VINTAGE: IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 15, 2016

This day is celebrated every year on the day of birth anniversary of Austrian-American biologist and physician Karl Landsteiner (14th of June in 1868) who discovered the existence of different types of blood groups in 1901.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his discovery.
This day is observed to raise the public awareness about the need for safe blood donation.
Themes of World Blood Donor Day
2016 : "Blood connects us all”
2015 : “Thank you for saving my life”.
2014 : “Safe blood for saving mothers”.
2013 : “Give the gift of life: Donate blood.”
2012 : “Every blood donor is a hero”.
2011 : “More blood, more life”.
Important Note : World Blood Donor Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with
World Health Day,
World Tuberculosis Day,
World Immunization Week,
World Malaria Day,
World No Tobacco Day,
World Hepatitis Day and
World AIDS Day.

Israel was On June 14, 2016 elected to Chair the United Nations Legal Committee.

This is the first time that Israel will preside over a permanent UN committee since joining the world body in 1949.
The Legal Committee is the sixth committee of the UN General Assembly and deals with international law. Israel won 109 of the 175 valid votes cast.

According to the 2016 Global Nutrition Report, poor nutrition affects a third of the human population.

Of the 127 countries from which data was available, 57 countries were found to have serious levels of undernutrition and overweight adults.
It also states that out of five billion adults worldwide, nearly two billion were overweight and one in 12 had type-2 diabetes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Africa next month to boost India’s economic and maritime ties with Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique.

The key topics of discussion during the four natoin tour will include energy security, food security, ocean economy, education, health, skill-building, and infrastructure.
Note : India’s bilateral trade with Africa stands at $70 billion.

The Central government On June 14, 2016 said all of its vacancies must be publicised widely nationwide and suggested that advertisements be posted on the Labour Ministry's online portal.

It added that the vacancies must be filled on a regular basis.
Note : The Centre, in its budget estimates for 2016-17, said it would increase its existing workforce of 33.05 lakh by 2.18 lakh,

The Sikkim government has identified and listed 21 trees across the state to be tagged as ‘Heritage Trees’ due to their historical and cultural importance.

A tree is recognised as a 'Heritage Tree' if it has a historical significance to the human settlement in the area.
Some of the trees identified include the locally found 'Bajrat', 'Tooni' and 'Rani Champ'.

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to set tobacco-free areas within 100 yards of all schools.

It further advised authorities to impose severe punishments on anyone caught selling tobacco products to underage kids.

Ranu Langthasa was unanimously appointed as the Chairperson of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Assam.

Important Note : With this, she became the first women chairperson to be appointed to the post since the formation of Autonomous Council in 1950s.

The senior-most Judge of the Manipur High Court Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prasad has assumed charge of the Chief Justice of the High Court.

He succeeded Justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra who has relinquished the charge of office.

The New Development Bank (NDB), established by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries is planning its first bond as a Yuan-denominated issue in China.

The bank will also issue bonds in other member countries in their local currencies to mitigate foreign currency risk of funded infrastructure projects.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) On June 14, 2016 issued guidelines called Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A)

The main aims of this scheme are,
Strengthen the lenders’ ability to deal with stressed assets
Put real assets back on track of entities facing genuine difficulties by providing an avenue for reworking financial structure.

Gunit Chadha, CEO of Asia-Pacific of financial services firm Deutsche Bank, will step down from his post with effect from July 17.

Earlier, the bank posted a loss of $6.8 billion for 2015 following which it announced a global restructuring drive.

The Haryana government On June 14, 2016 approved a project worth ₹25 crore to make the state’s agriculture production system more flexible to climate change.

The project proposes to intensify cropping systems and sustain production at less cost by adopting climate resilient technologies without deteriorating soil health.
Further, the project is said to benefit 75,000 farmers.

The Sovereign gold bonds started trading on the stock exchanges (BSE and NSE) for the first time On June 14, 2016.

Note : The government had issued gold bonds in three tranches starting November last year for about five tonnes worth of gold.

Non-banking lending firm SKS Microfinance has changed its name to Bharat Financial Inclusion.

The decision to change the name was taken in line with a shift in the company's core principles towards expanding the financial inclusion in the country.
Important Note : SKS is the only publicly-listed microfinance company in India.

The leader of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in US-led air strikes in Syria On June 14, 2016.
The former captain of England Cricket team, Donald Carr (89) passed away. died.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) has won the Canada Grand Prix title of Formula One for the year 2016 .

Note : It was his second title of the season after winning 2016 Monaco Grand Prix in May 2016.

India has been given a wildcard by the Association Mundial de Futsal (AMF) to participate in the upcoming U-17 Futsal World Cup.

The tournament will be held from July 11-20 in Paraguay with 12 participating countries.

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