Daily Current Affairs
Daily Current Affairs (24 Nov 2017)
November 24, 2017
Cabinet approves setting up of 15th Finance Commission
- The Union cabinet approved the setting up of the 15th Finance Commission, which will decide on the distribution of tax proceeds among centre, states and local bodies in the post-goods and services tax (GST) era.
- The recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, chaired by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Y.V. Reddy, are valid from 2015 to 2020.
- The 14th Finance Commission is considered to have fundamentally reset the centre-state fiscal relationship by raising the untied share of states in net central taxes to 42% from 32%.
- The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission will be implemented in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025.
Finance Commission
- The Finance Commission was first established by the President of India in 1951 under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution.
- It was formed to define the financial relations between the central government of India and the individual state governments.
- The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1951additionally defines the terms of qualification, appointment and disqualification, the term, eligibility and powers of the Finance Commission.
- As per the Constitution, the Commission is appointed every five years and consists of a chairman and four other members.
Topic- GS-2- Indian Constitution
Source- Livemint + Wiki
BrahMos air launch completes India’s supersonic cruise missile triad
- The fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world–the Brahmos– created history when it was successfully test-fired for the first time from an Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal.
- This test effectively gives the Indian armed forces the ability to fire Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM).
- The missile is propelled first by a solid propellant booster engine that takes it to supersonic speeds.
- After it separates, the missile is accelerated further to around three times the speed of sound (mach 3) in the cruise phase with a liquid ramjet.
- The armed forces now have a multi-platform, multi-mission cruise missile that can be launched from land, sea and air.
- Besides, all three versions have a “fire and forget” principle of operation.
- The Brahmos cruise missiles have an effective strike range of around 290-300 km.
- Its stealth features also give it a low radar signature.
BrahMos
- The BrahMos is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and Russia under BrahMos Aerospace.
- The BrahMos missile is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra (India) and the Moskva (Russsia).
Mach Number-
- It is the ratio of the speed of a body to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium.
- Subsonic if Mach no. < 0.8
Transonic If Mach no. lies between 0.8 and 1.2
Supersonic If Mach no. lies between 1.2 and 5.0
Hypersonic If Mach no. lies between 5.0 and 10.0
Hypersonic If Mach no. lies between 5.0 and 10.0
Topic- GS-3- Defence, Science and Technology
Source- Indian Express + Wiki
Cabinet approves expansion of umbrella scheme "Mission for Protection And Empowerment For Women" and introducing a new scheme ' Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra'
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for expansion of Umbrella Scheme "Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women" for a period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
- CCEA has also given approval to the new scheme called ‘Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra', which will empower rural women through community participation to create an environment in which they realize their full potential.
- The approved sub-schemes are social sector welfare schemes especially for care, protection and development of women.
- It will also aim at improvement in declining Child Sex Ratio, ensuring survival & protection of the girl child etc.
- Block level centres will provide support to PMMSK (Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra) and also give a foothold to BBBP (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao) in 640 districts to be covered in a phased manner.
- All the sub-schemes have inbuilt monitoring structure at the Central Level, State, District and Block level.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)
- Launched by the PM on January 22, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana.
- Objective- Improve Child Sex Ratio, Protection and education of girl child.
- Three ministries are involved which are -Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
- Enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCP&DT) Act, 1994.
- Current brand ambassador-Olympic Bronze medallist Sakshi Malik.
- Initially it was focussed on 100 districts with low Child Sex Ratio.
- In 2016, 61 more districts added.
Topic- GS-2- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States
Source- PIB
Cabinet approves India's membership for EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
- The Union Cabinet approved India's membership for EBRD, a move which will help it obtain funding in various areas including services and manufacturing.
- The membership will increase the scope of cooperation between India and the multilateral institution through co- financing opportunities in manufacturing, services, information technology and energy.
- "EBRD's core operations pertain to private sector development in their countries of operation.
- The membership would help India leverage the technical assistance and sectoral knowledge of the bank for the benefit of development of private sector.
- The minimum initial investment towards the membership will be about 1 million euro (Rs 7.63 crore).
EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991.
- As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies.
- Headquartered in London, the EBRD is owned by 65 countries and two EU institutions.
- Despite its public-sector shareholders, it invests mainly in private enterprises, together with commercial partners.
Topic- GS-3- Economic Development
Source- Economic Times + Wiki
IITs, IISc find place in QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) BRICS rankings
- Some Indian institutions have made it to the top 20 in the QS University rankings: BRICS 2018.
- Four Indian institutions- IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kanpur- feature in the top 20, with IIT Bombay at the ninth position.
- However, the top three slots are with Chinese universities. Tsinghua University, Peking University and Fudan University of China are at the top of the rankings.
Topic- GS-2- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education etc.
GS-3- Economic Development
Source- The Hindu
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