Current Affairs: August 5

Current Affairs August 5  (rajras)                                                              

  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), US approves lunar mission by Moon Express, a private company.
    • First time, a private company has been given approval for moon project.
    • Moon Express – Founder and CEO – Naveen Jain
    • Investor – Khosla Ventures – created by Vinod Khosla founder Sun Microsystems.
    • Motivation: Discovery of water which was accomplished by the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft with ISRO’s Moon Impact Probe (MIP) and NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3).
  • Google has released a new application, Verne: The Himalayas, specially designed for children to let them explore the Himalayas using maps, 3D imagery and gameplay
  • In September, India will launch ScatSat-1 satellite that will have weather forecasting abilities.
    • Primary payload – Scatterometer – will monitor sea surface winds and help predict the genesis of cyclones
    • It will replace Oceansat-2, whose service life is coming to an end.
  • India to run short of high-tech mineralsRare earth
    • Hi-tech minerals: They are necessary for clean-energy applications and for manufacturing high-end products.
    • Used in: Aerospace, automobiles, cameras, defence, laptops, medical imaging, nuclear energy, and smartphones and entertainment systems.
    • 12 out of 49 minerals have been identified as ‘most critical’ for India’s manufacturing.
    • China is leading global supplier for 6 out of 12 minerals.
    • Further, China controls 94% of global supply of rare-earth minerals.
    • India, needs to develop diplomatic trade channels and long-term supply contracts to sustain its manufacturing.

 

  • Union Cabinet has approved the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2016
    • Bill seeks to amend Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), 1988 and as a deterrent measure proposes to impose hefty penalties against violations of road safety rules.
    • In India, every year 5 lakh road accidents are reported in the country in which 1.5 lakh people lose their lives. Government of India has committed to reduce the accidents and fatalities by 50% in five years(2020).
  • Key Features:
    • Increases compensation for Hit & Run cases from present Rs. 25000 to Rs. 2 lakh.
    • Adds provision for payment of compensation in road accidents fatalities upto Rs. 10 lakh.
  • Vahan & Sarathi platforms: The bill proposes to create common uniform National Register for Vehicle registration and National Register for Driving Licence.
  • Increases e-governance:
    • Online learning licenses
    • Increases period of driving licenses validity,
    • Do away with the requirements of educational qualifications for transport licenses
  • For offences done by Juveniles, the owner or guardian will be deemed guilty.
  • Allows State Government to regulate the activities in a public place of pedestrians and such means of transport.
  • Permits states to grant exemptions in Stage carriage and contract carriage permits for promoting rural transport, last mile connectivity, public transport and for road safety and passenger convenience.

New Driving Provisions


Like page so that you don’t miss any important post:

[themencode-fb-page-widget page=”https://www.facebook.com/Rajras-1835370626603310″ width=”250″ height=”50″ hide_cover=”true” show_faces=”false” show_posts=”false”]

You can visit Rajras (Raj ras) – for knowledge/information related to RAS/IAS syllabus, study material & current affairs.

error: Content is protected !!