Current Affairs June 20, 2017

·         Amitabh Bachchan to promote GST

·         Govt has roped in Amitabh Bachchan to promote Goods and Services Tax, ahead of its implementation scheduled on July 1.

·         Central Board of Excise and Customs will be making the 74-year-old Bachchan brand ambassador for GST.

·         A video featuring him has already been shot and is being circulated.

·         In the video, he explains GST as an unifying force just like the 3 colours in the national flag.

·         Reliance Def inks pact with Yugoimport

·         Reliance Defence Ammunition has entered a strategic partnership with Serbia’s state-run defence major Yugoimport to manufacture ammunition in India.

·         The Two will work together in the field of ammunition with projected minimum requirement of Rs 20,000 crore over next 10 years from Indian armed forces.

·         Reliance Defence has proposed to set up a greenfield facility for production of ammunition.

·         Mobile App “Celebrating Yoga” launched

·         Minister for Science & Technology Dr. Harshvardhan launched a Mobile App “Celebrating Yoga”.

·         The Mobile App developed by DST provides a platform to share information and insights about peoples’ participation in Yoga activities on the occasion of the International Yoga Day 2017.

·         The App will be connected with Google Map where shared information can been seen by the users.

·         SC rejects DMRC plea

·         Supreme Court has rejected a petition filed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation challenging the Delhi HC Order directing it to release Rs 60 crore as interim payment to Reliance Infrastructure.

·         Reliance won a Rs 2,950 cr arbitration award against DMRC for alleged breach of the agreement on the Airport Express line.

·         Court has directed DMRC to release the interim payment to DAMEPL within a week.

·         Keshari Tripathi gets additional charge

·         Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind has resigned from the gubernatorial post following his nomination as the ruling NDA’s presidential candidate.

·         BJP yesterday announced his name for the president’s post, election of which is scheduled for July 17.

·         West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will discharge the functions of the Governor of Bihar, in addition to his own duties.

·         NASA finds 10 new Earth-like planets

·         NASA has announced the discovery of 10 rocky, Earth-sized planets in our Milky Way Galaxy that could potentially have liquid water and support life.

·         These planets were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earth’s orbit around the sun.

·         This discovery brings the total number of suspected exoplanets founded by the Kepler space telescope to be more than 4,000.

·         Australia suspends its air strikes

·         Australia has suspended its air strikes into Syria following US downing of a Syrian military jet.

·         U.S. military shot down Syrian warplane, saying it had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS extremists.

·         Australia is part of a U.S. led coalition that has been waging war against IS.

·         It has 6 fighter jets based in UAE that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

·         Free education from Nursery to PhD

·         Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has announced free education for girls from nursery to the doctorate level in government institutions of Punjab.

·         Govt will also introduce free textbooks to all students of govt schools, and will introduce pre-primary classes in govt schools from the next academic session.

·         He also announced free Wi-FI for 13,000 primary schools and all 48 govt colleges.

·         Syrian refugee as Goodwill Ambassador

·         UN Children’s Fund announced the appointment of Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan as its newest and youngest goodwill ambassador.

·         The appointment makes Muzoon the first person with official refugee status to become an Ambassador for Unicef.

·         She follows in the footsteps of the late actress and goodwill ambassador Audrey Hepburn who was also supported by UNICEF as a child.

·         Sweden to reach zero carbon emissions

·         Sweden has pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 in order to tackle climate change.

·         Reaching net-zero carbon emissions will demand at least an 85% cut in domestic greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s 1990 levels.

·         Swedish government will now be required to present a climate report during its annual budget bill.

Attempt Current Affair Quiz for 19th June 2017

·  Telangana govt sets up WiFi hotspots

·         Telangana govt has launched Hyderabad City Wi-Fi project, providing wireless networking technology at over 1,000 public places in Hyderabad.

·         3,000 public locations were identified in the city, however network has now been installed at 1,000 hotspots with an assured bandwidth of 5-10 Mbps offering 30 minutes of free wi-fi.

·         Entire project is being rolled out at a cost of around Rs 300 crore.

·  ICC Team of Champions Trophy

·         Three Indians, including Virat Kohli, were named in the ICC Team of the Champions Trophy 2017, with Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed named its captain.

·         The side includes four Pakistanis, three Indians, three Englishmen and one Bangladeshi, with Kane Williamson of New Zealand as 12th man.

·         Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman was picked as Dhawan’s opening partner.

·  Punjab govt announces crop loan waiver

·         Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers who own up to 5 acres of agriculture land.

·         Flat relief of Rs 2 lakh will be offered to all other marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount.

·         The ex-gratia for suicide affected families has also been raised to Rs.5.00 lakh from the existing Rs.3.00 lakh.

·  Mangalyaan completes 1000 Earth days

·         Indian Mars Orbiter Mission also called Mangalyaan completed 1000 Earth days in its orbit on June 20, which is more than 5 times the number of days it was designated to last.

·         It has now completed 388 orbits of Mars and relayed back a storm of data including over 715 images.

·         It was launched on Nov 5, 2013 and entered the orbit of mars on September 24, 2014, in its first attempt.

·  New steel plant in Jharkhand

·         Vedanta group and Jharkhand Mineral Development Corporation will jointly set up a steel plant at Manoharpur in West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand.

·         Rs 700 crore of the total MoU signed with prospective investors have already been implemented on the ground.

·         Project proposals worth Rs 15 to 16,000 crore will be effective in July.

·         Govt also plans to set up a world-class airport in Dhalbhumgarh

·  Indian Wushu Team bags six medals

·         India won 6 medals in Wushu competition of the 1st ever BRICS Games, which were held in China.

·         The medals haul comprised 2 each in gold, silver and bronze.

·         M. Gyandas and Anjul Namdev won a gold each while 2 silver medals came through Bidheswari Devi and Toshibala.

·         It featured some 300 athletes from 5 countries with 10 events in 3 sports – men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and Wushu.

·  India re-nominates Dalveer Bhandari

·         India has re-nominated Justice Dalveer Bhandari as its candidate for another term as judge at the International Court of Justice.

·         He was elected in April 2012 during simultaneous balloting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council to a seat on the ICJ.

·         The ICJ elections will be held in November and if elected, he will serve a term of nine years.

·  India Ratifies UN TIR Convention

·         India has become the 71st country to ratify United Nations TIR Convention.

·         The TIR convention is expected to boost trade and regional integration across South Asia and beyond.

·         It will help India to integrate with Myanmar and Thailand as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

·         It will also enable India to move cargo along International North-South Transport Corridor via Chabahar port in Iran.

·  Energy Conservation Building Code 2017

·         Piyush Goyal launched the ECBC Code 2017 which prescribes energy performance standards for new commercial buildings to be constructed across India.

·         It aims to optimise energy savings with comfort levels for occupants, and prefers life-cycle cost effectiveness to achieve energy neutrality in commercial buildings.

·         Adoption of ECBC could lead to 30%-50% energy savings by commercial buildings.

·  SRK buys team in South Africa T20 league

·         Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has now bought a team in South Africa’s T20 Global League.

·         SRK’s franchise will be based in Cape Town with JP Duminy as the marquee player.

·         The name of the team will be Cape Town Knight Riders.

·         This is SRK’s third team in T20 cricket leagues after Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League and Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League.