www.tnpscportal Current Affairs April 2017 Current Affairs for TNPSC Exams - April 2017 Tamilnadu The second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu has started commercial generation of power. It had attained its full power generation capacity of 1000 Megawatt in January 2017. It had attained criticality in July 2016 and was synchronized with southern grid in August 2016. From the first unit of KNPP, Tamil Nadu is getting 562 MW, Telangana 50 MW, Karnataka 221 MW and Kerala 133 MW Puduchery 33 MW. Tamil Nadu is expected to get 562MW from second unit also. The nuclear power generation has gone up to 6,780MW in the country with power generation in the second unit. The 1000MW KNPP is built with Russian expertise. K Prithika Yashini became India’s first-ever transgender person to become a police official, after she took charge as sub-inspector in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. Her appointment was made as per the Madras High Court order delivered in November 2015. The court had directed Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) to appoint K Prithika Yashini as a sub-inspector of police as she is entitled to get the job. The country also further had directed the TNUSRB to include transgender people as a “third category”, apart from the usual category of “male” and “female”. India India’s first International research centre for Foot and Mouth disease of cattle and buffalos was inaugurated at Argul (Bhubaneswar), Odisha. The research centre has been constructed in joint collaboration of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAT). It will conduct research on viral disease of cattle and buffaloes. It has the facility for safe handling and storage of live Foot and Mouth disease virus that essentially is required for control of the disease. It will collect samples from all over the country to find a cure of the disease. Notably, India is suffering a loss of Rs. 23,000 annually due to Foot and Mouth disease of cattle and buffalos. The Union Defence Ministry has allowed Arunachal Pradesh government to use the functional Advance Landing Grounds (ALGs) in the state for civilian purpose. The Ziro, Mechuka, Walong, Aalo, Pasighat and Tuting ALGs across the state have been developed by the Defence Ministry and are under the direct control of the Indian Air Force (IAF). State government can approach the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for construction of civil terminal at these ALGs and for scheduled civil operations. State-run NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation Limited) has crossed the milestone of 50 Gigawatts power generation capacity. It achieved this feat after commissioning of 500 Megawatts unit at Unchahar in Uttar Pradesh, increasing the total installed capacity of NTPC Facebook.com/tnpscportal www.tnpscportal.in Page 1 www.tnpscportal Current Affairs April 2017 to 50,498. NTPC limited is CPSU operational under Ministry of Power. It is India’s largest power generator. It was established in 1975. Government holds 70% of its equity shares as of May 2015. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to set up a separate enforcement department to oversee possible breaches of rules and take punitive actions against those who violate them. The department will develop a broad policy for enforcement and initiate action against the regulated entities for violation consistent with such policy. It will serve as a centralised wing to deal with banks only for enforcement action. Growth of the country’s eight core sectors slipped to an over one-year low of 1% in February 2017. This was mainly due to a fall in output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser and cement. The eight core sectors had expanded 9.4% in February 2016, and 3.4% in January 2016. In February 2016, crude oil output contracted 3.4%, natural gas output by 1.7%, refinery products output fell 2.3%, fertiliser output declined 5.3%, and cement output dropped 15.8%. But coal and steel production recorded positive growth during the month. The eight core industries comprise close to 37.9% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The electricity has the maximum weight (of 10.32%) among the eight sectors followed by Steel (6.68%), Petroleum Refinery (5.94%), Crude Oil production (5.22 %), Coal production (4.38 %), Cement (2.41%), Natural Gas production (1.71 %) and Fertilizer production (1.25%). Japan has committed an official development assistance (ODA) of 371 billion yen (about Rs 21,590 crore) for various infrastructure projects, including the dedicated freight corridor, in India for the FY 2016-2017. The total commitment of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ODA during two financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17 is 761.40 billion yen, which is 43.50% of the total target for five years. In the last few years, the economic partnership between India and Japan has steadily progressed. It has further consolidated and strengthened the Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan. Israel’s Government has approved the first West Bank settlement in two decades. Decision in this regard was taken in Security Cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new settlement will be built near the existing settlement of Shilo, which is nearby to the Amona site, an illegal settler outpost that was demolished in February 2017 under the orders of Israel’s Supreme Court. West Bank and east Jerusalem are disputed territories claimed by the Palestinians which were captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state. Mizoram became 27th state to join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme meant for revival of debt-stressed discoms. In this regard, Union Government and Mizoram Government signed a MOU for improving operational efficiency of the Power Distribution department of the State. The scheme would also allow speedy availability of cheaper power to more than 22 thousand households in the state that are still without electricity. The availability Facebook.com/tnpscportal www.tnpscportal.in Page 2 www.tnpscportal Current Affairs April 2017 of 24X7 power to households will boost the economy, provide more employment opportunities and improve the standard of living of the people of Mizoram. Government has formally launched Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) grade transportation fuel across the country to keep carbon emission in check. The launch came days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from 1 April, 2017. It sets target of ushering in BS-VI fuel by April 2020 by skipping BS-V fuel. All state-run oil marketing companies will provide BS-IV-compliant fuel at their 53,500 retail fuel stations across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, country’s longest road tunnel that links Kashmir Valley with Jammu by an all-weather route. The 9-km-long tunnel passes through the lower Himalayan mountain range on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 44. It cuts the distance between Jammu and Srinagar to around 250 km from the current 350 km. The 9-km long ‘Chenani-Nashri Tunnel has been built at an altitude of 1,200 meters. It is also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway tunnel. It has been built at the cost of Rs. 2,500 crore. Myanmar became the 7th member of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program of Asian Development Bank (ADB). It was officially made member at the SASEC Finance Ministers’ meeting held in New Delhi and chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley The Union Ministry of Textiles has launched PowerTex India, a three-year comprehensive scheme for Powerloom Sector Development. The PowerTex India scheme aims to boost common infrastructure and modernisation of the powerloom sector in the country. The two new schemes are Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme (PMCS) for powerloom weavers and solar energy scheme (SEC) for powerlooms. PMCS for powerlooms: Under it, financial assistance, including margin money subsidy and interest reimbursement, will be given as against the credit facility under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana to the decentralised power loom units. SEC for powerlooms: Under it, financial subsidy for the installation of the Solar Photo Voltaic Plants will be provided to alleviate the problems of power cuts. Government will provide subsidy of 50% to power loom units having maximum eight looms for adopting solar energy for captive use either in grid or off grid system. Other components of the scheme: In-situ Upgradation of Plain Powerlooms; Group Workshed Scheme (GWS); Yarn Bank Scheme; Common Facility Centre (CFC); Facilitation, IT, Awareness, Market Development and Publicity for Powerloom Schemes, Tex Venture Capital Fund and Grant-in-Aid and Modernisation & Upgradation of Powerloom Service Centres (PSCs). Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank have officially merged with country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). With this merger, SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets. The five associate banks are: State Bank of Bikaner and Facebook.com/tnpscportal www.tnpscportal.in Page 3 www.tnpscportal Current Affairs April 2017 Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore. The Union Cabinet approved signing of an agreement between the Union Ministry of Rural Development and Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) for establishment of CIRDAP Centre at National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad. CIRDAP Centre will give NIRD&PR advantage to have first-hand knowledge of networking with organizations specialized in rural development programmes and to build a repository of institutional knowledge for NIRD&PR.