Current Affairs 23rd March 2017

Current Affairs 23rd March 2017 - Important Points

• World’s third largest hypersonic wind tunnel commisioned by - ISRO
• Proposal to establish a Fund of Funds for Start-ups approved by - Union Cabinet
• Indian athletes grab medals in - Special Olympics World Winter Games
• Scaling up of VIKALP Scheme for Railway Passengers announced by - Suresh Prabhu
• Proposal for amendments to NABARD Act, 1981 approved by - Union Cabinet
• Policy for extension of oilfield contracts approved by - CCEA 
• World Meteorological Day 2017 observed on - 23rd March
• MoU between India and USA on partnership for Cyber Security approved by - Union Cabinet

Current Affairs 23rd March 2017 - Details

World’s third largest hypersonic wind tunnel commisioned by - ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) commissioned the world’s third largest hypersonic wind tunnel at Thiruvananthapuram’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Kerala on 20th March 2017. ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar commissioned two facilities- one-metre Hypersonic Wind Tunnel and one-metre Shock Tunnel at the center. Renowned aero-dynamicist Professor Roddam Narasimha and VSSC Associate Director, S Pandian also attended the event.

 Important Highlights 

• The two facilities have been indigenously designed, developed and made fully in India with the support of Indian Industries. These have been named after former ISRO Chairman Satish Dhawan.
• These are the third largest in the world in terms of size and simulation capability. 
• These facilities will help in providing sufficient data for the design and development of current as well as future Space transportation systems in the country.
• The facilities comprise 500 valves, 2 km long pipelines, 41 electric motors, 35 pumps, 320 instruments and 10 km of cables.
• The tunnels also have a wide spectrum of simulation capabilities in terms of Mach number, Reynolds number and re-entry velocities.
• These tunnels will be used to study the effects of air flowing past solid objects like space vehicles.
• These will also be used to simulate the aero-thermal environment where characterisation of vehicles is carried out. 
• Though similar facilities but much smaller in size and with limited simulation capabilities already exist in the country.

 Proposal to establish a Fund of Funds for Start-ups approved by - Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet on approved the proposal to establish the Fund of Funds of Start-ups (FFS) 22nd March 2017. The Union Cabinet in 2016 approved the proposal to establish a Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) with a total of Rs 10000 crore.

Vital Information

• Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs) supported by FFS shall invest at least twice the amount of contribution received from FFS in case of Start-ups. 
• If the amount committed for a Start-up in whole has not been released before a Start-up ceases to be so, the balance funding can be continued thereafter.
• Operating expenses will be met out of the FFS to the extent of 0.50 per cent of the commitments made to AIFs and outstanding.
• The operating expenses include carrying out due diligence, technical appraisal, convening meeting of Venture Capital Investment Committee, and legal etc. 
• The operating expenses will be debited to the fund at the beginning of each half year that is on 1st April and 1st October.
• The Fund of Funds for Start-ups was approved by Union Government in the year 2016.
• The FFS is managed and operated by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).  
• FFS contributes to SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) that may go up to a maximum of 35 per cent of the total of AIF concerned.

 Indian athletes grab medals in - Special Olympics World Winter Games

• So far, Special athletes of India won 18 medals in the ongoing 2017 Olympics World Winter Games in Austria.
• The medal tally includes six gold, four silver and eight bronze.
• Over 2600 athletes from 105 nations are taking part in this competition.
• The team of 89 differently-abled sports persons of SOB (Special Olympics Bharat) is participating in the event.
• Six special athletes for ‘snowboarding’ and ‘Alpine skiing’ fetched the gold for India on the third day of the competition.
• Shamsher Singh won a silver for the country on the first day only. 
• Jyoti Bala bagged bronze medal.
• The event is organized by Special Olympics.
• Special Olympics World Games take place bi yearly and alternate between Summer and Winter Games, a schedule similar to the Olympics and Paralympics.

Do you know?

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in 1968 in Chicago, US and the first International Special Olympics Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, US.

Scaling up of VIKALP Scheme for Railway Passengers announced by - Suresh Prabhu 

The Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu announced the scaling up of VIKALP Scheme for waitlisted passengers at a progrmme held in New Delhi on 22nd March 2017. In addition to that, the minister also released the Water Management Policy of Indian Railways to mark the World Water Day  and also presented GreenCo Certificates to the three units of Indian Railways.

Water Policy covers all aspects of water use, recycling, conservation and recharge of groundwater, the certificates were presented to Diesel Locomotive Works (Varanasi), Perambur Carriage Works (Chennai) and Lalaguda Carriage Workshop (Hyderabad). Railway Board Chairman A K Mital, members and senior officials also attended the occasion.

More on VIKALP Scheme

• From 1st April 2017, the Vikalp scheme will be further expanded to shift waitlisted passengers of one train across all categories of trains without realization of any difference of fare or grant of refund.
• This will help to passengers who booked tickets in a normal mail or express train to get shifted to an alternate mail, express,  rajdhani, humsafar, duronto, shatabdi, special train or suvidha train in the same class of accommodation or vice versa subject to opting for this scheme.
• The rationale behind allowing this facility is that the reserved accommodation is a perishable commodity and once a train leaves a platform with a vacant berth,  the potential revenue is lost by railways. This scheme will help to optimize berth utilization across all trains, carry more passengers as well as increase earnings by reducing refunds of waitlisted tickets.
• Initially, the expanded “Vikalp” scheme will be available on e-tickets and will be extended to PRS tickets later on.
• It is a transparent scheme as confirmed reservation tickets will be provided in alternate trains without giving extra fare by the passenger. Hence a mutual win win.
• However, if an ATAS opted passenger opts to cancel, after he/she has been given an alternate accommodation, he/she will be treated as a ‘Confirmed Passenger’ and the cancellation rules will be applied accordingly.

Do you know?

Indian Railways launched the Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) or VIKALP to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains on a pilot basis on 1st November 2015.

Proposal for amendments to NABARD Act, 1981 approved by - Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal for Amendments to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Act, 1981 on 22nd March 2017.

Vital Information

• Amendments to NABARD Act, 1981 include provisions that enable Union Government to increase the authorized capital of the bank from Rs 5000 crore to Rs 30000 crore.
• It proposed to increase the authorised capital beyond Rs 30000 crore in consultation with RBI,whenever necessary from time to time. 
• It proposed the transfer of 0.4 per cent shareholding of RBI in NABARD to the Union Government, which is of Rs 20 crore at present.
• The proposed amendments include changes in the long title and certain Sections to bring Medium Enterprises and Handlooms in NABARD’s mandate.   
• The proposed hike in the authorized capital of NABARD will allow the organisation to respond to the commitments it has undertaken, particularly in respect of the Long Term Irrigation Fund and the recent Cabinet decision regarding on-lending to cooperative banks. 
• It will also enable NABARD to increase its business and its activities to facilitate promotion of integrated rural development and securing prosperity of rural areas including generation of more employment.
• This transfer of entire shareholding of RBI in NABARD to the Union Government will remove the conflict in RBI's role as banking regulator and shareholder in NABARD. 

 Policy for extension of oilfield contracts approved by - CCEA 

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a policy for grant of extension to the  Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) that were awarded by Union Government  for Pre-NELP Exploration Blocks before 1999 on 22nd March 2017. This extension comes as a relief for Vedanta-owned Cairn India Ltd that operates India’s largest onland block at Barmer in Rajasthan. Cairn India holds 70 per cent stake in the Rajasthan block while ONGC has rest.

It aims to enable and facilitate investment to extract the remaining reserves.

Interesting Highlights

• It will enable the contractors to extract remaining reserves and the additional reserves by implementing new technologies. 
• In certain fields, additional recovery of hydrocarbons can be obtained by Enhanced Oil Recovery / Improved Oil Recovery (EOR/IOR) Projects. 
• The policy will act as a progressive step towards achieving the target of 10 per cent reduction in import of crude oil in next five years.
• The share of Profit Petroleum of Union Government during the extended period of contract would be bringing additional revenues to Government , as it will be 10 per cent higher for these fields. 

Do you know?

In the year 2016-17, the production from the oil & gas blocks allotted in Pre- NELP regime was around 55 million barrel of oil and 965 MMSCM of natural gas. The recoverable reserve from these blocks is estimated to be more than 426 million barrel of oil equivalent. 

World Meteorological Day 2017 observed on - 23rd March

The World Meteorological Day 2017 was observed globally on 23rd March 2017 with the theme 'Understanding Clouds'. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) organize this day every year and is celebrated globally.

The theme highlights the huge importance of clouds for weather climate and water.

Interesting Highlights on International Cloud Atlas

• WMO released its new digitized International Cloud Atlas- a global reference for observing and identifying clouds, on the occasion of World Meteorological Day 2017.
• The new Atlas combines 19th century traditions and 21st century technology. 
• It includes new classifications including volutus, a roll cloud; clouds from human activities such as the contrail, a vapour trail sometimes produced by airplanes and asperitas, a dramatic undulated cloud which captured the public imagination.
• It also proposed five new special clouds: cataractagenitus, flammagenitus, homogenitus, silvagenitus and homomutatus.
• It contains hundreds of images submitted by meteorologists, photographers and cloud lovers around the globe. 
• It also features  other meteorological phenomena such as rainbows, halos, snow devils and hailstones.   
• It showcases the important contribution of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to the safety and wellbeing of society.

Do you know?

The International Cloud Atlas was first published in the late 19th century.

MoU between India and USA on partnership for Cyber Security approved by - Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-ln) and the US Homeland Security Department on cooperation in the field of Cyber Security  on 22nd March 2017. This MoU was signed in New Delhi on 11th January 2017.

It aims to promote closer co-operation and exchange of information pertaining to the Cyber Security in accordance with the relevant laws, rules and regulations and on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefits.

More about Indian Computer Emergency Response (CERT-In) Team

• The CERT-In is the Government organisation under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• It is a nodal agency that deals with cyber security threats like phishing and hacking.
• It boosts security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
• The organisation had reported a rise in the cyber attacks on Government organisations like banking and finance, oil and gas and emergency services in December 2013.
• The organisation had also reported a critical flaw in Android Jelly bean's VPN implementation in March 2014.

Do you know?

The United States and India had signed an MoU to promote a closer cooperation and timely exchange of information between the organizations of their respective Governments responsible for Cyber Security on 19th July 2011.