VINTAGE: IMPORATANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF AUG 13 AND 14, 2016

SC lifts ban on registration of High-end Diesel cars and SUVs in Delhi and NCR

The Supreme Court of India has lifted the ban on registration of high-end diesel cars and SUVs having engine capacity of 2000 cc and above in Delhi and NCR.
Ruling in this regard was given by SC bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur on record the affidavits filed by some car makers and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The petitioners had offered to deposit one per cent of the price of the vehicles as Environment Protection Charge (EPC) before the registration of such vehicles.
SC ruled that The one per cent amount, charged as EPC shall be paid to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) which will open a separate account with a scheduled public sector bank.
The registration of the vehicle will be done by Regional Transport Officer on the satisfaction that one per cent of the cost of the vehicle has been deposited.
The question whether the rate of ECC should be increased has been left open and may be increased in future, but such increase would not be done retrospectively.

August 10 is observed as World Biofuel Day. It was on this date that Sir Raulph Diesel successfully test a mechanical engine with Peanut oil as fuel. Diesel is also the inverter of diesel engines which run our cars today.
The biofuel industry has a potential of growing from Rs 6500 crores to 1 lakh crore in the next decade according to Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The decision is an outcome of a demand made by Naga Mothers' Association, which filed a petition in Supreme court.
The elections to these bodies have been withheld since 2010 when the first tenure ended.

Researchers from the Pune-based National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) have successfully isolated cancer stem cells that cause skin cancer.
They have successfully demonstrated that Andrographolide (a compound) isolated and purified from Andrographis paniculata (a herb) found in India is effective in inhibiting tumour growth both in skin cancer and lung metastasis in mice.
In order to establish that CD133 positive cancer stem cells cause cancer, the researchers had injected these cells subcutaneously into mice.
The CD133 positive cancer stem cells that develops tumour faster than non-cancer stem cells.It also produces lung metastasis in a different set of mice that received the cells through intravenous injection.
The research showed that all the animals injected with CD133 positive cancer stem cells developed skin cancer (melanoma).

Simone Manuel anchored the U.S. women's 4x100 metres medley relay team to the 1,000th gold medal in her country's summer Olympic history, and the second of her career.
Australia won the silver, with Cate Campbell touching out just 0.01 ahead of bronze medallists Denmark.

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