Current Affairs 14th August, 2015

RBI pays govt Rs 66,000 crore in dividend

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday paid a dividend of nearly Rs 66,000 crore to the government, the highest ever from the central bank in its 80-year history, and 22% more than it paid last year. On a point to point basis, RBI's dividend payment to the government is up more than four times in as many years.

Chennai to ban thin plastic from Aug 15, fine violators

The city will from August 15 enforce a strict ban on plastic bags and other polymer-based items with a thickness of les than 40 microns.

Corporation of Chennai proposes to enforce the rule stringently but in a city that generates 429 tonnes of plastic waste per day, second only to Delhi (689 tonnes) in the country, it's anybody's guess how successfully the ban will be implemented.

Officials say they the ban on plastic has been in force but local bodies will now increase enforcement to ensure compliance with the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, which does not permit the use of any plastic of thickness less than 40 microns.

Govt plans sops of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for replacing old vehicles

As part of a plan to phase out vehicles which are over 10 years old, the road transport ministry is looking to provide incentives of up to Rs 1.50 lakh to those who surrender their old vehicles - a long standing demand of the auto industry.

While transport minister Nitin Gadkari confined himself to offering excise duty waiver, a proposal that he plans to take up with the finance ministry soon, other sops could include lower interest rate on auto loans, discount from manufacturers as well as the scrap value of the old vehicle.

The move will come as a huge bonanza for the auto industry, which is showing signs of revival. While the auto lobby had made similar demands in the past, essentially to push up sales, the proposal seems to have found the minister's support in the wake of the National Green Tribunal's order banning diesel vehicles over 10 years old in the National Capital Region.

In 2013, Anand Sharma, the then commerce and industry minister, had pitched for sops of up to Rs 1 lakh for phasing out over 15-year-old commercial vehicles, a proposal that was rejected by the finance ministry.
 

Kolkata's truffle rosogolla gets Forbes stamp

For the last 11 years, this entrepreneur has experimented with sweets, taking his traditional yet popular family business to the next level. Today, this 33-year-old director of Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick Sweets has made it to the list of six most promising entrepreneurs in the country selected by Forbes India Magazine.

A ‘young Jupiter’ exoplanet discovered

The Gemini Planet Imager imaging instrument perched atop Chile’s Gemini South Telescope has for the first time discovered an exoplanet which is Jupiter-like within a young system. In all likelihood, the exoplanet — 51 Eridani b — may be the lowest-mass one ever directly imaged with a space telescope instrument. The results were published on Thursday in the journal Science.

Besides being the lowest-mass planet ever imaged, it is also far colder than other exoplanets — 650-750 degree Fahrenheit. Yet, this temperature is more than sufficient to melt lead. It is hotter than Jupiter because it is so young and glows with energy released from its formation.

51 Eridani b also shows the “strongest methane signature ever detected in the atmosphere of an alien planet,” notes a University of Arizona release. Methane is an important molecule in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The exoplanet orbits the star 51 Eridani, which is just 20 million years old. The young age of the star — born 20 million years ago — is what helped in the direct detection of the exoplanet. “51 Eri is one of the best stars for imaging young planets,” Eric Nielsen, one of the authors of the paper said in a Stanford University release.

Based on available data, B. Macintosh, the lead author of the paper from Stanford University, U.S., has proposed that the exoplanet weighs far less than those imaged so far. According to him, 51 Eridani b would weigh twice as much as Jupiter; this far less compared with other explonets that were at least five times heavier than Jupiter.

Unlike in the case of Kepler where exoplanet detection is based on shadow formed when a planet passes in front of a star, the Gemini Planet Imager looks for the planet’s glow. To detect the 51 Eridani b exoplanet, astronomers blocked the light of the star and spotted the light reflecting off the planet. The planet orbits the star at a distance which is a little more than the distance between Saturn and the Sun.

Since the light reflected from the planet is what is looked for, it comes as no surprise that the light from the exoplanet was more than 3 million times fainter than its star.

Share with your Friends

Join The Discussion

Comments ( 0 )

  1. Be the first one to review.