LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 1

LawGiK - The Monthly General Awareness Magazine from Team Lawgicians

Second Edition: June 2017

Editors: Ashish Agarwal, Manjuli Agarwal

Conceived, Owned & Published by:

CLAT Entrance Prep

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1

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-: Contents :-

Indian victory at ICJ 2

GST: The Simplified Coverage 3

List of Important Days (National & International)

3

Current Affairs: Sports 4

Current Affairs: Awards & Honours 6

Current Affairs: National 7

Current Affairs: International 16

Current Affairs: Appointments & Resignations

25

Current Affairs: Anniversaries & Deaths

29

Current Affairs: Books & Authors 30

All rights reserved with the publisher. Copying in part or full, reproducing by any other means will attract is prohibited.

Though the editors and publishers have made serious attempts in maintaining the accuracy of the information provided in this magazine, yet we do not take responsibility for any loss or damage that happens due to the information provided here.

All disputes are subject to Lucknow jurisdiction only.

2 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Cover Story:

Indian victory at ICJ, Stays Jadhav's execution until final verdict

Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: A Timeline of events

MARCH 2016

Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav arrested on the

charges of terrorism and sabotage by Pakistan on Iran

border.

Pakistani army claims Jadhav is a R&AW agent and

was picked up from Saravan which is near Pakistan-

Iran border to the south east of Zahidan.

Pakistan summons Indian High Commissioner and

releases statement lodging protest on "the illegal entry

into Pakistan by a R&AW officer and his

involvement in subversive activities in Balochistan

and Karachi."

India, in response, said,"Kulbhushan Jadhav has no

links with Government as he retired from Navy in

2002"

India was denied consular access.

Pakistan releases Jadhav's confession statement video.

In the video, Jadhav is seen as saying that he is a

serving Indian Navy officer and operative of the

R&AW.

India while questioning the legitimacy of the

confession video alleges that Pakistani authorities

may have used third degree techniques to get a

tutored statement.

APRIL 2016

Balochistan's provincial government files an FIR against

Jadhav on charges of terrorism and sabotage.

DECEMBER 2016

Pakistan prime minister's advisor on foreign affairs

Sartaj Aziz admits "not enough evidence" was

provided on Jadhav.

Aziz said the "dossier provided on Jadhav had mere

statements."

Pakistan claimed that it would hand over a dossier on

Indian national Jadhav to UN Secretary General

Antonio Guterres.

Pakistan also said evidence of India's attempt made to

violate maritime boundary.

MARCH 2017

Sartaj Aziz takes U-turn from previous statement on

insufficient evidence on Jadhav.

Aziz affirms to Pakistan senate that Jadhav will not be

extradited to India under any circumstances.

India takes serious note and asks Pakistan to follow

well-established international practice while dealing

with foreign nationals in its custody.

APRIL 2017

Pakistan's military establishment announced that

Jadhav would be hanged.

Decision after a "military court" found him guilty of

"espionage and sabotage".

The move that quickly raised tensions between the

nuclear-armed countries.

India slams the decision and sends a demarche to

Pakistan's high commissioner Abdul Basit stating that

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 3

Jadhav was "kidnapped last year from Iran", and his

trial was "farcical" in the absence of any evidence

against him.

MAY 2017

Shortly after India approached it against Pakistan, the

International Court of Justice (ICJ) has reportedly

asked Pakistan not to act on Kulbhushan Jadhav's

execution.

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj

confirmed the news on Twitter.

ICJ announced that it will listen to India and

Pakistan's arguments in the Jadhav case at a public

hearing on May 15.

15th

MAY 2017

At the ICJ hearing, India demanded the immediate

suspension of Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence,

expressing fears that Pakistan could execute him even

before the the court gave its verdict.

"The execution of the death sentence cannot be done

while this court is hearing the appeal. Else, it will be a

violation of the Vienna Convention," senior advocate

Harish Salve told the ICJ.

Pakistan accused India of using the court as the

"scene of political theatre" and its appeal against

Jadhav's death sentence was "unnecessary and

misconceived".

Pakistan further contended that the Vienna

Convention provisions on consular access were not

intended for a "spy" involved in subversive activities.

18th

MAY 2017

International Court of Justice stays death sentence

given to KulbhushanJadhav by Pakistani military

court until further notice.

"Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to

ensure Kulbhushan Jadhav is not executed pending

final decision by the court," said judge Ronny

Abraham

Mr Harish Salve, Senior Advocate is representing India

before International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan

Jadhav case

List of Important Days in MAY

May 3: Press Freedom Day, World Asthma Day

May 8: World Red Cross Day

May 9: World Thalassaemia Day

May 11: National Technology Day

May 12: World Hypertension Day

May 15: International Day of the Family

May 17: World Telecommunication and Information

Society Day

May 24: Commonwealth Day

May 29: International Day of UN Peacekeepers

May 31: Anti-tobacco Day/ World No-Tobacco Day

SPECIAL FEATURE

Goods & Services Tax (GST): The Simplified Coverage

The Goods and Services Tax or GST is scheduled to be

launched on the 1st of July, and it is set to revolutionize

the way we do our taxes. But what is GST and how will it

reform the current tax structure? Moreover, why does the

country need GST at all? Let’s find answers to these

questions.

1. GST is a destination-based tax, as against the present

principle of origin based taxation. The new tax regime

follows a multi-stage collection mechanism wherein tax is

collected at every stage and the credit of tax paid (input

tax credit) at the previous stage is available as a set-off at

the next stage of transaction. This helps to eliminate "tax

on tax" or the cascading impact of tax. From consumer

point of view, GST helps to bring down overall tax.

2. Input tax credit: This means that at the time of paying

tax on output manufacturers or service providers, for

4 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

example, can reduce the tax by the amount they have

already paid on inputs. For example, a manufacturer's

total tax on output comes to Rs. 5,000 while tax paid on

input (purchases) is Rs. 3,000. In this case, the

manufacturer needs to deposit only Rs. 2,000 (Rs. 5,000 -

Rs. 3,000) as tax, after claiming credit of Rs. 3,000, thus

reducing the overall incidence of tax on final product. But

credit available to the recipient only if invoice is matched.

So GST helps in checking evasion of taxes.

3. GST rates: GST rates on goods and services have been

broadly classified into four tax rates: 5 per cent, 12 per

cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. Some goods and

services would be exempt. Precious metals like gold will

attract a separate tax rate of 3 per cent. A cess will be

levied over the peak rate of 28 per cent on specified

luxury and sin goods. Under GST, businesses are required

to file returns each month. But the government has let

companies file late returns for the first two months.

4. The GST to be levied by the Centre would be called

Central GST (CGST) and that to be levied by the States

(including Union territories with legislature) would be

called State GST (SGST). An Integrated GST (IGST)

would be levied on inter-State supply (including stock

transfers) of goods or services. This would be collected by

the Centre. Import of goods would be treated as inter-

State supplies and would be subject to IGST in addition to

the applicable customs duties. No tax will be payable on

exports of goods or services.

5. Who is liable to pay GST? Businesses with an annual

turnover of Rs. 20 lakh (Rs. 10 lakh for special category

states) would be exempt from GST. A composition

scheme (to pay tax at a flat rate without input credits) is

available to manufacturers and service providers having

an annual turnover of up to Rs. 75 lakh.

An authority will be set up to see that any reduction in

rate of tax of any supply of goods or services for the

benefit of input tax credit will be passed on the recipient

by commensurate reduction in prices.

6. Petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and aviation

turbine fuel have been kept out of GST as of now. The

GST Council will take a decision on it at a later date.

Alcohol has also been kept out of GST.

(Information source: NDTV)

SPORTS

Russian Grand Prix 2017: Valtteri Bottas wins

his first F1 race ahead of Sebastian Vettel

The 2017 Russian Grand Prix, formally known as the

2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix, was a Formula

One motor race that took place on 30 April 2017. The

fifty-two lap race was held at the Sochi Autodrom.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) won the race by 0.617 seconds

over Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), the smallest winning

margin since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The last time we saw a new race winner crowned in

Formula 1, it was the prodigal Max Vestappen in Monaco

last year. Before that, we had Daniel Ricciardo (2014),

Nico Rosberg and Pastor Maldonado in 2012.

Leander Paes won Tallahassee challenger, his

second challenger-level title of the season Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes won his second

Challenger-level title of the season and Ramkumar

Ramanathan stood runner-up finish at the USD 75000

clay-court event. The top-seeded pair of Paes and

American Scott Lipsky came from behind to pip

Argentine third seeds Leonardo Mayer and Maximo

Gonzalez 4-6 7-6(5) 10-7 in the summit clash. Paes had

won the Leon Challenger in Mexico with Adil Shamasdin,

earlier.

It was the second Challenger title of the season for Paes,

who earned 80 ranking points for his effort.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 5

England’s Mark Selby joins elite in retaining

world snooker championship title

England’s Mark Selby successfully defended his world

snooker championship on 1st May, beating four-time

champion John Higgins 18 frames to 15 in a thrilling

contest. The 33-year-old Englishman had trailed 10-4 at

one stage but just as he did against Ronnie O’Sullivan in

2014 he fought back to win, becoming only the fourth

player in the past 40 years to retain the title.

It was also the third world title in the last four editions for

the player fondly known as “The Jester from Leicester”.

India drop to fourth in ICC T20I Rankings;

New Zealand stay top

India have dropped six points in latest T20I rankings

update to fourth place, losing six points and two ranking

places, to stand with 118 points, as per the update on May

1. The 2007 World T20I champions India are now behind

Pakistan and England, third and second respectively with

121 points.

England, meanwhile, have risen in the charts to second

place. The rankings will decide the fate of the direct

entrants for the 2020 World T20 to be played in Australia.

Laxman Rawat won All India Snooker

Tournament by beating Rafath Habib in Tamil

Nadu

Laxman Rawat of Railways beat Rafath Habib of SRSA

by six frames to four in the final on 3rd

May to win the

R.Murugesh & Chintamani Memorial All India Open Snooker Tournament in Erode. Rawat won to capture the

title for the third time in a row.

Three Indians: Harmeet Desai, Sharath Kamal

and Soumyajit Ghosh figure in top-100 of ITTF

rankings

Harmeet is at No. 95, Sharath is at No. 54 and Ghosh is at

No. 83 on the men’s ranking list.

But the worst sufferer is Manika Batra who moved to No.

103 from No. 93. In Youth girls Rankings Ayhika Mukherjee moved to No. 35 from No. 37.

Gaurav Gill, two time champion of Asia Pacific

Rally nominated for Arjuna Award

Two-time Asia Pacific Rally champion, Gaurav Gill, is

hoping to become the first Arjuna awardee from Indian

motorsports after the FMSCI recommended him for the

sporting honour for the second time in three years.

Gill, who won the series opener in New Zealand last

week, is the reigning APRC champion and won the trophy

for the first time in 2013.

Performances of last four years will be taken into

consideration before the recipients of the coveted award

are picked by the Sports Ministry appointed committee.

6 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Chelsea won English Premier League title

Chelsea clinched the English Premier League at the first

opportunity on Friday May 12th, beating West Bromwich

Albion 1-0 through Michy Batshuayi’s 82nd-minute goal

to take an unassailable 10-point lead.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte jumped into the arms of

his fellow coaches near the dugout after Batshuayi _ just

on as a substitute _ poked home a close-range finish from

Cesar Azpilicueta’s cut-back. It is a second top-flight

league title in three seasons and sixth in total for Chelsea,

which has led the standings since early November.

Rafael Nadal, wins third straight Madrid Open

Rafael Nadal at the French Open won his third straight

title on clay Sunday with a 7-6 (8), 6-4 victory over

Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open final.

Nadal withstood a tough challenge from the ninth-ranked

Thiem, converting on his fourth match point to earn his

15th straight victory and tie Novak Djokovic’s record of

30 career titles in Masters 1000 events.

The triumph at his home tournament gave Nadal his 72nd

career title, and 52nd on clay. It will also move him from

fifth to fourth in the rankings, ahead of Roger Federer.

It was Nadal’s second straight win against the 23-year-old

Austrian, coming two weeks after the Barcelona Open

final when the Spaniard cruised to victory in straight sets.

Nadal also won in Monte Carlo last month.

AWARDS & HONOURS

Sanjay Pratihar bags prestigious INSA medal

Sanjay Pratihar, a scientist at Tezpur University, has been

chosen for the the prestigious Indian National Science

Academy (INSA) medal for the Young Scientist Award

for the year 2017. Mr. Pratihar, of the Department of

Chemical Sciences, has been awarded for his excellent

contribution to multi-metal complexes.

64th National Film Awards 2017 held in New

Delhi

Best Actor: Akshay Kumar for Rustom

Best Actress: Surabhi Lakshmi for Minnaminungu-The

Firefly (Malayalam)

Dadasaheb Phalke Award: K Viswanath (filmmaker)

Most Film Friendly State: Uttar Pradesh

Best Director (Hindi film): Atul Kasbekar for Neerja

Special Jury award: Mohanlal ( Malayalam star) for

Janatha Garage, Pulimurugan and Munthirivallikal

Thalirkkumbol

Best Feature Film: Kasav (Marathi)

Best Film On Social Issues: Pink

Best Hindi Film: Neerja

Best Supporting Actress: Zaira Wasim for Dangal

Marathi film Ventilator: 3 National Awards

Best Supporting Actor: Manoj Joshi for Dashakriya

(Marathi)

Best Child Artist: Adish Praveen for Kunju Daivam

(Malayalam), Nur Islam and Samiul Alam for Sahaj

Pather Gappo (Bengali), Manohara. K for Railway

Children (Kannada)

UK Royal Society: Fellowship has been bagged

by three Indian origin Scientists

This is Britain’s independent fellowship given to world’s

most eminent scientists for their “outstanding

contributions to science”. Krishna Chatterjee from

Cambridge University, Subhash Khot from New York

University and Yadvinder Malhi from Oxford University

are among 50 elected people from across the world.

Royal Society’s First Indian-origin president of the Royal

Society and Nobel Prize-winning Scientist Venki

Ramakrishnan welcomed this batch.

Chatterjee researched on genetic disorders of thyroid

gland formation, regulation of hormone synthesis and

hormone action.

Subhash Khot is a Computer Scientist and is known for

providing insight into unresolved problems in the field of

computational complexity. He defined the “Unique

Games” problem.

Yadvinder Malhi, an Ecosystem Ecologist known for his researches focussed on advanced understanding of the

functioning of terrestrial ecosystems and how terrestrial

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 7

ecosystems are responding to the pressures of global

change, including climate change, degradation and loss of

large animals.

Prof Vikram Vishal, an IIT Bombay Professor

won the prestigious Indian National Science

Academy (INSA) medal for Young Scientist

(2017)

He is an Assistant professor in the department of Earth

Sciences in the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

He won a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.

Vishal is currently working on a research which attempts

to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and their

environmental impact by capturing the natural gases. His

research looks at “Geologic Sequestration” or capturing

the carbon dioxide that is released when coal is burnt

INSA Award: The award is considered to be the highest

recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in young

scientists, and awarded annually by INSA for research

conducted by scientists in India.

Prof KC Bansal and Dr Satish Kumar Gupta,

has been awarded with the prestigious Haryana

Vigyan Ratna Award

The HVRA, instituted in 2008-09, can be awarded to two

scientists per year for their achievements in their

respective fields. Till now, only seven scientists have been

conferred with this award. While nine other young

scientists were also honoured with Haryana Yuva Vigyan

Ratna Award.

The awards were given out by Governor Prof Kaptan

Singh Solanki.

Prof Bansal, a former Director of National Bureau of

Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR), Pusa, New Delhi was

honoured for his notable contributions in the field of plant

biotechnology. Dr Gupta, Emeritus Scientist, J C Bose

Fellow and former Deputy Director, Reproductive Cell

Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology,

New Delhi, was honoured for producing the first

pregnancy detection kit sold for public use in the country.

NATIONAL

After a run of 76 years, BBC Tamil Radio to go

off air

It was started on May 3, 1941. Tamil Radio was a major

source of information during the war in Sri Lanka for

people in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka who were keen to

know more about current affairs and international news in

particular and wanted to listen to it in a language they

were comfortable with, the Tamil broadcast was a staple.

The radio broadcast was always known for its objective

reporting of the Sri Lankan civil war and had a lot of

listeners from there.

“From the war in Sri Lanka to the Gulf War, our source of

updates in the 1980s and 90s was the Tamizhosai BBC

Tamil Radio service”, a listener recalled.

Tamizhosai offered a platform to virtually trace the

history of so many interesting topics such as Tamil theatre

and music and this made for some interesting

programmes.

The “South Asia Satellite” developed by India

for SAARC Nations, launched in May

The “South Asia satellite” built by India for use by

countries of the South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation (SAARC) region was launched on May 5.

8 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

The satellite was announced by Mr. Modi during the 2014

SAARC summit in Nepal and all SAARC countries have

since joined it except Pakistan.

The total cost of launching the satellite is estimated to be

about Rs. 235 crore and the cost associated with the

launch will be met by the Government of India, Minister

of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh

had stated earlier in the Parliament.

The satellite called GSAT-09 enables full range of

applications and services in the areas of

telecommunication and broadcasting applications viz.

Television, Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture

Terminals (VSATs), Tele-education, Telemedicine and

Disaster Management Support.

The 2,230 kg satellite was built by the Indian Space

Research Organisation (ISRO) and has 12 Ku-band

transponders. It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space

Centre in Sriharikota using a Geostationary Launch

Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-II launch vehicle.

The GSLV-F09 is about 50m tall and is the 11th flight of

the GSLV. It is also the fourth consecutive flight with the

indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) engine.

Maharashtra becomes first Indian State to use

Automated weather stations for farmers

Devendra Fadnavis, Maharasthra CM inaugurated the

state's first automatic weather stations for farmers in

Dongargaon, Nagpur.

The Automated Weather Stations (AWS) will be helpful

in measuring the wind direction, wind speed, air

temperature, relative humidity, and record the amount of

rainfall. The gathered information will be shared among

the farmers by making them available on Mahavedh

portal (Maharashtra agriculture weather information

network) as well as on the Skymet mobile application.

Automated Weather Stations and their usage:

Farmers of the state can make use of this information for

sowing in a much better and planned way, according to

the weather conditions. These weather stations are

significant because the IMD forecast is limited to only

four zones and is not made available at the taluka level.

However, AWS will provide forecast up to the taluka

level. Around 12*12 km area of the taluka will have one

AWS, promised the CM.

Real Estate Act comes into force today, only 13

states notify rules

The Real Estate Act comes into force on May 1st with a

promise of protecting the right of consumers and ushering

in transparency but only 13 states and UTs have so far

notified rules. The Real Estate (Regulation and

Development) Bill, 2016 was passed by Parliament in

March last year and all the 92 sections of the Act come

into effect from May 1.

“The Real Estate Act coming into force after a nine-year

wait marks the beginning of a new era,” housing and

urban poverty alleviation minister M Venkaiah Naidu

said.

The developers will now have to get the ongoing projects

that have not received completion certificate and the new

projects registered with regulatory authorities within 3

months from May 1st.

The states that have notified the rules are Uttar Pradesh,

Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra, Madhya

Pradesh and Bihar and the Union Territories -Andaman

and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar

Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep.

Some of the major provisions of the Act, besides

mandatory registration of projects and real estate agents,

include depositing 70 per cent of the funds collected from

buyers in a separate bank account for construction of the

project. This will ensure timely completion of the project

as the funds could be withdrawn only for construction

purposes.

The law also prescribes penalties on developers who delay

projects. All developers are required to disclose their

project details on the regulator’s website, and provide

quarterly updates on construction progress.

In case of project delays, the onus of paying the monthly

interest on bank loans taken for under-construction flats

will lie on developers unlike earlier, when the burden fell

on home buyers.

Other highlight of the Act is imprisonment of up to three

years for developers and up to one year in case of agents

and buyers for violation of orders of appellate tribunals

and regulatory authorities.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 9

India’s first book village to be set-up in

Maharashtra

Bhilar is a small hamlet in the Satara district of

Maharashtra, located near the scenic hill station of

Panchgani and the British-era hill station of

Mahabaleshwar. The village, which is popular for its

strawberries, will soon get another identity as India's first

'book village'.

Salient Features:

Under this initiative, tourists and locals can come and read

books, magazines and newspapers stacked at 25

artistically decorated locations around the village. The

subjects of the displayed books will include literature,

poetry, religion, women and children, history,

environment, folk literature, biographies and

autobiographies to festival specials.

Isro successfully demonstrates a solar electric

hybrid car

The effort was a multi-disciplinary initiative that

combined expertise from the fields of automotive,

electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering.

A solar panel to fit on the roof of the car was developed,

along with an integral gearbox, control electronics for the

battery and solar panel, and a conversion kit for fitting an

electric motor to a vehicle with an internal combustion

engine (ICE). Energy was supplied to the car through

Lithium Ion batteries, with a high power super-capacitor.

Telecom Department launched ‘Tarang

Sanchar' a web portal for info on mobile tower

radiation

The Telecom Department today launched a portal that will

allow people to track radiation emitted from mobile

towers within a locality and check their compliance with

the stipulated norms.

The timing of the launch coincides with the recent SC

order on deactivation of a mobile tower in Gwalior on the

plea of a 42-year-old cancer patient. The order had

intensified the debate on the impact of radiation from

mobile phone towers on health.

Indian Army successfully test-fired advanced

block–III version of Brahmos Cruise missile in

the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Indian Army, adding another feather to its cap,

successfully test-fired an advanced version of the

Brahmos land-attack cruise missile in the Andaman and

Nicobar Islands. The Brahmos missile is developed by a

joint-venture between Russia’s Mashinostroyenia and

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO).

India’s second-tallest Flag post, was

inaugurated at Kolhapur, Maharashtra

State revenue minister and district guardian minister

Chandrakant Patil inaugurated the flag post. The 360-foot

flag post inaugurated on March 6 at Attari on Indo-Pak

border is said to be the tallest in the country.

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar

launched Vidya-Veerta Abhiyan

Launched to encourage Universities to display portraits of

Param Veer Chakra-decorated soldiers. The aim of this

Abhiyan is to instill a sense of patriotism and nationalism

among students.

A year after the HRD Ministry released – Veergatha

books on the 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees, he launched

this abhiyan to encourage 1,000 educational institutions to

display portraits of war heroes on campus. As part of this

campaign, universities and schools will dedicate a 15×20

feet wall on campus to display portraits of Param Veer

Chakra awardees.

10 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Central Railway to start 1 Re clinics at 5

stations

The Central Railway has tied up with a private

organisation to start One Rupee Clinics at five railway

stations to reach out to passengers who need quick

medical consultation. The doctors will provide

consultation to passengers at Dadar, Kurla, Wadala,

Mulund and Ghatkopar stations for Re 1.

Indore declared cleanest City, Bhopal is at No.

2 according to Swachh Survekshan 2017

Among 434 cities Indore is the cleanest city. In 2016,

Mysuru was at No. 1, this year Mysuru is at No. 5.

State-wise: Gujarat is among the top 50 clean cities

having 12 clean cities. Madhya Pradesh has 11 cities and

Andhra Pradesh has 8 clean cities. Chandigarh is at 11th

position, last year it was at 2nd position. Gonda is

declared as the dirtiest city.

55 persons were appointed to monitor the process.

Justice CS Karnan, first High Court Judge in

India to be sentenced to jail by the Supreme

Court on charges of contempt of court

This decision was taken by a bench of seven-judges

headed by CJI J.S. Khehar, Justice Karnan of the Calcutta

High Court has been sentenced to 6-month imprisonment.

7-Judges bench had initiated suo moto contempt

proceedings against Justice Karnan in February after he

named 20 ‘corrupt’ judges demanding a probe against

them. Justice Karnan has alleged that he is being targeted

because he is a Dalit. An order was also passed against

him restraining him from engaging in judicial and

administrative work.

Justice Karnan ‘sentenced’ eight judges including the CJI

to five years’ rigorous imprisonment finding them guilty

under SC/ST Atrocities Act-1989 and amended Act of

2015. The apex court also banned the media from

publishing content of orders passed by Justice Karnan last

night by which he "sentenced" Chief Justice of India J S

Khehar and seven other judges of the Supreme Court to

five years rigorous imprisonment.

Justice J S Khehar, Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar,

Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghose

and Kurian Joseph are the respective Judges of the bench.

Textiles facilitation centre to be set up in

Panipat

The central government will soon set up a facilitation

centre for textiles and handloom industry with state of the

art facilities including a laboratory here, Union Minister

for textiles Smriti Irani said. This ‘facilitation centre’

would support entrepreneurs and weavers, she announced

at a road-show part of ‘Textiles India-2017’ programme.

Irani said that the textiles industry was the only one which

had grown by up to 20 per cent in the last four to five

years.

Irani also urged the entrepreneurs to participate in another

‘Textiles India-2017’ event to be organised in

Gandhinagar, Gujarat from June 30 to July 2 which would

be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1948 made Douglas DC3 ‘Dakota’ Aircraft to

arrive in India soon

Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s offer to hand-

over the aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), and is

currently in London. Since it is a long haul flight and has

to fly over 11 countries, one has to get sanction from all

these countries.

After buying this aircraft from Ireland in 2009, he has

now made the aircraft airworthy in London, where it is

waiting to begin its flight to India.

Saadi Rasoi: Rs. 10 meal kitchen to start in

Ludhiana

The district administration of Ludhiana, in collaboration

with Anna-Jal Sewa Trust, is set to begin “Saadi Rasoi”, a

concept of providing cheap meals to the needy, from

Sunday.

A full meal (thaali) will be available for Rs 10 at Red

Cross Building on Brown road near Old Civil Hospital

building from Sunday. It is to be noted that Congress in its

manifesto has promised providing cheap meals for the

poor at cost of Rs 5.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 11

Odisha to introduce boat ambulances in four

districts

Odisha will introduce boat ambulance service in four

districts where people face difficulties in getting health

service. The boat ambulance service will be available in

the districts of Koraput, Malkangiri, Kendrapara and

Kalahandi where people face problems in availing 108

ambulance service due to intervening large water bodies

in the form of rivers and dams disrupting road

communication, said Health and Family Welfare secretary

P K Meherda.

This is part of an MoU signed on Saturday between the

State Government and the Ziquitza Health Care.

IIT, Chennai is providing technical support to this project

and the request for proposal (RFP) for the same is being

finalised, he said.

Sushma Swaraj inaugurates 8th conference of

head of missions in Delhi

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the

eighth conference of Head of Missions on 5th May in

Delhi. Releases a booklet ‘India surging ahead’ on

successful economic diplomacy,” the external affairs

ministry spokesperson said.

Key foreign policy issues including India’s engagement

with major powers as well as strain in ties with Pakistan

and China are being discussed in the meet, which started

yesterday and is being attended by around 120 Indian

envoys posted worldwide.

India’s relationship with the Trump administration and

ties with Russia are also likely to figure in the conclave.

India to invest Rs 10,000 crore in Deep Sea

Mission

India has embarked on an ambitious Rs 10,000-crore

Deep Sea Mission, likely to commence by the year end, to

explore and mine mineral wealth beneath the ocean floor.

Ministry of Earth Sciences secretary Madhavan Nair

Rajeevan said that the Rs 10,000-crore project was an

inter-ministerial and interdisciplinarity project.

Triple Talaq be treated as court’s contempt:

Arif Mohammad Khan

Former minister Arif Mohammad Khan on 9th

May said

that he would suggest to the Supreme Court that until a

law is framed on the subject of triple talaq, the act of triple

talaq should be treated as contempt of court and invite

prison term of at least three months — the period a couple

is supposed to stay together before final separation.

Khan, who has been Cabinet minister and held several

portfolios, quit the Congress in 1986 over differences with

the Congress government on the Shah Bano case. He also

spoke against triple talaq in the 1980s.

Indian Navy ships; INS Karwar and Kakinada

decommissioned

Indian Naval Ships Karwar and Kakinada were

decommissioned on 9th May with Navy chief admiral

Sunil Lanba being the chief guest for the ceremony.

Lanba had served as the second commanding officer of

INS Kakinada.

INS Karwar (M67), was the first of the ‘Natya’ class

minesweepers acquired from the erstwhile USSR. She

was commissioned on 14 July 1986 at Riga (Russia) under

the command of commander R K Sinha. The ship

operated from Vishakhapatnam till 2013 after which, the

ship was based at Mumbai. Manned by a crew of six

officers and 90 sailors, INS Karwar had her motto

‘Hamesha Tayyar’.

INS Kakinada (M70), was the second of the same class

and also commissioned at Riga.

Five-judges bench of the Supreme Court,

hearing Triple Talaq plea belong to five

different religions

The bench will be led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar,

the first Sikh to hold the post. Justice Kurian Joseph, only

the sixth Christian to be elevated to the Supreme Court,

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit of the Hindu community,

Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman of the Parsi community

and Justice Abdul Nazeer, a Muslim, are the other four

judges on the Bench.

12 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

The judges belonging to different religions will hear pleas

seeking amendment in the Muslim Personal Law relating

to triple talaq, an Islamic divorce practice in which the

husband can legally separate from his wife by uttering the

word ‘talaq’ three times.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)

backs the practice saying it is a ‘valid’ way to end a

marriage even though it may be wrong.

Punjab to get first govt-run de-addiction centre

for women only

This will be the 15-bedded centre, which is likely to

become operational by next month. The aim to setup the

centre is to provide women addicts a “friendly

environment”, while giving them “comprehensive

treatment.”

Currently no such facility exists in the state which is

meant exclusively for women drug addicts. The centre

would admit patients like just like any other drug de-

addiction centre which are operational in the state.

Currently, Hermitage, a private women drug de-addiction

centre in Amritsar is also functional, for the last one year.

A Kargil war memorial going to come-up in

Himachal Pradesh

It will be the first war memorial of its kind. It will

complete with an action scene from the Kargil battle, with

Indian soldiers hoisting the Tricolour on top of the Tiger

Hill, the entire tableau in the trademark style of Nek

Chand, the creator of Chandigarh’s famous Rock Garden.

Being constructed to honour Kargil martyr Captain

Saurabh Kalia, who was captured by the Pakistani side

which only returned his mutilated body, the tableau is

coming up at Saurabh Van Vihar at Palampur in Himachal

Pradesh.

The tableau is being prepared by Anuj Saini. It will

consist of 63 figures — Armymen and infiltrators made

with concrete and waste ceramic tiles. The intruders wear

green and black kurtas while soldiers are shown wearing

uniform. The sculptures are about five to six feet tall.

Baroda based woman will be the first in India

to undergo India’s First Uterine Transplant

The country’s first uterus transplant will take place on

May 18 at Pune’s Galaxy Care Hospital. She will get her

mother’s womb.

Till now a total of 25 uterine transplants have been

conducted worldwide. The first successful one was

performed in Saudi Arabia in 2002, but a pregnancy could

not be achieved. A uterine transplant was then performed

in 2011 in Turkey, where the pregnancy lasted eight

weeks. The uterus was retrieved from a cadaveric donor

(brain dead). It was in Sweden that a transplant in 2011

was followed by a full-term pregnancy.

Meghna Sahoo, a Transgender became the First

person to purchase nomination form for the

Rajya Sabha election

She purchased the form for the Rajya Sabha election from

the Odisha Assembly secretariat to contest the polls to the

upper house of parliament. She is an MBA by

qualification.

Mumbai Airport becomes World’s Busiest

Airport

Mumbai airport quietly overtook London’s Gatwick to

become the world's busiest airport that operates with a

single runway.

As every 65 seconds an aircraft either takes off from or

touches down at the Mumbai airport. The main airports of

most major cities such as Delhi, Dubai, Singapore,

Sydney, London and New York handle aircraft with at

least two parallel runways in use.

In the financial year ending March 2017, Mumbai airport

handled 45.2 million passengers, beating Gatwick's 44

million. "Currently, Mumbai airport handles 837 arrivals

or take-offs in a day — an average of 80 flights more than

Gatwick, which handles 757 movements in a day,".

Saturday- “No Bag Day” at UP Government

Schools

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 13

All primary and secondary students (class 1-12) studying

in schools recognised by Uttar Pradesh government will

not bring school bags on Saturdays. The BJP government

has decided to make Saturday a 'Funday' by involving

children in joyful activities. This, believes UP's deputy

chief minister Dinesh Sharma, will lead to overall

personality development of the child besides developing a

positive teacher-student relationship.

Tarika, First Registered Transgender to clear

Class 12th Exams

In 2013, Tarika, ran away from her home in Thoothukudi

district, where she felt unaccepted. She arrived in

Chennai, where she was adopted by transgender activist

Grace Banu. Now, at 22, Tarika is the first registered

transgender to clear the Class XII examinations, with 537

marks. "When I left my home and came to Chennai, I

never imagined that my life would turn out the way it has

and I will always be grateful to my mother, Grace for

that," said Tarika, who passed out of Perunthalaivar

Kamarajar Government Girls High School, Ambattur.

Paper Trail to be used for all Future Elections

In the midst of a raging debate on the reliability of

electronic voting machines (EVMs), Chief election

commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced that Election

Commission would mandatorily use VVPATs in all future

polls. He also said there would be counting of a certain

chunk of paper slips.

Zaidi said EC will hold a challenge and offer an

opportunity to political parties to demonstrate EVMs used

in the recently concluded assembly polls were or can be

tampered with under laid-down technical and

administrative safeguards.

ISRO to launch GSLV-Mark III, most powerful

rocket in June 2017

India plans to launch next month its most powerful rocket

from SriHarikota that is capable of transporting a heavier

4-tonne communications satellite and described as a

“game-changer” in the first of its kind space mission. A

successful launch of this rocket will be yet another major

step towards being self-reliant in the country’s space

programme.

GSLV Mark-III will be India’s most powerful launch

vehicle built to lift the heaviest Indian communications

satellites to space. It can put satellites weighing 4 tonnes

in space, double the weight that the current GSLV-Mark-

II can lift. It features an Indian cryogenic third stage and a

higher payload capacity than the current GSLV.

The satellite would carry Ka and Ku-band payload along

with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP)

payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged

particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft

and electronic components.

The technology on lithium ion batteries developed by

ISRO is good for space programme in terms of cost-

effectiveness, but it requires the efforts of industry to

develop it to reduce costs, Kiran Kumar(ISRO Chairman)

said.

PM launched Integrated Case Management

System of Supreme Court

PM Narendra Modi launched ICMS, which makes it a

paperless court. The system will help litigants access

data and retrieve information online and will be a step

towards a paperless Supreme Court.

It will help usher transparency, reduce manipulation and

help the litigant know about the progress of the case on a

real-time basis. Every central and state government

department will know if they have been made party to the

case and help them prepare accordingly.

The court fee and process fee will be calculated online,

which will help keep the litigant informed about the cost

involved. CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar and Law & IT

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were also present.

Pneumonia vaccine to be a part of Universal

Immunisation programme

India has decided to introduce pneumococcal conjugate

vaccine (PCV) in the Universal Immunisation Programme

(UIP). Health minister J P Nadda announced this on

Saturday, 13th

May at a function in Mandi,

Himachal Pradesh. PCV protects children against severe

forms of pneumococcal disease, such as pneumonia and

meningitis. In the first phase, the vaccine is being rolled

out to approximately 21 lakh children in Himachal

14 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Pradesh and parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This will be

followed by introduction in Madhya Pradesh and

Rajasthan next year and eventually be expanded to the

country in a phased manner.

“Pneumonia kills more children under five years of age in

India than any other infectious disease. The pentavalent

vaccine, which was scaled up in all states under the UIP

by 2015, protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b

(Hib) pneumonia. Now, the introduction of PCV in the

UIP will reduce child deaths from pneumococcal

pneumonia. India accounts for nearly 20 per cent of global

pneumonia deaths in this age group.

107-Ft high Tricolor inaugurated at Wagah

Border

Around 100 metres from the country’s tallest Tricolour

hoisted at a height of 355 feet, Union Minister of State for

Home Kiren Rijiju inaugurated a 107-foot-high Tricolour

installed by Land Ports Authority of India at the

Integrated Check Post at Attari (ICP) on Wagha border

Saturday. The 355-foot-high Tricolour, which was

installed by Improvement Trust Amritsar earlier this year,

has been in the news recently because of damage caused

to it by high-velocity winds which necessitated frequent

replacement.

Another 170-foot-high Tricolour installed by the Trust at

Aand Park of Amritsar in September 2015 had to be

removed due to similar problems.

Old age no ground for token sentence in sexual

offence: Delhi Court

Old age cannot be a factor for awarding token jail

sentence in a sexual offence case, a Delhi court has said.

The court, which was dealing with a case in which a six-

year-old girl was disrobed and molested by her 61-year-

old neighbour, said a token sentence, which is awarded

just for the sake of punishment, will not fit in the offence

of sexual assault.

Old age and clean antecedents can at the best be relevant

for reducing the punishment but not a ground to allow a

convict walk free after serving a token punishment, like

sentenced till the rising of the court or the end of the day’s

working hours, the judge said.

Four new Judges including two women took

Oath in Delhi High Court

This induction took the working strength of the court to

38. The four judges– Justices Rekha Palli, Prathiba M

Singh, Navin Chawla and C Hari Shankar– were

administered oath by Delhi High Court Acting Chief

Justice Gita Mittal.

Prathiba M Singh is a leading intellectual property rights

lawyer, Chawla’s focus is on telecom and broadcasting

laws. Shankar is a leading indirect tax and service lawyer.

Palli, who was designated as a senior advocate in 2015,

had argued for the grant of permanent commission to all

women officers who were recruited before May 2006 in

the Air Force and Army. The high court in 2010 had held

that not granting them permanent commission amounted

to gender discrimination.

The four were appointed as judges by the President.

Including Rekha Palli and Prathiba M Singh, there will be

10 women judges in the high court. The sanctioned

strength is 60.

As per the new roster, Justice C Hari Shankar will sit with

Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal, Justice Navin Chawla

with Justice Ravindra Bhat, Justice Prathiba Singh with

Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Rekha Palli with Justice

G S Sistani. It has been exercised under Article 217 of the

Constitution of India.

Marriage of Muslim woman during ‘iddat’ not

void, rules Delhi HC

As the issue of triple talaq is being debated in the

Supreme Court, a city court has ruled that the marriage

performed by a Muslim woman during the ‘iddat’

(waiting) period is not void. The Delhi court dismissed the

claim of a man, accused of domestic violence by his wife,

that their wedding was invalid as the per Islamic law, as

she had not completed ‘iddat’ after getting a divorce from

her first husband.

In Islamic law, a divorced woman has to wait during the

‘iddat’ period for about three months before she can

remarry. “Any marriage performed by a Muslim woman

during the iddat period is an irregular marriage and not a

void (batil) marriage. Hence, the contention of the man on

this aspect is found to be without any merits,” Special Judge Bhupesh Kumar said while relying on a Supreme

Court observation.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 15

IMPORTANT A married woman is entitled to benefits and protection

under the domestic violence law until her husband gets a

decree of nullity of their marriage, a Delhi court has said.

The sessions court made the law clear to a man, who had

challenged a magisterial court’s order directing him to pay

an interim maintenance of Rs 5,000 to his estranged wife

on the grounds that the woman was already married

before marrying him.

Clean Money Portal launched

Having brought 91 lakh taxpayers in the tax net and

detecting undisclosed income worth Rs 23,144 crore in

the six months after demonetisation, the government

launched an online portal as an extension of its ongoing

initiative of ‘Operation Clean Money’.

The website will have thematic reports, details on actions

taken by the tax department under the initiative, especially

with reference to clusters such as jewellers, petrol pump

owners.

Under the second phase, the tax department engaged two

data analytics firms and classified the taxpayers into the

four categories of high risk, medium risk, low risk and

very low risk. The tax department plans to undertake

enforcement actions against the persons in high risk

category, which has around 1 lakh persons, with the

amount of deposits involved estimated to be around Rs

1.72 lakh crore. There has been a 22 per cent growth in e-

filed returns post demonetization.

Zomato reports massive Data breach, 17 million

accounts affected

About 17 million user records from Zomato’s database

were stolen. Zomato’s Gunjan Patidar has reassured users

that no payment information or credit card data has been

leaked. The food ordering service, which is used by over

120 million users, has reset passwords of all affected users

and logged them out as a precaution.

‘Good Morning’ teams, has been set-up by

Maharashtra Government to stop open

defecation

These teams have been asked to not only monitor areas

where the practice is still prevalent, but also check

whether local residents had access to toilets. However, the

biggest challenge for these teams would be to put an end

to this practice completely in the next five months.

These teams — comprising representatives of local

bodies, self-help groups, NGOs, students and social

workers working in the area of sanitation and cleanliness

— have also been authorised to report to civic bodies in

case they find that in certain areas, access to toilets was

being denied.

As many as 200 towns in the state have already been

declared ODF by the Union government.

Chakma and Hajong refugees set to get

Citizenship

They have been based in Arunachal Pradesh for over 50

years. The citizenship will not entitle the refugees to

rights enjoyed by Scheduled Tribes in the state, including

land ownership. Chakmas and Hajongs were originally

residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East

Pakistan, who had to flee when their land was submerged

by the Kaptai dam project in the 1960s. The Chakmas,

who are Buddhist, and Hajongs, who are Hindus, also

faced religious persecution in East Pakistan (now

Bangladesh).

According to officials, the number of these refugees has

increased from about 5,000 in 1964-69 to 1,00,000. At

present, they do not posses citizenship and land rights, but

are provided basic amenities by the state government.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who hails from

Arunachal, had recently raised the citizenship issue.

The First of the Tejas brand of trains ready to

run from Mumbai to Goa on May 22

Developed by Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, the 19-

coach train is designed to run at a speed of up to 200

kmph, the existing track-related restrictions pose a hurdle.

Therefore, the time that this train will take to reach Goa is

not significantly less. The entire train is under CCTV

coverage, besides having fire detection system and bio-

vacuum toilets with suction technology, like in aircraft.

Has an all-seating service.

NALSA opened First Centre ‘Nyaya Sanyog’, in

Delhi

16 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has

come up with a novel idea to set up Legal Assistance

Establishments (LAE) in all states to strengthen and

streamline its activities aimed at providing free legal aid

to the needy. Conceived by NALSA Executive Chairman

Justice Dipak Mishra of the Supreme Court, Nyaya

Sanyog would be manned by Legal Services Advocate(s)

on the panel of Delhi State Legal Services Authority

(DSLSA) along with staff of DSLSA, besides para legal

volunteers, who would have knowledge about and be in

possession of database of all the activities of DSLSA as

well as other information that may be required by people

making queries. Nyaya Sanyog would be functional from

10.00 am to 5.00 pm on all working days.

The LAE will have a dedicated helpline number, email id

and video conferencing facility with District Legal

Service Authorities and jails. Justice Mishra said the state

authorities may adopt their own name for the LAEs.

India to unveil new drug policy

India is expected to roll out a new drug policy and devise

rules for clinical trials that may bring new projects to the

country, a top Indian official have said. A team of Indian

officials led by G N Singh, Drug Controller General of

India, said a set of new procedures to facilitate clinical

trials are expected to be unveiled shortly. Addressing the

annual US-India BioPharma and Healthcare Summit in

Boston in May, Singh said the Indian government is

working with stakeholders to devise new rules for clinical

trials that are expected to bring new projects to India.

TATA retains Numero Uno position

The House of Tatas has retained its position as India’s

leading brand in valuation firm Brand Finance’s annual

study of the country’s top 100 names. But the 150-year-

old group’s brand value has fallen four per cent to $13.1

billion in 2017 over 2016, according to findings shared

exclusively by the UK-based valuation firm with Business

Standard. The firm, however, says the drop is not a result

of the boardroom battle the diversified conglomerate

witnessed in the last few months, which saw erstwhile

chairman Cyrus Mistry ousted in October last year.

(Source: Business Standard)

INTERNATIONAL

World’s “oldest man” dies at the age of 146 in

Indonesia

An Indonesian man who claimed to be the oldest person

alive, died at the age of 146 in his village in the Seragaen

district of Central Java. Saparman Sodimejo, also known

as Mbah Ghoto, had an identity card which recorded the

date of his birth as December 31, 1870, which was

reportedly confirmed by the Indonesian records office.

India-Turkey signs three agreements

Both the countries signed three agreements following

delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

These agreements in the fields of ICT, training and

culture.

During his visit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

was conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris

Causa) by the Jamia Millia Islamia university for “his

contribution to strengthen international cooperation, peace

and diplomacy as well as for his extraordinary

humanitarian aid to millions of refugees.”

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 17

Dubai becomes first City to get its own

Microsoft font

The Middle Eastern city unveiled the new font, called

simply "Dubai", designed with Microsoft's help.

The government communication office says the Dubai

Font integrates Arabic and Latin alphabets and is

available for use in 23 languages in versions of Microsoft

Office around the world.

International Healthcare Conference 2017

inaugurated by Union Health Minister J.P.

Nadda

It was organized by the Symbiosis International

University, SYMHEALTH 2017, Pune. Alok Kumar,

Advisor, NITI Aayog and Dr Soumya Swaminathan,

director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research

(ICMR), were also present on the occasion.

The conference steps towards forging new dialogues with

various stakeholders of the healthcare community, both in

India and abroad. It will also bring in new perspectives

from other fields.

Texas Legislature has passed ban on “sanctuary

cities”

This will allow Police officers to ask about the

immigration status of a person. They can threaten person

to put in jail for not complying with the federal

authorities. The GOP-led Senate call the bill a “show-me-

your-papers”. Sanctuary cities are to help federal

immigration agents. This bill will allow the State to

withhold funding from local governments for acting as

sanctuary cities.

Rajgauri Pawar, an Indian origin girl scores

higher than Albert Einstein

She is a 12-year Indian origin girl in UK. She scored

higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking in the

British Mensa IQ test. She scored 162, the highest

possible IQ for someone under the age of 18. The

‘Genius’ benchmark has been set at 140. She secured 2

points higher than Einstein and Hawking.

Across the world she is one of only 20,000 people to

achieve this score. She joined the elite British Mensa IQ

Society as a member after this huge score.

China discovered ruins of an Ancient City,

dates back to the Tang dynasty

Archaeologists in China have discovered the remains of

an ancient city dating back to more than 1,000 years ago

in the country’s southwest region. Archaeologists have

found the remains of several walls in Yunnan’s Midu

County, believed to be part of Baiya City, and dating back

to the early years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Accounts of the old town of Baiya City first appear in a

history book written by military official Fan Chuo during

the Tang Dynasty.

‘WeChat’-China’s social media App has been

blocked by Russia

It has been blocked by Russia’s telecoms watchdog. The

popular social media app- ‘WeChat is developed by

Tencent Holdings.

Acc. to Watchdog Roskomnadzor, access to the app was

restricted on the basis of Article 15.4 of the law on

information, information technologies and information

security.

Facebook and Twitter (Social media applications) are

blocked in China. ‘WeChat’ was launched in 2011 and

has become China’s most popular mobile social media

platform.

US House passes bill to repeal Obamacare

The new approved Republican bill, previously known as

the American Health Care Act, aims at repealing most

Obamacare taxes, which includes penalty for not buying

health insurance.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill repealing

major parts of Obamacare and replacing it with a fresh

Republican healthcare plan, handing Donald Trump a

major legislative victory.

French elections: Emmanuel Macron wins

presidency

18 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Centrist Emmanuel Macron has vowed to “fight the

divisions” in the country after recording a resounding

victory over far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the French

presidential runoff election.

The 39-year-old former investment banker, who became

the country’s youngest-ever president, also promised to

“rebuild the link between Europe and its citizens.”

Three India-born citizens among top 5 richest

people in UK

Three out of the five richest people in the United

Kingdom are of Indian origins, according to the 2017

Sunday Times Rich List, its 29th edition. The list saw

Hinduja Brothers - Srichand and Gopichand jumping

up one spot from last year’s list to become the top

billionaires in the country.

The Mumbai-born David and Simon Reuben, who were at

the top position last year, dropped to the third position in

this year’s list. But the biggest jump this year was made

by the famous Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.

Mittal jumped up seven spots to reach number four this

year, becoming the third India-born citizen to make it in

the top five. ‘The Sunday Times Rich List’ which releases

the names of UK’s 1000 wealthiest people included a total

of 40 Indian-born citizens in 2017 list. It also says that the

billionaires reaped benefits from “Brexit bonanza”.

Caterpillar train runs into legal hurdle

The “Caterpillar Train”, a new concept for an urban mass

transit system developed by an Indian Railways officer,

has run into a legal hurdle from the US.

Caterpillar Inc, a 110-year-old American multinational

giant, has slapped a legal notice on the Railway officer,

Ashwani Upadhyaya, saying the name “Caterpillar”

cannot be used to describe the train system.

Through the notice, served on March 31, Caterpillar has

“requested” Upadhyaya to choose a different name as the

use of the term Caterpillar “infringes its trademark rights”

and causes confusion.

The Caterpillar Train concept comprises a network of

small, light-weight, self-propelled coaches supported on

poles bent into arches. The elevated trains are meant to

travel at 100 kmph. With their light design and size, they

are meant to penetrate residential areas, rather than remain

on arterial roads.

The concept was developed by Upadhyaya and his fellow

PhD scholar at MIT, Emil Jacob. As reported first by The

Indian Express last year, the duo got a global design

award from MIT for the concept.

Recently, Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar agreed to

let the Caterpillar Train be used on a pilot corridor in

Gurgaon.

India behind 161 nations in ratifying treaty on

torture

India stands behind 161 nations, including Pakistan, as it

is yet to ratify the 30-year-old United Nations’

Convention Against Torture by making a law on it despite

signing it way back on October 14, 1997. India is among

the only nine countries worldwide which are yet to ratify

this crucial convention, an essential condition for a

signatory state to ratify the international human rights

treaty.

This fact has been taken strong note of by the Supreme

Court which has asked the government why it was not

making at least a “good faith commitment” about its

intention to legislate in the matter. “This is an extremely

important issue in the national interest and moreover,

there is no conflict,” the bench, also comprising Justices D

Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, said. The remarks were

made when Congress leader and former Law Minister

Ashwani Kumar pointed out that India was among the

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 19

only nine nations left in the world which have not yet

ratified the treaty despite signing it.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre,

sought some time on the ground that some states are yet to

be consulted before a fresh bid is made to legislate.

World’s tallest rail bridge soon over river

Chenab in J&K

India will soon boast the world’s tallest railway bridge,

construction of which is on in full swing, over the river

Chenab in the hostile terrain of Jammu and Kashmir.

Designed by consultants from Finland and Germany, the

1.315 km-long bridge will soar to a height of 359 metres

over the Chenab, which is 35 metres taller than the Eiffel

Tower. Once completed, it will be an iconic bridge and an

engineering marvel of the world, said Railway Chief

Engineer B B S Tomar who is involved in the project.

The bridge forms the crucial link in the 111-km stretch

between Katra and Banihal which is part of the

Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the Kashmir

Railway project. Since the area is in a high seismic zone

and also near the border, special care is being taken by the

DRDO to equip the Rs 12,000-crore bridge to withstand

any major blast in the militancy-affected region.

Puerto Rico has worst drinking water violation

rate

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has the worst rate of

drinking water violations of any U.S. jurisdiction, with

dangerous contaminants ranging from lead to disinfectants

to coliform bacteria, an environmental group said.

Puerto Rico’s government, however, is struggling to

provide basic services amid a 10-year-old recession. The

water and sewer authority holds roughly $5 billion of the

island’s overall $73 billion public debt load that the

government is seeking to restructure.

World’s heaviest man goes under knife in

Mexico

The world’s heaviest man, who at one point weighed

almost 600 kilogrammes (1,300 pounds), has undergone

successful gastric bypass surgery, his doctors in Mexico

said. The procedure on Juan Pedro Franco is intended to

reduce his weight by half.

US: 10-year-old boy donates thousands of comic

books to military base

A young comic book aficionado is sharing his passion

with the military. Ten-year-old Carl Scheckel organized a

campaign that gathered roughly 3,000 comic books that he

donated last month to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

in New Jersey.

India, Netherlands to boost anti-terror effort

India and the Netherlands on Tuesday 9th

May voiced

deep concern over the threat of terrorism and resolved to

work bilaterally and globally to fight the menace in all its

forms and manifestations. During talks with her Dutch

counterpart Bert Koenders, External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj also sought the Netherlands’ support for

early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on

International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN.

At the meeting, Koenders expressed his country’s strong

support for India’s permanent membership in an expanded

UN Security Council.

US congratulates Moon Jae-in on South Korean

presidential election win

The White House has congratulated Moon Jae-in on his

landslide victory in the South Korean presidential

election.

South Korea is a key US ally in its push to get North

Korea to rid itself of its nuclear and ballistic weapons

program. Unlike President Donald Trump, who has

maintained a hard line on the reclusive nation, Moon is in

favor of dialogue with it.

Four UN peacekeepers killed in Central African

Republic

A Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic

ambushed a UN convoy, sparking a firefight and

kidnappings that left four peacekeepers dead, eight injured

and one missing. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said

20 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

eight fighters from the anti-Balaka rebel group were also

killed in the battle.

The UN mission sent a helicopter and additional troops to

secure the site near Bangassou, about 474 kilometers (295

miles) east of the capital, Bangui.

Donald Trump’s signature ex-casino sold for 4

cents on the dollar

The Trump Taj Mahal, the opulent Atlantic City casino

built by Donald Trump for USD 1.2 billion, went for 4

cents on the dollar when it was sold in March.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange

Commission by billionaire Carl Icahn reveal the price he

got from Hard Rock International for the Taj Mahal is $50

million. Trump, now the nation’s 45th president, dubbed

the Taj Mahal “the eighth wonder of the world” when it

opened in 1990.

Hard Rock is owned by Florida’s Seminole Indian tribe. It

plans to reopen the casino.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit

to Sri Lanka

This meeting is a sign of strong relationship between the

two SAARC nations. This visit comes a day before

“International Vesak Day” celebrations in Colombo where

he will be the chief guest.

Sri Lanka, which had played an important role in getting

official recognition for the day from UN, is celebrating it

for the first time. No bilateral agreements will reportedly be signed during the visit.

Modi will take part in the traditional lamp lighting

ceremony in Colombo during his visit to the Seema

Malaka at the Gangaramayya temple.

PM Modi will also be visiting a Buddhist temple, which is

also a world heritage site, which is a temple of “Sri

Dalada Maligawa in Kandy”,. The temple is also known

as Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic since it has a relic of

the tooth of Gautam Buddha.

PM Modi will also inaugurate the 150-bed multi-specialty

Dickoya Hospital which has been built with Indian

assistance. The hospital will also receive an aid worth

$2.6 billion from the Indian government. He will also lay

the foundation stone for the Faculty of Kandyan Dance at

the Sri Lankan International Buddhist Academy. It will be

constructed with India’s grant assistance.

Artifacts of World War I battle discovered in

Israel

Archaeologists have discovered bullet cartridges, shell

fragments and military items used during the First World

War in Israel – evidence of fierce battles between the

British and Ottoman armies. In addition to these items,

two military outposts were also discovered that were used

by the Ottoman army. One was located inside an ancient

field tower and the other was adjacent to an agricultural

terrace.

China has launched a huge clean-up campaign

across Mount Everest Region

It has been launched to remove the waste and debris left

by hikers at campsites. The nine-day clean-up campaign

by Tibet Autonomous Region across the world’s highest

mountain, also known as Mount Qomolangma in local

language, began on May 6. The campsites in question are

at altitudes between 5,200 meters and 6,500 meters on the

north side of 8,848 meters tall Mount Everest.

The “Roof of the World” term is used for describing the

mountainous interior of Asia region, for the Pamirs, the

Himalayas, Tibet and Mount Everest. About 60,000

people visit the north face of Mount Everest every year.

They leave tin cans, plastic bags, stove equipment,

discarded tents, oxygen tanks and mountain climbing

paraphernalia.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 21

Hubert Minnis is Bahamas’s next PM

Hubert Minnis emerged as the Bahamas’ next prime

minister in general elections. He defeated Perry Christie,

leader of Progressive Liberal Party. Christie, who was

finishing his second non-consecutive term as prime

minister, was dogged by scandals and double-digit

unemployment.

The long-delayed opening of a $4.2 billion mega-resort

called Baha Mar, and last month’s spectacular failure of

the Fyre music festival — which stranded partygoers who

paid as much as USD 100,000 to attend — were factors in

the vote.

Im Jong-Seok, Ex Prisoner to be chief of staff to

South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-In

Im Jong-Seok is about to hold the second most powerful

position in a political system which concentrates authority

in the president. Im, a 51-year-old former two-term

lawmaker with the Democratic Party, was a prominent

student activist in the 1980s and, like Moon, protested

against military rule.

Outspoken and charismatic, Im has long been dogged by

accusations he is a North Korea sympathiser. He spent

more than three years in prison for organising an

unauthorised trip to the North.

Nepal signed a MOU with China to join ‘One

Belt One Road’ initiative to link Asia with

Europe

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong and Nepal’s

Foreign Secretary Shankar Bairagi signed an MoU at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singhadurbar, Kathmandu.

The MoU is an important moment in the bilateral relation

between the two countries. The Initiative is not only open

to the countries in the region, but also open to the

countries outside the region who are interested in it.

The OBOR aims to enhance connectivity and cooperation

among countries, primarily between China and the rest of

Asia and Europe through land as well as maritime routes.

Nepal signing the deal with China may cause concerns in

India, which has opposed Beijing’s initiative. India has

reservations over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,

part of the OBOR, as it is proposed to pass through the

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

US, China reach key agreement on Beef,

Poultry and Natural Gas

US undergoes an agreement with China allowing

American beef and natural gas to be exported to the

country and opening its market for Chinese banks and

cooked poultry, nearly a month after the first summit

between the presidents of the two nations.

The deal is a sign of warming ties between the US and

China after the Mar-a-Lago summit between President

Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in

April. The US also agreed to recognise the importance of

China’s ‘Belt and Road’ project, a key initiative of Xi to

link Asia with Europe.

China is to allow imports of US beef on conditions

consistent with international food safety and animal health

standards and consistent with the 1999 Agricultural

Cooperation Agreement, beginning as soon as possible

but not later than July 16, 2017.

“The People’s Bank of China and the CFTC are to work

towards a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

concerning the cooperation and the exchange of

information related to the oversight of cross-border

clearing organizations”.

Nepal votes in local elections for the first time in

20 years

A recent dispute between the poor Himalayan nation’s

Maoist-led government and the head of the supreme court

had threatened to derail voting.

Nepal has suffered from years of political instability since

emerging from a decade-long Maoist insurgency that

ended in 2006 and the abolition of the monarchy two

years later.

Its democratic journey took a hit in 2015 when some

regional groups rejected a constitution approved by bigger

political parties, saying it concentrated power among the

hill elite that has long dominated politics. Fourteen

million Nepalis are eligible to vote.

22 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

NEWS BUZZ

Cyber attacks in 99 Countries around the

World

A large-scale cyber attack has spread across 99 countries,

including the UK, US, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and

India. It was first reported from Sweden, Britain and

France, but Russia and Taiwan are ‘worst hit.

Cyber attack was carried out with the help of tools stolen

from the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United

States.

Cyber-security firm Avast, a provider of Antivirus, said it

had seen at least 75,000 computers been infected by the

malware, dubbed ‘WannaCry’.

Among the government agencies and companies affected

include UK’s National Health Service, FedEx, Spain’s

communications giant Telefonica and the Russian Interior

Ministry. Unknown hackers apparently launched

‘ransomware’ attacks, which basically encrypt files and

demands a Bitcoin (a form of virtual currency) payment to

regain access.

The hackers, who are still unidentified, likely made a “self

spreading malware”, by exploiting a piece of NSA code

known as “Eternal Blue” that was released by a group

known as the Shadow Brokers. ‘WannaCry’ exploits a

vulnerability on old Microsoft computers that was first

discovered by the National Security Agency. Microsoft

even released a patch for the exploit known as MS17-010,

in March.

Two security firms Kaspersky Lab and Avast said they

had identified the malware behind the attack in upward of

70 countries, although both said the attack has hit Russia

hardest.

UK hospital cybersecurity, says the attack used the Wanna

Decryptor variant of malware, which infects and locks

computers while the attackers demand a ransom.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a

computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is

paid to unlock it. Ransomware spreads easily when it

encounters unpatched or outdated software. “Known as

WannaCry or Wanna Decryptor, the so-called

ransomware program homes in on vulnerabilities in

Microsoft Windows systems,”

UNHCR opens new Refugee Camps in Iraq

Opened to shelter the increasing number of Iraqi families

fleeing the fighting in western Mosul. the new site

sheltered nearly 500 children, women and men — 96

families in total. It has a capacity to accommodate more

than 9,000 people when fully occupied. Less than four

weeks ago, UNHCR opened a refugee camp with a

capacity for 30,000 people, which is now almost full.

Families arriving from Mosul reported heavy bombing

and fighting. They told UNHCR there were no basic

services in the city: no food, no water and no fuel. “Some

families told UNHCR they had been living on one meal a

day: often just bread, or flour and water, sometimes

supplemented with tomato paste.

The First Human Necropolis found in central

Egypt with 17 mummies

Burial shafts were found in the area and excavation work

“revealed that these shafts led to a number of corridors

inside a cachette of mummies”.

The discovery was in the Touna el-Gabal district of the

province in central Egypt. The discovery was “important,

unprecedented, because it’s the first human necropolis” to

be found in the area. The Touna el-Gabal site dates back

to the Greco-Roman period between the third century BC

and third century AD.

Google celebrates motherhood with a heart-

warming ‘cactus mom’ doodle

Cactus isn’t really plant you’d associate with mothers. A

whole host of pretty flowers, maybe, but hardly a cactus.

But when you really think hard about it, it just fits — cacti

are hardy, they grow in the most arid situations, brave

through a lot, come in all shapes and sizes, their prickly

thorns protect and they’re full of goodness and nutrition.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 23

Palestinian President Abbas arrives on four-day

India visit

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived here on

14th

May on a four-day visit during which he will hold

extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on

key bilateral, regional and international issues, including

the Middle East peace process.

Ahead of Abbas’ visit, India reiterated its “political

support” to the Palestinian cause and had said it continued

to assist developmental projects there. The visit will

provide an opportunity for reviewing the entire gamut of

bilateral relations, the Middle East peace process, and

regional and international issues, external affairs ministry

said.

The statement assumes significance given that there have

been commentaries on the increasing proximity between

the Modi government and Israel which may have a

bearing on New Delhi’s relations with Palestine. In July,

Modi will travel to Israel, the first Indian prime minister

to do so.

During his trip to India, Abbas will visit C-DAC (the

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) in

Noida tomorrow to forge cooperation between Palestine-

India Techno Park, being built by India in Palestine, and

the Indian IT industry.

Jack Ma, chairman of China’s e-commerce

leader Alibaba Group becomes ‘China’s

Richest Man’

The estimates made by Forbes, Jack Ma, recently

dethroned Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin as

“China’s richest man”.

A jump in Alibaba’s share price this year resulted in Jack

Ma’s wealth surpassing Wang Jianlin. The company’s

IPO in New York in 2014 set a record as the world’s

biggest public stock offering.

Among the billioniares in India, Mukesh Ambani is at the

top. However, Mukesh Ambani’s wealth puts him five

places below other billionaires in the Asian region. Li Ka-

shing from Hong Kong is the richest Asian tycoon in the

list, trailed by Jack Ma.

Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group is one of the fastest growing e-

commerce platforms in the world. Wang Jianlin, whom

Jack Ma recently surpassed, is the founder of Dalian

Wanda group, with investments in real estate and movie

theater operations.

The fourth spot in the Forbes list of Asian tycoon is

occupied by Ma Huateng, Chairman of social media firm

Tencent. The firm’s popular services include mobile

texting app WeChat that is used by 800 million people. It

also works as a mobile wallet and social network.

Ryan Sean Davy, a South African Everest

Permit Dodger arrested in Nepal

He attempted to climb Mount Everest without permission

has been arrested in Nepal, where he faces a $22,000 fine

— double the cost of the permit he was trying to avoid.

He will be fined and deported as per the Tourism Act of

Nepal. He may face further penalty for misbehaving with

the police.

He could also be blacklisted from the Himalayan nation

for five years, or face a 10-year climbing ban when he

appears in court next week.

Emperor Akihito’s Abdication Bill approved by

Shinzo Abe Government in Japan

In a historic move, the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe approved a bill allowing Emperor ‘Akihito’ to

abdicate the Chrysanthemum throne and hand over duties

to Crown Prince ‘Naruhito’. The announcement was made

by Chief Cabinet Secretary ‘Yoshihide Suga’. The move

is likely to be implemented in December 2018, when

Emperor Akihito turns 85. This is the first time in about

200 years that Japan will see such a shift

This bill has been approved due to the advancing age and

health of the Emperor. Gengo, Country’s Era name also

have to be changed as the Nation gets a new emperor.

The bill has been specifically drafted to ensure it is used

only for the current emperor and to disallow future

emperors from following it. Currently, only posthumous

succession is allowed under the Imperial House Law.

NEWS BUZZ

India Ranks below than Several neighboring

Asian nations, in Healthcare Index 2017

24 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

India ranked below Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and

China in last 25 years. This report was published by

Global Burden of Disease in The Lancet.

This Report takes a look at 195 countries, between the

years 1990-2015, and assesses the measuring mortality

rates from 32 diseases which should not be fatal in

presence of effective medical care.

As per the report, India’s health care index has seen an

increase of 14.1 in last 25 years, going up from 30.7 in

1990 to 44.8 in 2015, but the numbers are much lesser

than Sri Lanka (72.8), Bangladesh (51.7), Bhutan (52.7)

and Nepal (50.8). The report shows that India has

performed the worst in preventing deaths by Neonatal

disorders, with an index rate of 14.

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only SAARC nations

to have a lower ranking than India, with a healthcare

index of 43.1 and 32.5 respectively, as per the report.

Iran: President Hassan Rouhani wins Re-

Election with 57% Majority

Rouhani got 23.5 million votes, defeating hardliner

Ebrahim Raisi whose vote count touched only 15.8

million. State authorities say that almost 40 million votes

were cast.

He is 68-years old. He works on civil rights issues in Iran

as well as bridging the country’s gap with the rest of the

world, has repeated his 2013 win. Rouhani has been

influential in bringing about the 2015 nuclear deal with

world leaders which ended a 13-year-long sanction on the

country’s nuclear programme. As Iran’s nuclear

negotiator in 2003-05, Rouhani earned the nickname “The

Diplomatic Sheikh” from his European interlocutors.

Philippines banned smoking in public across

the country

It also imposes hefty fine including jail term for anyone

caught advertising and promoting tobacco products.

“The ban, which carries a maximum penalty of four

months in jail and a fine of 5,000 pesos ($100), covers

both indoor and outdoor smoking.” Besides this,

advertisements, promotions or sponsorships of tobacco

products will subject to fines of up to 400,000 pesos and

maximum jail terms of three years.

Smoking was previously banned only in public spaces

such as schools, universities, health clinics and

government offices, and this executive order brings indoor

offices, workplaces, bars, restaurants and cafes under the

purview of banned spaces.

Brazilian president Michel Temer accused of

obstruction of justice

Brazil’s President Michel Temer fought for his political

life on Friday, 19th

May after being accused of attempting

to derail a massive corruption investigation known as

“Car Wash”. Temer and a senior senator, Aecio Neves,

were among those “who attempted to prevent the Car

Wash investigations from advancing”, Prosecutor General

Rodrigo Janot wrote in a court filing that was made

public.

The accusation of wide-scale obstruction of justice raised

the stakes in a crisis threatening to topple Temer barely a

year after the centre-right politician took over from

impeached leftist president Dilma Rousseff. Temer was

placed under investigation yesterday over a secretly

recorded conversation with a business executive in which

the president is purported to have given his blessing to

monthly payments of hush money to a jailed politician.

That politician — former lower house speaker Eduardo

Cunha — is in prison after being convicted of bribe-taking

in a sprawling anti-corruption drive named operation “Car

Wash”.

Iraq replaces Saudi Arabia as top oil supplier to

India in April

Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as top crude supplier to India

in April as refiners moved to boost their processing

margins by purchasing the cheaper Basra Heavy oil grade,

ship tracking and Thomson Reuters trade flow data

showed.

India's April imports from Iraq topped 1 million barrels

per day (bpd) for the first time, up by about a third from

March and 8 percent from a year ago, according to ship

tracking data obtained from sources and data compiled by

Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party

wins election

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 25

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives won a

state election Sunday in their center-left rivals’ traditional

heartland, a blow to the challenger in September’s

national vote. The western state of North Rhine-

Westphalia is Germany’s most populous and has been led

by the center-left Social Democrats for all but five years

since 1966.

It is also the home state of Martin Schulz, the Social

Democrat seeking to deny Merkel a fourth term in the

Sept. 24 election. Schulz was hoping for a boost after two

previous state election defeats sapped his party’s

momentum.

Edouard Philippe named as French PM

Newly-inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron

appointed a conservative prime minister in a move to

broaden his political appeal and weaken his opponents

before legislative elections in June. Edouard Philippe, 46,

a lawmaker and mayor of port city Le Havre, is from the

moderate wing of the main centre-right The Republicans

party and will be a counterweight to former Socialist MPs

who have joined Macron’s cause.

Macron has vowed to end the left-right politics which

have dominated France for decades, and his start-up

centrist Republic on the Move (REM) party, which is just

a year old, needs to find a wide base of support for the

parliamentary elections.

APPOINTMENTS &

RESIGNATIONS

Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first female Supreme

Court chief justice suspended

She was suspended after an impeachment motion was

filed in parliament accusing her of bias and interfering

with executive powers.

Deputy Prime Minister Bimalendra Nidhi resigned in

protest of the impeachment motion. Nidhi was also the

home minister tasked with arranging security for the polls.

The motion cited a court order overturning the

government’s appointment of the police chief. The motion

needs to be debated in parliament and then receive two—

thirds of the votes in the 601—seat parliament for it to be

approved.

Karki was known for zero tolerance against corruption.

She was appointed chief justice in April 2016 and was due

to retire next month.

Triple Talaq: Supreme Court appoints Salman

Khurshid as amicus curiae

The Supreme Court allowed former union minister and

senior advocate Salman Khurshid to assist it as amicus

curiae in the triple talaq matter.

Earlier, the court referred the matter to a five-judge

constitutional bench to expedite the case. The bench will

conclude hearing the pleas of the Muslim women during

the summer vacation. The top court, however, clarified

that they would be looking into the legal aspects of the

triple talaq practice without broaching contentious

subjects like the uniform civil code.

The Central government has been pushing for the practice

to be banned as Muslim women are at the risk of being

abandoned by their husbands without initiating formal

divorce proceedings.

HRD Ministry names new ICSSR Chairman

Braj Bihari Kumar, the 76-year-old editor of quarterly

journals Dialogue and Chintan Srijan, as the new

chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science

Research (ICSSR).

Kumar succeeds economist S K Thorat, who was heading

the council since April 2011. He has been appointed for a

term of three years. Born in 1941, Kumar has an MSc in

chemistry and anthropology, MA in Hindi and a doctorate

in anthropology.

Kumar is ex-principal of Sao Change Government

College, Tuensang (Nagaland), and Science College,

Kohima, and has written, edited and co-authored 136

books. “Problems of Ethnicity” in the North-East India

is among the books he has edited and he has authored a

book titled “Naga Identity”. Dialogue and Chintan Srijan

are run by a society called Astha Bharati, of which Kumar

is a founding member.

26 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Neil Chatterjee, an Indian-American has been

nominated for a key administrative position in

the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

(FERC)

FERC is an agency that oversees America’s power grid

and decides on multibillion-dollar energy projects. Neil

has been nominated for a term upto June 30, 2021.

Neil Chatterjee is an energy policy advisor to US Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Earlier he worked as a principal in Government Relations

for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and

as an aide to House Republican Conference Chairwoman

Deborah Pryce of Ohio. He began his career in

Washington, DC, with the House Committee on Ways and

Means, he is also a graduate of St Lawrence University

and the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Monark Sharma, Jaipur youth appointed as a

Scientist in US Army, to get Rs. 1.2 Crore

Annual Pay

Monark has been appointed as a scientist in the US army’s

AH-64E combat fighter helicopter unit. He has been

assigned multiple roles which include designing,

inspection, manufacturing and maintenance of the fighter

plane inducted in the US army this year.

He had done Bachelors in electronics and communication

from Jaipur National University. Starting his career as a

junior research scientist at National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) in the mass

communication department in 2013, Sharma joined the

US army in May 2016. He has also earned two prestigious

awards– Army Service Medal and Safety Excellence

Award both in 2016.

He participated in NASA’s Moon Baggi Project in 2011

and Luna Boat in 2012. The team headed by Sharma won

the best performance award in this project and stood fifth

in the Luna Boat project in the world.

Venu Rajamony, currently the Press Secretary

to President Pranab Mukherjee appointed as

India’s Ambassador to the Netherlands

He is an 1986 IFS batch officer. He has served as Joint

Secretary, heading the Multilateral Institutions Division of

the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance

ministry. He has also served in the Indian mission in Hong

Kong as well as the Indian Embassy in Beijing.

Pooja Kapur appointed as next Ambassador of

India to Republic of Bulgaria

Pooja Kapur has been appointed as the next Ambassador

of India to the Republic of Bulgaria. She is an Indian

Foreign Service (IFS) officer - 1996 batch, presently

serves as the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External

Affairs.

Sohail Mahmood has been appointed as

Pakistan’s new envoy to India

Currently he is Pakistan’s ambassador in Turkey. He will

replace Abdul Basit who has already completed his three-

year tenure in New Delhi.

He is a career diplomat who joined the Foreign Service of

Pakistan in 1985. His first posting abroad was in Pakistan

Embassy Ankara where he served from 1991-1994.

Sushil Chandra, CBDT Chairman gets one year

extension

He has been given extension upto May 2018. This is the

first time that a CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes)

boss has been given an extension beyond the set tenure.

Chandra, an IIT graduate, is a 1980 batch officer of the

Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre). It is

understood that the decision to extend the incumbent’s

term was taken in order to provide continuity as the

CBDT is at the forefront of combating black money and

ushering in a taxpayer-friendly regime.

CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum

of 6 members.

Madhu Kishwar, nominated to JNU Council to

represent the School of Arts & Aesthetics (SAA)

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 27

Kishwar will have the power to decide on matters related

to JNU’s academic policies.

She is a founding editor of Manushi, is a graduate of

Miranda House and JNU and has widely researched and

written on issues of gender and politics. In 2014, she

published Modi, Muslims and Media: Voices from

Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.

Senior IPS officer T P Senkumar takes charge

as Kerala DGP

Senior IPS officer T P Senkumar on Saturday took charge

as DGP (Law and Order), after a successful 11-month-

long legal battle in the Supreme Court against the LDF

government which had removed him from the post. Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday had signed the order

reinstating the senior IPS officer as Kerala DGP, hours

after the apex court dismissed the state’s clarification

petition on its April 29 order directing his immediate

reinstatement.

Donald Trump fires FBI Director James Comey

President Donald Trump on 9th May abruptly fired FBI

Director James Comey in the fallout over Comey’s probe

of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s

emails last year, saying Comey was no longer able to

effectively lead the agency.

Trump told Comey in the letter he accepted the

recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions that

“you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.” Comey

has been embroiled in controversy surrounding his probe

into whether Clinton’s use of a private email server while

US secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s

first term compromised national security.

Sanjay Mitra has been appointed as the new

Defence Secretary. Many other secretaries

appointed.

Road Transport and Highways Secretary Sanjay Mitra

was on 10th May named as the next Defence Secretary.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has

approved his appointment initially as Officer on Special

Duty (OSD) in the Defence Ministry.

The officer will take over as the Secretary, Ministry of

Defence on completion of tenure of the present incumbent

G Mohan Kumar on May 24, an order issued by the

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.

Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre,

will have a fixed two-year tenure.

Rajive Kumar, Secretary in Shipping Ministry, has been

given the additional charge of the post of the Secretary,

Road Transport and Highways.

Besides him, five new secretaries have been appointed in

different central government departments.

Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma will be the Tourism

Secretary. She is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

Anant Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in Ministry of

Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be Textiles Secretary in

place of Verma.

Jagdish Prasad Meena will be the Secretary, Department

of Consumer Affairs. Meena is at present Special

Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

Leena Nair, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child

Development, has been moved to the Ministry of Tribal

Affairs in the same capacity.

Rakesh Srivastava will be the new Secretary in the

Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Srivastava, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, is

at present Member Secretary, the National Commission

for Backwards Classes.

The ACC has also approved an additional charge of the

post of Secretary, Department of Telecommunications to

Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics &

Information Technology.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also

approved the appointment of Brij Raj Sharma as

Additional Secretary, the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Sharma, a 1984 batch IAS officer, is working in his cadre

state — Jammu and Kashmir.

Kochi Metro became the First in India to

appoint Transgenders

28 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

The metro agency is the first government-owned company

in India to formally appoint them. 530 member

Workforce, who were appointed after a written test and an

interview, will take up varied jobs ranging from

housekeeping, parking, customers relations, ticket

vending, gardening and canteen duties. The workers, who

will be trained in technical skills and safety lessons, will

be deployed in two to three shifts.

V.K.Saraswat, appointed new JNU Chancellor

He is a Scientist and former Director General of Defence

Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He

succeeds former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan, who

completed his term on March 30 this year.

He has been appointed for a term of five years. Apart

from being a member of the JNU court, he will be the

competent authority to sanction leave to the vice-

chancellor. He also played a very significant role in the

development of the country’s first liquid propulsion

engine — Devil.

He is also credited with the development of other Rocket

Engines such as Prithvi, Dhanush and Prahaar. He has

held the posts of Scientific Advisor to the Defence

Minister, and secretary to the Department of Defence

(research and development).

He was awarded the Padmashri in 1998, and

Padmabhushan in 2013. Currently, he is also serving as

member of the NITI Aayog.

Mark Lowcock, British humanitarian expert to

be the next UN humanitarian chief to be the

next UN humanitarian chief

He will replace Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian

Affairs Stephen O’Brien in September. O’Brien, who is

also British, will stay until the end of August to complete

several initiatives and reforms.

Lowcock is currently the top civil servant in the

government’s Department for International Development.

He has worked in that department and its predecessor

since 1985 and has held diverse jobs including postings in

Malawi, Zimbabwe and Kenya and leadership posts at

headquarters in London.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs mobilizes and coordinates humanitarian action

with international, national and civil society partners to

provide aid during disasters, emergencies and conflicts.

Sunaina Singh takes over as Nalanda University

Vice Chancellor

(Image: DNA)

Sunaina Singh on Monday, 15th May, took over as

Nalanda University vice-chancellor (V-C). Singh, a

former V-C of The English and Foreign Languages

University, Hyderabad, took charge from Pankaj Mohan,

the interim V-C and school of historical studies dean at

the university.

Singh has won several awards, including for outstanding

contribution to education, 2014. She was named among

100 most influential vice-chancellors, 2016, at the World

Education Congress. Singh is a member of several

national and international academic committees. She is

engaged in restructuring and redesigning the university’s

pedagogical and administrative systems.

Delhi University’s SRCC to get first woman

principal

Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), of the

University of Delhi, is all set to get its first woman

principal. Simrit Kaur, professor from the Faculty of

Management Studies (FMS), was selected to be the

principal by the university’s apex committee on May 12.

The college was without a full-time principal since 2014,

after former principal PC Jain retired.

LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition 29

ANNIVERSARIES / DEATHS

Atlanta musician Bruce Hampton, known as the

“grandfather of the Jamband scene,” dies

A 70-year-old guitarist and singer, died after collapsing on

stage at the end of the show billed as “Hampton 70- A

Celebration of Col. Bruce Hampton.” It was during a

birthday concert in his honor at the Fox Theatre in

Atlanta.

Leila Seth, first woman Chief Justice of a High

Court dies

She was first woman from India to have topped the

London Bar exam. She was the first woman judge of the

Delhi High Court and also the first woman Chief Justice

of Himachal Pradesh.

She was among one of the three members of the Justice

Verma Committee, which was constituted after 16th

December 2012 Delhi Gang Rape.

She started her legal career in Patna. She was also an

author. Her Autobiography ‘On Balance’ was a

Bestseller. She also wrote 'Talking of Justice: People's

Rights in Modern India' which was published in 2014

basically looked at critical issues that she had engaged

with in a 50 years of her legal career.

Min Bahadur Sherchan, mountaineer from

Nepal dies while ascending Mt. Everest

He was 86 years old. He died while reclaiming the title of

world’s oldest climber. World’s oldest Mt. Everest

climber is a Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura.

Sherchan made a Guinness Book of World Records after

successfully ascending the 8,848-metre peak when he was

at an age of 76 in 2008, but later-on his record was broken

by Miura, who scaled the peak at the age of 80 in 2013.

Former Puducherry Chief Minister S

Ramaswamy passes away

Former Puducherry Chief Minister S Ramassamy died at

his residence in Puducherry on Monday, 15th

May, after a

brief illness. He was 80 and is survived by wife and three

sons.

Ramassamy began his political career in DMK. He was

Home Minister in the DMK-CPI coalition ministry from

1969 to 1973. He shifted his allegiance to the AIADMK

in 1973. He became chief minister in 1974 heading the

AIADMK-CPI coalition ministry for a brief period. He

was also the Chief Minister in the AIADMK government

in 1977, which lasted in office for a little over one year.

Athwal, the man who gave us amber colored

wheat, passed away in New Jersey

The country might have been eating red coloured chapatis

today had it not been the breakthrough research of the

pioneering plant breeder from Punjab, Dr Dilbagh Singh

Athwal, who passed away in United States on May 14.

Athwal, who laid the foundation of Green Revolution in

India in 1960s, is the one holds credit for the amber colour

wheat foodgrain India is fond of today. Through his

research, he modified Mexican wheat varieties according

to Indian needs and changed them from red to amber.

He was the first Indian scientist who collaborated with the

great US scientist Dr Norman Borlaug to bring Green

Revolution in India playing pivotal role in making India

self sufficient in wheat production.

Anil Madhav Dave, Union Environment and

Forest Minister passes away

He died at the age of 60. He was Minister of State

(Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate

Change since July 2016. He also had been a Rajya Sabha

MP representing Madhya Pradesh in Parliament since

2009 and also served as vice-president of the BJP’s

Madhya Pradesh unit, is an RSS Swayamsewak, hailed

from Barnagar, Ujjain.

He has authored books naming ‘From Amarkantak to

Amarkantak’ and ‘Beyond Copenhagen’. Dave had

chosen to adopt Jahanpur Panchayat, near the banks of

river Narmada, as part of ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’

and also founded the ‘Narmada Samagra’ organisation

that worked for the conservation of Narmada and its

catchment.

30 LawGiK – General Awareness Magazine | June 2017 Edition

Veteran actor Reema Lagoo died at the age of

59

She died after suffering from a cardiac arrest. Born Nayan

Bhadbhade, she was daughter of Marathi stage actress

Mandakini Bhadbhade. She was married to Marathi actor

Vivek Lagoo. She won four Filmfare awards in the

supporting actress category.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

“Obama: An Intimate Portrait” a book on

Barack Obama announced by Pete Souza

This book will have photographs of Barack Obama during

his Presidency. He called it as “the historic presidency in

photographs.” It will be published by Little, Brown

publishers.

Information sources:

www.thehindu.com

www.business-standard.com

www.indianexpress.com

www.gktoday.in

www.ndtv.com

www.scroll.in

www.business-standard.com

www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

www.firstpost.com

The copyright of the images used in this magazine rests with the

respective sources.

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