Current Affairs June 14, 2017 –  Third generation Nag missile test-fired:

NATIONAL

Third generation Nag missile test-fired:

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired the third generation Nag Anti- Tank Guided Missile (ATGM).The successful flight test of 3rd  generation ATGM Nag further strengthens the country’s defence capabilities.

Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister: Satheesh Reddy

Tripura Govt announces 19.68 pc pay hike for its employees, pensioners:

Tripura  Finance minister Bhanu Lal Saha announced an average 19.68% pay hike for its employees and pensioners with affect from April 1, 2017.

• Tripura CM and Governor: Manik Sarkar & Tathagata Roy

Israeli envoy invites Punjab Chief Minister:

Punjab Chief minister Amarinder Singh has been invited by Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon to visit his country in September to discuss about enhancing cooperation in the various areas.

The delegation invited the chief minister to coincide his visit with WATEC Israel an international professional exhibition to be held in Tel Aviv from September 12-14 which would offer a platform to showcase latest technologies in water and environment.

• Punjab Governor: V.P.Singh Badnore

J-K govt forms 5-member working group on initiatives for students:

The Jammu and Kashmir government has constituted a five-member working group headed by Amitabh Matto and Co-headed by education minister Altaf Bukhari to work out modalities for operationalisation of knowledge initiative for students in the state. Group have to submit report within 12 months.

Jammu & Kashmir

• Capitals: Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
• Chief Minister: Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed

India ratifies key global conventions to combat child labour:

India ratified two fundamental global conventions on combating child labour and Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said ratification of the two ILO Conventions reaffirmed India’s “commitment to a child labour free society”.

India’s ratifications of Conventions 138 and 182, while India is the 170th ILO (International Labour Organization) member state to ratify Convention No 138 and 181st member state to ratify the convention 182.

• ILO Head & Headquarters: Guy Ryder & Geneva, Switzerland.

Sikkim govt signs MoU with British Council:

The Human Resource Development department of Sikkim government signed MoU with the British Council to enhance quality of education in the state.

The MoU was signed by GP Upadhaya, additional chief secretary cum principal Human Resource Development department and Alan Gemmell, Head of British Council.

Sikkim

• Capital: Gangtok
• Chief Minister: Pawan Kumar Chamling
• Governor: Sriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

Centre nod for 100 AYUSH hospitals:

Union Minister of state for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik announced that Centre has approved proposals for setting up of 100 Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) hospitals across the country. An AYUSH hospital equivalent to AIIMS would be opened within a month at New Delhi.

Also, the ministry has approved setting up of two 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals at Theni and Tiruvannamalai districts in Tamil Nadu. A total of Rs. 283.6 lakh crore has been released out of sanctioned amount of Rs. 563 crore for the conservation and development for medicinal plants across Tamil Nadu.

India first canal top solar PV system at NTPC Mouda:

    NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) has energized 150 kWp Canal Top Solar PV System on cooling water (CW) channel at its 2320 MW Mouda Thermal Power Project, near Nagpur in Maharashtra.

• kWp: Kilowatt peak

• NTPC Headquarters: New Delhi

• NTPC CEO: Gurdeep Singh

India said to be co-partner in global food trade fair ANUGA:

India to be a co-partner in a global food and beverages trade ANUGA to be held in Cologne, Germany from October 7 to 11, 2017.

The 34th edition of ANUGA is being organised by Koelnmesse GmBH and 7,200 exhibitors from more than 100 countries are likely to participate in the event.

Germany

• Capital & Currency: Berlin & Euro
• Chancellor: Angela Merkel

Adani Group Commissions 50 MW Solar Plant In U.P:

Global integrated infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group is set to commission 50 MW (megawatts) solar PV (photovoltaic) plant in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh with an investment of Rs 315 crore under the National Solar Mission Scheme.

Telangana launches PashuBazar website for online cattle sale:

The Telangana government launched the website ‘PashuBazar’ to facilitate online sale or purchase of cattle. The online platform has been developed to help farmers in selling their animals without physically taking them to weekly markets.

Telangana

• Chief Minister: Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao
• Governor: E.S.L Narasimhan

INTERNATIONAL

G7 Environment Ministers Meet in Bologna:

Group of Seven (G7) environment ministers and officials are met in Bologna, Italy on June 11th and 12th to discuss issues ranging from climate change to sustainable development and litter at sea and adopted the “5-Year Bologna Roadmap”.

The Meeting was attended by the Environment Ministers of G7 countries and the commissioner of the European Union for Environment and Climate.

• Italy holds the G7 presidency for 2017.
• Canada to holds the 48th G7 presidency for 2018.
• G7 Countries consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Hungary Passes Tough Anti-Foreign NGO Law:

Hungary Parliament passes an Anti-Foreign NGO Law for aimed at ensuring transparency and to fight money laundering and terrorism funding.

Hungary

• Capital & Currency: Budapest & Hungarian forint
• Prime Minister: Victor Orban

Panama establishes diplomatic ties with China, breaks off relations with Taiwan:

In a major blow to Taiwan, Panama broke off diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Isabel Saint Malo de Alvarado, Panama’s vice president and foreign minister signed a joint communique agreement for formally established diplomatic relations.

• Joint communique: Panama has recognised ‘One China’ which means that Taiwan is part of the Chinese mainland.
• Panama Capital & Currency: Panama City & Panamanian balboa (also US Dollar)
• Panama President: Juan Carlos Varela

Pakistan eyes 2018 start for China-funded mega dam:

    Pakistan expects China to fund a long-delayed Indus river mega dam project in Gilgit – Baltistan with work beginning next year, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

The $12-$14 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam should generate 4,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity, and a vast new reservoir would regulate the flow of water to farmland that is vulnerable to increasingly erratic weather patterns.

China

• Currency: Renminbi
• Capital: Beijing
• Prime minister: Li Keqiang
• President: Xi Jinping

Pakistan

• Currency: Rupee
• Capital: Islamabad
• Prime Minister: Nawaz Sharif

Banking & Business

Govt imposes anti-dumping duty on Chinese ceramic items:

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of ceramic table and kitchenware items from China to protect domestic industry against goods being sold at below normal value.

The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be levied for a period not exceeding six months (unless revoked, amended or superseded earlier).

Google reigns supreme as world’s most valuable brand:

    Google has topped the 2017 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list with a brand value of over $245 billion. Further, US tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook were also among the five most valuable brands.

Govt to implement 7th Pay Commission allowances from July 1:

The government is likely to implement allowances under the 7th Pay Commission from July 1.

The committee, led by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, has recommended hiking housing rent allowance (HRA) by 27 percent.

Four state-owned banks submit consolidation plans to the Finance Ministry:

Four public sector banks (PSBs) have made presentations about their consolidation plans to the Finance Ministry.

These four banks are Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank and Vijaya Bank. NITI Aayog was also asked to provide plans for the consolidation of the PSBs as the government wanted to have 4-5 banks of SBI size.

SEBI sets trading rules for commodity options:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed commodity exchanges to introduce options trading while ensuring that such contracts are introduced only on such commodities that currently register high volume in the futures segment.

The regulator also set stringent turnover-based rules for a commodity to qualify to enter into options trading. Currently, SEBI allows futures trading on various agri and non-agri commodities.

SEBI

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Chairman:
  

  Ajay Tyagi

RBI identifies 12 mega defaulters for insolvency, their total NPA Rs 175,000 cr:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is moving to resolve the bad loan crisis with an Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) of the RBI having identified 12 accounts of corporate borrowers who owe over Rs 5,000 crore each — and overall involve an amount of close to Rs 175,000 crore — for insolvency proceedings under the newly enacted Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC).

CDSL to Launch 500cr Initial Public Offer on June 19:

Securities depository firm Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL) it plans to launch its over 500 crore initial public offering (IPO) on June 19.

CDSL has priced its shares in a price band of 145-149 per share for the initial share sale.

Appointments & Resigns

Tata Motors names Wagh as CV head:

    Tata Motors announced the appointment of Girish Wagh, 46, as the Head of Commercial Vehicle Business Unit and a member of the executive committee

Mohun Bagan President Swapan Sadhan Bose quits:

Swapan Sadhan, President of Mohun Bagan football team quit his post citing “deteriorating health”.

BOOK & AUTHOR

Ex-Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal authors book on Atal Bihari Vajpayee:

The Book titled “Yug Purush, Bharat Ratna, Atal Ji’ authored by Ex-Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal and it will be officially unveiled soon. The first copy of the book was received by President Pranab Mukherjee.

SPORTS

Virat Kohli Reaches Number 1 Spot in ICC ODI Rankings:

India captain Virat Kohli has reclaimed the top batting spot while Australia’s pace ace Josh Hazlewood has achieved the number-one position in the bowlers’ rankings for the first time in his career in the latest ICC ODI Player Rankings.

Divya Dhayal won the Bronze medal in Archery World Cup:

Pune girl Divya Dhayal won the bronze medal at the Archery World Cup, held at Antalya, Turkey. In the compound mixed team event, the Indian team comprising Divya Dhayal and Abhishek Verma defeated Italy to clinch the bronze.

Iran confirms its spot for 2018 World Cup:

    Iran confirmed its spot in the 2018 World Cup finals with a victory over Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium.

It was Iran’s sixth win from eight matches in Group A. Iran, still unbeaten in the third stage of qualifying, has played in the finals four times in the past — in 1978, 1998, 2006 and 2014

IRAN

• Currency: Iranian rial
• Capital: Tehran   
• Prime Minister: Hassan Rouhani

Nadal first to qualify for ATP WTF:

    Rafael Nadal has become the first player to book his place at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in November after the Spaniard won a record 10th French Open title in Paris.

Historic Events of the Day

June 13: International Albinism Awareness Day:

The International Albinism Awareness Day was observed on 13th June 2017 with an aim to end multiple forms of discrimination that is faced by people suffer from albinism.

June 14th Blood donor day:

    Every year, on 14th June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The event serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

Theme of 2017: “Give blood. Give now. Give often”.