Important Current Affairs 27th May 2017

Important Current Affairs 27th May 2017

Dear Aspirants,

Important Current Affairs 27th May 2017 in English and Hindi, which will update you with latest headlines, news from various domains i.e: National News, Sports, Business, Awards & recognition. It is useful for the preparation of competitive exams like: SSC, SBI, IBPS PO, Clerk, Railways & Various other Entrance examinations.

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Current Affairs 27th May 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

Government tweaked Startup definition

The Union Government on 25 May 2017 introduced minor changes to the startup definition, saying a business not older than seven years will now qualify for benefits under the Startup India Action Plan.
●    Earlier, companies which were not older than five years from the date of incorporation were eligible for concessions under the plan, which was announced in 2016.
●    Under the new definition, an entity shall be considered as a startup if its turnover is less than Rs 25 crore - which remains unchanged - and has not completed seven years from the date of its incorporation/registration. 
●    However, in the case of startups in the biotechnology sector, the period shall be up to 10 years.
●    It also said that an entity shall be considered as a start-up if it is working towards innovation, development or improvement of products or processes or services. 
●    It will also be called a startup if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation.

 

UP CM Yogi Adityanath launches JE vaccination drive in 38 districts of UP

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on 25 May 2017 launched a massive immunisation drive in 38 districts of the state to eradicate Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
●    This anti-encephalitis drive was launched from Kushinagar district. 
●    This government has fixed the target of immunisation of above 88 lakh 55 thousand children in the age group of 1 to 15 years during the drive in the targeted districts.
●    The government has also involved all the voluntary and social organisations in these JE prone districts.
●    CM Yogi also launched a toll free number to get or provide any information about encephalitis. 
●    The number is 18001805544.
●    The drive will be continued till 11 June 2017.

 

Uttarakhand CM launches water conservation campaign

Uttarakhand CM launches Water conservation campaign The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat launched a campaign on water harvesting and conservation on the occasion of Water Day on 25 May 2017 in the state’s capital, Dehradun.
●    The Minister flagged off two mechanised rath, one each for Kumaon and Garhwal regions.
●    The vans would be using audio material and related literature to broadcast information on water conservation and spread awareness in the two regions.
●    The Minister stressed that the objective of the campaign cannot be achieved without the participation of the common people.
●    The CM has urged the members to have a rainwater harvesting system fitted in their residential premises.
●    The Minister also requested the common people not to use water beyond what is sufficient to flush toilets.
●    Uttarakhand with 1.10 Cr population has around 20 lakh toilets and on an average a person there uses about 7-10 litres of water daily in the toilet.

Union Environment Ministry bans sale of cattle for slaughter

Union Environment Ministry bans sale of cattle for slaughter. 
●    The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on 23 May 2017 came up with new regulations that ban the sale of all kinds of cattle for slaughter across India.
●    The rules were issued under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. 
●    It requires anyone purchasing cattle to provide an undertaking that the animals are bought for agricultural purposes and not slaughter.
●    The definition of cattle includes bulls, bullocks, cows, buffalos, steers, heifers, calves and camels.
●    The new rules will be implemented in the next three months.
●    The cattle trade is permitted only among farmland owners across the nation.
●    Cattle can only be sold to a person possessing documents that he/she is an agriculturist. 
●    A trader has to submit five copies of proof of sale at the local revenue office, the local veterinary doctor in the district of the purchaser, animal market committee, apart from one each for seller and buyer.

Current Affairs 27th May 2017: ECONOMY 

Mukesh Ambani's RIL tops among 58 Indian firms on Forbes Global 2000 list

Huge public companies still prospered this past year despite wild swings between market uncertainty and volatility, punctuated by unexpected political outcomes, according to the Forbes’ Global 2000 list. 
●    Despite slowing GDP figures, China and the US, whose companies make up more than 40% of the list, continue to dominate the top 10 list. 
●    ICBC, China Construction Bank, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo were the top five on the list. 
●    China’s two-year stronghold of the top 3 spots was disrupted this year by the company owned by Warren Buffett . 
●    The ranking is based on a composite score from equally-weighted measures of revenues, profits, assets and market value. 
●    The 2017 list features public companies from 58 countries that together account for $35.3 trillion in revenue, $2.5 trillion in profit, $169.1 trillion of assets, and have a combined market value of $48.8 trillion.

Cabinet approves Raising of Bonds of Rs. 2360 crores for Renewable Energy 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to Raising of Bonds of Rs. 2360 crores for Renewable Energy.
●    The Bonds will be raised by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) during the 2017-18. 
●    These funds will be used by MNRE in the approved programmes/schemes for solar park, green energy corridor, generation-based incentives for wind projects, CPSU and defence solar projects, viability gap funding for solar projects, roof-top solar, off-grid/grid-distributed and decentralized renewable power, investment in corporations and autonomous bodies etc. 
●    Such timely investment would boost infrastructure in renewable sector and facilitate achievement of ambitious targets for the renewable energy sector.  
●    The resources raised would be used for developing additional capacity in renewable energy sector which would result in generation of additional employment.
●    The Government had declared additional finance mobilization of Rs. 31,300 crore bonds through NHAI, PFC, REC, IREDA and IWAI in the budget for FYT 2016-17. As a part of this, the Government had allocated Rs. 4000 crores to IREDA to raise “GOI fully serviced taxable Bonds” on behalf of the MNRE during the FY 2016-17. 
●    Out of this allocation, IREDA had raised Rs. 1640 crores as per the requirement of MNRE. The MNRE subsequently approached the Cabinet,   to approve raising  of the balance Rs. 2360 crores in the year 2016-17.
 

Demonetization move gave economy Rs 5 lakh crore advantage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation move has given the economy a Rs.5 lakh-crore advantage, a high-level internal assessment report of the government on the drive has found.
●    By May 2017, the banknotes in use would have been of the value of Rs.19.25 lakh crore. 
●    However, according to RBI figures, at the end of April this year, the total amount of currency in circulation was Rs 14.2 lakh crore.
●    This means that the economy now has roughly Rs.5 lakh crore cash less than the amount it would have had if note ban had not happened. 
●    This also indicates that the amount of cash stashed away by citizens has come down.

Current Affairs 27th May 2017: GLOBAL NEWS

Eating beans instead of beef would sharply reduce greenhouse gasses

The team, headed by Loma Linda University (LLU) researcher Helen Harwatt, PhD, suggests that one simple change in American eating habits would have a large impact on the environment: if Americans would eat beans instead of beef, the United States would immediately realize approximately 50 to 75 percent of its GHG reduction targets for the year 2020.
●    The researchers explained that beef cattle are the most GHG-intensive food to produce and that the production of legumes (beans, peas, etc.) results in one-fortieth the amount of GHGs as beef.
●    "Given the novelty, we would expect that the study will be useful in demonstrating just how much of an impact changes in food production can make and increase the utility of such options in climate-change policy," Harwatt said.
●    In a 10-page paper released May 12, Harwatt and her colleagues noted that dietary alteration for climate change mitigation is currently a hot topic among policymakers, academics and members of society at large. 
●    The paper, titled "Substituting beans for beef as a contribution towards U.S. climate change targets," can be found online.
●    In addition to reducing GHG, Harwatt and her team -- which included Joan Sabate, MD, DrPH; Gidon Eshel, PhD; the late Sam Soret, PhD; and William Ripple, PhD -- concluded that shifting from animal-sourced to plant-sourced foods could help avert global temperature rise.