GK and Current Affairs Updates

The United Nations’ highest court on Wednesday rejected nuclear disarmament cases filed by the Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands against Britain, India and Pakistan, saying it did not have jurisdiction.
●    The International Court of Justice ruled that the Marshall Islands had failed to prove that a legal dispute over disarmament existed between it and the three nuclear powers before the case was filed in 2014, and that “consequently the court lacks jurisdiction.”
●    It took a casting vote by the court’s President Ronny Abraham to break an eight-eight deadlock between the 16 judges on the question of jurisdiction in the case against Britain.
●    In the cases against India and Pakistan, the margin was nine-seven.
●    Phon van den Biesen, a Dutch lawyer who represented the Marshall Islands, said he was deeply disappointed by the rulings.

Researchers including one of Indian-origin have engineered a material that could lead to a new generation of computing devices, packing in more computing power while consuming nearly 100 times less energy thant today's electronics require.
●    Electronics are the fastest-growing consumer of energy worldwide.
●    Five per cent of total global energy consumption is spent on electronics, and that's projected to grow to 40-50 percent by 2030.
●    Known as a magnetoelectric multiferroic material, it combines electrical and magnetic properties at room temperature and relies on a phenomenon called "planar rumpling."
●    The new material sandwiches together individual layers of atoms, producing a thin film with magnetic polarity that can be flipped from positive to negative or vice versa with small pulses of electricity.

The Union Cabinet on 5 October 2016 approved the amendments to the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014.
●    The HIV and AIDS Bill, 2014 was drafted to safeguard the rights of people living with HIV and affected by HIV.
●    It seeks to address HIV-related discrimination, strengthen the existing programme by bringing in legal accountability and establish formal mechanisms for inquiring into complaints and redressing grievances.
●    It seeks to prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS, prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV and AIDS.
●    It seeks to provide for informed consent and confidentiality with regard to their treatment, places obligations on establishments to safeguard rights of persons living with HIV. 
●    It aims to enhance access to health care services by ensuring informed consent and confidentiality for HIV-related testing, treatment and clinical research.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 October 2016 released the fourth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2016-17. 
●    The key announcement under the policy was the interest cut of 25 basis points. This move may lead to banks in lowering EMIs for housing, car loan and corporate borrowers.
●    This policy decision was not only RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s maiden policy announcement but was also the first to be announced by the newly constituted Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). 
●    All the six members of MPC unanimously decided to cut repo rate by 0.25 per cent; bring in to a nearly six-year low of 6.25 per cent. 
●    According to the monetary policy statement, the decision to cut interest rates is consistent with the aim of achieving a mid-term inflation target of 4 percent within a band of plus or minus 2 percent.
●    Based on the assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary 
●    The policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) was reduced by 25 basis points from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent with immediate effect.
●    The reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75 per cent.
●    Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate was fixed at 6.75 per cent.
●    The Bank Rate also stands at 6.75 per cent.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 5 October 2016 was awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa.
●    The trio were bestowed with the prestigious award for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.
●    Jean-Pierre Sauvage is a French coordination chemist. 
●    Sir James Fraser Stoddart is a Scottish chemist. He works in the area of supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. 
●    Bernard L Feringa is a synthetic organic chemist, specializing in molecular nanotechnology and homogenous catalysis.
●    Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added.
●    The first step towards a molecular machine was taken by Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 1983, when he succeeded in linking two ring-shaped molecules together to form a chain, called a catenane.
 

MS Sahoo on 1 October 2016 assumed charge as Chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). 
●    The oath of the office was administered by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley.
●    Sahoo was recently serving as a member of anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) and was earlier a member at capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
●    IBBI is a four-member Board. The members of the IBBI are Ajay Tyagi, Amardeep Singh Bhatia, GS Yadav and Unnikrishnan.
●    The main activity of IBBI is to regulate the functioning of insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.
●    The Board will be expanded to 10 Members (including the Chairman) in the future.
 

The State Bank of India (SBI) on 3 October 2016 became the first domestic bank of India to open a branch in the capital city of Yangon, Myanmar. 
●    Ghanshyam Srivastava will be the Chief Executive Officer of the SBI Yangon branch.
●    This was made possible with the permission of the Myanmarese central bank, which allowed SBI to open a branch with the primary objective of extending wholesale banking services to foreign corporates.
●    The Yangon branch is the 54th foreign branch of the SBI, nation's largest lender. This branch extends the global presence of SBI in 37 countries through 198 offices.
●    India has been a major trading partner of Myanmar for centuries. 
●    Since the signing of India and Myanmar trade agreement in 1970, bilateral trade between both the countries has been growing steadily.
 

In a historic vote held at the plenary session of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, a majority of the members voted in favour of ratifying the Paris Agreement. 
●    The vote paved the way for the entry into force of the Agreement — to keep global warming levels less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels - in November this year, with 610 out of 678 parliament members voting in favour of the ratification. 
●    Only 38 EU member votes were in the negative, and the rest of the members abstained from voting on Tuesday.
●    As per the rules of the Agreement, adopted in Paris last year, the cumulative emissions of the ratifying parties must cross the minimum required threshold of 55 per cent of global emissions for it to enter into force. 
●    Only seven EU nations — France, Germany, Malta, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Portugal — have ratified the Paris Agreement at the national level. 

The Union Government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for availing cooking gas (LPG) subsidies after November 2016. 
●    In this regard, the Union Petroleum Ministry has asked Oil marketing companies (OMCs) to facilitate enrollments of Aadhaar of the consumers to avail the subsidy. 
●    Currently, the government gives 12 LPG cylinders at subsidised rates per household in a year. 
●    The subsidy on every LPG cylinder is transferred directly into bank accounts of individuals who then buy the cooking fuel at market rates. 
●    The use of Aadhaar as identifier for delivery of government services/subsidies/ benefits will simplifies the delivery processes of government. 
●    It will also bring in transparency and efficiency in the delivery processes by plugging leakages and enable beneficiaries to get their entitlements from Government directly to them without any middlemen. 
●    Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique number which acts as a proof of identity and address anywhere in the country. It is considered as the world’s largest national identification project. 
 

Automation threatens 69 per cent of the jobs in India, while 77 per cent in China, according to a World Bank research which has said that technology could fundamentally disrupt the pattern of traditional economic path in developing countries.
●    “As we continue to encourage more investment in infrastructure to promote growth, we also have to think about the kinds of infrastructure that countries will need in the economy of the future. We all know that technology has and will continue to fundamentally reshape the world,” World Bank president Jim Kim said.
●    World Bank data has predicted that the proportion of jobs threatened in India by automation is 69 per cent, in China it is 77 per cent and in Ethiopia, the percentage of jobs threatened by automation is 85 per cent.
●    The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loan to developing countries for capital programs. 
●    It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). 
●    The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, which is part of the United Nations system.