana Dal" means split chickpea lentils

# UNESCO named Sharjah, a city in UAE as the "World Book Capital" for 2019