Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.).

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1 Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.

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4 India Meteorological Department getting its monsoon forecast wrong this year. Types of modelling method 1. Ensemble Statistical Forecasting System aka April Model 2. Dynamic: Supercomputers are used Long Period Average: 89cm The Indian monsoon has over the centuries stayed remarkably consistent at around 89 cm during the monsoon months, give or take 10%. IMD in April 2017: Rainfall to be 96% and then said 98% after few months. Rainfall has a ripple effect in our country. IMD should drop catch-all numbers, which is a meaningless practice. Challenge: Capturing intra-seasonal variation or forecasting a sudden change in global weather Provide local reports in understandable manner.

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7 Catalonia s defiant vote to secede from Spain is the culmination of Madrid s costly miscalculations, with potentially serious ramifications for all of Europe. The referendum, marred by violence that left hundreds injured. Whatever the merits of his judgment calls in the run-up to the referendum and the police action on the day, the handling of this long-festering question by Mr. Rajoy Popular backing for separation in Catalonia reached a high point in the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis. Capitalising on the positive mood and engaging the secessionist forces politically would have been the obvious approach. Once Spain s highest court nullified the referendum, the government was evidently on a firm legal footing, emboldening Mr. Rajoy to do anything to stop the vote. The mood among moderate sections in Catalonia turned rapidly hostile. It is in both Madrid s and Barcelona s interest to begin a meaningful dialogue to contain the damage.

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9 Economic growth has slowed for five consecutive quarters, that is from late onwards. Growth matters in India as a large number of persons have to make do with far too few goods and services as it is, which is how poverty is defined. Since these public goods are provided by government, the government needs tax revenues to supply them, and these depend upon national income. Then there is employment. A demand for labour exists only when there is a demand for goods. So growth is necessary if employment is to be assured In India we not only have a pool of unemployed persons to absorb but we also need to provide employment to youth continuously entering the labour force. Transforming the economy Ease of doing business Labour laws in India make exit difficult, and complying with requirements with respect to the hiring of labour is time consuming and therefore costly. An intervention that government in India should avoid is facilitating land acquired for industry to be alienated from manufacturing activity. It is generally the case that it is capital formation, or investment, that drives growth in the economy. Investment is an immediate source of demand as firms that invest buy goods and services to do so, but it also expands the economy s capacity to produce.

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11 When crises keep occurring frequently, it is a sign that something has gone badly wrong with the city s governance. Dramatic transformation: As the textile and manufacturing industry died out within the city, this area saw the rise of services and commercial activity. This development occurred without any adaptive response from the public authorities. Same story in other parts of the city A key reason is the absence of coordination among the many public organisations. Lack of an adaptive and flexible planning process. Coordination and cooperation among all public authorities concerned needs to take place. 74th Constitutional Amendment Act calls for establishing metropolitan planning committees (MPCs) for metropolitan regions. Creating metropolitan councils entrusted with specific powers. It is crucial that the agency have a clear functional mandate and adequate autonomous power for planning and decision making.

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13 The cost of electricity can be divided into 1. Plant-level costs 2. Grid-level costs 3. Other costs. Plant-level costs consist of a. Capital b. Operation and maintenance c. Fuelling cost. Capital cost is reflected in the cost of generation by way of interest on debt and return on equity. For nuclear power plants, capital cost is high, but fuelling cost is low. For coal-fired power plants, capital cost is low, but fuelling cost is high. The capital cost of solar and wind is continuously decreasing; fuelling cost is nil.

14 Electricity reaches a consumer through the grid. Laying a grid needs significant investment. A distributor buys electricity from a generator, adds transmission and distribution charges, a charge to recover technical losses, operating expenses, and his profit to determine the tariff to be charged from a consumer. Since several generators are connected to the grid, interaction with the grid and grid-management policies influence the working of a generator. At present, electricity markets do not assign any price to system effects, that is, to the complex interactions among various generators connected to the grid. A large capacity based on variable renewable energy (VRE) sources has been connected to the grid. A policy framework that integrates all low-carbon energy technologies with coal in a manner that ensures reliability and security of electric supply along with affordability and climate-resilient development.

15 Las Vegas Shooting In the United States, at least 50 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert. A gunman, identified as 64-year-old Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air music festival attended by 22,000. Police say he killed himself as officers stormed the room where 10 guns were found. The attack is the worst mass shooting in recent US history. US President Donald Trump tweeted his warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and their families, and called the shooting terrible. Police described the shooting as a lone wolf attack. Talking to media, Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that Police has located a woman, earlier identified as Marilou Danley, who was suspected of travelling with the gunman before the attack. External Affairs Ministry has said, no Indian national is affected in Las Vegas shooting incident in the US.

16 Swachh Bharat Mission Launched: 2014, completes 3 years. Aim: To make the country Open Defecation Free and achieve 100 percent sanitation coverage by October Prime Minister presented swacchhata awards to participants in various categories on the third anniversary of the Swacchh Bharat Mission at a function in New Delhi. In his address, Mr Modi said, India has accepted the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and the movement has become a people's movement due to the 'Siddhi' of Swachhagrahis. Swachhta Abhiyan has now become a dream of the common man in the country and children are the biggest ambassadors of Swachhta Mega Watt energy is being generated from waste.

17 Swachhta Hi Seva The Prime Minister has lauded the contributions of eminent personalities and groups towards Swachhta Hi Seva campaign. The nation-wide sanitation campaign, which started on the 15th of last month, culminated today. President Ram Nath Kovind today declared rural Gujarat as Open Defecation Free at a function held at Kirti Mandir in Porbandar. He reached Porbandar on a day visit to Gujarat and visited Kirti Mandir - the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi and offered tribute to the father of the nation. He participated in an all religion prayer meeting organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The President also felicitated rural women for achieving ODF status for rural Gujarat.

18 Morgan Stanley Report A Morgan Stanley report says, India is likely to be the world's fastest-growing large economy in the next 10 years, driven by Digitisation Favourable demographics Globalisation Reforms According to the global financial services major, the trend line in India's annual GDP growth has been accelerating to 6.9 percent in 2000s, from 5.8 percent in the 1990s, and this momentum is likely to continue in the next decade as well. Morgan Stanley expects digitisation will provide an enhancement of basis points to GDP growth and forecast that India will grow to a 6-trillion-dollar economy and achieve upper-middle income status by Morgan Stanley said that India's real GDP growth is to compound annually at 7.1 percent and nominal GDP growth at 11.2 percent, over the coming decade.

19 Nobel Medicine Prize US geneticists Jeffrey C Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W Young were awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize today for shedding light on the internal biological clock that governs the wakesleep cycles of most living things. Their discoveries explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth's revolutions. The award was announced by the Nobel Assembly. The trio will share the prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor about 1.1 million US Dollars. The panel that awards the Nobel Prize in literature says this year's winner will be announced on Thursday.

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21 Questions 1. In terms of cyber security what is the difference between Phishing and Spear-Phishing? 2. How widening of tax base will lead to reduction in tax rates?

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