Current Affairs 22nd July 2018

Current Affairs 22nd July 2018 - Important Points

• Buyback programme for PET bottles in Maharashtra launched by - Beverage Companies
• Government defeated no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha with two-thirds majority on - 20th July 2018
• NASA launched toolkit to promote commercial use of satellite data on - 19th July 2018

 Current Affairs 22nd July 2018 - Details

Buyback programme for PET bottles in Maharashtra launched by - Beverage Companies

Top beverage companies including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Bisleri, have initiated a buyback program for all PET bottles sold in Maharashtra. With this program, a predefined buyback price will going to be mandatorily printed on the larger PET/PETE bottles.

Important Highlights

• Almost all of the companies have set the buyback value for Rs 15 per kg for PET bottles and Rs 5 per kg for shrink wraps.
• The beverage companies have already started printing the buyback value on all the PET bottles to be sold in the state of Maharashtra.
• The companies are working with Gem Enviro to set up collection points, reverse vending machines and collection centres for PET waste bottles at  several locationsinn the state to enable the buyback program.

Did you know?

The state of Maharashtra enforced a state-wide ban on the manufacture, use, sale, distribution and storage of single-use plastic items,  including carry bags, disposable plates and cutlery and even thermocol in March 2018.

Government defeated no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha with two-thirds majority on - 20th July 2018

The no-confidence motion moved by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) faced a heavy defeat at the Lok Sabha on July 20th, 2018. After a marathon 12-hour debate, the no-confidence, which witnessed support from many opposition parties including the Congress, was rejected by the majority of the house. The motion was defeated with 325 votes against and 126 in favour with 451 parliament members present and voting.

Important Highlights

• TDP wich is a former NDA ally moved up no-confidence motion wherre the parties that supported the motion were Congress, CPI, CPI (M), TMC and AAP.
• While there were no abstentism from the members present in the house, Shiv Sena members gave the vote a miss and the BJD staged a walkout right before the debate started.
• Though the TRS participated in the debate in the no-confidence motion , but its 11 MPs did not vote.
• A total of 451 out of 534 MPs were present and voting in the house, brought down the required majority mark to 226.
• The government obtained a two-thirds majority of the votes where Several AIADMK members supported the government and voted against the motion.
• This was the first no-trust motion against Narendra Modi- led NDA government after it came into power back in May 2014 and also less than a year before the next general elections.

Did you know?
This no confidence motion was the first no-trust vote in 15 years.

NASA launched toolkit to promote commercial use of satellite data on - 19th July 2018

NASA launched the ‘Remote Sensing Toolkit’ to promote commercial use of satellite data on July 19th, 2018. This online toolkit was launched aiming to make it easier to find for users, analyse them and utilise the relevant satellite data for their business projects, research, or conservation efforts.

More about Remote Sensing Toolkit

• It is to provide a simple system that quickly identifies relevant sources based on user input.
• The toolkit is designed to help users search for data and ready-to-use tools and code to build new tools.
• This new tool makes to find and using NASA satellite data easier than ever before, and aiming to spark innovation among the entrepreneurial  community and lead to further commercialise NASA technology.
• It will be helping to grow the number of users who put NASA’s free and open data archive to work for people.