Current Affairs - June 24, 2017 Current Affairs

Imran Khawaja appointed as International Cricket Council (ICC) as Deputy Chairman. He is a senior lawyer and serving in the ICC Board for several years.

The Minister for Communications Shri Manoj Sinha launched Passport Seva Project (PSP) in India with its successful implementation in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Passports Act provides issue of passports and travel documents and regulation of the departure from India of Indian citizens.

The World Bank (WB) has approved a loan assistance of $44 million for the Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe) Project. The ASPIRe project is based on three important components that act as pillars for institutional reforms - strengthening public finance institutional capacity, strengthening expenditure and revenue information systems and on project management, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination. The purpose of the project is to improve predictability and transparency in budget execution and efficiency in tax administration in Assam.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently expanded the Oversight Committee (OC) from 2 to 5 for faster bad loan resolution in the banking sector. The three new members are M.B.N. Rao, Y.M. Deosthalee and S. Raman. According to the reconstituted structure, the 5-member OC will be led by a chairman and work through multiple benches to approve various cases of restructuring referred by banks.

The 6th edition of International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup was held at the CIDCO Exhibition Centre in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra on June 24 - 25, 2017. Over 150 athletes from across the globe will participate at the World Cup including the top talent from India.

Manu S Pillai has won the 2017 Sahitya Academy Yuva Puraskar in English Language for his book titled "The Ivory Throne - Chronicles of the House of Travancore", the biography of the last queen of Travancore. The book unfolds the rise and fall of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bai, who ruled Travancore between 1924 -193. The book discusses the unheard life and rare customs of the royal family.

NITI-Aayog has chosen the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) -Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad for hosting 10-crore Atal Incubation Centre for biotechnology start-ups. CCMB is one of the 10 organizations that have been identified to host the 'Atal Incubation Centre'.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee received the highest prize in United Nations Public Service Award for the State Government's Kanyashree Prakalpa (Girl Child) scheme in The Hague, Netherlands.

India and Portugal signed 11 agreements like counter-terrorism, space and climate studies. Both the countries agreed to set up a joint Science and Technology fund of four million euros.

Union Minister for Power, Coal New & Renewable Energy Shri Piyush Goyal and Mines launches Weather Portal for Power Sector in association with POSOCO and IMD at the meeting of the Forum of Regulators. Day to day weather variations have an impact on load demand and energy production, transport and distribution management, as well as energy prices.