Current Affairs of 29-March-2017

1. Dr. Mahesh sharma inaugurates ‘national tribal and north east art conclave’

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism inaugurated the “National Tribal and North East Conclave-2017” organized by Lalit Kala Akademi under Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.

The conclave platform features more than a dozen forms of tribal art.

Most of these artists from 100 and more artist contingents, have showcased their art forms at Festivals of India held abroad and distinguished platforms elsewhere.

Points to Remember

• Dr. Mahesh Sharma is the Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism.
• National Tribal and North East Conclave-2017” is being organized by Lalit Kala Akademi.

2. India and Bavaria to Set up Joint Group to Identify Areas of Co-Operation in Water Sector

Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti has suggested formation of a joint group to identify areas of co-operation in water sector.

This was stated that by the Minister, when Minister of Environment and Consumer Protection of the Free State of Bavaria, Federal Republic of Germany, Ms. Ulrike Scharf called on her in New Delhi.

Bharti said that Bavaria has a rich experience of successfully cleaning the river Danube in Germany and India may benefit from their experience.

Points to Remember

• Uma Bharti is the Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
• Bavaria is a German Province.
• Danube River originates in Germany.
• Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, reside on the Danube River.

3. Odisha to bring banking to remote rural areas through Self Help Groups

Odisha became the first state in the country to carry financial inclusion and extend banking services to unbanked areas through Self Help Groups (SHGs).     

The state government signed an agreement with State Bank of India in this regard.

In the first phase SHGs would be engaged as Banking Correspondents in around 1,000 remote Gram Panchayats having no banking facilities.   

Points to Remember

• State Bank of India will help in this Mission.
• Bhubaneswar is the capital city of Odisha.
• Naveen Patnaik is the Chief Minister of Odisha.
• S.C. Jamir is the Governor of Odisha.

4. ICICI Bank partners Truecaller for UPI-based payment

ICICI Bank has announced a partnership with mobile app firm Truecaller for a new UPI-based mobile payment service.

Called Truecaller Pay, it will allow users of the app to instantly create a UPI id, send money to any UPI id or a mobile number registered with the BHIM app, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

It will also enable users to recharge their mobile number from within the Truecaller app itself, it said.

Points to Remember

• ICICI Bank was founded in 1994. Its headquarters is in Mumbai.
• M. K. Sharma is its Chairman and Chanda Kochhar is MD & CEO.
• Truecaller is a software which finds contact details globally given name or telephone number.
• BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is a Mobile App developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
• BHIM app was launched by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, at a Digi Dhan mela at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on 30 December 2016.
• BHIM app has been named after Bhim Rao Ambedkar and is intended to facilitate e-payments directly through banks.

5. IRDAI slaps penalty on ICICI Pru Life

The insurance regulator has imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company on various charges, including free look cancellations not being in line with regulations; maturity claims not being settled within prescribed time period, resulting in huge number of claims outstanding; and delay in processing surrenders/partial withdrawals.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has also charged the private sector life insurer for considerable number of annuities being outstanding for want of verification certificate.

Points to Remember

• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is an autonomous, statutory agency tasked with regulating and promoting the insurance and reinsurance industries in India.
• It was founded in 1999 under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
• Its headquarters is in Hyderabad and TS Vijayan is the Chairman.

6. CCI imposes Rs 591 crore penalty on Coal India

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 591.01 crore upon Coal India Limited (CIL).

CIL and its subsidiaries violated the Competition Act by imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions in Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with power producers for supply of non-coking coal.

Points to Remember

• Competition Commission of India was founded on 14 October 2003.
• Devender Kumar Sikri is the present Chairperson of CCI.

7. SBI to offer 'zero annual fee' credit cards to accounts with Rs 20,000

State Bank of India has said that it will offer credit cards to every account holder who has a balance of Rs 20,000-25,000, without going into credit history.

This is the first major joint collaboration between Arundhati Bhattacharya-led SBI and SBI Card after the bank hiked its stake in the joint venture to 74% by buying out part of its partner GE Capital's stake for Rs 1,168 crore.

GE Capital will sell its remaining stake to a private equity investor in coming days.

8. Sima Kamil becomes first woman to head a major Pakistani bank

Sima Kamil was named the first woman to head a major commercial bank in Pakistan.

Sima, currently a deputy CEO at the country’s third-largest lender United Bank Limited (UBL), will take charge on 1 June.

UBL, headquartered in the financial hub Karachi, employs 15,000 people and has branches in 15 other countries, including the US, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

9. Anil Ambani inducted into the Atlantic Council

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been inducted into the international advisory board of global think-tank The Atlantic Council.

Other global business leaders include Thomas Enders,CEO, Airbus Group, Rupert Murdoch,CEO, 21 Century Fox, Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group, and Marillyn A. Hewson, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corporation.

The Atlantic Council is a foreign policy think tank head quartered in Washington, DC.

It aims to shape policy choices and strategies and provide a forum for navigating the economic and political changes.

Points to Remember

• Atlantic Council was founded in 1961.
• Its Headquarters in Washington DC.
• Jon Huntsman is the current Chairperson while Frederick Kempe is the President and CEO.

10. Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha Honored with Sikh Jewel Award

Indian-origin British director Gurinder Chadha has been honored with the 2017 Sikh Jewel Award for her immense contribution to British cinema.

Chadha, whose films include “Bhaji on the Beach,” “Bend It Like Beckham” and “Bride and Prejudice,” received the award from Michael Fallon, U.K. Defense Secretary.

The high commissioner of India to the U.K., Y. K. Sinha, who was the guest of honor, was also present on the dais.

Points to Remember

• Gurinder Chadha is an Indian-origin British director.
• Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha is the high commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.

11. Bhubaneswar to host men's Hockey World Cup 2018

The International Hockey Federation and Government of Odisha has officially confirmed that the Men's Hockey World League Final 2017 and Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 will be held in Bhubaneswar.

The Kalinga Stadium will host the two of hockey's biggest events.

The Men's Hockey World League Final in 2017 will take place between December 1-10 and will welcome eight of the world's best men's teams.

The Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 will take place in late November/early December and will see 15 teams join hosts India at the event.

The venue successfully hosted the 2014 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy.

Points to Remember

• Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 will be held in Bhubaneswar.
• Men's Hockey World League Final 2017 will be held in Bhubaneswar.
• Kalinga Stadium is located in Bhubaneswar.

12. Former solicitor general Andhyarujina passes away

Former solicitor general of India Tehmtan Andhyarujina passed away.He was 83.

He practised law for six decades and has left behind a legacy in judgments he helped shape with his submissions as counsel, on constitutional law.

Andhyarujina was also the state advocate general from 1993 to 1995, before he became the solicitor general in 1996-1998.

Part 2

Daily English Vocabulary Capsule Day 14

My songs, my royalties

Light, it is said, is the greatest disinfectant and music the greatest healer. The controversy over the legal notice by Ilaiyaraaja to S.P. Balasubrahmanyam to claim royalties for the performance of his songs will serve a greater purpose if it can clarify the confusion on this subject in the minds of music industry professionals and the legalfraternity (people engaged in a particular occupation).

Music is an essential component of our human identity. There is no culture without music. This country has been blessed with an unbroken line of musical giants — right from the Sama Veda, the Sangam and the Tamil Saiva saints to Amir Khusro and Tansen through to our own contemporaries like Hariprasad Chaurasia, M.S. Subbulakshmi, A.R. Rahman and countless others — who have woven the various traditions of this country into a musical tapestry (something made up of different things, people, colors, etc.) that is a marvel(चमत्कार/आश्चर्य) to the world.

A fair deal for songwriters

But, to create, one must eat. Under earlier aristocratic(अभिजातीय/कुलीन) andmonarchic (राजकीय) systems of governments, artists received their livelihood from the patronage of the rulers. Under modern copyright law, whose fundamentals are enshrined(सुरक्षित रखना/प्रतिष्ठापित करना) in the Berne Convention (1886) to which India is a signatory, lyricists and composers — jointly called songwriters — earn their livelihood through a fair remuneration (पारिश्रमिक)for any use of their works during their lifetime and 60 years after their death. In other words, royalties are the salary and pension plan of creators and the legacy (विरासत) to their heirs.

This basic principle of copyright law was spectacularly reaffirmed in May 2012 when both Houses of Parliament, in a rare show of bipartisanship (agreement or cooperation between two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies.), unanimously(सर्वसम्मति से) adopted the amendments to the Copyright Act in the face of fierce opposition from film and music producers. In a letter to thank the Prime Minister for supporting creators, Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar stated that he had retained his copyright in all the work he had done abroad but had been unable to retain a single copyright in any work he did in India because “every time the record companies would flash the Copyright Act at me”. It is against this backdrop that we must examine Ilaiyaraaja’s action.

The kind of stellar body of work that Ilaiyaraaja has created in the last 40 years should have placed him among the world’s Top 10 wealthiest songwriters, somewhere between Andrew Lloyd Webber ($1.2 billion) and Mick Jagger (over $300 million). So one can understand the depth of his frustration — a feeling experienced by all songwriters across the country — when he sees little royalties, if any, from the use of his works even after they become super hits.

Why do Indian songwriters miss out on royalties? Can Ilaiyaraaja prohibit the public (live) performance of his songs? To answer these questions, understanding the role of performing rights organisations (PRO) in the global collection and distribution of royalties is essential.

The importance of PROs

PROs were created in the mid-19th century in response to the impracticality for the owners of music to licence each and every live performance of their songs around the country and the globe. Under this arrangement, songwriters and their publishers would assign/transfer to a PRO — such as the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) in India — their right to authorise the public performance of their songs. In return, the PRO would collect a fee for every musical performance in its country and distribute the money equally between the songwriters and the owner (publisher) after deducting a 15% service fee.

Additionally, the PRO will enter into reciprocal agreements with similar societies around the world, doing the same work in their own territory. Essentially, such agreements say that I give you the exclusive authority to collect the royalties when the music of my members is performed in your country; reciprocally, I will collect whenever music of your members is performed in my country. And we will pay each other.

Under this single-window clearance, the user obtains a licence to commercially perform any music in the world and the royalties collected by the PRO are distributed accordingly. Last year these PROs, representing four million lyricists-composers and their publishers, collected over Rs. 61,000 crore (€8.641 billion) in 123 countries!

This global system of royalties collection and distribution is regulated by the Paris-based not-for-profit International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies (CISAC). To become a member and benefit from this global system, a PRO must conform to CISAC’s demanding standards of efficiency, fairness and transparency called The Professional Rules.

Ilaiyaraaja is a member of the British ‘PRS for Music’ and was issued an international identifier no. 619442541. Havingdivested (वंचित रहना या कर देना)himself of his performing right in favour of PRS for music, he had therefore no locus standi (the right or capacity to bring an action or to appear in a court.) to issue such a legal notice. Only PRS for Music and its sister societies around the globe have the right to licence the public performance of Ilaiyaraaja’s songs. We must conclude that the celebrated composer received bad advice.

But this begs the question: why would Ilaiyaraaja want to become a member of a foreign society? Because IPRS has a miserable record of service to its members. Its annual income is hardly Rs. 40 crore, a figure that compares poorly to similar PROs that in 2016 collected Rs. 225 crore in South Africa, Rs. 550 crore in Russia or a massive Rs. 1,825 crore in Brazil. Worse, in 2014 the IPRS surrendered its licence to operate as a legitimate copyright society when it came under investigation by two separate arms of the government. Thereafter its bank accounts were seized by the Enforcement Directorate.

Subsequently, a CISAC audit in 2015 found that IPRS was meeting almost none of its Professional Rules; after two warnings went unheeded, last June CISAC expelled the IPRS for one year. As a result, all royalties collected for the use of Indian music will be held in suspense accounts around the world until IPRS reforms and is readmitted into the CISAC fold.

A just ecosystem for all

Lastly, songs must be registered in every PRO of the world. This is the responsibility of the music publisher or, in its absence, of the PRO in the country of origin of the songwriter. We find that only 180 songs of Ilaiyaraaja are registered in the U.S., only two in France, none in Germany… so even after the organisers of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam’s concerts pay royalties to a PRO, this money cannot reach Ilaiyaraaja if his songs are not found in its database.

Only an efficient and transparent IPRS can foster(बढ़ावा देना/प्रोत्साहन देना) a fair and sustainable creative ecosystem for all players, big and small, newcomers and established songwriters, to take the musical talent of India to global heights.

Courtesy: The Hindu (Concerning)

1. Fraternity (noun): People engaged in a particular occupation/persons of the same class, profession, character, or tastes. (भ्रातृत्व)

Synonyms: Brotherhood, Companionship, Togetherness, Solidarity.

Example: A fraternity circle must be developed in an organization for its growth.

Verb forms: Fraternize, Fraternized, Fraternized.

Related words:

Fraternize (verb) - Associate or form a friendship with someone, especially when one is not supposed to.

Fraternal (adjective) - Of or denoting an organization for people, especially men, that have common interests or beliefs.

Origin: From Latin Frater means Brother.

2. Aristocratic (adjective):Belonging to, having the qualities of, or favoring aristocracy.  (अभिजातीय/कुलीन)  

Synonyms: Noble, Elite, High-Born, Blue-Blooded.

Antonyms: Plebeian, Low-Born.

Example: Most countries are no longer ruled by the aristocracybut by elected officials.

Related words:

Aristocracy (noun) - The highest class in certain societies, typically comprising people of noble birth holding hereditary titles and offices.

Aristocrat (noun) -  A member of the aristocracy.

Origin:  from Greek aristokratia, aristos ‘best’ + -kratia ‘power’. 

3. Monarchic (adjective): Of, relating to, suggestive of, or characteristic of a monarch or monarchy. (राजकीय)  

Synonyms: Kingly, Royal, Regal, Imperial.

Antonyms: Common.

Example: In a completemonarchy, the royal who runs the country makes all the major decisions for the nation.

Related words:

Monarch (noun) - a sovereign head of state

Monarchy (noun) - a form of government with a monarch at the head.

Origin: from Greek monarkhēs, monos ‘alone’ + arkhein ‘to rule’.

4. Enshrine (verb): Preserve (a right, tradition, or idea) in a form that ensures it will be protected and respected. (सुरक्षितरखना/प्रतिष्ठापित करना) 

Synonyms: Exalt, Aggrandize, Ennoble, Preserve.

Antonyms: Abase, Degrade, Demean.

Example: The right of all workers to strike was enshrinedin the new constitution, which was formed at the time of last strike.

Verb forms: Enshrine, Enshrined, Enshrined.

5. Remuneration (noun):Money paid for work or a service. (पारिश्रमिक)  

Synonyms: Compensation, Disbursement, Pay, Remittance, Payment.

Example: Since you are an hourly worker, yourremuneration is dependent upon the hours you put in each day.

Verb forms: Remunerate, Remunerated, Remunerated.

Related words:

Remunerate (verb) - pay (someone) for services rendered or work done.

Origin: Latin remuneratus, past participle of remunerare means to recompense.

6. Unanimously (adverb): With the agreement of all people involved. (सर्वसम्मति से)   

Synonyms: Harmoniously, Collectively, Cooperatively, In Unison. 

Antonyms: Differently, Divergently.

Example: The unanimousconsent of all the shareholders was required to approve the merger.

Related words:

Unanimous (adjective) - in total agreement or accord.

Origin: from Latin unanimus (from unus ‘one’ + animus ‘mind’).  

7. Divest (verb): Deprive someone of (power, rights, or possessions). (वंचित रहना या करदेना)   

Synonyms: Deprive, Dispossess, Expropriate, Oust.

Antonyms: Confer, Give. 

Example: Under the new deal, the company agreed to divestitself of half its revenues, so they could distribute it among their creditors.

Verb forms: Divest, Divested, Divested.

8. Foster (verb): Encourage the development of (something, especially something desirable).  (बढ़ावा देना/प्रोत्साहन देना)

Synonyms: Encourage, Promote, Forward, Assist, Nurture, Strengthen, Enrich.

Antonyms: Block, Cease, Discourage, Dissuade, Halt, Hinder, Impede.

Example: The teacher's task is to foster learning among the students.

Verb forms: Foster, Fostered, Fostered.

Origin: from fōster ‘food, nourishment’, of Germanic origin.

9. Legacy (noun):  Something left or handed down by a predecessor. (विरासत)

Synonyms: Bequest, Inheritance, Patrimony, Endowment. 

Example: Though none of his family was famous, he intended to leave a mark on the world, creating a legacy that would be remembered around the world.

Related words:

Origin: from Latin legatus, past participle of legare means ‘bequeath’.

10. Marvel (noun): A wonderful or astonishing person or thing.(चमत्कार/आश्चर्य)

Synonyms: Wonder, Miracle, Phenomenon, Portent, Prodigy.

Antonyms: Normality. 

Example: Many scientists view the three-year-old boy with the extremely high IQ as a marvel.

Related words:

Marvelous (adjective) - अद्भुत

Marvelously (adverb) - आश्चर्यजनक रूप से

Origin: from Latin mirabilis means wonderful.