Daily Current Affairs: 16th june 2016
1. Union Ministry of Railways signs JV Agreement with Odisha Government
a) Ministry of Railways signed a joint venture agreement with government of Odisha for development of state railway infrastructure.
b) Highlights of the JV Agreement:
. The MoU envisages formation of a Joint Venture company having 51 percent stake of the State Government and 49 percent stake of Ministry of Railways.
. The company will primarily identify projects and possible financing avenues for the same.
. After finances for a project are tied up, project specific special purpose vehicles shall be formed.
. These SPVs can have other stakeholders from Industries, Central PSUs, State PSUs etc. However, the JV companies shall be mandatory stake holders with a minimum 26 percent share.
. A concession agreement of 30 years with the project SPV for safe and sound operation, revenue sharing and providing technical & marketing logistics to the SPV will be signed by Railways Ministry.
. At the end of concession period, the railways will have option to take over the assets at a nominal price.
. The most important aspect of this MoU is that the ownership of the land shall vest with the SPVs which is a departure from previous practice. This will give financial leverage to the company to exploit commercial potential of the land.
2. Florida's Stonegate Bank to issue first US credit card for use in Cuba
a) First US credit card intended to be used in Cuba has been launched by Florida's Stonegate bank, which will make travelling and work easier for Americans.
b) The US travelers will be able to use its Mastercard to charge purchases at Cuban state-run businesses and some private businesses after 15th June 2016. Initially, the bank will issue only 1000 cards with an artwork by celebrated Cuban painter Michael Mirabal.
c) The card will help the US visitors to avoid the Cuban 10-percent penalty on the dollar. Pompano-beach based Stonegate is also the first US bank to introduce a debit card for use in Cuba.
3. India to provide Rs. 48 mn aid for college building in Nepal
a) India vowed a financial aid of Rs. 48 mn to Kathmandu for building and development of colleges.
b) Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit Rae laid the foundation stone of the building for Koteshwor Multiple Campus in Kathmandu district. The campus building is constructed through aid from India and the project is being executed through District Development Committee of Kathmandu.
c) The India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme has an outlay of over Rs 76 billion with more than 529 large and small development projects completed or being implemented in almost all the districts of Nepal mainly in the sectors of education, health and infrastructure development.
d) Previously, India had provided a sum of Rs 501 million to Nepal in the financial year 2015-2016 to help the quake-struck country restore and upgrade its various religious, cultural and educational institutions.
4. Union Government approves Measures for Conservation & Preservation of Lakes in Bengaluru
a) The Government recently approved a series of measures for the abatement of pollution and for the conservation and preservation of lakes in Bengaluru.
b) The decision was taken at a meeting jointly chaired by Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Ananth Kumar and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar.
c) The initiative will involve 24x7 online monitoring of all sewage water plants and the lake water quality. Lakes will be restored in a bio-diverse manner in Public-Private Partnership mode
d) Some of the other actions that have been agreed upon include:
. All residential group housing projects/apartments with >20 units and total build-up area of 2000 sq.mtr. to install STP.
. Re-use of treated sewage for various purposes and dual piping system to be prescribed in apartments/commercial establishments for re-use of treated sewage.
. Regular monitoring of STPs to be carried out by State Pollution Control Board.
. Retrofitting of existing STPs to meet the revised effluent norms.
. Proper management of plastic waste to ensure that it is not dumped in the lakes.
. Madivala lake to be developed as a biodiversity park on the lines of Yamuna Biodiversity Park under the guidance of Karnataka Knowledge Commission.
. Lake Wardens to be appointed for involvement of public in lake conservation.
. CSR funds to be tapped for conserving and developing lakes.
e) The progress will be monitored every six months.
5. Popcorn-like fossils give evidence of environmental influence on species richness
a) According to a new study, fossils resembling miniaturised popcorn that date back millions of years, provide the first statistical evidence that number of species on Earth depends on how the environment changes.
b) Researchers from University of Southampton in UK have observed that the environmental changes put a cap on species richness.To get this observation, they analysed analysing the fossil record of microscopic aquatic creatures called planktonic foraminifera.
c) Evolutionary ecologist of University of Southampton Dr. Thomas Ezard was the lead author of this study. This observations are published in a journal called 'Ecology Letters'.
d) The study denotes the environment is responsible to the upper limit to the biodiversity. For example, the tropical environment is capable of altering the spatial gradient of more number of species than the arctic environment. This research examines the co-dependence of these factors on how species interact.
e) As per the observations, the idea of fixed rules for competition is not valid, instead the limit to the number of species that can co-exist on Earth is much more dynamic. Also, the number of species was almost certainly controlled by competition among themselves and probably kept within a finite upper limit.
6. President Mukherjee receives the highest civilian award of Ivory coast
a) President Pranab Mukherjee was honoured with the National Order of the Republic of Ivory Coast, the highest civilian award of the West African country at the Presidential Palace by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara in Republic of Cote D'ivoire, Abidjan.
b) It is the first such honour accorded to him by a country. The President was honoured during his two days visit to the Country from 14 June to 15 June 2016.
c) Highlights of President's Visit:
. Agreement for re-establishment of Exim bank regional headquarters in the Ivory Coast was signed by both countries.
. The Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces highlighted the common concerns of both the countries to combat international terrorism and other key issues including disarmament, climate change and sustainable development.
. The Head of the State assured the commitment of India towards the South-South Cooperation through developmental assistance and sharing resources for the development in Africa.
. He appreciated the naming of an IT park after Mahatma Gandhi in Abidjan naming him the true son of India and Africa.
. The President also promised India's partnership in assisting Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) for its economic development and growth and trade between the two nations to reach 1 billion US dollars in few years.