NEWS 12-06-2017. News for 13-Jun (Tuesday) 1. NITI Aayog has launched SATH Program for providing ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital (SATH) to the State Governments.The program is aimed at initiating the transformation in the education and health sectors and aims to address the need for technical support from NITI Aayog towards the states.SATH aims to identify and build three ‘role model’ states for health systems. The program was launched on 10 June 2017. 2. Indiahas become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 9 June 2017. All members described India's accession to SCO as historic and said it would strengthen security and promote regional cooperation among member countries. In addition to this, Pakistan also became the full member of SCO.This was the first-ever expansion of the group since its formation in 2001. With the accession, the strength of the grouping rose to eight and its footprints expanded from Central Asia to South Asia. 3. The Presidential Election of India will be held on 17 July 2017, as per the announcement made by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on 7 June 2017.The term of President Pranab Mukherjee will come to an end on 24 July 2017. The polling will be held in Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and premises of state assemblies. The election will be conducted by secret ballot. The counting of votes will take place on 20 July 2017. 4. Six countries of the Arab region, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Egypt have cut off their diplomatic ties with Qatar.The countries have all accused Doha for destabilising the region and have declared that they would not be maintaining any diplomatic relations with the nation with immediate effect. Qatar Foreign Ministry on the hand has expressed regret on the decision of the Arab countries to cut off diplomatic ties & denied allegation of supporting terrorism. Indians comprising more than 6.25 lakhs, are the largest expatriate community in oil rich Qatar. 5. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the communication satellite GSAT-19 into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)on 5 June 2017. The communication satellite was lifted by an indigenously developed launch vehicle named Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk- III) D-1 from the second launch pad of the spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The GSLV Mk-III is referred as FAT Boy of ISRO or India is ISRO’s its most powerful rocket. 6. The Supreme Court has upheld the government’s decision and ruled that it would be mandatory for all Aadhaar holders to link it with the permanent account number (PAN) for filing of income tax returns. However, in a partial setback to the government, the apex court refused to make it compulsory for those people who do not possess an Aadhaar card or have not yet applied for one. < < Back