IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JUNE 21st,
2018
1.
(21st June) is World Music Day (Fête
de la Musique)
a. This
day is celebrated in an attempt to promote peace and spread goodwill
through melodies.
b. The day
is originated in France in 1982 and is now observed in over 120
countries.
c. Aim of
this day : To encourage free and accessible concerts or events for the
public.
2.
President Ram Nath
Kovind met Surinam’s President Dési Bouterse in
capital Paramaribo and performed yoga asanas along with him to observe
the International Day of Yoga.
a. Note : This
is the first time that heads of two countries together participated in
the International Day of Yoga.
3.
US President Donald
Trump ended the policy of separating immigrant
families at the US-Mexico border after public uproar over
it.
a. More
than 2,000 children have been separated from their family at the border between
April 19 and May 31.
4.
The Hungarian Parliament
adopted the "Stop Soros" law that criminalises
helping migrants.
a. Hungary
named the legislation after George Soros, the billionaire
philanthropist it accuses of encouraging migration of Muslims to Europe.
b. The law
states that anyone "facilitating illegal immigration" in Hungary will
be sentenced to one year in prison.
5.
External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj called
on Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and
discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, space
and people-to-people relationship.
a. Swaraj,
who arrived in Luxembourg on the third leg of her four-nation tour today,
became the first external affairs minister from India to
visit the European country.
6.
4th International Yoga Day is
being celebrated today with participation of Crores of people in 192 countries.
a. This
day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on
December 11, 2014.
b. More
than 1 lakh people together performed Yoga in Kota (Rajasthan)
today to create Guinness World Record on the occasion of
International Yoga Day.
c. Earlier,
55,000 people of Mysore held the record of the largest crowd performing yoga.
d. Theme
of International Yoga Day 2018 : "Yoga for Peace"
7.
The world’s first International Centre
for Humanitarian Forensics was launched in Gandhinagar (Gujarat).
a. The
centre is joint venture of Regional delegation of International Committee of
Red Cross (ICCR) in India, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives and also Gujarat Forensic
Science University.
8.
Rajasthan has
been ranked first by the NITI Aayog among all states after it registered
a significant increase in groundwater level due to the
water conversation structures built under Chief Minister's Jal
Swavlamban Abhiyan.
a. The
state also witnessed an increase of 81% in irrigation capacity.
b. As many
as 4 lakh structures were built in Rajasthan in the last three years.
9.
Shillong (Capital city of
Meghalaya) has been selected as 100th Smart City, to receive
funding under the Centre’s flagship Smart Cities Mission,
after evaluating the proposal submitted by it.
a. Till
now, 99 smart cities have been selected in four rounds of competition and with
Shillong’s selection, the list of 100 cities has been completed under the Smart
Cities Mission.
10.
Punjab government has launched ‘i-Hariyali’
mobile application under ‘Mission Tandarust Punjab’ aimed at increasing
the state’s green cover.
a. It will
enable app users to order free plant saplings and help to save the environment
from pollution.
b. Aim of
I-Hariyali - To inspire more and more people to plant maximum saplings
during current monsoon season so as to save environment from pollution
hazards.
11.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
revised the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) guidelines for
housing loans with Affordable Housing definition under the Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana.
a. The
apex bank announced that housing loans of up to 35 lakh rupees for dwellings
costing less than 45 lakh rupees, will be treated as priority sector
lending to give a fillip to the low-cost segment.
b. The RBI
has further revised existing family income limit of Rs 2 lakh per annum for
loans to housing projects for Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income
Groups to Rs 3 lakh per annum and Rs 6 lakh per annum, respectively.
12.
Senegal-born singer Akon has
announced the launch of his cryptocurrency called AKoin, that will
be available for sale in two weeks.
a. As part
of the AKoin venture, the singer plans to complete a '100% crypto-based
futuristic city' on 2,000 acres of land located near Dakar, the capital
city of Senegal.
13.
Australian golfing great Peter Thomson
(88), who won the British Open five times, passed
away.
a. Thomson
was the 1st Australian to win the British Open.
14.
Surat smart city
has been selected for ‘city award’ for showing great momentum in
implementation of projects under ‘India Smart Cities Awards’ 2018.
a. Other
Winners of India Smart Cities Awards 2018 :
b. Governance
category : PMC Care from Pune.
c. Built
Environment category : Smart Place Making from Pune.
d. Social
Aspects category : Smart Class rooms from NDMC and Jabalpur,
Smart Campus from Visakhapatnam, Lighthouse from Pune.
e. Culture
and Economy category : B Nest Incubation Centre from Bhopal and
Conservation of Rajasthan School of Arts from Jaipur.
f. Urban
environment category : Public Bike Sharing from Pune, Bhopal,
Coimbatore and Waste to Energy Plant in Jabalpur.
g. Transport
and Mobility category : Integrated Transit Management System (TMS)
from Ahmedabad and Surat.
h. Water
and Sanitation category : Smart Water Management
through SCADA from Ahmedabad.
15.
The Ayush Ministry today announced that Vishwas
Mandlik of Nashik and the Yoga Institute in
Mumbai are the recipients of the Prime Minister's Award
for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of yoga in
Individual and Organization categories respectively.
16.
17.
The selection was done from among 186
nominations received under different categories for the year 2018.
18.
Richard Branson-led Virgin
Hyperloop One is going to invest ₹3,000 crore to
build a 15-km-long Hyperloop demonstration track in Pune for
the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project.
a. The
Hyperloop route is expected to reduce the commute time between Mumbai and Pune
to 25 minutes.
19.
The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu
has received the book titled "Vedvigyan Alok" authored
by Acharya Agnivarat Naishthik today.
a. This
book is the scriptural verse in Vedas' prose.
20.
SBI Managing Director B Sriram has
been given additional charge as the MD & CEO of IDBI
Bank for a "temporary" period of 3
months.
a. He will
replace M K Jain who was recently appointed as
the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
21.
French beauty giant L'Oréal has
appointed Amit Jain as its new India Managing Director.
a. With
this he became the 1st Indian to lead L'Oréal's operations in the
country.
22.
Oscar winning music composer A R
Rahman has been appointed as the Brand Ambassador of
the Sikkim government.
a. As the
Brand Ambassador, Rahman will promote and project Sikkim's achievements
nationally and globally.
23.
Indian-American surgeon and journalist Atul
Gawande has been appointed the CEO of a new healthcare company
started by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and
JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon.
a. Based
in Boston, the new venture is meant to help the companies get their healthcare
costs down. The new venture will be independent from the three firms.
24.
Japan's Princess Hisako has
become the 1st member of the Imperial family to visit Russia since
1916.
a. Hisako,
who is an honorary patron of the Japan Football Association,
arrived in Russia to attend the ongoing FIFA World Cup.
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