Current Affairs June 9, 2017 –  Punjab launched Chief Minister Scholarship Scheme

NATIONAL

Punjab launched Chief Minister Scholarship Scheme:

    Punjab government has launched a unique ‘Chief Minister Scholarship Scheme’ with a resolve to provide cheaper and quality technical education to the meritorious and poor students of the state.

Under this scheme, benefit for students:

    • Marks 60-70% – 70% fee waiver
    • Marks 70-80% – 80% fee waiver
    • Marks 80-90%- 90% fee waiver
  • Above 90%   – 100% fee waiver
  • Punjab CM and Governor: Amarinder Singh and V.P.Singh Badnore

Tamil Nadu signs MoU with Centre government for Regional air connectivity scheme:

The Tamil Nadu state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Civil Aviation Ministry for the implementation the Regional air connectivity scheme in the presence of Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

Therefore, First flight services start to Hosur, Salem and Neyveli in the first phase under the “Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik” (UDAN) or regional connectivity scheme.

Union government approved modification in Kambala Bill:

The Union government has asked the state government to effect a minor amendment to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017 and resend it for Presidential assent for the conduct of Kambala, a traditional buffalo race.

The state cabinet decided to resend the Bill after making necessary modification to the Bill. The bill was cleared by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.

New industrial city in Jharkhand:

    The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given Rs 400 crore for the completion of Ranchi-Jamshedpur NH-33, while a new industrial city spreading over 5,000 acres near the multi-modal transport hub in Sahibganj district.

Union minister for transport, highways and shipping: Nitin Gadkari.

Jharkhand

  • Capital: Ranchi
  • Chief Minister: Raghubar Das
  • Governor: Draupadi Murmu

ISRO to launch new ‘eye in the sky’:

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to launch a Cartosat-series satellite also called the ‘eye in the sky’ because of its surveillance capabilities into the 505-km polar sun synchronous orbit by the end of this month.

The 550kg satellite is the fourth of the Cartosat-2 series is to be launched by the PSLV-C38 rocket.

  • ISRO Headquarters: Bangalore
  • ISRO Chairman: A.S.Kiran Kumar
  • PSLV – Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates “Saath Hai Viswaas Hai, Ho Raha Vikas Hai” Exhibition:

The Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the “Saath Hai Viswaas Hai, Ho Raha Vikas Hai” Exhibition at Indira Niketan Park, Sarojini Nagar. Col.Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for I&B was also present on the occasion.

  • Venkaiah Naidu : Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Madhya Pradesh government launches farmers’ debt relief scheme:

Madhya Pradesh government launched a new debt relief scheme “Krishi Rin Samadhan Yojana” for farmers. The cabinet also allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme. Under this scheme, the interest rate on loans would be less which would in turn also help defaulting farmers get loan.

ID proof a must to book Flight ticket:

    In a few months, you will no longer be able to book a flight ticket without submitting an ID proof such as Aadhaar, passport or PAN, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha.

    It requires either- passport, Aadhaar or PAN, or some other identification measure to be linked to your PNR number so that we can uniquely identify the person during the journey.

INTERNATIONAL

BRICS Media Forum to be held in Beijing:

BRICS Media Forum was held in Beijing, china from 7th to 8th June 2017. The Leaders of 27 media organizations from BRICS countries met to discuss cooperation at the BRICS Media Forum. During the forum, there would be ‘BRICS Media Joint Photo Exhibition’ to show the development and cooperation achievements of BRICS.

    The forum, with the theme “Deepening media cooperation among BRICS countries, promoting equity and justice in international media,” was proposed by Xinhua News Agency and jointly initiated with Brazil’s CMA Group, Russia’s Sputnik News Agency and Radio, the Hindu Group of India and South Africa’s Independent Media.

    Also, Cai Mingzhao, president of Xinhua News Agency and executive president of the Forum announced that the news agency will invest $1 million for boosting media cooperation in the five-nation group.

 

  • BRICS Countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
  • New Development Bank (NDB) was first initiated by BRICS Countries.
  • NDB Headquarters: Shanghai, China

WHO revises antibiotics protocol:

In an effort to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has divided the drugs into three categories “access, watch and reserve” specifying which are to be used for common ailments and which are to be kept for complicated diseases.

  • Commonly used antibiotics will be under the ‘access’ category which was available at all times as treatment now for common infection.
  • The second line of antibiotics, slightly more potent, have been categorised under “watch” category.
  • Potent drugs to be used only as a “last resort” fall under the ‘reserve’ category.
  • WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
  • Director-General: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

US, China, India to be top prospective destinations for FDI: UNCTAD

According to the World Investment Report 2017 by UNCTAD– the US, China and India are considered to be the most prospective destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI). China also becomes the second largest investing country.

    The US remained the largest recipient of FDI, attracting $391 billion in inflows, followed by Britain with $254 billion, and China with inflows of $134 billion.

  • UNCTAD– United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
  • Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

Indian-American Raja Chari among 12 NASA astronaut candidates:

    Lt Colonel Raja Chari is the third Indian American after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita William to be chosen by NASA for missions into the earth orbit and conduct key research for deep space missions including Mars.

There are seven men and five women among 12 astronauts are currently undergoing a training programme at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

    • NASA Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
    • Acting Administrator: Robert M.Lightfoot Jr

Planet in Milky Way galaxy to be named after 16 year old Sahithi:

A minor planet somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, many light years from Earth, will be called “Sahithi Pingali”. A minor planet will be named after 16 yr old Bangalore girl “Sahithi” through the Ceres Connection programme run by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Society for Science and the Public.

    Sahithi Pingali won three special awards in addition to a second prize in the Earth and Environmental Sciences category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair ISEF at Los Angeles. The awards were for an app based system which she developed to monitor water bodies.

Modi met Xi to repair bilateral ties:

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Astana, Kazakhstan and they attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.    

    The meeting follows the deterioration in ties in the past year, especially after India boycotted China’s Belt and Road Forum in mid-May and a verbal spat broke out between New Delhi and Beijing over the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

China

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

Banking & Business

BMI research: India among top 5 consumer markets in Asia

India is among the top five consumer markets in Asia offering retailers consumer spending growth of an average of 6.1% over the next five years, according to a BMI Research report.

China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, India and Indonesia are the five favourite consumer markets in Asia. These countries offer retailer the strongest consumer spending growth over its forecast period to 2021.

Digital India takes hit as India ranks 74 in internet data speed:

    According to a new report by London based company “OpenSignal”, India has ranked 74th in the list below neighbouring countries Pakistan and Srilanka in terms of internet data speed and India has risen to 15th spot in 4G availability in the world.

 

  • Average download speed in India at 5.1 Mbps is less than a third of the global average and marginally higher than the global 3G speed of 4.4 Mbps.
  • Singapore – First placed country in 4G speed
  • South Korea – First placed country in 4G availability
  • Global average 4G speed – 16.2 Mbps

Verizon to buy Yahoo for $4.48 bn:

Yahoo shareholders approved the company’s sale of $4.48 bn to Verizon Communication Inc. Verizon is No. 1 U.S. wireless communication service Provider Company.

  • Yahoo Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California, United States
  • Verizon Headquarters: New York City, United States

DCB Bank to raise 450 crore via bonds:

    Private sector lender DCB Bank plans to raise 450 crore by issuing debt securities on a private placement basis.    

    It has been borrowing funds to meet the business requirements and considering Reserve Bank’s revised guidelines on issuance of long term bonds/Basel III tier 1 and 2 bonds.

DCB

  • Headquarters: Maharashtra
  • CEO: Murali M. Natrajan

Banks need 95,000 crore: Moody’s:

    Stressed assets of Indian banks will increase through 2019 and capitalisation will remain a key credit weakness for state-owned lenders which will need up to 95,000 crore additional capital over the next two years, estimated by Moody’s-ICRA report.

MOODY’S

  • CEO: Raymond W. McDaniel Jr.
  • Vice-President and senior analyst: Alka Anbarasu
  • Headquarters: New York City, New York, United States

Facebook launches maps for disaster relief and aid:
   

                                                                         Facebook has launched disaster maps to help humanitarian organisations save lives in emergencies, said its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

    The maps will reflect the location of people before, during and after disasters to help aid agencies find where they should deliver food, water and medical supplies.

Appointments & Resigns

Sharad Jain appointed NWDA director:

Sharad Kumar Jain has assumed the additional charge of director general of National Water Development Agency (NWDA) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He has been appointed only for 3 months after clearing Ken-Betwa river link project.

Rahul Mishra appointed CEO of Rays Future Energy:

Rays Power Infra announced that it has appointment Rahul Mishra as CEO to lead new business initiatives under Rays Future Energy India.

LVB names Manjunath as non-executive chairman:

    Lakshmi Vilas Bank has appointed B.K. Manjunath as its non-executive chairman for a period of three years.

    Mr. B.K. Manjunath as additional director in the category of Non- Executive and Independent Director and also appointed him as the part-time Chairman of the Bank.

LVB

  • CEO: Parthasarathi Mukherjee

 

Shabnam Hashmi steps down:

    NGO Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) Shabnam Hashmi is stepping down as its trustee, paving the way for a young team to lead the organisation.

AWARDS

Nadda conferred WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for global tobacco control:

    Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda was conferred the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for global tobacco control.

    The global recognition was presented to him by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia at the ‘National Consultation on Accelerating Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for achievement of SDGs’.

Muralitharan inducted into ICC Hall of Fame:

    Muttiah Muralitharan, the most successful bowler in Tests and One Day Internationals, became the first Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

    He was awarded the honour along with Arthur Morris, George Lohmann and Karen Rolton by fellow ICC Cricket Hall of Famers.

Sri Lanka

  • Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
  • Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
  • Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe

Science & Technology

A new cast of crabs in Western Ghats:   

    The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, scientists have discovered a new genus and six new species of freshwater crabs in these forests.

    With the recent finding in Kerala, freshwater crab diversity in the State has risen to 34 species, the highest in the country.

SPORTS

Rohan Bopanna wins French Open mixed doubles title to clinch maiden Grand Slam:

Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski beat the German-Colombian Pair Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah in the final to clinch their maiden French Open mixed doubles title in Paris, France.

Rohan Bopanna has become only the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam crown after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza. Indians have accounted for 20 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

AIFF Awards: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sasmita Malik bag top awards

    Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sasmita Malik were awarded 2016 AIFF Player of the Year and the AIFF Women’s Player of the Year respectively at the first ever All India Football Federation (AIFF) Awards.

Other winners:

  • Sunil Chettri – Won Special Award for Profilic goal scorer
  • Gurpreet Singh (goalkeeper) – won Special Recognition Award of the year.
  • AIFF president: Praful Patel

3 Indian male players make it into top 15 for the first time:

    In a first time, there are three Indian male shuttlers – Ajay Jayaram, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth – were in the top 15 of the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings as they occupied the 13th, 14th and 15th spot respectively.

OBITUARY

Noted social activist, author Mehrunnisa Dalwai no more:

    Mehrunnisa Dalwai (87), noted social activist and author, and the wife of one of modern Maharashtra’s most remarkable and formidable social reformers, Hamid Dalwai, passed away at her residence.

Historian Basudev Chatterji passes away:

    Eminent historian and former chairman of the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) Basudev Chatterji passed away in Guwahati.

   

 

Tweet
Pin
Share
+1
0 Shares