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INDIAN AFFAIRS
Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) to be implemented by 20 states under MOU with Health Ministry
i. On June 14, 2018, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shri JP Nadda, signed Memorandum of Understanding with the State Health Ministers of 20 States to launch the Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) at a Health Ministers conclave in New Delhi.
ii. AB-NHPM will protect around 50 crore people (from about 10 crore families).
iii. AB-NHPM will protect the people and at the same time Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) will deliver comprehensive primary health care…………………………………………………………….Click here to Read more
Gujarat and Tripura ranked first according to Report on the Composite Water Management Index : NITI Aayog
On June 15, 2018, NITI Aayog has prepared a report on Composite Water Management Index (CWMI). The Report was launched today by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources and Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Secretaries/ senior officials of Ministry of Water Resources, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Rural Development.
Objectives:
To enable cooperative and competitive federalism.
Key points:
i. The CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of States/ Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.
ii. Data collection exercise has been done in partnership with Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation and all the States/ Union Territories.
iii. This would help enabling the states and Central ministries/Departments to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.
iv. Gujarat as number one in the reference year (2016-17), followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
v. In North Eastern and Himalayan States, Tripura has been adjudged number 1 in 2016-17 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam.
vi. In terms of incremental change in index (over 2015-16 level), Rajasthan holds number one position in general States and Tripura ranks at first position amongst North Eastern and Himalayan States.
About Composite Water Management Index (CWMI):
CWMI has been developed by NITI Aayog comprising 9 broad sectors with 28 different indicators covering various aspects of ground water, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking water, policy and governance . The reporting states were divided into two special groups – ‘North Eastern and Himalayan states’ and ‘Other States’, to account for the different hydrological conditions across these groups.
About Other Indexes released by NITI Aayog:
In February 2018, NITI Aayog had released a report on “Healthy States, Progressive India” which covered the ranking of States/ UTs in various health parameters.
106th Science Congress to be hosted by Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar from January 3 to 7, 2019.
On June 15, 2018, It was announced that The 106th Indian Science Congress will be held at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab from January 3 to 7, 2019.
Key points:
i. The event will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi.
ii. The theme for the five-day science congress is ‘Future India: Science & Technology’
iii. It will be organised by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).
iv. It will have 18 plenary sessions, including those of medical, environmental, chemical and other science domains.
v. It will also have four parallel mega events, including women’s science conference, children’s science conference, science communicators meet and science exhibition.
vi. Participant countries would be US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.
vii. About 15,000 delegates, including 300 top scientists and Nobel Laureates worldwide are going to participate.
viii. India’s DRDO, DST, Defence units, Switzerland’s Aglient, Camag companies would be present.
About Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA):
The ISCA works under Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology (Government of India). Its main objective is s to advance and promote cause of science in India, recognize and support excellence in scientific research, technologies and innovations.
Piyush Goyal dedicates NLCIL’s Three 100 MW Solar Power Projects to the Nation
On 14th June 2018, Union Minister for Railways, Coal, Finance & Company Affairs, Piyush Goyal inaugurated Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLCIL)’s three 100 MW Solar Power Projects for commercial operation and dedicated these projects to the Nation.
NLCIL’s Three 100 MW Solar Power Projects dedicated to the Nation:
i. The Solar Power projects located at Thoppalaakkarai and Sethupuram in Virudhunagar District and Sellaiya Sezhiyanallur in Tirunelveli District, with an installed capacity of 100 MW each, were set up at a cost of Rs.1300 Crores.
ii. This is inclusive of Operation & Maintenance cost for 15 Years. The power generated from these units will be provided to Tamilnadu Power Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) at a cost of Rs.4.41/- per unit.
iii. A MoU was also signed by NLCIL and Anna University. The MoU was signed by Dr. V. Manoharan, General Manager/Centre for Applied Research & Development, NLCIL, Neyveli and Dr. S. Ganesan, Registrar, Anna University, Chennai.
iv. The MoU will help to establish a pilot project on solar drying of lignite, to increase its Caloric Value from 2700 Kcal to 4350 Kcal. The cost of the pilot project is Rs.2 Crore 69 Lakhs.
About NLCIL:
♦ Status – ‘Navratna’ profit making, Government Enterprise
♦ Purpose – mining of lignite and generation of power through lignite based thermal power plants
♦ Established – 1956
National Tribal Museum proposed to be set up at Delhi-Shri Jual Oram
A National Tribal Museum and a National Level Tribal Research Institute is proposed to be set up at Delhi by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
National Tribal Museum and a National Level Tribal Research Institute:
i. This announcement was made by Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram on 14th June 2018.
ii. He said that the Museum will feature the rich tribal culture and heritage using advanced technologies.
iii. The proposal to establish the Museum and Tribal Research Institute has been sent to the NITI Ayog.
iv. According to the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th August 2016, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, is forming six Tribal Freedom Fighters Memorials. Out of which two are of national importance: Narmada (Gujarat) and Birsa Munda Central Jail (Ranchi).
v. Secretary, Ms. Leena Nair said that out of 115 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Ayog, Ministry of Tribal Affairs is focusing on 40 tribal dominated Aspirational Districts.
vi. She also talked about the, Van Dhan Yojana launched in 2018 for providing livelihood for tribals by using non-timber forest produce having an estimated value of Rs 2 lakh crore per year.
Some important international airports in India:
♦ Kempegowda International Airport – Bengaluru, Karnataka
♦ Mangalore International Airport – Mangalore, Karnataka
♦ Cochin International Airport – Kochi, Kerala
Telangana has got annual allotment of Rs 1,813 crfrom the previous Rs.258 crore for Railway projects
On June 15, 2018, The Railway Minister PiyushGoyal announced the annual allocation of Rs. 1813 crore to Telengana for railway project.
Key points:
i. It is an increase from an average of Rs 258 crore.
ii. The minister flagged off the extended Kacheguda- Nizamabad passenger train up to Karimnagar.
iii. South Central Railway (SCR) has become the first railway zone in the country to complete 100 per cent LED lighting at all the stations under its jurisdiction
iv. Initiatives and passenger amenities to be provided by the South Central Railway and at Nizamabad station of ‘Grade A’ category.
v. Phase two of Multi-Model Transit System (MMTS) to be taken up by the state and central government.
vi. Setting up of a multi-storey car parking facility at Secunderabad station to be initiated soon.
vii.Secunderabad railway station would be connected to nearest Hyderabad Metro rail point through a skywalk for the benefit of passengers.
South Central Railway:
Headquarters: Secunderabad.
Dams in Telengana :
NagarjunaSagar Dam, Srisailam Dam, Sriramsagar Dam, NizamSagar.
10 day ‘Yoga Ambassadors Tour’ inaugurated by Ministry of AYUSH with Kerala Government
On June 15, 2018, As a part of Kerala government’s tourism promotion programme, ‘Yoga Ambassadors Tour’,a specialized trip for yoga professionals from around the world was inaugurated by Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik.
Key points:
i. It aims to design a wholesome yoga package for visiting tourists with well-known yoga destinations with related activities.
ii. It is a 10 day educational tour for yoga professionals .
iii. It has been organized by Association of Tourism Trade Organisations (ATTOI) in association with the Ministry of AYUSH and Kerala Tourism department.
iv. Places like Ayurveda, Kerala , Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu , renowned Yoga destinations like Shivandanda yoga ashram, the meditation centre at Vivekanada Rock in Kanyakumari and sites of Munnar will be included .
Dams in Kerela:
Neyyar Dam, Idukki Dam.
National Parks in Kerala:
Periyar National Park , Eravikulam National Park, Silent Valley National Park , Pampadum National Park.
Naval Women Mountaineers team led by Lt Cdr Kokila Sajwan Summit Mount Deotibba
On 10th June 2018, an all women Naval mountaineering team led by Lt Cdr Kokila Sajwan summited Mount Deotibba.
Naval Women Mountaineers summit Mount Deotibba:
i. The expedition was flagged off by Vice Admiral AK Chawla, AVSM, NM, VSM, Chief Of Personnel on 28th May 2018 from New Delhi.
ii. Mount Deotibba is the second highest peak (6001M) in the Pir-Panjal range in Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the most difficult peaks to summit.
iii. The team was led by Lt Cdr Kokila Sajwan. Team members are: Lt Cdr Nanadini Dam Roy, Lt Cdr Seema Chaudhary, Lt Cdr Pooja Sharma, Lt Cdr Rekha Shree, Lt Cdr Rashu Tyagi, Lt Saino Wilson, Lt Chamm Kumari, Surg Lt Himwant Kaur, Lt Surbhi Sharma, Lt Shristi Thakur, Lt Vipasha Sharma, Lt Kritika Sharma.
iv. They started the trek from the road head (Bara Hazari) to the base camp at a height of 4250 m through Chikka and Seri.
v. They passed through advance base camp at 4700 m and the Summit camp at 5250 m. After 12 hours of climbing, they summited the peak.
Some important dams in India:
♦ Ranjit Sagar Dam – Ravi River
♦ Baglihar Dam – Chenab River
♦ Chemera I Dam – Ravi River
BANKING & FINANCE
Andhra Bank raises MCLR by 0.05% for various tenors after RBI’s Monetary Policy
On June 15, 2018, Andhra Bank increased its MCLR by 5 basis points or 0.05% for various tenors.
i.The changes are in the following table:
| Tenor | Increased rate in % |
| Overnight | 8 |
| One Month | 8.05 |
| Three Months | 8.25 |
| Six Months | 8.40 |
| One Year | 8.55 |
ii. This is after RBI’s bimonthly monetary Policy was released and it increased the repo rate by 0.25%.
iii. SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, KarurVysya Bank and Indian Bank are few of the other banks who have raised their MCLR as well.
Andhra Bank:
♦ Headquarters: Hyderabad.
♦ Tagline: Much more to do with You in focus
HDFC Bank gets nod to raise up to Rs 15.5k cr via QIP additional Rs. 8500 crore infused by Parent company HDFC
On June 15, 2018, The government of India approved HDFC Bank to raise additional share capital of up to a maximum of Rs 24,000 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).
Key points:
i. The approval includes an Rs 8,500-crore infusion from parent Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC)
ii. Thiswill allow it to maintain its 25.6% current shareholding, potentially leaving about Rs 15,500 crore to be raised from the market.
iii. It is the country’s largest sell of share.
iv. The QIP record is Rs 15,000 crore raised by State Bank of India (SBI) in June 2017.
v. This would raise additional share capital of up to a maximum of Rs 24,000 crore, including premium, over and above the previous approved limit of Rs 10,000 crore so that the foreign share holding doesn’t exceed 74%.
vi. Foreign banks including Bank ofAmerica-Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, UBS Securities, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Nomura Holdings are participating in the QIP .
vii. This share sale will be the first since HDFC Bank raised Rs 10,000 crore through a combination of QIP and American Depository Receipts (ADRs) in February 2015.
About Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP):
Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) is a way for listed companies to raise capital, without having to submit legal paperwork to market regulators. It is mostly used in India and other southeast Asian countries.
Axis Bank and ICICI bank rating degrades : Fitch
On June 15, 2018, Global ratings agency Fitch today said ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have inequalities in their risk control mechanisms and has revised down its outlook on the latter to negative on sour assets worries.
Key points:
i. It downgraded ICICI Bank’s ‘support rating’ to ‘3’, from ‘2’, its support rating floor to ‘BB+’, from ‘BBB-’ .But the agency has affirmed the issuer default ratings and viability ratings of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank at ‘BBB-’ and ‘BBB-’.
ii. ICICI Banks governance is under investigation.
iii. Axis Bank’s rating degraded to negative from stable, pointing to the high proportion of NPAs.
Axis Bank:
Headquarters: Mumbai
Fitch:
Headquarters: New York City, US
ICICI Bank:
Headquarters: Mumbai
Japan’s SoftBank to invest $60 bn to $100 bn in India’s solar power generation goal of 2022
On June 15, 2018, Japan’s Softbank Group Corp has decided to invest $60 bn – $100 bn in India’s solar power generation.
Key Points:
i. The investment would be made through a fund backed by Saudi Arabia’s government .
ii. Saudi Arabia is the largest investor in SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which raised over $93 billion last year.
iii. In 2015 SoftBank decided to invest $20 billion in Indian solar projects in a joint venture with India’s Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan’s Foxconn. It had a goal of generating 20 gigawatts (GW) of energy.
iv. In April,2018 SoftBank teamed up with China’s GCLSystem Integration Technology Co Ltd on a $930 million Indian solar energy venture.
About India’s renewable energy goal:
In 2015, India announced an ambitious goal of to increasing renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, with 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of bio energy and 5 GW of small hydro.
SoftBank Group:
Headquarters : Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
PhonePe partners with Ola to enable riders to book rides using PhonePe’s payment platform
On 15th June 2018, PhonePe announced that, it has partnered with cab aggregator Ola, to enable riders to book rides using PhonePe’s payment platform.
PhonePe partners with Ola:
i. PhonePe is owned by Flipkart. PhonePe has also added ‘Auto-pay’ feature that enables users to make payments easily.
ii. Users can switch off ‘Auto-pay’ instructions at any time. PhonePe has said that, these moves will help businesses to reach out with their services to a highly growing base of more than 100 million PhonePe users.
iii. PhonePe is also adding partners in the travel, hospitality, ticketing and food sectors to its micro-app platform.
About PhonePe:
♦ CEO – Sameer Nigam
♦ CTO – Rahul Chari
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Dr Bindeshwar Pathak: Sulabh International founder honoured with Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture and Community
On 13th June 2018, Indian social worker Dr Bindeshwar Pathak was presented the “Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture and Community” for this year at an award ceremony in Tokyo, Japan.
Dr Bindeshwar Pathak – honoured with Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture and Community:
i. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak was presented this award by Naotoshi Okada, President of Nikkei Inc.
ii. Chairman of the Award Committee Mr Fujio Mitarai said that, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak has been honoured for tackling two of India’s biggest challenge: poor hygiene and discrimination.
iii. He was awarded under the ‘culture and community’ category. Other two winners of the award are Ma Jun (Economic and Business Innovation) and Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem (Science and Technology).
iv. Ma Jun is a Chinese environmentalist. He was awarded for using the internet to promote cleaner industry. Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem is a Vietnamese doctor. He was awarded for bringing advanced medicine for children.
v. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak created the low cost toilet revolution ‘Sulabh Shauchalya’. He invented the two-pit pour-flush ecological compost toilets.
vi. These low-cost environment friendly toilets have also provided safety to rural women and freedom from manual labour of removing human waste.
vii. Experts in the Asia-Pacific region submit nominations for the Nikkei Asia awards. Candidates can also nominate themselves.
viii. Japanese individuals and organisations are not eligible for the award. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak dedicated this award to the most affected section of the society.
About Nikkei Asia Prize:
♦ Founded in – 1996 to mark the 120th anniversary of Nikkei Inc’s main Japanese-language newspaper
♦ Founded by – Nikkei Inc
♦ Honours – people who have made significant contributions in one of these areas: regional growth, science, technology and innovation and culture and community
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Indian-American Dhivya Suryadevara to become CFO of General Motors
Dhivya Suryadevara, an Indian-American woman has been named the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of General Motors (GM).
Dhivya Suryadevara to become CFO of General Motors:
i. Dhivya Suryadevara is at present the vice president of corporate finance, General Motors. She will replace Chuck Stevens, General Motors’ current CFO, on 1st September 2018.
ii. Dhivya Suryadevara was born in Chennai, India. She is 39 years old. She has been vice president of corporate finance in General Motors since July 2017.
iii. She will report to Mary Barra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Motors.
iv. Dhivya Suryadevara will be the first woman CFO in the auto industry and Mary Barra is the first woman CEO in the auto industry, as no other major global automaker has a female CEO, or a CEO and CFO who are both women.
v. Soon General Motors will join a very short list of S&P 500 companies in which women are serving as CEO and CFO.
vi. Divya Suryadevara got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in commerce from the University of Madras in Chennai. She went to the US at the age of 22 to get an MBA from Harvard University. She joined General Motors in 2005.
Tag lines of some banks:
♦ Andhra Bank – Where India Banks
♦ Bank of Baroda – India’s International Bank
♦ Bank of India – Relationships beyond banking
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ISRO offers transfer of e-vehicle cell technology to firms for Rs 1 crore
On June 15, 2018, Indian space agency ISRO announced it has decided to transfer its own lithium ion cell technology to Indian industry on a non-exclusive basis for usage in automobiles for Rs 1 crore.
Key points:
i.It aims to will accelerate the development of indigenous electric vehicle industry.
ii. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) located in Kerala will transfer the lithium ion cell technology to the successful Indian industries/start-ups.
iii. The request for qualification (RFQ) will be issued from June 20 for a price of Rs 25,000 and a security deposit of Rs 400,000 has to be paid along with the application.
iv. The firm’s security deposit will be adjusted against the technology transfer fee of Rs 100 lakh.
v. The one-time technology transfer fee has to be paid within 30 days of qualification date.
ISRO:
♦ Headquarters: Bengaluru
♦ Director: K.Sivan.
SPORTS
Shikhar Dhawan is first Indian to score century before lunch
On 14th June 2018, Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian to score a century before lunch on the first day of the one-off test match against Afghanistan in Bengaluru.
Shikhar Dhawan is first Indian to score century before lunch:
i. Shikhar Dhawan’s century is the first by an Indian batsman in the first session of a Test. He has become the sixth batsman in the world to achieve this in the test format.
ii. Shikhar Dhawan scored unbeaten 104 (91 balls) and Murali Vijay (41 no off 72 balls).
iii. The first batsman to achieve this mark was Australia’s V.T. Trumper against England in 1902.
iv. The other batsmen to achieved this mark are: Australia’s C.G. Macartney, Don Bradman, David Warner and Pakistan’s Majid Khan and India’s Shikhar Dhawan now.
Some important stadiums in India:
♦ Ambedkar Stadium – Delhi
♦ Chhatrasal Stadium – Delhi
♦ Fatorda Stadium – Goa
OBITUARY
Senior journalist and writer Adiraju Venkateswara Rao passed away
On 14th June 2018, Adiraju Venkateswara Rao, a senior journalist and writer died due to a long term illness in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Death of Adiraju Venkateswara Rao:
i. Adiraju Venkateswara Rao was 79 years old. His native was Khammam district.
ii. He had worked in several Telugu and English newspapers. He had also written few books.
iii. He had played an important role in the separate Telangana protests in 1969. He was honoured by the state government in the Telangana formation day celebrations recently.
Some important wildlife sanctuaries in Telangana:
♦ Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary
♦ Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary
♦ Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Nitin Gadkari Releases ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ book published by NABARD
On 14th June 2018, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari released a book ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ published by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) at an event in New Delhi.
Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops:
i. The book ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ is about a study on 10 major crops done by a team lead by eminent agricultural economist Dr. Ashok Gulati.
ii. The 10 major crops are: rice, wheat, maize, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton and potato etc.
iii. The book recommends to realign cropping pattern with focus on water scarcity of irrigation, ration irrigation supplies in canal irrigation system, enhance micro-irrigation and invest in water harvesting and artificial recharge and promote participatory irrigation management through water user association and farmer’s producer organisation.
iv. He said that, proposal for three projects at Tuticorin, Paradip and Kandla for desalination of sea water for irrigational and other uses is under consideration.
Some important lakes in India:
Largest saline water lake in India – Chilika Lake, Odisha
Longest lake in India – Vembanad Lake, Kerala
Highest Lake in India – Cholamu Lake, Sikkim
IMPORTANT DAYS
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day – 15 June
On 15th June 2018, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day was observed all over the world.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day:
i. The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed every year on 15th June. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) first observed the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in 2006.
ii. The United Nations General Assembly officially recognized 15th June as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in 2011.The theme this year is “Moving from Awareness to Action through a Human Rights based approach”.
iii. This day is observed to show opposition to the abuse and suffering experienced by the elders of our society.
iv. Elder abuse is mistreatment of elders done by a partner, family member, friend etc. It may be physical, social, financial, psychological or sexual and even neglect.
About International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA):
♦ Headquarters – New Delhi
♦ Founded – 1997
