Current Affairs - June 26, 2018 Current Affairs

According to a survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and totaljobs.com. London beat New York, Berlin and Barcelona to take the top spot as the most desirable city in the world for overseas workers. Meanwhile, the UK overall has dropped three places in the country rankings, falling from second in 2014 to fifth.

20 Indian film personalities have been invited as members by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including Shah Rukh Khan, Aditya Chopra, Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Naseeruddin Shah.

P S Jayakumar become a former Citibanker and the first lateral recruit into the top position at a public-sector bank. He joined BoB on October 2015 and was heading VBHC Value Homes prior to taking charge of the lender. The other candidates considered are deputy MD V Srinivasan and executive director Rajiv Anand. The decision would be finalized by September 2018.

For contribution in enhancing Indo-French ties in cinema, Actor Kalki Koechlin will be conferred with the French distinction of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). The award will be presented by the Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler, who will be undertaking a two-day trip in Mumbai on June 22-23 to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the sustainable urban mobility, cultural, academic and corporate sectors between France and India.

To boost the sales of domestic products amid US sanctions, Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has banned the import of 1,400 items. The move also aims to manage the outflow of currency.

Sumadhura Group, one of South India's city-based realty majors, has roped in MS Dhoni as its first brand ambassador to represent the brand in all their national campaigns, in a multi-year engagement.

International Castor Oil Association (ICOA) has selected Abhay V. Udeshi Director at Jayant Agro Group, manufacturer of castor oil for its president position. ICOA announced it at Annual General Meet in Stockholm, Sweden. Abhay V. Udeshi has graduated from MS University of Baroda in B.E in Chemical Engineering.

25th June was declared as the Day of the seafarer in a resolution adopted by the 2010 Diplomatic Conference in Manila to adopt the revised STCW Convention. The resolution encourages Governments, shipping organizations, companies, ship owners etc. to promote the Day of the Seafarer and celebrate it meaningfully. Day of the Seafarer is coordinated by the International Maritime Organization. The theme for Day of the Seafarer 2018 is:"seafarers' wellbeing".

The 2018 United Nations Public Service Forum will take place in Marrakesh, in the Kingdom of Morocco from 21- 23 June 2018, with the theme of "Transforming governance to realize the Sustainable Development Goals".

China has launched bird-shaped drones fitted with a camera, GPS antenna, and satellite communication capability, to monitor citizens living in different parts of the country. The program reportedly code named "Dove", is run by Song Bifeng, a professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University.

The anti-doping sports conference titled Clean Sport=Fair Outcome was held at Oslo in Norway to address the issue of doping menace. The conference is a joint initiative of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), Anti-Doping Norway and FairSport to propose a substantial agenda for action, enabling it to have an impact on the ongoing anti-doping reforms and policy framework. The conference will not only address various governance issues in sports but also celebrate role models by announcing the winner of the 2018 Ethics in Sports Award.

This event was organized by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) of which the Vice President of India is the Chairman and Shri Vaikuntha Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Pune. This event aims to efforts at various levels to double farmers' incomes by 2022. It will focus on six themes viz. Creating an enabling policy framework; Intensification of farming diversification to high value agriculture and supplementation of incomes through allied activities; Marketing and Agri-logistics; Agricultural Trade Policy; Transfer of technology from labs to the land and Agricultural credit and insurance.

President Kovind will present the 4th "National Awards for outstanding services in the field of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse" on the occasion of 'International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking' on 26th June. The function organized by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in New Delhi. The Awards were started in 2013 and conferred biennially.

Pallavi Durua, who belongs to Odisha's Koraput district, was crowned as the first "Tribal Queen" at the Adi Rani Kalinga Tribal Queen competition held at Utkal Mandap. The prime objective of the event was to promote tribal art and culture.

The Punjab government has launched a new scheme 'Paani Bachao, Paise Kamao' to check depletion of underground water. Under this scheme, farmers will get monetary benefit for less use of tube well. The purpose of the scheme was to ensure that farmers use the power with restraint to pump out water from earth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal of setting up of a committee to lay down standards for metro rail systems in the country. The committee will be headed by E Sreedharan, who is also known as the 'Metro Man'. The aim of this move is to cut costs in the construction and operation of metro rail systems in the country and bring them under the Make in India umbrella. Besides recommending standardisation norms for various components, the Sreedharan committee will also suggest ways to indigenize metro components that are currently imported. The standards, once finalised by the committee, will be mandatory for all metro projects coming up with central assistance.