IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE  28^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 28^th,  2019

1.      Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka (Japan) today. 

a.       The two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in trade and investment, energy security, and counter-terrorism, among other areas.

b.       After the meeting, Saudi Arabia has announced that it has increased India's Haj quota from 170,000 to 200,000. 

2.      Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an informal meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations at the summit and discussed issues faced by the global economy.

a.       He also discussed the threat of terrorism with Brazilian President Jair Bolosonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and exchanged ideas.

3.      The Lok Sabha has approved the resolution seeking an extension of President rule in Jammu and Kashmir for a further period of 6 months with effect from 3rd July 2019.

a.       The House also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019. 

b.       This bill proposes to give reservation in educational institutions and government jobs to people living within 10 kilometres of the International Border in Jammu.

4.      The Centre is planning to launch a "One Nation One Ration Card" scheme for beneficiaries to access the Public Distribution System from any PDS shop in India.

a.       The migrant workers will be the biggest beneficiaries of this scheme.

b.       This scheme aims to curb corruption and reduce beneficiaries' dependence on shop owners.

5.      To promote the use of tribal handicrafts and natural products, the government today launched the Go Tribal Campaign in New Delhi.

6.      Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy today decided to extend the "Amma Odi" (Mother's Lap) scheme to intermediate students. 

a.       Note : Amma Odi is a welfare scheme of the YSRCP government, under which every mother belonging to a BPL family who sends her children to school will be given a ₹15,000 yearly incentive.

7.      The National Military Memorial in Bengaluru will install a 78-foot-tall monolith structure weighing 450 tonnes, that will bear the names of martyred soldiers. 

a.       The monolith completed a 20-day journey from Mumbai to reach its destination today. 

8.      As per TRA's Brand Trust Report 2019, LG TVs have been named the most trusted Television Brand for 2019. 

a.       With a plethora of advanced TV Technologies like AI ThinQ, OLED and NanoCell, LG Intends to consistently enhance the TV Viewing experience regardless of the price bracket, the reason LG leads this category by a wide margin.

9.      The Indian government is planning to build its Own Chat App and making its use by government employees compulsory for official communications to cut reliance on foreign firms and apps. 

a.       The move reportedly comes over the US' decision to ban Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

10. India successfully test-fired indigenously developed nuclear-capable missile Prithvi-II as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range off the Odisha coast.

a.       The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range, ITR at Chandipur.

b.       The missile is capable of carrying 500 to 1000 kg of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.

11. India has signed a loan agreement of 328 million dollars with the World Bank for improved health services in Andhra Pradesh.

a.       The agreement will help to improve the quality and responsiveness of public health services in Andhra Pradesh.

12. India has signed a loan agreement worth 400 million dollar with the World Bank to help treat and eliminate Tuberculosis from the country.

a.       In India, around 5 lakh people died every year due to Tuberculosis.

b.       The World Bank supported program will cover 9 States and it will support the government's National Strategic Plan to end TB in India by 2025.

c.       The Program will provide financial incentives to private sector care providers for reporting cases of TB and ensuring that their patients complete the treatment regimen.

13. India-born Priya Serrao has been crowned Miss Universe Australia 2019. 

a.       The 26-year-old was born in India, spent most part of her childhood in Oman and Dubai before moving to Melbourne with her family at the age of 11. Serrao is a law graduate and works as a full-time policy adviser with the Australian government in Melbourne.

14. India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand was bestowed upon an Honorary doctorate by IIT Kanpur on the occasion of their 52nd convocation today.

a.       The past recipients of the honour are Former President APJ Abdul Kalam and Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

15. India today dethroned England to rise to the Top of One-day International rankings.

a.       As per the latest rankings released by the ICC, India led the chart with 123 points, followed by World Cup hosts England (122) and New Zealand (114).

16. Somerset and former England opener Marcus Trescothick has announced that he will retire from professional cricket at the end of the current English domestic season.

a.       The 43-year-old had made his first-class debut in 1993 for Somerset against Lancashire. 

b.       He has scored over 26,234 runs in first-class cricket and 12,229 runs in List A cricket so far.

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE  27^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 27^th,  2019

1.     The Union Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi has approved Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill.

a.      This bill proposes ₹10,000 fine for anyone seen blocking the way of emergency services such as ambulances on roads. 

b.      The same amount of penalty would be levied in case of drunk driving. 

2.     The Bombay High Court today confirmed the Maharashtra government's decision to grant quota to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions. 

a.      However, it said that the 16% quota is not justifiable and should be reduced to 12% or 13%. 

b.      Note : In November last year, the Maharashtra legislature passed the reservation bill under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) category.

3.     In order to strengthen its 'anti-Romeo squads', Noida Police will issue red cards as warnings to men found harassing women in public by following them or passing comments. 

a.      While issuing the red cards, the details of the men will be noted by the police. 

b.      If the same person commits a similar offence again, strict action will be taken against him.

4.     The Lok Sabha has passed the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

a.      This bill seeks to extend the period for reconstitution of the Central Council from existing period of one year to two years so that the tenure of the Board of Governors may be extended for a further period of one year.

b.      The extension will be effective from 17th May, 2019. 

c.      The bill will help the Central Council of Homoeopathy in exercising the powers and performing functions of the Council.

5.     The Parliament has passed the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill 2019 with Rajya Sabha approving it today. 

a.      The Bill seeks to amend the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005.

b.      The amendment will help in bringing International Financial Services Centres to the country. 

6.     The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has directed the Income Tax Department to share in "public interest" details of assets and accounts of loan defaulters against whom a state-run bank has made a plea. 

a.      The move is aimed at cracking down on such entities and recovery of public money.

b.      The I-T Department will obtain information on a defaulter from the ITR of an assessee.

7.     Indian cryptocurrency exchange Koinex's Co-founder Rahul Raj has announced the closing of its operations, citing lack of banking support and regulatory uncertainty. 

a.      Note : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had barred banks from serving cryptocurrency exchanges and firms in April 2018.

8.     The Switzerland government has frozen 4 bank accounts belonging to₹14,000-crore PNB scam accused fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and his sister Purvi Modi, acting on Enforcement Directorate's request. 

a.      The financial assets in the bank accounts are reported to amount over ₹280 crore. 

b.      The ED had sent the request to the Swiss government nearly four months ago.

9.     The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged citizens not to pay heed to rumours regarding the genuineness of coins of 50 paise, ₹1, ₹2, ₹5 and ₹10 denomination of various sizes, themes and designs. 

a.      It asked the public, including traders and shopkeepers, to continue to accept them as legal tender without hesitation. 

b.      The central bank reiterated that banks should accept coins for transactions.

10.The Centre has released 773 crore rupees for Assam as oil royalty.

a.      With this last tranche, the state has received the entire arrears of 6 thousand 306 crore rupees for the last three financial years.

11.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said all data related to payments must be stored in systems located only in India and data processed abroad will have to be brought back to the country within 24 hours.

a.      The RBI had issued a directive in April 2018 on 'Storage of Payment System Data'. 

b.      It had advised all system providers to ensure that within a period of 6 months, the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India.

12.The Government has constituted an 18 member Working Group for the revision of the current series of Wholesale Price Index.

a.      The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be the nodal office for the Working Group and will process the report and recommendation of the Group for further necessary action.

b.      Chairman of the working group : Prof. Ramesh Chand (Member, Niti Aayog)

13.Eminent Social Activist and secretary of the Gandhi Ashram Trust in Jayag, Noakhali, Bangladesh Jharna Dhara Chowdhury passed away today in Dhaka.

a.      Born on October 15, 1938 at Lakshmipur, she devoted her whole life to promoting peace, communal harmony and social justice. 

b.      She was deeply influenced by Gandhian principles of non-violence and communal harmony.    

14.Veteran Telugu actor-filmmaker G. Vijaya Nirmala (75) passed away.

a.      She holds a Guinness Record for most number of films directed by a female filmmaker.

15.Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya (P B Acharya) today sworn in as the new Governor of Manipur. 

a.      He will serve as Governor of Manipur as an additional charge from today during the absence, on leave, of Dr Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur.

16.Justice Prasanta Kumar Saikia (Retired) has been sworn in as the Chairperson of the Lokayukta of Arunachal Pradesh.

17.India captain Virat Kohli today became the fastest batsman to reach 20,000 international runs, surpassing batting greats Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.

a.      Kohli reached the milestone in only his 417th international innings. 

b.      With this, Kohli became the 12th batsman and 3 Indian after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to reach 20,000 international runs.

18.The Central Railway beat Western Railway 3-2 in an absorbing women's final of the St Peters Youth Centre Open Hockey Tournament in Mumbai today.

a.      In the men's final, Union Bank of India prevailed over Coorg eleven by a comfortable 2-0 margin to emerge champions.

19.West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who had announced that he will retire from ODI cricket following the 2019 World Cup, has reversed his decision. 

a.      He said that he would like to play the home series against India, which is scheduled to take place in August-September. 

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE  26^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 26^th,  2019

1.     (26th June) is International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

a.      This day  is a United Nations International Day against drug abuse and the illegal drug trade.

b.      The date 26th June chosen to commemorate Lin Zexu's dismantling of the opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, just before the First Opium War in China.

c.      Theme of the year 2019 : "Health for justice, justice for health"

2.     Today is International Day in Support of Victims and Nature.

a.      This day had been launched by the United Nations (UN) in 1997 and is a result of the UN-convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This convention is binding according to international law, and aims to avoid, ban and prohibit torture.

3.     United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence today. 

a.      Pompeo later met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. 

b.      US-India trade relations and H1-B visas were among the topics discussed between the two sides.

4.     Pakistan, China and 53 other members of the United Nations' Asia-Pacific Group of countries have backed India's candidature for a non-permanent seat at the Security Council for a 2-year term in 2021-2022. 

a.      Elections for five non-permanent members for the 2021-2022 term will reportedly be held around June 2020.

b.      Note : India has served as a non-permanent member of the UNSC 7 times.

5.     Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today leave for Japan.

a.      During this visit, he will attend the 14th G20 Summit in Osaka on 28th and 29th of this month. 

b.      More than 20 countries will be participating in the G20 Summit. 

c.      Theme of 14th G20 Summit : Human centred future society. 

d.      Food security, energy security, financial stability, terrorism-related issues, Innovation in the digital economy and artificial intelligence will be discussed in the meeting.

e.      Note : Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu is Prime Minister's Sherpa at the summit. 

6.     The 32nd Congress of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) has kick-started in Hyderabad this morning.

a.      Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Kailash Choudharyformally inaugurated the 8-day event. 

b.      Note : The Seed Congress is being held for the 1st time in South Asia.

7.     Google Maps today rolled out a new feature 'Stay Safer' for its Indian users who travel in taxis and autorickshaws. 

a.      The users will get 'off-route alerts' if their driver deviates more than 0.5 kilometres from the Google Maps' suggested route. 

b.      Users can also share their live trip with friends and family from that screen to make them aware.

8.     Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has featured in the list of '100 Most Influential People in UK-India Relations : Celebrating Women'. 

a.      The list credited Sitharaman as one of India's most "powerful women" who plays a "pivotal" role in the bilateral relationship. 

9.     To give Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) a leg up, an RBI panel has recommended establishing a ₹5,000-crore distressed assets fund, setting up a non-profit special purpose vehicle (SPV) to support crowd-funding, and doubling the limit for banks to extend loans without collateral to ₹20 lakh.

a.      The expert committee on MSMEs was headed by : UK Sinha (former SEBI Chairman)

10.A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between the Ministry of Shipping and IIT, Kharagpur for setting up the Centre for Inland and Coastal Maritime Technology.

a.      This Centre will focus on indigenisation of ship designing, building and testing. 

11.The government today appointed Arvind Kumar, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, as the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

12.The government also appointed Samant Goel of the Punjab cadre as the Chief of India’s external spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

13.The government has extended the tenure of Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of its think tank NITI Aayog, by 2 years. 

a.      His current term was to end on 30th June2019.

14.US First Lady Melania Trump has announced that her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham will be the next White House Press Secretary and Communications Director. 

a.      Grisham is going to replace Sarah Sanders who's set to step down at the end of this month. 

15.WarnerMedia has named Ann Sarnoff as the CEO of Warner Bros.  

a.      With this, Sarnoff will become the 1st woman to head the studio.

b.      She is going to replaceKevin Tsujihara.

16.The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has named Amit Agarwal, the SVP and Country Manager of Amazon India, as the new Chairman of the association.

a.      Agarwal is going to replace former Google India and South East Asia VP Rajan Anandan.

b.      Yatra CEO Dhruv Shringi was named Vice Chairman, while Times Internet Vice-Chairman Satyan Gajwani was named Treasurer.

17.US defence and aerospace major Boeing today appointed Surendra Ahuja as the Managing Director of Boeing Defense India. 

18.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that the 2026 Winter Olympics will be staged at the Italian venue of Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo after beating off a bid from Sweden's Stockholm/Are. 

a.      Italy has twice previously hosted the Winter Olympics, firstly in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo and then in 2006 in Turin.

b.      The Winter Olympics 2026 will be held during 6th to 22nd February 2026.

19.Australia defeated England by 64 runs at Lord's Cricket Ground to become the 1st team to qualify for the 2019 World Cup semi-finals. 

20.Former Chennai Super Kings pacer Manpreet Gony announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, except overseas short-format leagues. 

a.      Gony played in 2 ODIs apart from playing in 61 first-class matches for Punjab and 44 IPL matches. 

b.      He will now play for Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 Canada league. 

21.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today stripped Olympic status from the troubled world boxing body AIBA.