VINTAGE: IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 29, 2016

India has been ranked 105th out of 130 countries on the World Economic Forum's Human Capital Index.

This Index measures countries’ ability to nurture, develop and deploy talent for economic growth.
Finland topped the index while other countries like China (71) and Bangladesh (104) were ranked above India.

The United States, Canada, and Mexico will this week reportedly pledge that they will produce 50% of their power from hydropower, wind, solar and nuclear plants by 2025.

Leaders of the three countries will commit to this goal during a summit between them this week.
The nations will also reportedly agree on deals with regard to transmitting of clean energy.

A group of clerics in Pakistan has passed a fatwa (a religious doctrine) stating that marriage between transgender individuals is permissible in Islam.

The Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat Pakistan, a clerical body in Lahore, said that transgenders have full rights under Islamic inheritance law.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik On June 28, 2016 launched ‘Kalinga Siksha Sathi Yojana’, a scheme to provide education loan at 1% interest to students pursuing higher studies.
Uttar Pradesh government On June 28, 2016 declares all natural calamities including lightning, storm and heat stroke to be treated as state disaster.
The Bombay High Court On June 28, 2016 announced that Aadhaar card has not been made compulsory for students in the state and they can not be penalised for not having the card.
Sweden inaugurated a test stretch of an electric road in Sandviken to conduct tests with electric power for hybrid heavy transports on public roads.

With this, Sweden becomes first country in the world to have electric road. The tests will be conducted on parts of road E16.

Aimed at managing type 2 diabetes, BGR-34 has been jointly developed by National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), both located in Lucknow.
CSIR - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Chris Messina, who is known for inventing the hashtag, On June 28, 2016 launched his own personal assistant chatbot for Facebook Messenger, named MessinaBot.

It will help people who want to reach out to Messina check out his recent posts and comments on Product Hunt, recent podcasts, articles and upcoming events.
The bot will also help schedule a one-on-one chat with Messina.
As per reports, the Indian Air Force will put the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas into combat roles by next year.
The IAF is aiming to have a total of six aircraft this financial year and about eight in the next.

The first batch of Tejas, comprising of two aircraft, will be inducted into the IAF on July 1.
The cleanest village in Asia, Mawlynnong, is situated in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

The village having over 600 inhabitants was declared the cleanest in Asia in 2003 by 'Discover India' magazine.
Mawlynnong, which has over 95 households with agriculture being its population's chief occupation, also holds a 100% literacy rate.

Assam's Majuli, a 400-square-kilometre island in the Brahmaputra river, became India’s first island district On June 28, 2016.

This came after Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal won the recently held Assembly elections from Majuli, a constituency reserved for scheduled tribes.
The decision was taken in the first cabinet meeting of the new BJP-led government, that had assumed office on May 24.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book titled “The Birds of Banni Grassland” in New Delhi On June 28, 2016.

The book was presented to the Prime Minister by the scientists of Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE).
Important Note : The Birds of Banni Grassland is book based on environment and consists of a compilation of the research work, relating to more than 250 species of birds found in the Banni area of Kutch, Gujarat.

Former Olympic short track speed skating champion Oh Se-jong (33) was killed in a motorcycle crash in Seoul On June 28, 2016.

Oh was a member of South Korea’s gold medal winning 5,000 metres relay team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Nagaland militant leader Isak Chishi Swu (87), who led a bloody insurgency in the Northeast for over three decades, died On June 28, 2016.

Xerxes Sapur Desai (79), the man who founded Titan Co. Ltd and made it an internationally renowned Indian watch brand, passed away.
Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Sistema On June 28, 2016 announced that it will acquire the Russian government's 17.14% share in Sistema Shyam Tele-Services (SSTL).
The Russian Federation had bought the stake in 2011 and entered an option agreement to sell them back to Sistema after five years for an estimated worth of $777 million.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Shashi Kant Sharma has been conferred with the honorary professorship by the Nanjing Audit University (NAU), China.

Note : This is the only university which is recognized by the Institute of Internal Auditors.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has cleared the appointment of NS Vishwanathan as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Prior to this, he was an Executive Director at the RBI and oversaw banking and non-banking regulation departments.
He will succeed HR Khan, whose tenure will end on July 3.

Swiss food giant Nestlé On June 28, 2016 named Ulf Mark Schneider, current CEO of European healthcare group Fresenius, as its new Chief Executive.

Schneider, a US-German dual citizen, is the company's first external hire for the CEO's post in over a century.
Starting from January, Schneider will succeed current CEO Paul Bulcke, whom Nestlé's board has proposed as the next Chairman.

The Union Government has appointed Sujoy Bose as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

His selection for the CEO of NIIF was recommended by a search-cum-selection committee under the chairmanship of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

Indian shooter Sanjeev Rajput wins silver in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men's event at ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, a qualifying event for the Rio Olympics, begin in Hyderabad On June 28, 2016.

As many as 744 athletes, including 264 women from 26 states are taking part in the five-day event.

BCCI have announced the dates and venues for New Zealand's tour of India in 2016.
Kanpur, Indore, and Kolkata will host the three Tests, in that order, with Indore hosting its first ever Test from September 30.
The one-day series starts in Dharamsala on October 15 and finishes on October 29 in Visakhapatnam, with stops in Delhi, Mohali, and Ranchi.
South Africa's AB de Villiers and India's Virat Kohli retained the top two spots respectively in the latest ICC ODI batsmen's rankings, which were released On June 28, 2016.

Australia, who are the top-ranked ODI team, have no batsman featuring in the list. India's Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan occupy the sixth and eighth spots respectively.

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