Current Affairs - June 18, 2019 Current Affairs

The Bank of Baroda (BoB) and ECL Finance, the flagship non-banking financial company of Edelweiss Group, signed an agreement to form a strategic partnership to explore co-lending opportunities. They will offer loans and expertise for the growing needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), self-employed and priority sector groups. They will provide timely delivery of credit to customers at a significantly lower cost.

Inger Andersen, Denmark's Economist and Environmentalist, took over as United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Executive Director, headquartered at Nairobi, Kenya, for 4 years. She was nominated for the post by United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres and approved by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in February 2019. She succeeded Joyce Msuya of Tanzania. Andersen was the Director General (DG) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) between January 2015 and May 2019. She held various leadership roles at the World Bank as Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa, Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers Fund Council.

The second edition of World Food India to be held from 1st to 4th November 2019 in New Delhi, which will position India as Food Processing Destination of the World. The tagline of the event will be "Forging Partnerships for Growth". WFI 2019 to be the biggest gathering of global and domestic stakeholders in Food processing sector.

The State Government of Bihar launched Mukhyamantri Vriddha Pension Yojna for poor people above 60 years of age which is effective from April 1, 2019. This was launched by the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Under the Mukhyamantri Vriddha Pension Yojna, Poor people above the age of 60 years will get Rs 400 per month and those people above the age of 80 years will get Rs. 500 per month. Retired government employees will not be covered under the scheme.

The United States has allowed Iraq to import Iranian gas for its power grid for another three months by extending a waiver to sanctions. But the US insisted that Iraq finds an alternative measure for its need of electricity, including by harnessing gas energy and reducing flaring at oil production sites. Iraq has had several extensions to the waiver first granted in 2018 after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran's oil sector forbidding countries from purchasing Iranian energy. The extension was given during a phone call between Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The United States continued to insist on diversifying energy imports away from Iran.

Pakistan has appointed Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed as the new Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was previously serving as the head of the Counter Intelligence wing in the ISI. Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed replaces Lieutenant Gen Asim Munir, who was appointed to head the ISI only eight months ago.

The Asian Development Bank(ADB) has approved a project submitted by Urban Development Department (UDD) of Tripura amounting to Rs. 1650 crore for overall infrastructure development of seven district headquarter towns of Tripura. The fund is meant for development of piped water supply, underground drainage, underground sewage or scientific septage management, roads with pavement. The ADB will give 80 per cent of 1650 crore as grant-in-aid and the state Government of Tripura will have to repay back only 20 per cent loan in due course of time. The seven district headquarters include-Khowai (Khowai), Ambassa(Dhalai district), Dharmnagar(North Tripura), Kailashahar (Unakoti), Udaipur (Gomati), Bishramganj (Sepahijala), Belonia (South Tripura) ,where the plan will be implemented.

The two-day event of Maritime Information Sharing Workshop 2019 (MISW 2019) hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) held in Gurugram, Haryana. The workshop was inaugurated by Vice Admiral MS Pawar, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. It was aimed to make aware of all participants about IFC-IOR . It was also aimed at promoting and sharing regarding the security and safety challenges faced by IOR.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has promoted Odisha-born Rabi N Mishra as the executive director (ED) after Rosemary Sebastian. Previously, Rabi N Mishra was the principal chief general manager of the bank's risk management department. Mishra, a Ph.D holder in Monetary Economics hails from Mahendra Pur Shashan in Dhenkanal,Odisha.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) hiked the Third Party (TP) motor insurance premium for small and medium private cars by 12-12.5% for 2019-20. The rates are applicable from June 16, 2019. TP premium for two-wheelers and heavy vehicles was also increased. These powers which are provided to IRDAI are mentioned under Section 14 (B) (i) of the IRDA Act, 1999. Two-wheelers with engine capacities between 150cc and 350cc witnessed the highest percentage increase at 21.11%. Rates were increased from Rs 985 to Rs 1,193. For two-wheelers between 75 cc and 150 cc, it hiked TP rate by 4.44% to Rs 752. There was a hike of 12% in private cars below 1000 cc engine to Rs 2,072 and 12.50% increase to Rs 3,221 for cars with an engine capacity of 1000-1500 cc.

Indian men's recurve team bagged a silver medal in the Archery World Championships at Den Bosch in The Netherlands, thus ending India's campaign with one silver and two bronze medals in the Championships. The Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Pravin lost to Chinese team of Ding Yiliang, Wei Shaoxuan and Feng Hao 6-2 in the summit clash.

Commerce Ministry of India made a study the trade war between the US and China offers an opportunity to India for boosting exports of as many 350 products such as chemicals and granite to these countries. The ongoing trade war between the US and China an opportunity to India for boosting exports around 350 products such as chemicals and granite to these countries. These products are part of the study carried out by the commerce ministry. Both the US and China are imposing heavy import duties resulted in trade war kind of situation. Around 151 domestic products includes diesel, X-ray tubes to displace the US exports to China.

Gary Woodland won the 119th US Open, capturing his first Major title after defeating two-time defending champion Brook Koepka.

June month is celebrated as the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) Pride month all over the world. The LGBTQ pride month is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of Stonewall riots at Stonewall Inn in New York, a gathering space for LGBTQ community during the 60s. It provides role models, builds community, and represents a civil rights statement about the contributions of the LGBT community. The month is observed by United States, United Kingdom, Canada. LGBT History Month originated in the United States. It was first celebrated in 1994. The commemoration of the month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

Joshna Chinappa made a record for the most number of national titles after beating her Tamil Nadu state-mate Sunayna Kuruvilla. Joshna broke an age-old landmark set by Bhuvneshwari Kumari who held the record for 27 Years winning consecutive titles from 1976 to 1991.

Mann Ki Baat Indian radio programme hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he addresses the people of the nation on All India Radio, DD National and DD News. Mann Ki Baat is to resume on June 30. The programme aims to deliver the Prime Minister's voice to the general masses of India. It also aims to spread joy, positivity and celebrate the strength of 130 crore Indians. People can share their questions on the NaMo App Open Forum. People can dial the toll-free number 1800-11-7800 to record the messages. This will be the first Mann ki Baat episode after Modi assumed office for the second time. The first episode of the second season will be broadcasted on All India Radio, on June 30. The final episode of the last season was aired on February 24 and the program was later discontinued during the Lok Sabha elections. It was originally released on 3 October 2014.

For the first time, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has appointed two women scientists - Ritu Karidhal (as mission director) and Muthayya Vanitha (as project director) - to head the India's second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2. ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced that close to 30 percent of the ISRO team working on Chandrayaan 2 are women. Ritu Karidhal was referred as the 'Rocket Woman of India'. She became famous with the launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission where she was the deputy operations director. Muthayya Vanitha received the Best Woman Scientist award in 2006 by the Astronomical Society of India.

Nia Tony, an eight year old Indian girl was honoured during the 22nd edition of the Emirates Recycling Awards in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for her role in keeping the environment clean by collecting paper wastes. The campaign was organized by the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), a non-governmental professional working group based in UAE. The eco-warrior, Tony was honoured with Eco Champions of Recycling award for her role in saving the environment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government hopes to increase around $83.8 billion (Rs 5.83 trillion rupees) from its latest round of airwaves auction in 2019. The Central government is planning to sell 8,600 megahertz of telecom airwaves across multiple frequency bands. Rs 65,789 crore was raised in the airwaves auction held by the government in 2016-17. Recently, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced the debut auction of fifth-generation (5G) spectrum this year along with trials within 100 days.

Twenty-nine journalists from print and electronic media were honoured with 44th Matri Shree Media Awards for the year 2019 for their contribution towards journalism. The award ceremony was held in New Delhi. Namita(PTI (Press Trust of India ) Bhasha), Durga Pasad Mishra( PTI photo journalist), Agraj Pratap Singh (UNI), Jitender Kumar (Univarta), Poonam Gaur (Navbharat Times), Ravi Bhushan Dwivedi (Sandhya Times) and Kunal Kashyap (Punjab Kesari), Sandeep Ashwario Chief Cartoonist (Times of India) were among those honoured with the awards. The winners received the Matri Shree Bharat Mata shield and a pen. Working President of Punjab Kesari Delhi Swadesh Bhushan Jain and Chairman of the Committee Ashok Aggarwal, Harish Chopra, Ankush Aggarwal, Chetan Sharma, Ramesh Bajaj, Vishal Rana and Kailash Agrawal presented the shield to the winners.