TNPSC Current Affairs June 01-05, 2017 (English)
International Affairs
UN General Assembly elects five Non-Permanent UNSC members
The UN General Assembly has elected Cote D’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Poland and Peru as the non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2018. Cote D’Ivoire got 189 votes, while Equatorial Guinea got 185 votes and Kuwait 188 votes. Poland garnered 190 and Peru 186. Netherlands was also elected to serve a one-year term it shares with Italy.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit 2017 will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan on June 8-9, 2017. In this summit, India and Pakistan will become full members of the organization. The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Miroslav Lajcak will be the new President of United Nations General Assembly
Miroslav Lajcak, the Slovak foreign minister, has been elected as the new President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters in New York for the upcoming 72nd session. He will succeed Peter Thomson on September 12, 2017. The UNGA is the powerful body of 193 Member States that provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the UN Charter.
Leo Varadkar will become the new Prime Minister of Ireland
Leo Varadkar, the leader of the Fine Gael Party, will become the new Prime Minister of Ireland after defeating his rival Simon Coveney with 60% of votes. Varadkar will become the first gay Prime Minister and will also be the country’s youngest ever leader. He will succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny as leader of the centre-right party in June 2017.
Aleksandar Vucic sworn-in as the new President of Serbia
Aleksandar Vucic, the chairman of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), has been sworn-in as the new President of Serbia on May 31, 2017 and succeeded Tomislav Nikolic. He won the 2017 Serbian Presidential election by 55% of votes on April 2017. Prior to this post, Vucic was the Prime Minister of Serbia.
2017 IMD's World Competitiveness list Released
India has been ranked 45th, down four notches from last year, in terms of competitiveness in the annual rankings compiled by IMD which saw Hong Kong topping the list. US was "pushed out" of the top three slots while Hong Kong consolidated its dominance of the annual rankings for the second year in the list compiled by the International Institute for Management Development's (IMD) World Competitiveness Center. Switzerland and Singapore were ranked second and third respectively, with the USA at the fourth spot.
2017 global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Released
India has been ranked 37th out of 103 nations in the 2017 global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), according to a new report by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative. The OPHI is an economic research centre at the Oxford University, led by Professor Sabina Alkire. The 2017 global MPI has covered 76% of the world’s population, living in 103 countries.
2017 Global Peace Index Released
India has ranked 137th out of 163 countries on the 2017 Global Peace Index (GPI), published by The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). The 2017 GPI provides a comprehensive analysis on the state of peace. It shows that amidst continuing social and political turmoil, the world continues to spend enormous resources on creating and containing violence but very little on peace. The index is topped by Iceland, followed by New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark, whereas Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, followed by Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen.
Ananya Vinay, the Indian-American won the 90th Scripps Naional Spelling Bee competition
Ananya Vinay (12), the 6th-grader from California, has won the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee competition by successfully spelling “marocain” in the final round at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland on June 1, 2017. She won $40,000 in cash among other prizes. Ananya is the 13th consecutive Indian-American to win the bee and the 18th of the past 22 winners with Indian heritage, a run that began in 1999 with Nupur Lala’s victory.
The World Environment Day is observed on June 05
World Environment Day (WED) occurs on 5 June every year, is the United Nation's principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. First held in 1974, it has been a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. The theme for 2017 is 'Connecting People to nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator'. The host country for the year 2017 is Canada.
The World Milk Day (WMD) is observed on June 01
The World Milk Day (WMD) is observed every year on June 1 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to recognise the importance of milk as a global food. The day is intended to provide an opportunity to bring attention to activities that are connected with the dairy sector. In India, the National Milk Day (NMD) is observed every year on November 26 to mark the birth anniversary of of Dr. Verghese Kurien, the father of India’s White Revolution.
National Affairs
Ram Shankar Katheria will be the new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)
Ram Shankar Katheria, a BJP MP from Agra, has been appointed as the new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) for a period of three years. The post has been lying vacant since the retirement of the previous chairman PL Poonia in 2016. Beside this, L. Murugan has appointed as Vice-Chairman of the NCSC and K. Ramulu, Dr. Yogendra Paswan and Dr. Swaraj Vidwan as its Members. The commission is a constitutional body to safeguard interests of the dalits.
Shashi Shekhar Vempati appointed as the new CEO of Prasar Bharti
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, a former principal architect of Infosys Technologies, has been appointed the new chief executive officer (CEO) of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati for a period of five years. Currently, Vempati is a part-time member of the Prasar Bharati Board. The appointment comes 7 months after the last Jawhar Sircar resigned from the post. He will succeed Rajeev Singh, member (finance) of the board, who was serving as the interim CEO after S C Panda retired in 2017.
Uday Kotak Committee formed by the SEBI on corporate governance
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has formed committee to improve standards of corporate governance of listed companies. The committee under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak, chief of Kotak Mahindra Bank, will submit the report within a period of 4 months. The committee would make recommendations to SEBI on ensuring independence in spirit of independent directors and their active participation in functioning of the company and steps for improving safeguards and disclosures pertaining to related party transactions.
India’s first freight village going to set up in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
India’s first ‘freight village’ will be developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The freight village, a one-of-its-kind infrastructure platform, will attract companies that require logistics services and can cluster to improve their competitiveness. This will allow relocation of retailers, warehouse operators and logistics service providers supplying the regional FMCG market. The facility will come around the proposed multi-modal terminal adjacent to the city on the banks of the Ganga.
Anita Kundu become the first Indian woman to scale Mt. Everest from China side
Anita Kundu, a Haryana police sub-inspector from Hisar, has made history by becoming the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest from the China side on May 2017. Earlier, she had scaled the Mt. Everest from Nepal side in May 2013.
NAAC Indian organisation has won the 2017 Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) Award
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India has won prestigious International Award of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) titled “APQN Quality Award 2017 for International Co-operation in Quality Assurance” in Moscow, Russia on May 26, 2017. The NAAC is an organisation that assesses and accredits institutions of higher education in India. It’s headquarters is located in Bangalore, Karnataka.
India’s first automatic coastal warning for disasters will come up in Odisha
India’s first automatic coastal warning for disasters will come up in Odisha from July 2017. Through alert system, Odisha will be able to warn its coastal population by pressing a single button from a control room in the Odisha capital in the event of natural disasters like tsunami or cyclone. The loud sirens will then go off simultaneously from towers at 122 spots locations including tourist destinations, fish landing centres and coastal habitations.
Telangana government has launched digital wallet “T-Wallet”
Telangana Government has officially launched a digital wallet “T-Wallet”, which doesn’t charge transaction fee from consumers. This is the first official e-wallet from any state government in India. The wallet can be used over the web version. One can top up the wallet using credit or debit cards, Internet banking or through cash at Mee Seva centres. It allows a maximum transaction of Rs. 1 lakh for e-KYC (know your customer) users. For non-KYC users, the limit is set to Rs. 20,000. The wallet is developed by Transaction Analysts (TA) & Vijaya Bank is a banking partner for the initiative. Presently, the wallet is available in Android version and supports English, Telugu and Urdu.
Punjab government will collaborate with UNDOC to intensify anti-drug drive
The Punjab government has decided to collaborate with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of its efforts to root out the drug menace in the State. The MoU will be signed between the health department, the Special Task Force (STF) on drugs and the UNODC in the second week of June 2017.
Sports Affairs
Real Madrid wins UEFA Champions League title 2017
Real Madrid clinched UEFA title, beating Juventus 4-1 in a scintillating final in Cardiff, Wales. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a pair of goals for Real - his 11th and 12th of the competition, 104th and 105th in Europe all time to extend his own record and the 599th and 600th of his club and international careers. This is the second consecutive UEFA title for Real Madrid and it is the first team to do so.
Sai Praneeth wins Thailand Batminton Open 2017
Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth lifted his maiden Grand Prix gold title by defeating Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the men's singles final of the Thailand Open. The third seeded Indian prevailed 17-21 21-18 21-19 over the fourth seeded Indonesian in a contest that lasted an hour and 11 minutes. This is Praneeth's second consecutive title win, following the Singapore Open victory.
Nitin Kumar Sinha won the 2017 HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship
Indian wild card Nitin Kumar Sinha has won the boys singles title at the 2017 HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship. He defeated Malaysian player Christian Didier Chin in a final match held at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge – Balewadi, in Pune. In girls singles final, Mihika Yadav defeated top seed Mahak Jain in two straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer the first Indian nominated as a member of the ITTF Umpires and Referees Committee (URC)
Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer has become the first Indian to be nominated as a member of the ITTF Umpires and Referees Committee (URC). His term will be for two years and is extendable. Iyer is the only assigned competition manager of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in India.
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