Current Affairs Update – 6th July, 2016

• The Union Cabinet on 5 July 2016
  approved the Interest Subvention Scheme for farmers for the year 2016-17.
• The Government has assigned a sum
  of 18276 crore rupees for the purpose. This scheme will help farmers getting
  short term crop loan payable within one year up to 3 lakhs rupees at only 4%
  per annum.

• The Union Government will provide
  interest subvention of 5% per annum to all farmers for short term crop loan
  payable within one year. Therefore, farmers will have to effectively pay only
  4% as interest.
• In case farmers do not repay the
  short term crop loan in time, then they will be eligible for interest
  subvention of 2% as against 5% available.
• The government will give
  approximately 18276 crores rupees as interest subvention for 2016-17.
• The Union Government has approved
  an interest subvention of 2% i.e an effective interest rate of 7% for loans up
  to 6 months to give relief to small and marginal farmers who would have to
  borrow at 9% for the post harvest storage of their produce.
• The interest subvention of 2%
  will be provided to banks for the first year on the restructured amount to
  provide relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities.

• Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail
  (ABFRL) on 5 July 2016 acquired global clothing brand Forever 21 in the Indian
  market for 26 million US dollars.
• Forever 21 has a network of more
  than 700 stores worldwide. Its India operations reported a turnover of 262
  crore rupees in 2015-16.
• Aditya Birla Fashion executed a
  business transfer agreement with Diana Retail, Franchise of Forever 21, and DLF
  Brands for acquisition of the business undertaking of Diana Retail under the
  Forever 21 brand.
• The transaction involved acquisition
  of the Forever 21 Undertaking of Diana Retail with effect from 1 July 2016.
• The transaction of 26 million US
  dollars was an all cash deal through a business transfer agreement and not a
  share transfer.
• With this, Forever 21 business
  will form part of ABFRL’s Madura Fashion & Lifestyle division.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016 gave in-principle approval for
  setting up a Major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu.
• In this regard, a Special Purpose
  Vehicle (SPV) will be formed for development of Port with initial equity
  investment from three Major Ports in Tamil Nadu- VO Chidambaranar Port Trust,
  Chennai Port Trust and Kamarajar Port Limited.

• The Enayam project will cost
  around 27000 crore rupees and will be undertaken in three phases.
• The cabinet cleared an
  expenditure of 6575 crore rupees for phase one of the project.
• The SPV will develop the port
  infrastructure including dredging and reclamation, construction of breakwater,
  ensuring connectivity links, etc.
• Establishing this Major port at
  Enayam will not only act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo but
  it will also become a trans-shipment hub for the global East-West trade route.
• It will also reduce the logistics
  cost for exporters and importers in South India who currently depend on
  trans-shipment in Colombo or other ports thus incurring additional port
  handling charges.

• Online healthcare start-up 1mg
  Technologies Pvt. Ltd on 4 July 2016 announced the acquisition of diagnostic
  labs aggregator Medd.
• The step was taken to boost
  diagnostic footprint of 1mg Technologies. However, the value of the transaction
  was not disclosed by the company.
• The deal comes after 1mg raised
  100 crore rupees in a Series B round from investors including Maverick Capital
  Ventures.

• India is the fastest growing
  domestic air travel market, but in terms of market size it is still nearly five
  times smaller than China and nine times smaller than the United States,
  according to an International Air Transport Association (IATA) report.
• In 2015, domestic airlines in
  India flew 81 million passengers, registering a 20% growth over 2014. Growth
  was driven by low fares and average domestic fares were 15-20% lower in 2015.
• In comparison, domestic airlines
  in China and the United States flew 394 million and 708 million passengers in
  2015, with a growth rate of 9.7% and 5.4%, respectively.
• Aviation consultancy CAPA
  estimates domestic traffic in India to cross 100 million in FY17 with 20%
  year-on-year growth.

• World’s largest Charkha (spinning
  wheels) was unveiled at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport
  (IGI), New Delhi by Union Minister for MSME Kalraj Mishra on 5 July 2016.
• The idea behind displaying the
  world’s biggest charkha at the country’s busiest airport is to highlight
  India’s quest to foster an egalitarian society as demonstrated by Mahatma Gandhi,
  the father of the nation.
• The Charkha was installed at the
  departure forecourt of the terminal with a belief that it would help in
  carrying forward the legacy of promoting India’s rich cultural heritage through
  different artworks at the terminal.
• All the existing artworks at the
  terminal – Mudras, Regal procession, Elephant statues, Surya Sculpture,
  Suryanamaskar and Worli Art among others – depict and showcase Indian heritage
  globally.

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• The Environment Pollution
  (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) on 5 July 2016 recommended a green
  cess of 20-22 percent on diesel vehicles.
• EPCA is a Supreme court-appointed
  Green Panel for Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).

• The vehicles need to be divided
  into three categories- up to 1200 cc, up to 2000 cc and 2000 cc and above.
• An Environment Compensation
  Charge (ECC) of 10 percent of the vehicle’s cost be imposed on diesel cars with
  engines up to 1200cc.
• EPCA recommended ECC of 20
  percent tax on diesel vehicles with engines smaller than 1500cc in size.
• It recommended a cess of 22
  percent on vehicles with engines over 1500cc.
• It also recommended high
  pollution cess of up to 25 percent on the cost of diesel cars above 2000 cc.
• The authority’s recommendation of
  20 per cent (for less than 1500 cc) and 22 per cent (for over 1500 cc) green
  cess stands at 179766 rupees and 215883 rupees respectively.
• Diesel car users cannot pay less
  tax per litre of fuel compared to petrol car. This needs to be equalised to
  control growing use of low tax diesel fuel in cars that have cleaner
  substitutes.

• The Union Cabinet, presided by
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 5 July 2016 gave green signal to introduce The
  High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 in Parliament.
• The High Courts (Alteration of
  Names) Bill, 2016 will facilitate the changing of the names of Bombay High
  Court as Mumbai High Court, Calcutta High Court as Kolkata High Court and
  Madras High Court as Chennai High Court respectively.
• The bill is the proposal of the
  Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

• The Union Cabinet on 5 July 2016
  approved the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme to train 50 lakh
  apprentices by 2019-20. The Scheme involving an outlay of 10000 crore rupees
  will catalyze the entire apprenticeship ecosystem in the country.
• It will offer a win-win situation
  for all stakeholders and is expected to become one of the most powerful
  skill-delivery vehicles in the country.

• It provides for incentivizing
  employers to engage apprentices.
• 25% of the total stipend payable
  to an apprentice would be shared with employers directly by Union Government.
• It also supports basic training,
  which is an essential component of apprenticeship training.
• 50% of the total expenditure
  incurred on providing basic training would be supported by Union Government.
• It is for the first time a scheme
  has been designed to offer financial incentives to employers to engage
  apprentices.

• Union Cabinet on 5 July 2016
  approved redevelopment of seven General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA)
  colonies in the national Capital, Delhi. The project will be completed in five
  years in a phased manner.

• Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar and
  Nauroji Nagar will be redeveloped through National Buildings Construction
  Corporation Limited (NBCC).
• Kasturba Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar,
  Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur will be developed through Central Public Works
  Department (CPWD).
• This approval will help in
  replacing the existing housing stock of 12970 dwelling units of Type I to IV
  with Build Up Area (BUA) of approx. 7.49 lakh sq meter with approx. 25667
  dwelling units of Type II to VI with BUA of approx. 29.18 lakh sq meter with
  supporting social infrastructure.
• The project will also develop
  Government office accommodation for nearly 2.42 lakh sq meter at Netaji Nagar.

• R Thiruppathi Venkatasamy was on
  6 July 2016 appointed as the Accountant General of Economic and Revenue Sector
  Audit of Tamil Nadu with immediate effect. His appointment was approved by the
  Union Government.
• Venkatasamy is a 2000 batch
  officer of Indian Audit and Accounts Service.
• Prior to this appointment, he was
  serving as the Senior Deputy Accountant General in the organisation of
  Comptroller and Auditor General Agartala, Tripura.

• Mahendra Nath Pandey on Tuesday
  took charge as Minister of State for Human Resource Development, an official
  statement said.
• Interacting with the media
  persons, he stressed on the priority of making quality education accessible to
  all the citizens of India.
• Pandey is a Lok Sabha MP from
  Chandauli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Previously, he has also been a member
  of Standing Committee on Rural Development and Consultative Committee for
  Ministry of Steel and Mines. He was also a member of Business Advisory
  Committee and Parliament Committee on Official Language.

• Education player Zee Learn has
  appointed Debshankar Mukhopadhyay as their new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
  Mukhopadhyay has taken charge of the company from July 2016.
• Prior to this, he was the Head of
  Educational Sales-Financial Services & Insurance, at Manipal Global
  Education Services. His previous stints have been with Max Life Insurance Co.
  Ltd, Western Union, Scholastic India, Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd and
  DHL Worldwide.

• Juno spacecraft of the National
  Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 4 July 2016 successfully entered
  Jupiter’s orbit.
• Confirmation of a successful
  orbit insertion was received from Juno tracking data monitored at the
  navigation facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
• Juno’s main aim is to understand
  the origin and evolution of Jupiter. The spacecraft will also investigate the
  existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field,
  measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere and observe the
  planet’s auroras.

• Abbas Kiarostami, the critically
  acclaimed Iranian director died on 4 July 2016 following a prolonged illness in
  Paris. He was 76. Kiarostami is survived by two sons.
• His 1997 film Taste of Cherry won
  the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.