Current Affairs 23rd July 2017

Current Affairs 23rd July 2017 - Important Points

• Literary festival with ‘Tolerance’ as theme to host by - Kerala
• Supreme Court asks Center & states not to protect any kind of vigilantism on -21st July 2017
• Tata's Advinus Therapeutics acquired by - Eurofins Scientific
• Who has been appointed as Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind? - Sanjay Kothari

Current Affairs 23rd July 2017 - Details

Literary festival with ‘Tolerance’ as theme to host by - Kerala

The state of Kerala is hosting the fifth edition of South India Writers Ensemble (SIWE) at Chengannur, a town in Kerala’s coastal Alappuzha district with the theme 'tolerances on 24th July 2017. So creative writers, theater, journalists and film personalities across the industry will be seen deliberating on the theme at a time when the country as a whole is witnessing raging debates over intolerance.

Important Highlights

• People from Performing Arts and More, an art and cultural outfit organizing the three-day annual literary event.
• It is aimed towards bringing about an enriching interaction between writers from different regions and languages.
• Hindi has been selected as the main language of this year's festival and so, it would see participation from many writers and other personalities related to this field.
• Well-known Hindi author, Udayan Vajpeyi will be inaugurating the festival.
• It would be concluded on 26th July 2017.

Supreme Court asks Center & states not to protect any kind of vigilantism on -21st July 2017

The Supreme Court of India asked the Union Government and the states not to protect any kind of vigilantism on 21st July 2017. It also sought their response towards violent incidents of cow vigilantism.

Key Highlights

• Justice Dipak Misra comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice M M Shantanagoudar headed the three-judge bench of apex court was informed by the Center that law and order is supposed to be a state subject but it doesn't support any kind of vigilantism in the nation.
• The bench also sought the Center help and asked states for removing violent content related to cow vigilantism uploaded on social media.
• The center's response was on a petition filed by social activist Tehseen Poonawala, who in his plea seeks a direction to states and center to take action against so-called Gau Rakhasks, who claim to protect cows.
• Counsel appearing for BJP-ruled Gujarat and Jharkhand has already given the verdict to the court that apt action has been taken against those who involved in such violent activities related to cow vigilantism.

Tata's Advinus Therapeutics acquired by - Eurofins Scientific

Tata Industries announced that its pre clinical contract research company Advinus Therapeutics will soon be acquired by laboratory testing major Eurofins Scientific on 20th July 2017.
Advinus’ expertise complements Eurofins contract research, development and manufacturing (CDMO) capabilities, as per Tata Industries.

More about Advinus Therapeutics

•  It is a premier pre clinical contract research company for CMC services,Analytical R&D Services, regulatory toxicology and others.
• It has more than 25 years of GLP certification and compliance.
• Eurofins Scientific is an international group of laboratories headquartered in Luxembourg.
• It provides testing and support services to the environmental, pharmaceutical, food, consumer products industries and to governments.
• It employs more than 20000 employees across around 200 sites in 39 countries.
• It offers a portfolio of more than 130000 reliable analytical methods to characterize the safety,composition, identity, purity, authenticity,origin of products and biological substances.

Who has been appointed as Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind? - Sanjay Kothari

Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board Sanjay Kothari was appointed as the Secretary to 14th President-elect Ram Nath Kovind on 22nd July 2017. Kothari is a 1978-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, retired in June 2016 as DoPT secretary.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Kovind was elected as the President of India, defeating his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rival Meira Kumar in a straight fight on 20th July 2017.

Key Details

• New Press Secretary to Kovind will going to be Senior journalist Ashok Malik, At present, he is the distinguished Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation.
• Senior Gujarat-cadre forest service officer Bharat Lal will going to be the Joint Secretary to Kovind.
• He is an Indian Forest Service officer from 1988 batch and at present Resident Commissioner of Gujarat government in Delhi.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved these appointments headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for an initial period of two years.