GK and Current Affairs Updates

Lt Gen MMS Rai retired today, relinquishing the appointment of the Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) of the Indian Army. The General Officer hung his uniform after an illustrious military career spanning four decades. Lt Gen MMS Rai was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers on 15 December 1976. Apart from the regimental service, the General Officer had tenanted various key staff, instructional and command appointments including that of GOC-in-C, Eastern Command.
•    Lt Gen Bipin Rawat will take over as the VCOAS of the Indian Army on 01 September 2016. He was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the Eleven Gorkha Rifles in December 1978, from IMA, Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’.  The General Officer has vast experience in high altitude warfare and counter insurgency operations.  He commanded an Infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector; a Rashtriya Rifles Sector and an Infantry Division in the Kashmir Valley. He has tenanted instructional appointments at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and at Army War College, Mhow. Lt Gen Bipin Rawat has held important staff appointments at Directorate General of Military Operations and Military Secretary’s Branch at Army HQ.  He has also been Major General General Staff at HQ Eastern Command.  The officer commanded a Multinational Brigade, in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). 
•    An alumni of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the Higher Command & National Defence College Courses, the General Officer,  during the span of over 35 years service in uniform, has been awarded for gallantry and distinguished service with the UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, COAS Commendation on two occasions and the Army Commander’s Commendation.  Whilst serving with the United Nations, e was twice awarded the Force Commander’s Commendation.
•    Prior to taking over as the VCOAS, Lt Gen Bipin Rawat tenanted the appointment of the GOC-in-C, Southern Command.
 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of Republic of San Marino on the eve of their National Day (September 3, 2016).
•    In a message to the Captains-Regent of San Marino, Mr. Massimo Andrea Ugolini and Mr. Gian Nicola Berti, the President has said, “On behalf of the Government, the people of India and on my own behalf, it is with great pleasure that I extend warm greetings and felicitations to you and to the people of San Marino on the occasion of your National Day.
•    India and San Marino enjoy a cordial and friendly relationship. We look forward to the further strengthening of our bilateral relations in areas of mutual interest for the benefit of our peoples.
•    I am happy to have this opportunity to convey my best wishes for your well-being and success and for the continued progress and prosperity of the people of San Marino.”

The Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi has written to all the Chief Ministers expressing her anguish as well as dissatisfaction on the functioning of Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in the States. 

•    The Minister for Women and child Development today undertook a comprehensive review of the pendency of cases of children waiting to be declared legally free by the CWCs. It was found that a total of 1811 cases of children are pending in the country. Out of these, the largest number of cases are with Maharashtra (439), Madhya Pradesh (151), Tamil Nadu (132), West Bengal (176), Uttar Pradesh (126) and Delhi (107). The Minister expressed deep concern over the fact that more than half were pending beyond four months and 470 cases are pending for more than one year. 
•    Smt Maneka Gandhi also personally spoke to the Ministers Incharge of Women and Child Development in the States, asking them to get these cases disposed off by the respective CWCs within a period of a fortnight. 
•    While reviewing the position, the Minister stated that this work should actually be done in a ‘no-delay mode’ by the CWC so that the children can be declared legally free and are placed with a family through adoption process of CARA which now is working through an automatic and fast system of CARINGS. 
•    Before a child is made available for adoption under the CARA system, it has to be declared “legally free for adoption” by the respective Child Welfare Committee. Child Welfare Committees have been constituted in almost all districts of the country and they are supposed to look after all the cases of child protection including the cases of adoption. 
•    The revised adoption guidelines, notified by the ministry under the Juvenile Justice Act, prescribe strict timelines within which all the steps required to be taken for placing a child with a family are to be completed. These timelines are to be followed by the all agencies involved including CWCs, State Adoption agencies, Child Care institutions, Courts among others
 

The Goa government, on Tuesday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Google India to promote digital literacy and drive digital transformation across the state.
•    As a first step, the state will launch internet safety education as part of the curriculum for students of classes 9 to 12 in government schools in association with Google India.
•    The special program, meant to teach people how to stay safe online, has been designed by Google in consultation with experts, and teacher training for it will take place shortly in 460 schools with over 80,000 enrolled students.
•    Google's free high speed wireless internet service available at a number of railway stations in India will be extended to Goa as well, said vice-president of Google south-east Asia and India, Rajan Anandan.
•    Chief Minister Laxmi kant Parsekar said that signing the MoU was a milestone for Goa, adding that it would benefit the state in the fields of tourism, culture and education.
 

Recovery in the Indian economy is likely to continue and the GDP growth is expected to be higher at 7.8 per cent in the current fiscal, although it will be “uneven”, propped largely by “strong consumption” and public expenditure, says a Development Bank of Singapore report.
•    According to the global financial services firm, doubts remain however on the underlying inconsistencies in the GDP numbers. 
•    For the 2015-16 fiscal, the GDP growth has been pegged at 7.6 per cent.
•    “We expect growth to gain momentum in 2016-17 fiscal, with headline real GDP up at 7.8 per cent,” DBS said in a research note.
•    Though the January-March growth fared better than expected on real GDP and gross value added (GVA) basis, it “masked” underlying weakness in fixed investments and non-agricultural growth, the report added.
 

National Payments Corporation of India today said it has launched the pilot project for Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) with 26 Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units.
•    BBPS is the Reserve Bank mandated system which will provide interoperable bill payment services to customers.
•    In the first phase, BBPS will cover repetitive payments for everyday utility services such as electricity, water, gas, telephone and direct-to-home (DTH), NPCI said in a statement here today.
•    Currently, the volume of bills being paid by cash is so large that even if 25 per cent of the bills get paid electronically, the impact would be visibly enormous, he said.
•    Some of the banking entities which are participating in the pilot project include -- AP Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank, Axis Bank, Gopinath Patil Parsik Janata Sahakari Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank.
 

Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt's bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympics was upgraded to silver on 30 August 2016. The medal was upgraded after second-place finisher late Besik Kudukhov of Russia was stripped off his medal for failing a dope test.
•    As per Russian agency, flowrestling.org, Kudukhov, who had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, was found to have used a banned substance in a test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
•    As a result, Yogeshwar, who had bagged a bronze medal in men's 60kg freestyle category in the London Games, has now joined Sushil Kumar as the other silver medallist wrestler from the 2012 Olympics.
•    Besides, Kudukhov, another legendary wrestler, Artur Taymazov (120kg) of Uzbekistan was stripped off from his 2008 gold medal for taking performance enhancing drugs.
 

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), India’s largest paramilitary force, on 29 August 2016 decided to appoint ace badminton player P V Sindhu as its brand ambassador.
•    CRPF will also bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the Olympic silver medalist.
•    The force has moved a formal proposal in this regard to the Union Home Ministry. After getting required sanctions, Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at a ceremonial event.
•    A Commandant rank in the CRPF is equivalent to the position of a Superintendent of Police (SP).
•    Ace shuttler P V Sindhu won a historic silver medal in the women’s singles badminton at the recently concluded Rio Olympic Games.
•    She was recently conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour.
 

The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on 20th May, 2016 between Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and Ministry of Cabinet Office, UK (as represented by CERT-UK, a unit of the Cabinet Office on Cyber Security). 
•    The MoU intends to promote closer cooperation between India and the United Kingdom for exchange of knowledge and experience in detection, resolution and prevention of security-related incidents. 
•    Cyber Security was one of the agenda items for discussion during Hon'ble Prime Minister’s visit to UK in November, 2015. With this MoU, participating countries can exchange technical information on Cyber attacks, response to cyber security incidents and find solutions to counter the cyber attacks. They can also exchange information on prevalent cyber security policies and best practices. This MoU helps to strengthen cyber space of both countries, capacity building and improving relationship between them. 
•    Earlier CERT-In signed MoUs with counterpart/similar organizations in about seven countries - Korea, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Uzbekistan. Ministry of External Affairs has also signed MoU with Cyber Security as one of the areas of cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
 

The Union Cabinet on 31 August 2016 approved the proposal for dissolution of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited (CIWTC).
•    CIWTC was incorporated on 22 February 1967 under the Companies Act 1956 by the Union Government. It was incorporate after government took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile River Steam Navigation Company Limited under a scheme approved by the Calcutta High Court.
•    Due to inherent limitation and infrastructure bottle necks, the operations of CIWTC could never become viable and company has been incurring losses since inception. The Company has only five employees at present.
•    In line with the decision of the Government to revitalize sick CPSUs wherever possible or to wind up irretrievable cases, the dissolution of the CIWTC would be initiated after disposal of movable and immovable assets.
•    This would free up the assets for better utilization and for the benefit of the people. A number of assets would be taken up by Inland Waterways Authority of India to provide services on Brahmputra River (NW-4).