Read Tnpsc Current Affairs June 09-10, 2017
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International Affairs
India and Pakistan becomes the full members of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
Capping a two-year-long process, India and Pakistan have became full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a China-dominated security grouping that is increasingly seen as a counterweight to NATO.
- India’s membership was strongly pushed by Russia while Pakistan’s entry into the grouping was backed by China.
- With the expansion of the grouping, the SCO will now represent over 40 per cent of humanity and nearly 20 per cent of the global GDP.
- The SCO was founded at a Summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.India, Iran and Pakistan were admitted as observers at the 2005 Astana Summit.
Preet Kaur Gill has become the first Sikh to be elected to the British Parliament’s House of Commons
In a first Preet Kaur Gill has become the first Sikh to be elected to the British Parliament’s House of Commons. Similarly, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi has become the first turban-wearing Sikh to be elected to the House of Commons.
- In a first, the House of Commons will have a record 12 Indian-origin MPs, which will be two more than the present record of 10 (five each from Labour and Conservative).
- The victories of Preet kaur Gill and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi is considered as a significant milestone for Sikh politicians in United Kingdom in this election.
- Dhesi and Gill are from the opposition Labour party. While Dhesi has won from the Slough constituency and Gill has won from Birmingham Edgbaston.
BRICS Media Forum established with One million dollar fund
The Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping has signaled its intent to expand its footprint in the global media space, with the injection of a one million dollars fund.
- During an inaugural session of the BRICS Media Forum, president of Xinhua News Agency and executive president of the Forum, announced that the news agency will invest 1million U.S. dollars for boosting media cooperation in the five-nation grouping.
- The BRICS media forum is the result of a joint initiative by Xinhua News Agency, Brazil's CMA Group, Russia’s Sputnik News Agency and Radio,
- The Hindu group of publications from India, and South Africa's Independent Media.
2017 European Union Film Festival (EUFF) has started in New Delhi
The 22nd edition of European Union Film Festival (EUFF) has started at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi with an aim to improve cultural ties between India and European countries.
- The film festival will not only showcase films from Estonia, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Greece, among several countries, but also explore different styles of cinema with a blend of varying cultures.
- The EUFF, which is started in New Delhi, in association with Directorate of Film Festivals will also travel to Pune, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Ranchi, Coimbatore and Puducherry till August 3, 2017.
Sahithi Pingali, the Indian Girl to get Planet Named after Her
Sahithi Pingali, a twelfth grader from Bengaluru will get a minor planet in Milky Way named after her as a reward for developing an integrated mobile phone app and lake monitoring kit to monitor pollution in water bodies.
- Sahithi Pingali had presented her paper titled “An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies” at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). For her paper, she got second position and was presented three special awards in the Earth and Environment Sciences category.
- In addition, she has also won a gold medal at the International Sustainable World Engineering Energy Environment Project (ISWEEEP) for her research work on Varthur lake.
National Affairs
World’s top 200 universities List: IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, IISc and Anna Universtiy Included
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay has broken into the top 200 club in the latest edition of the ‘Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings’, to join IIT-Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, in this group.With this, India, for the first time, is home to three of the top 200 universities in the world. Chennai Afan University got 651st place.
- According to the ‘QS World University Rankings 2018’, IIT-Bombay rank 179 this time.IIT-Delhi has replaced IISc as the best ranked Indian institution in the world.
- So, while IIT-Delhi has risen from 185 rank to 172 this year, IISc slipped over 30 places from 152 to 190.In the overall rankings, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) continues its run as the world’s best university for the sixth consecutive year.
President Pranab Mukherjee launches 'Selfie with Daughter' mobile app
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee launched a mobile Application ‘Selfie with Daughter’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan.Selfie-with-Daughter has become a world-wide movement against female foeticide and sex selection.
- He hoped that this would eventually help in dealing with the problems arising out of gender imbalance.The ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign was started by Shri Sunil Jaglan in June 2015 in village Bibipur, Jind, Haryana.
‘DigiYatra’- A New Digital Experience for Air Travellers
The Ministry of Civil Aviation is adding a Digital experience for Air Travellers through DigiYatra Platform.
- The ‘DigiYatra’ is an industry-led initiative co-ordinated by the Ministry in line with the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s Digital India’s vision to transform the nation into a digitally empowered society.
- This follows Air Sewa which brings together all the stakeholders on a common platform for handling customer grievances and disseminating real-time data.
Supreme Court upholds law making Aadhaar mandatory for PAN, ITR but exempts those without it for now
The Supreme Court (10.6.2017) upheld the validity of the law making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN and filing of Income Tax(IT) returns but exempted those without it for now until the larger privacy issue is decided.
Union Governmant approves modifications to ‘kambala’ Bill
The Centre has approved the modifications to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017 to pave way for organising ‘kambala’ in the coming season, according to PP Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice.
- The approval by the President will help in the smooth conduct of ‘kambala’ (the traditional slush track buffalo race) in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka. The Bill proposes to exempt ‘kambala’ from the ambit of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
‘Eastern Regional Conference’ on issues relating to Empowerment of persons with Disabilities
Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment inaugurated the “Eastern Regional Conference of Eastern Region States on issues relating to Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities”.
- It was organized by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Representatives from the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal participated in the Conference.
The Union Government to setup 100 yoga parks to promote yoga activities
The government will setup one hundred yoga parks across the country to promote yoga activities. Inaugurating the National Health Editors’ Conference on Yoga in New Delhi, Ayush Minister Shripad Naik said the parks will be especially meant for Yoga activities throughout the year will be managed voluntarily by the Yoga or other organisations. He also released Common Yoga Protocol of Yoga Day (21st June, 2017).
Petrol and diesel daily from June 16 throughout the country
State-run oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) will revise the prices of petrol and diesel daily from June 16 throughout the country.
- The move is aimed at countering the practice of undercutting by private retailers as well as to bring India at par with the US oil market. Private retailers such as RIL and Essar are also expected to switch to the new pricing mechanism.
- At present, State-run oil marketing companies revise rates of petrol and diesel on the 1st and 16th of every month by taking into account the average international crude price in the preceding fortnight and the currency exchange rate.
K G Karmakar, Gauri Shankar appointed directors of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
K G Karmakar and Gauri Shankar were appointed as Independent Directors of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved their appointment to the post on the board of directors of the bank for a period of three years.
- The IPPB has been incorporated as a public sector bank under the Department of Posts with 100 per cent equity of the government of India.
The SATH program launched by NITI Aayog
Furthering the agenda for cooperative federalism, NITI Aayog has launched SATH, a program providing ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital’ with the State Governments.
- The vision of the program is to initiate transformation in the education and health sectors.The program addresses the need expressed by many states for technical support from NITI.
- SATH aims to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for health systems.The program will be implemented by NITI along with McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium, who were selected through a competitive bidding process.
New Projects Inaugurated at Kamarajar Port in Tamil Nadu
The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that an investment of Rs 2 lakh 50000 crore is being made in Tamil Nadu under Sagarmala.
- Of this Rs.39,000 crore will be for port modernization, Rs.55,000 crore for port connectivity and Rs.1,50,000 crore for port led industrialization. The minister said this at Kamarajar Port in Chennai today, where he inaugurated several new projects.
- The projects include a New Container Terminal worth Rs.1270 crore, a new multi cargo terminal worth Rs.151 crores, Railway line to Container and Multi cargo terminal worth Rs. 60 crore, and RFID system worth Rs.11.82 crore.
- Shri Gadkari said the work being done under Sagarmala is estimated to create about 2 lakh direct jobs in the state in the next two years.
Awards
Jeje Lalpekhlua wins AIFF Player of the Year award 2017
India and Mohun Bagan striker Jeje Lalpekhlua received the All India Football Federation's inaugural player of the year 2016 award.Sasmita Malik was adjudged the 2016 AIFF Women's player of the year.
Sunil Chettri, India's most prolific goal scorer ever with 53 goals from 93 matches, received a Special Award for surpassing the milestone during the last year.
Sports Affaris
Ramkumar Ramanathan lifts ITF men’s Futures tennis title 2017
India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan lifted the ITF men’s Futures tennis title after outplaying Raymond Sarmiento of the USA in straight sets in Singapore.
- The top seeded Indian beat the second seeded player 6-2, 6-2 in the final. It was the first title of the season for Ramkumar.
- A regular in India’s Davis Cup team, Ramkumar had recently competed in the qualifying event of the French Open but failed to make it to the main round of the Grand Slam tournament.
Muttiah Muralitharan, first Sri Lankan to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame
Muttiah Muralitharan, the most successful bowler in Tests cricket, was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.Muralitharan was awarded the honour along with Arthur Morris, George Lohmann and Karen Rolton by fellow ICC Cricket Hall of Famers and members of the media.
He became the first player from Sri Lanka and the 83rd overall to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when ICC CEO Dave Richardson presented him with a commemorative framed cap.
Bopanna-Dabrowski clinch 2017 French Open mixed-doubles title
- Rohan Bopanna lifted his maiden Grand Slam title by winning the French Open mixed doubles trophy with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski, becoming only the fourth Indian ever to clinch a Grand Slam.
- Playing only his second Grand Slam final, Bopanna and Dabrowski eked out a memorable 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 win over Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Colombia's Robert Farah.
IOC approves new events for 2020 Tokyo Game
The International Olympic Committee has approved new events for the 2020 Tokyo Games, including a number of mixed gender competitions. The IOC's Executive Board made the decision at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland yesterday. The choices reflect the IOC's focus on gender equality and appeal to young people.
- The additions include a mixed team event for judo. Each team will consist of 3 men and 3 women, all representing different weight classes.
- Team events have already taken place at the judo world championships, but never on a mixed-gender basis. Table Tennis will also get a mixed doubles competition. The event was featured in the recent world championships in Germany. A Japanese pair won gold.
AITA to recommend Rohan Bopanna's name for Arjuna award
Acknowledging the Grand Slam feat of Rohan Bopanna, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to send his name to the government for this year's Arjuna award. Bopanna (9.6.2017) won his maiden Grand Slam title by winning the mixed doubled trophy at the French Open with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski.