i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017. It seeks to enhance domestic steel consumption and ensure high-quality steel production and create a technologically advanced and globally competitive steel industry.

ii. The NSP 2017 aims to achieve 300 million tonnes of steel-making capacity by 2030.

Key features of the NSP 2017:

1. Create self-sufficiency in steel production by providing policy support & guidance to private manufacturers, MSME steel producers, CPSEs

2. Encourage adequate capacity additions,

3. Development of globally competitive steel manufacturing capabilities,

4. Cost-efficient production

5. Domestic availability of iron ore, coking coal & natural gas,

6. Facilitating foreign investment

7. Asset acquisitions of raw materials &

8. Enhancing the domestic steel demand.

i. In order to Strengthen defence ties, India has opened its first private small arms manufacturing plant at Malanpur, Madhya Pradesh in a joint venture with Israel.

ii. The plant has been set up as a joint venture Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems between Indian defence conglomerate Punj Lloyd and Israel Weapons Industries (IWI).

iii. This is the first opportunity for the country to get its own 'Made in India' small arms.

i. India has launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F09) carrying the GSAT-9 or the “South Asia” satellite.

ii. The satellite was lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

iii. Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka agreed but Pakistan is not a part of the project that was initially christened the SAARC satellite.


Important Points of the Satellite-

● The lift-off mass of GSLV-F09 is about 2,230 kg which includes the satellite and its launch vehicle.

● The mainframe of the satellite is cuboid in shape, built around a central cylinder.

● The mission lifespan is 12 years.

● The satellite is meant for providing communication and disaster support and connectivities among the countries of South Asia region

● All participating nations will have access to at least one transponder using which they can telecast their own programming.

● Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the part of project

The satellite will provide communication channels between countries for better disaster management as the region is prone to natural disasters.

i. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has constituted Technical Committee to lay down Technical Standards for the performance of core services and other services in accordance with Regulation 14 of the IBBI (Information Utilities) Regulations, 2017.

ii. The committee will be Chaired by Dr. R. B. Barman and the three members of the committee are Dr. Nand Lal Sarda, Dr. Pulak Ghosh and Sh. V. G. Kannan.

iii. The Committee shall give its recommendation specifically on the matters namely- the Application Programming Interface; standard terms of service; registration of users; unique identifier for each record and each user

i. The Madhya Pradesh government has passed a resolution granting river Narmada the status of a living entity and committed itself to the protection of its legal rights.

ii. A month ago, the Uttarakhand High Court had declared Ganga, Yamuna and their tributaries living entities with the status of a legal person.

i. Reliance Corporate IT Park Ltd. (RCITPL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with enterprise application software major SAP SE to launch 'SARAL GST' solution for taxpayers.

ii. According to the subsidiary of Reliance Industries, the new offering will enable taxpayers to be GST compliant and smoothly access the government's GST System, once GST is rolled out from July 1, 2017.

i. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Minister of Finance, Mr. Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha on April 5, 2017. The Bill seeks to amend the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981. The 1981 Act provides for the establishment of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). NABARD is responsible for providing and regulating facilities like credit for agricultural and industrial development in the rural areas.

i. The Indian men’s national football team has made it into the top 100 of the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) world football rankings for the first time in 21 years.

ii. This upward movement is the result of away wins against Myanmar and Cambodia.

iii. As per the updated rankings on May 4, India, with a total of 331 points, have climbed a spot and are now placed 100th.

iv. The last time India had been in the top 100 of the rankings was way back in 1996, with the 94th spot in February 1996 being the country’s best ever FIFA ranking.