Current Affairs  23,June 2017 –   Nirmala Sitharaman Launched Startup India Virtual Hub

NATIONAL

Rajdhani, Shatabdi trains set for revamp under ‘Operation Swarn’:

The Indian Railways like Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express, Railways to launch “Operation Swarn (‘gold’)”. The operation is aimed at improving the services in these premium trains.

Under the operation, a sum of 50 lakh allocated in the first phase and Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express will be upgraded.

EPFO signs MoU with HUDCO for housing subsidy under PMAY:

Retirement fund body EPFO signed a pact with the Housing and Urban Development Corp (HUDCO) to enable members of its housing scheme to avail subsidy and interest subvention under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Under the housing scheme, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) allows its subscribers from societies for withdrawing up to 90% of their EPF accumulations to buy homes. This MoU is one step forward to PM Modi Vision “Housing For all by 2022”.

EPFO

  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • Central Provident Fund Commissioner: Dr. V P Joy

HUDCO:

  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • CMD: Dr. M. Ravi Kanth

Mizoram launched scheme for better treatment of HIV-hit people:

The Mizoram Health Minister Lal Thanzara launched the ‘Test and Treat Strategy‘ of the Mizoram state AIDS Control Society (MSACS) to improve treatment for HIV affected people in the state.

Under the ‘Test and Treat Strategy’, the HIV affected people would be given free Anti Retrovira Therapy (ART) irrespective of the CD4 count.

Mizoram

Chief Minister: Lal Thanhawla

Governor: Nirbhay Sharma

Capital: Aizawl

Kerala gets its first total yoga village:

    It was a memorable day for the people of Kunnamthanam which became a complete yoga village with at least one member of each family in the Panchayat trained in yoga. Grama panchayat president K.K. Radhakrishna Kurup declared Kunnamthanam as a complete yoga village.

Mega plans to turn Bhubaneswar ‘smart’:
     The Odisha government has been  lined up several ambitious infrastructure projects under the smart city initiative that are likely to transform the way people use public space in central Bhubaneswar.

    Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for Smart Janpath – redesigning of existing road connecting Vani Vihar Square with Sishu Bhawan Square, two multi-layer car parking projects at Saheed Nagar. The total cost of all the projects is estimated at 176 crore.

Odisha

  • Capital: Bhubaneswar
  • Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
  • Governor: S. C. Jamir

NGT imposes ban on dumping of waste on Ravi flood plains in HP:

    The National Green Tribunal has imposed a complete ban on dumping and burning of all kinds of waste including plastic on the flood plains of river Ravi in Himachal Pradesh.

    A circuit bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said the waste being dumped on the flood plains is a matter of serious concern as it pollutes the river.

Headquarters: New Delhi

National flag, temple offerings and Gandhi caps will need e-waybills under GST:

 

    The national flag, Khadi fabric, and Gandhi caps may be exempt from Goods and Services Tax, but for their transportation, the Centre is considering mandating the generation of e-waybills once that system is operationalised. Transporting currency, LPG, and kerosene oil, however, won’t need an e-waybill. An e-waybill is an electronic bill documenting any transport of a good of a value of more than 50,000.

Meira Kumar is Presidential Nominee for Opposition led UPA (United Progressive Alliance):

    The Opposition led UPA has decided to field former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar against NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the July 17 presidential election.

    She was five-time Lok Sabha MP and the union minister for Water Resources in the United Progressive Alliance government. Meira Kumar has also served as First women Lok Sabha speaker from 2009 to 2014.

Nirmala Sitharaman Launched Startup India Virtual Hub:

    Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Start-up India Virtual Hub on June 20, 2017 at New Delhi. The hub is an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to discover, connect and engage with each other.

    The hub attempts to solve the problem of information asymmetry and lack of access to knowledge, tools, and experts, especially in the nascent ecosystems across Tier II and III towns.

India biggest municipal bonds programme launched in Maharashtra:

    The Pune Municipal Corporation launched India’s biggest municipal bonds programme for finance its 24×7 water supply project. The project looks to raise Rs 2,264 crore in five years. It was inaugurated by union minister Venkaiah Naidu.

    Pune bond programme is the first since the publication of the Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities Regulations, 2015 by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

  • Municipal bonds are debt instruments through which a corporation or municipality raises money from individuals or institutions.

ISRO to launch Cartosat-2 along with 30 nano-satellites from Sriharikota:

    The national space agency ISRO is all geared up for the 40th flight of its highly reliable polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV C-38. The rocket carrying India’s ‘Cartosat-2 Series’ satellite as the principal payload and 30 other nano-satellites on-board is set to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

    The 30 nano-satellites include 29 belonging to foreign customers from 14 countries and one domestic payload of a private educational institution.

Odisha govt approves 53 projects under AMRUT:

    The Odisha government has approved 53 urban projects with a total investment of 5 hundred 38 crore rupees under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

    `With fund sharing patter of 50:50 between the Centre and state government, these new projects would be carried out in nine cities including Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack and Balasore.

    The scheme aims at strengthening drinking water distribution network, development of sewerage system, storm water management, Upgradation of city transport system and development of parks.

Rural Haryana declares itself as 5th ODF under Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin:

    Rural Haryana has declared itself as the fifth open defecation free (ODF) state in India under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin. The states of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand, which were the first four states to be declared ODF.

    Nationally, the sanitation coverage has increased from 42 per cent to over 64 per cent in just two-and-a-half years.

INTERNATIONAL

Estonia to open the world’s first data embassy in Luxembourg:

Prime Minister of Estonia Juri Ratas and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel have signed an agreement on housing data and information systems between the two countries.

Luxembourg is to host the first ‘data embassy’ to store sensitive data for the Estonian government on servers in the Grand Duchy. The ‘data embassy’ could be operational by the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018.

  • Estonia Currency & Capital: Euro & Tallinn
  • Luxembourg Capital & Capital: Luxembourg City & Euro

China Launched Research Project To Compile Data About South China Sea:

China has launched a research project to compile historical data obtained during expeditions by its teams to the disputed South China Sea since the late 1950s.

    The project has the participation of 193 scholars from 10 domestic research institutions and universities who specialise in fields such as marine life, ecology, fishery and geology.

US approved sale of 22 Guardian drones to India

    The US has cleared the sale of 22 unmanned Guardian drones to India a deal worth $2 to $3 billion being termed as a “game changer” ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for his maiden meeting with President Donald Trump.

 Banking & Business

World Bank sanctioned $44Million for Assam State Public Financial Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe) project:

    World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a loan assistance of 44 million dollars (Rs.283 crore) for the Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe) Project. The loan was sanction by World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)) in its meeting held at Washington DC.

World Bank

  • Headquarters: Washington DC
  • CEO: Kristalina Georgieva

NATGRID to get PAN, taxpayer data access:

    The NATGRID, a network aimed at sharing information about terrorists among security agencies, will now be getting access to the Income Tax Department’s PAN records and individual taxpayers’ data.

Tata Power offers to sell 51% stake in Mundra for Re 1:

    Tata Power, Adani Power and Essar Power has offered majority stakes in their imported coal-based power plants in Gujarat to the state government at Re 1 each.

Govt to launch National Data Repository on June 28:

    The government will launch India’s maiden National Data Repository (NDR) that will assimilate, preserve and upkeep country’s vast sedimentary data for future use in oil and gas exploration and production.

    Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will on June 28 to launch the NDR.

RBI expands Oversight Committee:

    (RBI) has expanded the size of its Oversight Committee — formed to advice banks on stressed assets resolution where lenders have more than Rs.500 crore exposures — to five, by adding three more members.

List of Committee members:

Three New Member

  • M.B.N.Rao – Former CMD of Canara Bank
  • S.Raman – Whole time member at the SEBI

Two Existing Members:

  • Janki Ballabh – Former SBI Chairman
  • Pradeep Kumar – Chief Vigilance Commissioner ( Also, He is chairman of the Oversight Committee)

Resolve 55 accounts in six months: RBI

    RBI has asked banks to resolve 55 high value cases of bad loans within six months or face the prospect of being directed to go in for the new insolvency resolution mechanism as part of the strategy to rein in unacceptable level of non-performing assets (NPAs).

Appointments

Russia’s Vladimir Voronkov appointed as chief of UN counter terrorism centre:

The United Nations announced the appointed Russian diplomat Vladimir Voronkov as head of its first counter-terrorism office.

The new high-level position has been created by United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts that had been dispersed among several United Nations agencies and departments.

  • UN Headquarters: New York City
  • UN Secretary General: Antonio Guterres

Kailash Chand appointed as honorary vice-president of UK medical body:

Kailash Chand, a veteran Indian-origin doctor in the UK has been appointed as honorary vice-president of the country’s prominent medical body, become the first professional from the community to be appointed to the post.

Ghassan Salame appointed as new UN envoy to Libya:

The United Nations has approved former Lebanese culture minister Ghassan Salame as the new UN envoy to Libya.

  • Libya Ca.pital & Currency: Tripoli & Libyan dinar
  • Libya Prime Minister: Fayez al-Sarraj

Sauber chief quits formula one:

    Sauber chief Monisha Kaltenborn has quit the Formula One outfit, her team announced, after reports of major fallout over the treatment of drivers Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein. India-born Kaltenborn, 46, had been the chief executive of the mid-grid team since 2010.

AWARDS

Sonam Kapoor’s fashion label Rheson wins PETA award:

Actress Sonam Kapoor and her producer-sister Rhea Kapoor’s fashion label — Rheson has bagged the Compassionate Business Award from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India for a line of bags made exclusively of vegan materials.

Indian Anti-Hunger Activist “Ankit Kawatra” To Be Honoured by Queen Elizabeth II:

Anti-hunger activist Ankit Kawatra, who has been committed to solving hunger and malnutrition in India, is all set to receive the prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award with 60 others from all 53 Commonwealth countries.

He will be honoured by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony to be held in the Buckingham Palace on June 29th.

Radio Mirchi bags Gold at 2017 NYF Radio Awards:

Radio Mirchi bagged a Gold Radio for ‘Five years of Nirbhaya,’ under the Public Service Announcement Promotion category. The player also bagged a Bronze Radio for ‘Ha ja ba ra la’ under the Best Audio Book Fiction category and won three finalist certificates in the event held at New York Festivals International Radio Program in New York City Manhattan Penthouse.

Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) won two Silver Radio and seven finalist certificates.

Totally, India won nine medals (One Gold, Four Silver and Four Bronze) and bagged 22 finalist certificates.

Sahitya awards for 2 Goan writers:

Two Konkani literary personalities “Vincy Quadros and Amey Naik” from Goa have been chosen for the country’s highest literary Sahitya Akademi awards.

Quadros has been awarded Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for his book ‘Jaduche Petul’ for children in Konkani.

Amey Naik has been selected for Yuva Puraskar 2017 for his Konkani poetry collection ‘Mog Dot Com’.

‘Baahubali 2′ to be screened at Moscow Int’l Film Festival:

‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ will be screened at the 39th edition of the Moscow International Film Festival.

The special screening at the film festival is part of a series of events to celebrate the 70 years of bilateral relations between India and Russia to be held from June 22 to June 29 in Russia.

SPORTS

Oscar gets eight-game ban:

    Brazilian Oscar was banned for eight games for triggering a mass brawl in the Chinese Super League between his Shanghai SIPG side and its opponent Guangzhou R&F.

    The Chinese Football Association issued bans to four players, including Oscar, and fined him 40,000 Yuan ($6,000).

Historic Events of the Day

June 23: International Widows’ Day

International Widows’ Day was introduced to address poverty and injustice faced by widows and their children in many countries. It was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2010 and is observed annually on June 23.

June 23: UN Public Service Day

The UN Public Service Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to “celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community”. The prestigious UN Public Service Awards are given away on this day. It will be observed every year on June 23.

 

 

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