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INDIAN AFFAIRS
Lok Sabha passes Bankruptcy Bill
Bill passed: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill, 2016 – The Parliament,New Delhi.
Motto: The “Transformational” legislation that will help improve India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index.
i. Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, the Government had “in toto” accepted the report of the Joint Committee of Parliament.
ii. Member of Parliament Jayadev Galla concerning that banks have started “tightening on promoters” and were “insisting on personal guarantees”.
Approval of Committee on Yoga Education in Universities
Committe Constituted: 15th January, 2016
Purpose: Yoga education in universities
Chairpersonship: Prof H.R. Nagendra, Chancellor, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana
Venue: Samsthana, Bengaluru
Courses Offered:
(i) Certificate Course in Yoga (CCY) of 6 to 12 months duration
(ii) Bachelors of Science (Yoga)-BSc.(Yoga) of 3 to 6 years
(iii) Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga (PGDY) of 1 to 2 years
(iv) Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy(PGDYT) of 1 to 2 years
(v) Masters of Science (MSc.)- Yoga of 2 years to 4 years
(vi) Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)-Yoga of 3 to 5 years
(vii) Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated)- Yoga of 4 to 6 years
Indo-Japan Collaboration in the Field of Science & Technology and sign MOU for Cooperation in Sports
i. India and Japan are in close collaboration on several focus areas Science & Technology.
ii. From Indian Side Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with the Japanese Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, and Science & Technology Hirodie Hase in New Delhi.
Cooperation in Sports:
♦ India and Japan agreed to exchange sportspersons, coaches, experts and administrators to improve the standard of the game in both nations.
♦ The decisions were taken during a meeting between Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and a 12-member delegation from Japan led by Hase Hiroshi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
♦ In 2020 Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, while India will host the Under-17 World Cup in next year.
Govt releases Rs 9,367 cr under MGNREGA to drought-hit states
ii. Centre also relaxed norms under the Scheme to make available additional employment of 50 days per household over and above the 100 days in areas affected by natural calamities during 2015-16.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act:
♦ MGNREGA is enacted under Indian legislation on 2005. It is the flagship programme of the UPA Government that directly touches lives of the poor and promotes inclusive growth.
♦ The Scheme aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Number of gram panchayats in Odisha to increase by 500 to 600
i. Odisha Cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared a proposal for amendment to the Gram Panchayat Act as this the ruling party’s promise in 2014 elections proclamation that there would be one panchayat for each 1,000 populace.
ii. The move is to encourage making of more than 500 panchayats in Odisha. As per the proposal the Panchayats in the state will increase by around 500 to 600.
iii. With the cabinet nod the bookings for panchayat will be decided in one term when compared with two terms before after the amendment to the Gram Panchayats Act.
Odisha:
♦ The Gahirmatha beach in Bhitarkanika is the world’s largest nesting site forolive ridley sea turtles.
♦ Chilika Lake is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the second largest lagoon in the world.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Mumbai’s international airport four times more assemblages than other airports
Airport : The Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport
Situated in : Mumbai
According to Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), about 34,000 passengers rushing for space in an acre at the international airport.
Comparisons:
i. India’s busiest airport- Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport caters to 8,980 passengers per acre.
ii. Bangalore International Airport is 4,528 passengers per acre.
iii. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, is 2,197 passengers per acre.
iv. The passengers per acre of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, is 5,238.
v. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, is 3,566 passengers per acre
Zimbabwe to print own version of US dollar
i. Zimbabwe’s central bank is all set to introduce its own version of US dollars Known as bond notes in order to ease a cash shortage in the country.
ii. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will introduce bond notes of $2, $5, $10, and $20, which will hold the same value as their US dollar counterparts.
iii. The bond notes will be assisted by $200 million provided by the Africa Export Import Bank.
iv. The country announced the US dollar after ditching its own currency in 2009 following sustained hyperinflation.
Zimbabwe:
♦ Capital: Harare
♦ Currencies: US Dollar, Euro, Pound sterling, South African rand.
BANKING & FINANCE
ICICI Bank signs MoU with BRICS Grouping-promoted New Development Bank
Situated in : Mumbai
Headquarters : Shanghai
Private sector : Lender ICICI Bank BSE at 1.54 %
Established: New Development Bank (NDB)
NDB’s first president : ICICI Bank experienced person KV Kamath
Agreement: To create a platform for sharing knowledge and deepening network connectivity between NDB and ICICI Bank after signing the MoU along with ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar.
Federal Bank ties up with US based Payments Company for faster international remittances
i. Kochi based Federal Bank joined with Transfast Remittance LLC for facilitating online inward remittance to India in Rupees for their NRI customers based in USA.
ii. Both the sides has entered into arrangementwith this tie-up, the US-based NRI customers can transfer money instantly to their NRI account in India from their US bank account even by using Debit card/ Credit card.
iii. Transfastis a prominent omni-channel provider of cross-border payments solutions and operates a best-in-class network across 120+ countries in the USA, Asia, Europe and Africa.
iv. Customers can also send money even by creating an account ontransfast platform or by downloading Transfast App.
Federal Bank:
♦ Founded: 1945
♦ Headquarters: Kochi
♦ CEO: Shyam Srinivasan
♦ Slogan: Your Perfect Banking Partner
ECB set to decide fate of 500-euro banknote
i. The Central Bank of Europe is mulling to decide the fate of the 500-euro banknote, as these denominations associated with money laundering, the black market and terrorist financing. It is the largest denomination banknote in the single currency by the bank.
ii. The violet-coloured 500-euro bills account for just three per cent of the total number of banknotes in circulation, but 28 per cent of the total value.
iii. The council is likely to vote to stop issuing them, as such notes are the preferred payment mechanism of those pursuing illicit activities, for moving large sums of money around without the authorities knowing.
European Central bank:
♦ Founded: 1998
♦ Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany
♦ The Central European Bank is for the euro and administers monetary policy of the Eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member
BUSINESS
BHEL commissions 500 MW thermal power unit in Jharkhand
i. Public Sector undertaking, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltdhas commissioned 500 MW thermal power unit at Bokaro Thermal Power-AStation of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in Jharkhand.
ii. With this the power major has added another coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning thermal unit on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis.
iii. BHEL has also supplied 84 per cent of the total coal-based power generating capacity
installed by DVC. In Jharkhand the company aims to contribute 87 per cent to the total installed power generating capacity.
Jharkhand:
♦ The state formed by carving out the southern part of Bihar in 2000.
♦ Governor: Droupadi Murmu
♦ Chief Minister: Raghubar Das
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Singer Angelique Kidjo wins human rights award
Born in : Cotonou, Benin.
Famous by : Diverse musical influences and creative music videos.
Benin’s Grammy Award winner – Angelique Kidjo
Along with: Three African youth activist
Three Activist Names: Y’en a marre, Le Balai Citoyen and Lucha
Purpose:
i. Standing up to injustice by Amnesty International.
ii. Shown the exceptional courage.
Corporation Bank gets “Excellence Award on Empowering MSMEs 2016”
i. Mangalore based Corporation Bank has been awarded with Excellence Award on Empowering MSMEs 2016. Bank MD and CEO Jai Kumar Garg received the award from Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSMEs, in New Delhi.
ii. The award is instituted by the Federation of Industry, Trade and Services [FITS].
Steps taken by the Corporation Bank:
♦ The bank ensures collateral-free loans up to Rs. 1 crore under Credit Guarantee Scheme of CGTMSE and bears the cost of guarantee cover for loans up to Rs. 10 lakh.
♦ Corporation Bank is offering 25 bps concessions in interest rate to women beneficiaries in addition to 50 bps concession available to guarantee covered accounts.
♦ Corporation Bank has also adopted Environment and Social Risk Framework guidelines of World Bank/SIDBI for SME borrowers to make MSMEs lending environmentally sustainable.
Swiss government honours Yash Chopra with statue
ii. The 250 kilos bronze statue of the late filmmaker was inaugurated by his wife Pamela and daughter-in-law Rani Mukerjee.
iii. The director’s statue is installed at the heart of Interlaken, inside the Kursaal area, near the Congress Centre which is a prime, popular spot with tourists.
Switzerland:
♦ The country with a total of 113 Nobel Prize winners in all fields stand in relation to Switzerland and the Peace Prize has been awarded nine times to organisations that based in the country.
♦ The country is the home to international organizations for more than a century. It has concluded a “headquarters agreement” with 25 international organizations: 22 organizations have their headquarters in Geneva, two in Berne and one in Basel.
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Kumar Rajesh Chandra appointed Chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
i. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Senior IPS Officer Kumar Rajesh Chandra as chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
ii. Bihar cadre 1985 batch IPS officer Chandra is currently working as Additional Director General (Modernization), Bihar Police.
Bureau of Civil Aviation Security:
♦ BCAS was initially set up as a cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in ), It is the aviation security wing of the government.
♦ The Body is responsible to lay down standards and measures in respect of security of civil flights at international and domestic airports in India.
Collegium Recommends Four Judges For SC & SC Collegium recommended transfer of Uttarakhand Chief Justice to Andhra Pradesh
i. The collegium headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur has recommended the elevation of three High Court Chief Justices and a senior lawyer to the apex court.
ii. The Supreme Court’s current strength of judges is 25, beside the sanctioned strength of 31. With the elevation the strength will go upto 29.
| Chief Justices | Serving Court |
| A M Khanwilkar | Madhya Pradesh High Court |
| D Y Chandrachud | Allahabad High Court |
| Ashok Bhushan | Kerala High Court |
| L Nageswara Rao | Former Additional Solicitor General |
Transfer of Judge:
♦ In another recommendation the collegium announced the transfer of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph to Andhra Pradesh High
For good governance, Finance Ministry fires 72 tax officers, retires 33 more
i. Arun Jaitly led Union Finance Ministry has dismissed 72 officials and pre-maturely retired 33 others on basis of non-performance and discipline in the past two years in the ground of enforcing principle of good governance in the revenue department.
ii. The strict action has been taken by the ministry is against erring officials to fix their accountability and ensure proper functioning of the system.
iii. The officers of Indian Revenue Services including seven Group ‘A’ officers have been prematurely retired for non-performance. This is the first time such action has been taken by the ministry.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SpaceX rocket launches satellite, then lands on ship at sea
i. A driverless SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida to put a communications satellite into orbit, then made a swift return landing on an ocean platform. It was the second successful landing after similar attempts were made in last month.
ii. Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies which aims to offer cut-rate launch services by re-using its rockets.
iii. The company successfully landed a rocket on a floating landing pad in April after four failed attempts.
iv. The rocket was traveling twice as fast as the one that landed last month so it could deliver a hefty television broadcast satellite into an orbit more than 20,000 miles (32,200 km) beyond that of the International Space Station, which is about 250 miles (400 km) above Ear
Offshore patrol vessel ICGS Shaurya launched
ii. It is the fifth in a series of six off-shore patrol vessels that the Coast Guard had tasked the Vasco defence public sector undertaking to build.
iii. Shaurya is capable of travelling at a speed of 23 knots and has a range of 6,000 nautical miles. It will be built-in with state-of-the-art machinery and incorporated bridge system.
iv. The ship is capable of search and rescue operations, pollution control and external firefighting and will be deployed for ocean surveillance and for monitoring sea lanes of communication.
ENVIRONMENT
8000-year-old paddy discovered in China
i. Chinese archaeologists discovered 8,000 years old paddy who believe that it could be the earliest wet rice farming site in the world. It has been also found carbonised rice that was confirmed to have grown more than 8,000 years ago based on carbon dating
ii. The finding field, sprawling less than 100 square metres, was discovered at the Neolithic ruins of Hanjing in Sihong County in east China’s Jiangsu province in November last year.
iii. In the Seminar held in late April to discuss findings at the Hanjing is concluded that the wet rice field was the oldest ever discovered.
China:
♦ Capital: Beijing
♦ Currency: Renminbi
♦ President: Xi Jinping
SPORTS
BWF rankings: Srikanth slips to World No. 12, Jwala-Ashwini rises to 14th
i. Men’s singles shuttler K Srikanth slipped a place to be ranked World No. 12 in the latest BWF rankings which is topped by China’s Chen Long.
ii. Commonwealth Games champion duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, who qualified for their second Olympics, rose one rung to be World No. 14 in women’s doubles.
iii. Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy who became the first Indian men’s doubles pair quailed for Rio Olympics, slipped a spot to be positioned at the 20th spot.
iv. In women’s singles, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu were stationary at 8 and No. 10 respectively.
| Players | Category | Rank |
| K Srikanth | Men’s Singles | 12 |
| HS Prannoy | 25 | |
| Ajay Jayaram | 21 | |
| Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy |
Men’s Doubles | 20 |
| Saina Nehwal | Women’s Singles | 8 |
| PV Sindhu | 10 | |
| Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa | Women’s Doubles | 14 |
India finish fourth in junior shooting World Cup
i. Indian shooters won bronze medal in the women’s 25m Pistol event on the ISSF Junior World Cup held in Suhl, Germany.
ii. The women’s team of Sanjana Sehrawat, Chinki Yadav and Gauri Sheoran shot a total of 1695 to walk away with the bronze medal in the contest.
iii. Russia won the gold medal with a total of 1708 points while Germany had to settle for the silver medal with a total of 1698 points.
iv. Italy top the medals tally while the Russian Federation is at number two spot, However India’s in the medal’s tally placed at number three with a total of 10 medals which include three gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Biography of Shashi Kapoor released
ii. The unveiling the chapters of his personal and professional life of the legendary actor who has appeared in a large number of Hindi language films as well as in English-language films.
iii. Kapoor, who was felicitated with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award
in 2015. Also in 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan.
