Current Affairs 13th June 2018

National News

1. 10 New Swachh Iconic Places Launched Under Swachh Bharat Mission 

i. Ten new iconic sites have been taken up under Phase III of the flagship project Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The project envisioned by the Prime Minister is being coordinated by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation with the support of State governments and local administration.

ii. The consultation is in process for finalising the PSUs/corporates for extending support to new sites as CSR partners. These new sites have joined the 20 iconic places under Phase I & II.

10 New Iconic Sites are as follows: 

1. Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh);

2. Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal);

3. Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana);

4. VidurKuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh);

5. Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand);

6. Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K);

7. Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh);

8. ImaKeithal/market (Imphal, Manipur);

9. Sabarimala Temple (Kerala); and 

10. Kanvashram (Uttarakhand).

2. Govt Approves 33% Increase In Carpet Area Of Houses Under PMAY-U

i. The government has approved a 33% increase in carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under its affordable housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) to attract more beneficiaries.
ii. The carpet area of a house has been enhanced to 160 sq m from 120 sq m for Middle Income Group-I (MIG-I), while it has been increased to 200 sq m from 150 sq m in case of MIG-II. Under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), each beneficiary can avail subsidy up to Rs 2.35 lakh on purchase of a house under the scheme.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Housing For All (Urban) will be implemented during 2015-2022 and will provide central assistance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

·                     Hardeep Singh Puri is the Minister of State (I/C) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

3. India’s 1st National Police Museum To Come Up In Delhi

i. The Union Government has announced to establish India’s first national police museum in Lutyens' Delhi. The museum is expected to be inaugurated on 21st October 2018 on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day.
ii. The unique museum, depicting the history, artefacts, uniforms and gear of central and state police forces, will come up as an underground facility in the premises of the national police memorial in Chanakyapuri area. 

4. SEBI Constitutes Expert Committee to Frame Rules for Direct Listing of Indian firms Abroad

i. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) constituted an Expert Committee to frame rules for direct listing of Indian firms abroad.
ii. The committee will examine the economic case for permitting direct listing of Indian companies overseas and listing of Indian companies on foreign bourses in India. The committee includes nine members.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO Exam 2018-

·                     SEBI- Securities and Exchange Board of India.

·                     SEBI Chairman- Ajay Tyagi, Headquarters- Mumbai.

5. Union Steel Minister Dedicates to Nation Rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 of Rourkela Steel Plant

Chaudhary Birender 

i. The Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh dedicated the rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 ‘Parvati’ of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to the Nation. Parvati is the first Blast Furnace of SAIL that was dedicated to the nation on 3rd February 1959 by the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

ii. With the rebuilding, the annual production capacity, of the furnace has increased from 0.438 Million tonnes (MT) to 1.015 MT. 

6. Bihar CM Inaugurates, Lays Foundation Stones For Schemes Worth Rs 875 crore

i. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated and laid foundation stones for more than 100 schemes, worth Rs 875 crore, of the state bridge construction corporation.
ii. At a function organised on the occasion of the 43rd establishment day of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd, 122 schemes were inaugurated or their foundation stones laid down by the chief minister.

7. India to Host 1st BIMSTEC Military Exercise

i. India will host first military exercise of the BIMSTEC Countries in September 2018 in Pune, Maharashtra. The theme of the exercise includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search.
ii. The main aim of this military exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism. Each participating member country will bring in some 30 soldiers.
iii. BIMSTEC countries had held disaster management exercise in 2017 in New Delhi, but this will be the first military exercise of the grouping.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

·                     Member countries: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.

8. India Gives 99 million Nepalese rupees For Final Phase of Nepal-Bharat Maitri Irrigation Project

i. India extended a financial aid of Rs 99 million to Nepal for the construction of 2,700 shallow tube well irrigation systems in 12 districts of the country's southern Terai region to boost agricultural productivity.
ii. The assistance has been extended as part of the final payment for the Nepal-Bharat Maitri Irrigation Project, which was launched in January 2017. With this aid, Indian has so far released a total of 227.6 million Nepalese rupees to Kathmandu for implementing the project.

9. KVIC Distributes 2330 Bee-Boxes in Kashmir, Creates World Record

i. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has created a world record of distributing the maximum number of bee-boxes in one day. This was achieved by the KVIC in the Zangalee Army area at Kupwara in Kashmir.

ii. It had beaten its previous best of 1000 bee boxes distributed in Kaziranga forest area among the Mishing tribe on the occasion of World Honey Bee Day (18 August). Two thousand three hundred thirty(2330) bee-boxes were distributed among 233 beneficiaries in the Zangalee Army area.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     Jammu and Kashmir CM- Mehbooba Mufti, Governor- N N Vohra. 

·                     Vinai Kumar Saxena is the Chairman of KVIC.

International News

10. International Conference On ICT To Be Held in Kathmandu

i. An International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be held in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal from June 17. The Theme of the two-day conference is “Sustainable Development Goals for Smart Society”. The conference is organised by the Federation of Computer Association Nepal (CAN).
ii.  The conference aims to bring government and private sector together for developing a plan of action using sustainable ICT applications. It also seeks to unleash the prospects of SMART Nepal by 2030.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Bank of Baroda PO Exam 2018-

·                     Nepal Capital- Kathmandu, Currency- Nepalese rupee, President- Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister- Khadga Prasad Oli.

11. President Kovind To Embark on 3-Nation Visit to Greece, Suriname And Cuba

i. President Ram Nath Kovind will embark on a three-nation tour to Greece, Suriname and Cuba. On the first leg of the visit, the President will leave for Athens. President Kovind will leave for Suriname on the 2nd leg and then to Cuba of the final leg.
ii. Suriname is a founding member of the International Solar Alliance. A Line of Credit of 54.5 million dollars is being offered to Suriname for solar-related projects. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI Clerk/PO Exam 2018-

·                     Greece Capital- Athens, Currency- Euro, President- Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

·                     Suriname Capital- Paramaribo, Currency- Surinamese dollar, President- Desire Delano Bouterse.

·                     Cuba Capital- Havana, Currency- Cuban Peso, President-Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez. 

12. Mauritius To Host 11th World Hindi Conference

i. The 11th World Hindi Conference will be held in Mauritius in August 2018 with an aim to increase the popularity of Hindi globally. The Union External Affairs Ministry has already undertaken the work on the international meet.
ii. The main theme of the Conference is ‘Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti’. The World Hindi Secretariat (WHS) will be the organising authority of the event.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     The World Hindi Conference was conceptualised in Wardha of Maharashtra in 1973 and the first conference was held in Nagpur in 1975.

·                     Mauritius Capital- Port Louis, Currency- Mauritian rupee.

Ranks And Reports

13. Mobile Banking Rank by SBI’s Annual Report: Paytm Tops By Volume and Axis Bank Tops By Value

i. At 17.2%, Axis Bank commands the largest value share of mobile banking transactions but it’s Paytm that tops volumes with 22%. However, Paytm’s value share is a meagre 0.25%, according to State Bank of India’s (SBI) annual report for 2017-18 which has put out Reserve Bank of India’s data for January 2018.

ii. ICICI Bank has a 17.1% share of transactions by value and 9.7% by volume. SBI’s volume share has slipped by over 5 percentage points from nearly 25% at the end of March 2017 to 19.5% in January 2018.

14. Global Environment Performance Index 2018: India Ranks 177, Switzerland Tops

i. India stands 177th at the bottom of the Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings. In 2016, the country had ranked 141 out of 180 countries.
ii. In 2018, according to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2018 in Figures, it has slipped to the 177th position. India scored 5.75 out of 100 in air quality. The Top 3 countries on the list are:

1. Switzerland, 

2. France, and 

3. Denmark.

Banking

15. RBI Releases Draft Guidelines To Modify Loan System For Large Borrowers

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the draft guidelines to modify the loan system for delivery of bank credit, making the rules stricter to regulate larger borrowers enjoying working capital facility from the banking system.
ii. The draft specifies a minimum level of loan component in fund based working capital finance and a mandatory Credit Conversion Factor (CCF) for the undrawn portion of cash credit availed of by large borrowers.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     Urjit Patel- 24th Governor of RBI, Headquarters- Mumbai, Established on- 1st April 1935, in Kolkata.

Appointments

16. Arvind Saxena Appointed As Acting UPSC Chairman

i. Arvind Saxena has been appointed to serve as the acting Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Mr Saxena will perform the duties of the post of Chairman, UPSC with effect from June 20 till further orders or till completion of his tenure on August 7, 2020.
ii. Saxena would be succeeding incumbent Vinay Mittal. Arvind Saxena is a 1978-batch Indian Postal Service officer.

Sports News

17. Virat Kohli Receives Polly Umrigar Trophy At Annual BCCI Awards

i. Indian captain Virat Kohli has received the prestigious Polly Umrigar Trophy (Cricketer of the Year) award for two consecutive seasons (2016-17 and 2017-18) at the BCCI Annual Awards function. 
ii. Anshuman Gaekwad and Sudha Shah received the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award. Jalaj Saxena and Parvez Rasool were adjudged ‘Best All Rounders' in Ranji Trophy while Krunal Pandya was rewarded for his performance in the Hazare one-day championship.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     BCCI President- C.K. Khanna, Headquarters- Mumbai.

18. India Bags 3 Medals at Umakhanov Memorial Boxing Tournament in Russia

i. Indian boxers bagged one Gold and two Silver medals at the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in the Russian city of Kaspiysk. Saweety Boora won the coveted yellow metal in the Women’s 75 kg category after beating Anna Anfinogenova (Russia) in the Final.
ii. In the Men’s section, Brijesh Yadav in the 81 kg division and Virender Kumar in 91 kgs lost their Final bouts to settle for Silver medals. Earlier, India had claimed four Bronze medals in the Tournament.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018-

·                     Russia Capital- Moscow, Currency- Russian ruble, President- Vladimir Putin.