GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of new Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Laos People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). 
•    The Agreement is expected to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchange between the two countries bringing it in tune with the developments in the civil aviation sector. 
•    It will provide enabling environment for enhanced and seamless connectivity while providing commercial opportunities to the carriers of both the sides ensuring greater safety and security. 
•    Under the agreement, the designated airlines of the two countries shall have fair and equal opportunity to operate the agreed services on specified routes.
•    The routes and frequencies shall be decided subsequently. ASA is the basic legal framework for any air operation between the two countries.
 

Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Chairperson (CPN-MC) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on 4 August 2016 was elected the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal.
•    Pushpa Kamal Dahal had served as the Prime Minister of the country from 2008 to 2009.
•    He led the CPN (M) as it launched a communist insurgency on 13 February 1996. In the ensuing civil war, more than 17000 Nepalese died.
•    He resigned as Prime Minister on 4 May 2009 after his attempt to sack the army chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, was opposed by President Ram Baran Yadav.
•    He is also widely known by his nom de guerre ‘Prachanda’, a name he went by during his guerrilla days.
 

A festival showcasing the varied music and dances of North Eastern India will be organized in delhi beginning Thursday, seeking to promote the rich folk culture of the region.
•    The 'Amazing North-East… Paradise Unexplored' festival showcasing the various music and dances of Northeast India will be held at the India International Centre in New Delhi on Thursday, beginning 6 pm.
•    The festival will also serve as a medium to discuss the reported challenges and hardships faced by the people living in the region.
•    Eminent dancer Sonal Mansingh and academic scholar Sanjoy Hazarika will be a part of the talk show that will discuss the challenges that the region comes across, seeking to suggest solutions that may propagate its growth.
•    The show will also serve as a medium to draw the audience’s attention to the hardships faced by the people living in the region and encourage more support from the citizens of the rest of the country.
 

The seventh meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Immigration Authorities was held on 2 August 2016 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
•    Usman A. Bajwa, Pakistan’s Director General Immigration and Passports, chaired the meeting.
•    The meeting aimed at formulating recommendations to be presented in the meetings of Home Secretaries and Interior Ministers meetings.
•    It reviewed different areas to maximize the potential of visa exemption scheme launched among the member countries in 1992.
•    It also planned on development of security software for SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and immigration matters.
•    SVES will help in transforming the existing manual system of the scheme into an online visa application system.
•    It will have a central database that will provide all member states with real-time and secure information.
•    The SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme was launched in 1992.
•    As directed by the Summit, the Council of Ministers regularly kept under review the list of entitled categories.
•    The Visa Stickers are issued by the respective Member States to the entitled categories of that particular country.  
•    The validity of the Visa Sticker is generally for one year.  
•    The implementation is reviewed regularly by the Immigration Authorities of SAARC Member States.
 

Japan’s cabinet has approved an economic stimulus package worth 275 billion dollars in attempt kick-start the economy and boost growth of the world’s third-largest economy. 
•    Decision in this regard was Japanese Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. 
•    The Japanese government expects that this package will boost gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.3%. 
•    The economic stimulus package of measures aims at tackling deflation and strengthening the national economy of Japan. 
•    It includes increase expenditure for the national and local governments as well as significant investments in the country’s infrastructure. 
•    It also includes in a supplementary budget, which will be considered by an extraordinary session of Parliament starting in September. 
•    It also will provide support of small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan over the next two years. More than half of package sum has been earmarked for the current fiscal year. 
•    The package also includes spending on reconstruction of disaster zones, including parts of north-eastern Japan which were devastated by 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
 

Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to approve sewage and waste water policy. 
•    The first of its kind policy was approved by the State Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur. 
•    Under this policy, all district headquarters, heritage cities, and cities in the state which have more than one lakh population will be included. 
•    Waste water treated under it will be used in irrigation and agricultural work. 
•    The requirement of next 30 years will be covered in this poilcy. 
•    It will be compulsory for every house in the state to connect with sewage system in those cities which have 100% sewage system in next five years.
•    Modern Rajasthan includes most of Rajputana, which comprises the erstwhile nineteen princely states, two chiefships, and the British district of Ajmer-Merwara.
•    Marwar (Jodhpur), Bikaner, Mewar (Chittorgarh), Alwar and Dhundhar (Jaipur) were some of the main Rajput princely states. 
 

Anant Maheshwari was on 1 August 2016 named as the President of Microsoft India by the parent company Microsoft Inc. Maheshwari will succeed Bhaskar Pramanik, who retires in March 2017.
•    Maheshwari, who will join Microsoft India on 1 September 2016, will take over operations of the company on 1 January 2017.
•    As president, Maheshwari will be responsible for all of Microsoft’s product, service, and support offerings across India.
•    Presently, he is working as the President of Honeywell India, a Fortune 100 company.
•    Maheshwari has held various business leadership roles in Honeywell for over 12 years. 
•    His prior roles include managing director of listed Honeywell Automation India Ltd. 
•    He also successfully conceptualized and set up the security operations in India for Honeywell.
•    Prior to Honeywell, Maheshwari was with McKinsey & Co. for six years where he worked with clients across multiple industries.
 

Translator and artist Anita Gopalan on 25 July 2016 was awarded the 2016 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants for her English translation of Hindi novel Simsim by Geet Chaturvedi.
•    Gopalan is the second Indian translator to be selected for the grant.
•    Anita Gopalan is a translator and artist.
•    She graduated in Computer Science and Mathematics from BITS Pilani.
•    She worked in Banking Technology sector for over 14 years in India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Middle East.
•    She has translated prose and poetry by contemporary Hindi author Geet Chaturvedi.
•    The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants were established in 2003 by PEN American Center.
•    It was established following a gift of 730000 US dollar by Michael Henry Heim, a noted literary translator.
•    Previously known as the PEN Translation Fund Grants, the awards were renamed in honour of Heim.
•    The Grants' purpose is to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English.
•    Grants are awarded each year to a select number of literary translators based on quality of translation as well as the originality and importance of the original work.
 

Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2016 passed Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 by voice vote. 
•    The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. 
•    It also seeks to replace the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016. 
•    The Bill states that its provisions will come in to force from 24 May 2016.
•    The bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016 after being introduced by Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda on the same day. 
•    It seeks to introduce a uniform entrance examination for all medical educational institutions. 
•    This would be applicable at the undergraduate and the post-graduate level.
•    It states that the entrance examinations will be conducted in Hindi, English and other languages.
•    It provides powers to the MCI to frame regulations with regard to:
    The authority designated with the conduct of the exams
    The manner of conducting the exams
    Specifying languages other than English and Hindi in which the examinations may be conducted.
 

The Union Government has capped the prices of 24 essential drugs used for treatment of cancer, HIV, bacterial infections, anxiety and cardiac conditions. In this regard, the Drug pricing regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued an order. 
•    It also monitors the maximum retail prices of all the drugs and companies are allowed to hike prices of non-scheduled drugs by up to 10% in a year. 
•    Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is nodal government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India. 
•    Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the country’s population. 
•    They are listed with reference to the levels of healthcare namely primary, secondary and tertiary. 
•    They are generally based on the country’s disease burden, priority health concerns, affordability concerns etc. 
•    In India National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) formed in 2011 decides the essential medicines.