Current Affairs 4th June 2017

Current Affairs 4th June 2017 - Important Points

• New CEO of Prasar Bharati ? - Shashi Shekar Vempati
• Automatic Coastal Warning for Disasters to come up in - Odisha State
• Prithvi-II missile successfully test-fired on - 2nd June 2017
•  Third gravitational wave detection made by - LIGO
• Retirement age of UP doctors raised to 62 by - Yogi Adityanath
• 12 agreements signed between India and - Germany

Current Affairs 4th June 2017 - Details

New CEO of Prasar Bharati ? - Shashi Shekar Vempati

Shashi Shekar Vempati was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharati on 2nd June 2017 for the tenure of five years from the date of the office assumption. He was appointed on the recommendation of the three member committee headed by Vice President M Hamid Ansari. Vempati is currently serving as a Part Time Member of the Prasar Bharati Board.

More about Shashi Shekar Vempati

• He is an alumnus of IIT Bombay.
• He has more than two decades of experience as a technocrat with specialization in areas of technology consulting,corporate management and digital media.
• He was a part of Infosys for more than 10 years as a Product Strategist and Digital Innovator in North America. 
• He holds two patents in his name: First is Real Time Business Event Monitoring, Tracking and Execution Architecture and System and second is Method for Monitoring and Management of Inventory of Products and Assets in Real Time.
• He writes many books like National Digital Security Architecture in India,Broadcasting Technologies in India, creating a Global Media Platform out of India among others.

 Automatic Coastal Warning for Disasters to come up in - Odisha State

The Odisha state government is all set to commission the Country’s First ambitious Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) that would set off a warning in the event of the natural disasters occurance like a tsunami or cyclone by July 2017. Just a single button press from the control room in the state’s capital would trigger loud sirens to go off simultaneously from towers at 122 locations, warning the mass residing along with the state’s 480 km long coast of the impending disaster. Speaking on the development, Pradipta Mohapatra, Managing Director of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), stated that the sound emitting from the towers would be heard in localities up to a radius of 1.5 km and as many as 122 alert towers have already been constructed.

Important Highlights

• The towers have been installed in 22 blocks under six coastal districts such as Kendrapara, Puri,Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Ganjam.
• The chosen locations are majorly fish landing centers,tourist destinations and coastal habitations.
• The new system will enable authorities to alert people in smaller pockets, depending on the disaster severity.
• The system would come in handy when the authorities need to disseminate a tsunami alert, especially in the dead of the night.
• It would enable people to start moving to safer places before the government agencies start the process of evacuation.
• The project is being implemented at an estimated cost of ? 82 crore with help of the World Bank.

Prithvi-II missile successfully test-fired on - 2nd June 2017

India Army successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a test range in Odisha as part of a user trial on 2nd June 2017. This trial was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.

More about Prithvi-II Missile

• Prithvi-II Missile is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).
• It was admitted into India's armed forces in 2003.
• It weighs around 4600 kilogram and has a strike range of 350 kilometer.
• It is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1000 kg of warheads and is pushed forward by liquid propulsion twin engines.
• The naval operational variant of Prithvi -II class missiles called Dhanush has already been inducted into Indian Navy.

 Third gravitational wave detection made by - LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected another merger of two black holes forming gravitational waves in January 2017. The findings were published in the Physical Review Letters on 1st June 2017.

Important Highlights

• Third confirmed detection of gravitational waves coming from a binary black hole merger named as GW170104.
• The detection has revealed not only a black hole merger, but also the spins alignment of the black holes. This discovery helps scientists in finding out the way the black holes were formed. 
• This supports the theory which says that black holes form independently in a star cluster, then sink to the cluster center and eventually merge.
• But the first detection of gravitational waves made by LIGO in 2015 (GW150914) proved the existance of such massive black holes.
• This study had a major Indian contribution and the LIGO-India facility which will also join the club in 2024.

Retirement age of UP doctors raised to 62 by - Yogi Adityanath

The Uttar Pradesh Government has raised the retirement age of doctors working under provincial medical service from 60 to 62 years. The decision was taken by the state’s cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a meeting held at Lucknow on 30th May 2017.

Key Highlights

• The decision has been made in the view of non-availability of medical practitioners across the state.
• UP government spokesman and health minister Siddharth Nath Singh stated that around 7,327 posts of doctors were lying vacant in the state against the sanctioned strength of 18382.
• Almost 300-400 doctors retire every year in the state but there are not enough qualified doctors to fill up the vacant seats.
• The state needs more doctors to open new units at different hospitals, to open a new 100-bed hospital,to set up a new hospital and to run trauma centers and women care centers.
• Current decision of increasing the retirement age of doctors is expected to reduce their shortage by about 1000.
• The contract system, however, for those opting to continue after retirement until the age of 65 would continue.

12 agreements signed between India and - Germany

12 agreements signed between India and Germany to enhance bilateral relations between the two nations on 30th May 2017.

List of MoUs signed - 

1) JDI on Cooperation in the Field of Digitalization, Empowerment and Economic Impact

2) Collaboration on Training of Indian Skill Development Officers and Cluster Managers

3) JDI on Indo-German Centre for Sustainability

4) JDI on German Indian Cooperation on Cyber Policy

5) JDI on Indo-German Development Cooperation

6) JDI on continuation of cooperation in the field of advanced training of corporate and junior executives from India

7) JDI on Cooperation in Vocational Education and skill development for Machine Tools

8) Cooperation in Health Sector

9) Cooperation in Alternative Medicine

10) JDI on Collaboration between Foreign Service Institutes

11) JDI on Cooperation in Railway Safety

12) JDI on Cooperation for Sustainable Urban Development