Current Affairs - June 4, 2019 Current Affairs

Europe's Highest Volcano Mount Etna, in southern Italy, erupted with burst into life, spewed ash, fire, and spitting molten lava high into the sky. This is 2019's first eruption as the volcano on the island of Sicily previously erupted in December 2018. The lava came from two eruptive fissures on northeastern and south-southeastern sides of Mount Etna's New Southeast Crater. The eruption did not affect the nearby residential areas or for flights at the closest airport at Catania.

UAE's Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) has issued the first Golden Residence Permit in Abu Dhabi, as part of the Investors Permanent Residence System aimed to attract investors, entrepreneurs and qualified individuals who meet its criteria. Brigadier Saeed Salem Al Shamsi, Executive Director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Abu Dhabi, awarded the first permit to investor Yousuf Ali, Board Member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) and Chairman of the Lulu International Group, during a ceremony that also honoured him for his role in promoting economic growth in the country.

In Football, Liverpool breezed past Tottenham at Madrid to win the Champions League for the sixth time. In the all-English showpiece, the Reds got the better of Spurs with a 2-nil win. Mohamed Salah put Liverpool in front after just two minutes when he converted a penalty following a handball by Moussa Sissoko.

British Airways resumed its flights to Pakistan after over decade long suspension of its operations following a bomb blast in the Marriott hotel of capital Islamabad in 2008, killing over 50 people.

Nayib Bukele is elected as the new president of El Salvador. The 37 -year-old former mayor of San Salvador, who won more votes than all other candidates in the February presidential election, brought an end to a two-party system that has held sway over the country for three decades. He pledged to cure the Central American country that he described as a "sick child" following years of violence and migration that has strained relations with the United States.

Puerto Williams in Chile has become the southernmost city in the world after getting its status upgraded to city category. Previously, southernmost city was Ushuaia in Argentina.

The 14th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia was hosted by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. The official agenda of the meeting was to address current issues in the Muslim world and recent developments in a number of OIC member states. Also, amid soaring tension between Iran and the US and its Gulf allies the OIC summit discussed the regional security issues. The Mecca summit supported Palestinians and backed Saudis in Iran standoff.

Rajasthan government has increased the financial assistance given to school girls under the 'Aapki Beti' scheme and ex-gratia payment to the families of polling personnel who die during election duty. Under the Aapki Beti scheme, girls living under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and whose mother or father or both have died to get annual financial assistance in the state. The amount has been increased to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,100 for the girls studying in class 1 to 8 and for the girls in class 9 to 12, the financial aid has been increased to Rs 2,500 from Rs 1,500. Similarly, the government has also increased ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of an official killed on election duty to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 15 lakh.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has announced free ride scheme for women in the capital to travel free of cost in DTC buses, cluster buses and Delhi Metro to ensure a safe travel experience.

Indonesia's Anton Aditya subowo re-elected as a president of badminton for another four year period.

Ahead of International yoga day celebrated on June 21, the ministry of AYUSH has launched "yoga locator" - an app to locate yoga events and centers providing training and instructor within the users range. This app is a map-based application which allows the instructor to register themselves and reach out to users.

Ajit Doval has been reappointed as National Security Adviser for another five years. He has also been given Cabinet Rank for contribution to national security. Under Ajit Doval's supervision, India conducted Surgical Strike in 2016 and Balakot airstrikes 2019.

The Gujarat government has decided to equip the traffic police with 'laser guns' for detection of over-speeding by vehicles. The state traffic police has purchased 39 such high-tech guns at a cost of Rs.3.9 crore. The gun uses laser technology to detect the speed of a vehicle. It can record speed of three vehicles simultaneously in a second, even if the vehicles are a km away. The speed gun is an online device which can send an e-memo to the owner with a photo of the vehicle. If required, the speed gun can also generate and print the challan offline on the spot. It is also capable of recording videos of the over- speeding vehicles which will serve as a proof if the vehicle owner confronts the police.

Global Day of Parents is observed globally on 1st June to honor parents all around the world. It aims to celebrate parent's selfless love to shape their children's future. Theme for this year - Honor your parents.

Government of Chhattisgarh appointment Sathish Chandra Verma as its new Advocate General (AG). He was previously working as additional Advocate General. He replaces Kanak Tiwari.

Former ISRO chief Dr. K Kasturirangan led Committee has recently submitted the draft National Educational Policy (NEP) to HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in New Delhi. The policy draft recommends incorporation of Indian knowledge systems in the curriculum, constituting a National Education Commission and curbing arbitrary fees hikes by private schools. The expert panel also proposed massive transformation in Teacher Education by moving all teacher preparation and education programmes into large multidisciplinary universities or colleges.

Financial Literacy Week 2019 to be observed from June 3-7 with the theme of "Farmers" and how they benefit by being a part of the formal banking system. Financial Literacy Week is an initiative of RBI to promote awareness of key topics every year through a focused campaign. Growth in agriculture is necessary for the overall economic growth and finance is an essential enabler for the same. RBI is actively involved in formulating policies that enhance the flow of credit to the farming community.

The Telangana Government has issued a notification to extend the Rythu Bandhu scheme for 2019-20 while enhancing the amount from Rs 4000 to Rs 5000. The Rythu Bandhu scheme, Telangana CM K Chandrasekar Rao's pet scheme, is aimed at providing income support to the agriculturists directly to back their crops. The scheme, which provides Initial Investment support to agriculture and horticulture crops through a grant of Rs 4000 per acre per farmer each season towards the purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, labour, and other filed operations, has now been enhanced from Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 per acre per farmer per season.

According to a survey conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) between July 2017 and June 2018 covering 4.3 lakh people revealed that the unemployment rate was about 6.1% in 2017-18, highest in 45 year since 1972-7C)

Arun Kumar, additional secretary in the ministry of Civil Aviation was assigned with an additional charge as the Director General(DG) of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He assumed the charge on June 1, 2019, succeeding B S Bhullar who retired on May 31, 2019.