Current Affairs - June 20, 2019 Current Affairs

The 5th Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit 2019 was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from 14-15 June 2019. The theme of the 5th Summit is "Shared Vision for a Secure and More Prosperous CICA Region". India is a member of CICA since 1999.

PM Narendra Modi will join the programme at Ranchi on June 21 on the occasion of International Yoga Day 2019. The program will be organised at Prabhat Tara ground. Modi will join the yoga session along with 18,000 people.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan endured the ignominy of becoming the most expensive bowler in World Cup history during their match against hosts England at Old Trafford here. Rashid Khan, the world's No.3 ODI bowler, leaked 110 runs off nine overs as England racked up a gigantic 397 for six after electing to bat.

A two-day event of Namaste Thailand Film Festival 2019 concluded its third edition at Select Citywalk in New Delhi. It was organized by Royal Thai Embassy with an aim to strengthen bilateral ties and increase cultural exchange between India and Thailand. The festival was inaugurated by the Ambassador of Thailand to India, H.E Chutintorn Gongsakdi. The festival featured stage performances by Thai artistes including Thai folk-jazz band Asia-7.

The 10th edition of Regional Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) summit, 2019 was held in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari addressed this meeting. The theme of 2019 summit was "Transformation Strategies for Built Environment". This theme was adopted to focus on the impact of incorporating sustainability initiatives into functioning public buildings. The summit was organized with the help of the Public Works Department (PwD) of the State Government.

In the FIH (Federation Internationale de Hockey) Men's Series Finals hockey tournament 2019, India thrashed South Africa with 5-1 in a summit clash at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The goals were scored in the 2nd, 11th, 25th, 36th and 50th minutes. The points scored with this win will place India in the top five of the FIH World Rankings, to be updated in September. Manpreet Singh won the Best Player of the Tournament Award, while Vivek Sagar wins the Best Junior Player Award. Jonathan Klagus of USA gets the Best Goalkeeper Award. Harmanpreet and Varun shared the top scorer award along with Semen Matkovsky.

Unemployed youth having graduation or equivalent degree will be given unemployment allowance by Rajasthan government. Male applicants will get Rs 3,000/month, while the women and differently-abled will get Rs 3,500/month under Chief Minister Yuva Sambal Yojana from February this year. The applicants must be natives of Rajasthan and the amount will be given for two years or until they get employed.

Maharashtra topped the 2nd edition of the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) list. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu bagged No 2 & 3 spot respectively. The list consists of India's top 10 states that have a maximum number of LEED certified green buildings. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Revolt Intellicorp has finally unveiled India's first fully electric motorcycle, the RV 400. The company has announced that the bike will be launched next month and that deliveries will commence soon after. The company added that the top speed has been capped at 85kmph.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Spitzer Space Telescope will be shut down on January 30, 2020, after 16 years of exploring the cosmos in infrared light. This was announced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It was launched in January 1983 as Infrared Astronomical Satellite to conduct the first infrared survey of the sky. It was jointly developed by the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Spitzer was originally built to last for a minimum of 2.5 years and by 2020 it will operate for more than 11 years beyond its prime mission. Spitzer is a small, transformational observatory. It captures infrared light, which is emitted by 'warm' objects that are not quite hot enough to radiate visible light. In 2017, the telescope revealed the presence of seven rocky planets around the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) -1 star.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) co-hosts 12th Capacity Building workshop with Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) in New Delhi.

The Italian legend director and two-time Oscar-nominee, Franco Zeffirelli passed away in Rome, Italy at the age of 96. Born in Florence, Italy in 1923, he was best known for his film career. He earned his big hit with 1968 film of 'Romeo and Juliet' in which he famously cast then-teenagers Leonard Whiting & Olivia Hussey. The film has earned four Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Picture but won Oscars for its costume design and cinematography.

The GoI will set up 51 new incubators for startups in the information and communications technology space across India as part of its Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (Tide) 2.0 scheme. Tide 2.0 will offer financial and technical support to incubators supporting ICT startups that are involving usage of deep technologies including artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, and internet of things in "pre identified areas of societal relevance".

The bihar state cabinet sanctioned Rs 11.68 crore for preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for construction of a multi-purpose 130-MW Dagmara hydel power project in Supaul district of Bihar. It also approved the proposal seeking provisions to punish children who abandon their elderly parents. They could face jail time over charges of abandonment.

The 5th Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit 2019 was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from 14-15 June 2019. The theme of the 5th Summit was "Shared Vision for a Secure and More Prosperous CICA Region". India is a member of CICA since 1999. Late Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had participated in the first CICA Summit held in 2002 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yury Trutnev addressed a gathering of businesspersons and industrialist in Mumbai and invited Indian Investments in the Russian Far East. India Russia business tie has been hugely tilted favouring defence sector traditionally. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yury Trutnev will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The highest decision-making body of the Department of Telecom (DoT), Digital Communications Commission (DCC) approved to levy penalties on Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd for denial of interconnection to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd when it had entered the market in 2016. In October 2016, Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI) had fined Airtel and Vodafone with Rs. 1,050 crore each (Rs 50 cr per circle for 21 circles) and for Idea (Rs 50 cr per circle for 19 circles) it was Rs 950 crore. But as Vodafone and Idea merged (August 2018) to form Vodafone-Idea, the new entity had to bear the combined burden of Rs. 2000 cr. Reliance Jio had complained that its subscribers were unable to call other networks as its rivals did not release sufficient number of Points of Interconnect (PoI).

Nihal Sarin, a 14-year-old Indian Chess Grandmaster has secured a win at the 2019 Asian Continental Chess Championship in Xingtai, China in the blitz event. He scored eight points from nine rounds of the event which meant that he ended the tournament with a lead of a full point.Sarin has recently crossed the 2600 Elo points to become the third youngest player to achieve it.Vietnam GM Le Quang Liem secured the second spot and Indian Srinath Narayanan was placed third.

International Picnic Day was celebrated all over the world on June 18th. It is a day to encourage people to go outdoors and enjoy each other's company. International Picnic Day The word "picnic" originated from the French language. It relates to informal outdoor meal. Picnic became a popular time pass in France after the Revolution.According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world's largest picnic was held in Lisbon, Portugal.Charity events, school picnics and various types of group meals are held to commemorate this day.

India's leading two wheeler company, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, appointed Colombian professional footballer, Yerry Fernando Mina Gonzalez(2D) as its new brand ambassador. Yerry Mina has the record for most goals in a single World Cup by a defender at the 2018 FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup, France. Hero MotoCorp became the first Indian two-wheeler company to set-up a manufacturing base in Latin America when it commenced operations at Villa Rica, in Cauca province, Colombia in 2016. It has a capacity of 80,000 units of two-wheelers production.