Current Affairs - June 19, 2018 Current Affairs

Telangana Police has launched COP CONNECT' mobile application to support the professional communication and collaboration needs of entire police department of the state. It has been developed based on Telangana State Police internal Communication strategy on lines of popular internet messaging application WhatsApp. COP CONNECT app has all features of regular mobile messaging apps and is enabled for chatting, group chats, file sharing (image, audio, video and document and location sharing.

As per Xiaomi's IPO documents, Ratan Tata is the only Indian investor in the company, which has built a name for itself on the back of affordable quality smartphones. Tata's investment in the company is now worth close to $2.1 million - a twofold jump in four years.

Bangladesh appointed Lieutenant General Aziz Ahmed as the country's new army chief for a three-year tenure. He would succeed General Abu Belal Mohammad Shafiul Haque, who is set to retire on June 25.

The tax dispute between the government of Tamil Nadu and the Renault Nissan Alliance India before the Madras High Court is in settlement talks stage and chances are that it will be settled outside the court, according to representatives of both the sides.

The Central Water Commission (CWC), India's apex technical organisation in the field of Water Resources has signed a Collaboration Agreement with Google for flood forecasting. According to the Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari, the collaboration with Google will help in effective flood management in India. Using its high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Google would help to generate flood inundation maps with the forecast inputs of CWC.

A 3-day National Yoga Olympiad was inaugurated at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in CIET in New Delhi by Mr. Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative of the New Delhi Cluster Office for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. This is the third consecutive year of National Yoga Olympiad of NCERT and this year about 500 students from 26 States and 4 RIEs are participating in the Olympiad.

South Korea and the United States have agreed to suspend all planning activities regarding the "Freedom Guardian" military drill scheduled for August. Last year, 17,500 American and more than 50,000 South Korean troops participated in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerized simulations rather than live field exercises that use weapons, tanks or aircraft.

IRDAI has formed a panel to review the regulations pertaining to insurance marketing firms. The committee is headed by Suresh Mathur, Executive Director (insurance marketing firms), IRDAI, with nine more members. IRDAI has formed a panel to review the regulations pertaining to insurance marketing firms. The committee is headed by Suresh Mathur, Executive Director (insurance marketing firms), IRDAI, with nine more members.

Noted mimicry artiste Nerella Venumadhav had passed away after a brief illness in Warangal city. He was 85. Venumadhav served as MLC in 1971 in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He rose to international fame after his enthralling performance at the United Nations. He has conferred scores of awards, including the Padma Shri in 2001.

The government will be setting up the country's largest national data centre in Bhopal, with capacity for 500,000 virtual servers. The country has four such centres for hosting government websites, services and apps. These are at Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bhubaneswar.

Additional Director General of the Coast Guard VSR Murthy commissioned the last of the five Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) project of Indian Coast Guard, ICGS 'Rani Rashmoni', in Visakhapatnam. So far four such ships such as ICGS Rani Abbakka, ICGS Rani Avanti Bai, ICGS Rani Durgavati and ICGS Rani Gaidinliu, have been commissioned and are in active service at various locations on the eastern seaboard.

Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui unveiled a four-point vision for future cooperation with India. This is followed by the informal summit between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The four-point vision are: 1) Sign a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation 2) Negotiate a bilateral Free Trade Agreement 3) Enhance connectivity 4) Work for early harvest on boundary issues.

The ICICI Bank board has appointed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance CEO Sandeep Bakhshi as whole-time director and chief operating officer (COO), creating a new top position at India's second largest private bank, to steer all its businesses. Bakhshi will continue as non-executive director of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. N.S. Kannan has been appointed as CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance for five years.

Banks Board Bureau (BBB), the advisory body formed by the government for selection of candidates for top level board appointment, has recommended 22 general managers to be elevated as executive directors at the various public sector banks.The Appointments Committee of Cabinet will take the final decision in this regard.This is the first major exercise undertaken by the BBB.

The Indian Army has drawn detailed plan to develop Jaisalmer Military Station in Rajasthan as smart facility patterned on Central Government's Smart Cities Mission. The development plan will provide a major boost to local economy and aid in ecological conservation.