1) Telangana became
the first state in the country to launch official e-wallet as it launched
‘T-Wallet’
This is the
first official e-wallet from any state government in India. Using this
platform, the citizens not only can make payments to government and private
organisations towards various services but also receive the benefits from
government like pensions, scholarships and MGNREGS wages.
2) U.S.
President Donald Trump announced the country’s withdrawal from the Paris
Climate Change Agreement alleging that it favours world’s leading polluters
like India and China, while being unfair to his country.
Former U.S.
President Barack Obama had approved the agreement in 2015 as he had favoured a
mechanism that gives more time to major developing countries like China and
India to beef up their tools to conserve environment.
The agreement
came into force on 4 November 2016, and 147 nations across the world have
already ratified the Agreement.
The Paris
Agreement aims to limit rise in global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius
over pre-industrial times and make efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius
above pre-industrial levels by the end of 2100.
3) ‘Stratolaunch’ is the name of the massive
airplane that Paul Allen has been quietly building in the California desert for
many years. It would be the world’s largest airplane with a wingspan wider than
Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose.
It’s so big that
it has 28 wheels and six 747 jet engines. It has a wingspan of 385 feet, or
longer than a football field, a height of 50 feet. Unfueled, it weighs 500,000
pounds. But it can carry 250,000 pounds of fuel, and its total weight can reach
as high as 1.3 million pounds.
4) Eminent
historian Ramachandra Guha resigned from Board of Control for Cricket in
India’s (BCCI) Committee of Administration.
Former Comptroller
and Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai was appointed its Chairman while
Diana Edulji, the legendary women test cricket player, was the other member.
Ramachandra Guha was the third member of the Committee. The committee also
includes IDFC Ltd MD and CEO Vikram Limaye, who was expected to provide the
committee with expertise in financial matters.
5) Economic
Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das retired on 31 May 2017 after 37 years of
distinguished service in Finance Department. Tapan Ray took the charge of
Economic Affairs Secretary as additional charge
On 30 May 2017
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had announced the introduction of currency
notes in one rupee denomination, printed by the Government of India with the
signature of Shaktikanta Das.
6) Punjab Mail,
is one of the oldest long distance trains on Indian Railways, completed 105
years
The Punjab Mail
made her maiden run out of Ballard Pier Mole station, a former station of the
Mumbai Port Trust Railway, on 1 June 1912. It originally ran between Bombay to
Peshawar (in present Pakistan). This train is over 16 years older than the more
glamorous Frontier Mail.
The train now
operates as train number 12137 from Mumbai CST to Ferozpur (Punjab) and as
train number 12138 in the reverse direction.
The oldest
running train of Indian Railways is the Kalka Mail that connects Howrah to
Kalka in Haryana, the railhead for Kalka-Shimla Railway. It started its first
journey in 1866.
6) “Darwaza
Band” is the newly launched campaign that primarily aims to change behaviour of
men defecating in open, who have toilets but are not using them. The campaign
was officially launched from Mumbai by Amitabh Bachchan promoting it as its
brand ambassador.
7) Indian lawyer
and women’s rights campaigner, Indira Jaising, Sri Lanka’s former human rights
chief Radhika Coomaraswamy and Christopher Dominic Sidoti, a prominent human
rights advocate from Australia, were appointed to lead the 3-member probe
committee to probe alleged atrocities against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims.by the
Geneva-based human rights council voted in March 2017 to create a Myanmar
fact-finding mission, in a politically sensitive move that faced fierce
resistance from the civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
8) The NITI
Aayog in its fourth report on Air India has recommended strategic disinvestment
of the loss-making national carrier.
NITI Aayog’s
recently submitted fourth report has mentioned a possible roadmap for Air India
disinvestment, which includes writing off loans to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore.
Air India has debt of around Rs. 60,000 crore, which includes around Rs. 21,000
crore of aircraft-related loans and around Rs. 8,000 crore working capital.
9) Karnataka
girl Nandini K.R. has topped the Civil Services Examinations 2017.
Anmol Sher Singh
Bedi of Amritsar came second in the exam
Ronanki Gopal Krishna from Srikakulam district
of Andhra Pradesh bagged the 3rd rank.
10) RBI’s
6-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) presented the second Bi-monthly
Monetary Policy Review of 2017-18. The MPC held the all-important Repo Rate at
6.25% but did cut the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR)
– the portion of
bank deposits that have to be invested in government bonds – by 50 basis points
(bps) to 20%.
MPC has 3
members from the RBI (including RBI Governor Urjit Patel) and 3 external
members (Ravindra Dholakia, Pami Dua and Chetan Ghate)
11) Iran Parliament
witnessed a major terror attack by operatives of Islamic State (IS)
12) Sher Bahadur
Deuba took over as the 40th Prime Minister of Nepal
13) The Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre,
Sriharikota- GSLV MK-III D-1, its heaviest launch vehicle to carry country’s
heaviest satellite on board – the GSAT-19.
The satellite
was placed in an initial orbit of perigee (closest point to Earth) 170 km and
apogee (farthest point from Earth) 35,975 km.
– This
successful launch enabled India to launch four-tonne satellites in the future.
Previously, heavy satellites were launched from launchpads abroad, such as the
one in French Guiana.
14) Bahrain,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced that they were
severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, as tensions escalate in the region over
accusations that Doha sponsors terrorism.
15) Habibganj in the suburbs of Bhopal will become India’s
first ‘private’ railway station if all goes according to the plans prepared by
the Indian Railway. It will be country’s first railway station to be
redeveloped as a public-private partnership (PPP). for a period of
eight years
– As per the
plan, the station will be designed as a world-class transit hub with shopping
complex, adequate parking lot, eateries, forex kiosk and other facilities for
passengers at railway premises.
16) ‘Operation
Swarn’ (literally Operation Gold) is the name of the new project envisaged by
the Indian Railways to upgrade Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains – the two
most important trains of the Indian network.
– Railway
Ministry has identified 10 key areas or parameters that require attention.
These include cleanliness, linen, coach interiors, toilets, catering among
other things. Wi-fi, coffee vending machines and infotainment screens may also
form part of this upgrade plan.
17) State Bank
of India (SBI) raised nearly Rs. 15,000 crore from institutional investors,
both domestic and foreign, through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP)
route. This QIP is the largest-ever in India
– The QIP is a
part of the bank’s plans to boost capital adequacy in order to meet Basel III
norms amid mounting NPAs.
18) Leading
banker Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak
Mahindra Bank Ltd., is leading a Committee on Corporate Governance that was
constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
– The committee
will advise the markets regulator on areas such as ensuring the active
participation of independent directors in the functioning of companies;
improving safeguards and disclosures pertaining to related-party transactions;
issues in accounting and auditing practices by listed firms; improving
effectiveness of board evaluation practices; addressing issues faced by
investors on voting and participation in general meetings; and disclosure- and
transparency-related issues.
– The 21-member
committee includes representatives from other companies, stock exchanges,
professional bodies, investor groups, law firms, academicians, research
professionals and SEBI officials.
19) India
conducted the first-ever successful test of the indigenously developed Quick
Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile from Chandrapur in Odisha. This missile has
been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in
collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)
– It is equipped
to for quick reaction and the system is all weather enabled, a network-centric
one, which is also capable of search-on-the-move. The missile is a
truck-mounted one with 360 degree rotatable, electronic-mechanically operated,
turret-based launch unit.
20) 70th World
Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland
21) Indian
Railways to launch 'buy now, pay later' feature for tickets
To attract more
passengers to buy online train tickets, Indian Railways has introduced a
service ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ which allow passengers to make payment for tickets
booked online within a window of 15 days.
To buy tickets
from the IRCTC website and pay later will decrease the difficulties involved in
the payment process at the time.
ePayLater, a
Mumbai-based fintech firm has joined hands with IRCTC for adding the new
feature to Indian Railways ticket booking services.
22) Jim Yong Kim
is the President of World Bank and its headquarter is in Washington, D.C, USA
World Bank was founded in 1944.
23) India's
First mega food park 'Srini' was opened at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.
24) The UN General
Assembly elected Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak to be the next
president of the 193-member powerful body.
9th
Secretary-General of United Nations is Antonio Guterres and its headquarter is
in New York City, USA.
25) India has
ranked 137th out of 163 countries on Global Peace Index 2017 published by The
Institute of Economics and Peace.
Iceland has been
named the world's most peaceful country, topping the Global Peace Index for the
tenth consecutive year followed by New Zealand and Portugal at second and third
position while Syria has been named the least peaceful country.
26) Japan
launched a satellite to help build a high-precision geolocation system that
will complement the US-operated GPS.
A 'H-IIA' rocket
blasted off from the Tanegashima space center in southern Japan carrying the
'Michibiki' No.2 satellite. The
Michibiki system is capable of covering the Asia-Oceania region and works with
the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS).
27) Varanasi
will get the country's first 'freight village' spread over around 100 acres.
28) Bharti
Airtel has received approvals from the Securities & Exchange Board of India
(SEBI), BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India for its proposed merger
with Telenor India.
29) Shashi
Shekar Vempati has been appointed as the CEO of Prasar Bharati on the
recommendation of the three-member committee headed by the Vice-President, and
consisting of the Chairman, Press Council of India, and the President’s
nominee.
30) Amul Thapar,
an Indian-American legal luminary, has been appointed a judge on the US Court
of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Donald Trump.
31) Indian-Origin
Leo Varadkar is set to become the Republic of Ireland's next Prime Minister
after winning the leadership of the Fine Gael party.
32) The cricket
board for West Indies, on its 91st anniversary, has re-branded themselves as
Cricket West Indies from the former West Indies Cricket Board.
The board also
announced in a media release on their official website that the cricket team
from now on will be officially known as ‘WINDIES.’
33) World
Environment Day (WED) is the biggest annual event for positive environmental
action and takes place every on 5 June. This year’s host country is Canada.
The theme for
World Environment Day 2017 is "Connecting People to Nature".
34) The Ministry
of Rural Development has selected Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh as
one among the 17 districts across the nation for the MGNREGA annual award
The award was
given for effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Act during 2015-16.
35) 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.
The list was 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.
36) Reliance
Communications (RCom) Chairman Anil Ambani has announced that the merged
entities of RCom and Aircel will be called Aircom. These merged entities are
Reliance Communications and Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB).
The merged
company will be one of India’s largest private sector companies. It will have
an asset base of over 65000 crore rupees and net worth of 35000 crore rupees.
37) Telangana
government has recently launched the single-women pensions scheme across the
state. Single women will be given Rs 1,000 per month. It is the first such
scheme in India.
The government
had also increased the Kalyana Laxmi and Shaadi Mubarak scheme amount from
Rs50,116 to Rs75,116. Children of single women would be admitted into all
Telangana Residential Educational Institutions without having to write an
examination or waiting for the lottery system.
38) India’s
first public bicycle sharing project launched in Mysuru
Chief Minister
of Karnataka Siddaramaiah has recently launched India’s first public bicycle
sharing (PBS) initiative 'Trin Trin' in Mysuru.
39) National
Stock Exchange (NSE) launched its international exchange in the Gujarat
International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). NSE IFSC Ltd, the global exchange
promoted by NSE, will remain operational for a longer period than NSE during a
trading day.
40) 'Ministry of
Utmost Happiness' authored by Arundhati Roy launched
Roy became the
first Indian woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize with her 1997 work.
41) The Reserve
Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935, in accordance with the
provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934
The Central Office of the Reserve Bank was
initially established in Calcutta but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937.
RBI Act, 1934 has been amended by the
Finance Act, 2016, to provide a statutory and institutionalized framework for a
Monetary Policy Committee, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in
mind the objective of growth.
The primary objective of monetary policy is
to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
Price stability is a necessary precondition to sustainable growth.
42) Montenegro
has officially joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and hence
became the 29th member country of NATO.
43) The
University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education
(AICTE) will soon scraped as Higher
Education Empowerment Regulation Agency or HEERA is the name of the new
proposed regulator.
44) The Centre
has approved the modifications to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017 to pave way for organizing ‘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.
45) Prime
Minister Narendra Modi reach at Kazakhstan, where he attend the summit of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and meet some foreign leaders,
including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
46) Indian
cricket team captain Virat Kohli is the sole sportsperson from the country to
feature in the world’s 100 highest paid athletes in the latest Forbes list
topped by soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
47) Muttiah
Muralidaran, the most successful bowler in Tests and One-Day Internationals,
was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in London.
48) 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.
NITI Aayog
invited all States and Union Territories for the three-stage selection process
out of which 16 responded. Five States were shortlisted post project
presentation by 14 States. Subsequently, three States will be selected through
further assessments. SATH programme will be implemented by NITI Aayog along
with global consultancy McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium in the
three selected States after the signing of MoUs.
The National
Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a
resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.
NITI Aayog is
the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both
directional and policy inputs.
The Government
of India, in keeping with its reform agenda, constituted the NITI Aayog to
replace the Planning Commission instituted in 1950.
Arvind
Panagariya is Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is Chairperson of NITI Aayog.
49) Kolkata, the
‘City of Joy’ is about to experience a wonder in the form of an underwater
Metro train which will run beneath the Hooghly river. It’s one of the
path-breaking projects in India as never before a tunnel has been dug beneath a
flowing river.
The entire
project is 16.6 km long, out of which 10.8 km runs under the ground. Of this
10.8 km, 502 meters is under the water. The project connects Howrah to the west
and Salt Lake to the east.
The French open
title 2017 was held recently from 22 May-11 June 2017 at Roland Garros in
Paris, France. Here is the complete list of all the winners in different categories
of The French Open 2017.
50) winner of
French open
French Men's
Singles Open Title- Spain's Rafael Nadal (10th French Title) defeated Stan
Wawrinka (Switzerland).
French Women's Singles Open Title- Latvia's
Jelena Ostapenko (1st Grand Slam Title) defeated Simona Halep (Rome).
French Men's Doubles Title- Michael Venus
(New Zealand) and Ryan Harrison (USA) defeated Santiago Gonzalez and Donald
Young.
French Women's Doubles Title- Bethanie
Mattek-Sands (USA) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) defeated Ashleigh Barty
and Casey Dellacqua.
French Open Mixed Doubles title- Rohan
Bopanna (India) and Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld
and Robert Farah.
51) In
continuation of issuing of Rs500 denomination banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi (new)
series from time to time which are currently legal tender, a new batch of
banknotes with inset letter “A” in both the number panels, bearing the
signature of Dr. Urjit R. Patel Governor, Reserve Bank of India; with the year
of printing '2017’ on the reverse, are being issued.
The new series
earlier released and currently, in circulation has the inset letter
"E". They will continue to be valid. The design of these notes is
similar in all respects to the Rs500 banknotes.
52) China has
launched world’s largest floating solar farm in
Anhui province. The 40-megawatt power plant has 160,000 panels resting
on a lake that emerged after the collapse of a coal mine in central Anhui
province.
As per the
Reports, China has been the world's largest investor in clean energy since
2012, spending $88 billion on the wind and solar power in 2016.
53) The World’s
smallest and cheapest private jet 'Vision Jet' was launched in the USA
recently. The Vision Jet can haul five adults up to 1,150 miles at 28,000 feet.
It is the first
Private Jet with a single engine and can be conveniently operated by a single
pilot, thus keeping production and maintenance costs low for the users. The jet
can fly at a speed of 345mph and has an operating altitude of 28,000 feet.
54) Rafael
Nadal’s magnificent run to a 10th French Open title has earned the Spaniard a
move into second in the latest ATP world rankings.
The Top three
players in the list are- 1. Andy Murray, 2. Rafael Nadal, and 3. Stan Wawrinka.
55) 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. The choices
reflect the IOC’s focus on gender equality and appeal to young people.
The additions
include a mixed team event for judo. Table Tennis will also get a mixed doubles
competition. The event was featured in the recent world championships in
Germany. Three-on-three basketball is an example of the IOC’s focus on youth
and urban sports.
2018 Olympic
Winter Games will be held in PyeongChang.
International
Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
56) According to
the Child Rights and You (CRY) report, over 8 lakh children in India between
the age group 5 and 6 years are engaged in child labor.
Uttar Pradesh
has the highest number of 2,50,672 children engaged in labor, followed by Bihar
with 1,28,087 children and Maharashtra where the number stands at 82,847.
The report has
outlined that reach of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which was
introduced with the intent of providing a strong base to these children, is
quite limited as it covers only 50% percent of this population.
57) State-run
power giant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has energized India's
first 150 kWp canal top solar PV System on cooling water (CW) channel inside
power station premises at its 2,320 MW, Mouda Thermal Power Project, near
Nagpur in Maharashtra.
This novel Solar
PV system makes use of side walls of CW channels as load bearing structure
thereby significantly decreasing cost of civil and mounting structure.
58) Top three
ODI Batsman are-
Virat Kohli (IND)
David Warner (AUS)
AB de
Villiers (SA)
Top Three ODI
Bowlers are-
Josh Hazlewood (AUS)
Imran Tahir (SA)
Mitchell Starc (AUS)
59) ANUGA - an
acronym for Allgemeine Nahrungs Und Genußmittel Ausstellung ( General Food and
Non essential Provisions Exhibition) is the world’s biggest and most important
trade fair for Food and beverage trade.
It takes place bi-annually (every 2 years).
ANUGA 2017 is the 34th edition.
It offers an extensive supporting programme
with Lectures, Special exhibition and attractive industry events
ANUGA is the leading export platform with
7,189 exhibitors from 109 countries with over 85% of Exhibitors from abroad.
60) The Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired the
anti-tank missile “Nag” in a desert in Rajasthan’s western sector.
The Nag missile
is a third generation “fire and forget” anti-tank missile. It has reportedly
also been equipped with highly advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IRR) seeker and
has integrated avionics technology in its arsenal.
61) India has
claimed the top spot among the remittance-receiving nations, surpassing China.
The United Nations, in its report, stated that Indians working across the globe
sent home 62.7 billion US dollars in 2016.
According to the
‘One Family at a Time’ study by the UN International Fund for Agricultural
Development, about 200 million migrants globally sent more than 445 billion
dollars as remittances in 2016 to their families.
62) India continued
to rise in the Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings for the second year in
succession, after four consecutive years of decline. In 2017 rankings released
in Geneva (Switzerland), India improved its position from 66 to 60.
Its improvement
is part of a trend both in the middle-income countries and Asian countries,
many of which have improved their innovation capacities in recent years.
Top three most
innovative countries in the list are-
Switzerland
Sweden
Netherland
Ranking of Neighboring
countries of India-
China (22nd)
Sri Lanka (90th)
Nepal (109th)
Pakistan (113th)
Bangladesh (114th)
63) Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) headquarters in Beijing, China.
64) Indian
nominee Neeru Chadha became the first Indian Woman to be elected as the Member
of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Chadha, the
international law expert, got 120 votes with the highest in the Asia-Pacific
group.
She will have a
nine-year term as the Judge at ITLOS from 2017 to 2026. Currently, an eminent
jurist from India P Chandrasekhara Rao is a judge at the tribunal. He was
elected as the member of the tribunal in 1996 and his term will expire in
September 2017.
The Hamburg
(Germany)-based ITLOS was established in 1996.
Ms. Chadha is
only the second woman to be the judge of ITLOS in its two decades of existence.
65) The
government of India has appointed a senior executive of Tata Consultancy
Services Ramanathan Ramanan to head Atal Innovation Mission, its initiative to
promote entrepreneurship in the country.
Ramanathan
Ramanan, senior vice president at TCS, has been appointed as mission director
of Atal Innovation Mission, under the government’s premier think tank NITI
Aayog, in the rank of additional secretary on secondment basis from the IT
bellwether for two years initially. According to the notification, Ramanan’s
appointment will be without pay and allowances.
66) Israeli
author David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize 2017 for his
novel `A Horse Walks Into a Bar'. Grossman beat out five other finalists,
including fellow Israeli author Amos Oz for the counterpart to Britain's
prestigious Booker Prize.
Grossman's novel
is about a failing standup comic and his final performance. The Award has a
prize of 50,000 pounds ($64,000) that is split evenly between Grossman and
translator Jessica Cohen.
Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for her
brilliant and poetic novel “The God of Small Things” in the year 1997 making
her the first Indian to receive the prestigious award.
The prize for 2016 Booker prize was awarded
to `The Vegetarian' by South Korea's Han Kang.
67) Aadhaar made
mandatory for new bank accounts,transactions above Rs.50,000
The Unique Identification Authority of
India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority.
UIDAI was established under the provisions
of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits
and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act 2016”) on 12 July 2016 by the Government
of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The tagline of Aadhaar - 'Mera Aadhaar,
Meri Pehchan.
Nandan Nilekani was the first chairman of
UIDAI.
68) Katy Perry
just keeps soaring in popularity. The Witness singer and pop culture lightning
rod became the first person to reach 100 million followers on Twitter, making
her the most-followed person on the platform, Twitter reports. Perry joined
Twitter back in 2009, making her something of an early adopter as a celebrity.
69) Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Kochi Metro. Seven cities having operational metro
services are – Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurugram (Gurgaon), Mumbai, Jaipur
and Chennai.
70) Former Chief
Justice of India PN Bhagwati, considered a pioneer of judicial activism in the
country for introducing the concept of Public Interest Litigations (PILs)
The 17th Chief
Justice of India, Justice Bhagwati remained on the highest judicial post between
July 1985 and December 1986. He also served as Chief Justice of the Gujarat
High Court and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court in July 1973.
71) World’s
second biggest celebrations of International Yoga Day to (June 21) be held in
China after India
72) Connaught
Place in the national capital is the most expensive prime office market in
India and the ninth most expensive office market in the world, with an
occupancy cost of $153.89 per square feet, according to the bi-annual Global
Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey of US-based CBRE.
73) Sabarmati Ashram, which served as epicenter
of the country’s freedom struggle during Mahatma Gandhi’s stay there, completed
100 years on 17 June 2017. Mahatma Gandhi lived in the ashram, situated on the
banks of Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad along with his wife Kasturba from 1917
and 1930. It came into existence on 17 June 1917, exactly 100 years ago.
– It was from his base here that
Mahatma Gandhi led the famous ‘Dandi March’ (also known as the Salt Satyagraha)
on 12 March 1930. It is worth mentioning that Gandhiji had initially
established his ashram at the Kocharab Bungalow of Jivanlal Desai, a barrister
and friend of Gandhi, on 25 May 1915. But seeking to carry out many other
activities like animal husbandry and farming, the ashram was located to a
larger area near Sabarmati River.
74) From 16 June 2017 the new system of
daily revision of petrol and diesel prices was introduced in India. Till now
these prices were revised on 1st and 16th of every month
Under the new revision system, even the
smallest change in international oil prices can be passed down to consumers.
Daily price revision follows a successful experiment in five cities –
Chandigarh, Jamshedpur, Puducherry, Udaipur and Vizag – where daily price change
started from 1 May 2017.
– Till now, three PSU oil marketing
companies – Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum – revised the
prices on the 1st and 16th of every month based on average international crude oil
and foreign exchange rates.
– From now on, the prices will be
revised every morning at 6 am. According to the Union Government, apart from
reducing volatility, the shift to daily price revisions will ensure that there
is no sudden increase or decrease in domestic selling prices.
75) Helmut Kohl was at the Germany’s
helm from 1982 to 1998 – first for West Germany (1982-90) and then all of a
united Germany (1990-98).
– Less than a year after the November
1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, he spearheaded the end of Germany’s decades-long
division into East and West, ushering in a new era in European politics. He
played pivotal role in uniting East and West Germany and thus not just
strengthening Germany but all of Europe. This event was known as Reunification
of Germany because the original unification of Germany took place in 1871, led
by Otto von Bismark.
76) Pakistan won the 2017 ICC Champions
Trophy title as it humiliated India by 180 runs in the finals played at the
Oval. The margin of victory was the largest by any team in the final of an ICC
ODI tournament.
77) The iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in
Mumbai obtained a trademark on 19 June, making it the first ever building in
India to be trademarked. The trademark was obtained by Indian Hotels Company
(IHCL), which runs the Taj Mahal Palace. This hotel building has been a
defining structure of Mumbai’s skyline.
– It thus joined
the elite and small club of trademarked properties in the world which includes
the Empire State Building in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Sydney
Opera House.
– With IHCL
trademarking the building, nobody can now use Taj Mahal Palace’s images for
commercial purposes without paying the company a licensing fee.
– The Taj Mahal
Palace was built in 1903 by former IHCL chairman Cyrus Mistry’s family firm
Shapoorji Pallonji & Company. During World War I it was converted into a
hospital. The hotel was one of the primary targets of 2008 Mumbai terrorist
attacks.
78) US defence
giant Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) on 19 June 2017
signed an agreement for joint production of the F-16 Block 70 fighter jet in
India. This agreement could be aimed at bidding for the $12-billion fighter jet
deal which the Ministry of Defence has undertaken.
79) Indian
Navy’s first indigenously built Floating Dock (FDN-2) has been developed by
Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T). It was launched at L&T’s shipyard in
Kattupalli (Tamil Nadu)
The Navy already
has one Floating Dock (FDN-1); this would be its second such facility.
80) Saudi
Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and country’s Defence Minister
was promoted as the new Crown Prince, replacing his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef
in a sudden announcement on 21 June 2017. The decision by King Salman thus
confirmed that the King’s 31-year-old son will be the next ruler of the
kingdom.
81) The world’s
lightest and smallest satellite “KalamSat”, weighing just 64 grams, was
successfully launched by US space agency NASA. A sounding rocket of NASA
carried this satellite from Wallops Island, a NASA facility.
– This
nano-satellite has been made by an Indian teen Rifath Sharook, 12th-grade
student from Tamil Nadu’s Pallapatti town. Sharook developed the satellite as
part of a contest “Cubes in Space”, organised by US space agency, NASA and
idoodlelearning Inc., a global education company.
This satellite
has been made of reinforced carbon fibre polyme and which is lighter than a
smartphone. The main role of the satellite will be to demonstrate the
performance of 3D-printed carbon fibre.
82) Marking the
second anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, Union Urban
Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu announced addition of thirty more cities
in the list of cities under its Smart City Mission. With this the total number of
smart cities has reached 90.
– Among the
selected cities, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala topped the challenge to be
included in this list. The other cities selected are Naya Raipur in
Chhattisgarh, Rajkot in Gujarat, Amravati in Andhra Pradesh, Patna in Bihar,
Karimnagar in Telangana, Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Puducherry, Gandhinagar in
Gujarat, Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, Karnal in
Haryana, Satna in Madhya Pradesh, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Shimla in Himachal
Pradesh, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, Pimpri Chinchwad in
Maharashtra, Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu in
J&K, Dahod in Gujarat, Tirunelveli, Thootukkudi and Tiruchirapalli in Tamil
Nadu, Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, Aizawl in Mizoram, Allahabad and Aligarh in U.P.
and Gangtok in Sikkim.
– It is worth
mentioning that 100 cities were supposed to be selected for the Smart Cities
Mission in total.
83) Afghanistan
and Ireland were approved as Full Members by the ICC, meaning they have become
cricket’s 11th and 12th Test-playing nations. This decision was taken by the
ICC Board in a meeting held London
– Australia,
England, South Africa, West Indies, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka,
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are the other countries accorded the status of
Test-playing nations. Bangladesh was the last country to get this status (in
2000).
84) Bihar
Governor Ram Nath Kovind has resigned from his gubernatorial post. The
resignation follows his nomination as the ruling NDA’s presidential candidate.
President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Kovind as the
Governor of Bihar.
West Bengal
Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will discharge the functions of the Governor of
Bihar, in addition to his own duties.
85) The World
Refugee Day is observed across the world on 20 June to commemorate the
strength, courage, and perseverance of millions of refugees. The day is
celebrated by United Nations.
86) Indian Mars
Orbiter Mission (MOM) also called Mangalyaan completes 1000 Earth days in its
orbit on 19th June 2017. The interplanetary mission of ISRO was launched on 5th
November 2013.
It was inserted
into Martian orbit on 24th September 2014 in its first attempt.
The Operator of the MOM is Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)
PSLV-C25 launched Mars Orbiter Mission
Spacecraft from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR,
Sriharikota.
ISRO was founded in 1969.
A S Kiran Kumar is the present chairman of
ISRO.
87) India has
become the 71st country to ratify the United Nations International Convention
on Road Transports, TIR. The Convention is a multilateral treaty to boost
International Transport of Goods. TIR is managed and developed by IRU - the
world road transport organization.
The TIR
Convention is part of India's multi-modal transport strategy that aims to
integrate the economy with global and regional production networks through
better connectivity. TIR will help India to integrate with Myanmar and Thailand
as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
88) The father
of India's nuclear fusion reactor research program, Padma Shri Prof Predhiman
Krishan Kaw, passed away.
He was the
founder director of Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar.
89) Ramamani
Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune has been selected as the first recipient
of the Prime Minister’s Award for outstanding contribution to promotion and
development of Yoga. The Institute has worked to spread Yoga, internationally,
over a period of four decades.
The institution
of the award was announced by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Second
International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh in 2016.
90) The Punjab
Government has announced free education for girls in government schools and
colleges from Nursery to Ph.D. This is the major step towards women empowerment
by Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh.
Reservation for
women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies has already been
increased by the government from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.
91) UNICEF
appoints Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan as Goodwill Ambassador
92) Justice
Dalveer Bhandari has been nominated by India as its candidate for another
nine-year term as judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the
principal judicial organ of the UN.
93) Anil Kumble,
the former Indian Captain, resigned from the post of Head Coach of the Indian
Cricket team. His resignation came before the limited-overs tour of the West
Indies team.
94) Indore-
India’s first city to use robot to control unruly traffic
95) Qatar
Airways was announced the World’s Best Airline at the SKYTRAX 2017 World
Airline Awards. Qatar Airways was voted Best Airline by travelers across the
world in the annual passenger survey.
The world's Top
5 airlines are-
Qatar Airways,
Singapore Airlines,
ANA All Nippon Airways,
Emirates,
Cathay Pacific.
96) China has
unveiled the world's first train that operates on a virtual track using sensor
technology instead of metal rails. The new trains are battery powered and are
nonpolluting.
The train's top
speed is 70 kilometers per hour, and it can travel 25 kilometers in distance
after just 10 minutes of charging. The train will be ready to roll out to the
public by 2018.
97) Indian Space
Research Organisation's (ISRO) workhorse rocket PSLV C-38 blasted off from the
spaceport of Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh carrying the Cartosat-2 series
satellite - a dedicated satellite for the defense forces - along with 30
co-passenger satellites.
The 30 satellites will together weigh 243
kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites, including Cartosat, is about
955 kg.
The rocket will sling the satellites into a
505 km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO).
The co-passenger satellites comprise 29
nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech
Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia,
and the US as well as one Indian nanosatellite.
PSLV-C38 was launched from the First Launch
Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
According to ISRO, the images sent by
Cartosat satellite would be useful for cartographic, urban, rural, coastal land
use, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution,
creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and
man-made features.
98) Under the
Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana have
declared themselves as the 4th and 5th Open Defecation Free (ODF) States of
India, respectively.
The two states
joined the league of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala, which were the first
three states to be declared ODF.
99) Bengaluru
has become the country's first city where one can have fuel delivered at one's
doorstep, just like milk and newspapers, only weeks after oil ministry
announced that the Centre was thinking of rolling out such a system.
Mypetrolpump, a
one-year-old startup, conducted a soft launch with three delivery vehicles
-each with a capacity of 950 liters. Above 100 liters, one needs to pay the
diesel price plus one additional rupee per liter.
100) The
Department of Science and Technology (DST) under Ministry of Science and
Technology has launched the Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty (VAJRA)
scheme in a bid to bring together the Indian scientists abroad and India-based
researchers for conducting joint researches in India.
101) The Reserve
Bank of India reconstituted the Oversight Committee by appointing three more
members. The high-level panel was formed to examine the process to resolve
mounting bad loans in the banking sector. According to the RBI former chief
vigilance commissioner, Pradeep Kumar will head the now reconstituted 5-member
panel.
Besides Kumar,
the other members of the committee are former SBI Chairman Janki Ballabh,
former Canara Bank Chairman and MD MBN Rao, former Chairman of L&T Finance
YM Deosthalee and S Raman, member SEBI. Raman would be inducted into the panel
from September 7, 2017 after he completes the term at SEBI. The expansion
follows promulgation of the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 last
month.
102) The state
government approved 53 urban projects with a total investment of Rs 538 crore
under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The
scheme, launched in nine urban places in the state since 2015-16 fiscal, has
aimed at strengthening drinking water distribution network, development of
sewerage system, storm water management, up-gradation of city transport system
and development of amusement parks.
Bhubaneswar,
Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Baripada are
the nine places where the scheme is being implemented with fund sharing patter
of 50:50 between the Centre and state government.
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT)
Launched on 24 June 2015
Main Objective: Providing basic services
(e.g. water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and build
amenities in cities which will improve the quality of life for all, especially the
poor and the disadvantaged.
103) Employees
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has signed an MoU with the Housing and Urban
Development Corporation (HUDCO) to enable members of its housing scheme to
avail subsidy and interest subvention under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
(PMAY).
104) The West
Bengal Government's Kanyashree Prakalpa was awarded the first prize in United
Nations Public Service Award for Asia Pacific. Out of 552 initiatives from 62
different countries, West Bengal Government's initiative was chosen the best.
The award was
presented at The Hague, Netherlands. Kanyashree Prakalpa is a targeted
conditional cash transfer scheme aimed at retaining girls in schools and other
educational and skill development institutions and preventing child marriage.
105) International
Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking: 26 June
The theme for
2017 is- "Listen First - Listening to children and youth is the first step
to help them grow healthy and safe."
106) Manushi
Chhillar from Haryana wins the title of 54th Miss India 2017
107) The USA
designated Pakistan-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a
specially designated global terrorist.
The move by the
US state department came before the first meeting between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at the White House.
108) Jammu and
Kashmir Governor N N Vohra has been appointed the president of the India
International Centre (IIC) - one of the premier cultural institutions in the
country.
109) Ex-ISRO
Chief and Padma Vibhushan awardee Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan has been appointed
the Chairman of the committee to prepare the final draft of the National
Education Policy.
The Chairperson
apart, the committee has eight members. The first NPE was promulgated in 1968
by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the second by Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986.
110) Desh Bandhu
Gupta, founder and chairman of Indian pharma major Lupin Limited, died on at
Mumbai
111) 5th
Passport Service Day was observed on 24 June
112) British
Prime Minister Theresa May secured majority in the Parliament by striking a
deal with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Northern Ireland-based party? –
113) Delhi’s
second airport will be set up at Jewar (Greater Noida)
114) Sharjah, a
city in the United Arab Emirates was named 'World Book Capital for the year'
2019 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
Sharjah thus
became the 19th city to become World Book Capital. It was preceded by Madrid
(2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005),
Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010),
Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014),
Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016), Conakry (2017) and Athens (2018)
115) India’s
first blood bank for Cattle to come up in Odisha
116) Former
chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu has taken over as president of the
International Economic Association (IEA). Basu's three-year term started
117) The Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the formation of a special
seven-member committee to identify the ‘few critical points’ for the general
body of the cricket board to consider before they are submitted to the Supreme
Court.
118) The
National Statistics Day, celebrated every year on June 29 to mark the birth
anniversary of renowned statistician Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis.
He was the first
Indian statistician to receive world recognition. In 1933, he had founded the
first Indian statistical journal Sankhya.
119) The
Minister of State for Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and
Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh launched a new training program 'Comprehensive Online
Modified Modules on Induction Training' (COMMIT) for State Government
officials.
120) India has
contributed $100,000 to a UN fund to help developing countries actively
participate in the discussion of tax issues, becoming the first country to make
the contribution. The UN Tax Trust Fund aims to support the work of the
Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.
121) Petroleum
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced a new oil and gas block licensing policy
that is expected to open up 2.8 million square kilometers of sedimentary basins
to exploration and production activities.
122) GSAT-17 is
the name of India’s latest communication satellite that was launched into a
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on 28 June 2017. With a lift-off mass of
about 3,477 kg this satellite carries payloads in Normal C- band, Extended
C-band and S-band to provide various communication services.
– GSAT-17 is
expected to strengthen ISRO’s current fleet of 17 telecommunications
satellites. It also carries equipment for meteorological data relay and
satellite based search and rescue services being provided by earlier INSAT
satellites.
– It was
launched into the space through European launcher Arianespace Flight VA238 from
Ariane Launch Complex No 3 (ELA 3) at Kourou, a French territory located in
northeastern coast of South America.
123) World’s
first ATM (situated in Enfield in north London) completed 50 years It belongs
to Barclays Bank British bank? –
The brainchild
of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron, the first ATM (automated teller machine)
was opened on 27 June 1967 at a branch of Barclays bank in Enfield, north
London. It was the first of six cash dispensers commissioned by the bank.
– Actor Reg
Varney, who starred in the British comedy show ‘On The Buses’, was the first to
withdraw cash from the machine. This ATM heralded a transformation in the way
people obtained and used cash. There are now an estimated three million cash
machines across the globe, with some 70,000 cash machines in the UK alone,
which dispensed nearly $200 billion in 2016.
124) European
Commission slapped a record $2.7 billion (€ 2.42-billion) fine on Google for
illegally favouring its online shopping service. With this Alphabet Inc.’s Google
lost its biggest regulatory battle yet.
– Google was
charged with skewing results in its favour to thwart smaller shopping search
services and more importantly denying European consumers a genuine choice of
services.
125) India’s
largest container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and at Gujarat
Pipavav Port. Attacks by GoldenEye and Petya
126) During June
2017 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) started printing of currency notes of Rs.
200 denomination. With this, India’s re-monetisation exercise appears to be
entering its final lap.
127) Odisha is the first State in India to have developed an
automatic public address system that can be activated along its entire coast.
The State
government is all set to commission the ambitious Early Warning Dissemination
System (EWDS) that would enable loud sirens go off simultaneously from towers
at 122 locations by July 2017.
Odisha can now
warn the vast population residing along its 480 km-long coast by pressing a
single button from a control room in the State capital in the event of the
occurrence of natural disasters like a tsunami or a cyclone.
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