WBCS Current Affairs 10/06/2017 to 16/06/2017 for WBCS Exam

The Importance of Current Affairs in W.B.C.S examinations is immense.Success inW.B.C.S  Prelims and W.B.C.S Mains Exam is mainly subjected to how well an aspirant is aware of the important current affairs. Preparation of current affairs for W.B.C.S is the key to unlock the exam.Continue Reading WBCS Current Affairs 10/06/2017 to 16/06/2017 for WBCS Exam.

1. According to NASA, May 2017 was the second hottest month in a span of 137 years when modern record-keeping of average global temperatures had commenced. The temperature of May 2017 was 0.88 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean May temperature from 1951-1980. May 2016 is the hottest on record with 0.93 degrees Celsius warmer than the May mean temperature. May 2017 temperature was 0.05 degrees Celcius cooler than the temperature recorded in May 2016. It was only 0.01 degrees Celsius warmer than the third warmest May, which occurred in 2014. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) does the monthly analysis of global temperature by analysing the publicly available data acquired by about 6,300 meteorological stations around the world, ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea-surface temperature, as well as from the Antarctic research stations. The modern global temperature record commenced around the year 1880..

2. The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for opening bank accounts as well as for carrying out financial transactions above of Rs 50,000. In addition, the government has asked all the existing account holders to link Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts by December 31, 2017. Failure to comply with this guideline will make the account invalid. Further, the notification issued amending the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, will require quoting of Aadhaar card mandatory along with PAN by individuals, companies and partnership firms for all financial transactions of 50,000 or above. Before the notification, the PMLA Rules made it mandatory to submit PAN number or Form 60 to banks while opening accounts for high-value transactions. The Supreme Court in its recent verdict has upheld Section139AA of the Income Tax Act,1961 which requires quoting Aadhaar number while applying for PAN card as well as for filing of income tax returns as constitutionally valid. Following this verdict, the government has made compulsory the submission of Aadhaar number or the applicant’s Aadhaar Enrolment ID for the filing of income tax returns as well as for applications for PAN from July 1. Section 139AA(1) of the I-T Act,1961, as introduced by the Finance Act, 2017, makes it mandatory quoting of Aadhaar/Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form while filing income tax returns with effect from July 1, 2017. Section 139AA(2) of the I-T Act provides that persons with PAN card as on the 1st day of July 2017, and who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar should intimate his Aadhaar and in the case of non-intimation of Aadhaar, the PAN allotted to the person shall be deemed to be invalid. The Supreme Court has upheld Section 139AA(1) and has imposed a partial stay for the time being to Section 139AA(2) pending resolution of the other cases before the larger bench of the Supreme Court.

3. India has won its re-election to the UN’s principal organ on economic, social and environmental issues for another three-year term. India was one among the 18 nations to win election to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). India has obtained 183 votes which is the second highest after Japan in the Asia-Pacific category. Pakistan whose term is also expiring also sought for re-election but lost and got only one vote. India’s election comes just days after India’s Neeru Chadha got elected to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) by securing 120 votes, which is the highest in the Asia Pacific group. The current elected members of the ECOSOC who will hold a three year term beginning January 1 2018 are Belarus, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Turkey and Uruguay. Election A country requires two-thirds of the total votes to become a member of ECOSOC. The ECOSOC has a total of 54 members. The Council’s 54 members are elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. Out of the 54, 14 seats are allocated to African states, 11 to Asian states, 6 to Eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states, and 13 to Western European and other states. ECOSOC The Economic and Social Council is the ‘United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.’ EcoSoc is one of the six main UN organs which were established by the UN Charter. EcoSoc is the ‘principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for implementation of the internationally agreed development goals.’ It supervises ‘the subsidiary and expert bodies in the economic, social and environmental fields.’

4. In the Global Innovation Index 2017, co-authored by Cornell University, INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), India has moved up 6 places to reach 60th place among 130 countries emerging as the top-ranked economy in Central and South Asia. This is the 10th edition of the Global Innovation Index 2017 (GII). Top 10 most Innovative countries: Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US, the UK, Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Germany and Ireland. Switzerland leads the rankings for the 7th consecutive year. The index is dominated by high-income economies which took 24 of the top 25 spots except for China which is ranked at 22nd spot. Among India’s neighbours, Sri Lanka has managed to bag 90th spot and Nepal stood at 109th place. Pakistan has been ranked as 113th followed by Bangladesh at 114. BRICS countries: Brazil (69), Russia (45), China (22), South Africa (57). India India has made improvements in the rankings after five continuous years of decline in the ranking. The report has observed that India’s rise in innovation has benefitted its neighbouring countries. The index has highlighted the continuous improvement of India in terms of investment, tertiary education, quality of its publications and universities, ICT service exports etc. Task Force on Innovation To assess India’s position on the innovation front, the Ministry of Commerce and Industries had set up a task force on innovation. The task force comprising of government officials and experts from private organisations & academia, has recently come up with its report that detailed specific measures to improve India’s ranking in GII. GII GII surveys are conducted every year which analyses 130 economies and aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation. The index makes use of a dozen parameters ranging from patent filings to education spending and offers the decision makers a high-level look at the innovative activity which are drivers of economic and social growth. GII, over the last few years has established itself as a leading reference on innovation.

5. India’s Skipper Virat Kohli has created a record by becoming the quickest batsman to score 8000 runs in one-day international cricket beating South Africa’s AB de Villier’s record by seven fewer innings. Virat Kohli has managed to cross the 8000 run mark in his 175th innings during India’s match against Bangladesh in ICC Champion’s Trophy semi-final in Birmingham. Earlier record holder was South African captain AB de Villiers who crossed the 8000 run mark in 182 innings. Earlier this year, South Africa’s Hashim Amla had broken Virat Kohli’s previous record of being the fastest batsman to score 7000 runs in ODIs. While Virat Kohli scored 7000 runs in 166 innings, Hashim Amla took only150 innings to get there. Hashim Amla is also the fastest batsman to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 runs. Top 5 fastest 8000 run scorers in ODIs: Virat Kohli (175 innings), AB de Villiers (182 innings), Sourav Ganguly (200 innings), Sachin Tendulkar (210 innings), Brian Lara (211 innings).

6. Former Chief Justice of India Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati who is considered as a pioneer of Judicial Activism has passed away. Justice Bhagwati was 95 years old. Justice Bhagwati introduced the concepts of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and absolute liability to the Indian judicial system. He made the famous ruling that there was no need for a person to have any Locus Standi to approach the court on the issue of fundamental rights. One of the important judgments passed by him was in the Maneka Gandhi passport impounding case of 1978. In this case, he ruled that a person had full right to hold a passport and his/her movement cannot be restricted. He also ruled that the prisoners too enjoyed fundamental rights. Justice Bhagwati Justice Bhagwati took part in the freedom movement and courted arrest in 1942. Justice Bhagwati graduated in law from Government Law College, Bombay. He started his practice in Bombay High Court and became a judge of the Gujarat High Court in 1960. Justice Bhagwati was a former Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court and later appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court in July 1973. Justice PN Bhagwati served as the 17th Chief Justice of India from July 1985 to December 1986.

7. The United Nations General Assembly has approved the establishment of a new United Nations office of counter-terrorism to help Member States implement UN’s global counter-terrorism strategy. With the creation of new UN office of counter terrorism, UN will transfer the relevant functions out of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) into the new body. The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office (CTITF) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) currently under the DPA will be transferred to the new office together with existing staff and associated budgetary resources. The new UN Office of counter-terrorism would he headed up by an Under-Secretary-General. The new Under-Secretary-General would Chair the Task Force and Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre. Functions The new office will have the following five main functions: To provide leadership on the counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to it across the United Nations system. To enhance coordination and coherence across the 38 Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entities for ensuring balanced implementation of the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. To strengthen the delivery of United Nations counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to the Member States. To improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and To ensure that priority is given to counterterrorism across the United Nations system. India’s Views India has welcomed the creation a UN office on counter-terrorism. It expects that the “much- awaited” step will help in aligning UN with the changing needs and international reality in the fight against terrorism. India has been repeatedly stressing on the need to have a separate office for counter-terrorism as the presence of as many as 31 entities within the United Nations dealing with some aspect of countering terrorism lacked coherence and coordination in dealing with terrorism.

8. China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved $150 million equity investment loan to the India Infrastructure Fund. This loan will be the bank’s first equity investment to fund private projects. The $150 million investment would go the India Infrastructure Fund. The Infrastructure Fund aims to invest in mid-cap infrastructure companies in India. AIIB in total has approved two loans and one equity investment totalling $324 million to support infrastructure projects in India, Georgia and Tajikistan. In the case of Georgia and Tajikistan, the loans were approved to support transport and power projects. The initiative is expected to benefit local infrastructure development as it will enhance private capital inflows from global long-term investors, such as public pension funds, endowments and insurance companies. AIIB AIIB is a multilateral development bank backed by China and is seen as a rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The bank started to function in January 2016. The bank was established to fund various infrastructure projects including energy, transportation, urban construction and logistics as well as education and healthcare in Asia-Pacific region. The AIIB was officially established with 57 founding members. But as of May 2017, the bank has 52 members. It has an authorised capital of USD 100 billion. The bank is headquartered in Beijing. Voting Share: China is the largest shareholder with 26.06% voting shares. India is the second largest shareholder with 7.5% voting shares followed by Russia 5.93% and Germany with 4.5%.

9. China has launched its first X-ray space telescope to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts. The telescope weighing 2.5 tonne was sent to the space using China’s Long March-4B rocket. The satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

In recent years, China sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rise. In April, China had launched its first cargo spacecraft and successfully docked it with an orbiting space lab. This launch was hailed as a key development toward China’s goal of having its own crewed space station by 2022. Recently, China also opened a “Lunar Palace” laboratory on earth to simulate a moon-like environment. In the lunar palace laboratory, China is conducting experiments by housing students for up to 200 days to prepare for its long-term goal of sending humans to the moon. In 2016, China had also successfully launched experimental X-ray pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1, which was world’s first pulsar navigation satellite or spacecraft. Significance The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), named Insight, will allow scientists from China to observe magnetic fields and the interiors of pulsars and understand the evolution of black holes. The telescope is also expected to help scientists to search for gamma-ray bursts corresponding to gravitational waves and study how the pulsars can be used for spacecraft navigation.

10. The Bhupen Hazarika National Award, 2017 has been conferred upon the noted writer Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi. This is the fifth edition of the award which was first conferred in 2012. The award has been instituted by Sarhad, a Maharashtra-based organisation. The award honours an outstanding literary work at national and international level. The award consists of 51,000 rupees, a memento and a certificate. Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi belongs to the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. He graduated from Cotton College, Guwahati and did his MA from Guwahati University. In spite of having Sherdukpen as his mother tongue, Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi started writing his works in Assamese over which he has excellent command. So far, he has written about a dozen novels and numerous short stories and plays. His famous novel includes Mauna Onth Mukhar Hriday (Silent lips, murmuring hearts) which won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2005. Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi joined the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service in 1977 and was elevated to the IAS in 1992. He is the founder and president of Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society.

11. According to the ‘One Family at a Time’ study conducted by the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Indians working across the world had sent home USD 62.7 billion in 2016 making India the top remittance-receiving country surpassing China.Around 200 million migrants across the world have sent more than USD 445 million in 2016 as remittances to their families. Top Remittance Receiving Countries: India (USD 62.7 billion), China (USD 61 billion), the Philippines (USD 30 billion) and Pakistan (USD 20 billion). Around 80% of the remittances across the world are received by 23 countries such as India, China, the Philippines, Mexico and Pakistan. Top Remittance Sending Countries: US, Saudi Arabia and Russia. These countries account for almost half of annual flow of remittances. The study is the first ever study conducted that analysed a 10-year trend in migration and remittance flows over the period 2007-2016. In the period between 2007 and 2016, India has surpassed China to become the world’s largest receiver of remittances. In 2007, India was at the second spot behind China. Asia remains the main remittance-receiving region with 55% of the global flows. The amount of money sent to the families in developing countries have increased by 51% over the past decade. This increase in remittances is expected to lift millions out of poverty and in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The report expects that in the year 2017, one of out of every seven people will be involved in either sending or receiving more than USD 450 billion in remittances. The amount of money sent back home by the migrants’ averages less than 1% of their host’s GDP. In total, these individual remittances account for more than the total foreign direct investment to almost every low-and-middle-income country. The report has also made recommendations for improving public policies to reduce costs and create opportunities for migrants and their families to use their money more productively. IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was set up in 1977 as the 13th specialised agency of the United Nations. India is a founder member of IFAD and a key contributor among the member countries. IFAD works towards removing poverty and hunger in rural areas all over the world, especially in developing countries. Its goal is to empower poor rural men and women in developing countries to achieve higher incomes and improved food security. IFAD is managed by the two main governing bodies i.e. the Governing Council and the Executive Board. The Governing Council is the highest decision-making body of IFAD.

12. India and South Korea has signed an agreement for $10 billion assistance for infrastructure development projects in India, including smart cities. It includes $9 billion in concessional credit and $1 billion in Official development assistance (ODA). Part of this fund will be utilised towards Smart City projects in India. With this agreement, South Korea has become one of the first non-G-7 countries to become an ODA contributor in India. The agreements were signed during the four-day official visit of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to South Korea to attend the fifth India-Korea Financial Dialogue. South Korea strives to diversify its economic partnerships and India being world’s fastest growing major economy offers immense opportunities to Korea for diversifying its economic partnerships. This also offers India great opportunities. Both the countries have also decided to establish a mechanism at senior official levels to identify good infrastructure projects in India to make use of the funding. In the face of rising protectionism, the two countries have also agreed that there is an urgent need for them to increase efforts to stimulate investment flows, support for infrastructure development, and bilateral trade among others The present engagement between India and South Korea comes under the overall umbrella of the ‘Special Strategic Partnership‘ as declared in the Joint Statement of the Prime Ministers of both the nations in May 2015. Also, recently, a MoU was signed between both the countries for defence industry cooperation in shipbuilding.

13. Israeli author David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize for his novel “A Horse Walks Into a Bar“. David Grossman has become the first Israeli author to win the Man Booker International Prize. He will share the £50,000 ($64,000) award money with his translator Jessica Cohen. David Grossman has also won other international awards. David Grossman’s 1986 novel “See Under: Love” is hailed as a masterpiece of his work which revolved around Holocaust and the generation of Jews that followed. Other important works of David Grossman includes The Yellow Wind, To the End of the Land. His works have been translated into over 30 languages. He is also a recipient of France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998. David Grossman is one among the seven noted writers who appealed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to sanction the Syrian government over its actions in 2011. Man Booker Prize The Man Booker Prize is world’s most prestigious English-language literary award. It was launched in 1969 and presented by the Man Group. The international edition of the Man Booker Prize was introduced in 2005. From 2016, the prize is awarded for a single work of fiction that has been translated into English and published in the United Kingdom. The award aims at promoting the finest literary work in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written in English and published in the United Kingdom. It carries a cash prize of 50,000 pounds. The authors are shortlisted by judges from a wide range of disciplines and all with a passion for quality fiction. Last year, the prize was won by South Korean author Han Kang for her novel The Vegetarian.

14. Law expert Neeru Chadha has been elected to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS). With this election, she has become the first Indian women to win a crucial election to a top UN judicial body that deals with disputes related to the law of the sea. Neeru has become the first Indian woman to be appointed as a judge at the ITLOS. ITLOS comprises of 21 independent members who are elected based upon their reputation for being a person with integrity. The person should also have necessary competence in the field of the law of the sea Neeru has also earned a distinction of becoming the second Indian woman to occupy a top position at the United Nations after Lakshmi Pandit who served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Neeru Chadha Neeru Chadha holds law degrees including a PhD in law from the University of Delhi and the University of Michigan. She was the first woman to be appointed by the Ministry of External Affairs as its chief advisor. She served as a member of the ministry’s Legal and Treaties Division. Neeru Chadha has represented the Indian government in multilateral bodies and meetings. She has represented India in United Nations, AALCO (Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation), UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law), UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law), The Hague Conference, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi- Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) on a range of subjects such as human rights, humanitarian law, international trade, international terrorism and international criminal law. She was Indian government’s lead counsel after Italy had filed a case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. She also represented the country after the Marshall Islands accused India for not abiding by its nuclear disarmament obligations ITLOS ITLOs is an intergovernmental organisation under the ambit of the United Nations, established in 1996. ITLOS governs the laws on international waters and is one of dispute settlement mechanisms under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The ITLOS comprises of 21 serving judges.

15. The Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum has have signed the joint venture agreement to jointly set up the world’s largest refinery and petrochemical complex in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will hold 50% stake and the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will each hold a stake of 25% each in the new complex. The refinery is expected to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 3 lakh crore. The new complex is expected to be completed by 2022. The new complex will have a 60 million tonnes refining capacity. The complex would come up at Babulwadi, Rajapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra located very close to the West coast. Being on the West coast will be helpful in easily sourcing the crude oil from the Middle-East, Africa and South America. The refinery complex will have three crude units of 20 million tonnes each. The refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for making petrochemical. The refinery complex will have an accompanying mega petrochemical plant which will include an aromatic complex, naphtha cracker and polymer complex. Although India is world’s third largest energy consumer after US and China, the per capita energy consumption in the country is one-fourth of the world average. However, according to the International Energy Agency (EA) the domestic oil demand in the country will increase to 458 million tonnes by 2040. Against this, the domestic refining capacity remains 230-235 million tonnes, which exceeds the demand of 194.2 million tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal. The new refinery complex is being set up keeping in mind the future fuel demand and the export potential of the country. At present, IOC has 11 refineries with a total capacity of 81.2 million tonnes. BPCL has 4 refineries with a total capacity of 33.4 million tonnes. HPCL has 3 refineries with a total capacity of 24.8 million tonnes.

16. The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to introduce a Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 which will provide a comprehensive resolution framework for financial sector entities to deal with bankruptcy situation in banks, insurance companies, and other entities. The bill will pave way for the establishment of Resolution Corporation. The Resolution Corporation would be mandated to protect the stability and resilience of the financial system; protecting public funds; protecting the consumers of covered obligations up to a reasonable limit. Once enacted, the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance, Bill 2017 will result in repealing of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 and repeal/amendment of other resolution related provisions in sectoral acts. With the repeal of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961, the deposit insurance powers and responsibilities will be transferred to the proposed Resolution Corporation. The new bill will complement the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by providing a comprehensive resolution framework for the financial sector. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was enacted recently to deal with the insolvency of non- financial entities. The bill envisages to inculcate discipline among financial service providers in the event of financial crisis. It is expected to maintain financial stability in the economy by limiting the use of public money to bail out distressed entities. It will put in place adequate preventive measures and at the same time proposes to provide the necessary instruments for dealing with an event of financial crisis The bill is proposed to be enacted to strengthen and streamline the current framework of deposit insurance and to decrease the time and costs involved in resolving distressed financial entities.

17. The Union cabinet has approved the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) for farmers for the year 2017-18. The Government has allocated Rs. 20,339 crore for this scheme.The objective of the scheme is to make available agricultural credit for Short Term crop loans at an affordable rate. The scheme is expected to boost agricultural productivity and production in the country. Under this scheme, farmers will be given a short term crop loan up to Rs. 3 lakh payable within one year at an interest rate of 4% per annum. The scheme will be continued for 1 year and will be implemented by NABARD and RBI. The interest subvention will be provided to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and to NABARD for refinancing to RRBs and Cooperative Banks. Interest subvention of 5% per annum will be provided to those farmers who pay the short term crop loan in time. Farmers will have to effectively pay only 4% as interest. For farmers who do not pay crop loan in time the interest subvention of only 2% will be applicable as against 5% available above. This institutional credit is expected to demotivate farmers from taking loans from non-institutional sources of credit at high rates of interest. Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) has been running since 2006-07. Under this scheme, crop loans are offered at 7% rate of interest for loans up to Rs.3 lakh. Further subvention of 3% will be provided to farmers who prompt repay the loans within a period of one year from the date of advance. The scheme also offers post-harvest loans for storage in accredited warehouses against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) for a period of 6 months to check distress sale.

18. Telecom giant Verizon has acquired Yahoo’s core business for $4.48bn (£3.51m), thus ending Yahoo’s two-decade long run as an independent company. Verizon is the No.1 wireless operator in the US. Verizon will combine Yahoo with AOL which was bought by it two years ago to establish a venture called Oath. The Oath is a division in Verizon’s Media and Telematics organisation. Oath owns more than 50 brands such as HuffPost, TechCrunch and Tumblr. With the acquisition, Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Mayer has resigned. Verizon has not indicated how it proposes to use the Yahoo brand which is used by millions of people worldwide. But it has stated that it will keep the names Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and more. Yahoo’s acquisition brings to an end a long decline of its market value which peaked at $125 billion in 2000. The remainder of Yahoo which is not acquired by Verizon will change its name to Altaba Inc. It will become a holding company with 15.5% stakes in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba and a 35.5% holding in Yahoo Japan Corp. It will begin trading under the ticker symbol “AABA.” Thomas McInerney, a Yahoo board member will be made as Altaba’s chief executive officer.

19. India has ratified two key global conventions for combating child labour as a step towards creating full respect for fundamental rights at work. India has deposited the instruments of ratification of the two fundamental ILO Conventions with the International Labour Office (ILO). The two key conventions are related to the elimination of child labour- the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No 138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). India has become the 170th member of ILO to ratify the Convention No. 138, which requires the member parties to set a minimum age under which no one should be employed in any occupation, except for light work and artistic performances. India has become the 181st member of ILO to ratify Convention No 182 which requires state parties to prohibit and eliminate worst forms of child labour, including slavery, forced labour and trafficking; the use of children in armed conflict; the use of a child for prostitution, pornography and in illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and hazardous work. The elimination of Child Labour from the country is also essential to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The ratification of these conventions will help in achieving Goal 8 of the sustainable development goals which aims at complete eradication of child labour by 2025 and calls for prohibition and elimination of its worst forms. Government Initiatives The government has recently amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 which came into effect in September 2016. This amendment prohibits employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process. It also prohibits the employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in hazardous occupations and processes. The government has also strengthened the National Child Labour Project. It is a rehabilitative scheme that provides bridge education and vocational training to adolescents.

20. RBI’s Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) has identified 12 bank accounts constituting nearly 25% of the gross bad loans for immediate referral and resolution under the bankruptcy law. Each of the 12 identified accounts was having more than 5,000 crore rupees of outstanding loans, of which at least 60% was classified as non-performing by banks as of March 31, 2016. The RBI, however, has not disclosed the names of the accounts. RBI’s internal advisory committee (IAC) mainly comprises of its independent board members. Based upon the recommendations of the IAC, the RBI will issue directions to the banks to initiate insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). These cases will be accorded priority by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The NCLT is the arbitration authority for cases filed under IBC. For those loan accounts which do not meet the criterion recommended by the IAC, the concerned banks should finalise a resolution plan within six months. The details of the resolution framework for these other non-performing accounts will be released soon by the central bank. Indian banks have an estimated Rs 10 trillion as stressed assets. Of this, gross bad loans amounts close to Rs 7.7 trillion and the rest constitutes the restructured loans. In May, the Union Cabinet had cleared an ordinance that amended the Banking Regulation Act and gave more powers to Reserve Bank of India to deal with non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking sector. The Amendments has empowered the RBI to act against loan defaulters and defaulting companies under the bankruptcy code. These amendments would pave for faster resolution of the NPAs as the bankruptcy code provides for a time-bound winding up of companies and recovery of secured loans. The assets of the banks which don’t perform are called Non-Performing Assets (NPA) or bad loans. If customers don’t pay either interest or part of principal or both, the loan turns into a bad loan. According to RBI, loans on which interest or instalment of principal remains overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter will be classified as a Non-performing Asset.

21. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired anti-tank ‘Nag’ missile in Rajasthan. The test was conducted by Scientists of the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex at Hyderabad, Defence Laboratory at Jodhpur, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) at Pune and Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) at Pune. Nag Missile The anti-tank Nag missile is one of the five missile systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP). The four other missiles developed under this programme include Agni, Akash, Trishul and Prithvi. The Nag missile is a third generation anti-tank guided missile which works on “fire and forget” principle. The anti-tank Nag missile has been equipped with the highly advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IRR) seeker along with integrated avionics. This technology is possessed by very few nations. It also possess advanced passive homing guidance system. The missile has been designed mainly to destroy modern main battle tanks and other heavily armoured targets. Nag can be launched from land and air-based platforms. The helicopter launched version known as helicopter-launched NAG (HELINA) can be fired from Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) and HAL Rudra attack helicopter. The land-based version of the missile is at present available for integration on the Nag missile carrier (NAMICA)

22. Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu has launched Mission Retro-Fitment to enhance the passenger experience by upgrading the existing fleet of coaches. Mission Retro-Fitment is an ambitious program of the ministry or railways to upgrade the level of furnishing & amenities in the coaches of Indian Railways. The refurbished coaches will have better furnishing, aesthetics & amenities and better safety features which are aimed at providing a safe and comfortable travel to the railway passengers. Under Mission Retro-Fitment, 40,000 coaches will be refurbished and retrofitted in the next five years. The mission aims to induct about 40,000 coaches with upgraded interiors by 2022-23. The mission will be one of the largest retro fitment projects in the world. The mission will be carried out without affecting the traffic operation. It is estimated that cost of refurbishing per coach to be approximately Rs 30 lakhs. Features The refurbished coaches will have the following features: World Class Ambience: The refurbished coaches will have panels with LED lights, modular toilets with plumbing, Branded fittings, powered Venetian blinds, anti-Graffiti coating etc. Enhanced Passenger Safety: Fire and smoke detection system, rounded edges for preventing injury, double acting compartment door in AC coaches. Environment-Friendly features such as Bio-toilets. Usage of better materials such as polycarbonate ABS, advanced composites, Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic, stainless steel, etc. Improved Passenger Convenience: Passenger address & Passenger information System, Braille Signage, Ergonomic design etc.

23. SEBI has allowed options trading on futures contract of commodities. However, the capital market regulator has allowed the commodity derivatives exchanges to initially launch options on futures of only one commodity. SEBI has put in place strict eligibility criteria for the commodity exchanges to start trading in options contract of commodities. SEBI will allow options trading on futures contract of only those commodities that are among the top five in terms of the total trading turnover value of previous 12 months. Further, the average daily turnover of underlying futures contract of such commodities in the previous 12 months should be minimum Rs200 crore for agricultural and agri-processed commodities, and Rs1,000 crore for other commodities. SEBI has asked the commodity exchanges to follow robust risk management measures. It has also come up with necessary guidelines with respect to the product design that need to be adopted for trading in options on commodity futures. SEBI has mandated the commodity derivatives exchanges which are willing to commence trading in options contracts to seek its prior approval. Commodity Exchanges have been requesting SEBI for a long time to permit options trading in commodities be allowed. Last year, SEBI had agreed to permit options trading but some legal requirements remained unfulfilled.

24. Indian warships have reached Australia’s port city of Freemantle to take part in a week-long naval exercise off the Western Australian coast.

Exercise Australia-India (AUSINDEX) was first conducted off the East Coast of India in September 2015. AUSINDEX-17 will be the second overall bilateral drill between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy. AUSINDEX bilateral exercise aims to enhance interoperability and professional interaction between two navies. Politically, the joint exercise assumes significance as India is yet to take a final decision to accommodate Australia’s request to participate in the Indian-led Malabar naval exercise this year. Malabar naval exercise involves the navies of India, Japan, and the United States. Indian warships INS Kamorta, the INS Shivalik (first stealth warship built in India), and oiler INS Jyoti, will take part in the exercise. Australian warships which will take part in the exercise includes missile frigate HMAS Newcastle; diesel-electric submarine HMAS Waller; special operations unit, Clearance Diving Team Four; and P3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force. The exercise will be held between June 17 and 19.

25. SEBI has come up with comprehensive guidelines asking the Commodity derivatives exchanges to compulsorily set up investor protection and service funds

The commodity exchanges should maintain separate bank accounts for maintaining the corpus of the IPF and the ISF. ISF The Investor Service Fund (ISF) is aimed at providing minimum facilities at various investor service centres. At the initial stage, the commodity exchange has to contribute at least Rs 10 lakh towards ISF. Subsequently, the commodity exchanges are required to transfer 1% of the turnover fees charged from its members on monthly basis towards the ISF. IPF The Investor Protection Fund (IPF) of a Commodity Exchange should have a maximum of five trustees. Out of these, three trustees should be public interest directors and a representative from Sebi-recognised investor association. In addition, the commodity exchange’s compliance officer should be made part of the trust. The IPF will comprise of all penalties levied and collected by the commodity exchanges except for the settlement related penalties. The exchanges will have the freedom to fix suitable compensation limits in consultation with the IPF trust. The exchanges can make use of the IPF corpus for investor education and other awareness programmes. The trust will be responsible for the supervision of utilisation of interest on IPF.

26. Indian Skipper Virat Kohli has reclaimed the top spot in the recently released ICC ODI batting rankings. He overtook South Africa’s AB de Villiers and Australia’s David Warner to reach the number one position. In January, Kohli managed to reach the top spot but was able to stay at the top only for just four days. Among other players, Shikhar Dhawan has managed to return to top 10. Yuvraj Singh has also improved his rankings and currently stands at 88th position. Rankings: First Place: Virat Kohli (India) Second Place: David Warner (Australia) Third Place: AB de Villiers (South Africa) Fouth Place: Joe Root (England) Fifth Place: Kane Williamson (New Zealand)

Josh Hazlewood of Australia is at the top spot in the bowlers’ rankings. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has improved his rankings by 13 places to rank 23rd. Ranks of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have dropped to 20 and 29 respectively. First Place: Josh Hazlewood (Australia) Second Place: Imran Tahir (South Africa) Third Place: Mitchell Starc (Australia) Fourth Place: Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) Fifth Place: Sunil Narine (West Indies)

27. Reserve Bank of India has said that it will release new batch of Rs 500 currency notes whose design will be similar in all respects to the Rs 500 rupee banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series which were released post demonetisation. The new batch of Rs 500 banknotes will have inset letter “A” in both the number panels. It will bear the printing year as ‘2017’ on the reverse side. The new notes will have the signature of RBI Governor Dr. Urjit R. Patel. The old Rs 500 notes released in the wake of demonetisation would continue to remain as legal tender. RBI has said that it has no plans to release new denomination currencies in the near future as it aims to promote cashless transactions in the country. The banknotes will also have Swachh Bharat logo printed on the backside of the banknote. In addition, some of the notes would carry an additional character in between the prefix and the number of the banknote.

28. Panama has established formal diplomatic ties with China and broke all of its relationship with Taiwan in a move that is seen as a victory for China in its drive to isolate Taiwan from the rest of the world. China claims Taiwan as its own territory. Panama’s Stand Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela has announced that his country has upgraded its commercial ties with China and has established full diplomatic links with China. China is the second most important customer of the Panama Canal and the leading provider of merchandise to a free-commerce zone situated in the city of Colon in Panama. In addition, Panama has stated that it is breaking off its formal relations with Taiwan. Panama has said that henceforth it recognizes ‘One China’ in the world and consider Taiwan to be an inalienable part of China’s territory. Hence, it has said that it will not maintain any more official relationship or official exchanges with Taiwan. China has welcomed the decision taken by Panama. China in the recent years has been showering a lot of favours throughout Central America to woo them to break ties with Taiwan. Taiwan’s Response Taiwan has said that it will immediately cut ties and cease all bilateral cooperation projects with Panama. It has also said that it will recall all of its diplomatic staff and technical advisers out of Panama. Panama is one of Taiwan’s oldest friends. Panama was one of the largest economies to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Panama is one of Taiwan’s oldest friends. Panama was one of the largest economies to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Taiwan now has just 20 formal diplomatic partners after Panama has switched its ties. Of them, 12 partners belong to Latin America and the Caribbean. China and Taiwan are being ruled by separate governments since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China’s constitution claims Taiwan to be a part of its own territory. While both the sides maintained an undeclared diplomatic truce in recent times, the relationship got deteriorated after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen assumed office last year. At china’s insistence, Taiwan has been excluded from the United Nations and many other multinational bodies like the World Health Organization and other international gatherings.

29. According to a recently released CRY Report on child labour, more than 8 lakh children between the age group of 5 and 6 years in India are engaged in child labour. Child Rights and You (CRY) is an NGO working towards the upliftment of underprivileged children. The organization got established in 1979 by Rippan Kapur. As per the report, over 5 lakh children in India do not attend school. A majority of them are involved in family based employments. Uttar Pradesh ranks first in the number of child labourers (2,50,672 children) in the country followed by Bihar (1,28,087 children) and Maharashtra (82,847 children). The report has identified that the high level of poverty and unemployment along with a lack of adequate social security net are the important factors forcing children to work, compromising with their learning. These children are often forced to migrate with their parents and assist in family occupations such as working in brick kilns. The report cites that the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) suffers many limitations and is now covering only 50% of the child labourers. In the decade 2001-11, the working children in the age group of 10-14 years saw a reduction of 30% but the child labourers in the age group of 5-9 years have seen an increase of 37% from 2001. ICDS Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the states/UTs. The Scheme was launched on 2nd October 1975. The scheme has the following objectives: to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years; to reduce mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout; to promote policy coordination and implementation for promoting child development; to lay an adequate foundation for the psychological, physical and social well-being of the children etc. Under the scheme, the services such as Supplementary nutrition; Pre-school non-formal education; nutrition and health education, immunization, health check-ups; and Referral services through Anganwadi Centres for children below 6 years of age as well as to pregnant women& lactating mothers are offered.

30. Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted an expert committee to examine the rules which allow free movement of people near Indo-Myanmar border. Indian and Myanmarese citizens are permitted free movement within 16 km of the international border, but these rules are widely exploited by militants for smuggling arms, drugs, and fake Indian currency. The decision to constitute an MHA panel was taken at a meeting of chief ministers of the northeastern states which share a border with Myanmar. This is for the first time that meeting with the state governments has been called to discuss the issues concerning the Myanmar border. The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram, and the Home Minister of Nagaland. The expert committee would be headed by the special secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The panel will examine the rules and regulations adopted by the border states for free movement of the people. It has to suggest for uniform and effective implementation of free movement regime in the states which share a porous border with Myanmar The committee has to come up with standard operating procedures common to all the four states that will provide effective measures to filter out militants, criminals and contraband at the border without causing inconvenience to genuine people. The panel has to submit its report within three months.

India shares 1,643-km long border with Myanmar that passes through four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. At present, both Indian and Myanmarese citizens are permitted a visa-free movement regime within 16 km on either side of the border. They are permitted to stay up to 72 hours with valid permits. These rules were kept in place in view of the traditional and social ties among the border people. There are over 240 villages with an estimated population of 2.5 lakh people living within 10 km of the border. However, India’s international border with Myanmar is very porous with cross-border movement of insurgents and smuggling of arms and ammunition being very common.

31. Rafael Nadal has increased his rankings by two spots to stand at No.2 in the ATP rankings which is his highest since October 2014. Previous year French Open champion Novak Djokovic has moved from second place to fourth place in the ATP rankings, which is his lowest ranking in seven years. Incidentally, Novak Djokovic got knocked out in quaterfinals of the French Open. Men’s Tennis ATP Current Rankings First Rank: Andy Murray (Great Britain) Second Rank: Rafael Nadal (Spain) Third Rank: Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) Fourth Rank: Novak Djokovic (Serbia & Montenegro) Fifth Rank: Roger Federer (Switzerland) WTA Current Rankings French Open Champion Jelena Ostapenko has jumped from 47th place to a career-high 12th in the WTA rankings. French Open title was her first tour-level title of her career. Last year, Jelena was knocked out of the tournament in the first round itself. In the WTA rankings, Angelique Kerber retains her No. 1 position despite losing in the first round of French Open. First Rank: Angelique Kerber (Germany) Second Rank: Simona Halep (Romania) Third Rank: Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) Fourth Rank: Serena Williams (USA) Fifth Rank: Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)

32. Indian shooters Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu have clinched the gold medal in mixed team 10m air pistol event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup held at Gabala, Azerbaijan. However, Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu narrowly missed out making to the finals of the individual men’s and women’s 10m air pistol event. While Jitu Rai finished 12th, Heena Sidhu finished 9th in their respective qualification rounds. Only top 8 are eligible to compete in the finals. Significantly, mixed team events have been approved as medal events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This win is the Indian pair’s second World Cup gold together. A total of 430 athletes from 45 nations are participating in the Gabala World Cup to qualify for the the ISSF World Cup Finals (WCF). The event will be the last chance for Rifle and Pistol shooters to qualify as only eight best shooters of the world in each Olympic discipline along with reigning Olympic and World Championship medalists and wild-cards will be able to compete in the WCF. China leads the medal tally at Gabala.

33. Project Jal Sanchay’, a water conservation model which is successfully adopted in Nalanda district of south-central Bihar, has been chosen for the national award for excellence in the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee programme (MGNREGP) by the Ministry of Rural Development. The award will be conferred on June 19 at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Nalanda being an agriculture-oriented district remained affected by drought-like conditions that hampered the farming activities in the district. Though the district receives flash floods during the monsoon, the water runoff in the district was very high so much so that the entire water got washed away in a span of 15 days. Under these circumstances, ‘project jal sanchay’ was launched under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) to offset the water crisis in the district. Under the project, check dams and traditional Aahar-Pyne irrigation systems were created. In addition, traditional water bodies were desilted and renovated. Campaigns about the usefulness of rainwater harvesting were also carried out. The project was a mix of modern day techniques and technologies with traditional knowledge and got evolved into a holistic program to conserve water. As a result of the implementation of the project, availability of water got improved drastically which positively impacted the farm production in the district.

34. Lewis Hamilton has won Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. It is Hamilton’s sixth victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. Previously, he had won the titles in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. It is also his third victory this season and the 56th of his career. The Canadian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event held in Canada since 1961. The race is a part of the Formula One World Championship from the year 1967. Other Winners Second place: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes, Third Place: Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, Fourth Place: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Fifth Place: Force India’s Sergio Perez

35. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu has demand for a separate time zone for the northeastern states to improve work efficiency and save electricity in the region. According to him, several daylight hours are getting wasted as government offices opens only at 10am and closes as early as 4pm.

Recently, the Gauhati High Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a separate time zone for the northeast region. A study carried out by Bengaluru-based National Institute of Advanced Studies had concluded that separate time zone for the northeastern region could help in saving 2.7 billion units of electricity every year. A Planning Commission report which was published in 2006 also called for different time zones in India to improve efficiency. A similar plea was put forward by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in 2014. He suggested that northeastern region should follow chai bagan (tea garden) time. Chai bagan time is practiced in tea gardens and is one hour ahead of the Indian Standard Time (IST). Problems with IST for North East There are periodical demands from people of North East region to have a separate time zone. IST was fixed in 1906 at 82.5°, or 5.30 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Although it is not felt by most Indians, it really creates troubles for the people who live in North East. In North East, the day starts getting brighter by 4 AM and darker by 5 PM. The adoption of separate time zone would allow people of North East to begin early and use the time which is currently wasted. The chaibagan time was introduced by the British over 150 years ago. It was set one hour ahead of the Indian Standard Time (IST) for tea estates, collieries and oil industry of Assam.

36. CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), Chennai, has come up with a cost-effective toilet. The toilet is expected to be set up in those areas where toilet coverage is not available.

The cost-effective toilet will weigh less than 500kg and will have a life span of 25-30 years. It can be assembled in under five hours. The toilet has been built with the help of the textile reinforced concrete (TRC) panels. The TRC panels has been developed by CSIR-SERC using textile reinforced concrete prototyping technology (TRCPT). CSIR-SERC had applied patent for this innovative all-in-one technology in 2014. The same TRC panels can be used as doors, roofing, walls and even flooring. There is no need of any moulds to prepare these sheets. These sheets vary in thickness from 15mm to 25mm. The reinforcement makes use of glass textile mesh with a grained cementious binder. This will be corrosion-free and is capable of withstanding winds. CSIR-SERC CSIR is an autonomous body and India’s premier research and development (R&D) organisation. It was established in 1942. It operates as an autonomous body registered under the Registration of Societies Act of 1860. It is mainly funded by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology. CSIR’s R&D activities include aerospace engineering, ocean sciences, structural engineering, metallurgy, life sciences, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environment. CSIR-SERC is one of the national laboratories under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) situated at Chennai. The laboratory has built expertise in analysis, design and testing of structures and structural components. Its services are sought by the union, state as well as the public and private sector undertakings.

37. Renowned Telugu poet and writer Cingireddi Narayana Reddy has passed away. In 1992, Reddy was awarded the country’s third-highest civilian honour, Padma Bhushan. In 1977, he was awarded the Padma Shri. In 1997, he was nominated to the Upper House of Parliament. In 1998, he received the prestigious Jnanpith award for his poetic work Visvambara which got translated into three other languages. Reddy has also written several songs for Telugu movies. Narayana Reddy was born in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh on July 29, 1931. He had obtained his MA and PhD in Telugu literature from Osmania University. Previously, he had also worked as a professor of the University.

38. The Ministry of Law and Justice has launched the ‘Tele-Law’ initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to provide legal aid services to the marginalized communities and citizens living in rural areas through the Common Service Centres (CSC) at the panchayat level, spread across the country.

‘Tele Law initiative would help people to seek legal advice from lawyers with the help of video conferencing facility available at the Common Service Centres (CSC). Apart from the lawyers, law school clinics, District Legal Service Authorities, voluntary service providers and Non-Government Organisations working on legal aid and empowerment can also be connected through the CSCs. In the initial phase, the initiative will be tested as a pilot project across 500 Common Service Centres (CSC) in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In this phase, challenges to the initiative would be identified and necessary corrections would be made and would eventually be rolled out across the country in a phased manner. A new portal called ‘Tele Law’ will be made available across the CSC network to connect the citizens to legal service providers with the help of technology-enabled platforms. The initiative would strengthen access to justice for the marginalized communities. The government will also put in place a robust monitoring and evaluation system to assess the quality of the legal advice delivered to the people. Under the initiative, a Para Legal Volunteer (PLV), would be employed in each CSC. The volunteer would serve as the first point of contact for the marginalized communities in the rural areas who will help them understand the legal issues, explain the advice given by lawyers and assist in further action as per the advice of the lawyer. Around 1000 women Para Legal Volunteers will also be trained under this initiative to provide legal aid services through the CSCs. This is expected to promote women entrepreneurship and empowerment. Further, the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) will also provide a panel of lawyers who will provide advice from the state capitals to the applicants in the CSCs through video conferencing.

39. Spain’s Rafael Nadal has defeated Swiss third-seeded Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to win his record 10th French Open title. This will be his fifteenth major title win. With this victory, Rafael Nadal has become the first man or woman in the Open era to clinch a Grand Slam tournament 10 times. The Open era which began in 1968 allowed professional players to compete with amateurs in the Grand Slam tournaments. With 15 Grandslam title wins, Nadal moves to the second place above Pete Sampras on the list of all-time Grand Slam winners of men’s tennis only behind Roger Federer, who recently registered his 18th title win at the Australian Open in January. Women’s Doubles Title America’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova have clinched their third successive grand slam doubles title after defeating Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua at the French Open. French Open The French Open is a premier clay court tennis championship event held between late May and early June for a duration of two weeks at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. The event is the second of out of four annual Grand Slam tournaments. The other three events are Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The event has been named after the French aviator Roland Garros. Garros was a Tennis Lover. French Open is also called “Roland Garros” or Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros.

40. The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2018 has been released. In the list, three Indian universities have featured among the top 200 universities.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have featured in the top 200 global universities. For the first, three Indian institutions have found a place in the list of top 200 universities in the QS Rankings. IISc Bangalore has been placed at 190 from the152nd place secured last year. Similarly, IIT Delhi have climbed from 185 to 172 and IIT Bombay has jumped from 219 to 179 this year. IISc has been placed at 6th position among 959 universities for ‘Citations per Faculty’ in the 2018 rankings. It is measured by calculating how many times research papers from a university is cited in the research work of others and is then calibrated against its faculty strength. For the first time, the Delhi University (DU) has entered the top 500 group. Other Indian Universities that find a place in the list are: Jadavpur University (ranked in the 601-650 band), University of Hyderabad (601-650), Anna University (651-700), Manipal University (701-750), Aligarh Muslim University (800-1000), Birla Institute of Technology and Science (800-1000) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been ranked as the world’s best university for the sixth consecutive year. The second and third place in the overall rankings has been occupied by Stanford University and Harvard University respectively. This year’s ranking surveyed 26,000 universities across the globe. In total, 20 Indian institutions have been included in the ranking table this year. The list has a total of 959 top universities.

In the recently released NIRF Rankings for Indian educational institutes, IISc was ranked as the country’s best university. IIT Madras was ranked as the best institute in the category of engineering institutes. The Quacquarelli Symonds is a British agency that annually ranks higher educational institutes across the world based on six performance parameters such as Research, Teaching, Employability and Internationalisation, in addition to a 40 point weightage to the institute`s stature.

41. Unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia has lifted the the 2017 French Open Women’s Singles crown. She defeated Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. This will be Ostapenko’s first ever Grand Slam title. With this win, Ostapenko, 20, has become the first unseeded woman to win the French Open after Britain’s Margaret Scriven’s feat in 1933. Ostapenko also earned the distinction for being the first player of Latvian origin – men or women – to win a Grand Slam event. French Open The French Open is a premier clay court tennis championship event held between late May and early June for a duration of two weeks at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. The event is the second of out of four annual Grand Slam tournaments. The other three events are Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The event has been named after the French aviator Roland Garros. Garros was a Tennis Lover. French Open is also called “Roland Garros” or Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros.

42. EU and France will give a grant of 3.5 million euros to three Indian cities- Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad as part of the EU’s commitment under the Paris Climate agreement to curb emissions and promote sustainability in these cities.

The grants have been provided to help India’s smart city programme under the ‘Moblise Your City’ (MYC) initiative. India has become the first country to get benefits from the MYC initiative. The MYC initiative is supported by the French and German government and also has financial support of the European Union (EU). The initiative is aimed at helping 100 cities across the world to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by promoting sustainable urban transport and sustainability in urban spaces. MYC initiative was emphasised by the Indian and European leaders during Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to Europe. Further it has been stated that more funds would be offered to India to carry forward its sustainable transport initiatives on the three smart cities.

French Development Agency (AFD) has been associated with several projects in India and conservation of biodiversity. AFD, at present, is funding the Vijayawada, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kochi and Nagpur metro rail projects. AFD is a public financial institution of France whose mandate is to implement the policy defined by the French government. It is headquartered in Paris. It finances projects in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean and the French overseas territories to promote living conditions for populations and economic growth in these regions. France is the ninth largest foreign investor in India.

43. India has moved the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the US as it has not yet complied with the rulings of the WTO pertaining to imposition of high import duty on certain Indian steel products. In December 2014, the WTO’s appellate body pronounced a ruling against the act of US which is imposing high import duty on certain Indian steel products. It had ruled that the imposition of import duty on steel products was inconsistent with various provisions of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (the SCM Agreement) – addresses two separate but closely related matters-The multilateral disciplines on the use of subsidies and the conditions under which Members may apply countervailing measures. India has sought consultation with the US for compliance of the WTO’s rulings. If the US refuses to comply then India has planned to approach the WTO’s compliance panel. In order to comply with the WTO rulings on countervailing duties on imports of hot-rolled carbon steel products from India, the US needs to amend its domestic norms. Earlier, the US had moved the arbitration panel of the WTO against India as it complained that India had failed to remove trade restrictions on American poultry. WTO The WTO is an inter-governmental organization for governments to negotiate global trade agreements and progressively liberalizing trade. The WTO operates a system of trade rules that apply to all its members. The WTO is also a place for Member governments to settle their trade disputes. Its located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was established on 1 January 1995 and its official languages are English, French and Spanish.

44. According to RBI, India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have increased by $2.404 billion to touch a lifetime high of $381.167 billion in the week that ended on June 2. The increase was due to increase in foreign currency assets (FCAs). Components The components of India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves include: Foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF). Out of all the components, FCAs constitute the largest component of the Forex Reserves. FCA rose by $2.748 billion to $357.290 billion in the reporting week. FCAs consist of US dollar and other major non-US global currencies. It also comprises of investments in US Treasury bonds, bonds of other selected governments, deposits with foreign central and commercial banks. FCAs include with them the effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies like the euro, pound, and the yen and is expressed in terms of dollars. The gold reserves declined by $343.2 million to $20.095 billion in the reporting week. SDRs’ value decreased marginally by $0.2 million to $1.472 billion. RBI’s reserve position with the IMF declined by $0.4 million to $2.309 billion.

45. The International Olympic Committee has approved a number of new events for the 2020 Tokyo Games at the IOC’s Executive Board meeting held at Lausanne, Switzerland. The new events were added to reflect the IOC’s focus on gender equality and appeal to young people.

The Tokyo Olympics would include 321 events which is an increase from 306 events held at Rio 2016. The new additions inlcude a mixed 4x400m relay along with 14 other events such as 3-on-3 basketball, the mixed relay, mixed swimming, mixed team archery, BMX freestyle etc. In addition, Mixed triathlon will also be included in the Tokyo games for the first time. Further, a mixed team event for judo will be included. Each team of judo will have 3 men and 3 women, all representing different weight classes. At the judo world championships, team events on mixed-gender basis have not taken place. Mixed Doubles Table Tennis competition will also be included. The mixed event was recently featured in the world championships held in Germany. The 10 minute 3-on-3 basketball event which will be played on a half-sized court is known for its speed. The game was adopted by the International Basketball Federation as an official discipline with common rules in 2007. Totally, the number of mixed events at Tokyo Olympics will double to 18 up from 9 held in Rio Olympics. The IOC’s focus in selecting the new events was for their appeal to young and urban audiences as well as for redressing long-standing imbalances between male and female athletes. IOC also reduced the number of athletes who will be competing in Tokyo olympics by 285 compared to Rio in order to prevent the games from being increasingly bloated and costly. IOC The IOC is the supreme authority of the Olympic Movement headquartered at Lausanne, Switzerland. It is a not-for-profit independent international organisation comprised of volunteers. It was founded on 23rd June, 1894. The IOC Session and Executive Board are responsible for making important decisions for the organisation.

46. SEBI has granted conditional approval for the appointment of Vikram Limaye as the MD and CEO of the NSE. In February 2017, Limaye who is MD and CEO of infrastructure financing company IDFC was selected for the post of NSE chief. However, SEBI had not cleared his appointment as he was also present in the Supreme Court appointed four-member panel managing the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Now, the SEBI has cleared the appointment of Limaye subject to the condition that he relieves himself from his BCCI assignment, among other things. Limaye’s term with the BCCI ends in August this year. The NSE has already assured SEBI that Limaye will not seek an extension on his BCCI assignment. Limaye is expected to take charge of NSE at a time the exchange is facing challenges in multiple fronts. NSE has been functioning headless for the past six months. In addition, the vice chairman and founding member of the NSE Ravi Narain resigned from the board as the SEBI investigation in the algorithmic trading platform issue picked up. SEBI has also issued show cause notices to 14 directors of the exchange for their failure to maintain market sanctity. NSE plans for an initial public offering in the second half of this year.

Vikram Limaye was selected as the Managing Director of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after Chitra Ramakrishna had quit the exchange in December 2016 citing personal reasons. Vikram Limaye is chartered accountant with an MBA from The Wharton School. Earlier, Mr Limaye was also named a member of a four-member panel by the Supreme Court to run the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex cricket management body in the country.

47. NITI Aayog has launched SATH-‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital’ with the State Governments for furthering the agenda of cooperative federalism.

NITI Aayog under the SATH initiative plans to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for health systems. After identification of three states, NITI Aayog will work in close collaboration with the state machinery of these three states. It will help in designing a robust roadmap, develop a program governance structure, establish monitoring and tracking mechanisms, and provide support to the state institutions to achieve the end objectives. SATH program will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium. Selection of States For selecting three model states, NITI Aayog spelled out three-stage process, namely, expression of interest, presentations by the states and assessment of commitment to health sector reforms. Subsequently, 16 states expressed interest in the initiative out of which 14 states presented their project proposals-Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. From these four states, NITI Aayog has shortlisted 5 states. After subsequent screening and evaluations, three states will be selected. Parameters such as MMR, IMR, incidence of malaria will be considered for determining potential impact, and metrics such as density of doctors and nurses, compliance to IPHS norms will be used to determine likelihood of success. The program will be launched after signing of MoUs with these three selected states. NITI Aayog NITI Aayog is essentially an advisory body that seeks to provide critical directional and strategic inputs across spectrum of key elements of policy to the centre as well as states. The Government of India has established Niti Ayog as a “Think Tank” which has no power to impose policies. By establishing Niti Ayog the government wants to be an “enabler” and leaves the impetus to provide a platform for cooperative and competitive federalism to the newly established body.

48. Government has awarded a Rs 1,600-crore contract for constructing 109-km road connecting Paletwa river terminal to Zorinpui in Mizoram border as a part of the $484-million Kaladan multi-modal transport (KMTT) projects in Myanmar which will offer connectivity to Mizoram.

Kaladan multi-modal transport projects was the first major project undertaken by the Indian government in Myanmar. India has finished constructing Sittwe port in the trouble-prone Rakhine state of Myanmar. Also, the extension of the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at Zorinpui at the Indian side is nearing completion. In addition, four-laning of the 300 km Aizawl-Tuipang highway to ensure faster movement of goods between Sittwe and Aizawl is also nearing completion. KMTT KMTT is essentially a multi-modal transport project having three different stretches involving shipping, Inland Water and road transport stretches. The longest among them is Shipping segment from Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar. Government of India is funding this project and it is considered as an important investment of India in its neighbourhood. The cargo will start from Kolkata port and reach Sittwe port in Myanmar by ship. The Sittwe Port would be linked to Lashio (also in Maynmar) via the Kaladan river transport route. Lashio would be connected to Mizoram via road transport (National Highway 54)

The idea for Kaladan multi-modal transport projects was mooted in 2003. However, India and Myanmar signed the framework agreement for Kaladan project only in 2008. Construction began in 2010 but inadequate fund allocation and planning failure delayed the completion of the project. In 2015, the present government revised the budget estimates by nearly six times and has involved the State-owned Ircon Infrastructure and Services Ltd as consultant with an objective to complete the project in 2019. As per the terms of the framework agreement, India should also set up an SEZ at Sittwe. The setting up of SEZ at Sittwe is important to promote Indian investment in the region which has overwhelming Chinese influence. Significance The completion of KMTT project will play a major role in economic development of the North-East India and it will improve the bilateral relations between India and Myanmar. When completed, the KMTT will shorten the current time taken to transport goods from Kolkata to Mizoram by three-four days, and the distance by around 950 km. KMMT is hailed as “Future gateway to South East Asia”.

49. 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. The Court stayed the retrospective invalidation of PAN for non-compliance till a Constitutional Bench decides on the privacy question pending before it. As a result, a person who do not possess Aadhaar card will not face criminal consequences for not linking Aadhaar card with PAN card. The Supreme Court also upheld the legislative competence of Parliament in enacting the law to this effect. However, it has stated that it has not touched upon the issue of Right to Privacy and other aspects which will be decided by the Constitution bench.

Government had made linking of Aadhaar card with PAN card mandatory for filing of Income Tax returns as it would help to weed out fake and fraudulent financial accounts. According to the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the Aadhaar number is mandatory only for receiving social welfare benefits. But as per the provisions of the Finance Act 2017, the Aadhaar number/Aadhaar enrolment number is mandatory to file income tax returns and to apply for a new PAN. The government will declare the existing PAN to be void if the taxpayer fails to link it with Aadhaar by July 31, 2017. In 2015, a three-judge bench had referred the issue of Right to Privacy and other aspects to a larger constitution bench, which is yet to be constituted.

50. In a first Preet Kaur Gill has become the first Sikh to be elected to the British Parliament’s House of Commons. Similarly, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi has become the first turban-wearing Sikh to be elected to the House of Commons. In a first, the House of Commons will have a record 12 Indian-origin MPs, which will be two more than the present record of 10 (five each from Labour and Conservative). The victories of Preet kaur Gill and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi is considered as a significant milestone for Sikh politicians in United Kingdom in this election. Dhesi and Gill are from the opposition Labour party. While Dhesi has won from the Slough constituency and Gill has won from Birmingham Edgbaston. Other Indian-Origin Winners Alok Sharma, who is minister for Asia has retained his Reading West seat. Goa-origin Suella Fernandes (Conservative) and Virendra Sharma have retained their her seats comfortably. Lisa Nandy (Labour) and Seema Malhotra (Labour) have retained their Wigan seat Feltham and Heston seats respectively.

51. The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has launched a mobile Application ‘Selfie with Daughter’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The App is aimed at raising awareness among people about female foeticide and sex selection. The President has urged the people to take selfies with their daughters to make the campaign a huge success. The app is expected to create awareness and help in dealing with the problems arising out of gender imbalance. The President has termed the App as an innovative concept and as an act of gentle persuasion.

The ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign was started in village Bibipur, Jind, Haryana by a former Sarpanch Sunil Jaglan in June 2015. The aim of the ‘Selfie with Daughter’campaign is to motivate society to feel proud to be parents of a girl child which in turn is expected to have a positive impact in improving the child sex ratio. The campaign has attracted many celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar who has joined the campaign on social media. The campaign was termed as an international movement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time of his meeting with Silicon Valley CEOs in the US.

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