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By admin: July 1, 2022

Eknath Shinde sworn-in as CM of Maharashtra

Tags: Popular State News

Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde was on 30 June sworn in as the 20th chief minister of Maharashtra, while BJP's former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy chief minister.

• Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office to Shinde and his deputy Fadnavis at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai.

• Maharashtra Governor has asked Chief Minister Shinde to prove his government's majority in the state assembly.

• The Cabinet decided to convene a two-day special session of the state legislature on 2nd and 3rd July. 

• The Speaker of the assembly will also be elected during the special session. 

• Shinde, who served as urban development minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had rebelled against Shiv Sena chief and then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

• He camped in a hotel in Guwahati and later in Goa with 39 other army MLAs, reducing the Aghadi government to a minority.

• After the Supreme Court refused to stay the governor's decision to conduct a floor test, Thackeray resigned from his post.

• About Eknath Shinde

• Before emerging as the leader of Shiv Sena, Eknath Sambhaji Shinde drove an auto-rickshaw to earn a living.

• Born on 9 February 1964, Shinde dropped out of college before completing his graduation.

• He is 58 years old and hails from Satara district of western Maharashtra, he started his political career from Thane, Mumbai.

• He is a four-time MLA, having handled the urban development and PWD portfolios in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray.

• Shinde was appointed the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a brief period in 2014.

• Important facts about Maharashtra

• Establishment - 1st May 1960

• Official Language -  Marathi

• Neighbouring States - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Dadra And Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh

• Members of Parliament - Lok Sabaha 48 (Rajya Sabha seats 19)

• Legislature - Bicameral ( Assembly 289 and council 78 seats)

• Literacy - 82.91%

• Districts - 36

• Major Rivers - Tributaries of Tapti, Bhima, Godavari and Krishna

• Capital - Mumbai

• Population - 11.23 crore (2011 census)

Government approves sale of electoral bonds from July 1

Tags: National News

The government approved the issuance of the 21st tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale from July 1.

• In the 21st phase of sale, State Bank of India has been authorised to issue electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches with effect from July 1 to July 10.

• An electoral bond will be valid for 15 days from the date of issue.

• No payment would be made to any political party, if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

• The authorised SBI branches are in Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, and Mumbai.

• The 20th tranche of electoral bond sales took place from April 1 to April 10, 2022.

• The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds was initiated from March 1-10, 2018.

• SBI is the only authorised bank which issues Electoral Bonds.

• What are Electoral Bonds?

• It was introduced in the Finance Bill, 2017, the Electoral Bond Scheme was notified on January 29, 2018.

• It is just like a promissory note that may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. 

• Bonds are available for purchase by any person (who is a citizen of India) for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October.

• A person can buy bonds either singly or jointly with other persons.

• These are issued in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore without any maximum limit.

• The main objective of the electoral bond scheme was to bring transparency in electoral funding in India.

• Only registered Political Parties which secured not less than one percent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds. 

The government imposed a tax of Rs 6 per litre on the export of petrol and aviation turbine fuel

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Union Government has imposed a tax of 6 rupees per litre on exports of petrol and Aviation Turbine Fuel and 13 rupees per litre on exports of diesel.

•  To curb the import of gold, the import duty on gold has been increased from 10.75 percent to 15 percent.

• A cess of Rs 23,250 per tonne (by way of special additional excise duty) or windfall tax has been imposed on crude oil. 

• A cess of Rs 23,250 per tonne (by way of special additional excise duty) or windfall tax has been imposed on crude oil. 

• Petroleum duty changes

• The domestic crude producers sell crude to domestic refineries at international parity prices.

• So, domestic crude producers are making windfall gains.

• Keeping this in mind, a cess of Rs 23,250 per tonne has been imposed on crude oil.

• Import of crude will not be subject to this cess. 

• Refiners export these products at globally prevailing prices, which are very high.

• As exports are becoming highly profitable, it has been observed that some refiners are drying their pumps in the domestic market.

• Therefore, a cess of Rs 6 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel has been levied on their exports.

• Gold import duty changes

• There has been a sudden jump in gold imports.

• In May, a total of 107 tonnes of gold was imported. 

• The rise in gold imports is putting pressure on the current account deficit.

• To curb the import of gold, the customs duty has been increased to 15% from the existing 10.75%.

• Earlier, the basic customs duty on gold was 7.5 per cent, which will now be 12.5 per cent.

• Along with the Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess (AIDC) of 2.5 per cent, the effective customs duty on gold will go up to 15 per cent.

ISRO launched three Singaporean satellites

Tags: Science and Technology

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 30 June successfully launched three Singaporean satellites in a commercial mission of the New Space India Limited. 

• It was launched in precise orbit through the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module or ‘POEM’.

• This was the second launch of the year by ISRO, which put the Indian earth observation satellite into orbit in February.

• What are the three Singaporean satellites? 

1. DS-EO, a Singaporean Earth Observation Satellite

2. NeuSAR, Singapore’s first small commercial satellite carrying a SAR (Search and Rescue) payload

3. SCOOB-I satellite from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) 

• What is POEM?

• It is a platform that will help perform in-orbit experiments using the final or discarded, stage of ISRO’s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

• The PSLV is a four-stage rocket where the first three stages fall back into the ocean, and the final stage (PS4) — after launching the satellite into orbit — ends up as space junk.

• In PSLV-C53 mission, the final stage will be utilised as a “stabilised platform” to perform experiments.

• POEM is carrying six payloads, including two from Indian space startup Digantara and Dhruv Space.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

• ISRO was set up on 15 August 1969

• Chairman of ISRO: S Somnath 

• Headquarters of ISRO : Bengaluru, Karnataka

• Space Station from where ISRO launches rockets 

• Satish  Dhawan  Space  Centre  (SDSC)  SHAR,  Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh

Russia quits Snake Island

Tags: International News

Ukrainian forces have taken control of Snake Island in the Black Sea, which was occupied by Russia at the beginning of the war.

• The quitting of the Russians from the island is a major setback, and possibly undermines their control over shipping routes that are vital to Moscow's strategic objectives.

• Last week Ukraine said it had inflicted "significant damage" on Russia in air strikes on the island.

• Ukraine had claimed the first successful use of Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

• About Snake Island

• It is also known as Zmiinyi Island, Snake or Serpent Island.

• It has a small piece of rock less than 700 metres from, that has been described as being “X-shaped”.

• It is located 35 km from the coast in the Black Sea.

• The island is marked on the map as a small village and belongs to Ukraine.

• The island is close to the coast of Romania, with which Ukraine has had a dispute and which was settled in 2009 by the International Court of Justice.

• It drew a new maritime border between the two countries.

• Parts of the Black Sea around Snake Island are believed to have significant oil and gas reserves.

• On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine and attacked Snack Island with two modern warships.

• About Black Sea

• It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean.

• It is located between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

• It is bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west.

• The Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea. 

• It has traditionally been Russia’s warm water gateway to Europe. 

National Doctor's Day

Tags: Important Days

National Doctors Day is celebrated every year on 1st July to express and acknowledge the gratitude towards the dedication and commitment of doctors towards our society across the country.

• The theme of 2022 Doctors Day is 'Family Doctors on the Front Line'.

• For the first time in India, the celebration of National Doctor's Day started in the year 1991.

• The day honours the great physician and second Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, whose birth anniversary and death anniversary falls on this day.

• On this day all the people, whose life is connected with one or the other doctor, they thank the doctor.

• Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy

• He was born on 1 July 1882 in Patna, Bihar and died on 1 July 1962 in Kolkata, West Bengal.

• He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter.

• He was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal and held his post for 14 years from 1948 until his death in 1962.

• He founded the five cities of West Bengal Durgapur, Bidhannagar, Ashoknagar, Kalyani and Habra.

• He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1961.

• He became famous as the first medical consultant in the subcontinent of India.

• In his memory, the Central Government has dedicated Dr. B.C. Roy National Award has been instituted.

• He was also instrumental in the formation of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 1928.

Exercise RIMPAC-22

Tags: Defence

Exercise RIMPAC-22 will be conducted from June 29 to August 4 in and near the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.

• 27 countries are participating in the current edition of the multidisciplinary exercise.

• RIMPAC-22

• Its objective is to build interoperability and trust among friendly navies.

• The theme of RIMPAC 2022 is Capable, Adaptive, Partners.

• The first RIMPAC was held in 1971 involving forces from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).

• India's participation

• India participated in RIMPAC for the first time in the year 2014 when the indigenously built Shivalik class stealth frigate INS Sahyadri participated in the exercise.

• INS Sahyadri again represented the country in the 2018 edition.

• In the year 2016, INS Satpura joined the maritime exercise.

• Prior to 2014, the Indian Navy's presence in the WarGames was only as an observer for the 2006, 2010 and 2012 editions.

• In the current edition, INS Satpura of the Indian Navy and a P8I maritime patrol aircraft are participating in the exercise.

• P8I Maritime Patrol Vessel

• The P-8I is a long-range multi-mission maritime patrol vessel built by Boeing for the Indian Navy.

• It was designed to protect India's coastline and territorial waters.

• It can conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (AsuW), intelligence, maritime patrol and surveillance and military testing.

• INS Satpura

• INS Satpura (F48) is a Shivalik-class stealth multi-role frigate built for the Indian Navy.

• INS Satpura was built at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

• INS Satpura is an indigenously designed and built 6000 ton guided missile stealth frigate capable of detecting and destroying air, surface and underwater adversaries.

Defence Ministry inaugurated PayRoll Automation for Distribution of Monthly Allowances (PADMA)

Tags: Defence National News

Recently the Defence Ministry inaugurated PayRoll Automation for Distribution of Monthly Allowances (PADMA), an automated pay and allowance module for the Indian Coast Guard.

• About PADMA

• PADMA is an automated platform leveraging latest technology that will ensure seamless and timely disbursement of salaries and allowances to around 15,000 Indian Coast Guard personnel.

• This module has been developed under the aegis of Defence Accounts Department and will be operated by Pay Accounts Office, Coast Guard, Noida.

• Importance

• This initiative marks the beginning of a centralised pay system, the foundation of which is being laid by the Defence Accounts Department Headquarters to provide a 'one stop pay accounting' solution for all organisations under the ministry.

• The launch of PADMA will strengthen the concept of Digital India Vision. Also it is a 'Self-reliant India' initiative as the entire module is designed and developed by Indian entrepreneurs assisted by domain experts.

• About Indian Coast Guard 

• The Indian Coast Guard was established under the Coast Guard Act, 1978 by Parliament on 18 August 1978 as an independent armed force with the objective of safeguarding the Indian seas in peacetime.

• Motto - "Vayam Raksham: We Protect".

• Headquarters- New Delhi

• Director General- Director General Virender Singh Pathania

• Coast Guard Day - February 1