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Tuesday

TNPSC Current Affairs January 2017,5

India and Kenya signed MOU on bilateral cooperation in field of Agriculture and allied Sectors


Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendar Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding between India and Kenya on bilateral cooperation in field of Agriculture and Allied Sectors.

Indian prime minister Narendra modi and his Kenyan Counterpart Uhuru Kenyatt signed the MOU which covers various fields which include Agriculture research, animal husbandry and dairy, livestock and fisheries, natural resource management, water management, irrigation, irrigation farming systems development and integrated watershed development , integrated pest management, sanitary and phytosanitary issues and many more- (Official Statement)

The MoU will remain valid for 5 years and will automatically renewed subsequent years unless either country notifies the other in writing before 6 months of expiry to terminate it.

Scientist produced new form of Hydrogen

TNPSC Current Affairs January 20 2017


Scientist has produced the new form of hydrogen –negatively charged hydrogen clusters.

Physicist Michael Renzler of the University of Innsbruck in Austria and colleagues have produced the new form of Hydrogen, negatively charged hydrogen clusters.
  
Scientist has injected the cold liquid helium droplets with hydrogen molecules, which forms clusters with neutral charge. Then they exposed the droplets with a beam of electrons that caused some of the hydrogen molecules into negatively charged hydrogen ions. Surrounding hydrogen molecules started clustered around the ions and scientist discovered that these newly formed groups could boast a few or many molecules each.

                  

Union Cabinet approves the exclusion of States from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF)


TNPSC Current Affairs January 20 2017


The union Cabinet has given approval to exclude state government and union territories (with  legislature) from national small saving fund (NSSF) investment except Arunachal  Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi effect from April 1 2017

It also approved providing Rs 45000 cr from NSSF to Food corporation of India to meet its food subsidy requirement as one-time Loan.
 
Overview:

The exclusion of State government and Union territories from the investment operations of the NSSF is recommended in the 14th finance commission.

The NSSF loans are more comparing to the market rates.
 
However Arunachal Pradesh is eligible to get the loans amounting 100 5 of NSSF collected withing its territory and Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh will get 50 % of its collections.
 
The Exclusion of State from NSSF the availability of the funds of NSSF with government  will increase, which reduce the Government borrowing FROM MARKET.
 
About NSSF: 

The NSSF in the public account of India came into effect on April 1 1999. The new sub sector has been introduced in major and minor heads of Government accounts. All the small savings are credited to this new sub sector NSSF and the withdrawals under small saving scheme by the depositors are given from the accumulation in this funds. Remaining fund will be invested in government securities as per Government of India norms.
 
These funds are administered by ministry of finance under NSSF Rules, 2001, framed by the President under Article 283(1) of the Constitution

MoES commissions Higher Resolution Weather Prediction Model

TNPSC Current Affairs January 19 2017

The ministry of earth sciences (MoES) made operational its very high resolution  (12 km) global deterministic model for generating weather forecasts in India. This will help India further improvement in Weather Prediction

The new model will replace the previous version which had a horizontal resolution of 25 km
The new model was very helpful in predicting and the intensity of recent cyclone Vardah and the cold wave over North India.

AS per ministry statement_ " Ministry of Earth science operational ensemble prediction system will also upgraded to 12 km from the horizontal resolution of 25 km. The EPS (Ensemble Prediction System) is adopted to overcome the problem of uncertainties in the forecasts and involves the generation of multiple forecasts using slightly varying initial conditions. Ensemble Prediction system also helps generate probabilistic forecasts and quantify the uncertainties”

MoES provides weather, climate and hydrological services to various users around the year. Both operational and research aspects for these services are implemented through IMD (India Meteorological Department) ,NCMRWF ( National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting),  IITM (Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology) and INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System)

Monday

TNPSC Current Affairs January 2017,10

India, France space agency ink pack on satellite launches technology.


      Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space Agency (CNES) has signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The Agreement was signed between Kiran Kumar, the chairman of ISRO and Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of CNES in the presence of visiting French minister of foreign affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault. The agreement will enable France to benefit from the Indian model of streamlining the costs of space programmes.
Ayrault and French delegation was given a guided tour of ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network) by the ISRO Chairman_( French Consulate release)
About ISTRAC:
ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) Monitors Indian Space missions which include two Indo-French Satellites currently in orbit for collecting data to track climate change.
INDO-France Space Cooperation

Space cooperation between India and France spans over 50 years. It is one of the cornerstones of the Indo-French Strategic Partnership. ISRO is the second partner of CNES in terms of volume after NASA

Union Cabinet approves Trade agreement with Peru

TNPSC Current Affairs January 18 2017

Union cabinet approved holding negotiations for Trade Agreement with South American nation Peru on trade in goods, services and investment.

The union Cabinet is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given approval for negotiation.

In January 2015 the Joint Study Group (JSG) was constituted to explore the possibility for entering into a Trade agreement between India and Peru. Both India and Peru concluded the study on October 20 2015 and agreed to carry forward the discussion on trade in goods, services and investment.

Peru Ranked 3rd amongst Latin America and Caribbean region for export destination of India during 2016-2016. The bilateral trade increased from $107.32 M to  $1.52 B in 2015-16

India becomes associate member of CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research)

TNPSC Current Affairs January 18 2017


India and CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) signed as agreement on making India an Associate member state of the research Organisation on January 16,2017. CERN which operates the Largest nuclear and Particle physics laboratory in the world.

The Agreement was signed by Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, Sekhar Basu and Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and CERN Director General Dr Fabiola Gianotti at the Department of Atomic Energy office.

Union Government gave nod for India officially entering the Geneva based body in 2015, following CERN Council accepted the India as associate member.

India previously had the ‘observer’ status till September, 2016, but CERN Council adopted a resolution upgrading its position on November 2016.

The benefits of becoming associate member is industrial participation and education/ training which allow CERN to directly engage Indian industries and enhance Indian students participation in various experiments and research activities.      

What is CERN?

European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) which was founded in 1954 in a north-west of Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border. It is an European research organization which operates the world largest particle physics laboratory in the world. It is well known for its operation of the large Hadron Collider, which found the Higgs Bason.

TNPSC English Study Material

TNPSC English Study Material

Snake –by  David Herbert Lawrence

A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.
In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree
I came down the steps with my pitcher
And must wait, must stand and wait; for there he was at the trough before me.
He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down,
over the edge of the stone trough,
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,
He sipped with his straight mouth,
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, Silently.
Someone was before me at my water-trough,
And I, like a second corner, waiting.
He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,
And flickered his two-forked tongue  from his lips, and mused a moment,
And stooped and drank a little more,
Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth,
On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The voice of my education said to me
He must be killed,
For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.
And voices in me said if you were a man
You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.
But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth
Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?
Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?
Was it humility, to feel so honoured?
I felt so honoured.
And yet those voices:
If  you were not afraid,  you would kill him.
And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid;
But even so, honored still more
That he should seek my hospitality
From out the dark door of the secret earth.
He drank enough
And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,
And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black,
Seeming to lick his lips,
And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,
And slowly turned his head,
And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,
Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round
And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.
And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,
And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and  entered farther,  
A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing
into that horrid black hole,
Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after,
Overcame me now his back was turned.
I looked round, I put down my pitcher,
I picked up a clumsy log
And threw it at the water trough with a clatter.
I think it did not hit him,
But suddenly that part of him that was left behind
convulsed in undignified haste,
Writhed like lightning, and was gone
Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,
At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.
And immediately I regretted it.
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.
And I thought of the albatross,
And I wished he would come back, my snake
For he seemed to me again like a king,
Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld
Now due to be crowned again.
And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life.
And I have something to expiate;

A pettiness.

NOTE: Poem is taken from Tamil Nadu Text book.

TNPSC English Study Material

TNPSC English Study Material

English Words - By V K Gokak
Speech that came like leech-craft
And killed us almost, bleeding us white!
You bleached our souls soiled with impurities.
You bathed our hearts amid tempestuous seas
Of a purer, drearier, delight.

O tongues of fire! You came devouring
Forests of nightshade, creepers that enmesh,
Trees that never remembered to grow,
And shrubs that were but thornmills in our flesh.
You were the dawn, and sunlight filled the space
Where owls were hovering.

O winged seeds! You crossed the furrowed seas
To nestle in the warm and silent earth.
Like a golden swarm of fireflies you came
Pining for a new agony, a new birth.
You blossomed into a nascent loveliness.
You ripened into nectar in fruit-jars
That hung like clustered stars.

O winging words! Like homing bees you borrow
Grown murmurous, the honey of delight,
Pollened within our hearts the coming morrow,
Sweetened within our souls for aeons bright:
You kindle in the far corners of the earth
The music of an ever-deepening chant:
The burthen of a waneless, winterless spring,
The gospel of an endless blossoming.
Fathomless words, with Indo-Aryan blood
Tingling in your veins.
The spoils of ages, global merchandise
Mingling in your strains!
You pose the cosmic riddles
In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was God.
The Word is in the middle
And the Word is Man.
In the end will be the Word

And the Word will be God in Man.


NOTE: Poem is taken from Tamil Nadu Text book.

TNPSC English Study Material

TNPSC English Study Material

WOMEN'S RIGHTS -  by  Annie Louisa Walker

You cannot rob us of the rights we cherish,
Nor turn our thoughts away
From the bright picture of a "Woman's Mission"
Our hearts portray.
We claim to dwell, in quiet and seclusion,
Beneath the household roof,
From the great world's harsh strife, and jarring voices,
To stand aloof;
Not in a dreamy and inane abstraction
To sleep our life away,
But, gathering up the brightness of home sunshine,
To deck our way.
As humble plants by country hedgerows growing.
That treasure up the rain,
And yield in odours, ere the day's declining,
The gift again;
So let us, unobtrusive and unnoticed)
But happy none the less,
Be privileged to fill the air around us
With happiness;

To live, unknown beyond the cherished circle,
Which we can bless and aid;
To die, and not a heart that does not love us

Know where we're laid.


NOTE: Poem is taken from Tamil Nadu Text book.

TNPSC English Study Material

TNPSC English Study Material

PSALM OF LIFE-by HW Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers     
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dustretumest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, how'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act-act in the living presernt
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to walk


NOTE: Poem is taken from Tamil Nadu Text book.

RBI Note Mudran Printing Press Prints highest number of currency notes.

TNPSC Current Affairs January 17 2017

The RBI Note Mudran printing press has broken all its past record by printing highest number of currency notes in Dec 2016.

A Ramdass,Honorary president of Note Mudran Ltd, informed that 10.9 million notes were printed on a single days surpassing previous world record of 8.7 million notes printed in an American currency printing press.

He also said that the Printing wastage in America is 4 % while in Mudran press it is 2%. The cost per currency printing in America is 4 rupees while Mudran Press is 3.40 rupees.

About Mudran Press:

Bharathiya Reserve Bank note Mudran private limited is located in Mysuru, Karnataka which is established at 1995. It is one of the subsidiaries of RBI which prints bank notes for Reserve bank of India. It was established to address the demand of bank notes.

Other noted place for Printing Indian currency is CNP (Currency Note Press) Nasik ,Bank Note Press Mysuru and Dewas(Madhya Pradesh),


IMF Cuts India’s Growth rate from 7.6% to 6.6%

TNPSC Current Affairs January 17 2017

International Monetary fund (IMF) has cut down India’s Fiscal Growth rate from 7.7% to 6.6%, citing demonetization woes.

The International Monetary fund in its Latest World Economic Outlook said that "in India, the growth forecast for the current (2016–17) and next fiscal year were trimmed by 1 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point, respectively, primarily due to the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative,

As per the latest report India lost its no 1 position to China in fastest Growing Economy among emerging countries. IMF has downgraded India’s growth in 2016 is now estimated to be 6.6 % against 7.6 % earlier. In 2017 the growth rate will be 7.2 % against its previous estimate of 7.6%. India will revive its growth rate of 7.7 % in 2018 as per World Economic Outlook projection.

IMF said that the global growth rate for 2016 is now estimated as 3.1 %. It also said that lacklustre outturn in 2016, economic activity is projected to pick up in 2017 and 2018, especially in emerging market and developing economies.

About IMF:

International Monetary fund is an International Organisation located in Washington DC to promote global monetary and exchange stability,   secure financial stability, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty. It is formed in 1945 with 29 members, currently it has 189 countries as members

Christine Lagarde is current Managing director of International Monetary Fund.

Border Security force (BSF) launched Operation ‘Sard Hawa’ at Rajasthan Border

TNPSC Current Affairs January 15 2017

BSF (Border Security force) has launched operation Alert Winter or ‘Sard Hawa’ along with the western International Border, Rajasthan to check the instances of infiltration due to dense Fog in the area.

The Purpose of Operation is to keep Hawk’s eye on the International border      , where vigil will be beefed up and officers have also asked to participate to motivate Jawans- DIG, Ravi Gandhi Said.


Operation Sard Hawa will help the Jawans to check the infiltration during dense Fog in International Border. 

Sunday

India, Sri Lanka Signs MoU to construct 3,000 rain water harvesting systems

TNPSC Current Affairs January 14 2017


India has signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Sri Lanka to construct 3000 rain water harvesting systems I Rin Jaffna district at a cost of 30 Crore Sri Lankan Rupees.

The MoU was signed by Arindam Bagchi, Acting high commissioner of India and V.Sivagnanasothy, Secretary to the ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, in the presence of A.H.M Fowzie, State Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation. 

About the Project:

The Project envisages construction of rainwater harvesting systems for 3000 households in Jaffna District to address the water problems.

The project aims to assist people by supporting resettlement for displaced families in Jaffna by providing clean drinking water.

The Project  was requested from the office for National Unity and reconciliation of Government of Sri Lanka

Indian Government has granted approval for the project through the Indian Small Grant Assistance Program.

India, US Sign MoU for collaboration in third world countries

TNPSC Current Affairs January 14 2017

India and United States has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate in the fields of developmental activities and aid in third world countries. Its main vision is to reduce poverty globally through sustainable economic growth.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed between Millennium Challenge Corporation, the US Agency and Development Partnership Administration (DPA) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

Millennium Challenge corporation is a US Agency providing grants to fund to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth to poverty hit eligible countries. Development Partnership Administration looks India’s implementation of development cooperation programmes with partner countries.

As per the MoU, the 2 countries would collaborate on exchange of information and experience in sectors or issues pertaining to project development or implementation in partner countries


India and United states might also provide advisory or technical assistance to third countries. The MoU also facilitates to officials of 2 countries can site visits to cross-border or other relevant projects and capacity building of partner countries.

Saturday

Ambitious Ken-Betwa River linking project gets Green nod

TNPSC Current Affairs January 13 2017

The Union Ministry of Environment, forest and climate change and Tribal Ministry has finally given the Environment clearance for the India’s first river inter-linking project, which links river Ken and Betwa in Uttarpradesh and Madhyapradesh.

The Ken-Betwa River linking project will fulfill the water needs of dry parched areas in Madhya Pradesh and in surrounding Uttar Pradesh.

Features of Project:
  • 230 km Long canal will irrigate 3.5 Lakh hectares of drought-prone Bundelkahand region in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares in Uttar Pradesh.
  • The Project  will submerge 4,141 hectares of Panna Tiger Reserve which is the home of tiger, Leopard and more.
  • Niti Ayog recommended that the project will be funded under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) , means 60:40 Center-state Sharing. The ministry proposed that it is a national project , it should be taken under Center-State assistance ration of 90:10.

About River Ken and Betwa:

Ken River:

The Ken River Originates on the North-West slopes of Kaimur region in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh. It travels 427 km and merge into river Yamuna. It is one of the major rivers of Bundelkhand region. It flows through 2 states, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Raneh Falls , Ken Gharial Sanctuary and Panna National park are important places the Ken River pasess.

Betwa River

The Betwa River rises in Vindhyan range ,in north of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. It travel through Malwa plateau and merge into river Yamuna near Hamirupu, Uttar Pradesh.

Important Dams of Betwa are Rajghat , Matatila, Paricha Dam