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 minerals
  • 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.

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