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RBI Grade ‘B’ : Exclusive June 2017 GA Refresher

Banking & Economy India’s Forex Reserves reach Life Time High of $381.167 billion

• According to RBI, India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have increased by $2.404 billion to touch a

lifetime high of $381.167 billion in the week that ended on June 2.

• The increase was due to increase in foreign currency assets (FCAs).

• The components of India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves include: Foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold,

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF).

• Out of all the components, FCAs constitute the largest component of the Forex Reserves.

• FCA rose by $2.748 billion to $357.290 billion in the reporting week.

• FCAs consist of US dollar and other major non-US global currencies.

• It also comprises of investments in US Treasury bonds, bonds of other selected governments, deposits

with foreign central and commercial banks.

• The gold reserves declined by $343.2 million to $20.095 billion in the reporting week. SDRs’ value

decreased marginally by $0.2 million to $1.472 billion.

• RBI’s reserve position with the IMF declined by $0.4 million to $2.309 billion.

SEBI Clears Vikram Limaye for the post of NSE Chief

• SEBI has granted conditional approval for the appointment of Vikram Limaye as the MD and CEO of

the NSE.

• In February 2017, Limaye who is MD and CEO of infrastructure financing company IDFC was selected

for the post of NSE chief.

• Limaye’s term with the BCCI ends in August this year.

Linking of Aadhaar with PAN Mandatory

• The Supreme Court has upheld the government’s decision and ruled that it would be mandatory for all

Aadhaar holders to link it with the permanent account number (PAN) for filing of income tax returns.

• However, in a partial setback to the government, the apex court refused to make it compulsory for those

people who do not possess an Aadhaar card or have not yet applied for one.

• The Court stayed the retrospective invalidation of PAN for non-compliance till a Constitutional Bench

decides on the privacy question pending before it.

• As a result, a person who do not possess Aadhaar card will not face criminal consequences for not

linking Aadhaar card with PAN card.

• The Supreme Court also upheld the legislative competence of Parliament in enacting the law to this

effect.

• However, it has stated that it has not touched upon the issue of Right to Privacy and other

aspects which will be decided by the Constitution bench.

RBI Keeps the Repo Rate Unchanged

• The Reserve Bank of India has kept repo rate unchanged at 6.25% in its second bi-monthly monetary

policy review. Reverse Repo rate has been kept unchanged at 6%.

• The RBI has cut the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 50 basis points to 20% from the fortnight

commencing June 24, 2017.

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• RBI has projected the headline inflation in the range of 2.0-3.5% in the first half of 2017-18 and 3.5-

4.5% in the second half.

• According to the central bank, the implementation of GST is not expected to have material impact on

overall inflation.

• It has observed that the 7th Pay Commission allowances, geo political, financial risk pose upside risk to

inflation.

• RBI has reduced the growth projection for the current fiscal to 7.3% from 7.4%. The monetary policy

decision has been taken by the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC).

• The RBI has also revised its target for gross value added (GVA) by 10 basis points to 7.3%.

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Aadhar Housing Fin merger with DHFL Vysya gets regulator nod

• The proposed merger between Aadhar Housing Finance and DHFL Vysya Housing Finance has hit the

final lap with it getting a nod from housing finance regulator National Housing Bank.

• Aadhar Housing's chief executive officer Deo Shankar Tripathi said that it had applied to National

Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the next stage approval.

• Both the companies are owned by Wadhawan family promoted Wadhawan Global Capital.

• The merged entity is proposed to be named Aadhar Housing Finance, subject to NCLT's approval.

NITI Aayog launches SATH Program

• NITI Aayog has launched SATH-‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital’ with the State

Governments for furthering the agenda of cooperative federalism.

• NITI Aayog under the SATH initiative plans to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for

health systems.

• After identification of three states, NITI Aayog will work in close collaboration with the state machinery

of these three states.

• It will help in designing a robust roadmap, develop a program governance structure, establish

monitoring and tracking mechanisms, and provide support to the state institutions to achieve the end

objectives.

• SATH program will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with McKinsey & Company and IPE Global

consortium.

• NITI Aayog is essentially an advisory body that seeks to provide critical directional and strategic inputs

across spectrum of key elements of policy to the centre as well as states.

• The Government of India has established NitiAyog as a “Think Tank” which has no power to impose

policies.

• By establishing NitiAyog the government wants to be an “enabler” and leaves the impetus to provide a

platform for cooperative and competitive federalism to the newly established body.

Vijaya Bank set to develop 100 digital villages

• Vijaya Bank is going to develop as many as 100 digital villages in various States of the country as part

of its initiative to promote digital banking among the rural population.

• Vijaya Bank is the only public sector financial institution to develop digital villages with focus on rural

areas and it has already developed five villages including the one in Guntur district.

SEBI Constitutes Committee on Corporate Governance

• Market Regulator SEBI has formed a Committee on Corporate Governance under the chairmanship of

Uday Kotak, the executive vice chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

• The move is aimed at improving the standards of corporate governance of listed companies.



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• The panel which is headed by Uday Kotak will also include representatives of Corporate India, stock

exchanges, professional bodies, investor groups, chambers of commerce, law firms, academicians and

research professionals and SEBI.

The panel has been mandated to submit the report within a period of four months.

SEBI Approves Airtel and Telenor Merger

• Bharti Airtel has stated that it has got approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board of India

(SEBI), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) for the proposed

scheme of merger with Telenor (India) Communications Private Ltd.

• Bharti Airtel now has filed the joint company application before the New Delhi Bench of the National

Company Law Tribunal for approval.

• The merger will transfer all of Telenor India’s assets and customers and thus augmenting Airtel’s overall

customer base and network.

The merger will further bolster Airtel’s strong spectrum foot-print in seven circles including Andhra

Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

National News India moves WTO against US

• India has moved the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the US as it has not yet complied with

the rulings of the WTO pertaining to imposition of high import duty on certain Indian steel products.

• In December 2014, the WTO’s appellate body pronounced a ruling against the act of US which is

imposing high import duty on certain Indian steel products.

• It had ruled that the imposition of import duty on steel products was inconsistent with various provisions

of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

President launches ‘Selfie with Daughter’ Mobile App

• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has launched a mobile Application ‘Selfie with Daughter’ at

RashtrapatiBhavan.

• The App is aimed at raising awareness among people about female foeticide and sex selection.

• The President has urged the people to take selfies with their daughters to make the campaign a huge

success.

• The app is expected to create awareness and help in dealing with the problems arising out of gender

imbalance.

• The President has termed the App as an innovative concept and as an act of gentle persuasion.

• The ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign was started in village Bibipur, Jind, Haryana by a former

Sarpanch Sunil Jaglan in June 2015.

• The aim of the ‘Selfie with Daughter’campaign is to motivate society to feel proud to be parents of a girl

child which in turn is expected to have a positive impact in improving the child sex ratio.

• The campaign has attracted many celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar who has joined the campaign

on social media.

The campaign was termed as an international movement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time

of his meeting with Silicon Valley CEOs in the US.

India and UNOSSC launch Partnership Fund to Promote Sustainable Development




• India and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation have launched a partnership fund to

promote sustainable development projects across the developing world.

• The India-UN Development Partnership Fund was launched on occasion of the World Oceans Day at a

special ceremony held at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

• The India-UN Development Partnership Fund will be utilized to carry out country-level projects that

would be catalytic towards achieving the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.

• The Partnership fund would be managed by UNOSSC.

• This will be the first time that India has entered into a partnership with the UN in a triangular

cooperation with fellow developing countries.

• The establishment of the fund is aimed at reducing poverty and hunger, improving health, education and

equality, and expanding access to clean water, energy and livelihoods.

• As a first project, ‘Climate Early Warning System in Pacific Island Countries’ will be supported from

the new partnership.

• The project has been formulated by India and the United Nations Development Programme in

consultation with the Governments of seven Pacific island countries (Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall

Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Tonga).

• This project aims at enhancing resilience to natural disasters in these Pacific island countries.

Habibganj Railway Station to become India’s First Private Railway Station

• Habibganj railway station in the suburbs of Bhopal, M.P. will become country’s first railway station to

be redeveloped in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

• On June 9, station redevelopment work in the railway station will be launched by Railway Minister

Suresh Prabhu.

• The idea is to develop Habibganj railway station as a world-class transit hub equipped with all

amenities.

• The operation and maintenance of the railway station has been given to Bhopal-based Bansal Group for

a period of eight years.

The group has managed to win the bid in 2016.

India Loses its Fast Growing Economy Tag to China

• As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics, India registered 7.1% growth in the financial year

2016-17, which is slower than the 8% registered in 2015-16.

• In the fourth quarter of 2016-17, India registered a growth of GDP growth of 6.1% compared with

China’s 6.9% in the same period.

• Hence, it has lost its fastest-growing major economy tag in the fourth quarter of 2016-17.

• A decline is also visible in the Gross value added (GVA) growth.

• It was 6.6% for 2016-17 and 5.6% in the Q4 of 2016-17, compared with 7.9% in 2015-16 and 8.7% in

Q4 of that year.

• The GDP growth rate has registered a slightly higher growth because of proportionate increase in

indirect tax net of subsidies.

While GDP gives a picture of whole economy, GVA gives pictures at enterprises, government and

households levels.

Only 4 Indians Feature in ESPN World Fame 100 list

• India captain ViratKohli, former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and left-handed batsmen, Yuvraj Singh

and Suresh Raina are the only Indians who featured in ESPN’s ranking of the 100 most famous active

athletes in the world.

• In the list, Viratkohli has been placed in the 13th spot, Dhoni in the 15th spot and Yuvrai and Raina in

the 90th and 95th places respectively.




• The first place in the list was occupied by Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo followed by Lebron

James, soccer star Lionel Messi, tennis star Roger Federer, Phil Mickelson, Neymar, Usain Bolt, Kevin

Durant, Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods in that order.

Sachin to become part of the UN Campaign Highlighting Role of Father’s in Child’s Development

• Sachin Tendulkar will join other global celebrities like Dravid, Beckham, Novak Djokovic, Academy

Award winning American actor Mahershala Ali, British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton and

Australian actor Hugh Jackman for UNICEF’s ‘Super Dads’ campaign that highlights the critical role

played by fathers in children’s early development.

• The initiative is aimed at celebrating fatherhood and highlights the importance of love, play, protection

and good nutrition for the healthy development of the brains of the young children.

The ‘Super Dads’ initiative is a part of UNICEF’s #EarlyMomentsMatter campaign that aims to increase

understanding of how a child’s environments and experiences in early childhood can shape their future

health, well-being, ability to learn etc.

STATE News Govt awards Contracts for completion of Kaladan project in Myanmar

• Govt has awarded a Rs 1,600-crore contract for constructing 109-km road connecting Paletwa river

terminal to Zorinpui in Mizoram border as a part of the $484-million Kaladan multi-modal transport

(KMTT) projects in Myanmar which will offer connectivity to Mizoram.

• A Kaladan multi-modal transport project was the first major project undertaken by the Indian

government in Myanmar.

• India has finished constructing Sittwe port in the trouble-prone Rakhine state of Myanmar.

• Also, the extension of the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at

Zorinpui at the Indian side is nearing completion.

• In addition, four-laning of the 300 km Aizawl-Tuipang highway to ensure faster movement of goods

between Sittwe and Aizawl is also nearing completion.

• KMTT is essentially a multi-modal transport project having three different stretches involving shipping,

Inland Water and road transport stretches.

• The longest among them is shipping segment from Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar.

National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre Inaugurated

• Health Secretary C K Mishra has inaugurated the ‘Vatsalya – MaatriAmritKosh’, a National Human

Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) in New

Delhi.

• This centre would be the largest public sector human milk bank and lactation counselling centre

available in North India.

• “Vatsalya – MaatriAmritKosh” has been established in collaboration with the Norwegian government,

Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).

• It will collect, pasteurize, test and safely store milk donated by lactating mothers and make it available

for infants in need.

• With the establishment of this donor human milk bank, all newborns in and around Delhi will have

access to life saving human milk irrespective of the circumstances of their birth.




• The centre will protect, promote and support breastfeeding by providing lactation support to mothers

with the help of dedicated lactation counsellors.

• In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also launched Mothers Absolute Affection

(MAA) programme to create awareness regarding breastfeeding among mothers for enhancing the

child’s immunity.

UP Board to have NCERT Books from Next Academic Year

• The Uttar Pradesh state govt has planned to replace textbooks meant for Uttar Pradesh Secondary

Education Board with the ones published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training

(NCERT) with an aim to bring the curriculum of UP Board at par with the CBSE.

• The decision to introduce NCERT books is expected to come into force with the academic year 2018-19.

• NCERT books would be made compulsory from Class IX to Class XII.

India’s first Rural LED Street Lighting Project to be implemented in Andhra Pradesh

• Government will retrofit 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7

districts in Andhra Pradesh.

• The project will be carried out by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) functioning under the

Ministry of Power.

• This project will be the first rural LED street lighting project under the Government of India’s Street

Lighting National Project (SLNP).

• In the first phase of the project, the districts of Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa,

Ananthapur and Chittoor will be covered.

• The total upfront capital cost of the project would be funded by French Development Agency or

AgenceFrançaise de Développement (AFD).

Kerala Govt implements Green Protocol for making Weddings more Nature Friendly

• Kerala State govt has come out with a green protocol to make the weddings in the state more nature-

friendly.

• As per the protocol, plastic and other non-biodegradable articles including disposable glasses and plates

and thermocol decorations will not be permitted to be used in wedding ceremonies.

• Instead of these non-biodegradable articles, the marriage parties would be persuaded to use tumblers,

plates and other utensils made of glass and environment-friendly metals.

• The protocol has been released as a part of the government’s anti-plastic drive and Green-Kerala

Mission.

• Suchitwa Mission which is the state nodal agency for sanitation, has already launched the initiative on a

pilot basis in Kannur, Ernakulam, Kollam and Alappuzha.

Vizianagaram bags MGNREGA National Award

• The Ministry of Rural Development has selected Vizianagaram as one among the 17 districts for

MGNREGA annual award.

• The award will be given to Vizianagaram for its effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act during the time period 2015-16.

• The district programme coordinator and District Collector would be presented the award at the Mahatma

Gandhi NREGA Sammelan to be held in New Delhi.

• The district was known to have generated works for 3,61,668 households in 2015-16 and disbursed

₹483.42 crore as wages to the workers with an average wage of ₹106.

• Vizianagaram is a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana Launches T-Wallet

• Telangana has launched a digital wallet named T-Wallet for people to make public and private financial

transactions.




• The service has been launched as “anytime anywhere digital payment option for everyone”.

• This is first such initiative by any state government in the country.

• The service can also be availed by those people who do not have mobile phones.

• The public who do not have smartphones can use the wallet for transactions using MeeSevacentres.

• They can go to MeeSevacentres to open T-Wallet, load money and make payments.

• To provide the service, the Telangana Government has tied up with Vijaya Bank.

• The service could be availed in three languages, namely, Telugu, Urdu and English both on mobile

phones and on online web browser.

Country’s First Automatic Coastal Warning for Disasters to come up in Odisha

• From July, Odisha will commission the ambitious Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS)

to warn the vast population residing along its 480 km-long coast in the event of the occurrence of natural

disasters like a tsunami or a cyclone.

• Andhra Pradesh is also reportedly developing such system to alert the people in case of natural

calamities.

• The warning can be disseminated just by pressing a single button from a control room in the State

capital in the event of the occurrence of natural disasters.

• It would trigger loud sirens simultaneously from towers at 122 locations including tourist destinations,

fish landing centres and coastal habitations situated across the state. The sound emanating from the

towers can be heard in localities up to a radius of 1.5 km.

• Thus, Odisha become the first state to have developed an automatic public address system that can be

activated across the state.

• The project at an estimated cost of ₹ 82 crore will be implemented with assistance from the World Bank.

The EWDS will help the people to move to safer places before government agencies commenced

evacuation.

International News

UK Elects its First Female Sikh and First Turban Wearing Sikh as MPs

• 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 Preetkaur Gill and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi are 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.

One Million Dollar Fund Established for BRICS Media

• The Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping has established a one million dollar

fund for boosting media cooperation in the five-nation grouping.




• During the inaugural session of the BRICS Media Forum held in Beijing, Xinhua News Agency and

executive president of the Forum had announced that the Xinhua news agency will invest one million

U.S. dollars for bolstering BRICS media.

• The BRICS media forum is a joint initiative of 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. BRICS Media is aimed at promoting six objectives including balanced reporting.

• It aims to create an alternative media narrative distinct from the media of western nations.

The proposal is also aimed at joint development of BRICS digital media, financial information services

and promoting people- to-people contacts.

WHO revises Protocol for Antibiotics

• With an aim to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised the

protocol for antibiotics.

• This revision is the biggest such revision of the antibiotics section in the 40-year history of the essential

medicines list (EML).

• WHO has divided the drugs into three categories — access, watch and reserve.

• It has also specified which category of drugs is to be used for treating common ailments and which are

to be used to treat complicated diseases.

As per the classification, commonly used antibiotics will be placed under the ‘access’ category. World’s First Hybrid ‘Aeroboat’ Unveiled

• The world’s first hybrid ‘aeroboat’ which has been built by an Indo-Russian joint venture has been

unveiled at a start-ups event organized by Russia’s state-run Skolkovo Foundation.

• The aeroboat is capable of travelling on land, water, snow and sand.

• It has been designed to access difficult terrain, such as flooded or marshy areas in which the regular

boats cannot ply because of shallow water, patches of dry land or by marine vegetation.

• The aeroboats can handle steep slopes and embankments without the requirement of marine

infrastructure such as jetties.

• The aeroboat will have a room for 10 passengers and one crew member.

• The aeroboat has been designed by IIAAT Holding.

• IIAAT Holding is a joint venture between the International Institute for Advanced Aerospace

Technologies and Indian firm Millennium Aerodynamics.

• Aeroboats are much faster and robust when compared to hovercrafts. Aeroboats are capable of moving

at the speed of around 150 kmph or more on water.

• Hovercrafts, on the other hand, can move at around 45-50 kmph or more.

Nepal Signs Agreement for Mega Hydroprojects with Chinese Firm

• Nepal has struck a major deal with China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) for developing a 1,200

MW Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project, which will be the biggest hydro project in Nepal having the

potential to resolve its perennial power crisis.

• The MoU was signed in the presence of outgoing Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal

‘Prachanda’ and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong.

As per the agreement, the hydro project would be built under engineering, procurement, construction

and finance (EPCF) model.

Six Arab Nations Cut Diplomatic Ties with Qatar

• Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and UAE have suspended their diplomatic ties with Qatar.

• All the six countries have announced that they would withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar and

eject Qatar’s diplomats from their territories.




• They have also planned to cut air and sea traffic. Reasons Saudi Arabia has accused Qatar for embracing

various terrorist and sectarian groups that are aimed at destabilizing the region such as the Muslim

Brotherhood, al—Qaida, the Islamic State group and other groups supported by Iran.

• Egypt has accused Qatar for supporting terrorist groups and taking an antagonist approach towards

Egypt.

UNSC Expands Sanctions against North Korea

• The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution expanding targeted sanctions against

North Korea after the latter launched its ninth ballistic missile test of the year.

• This is the first such resolution which is agreed upon by the United States and China since the US

President Donald Trump took office.

• The new resolution has slapped even more sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

(DPRK).

The new sanctions have extended a travel ban and asset freeze on senior officials, core military

apparatus as well as the state entities that are directly responsible for North Korea’s illicit nuclear and

ballistic missile programs.

Paris Climate Deal: US to Withdraw

• President Donald Trump has announced that the United States is set to withdraw from the historic 2015

Paris Accord as the accord was hurting his country and economy very badly.

• However, he has said that he is open for a “new transaction” on terms that are fair to the US.

• With the decision to pull out, the United States will join the short list of countries including Syria and

Nicaragua that are not a part of the Paris Accord which has been signed by 195 countries in 2015.

• The Paris Agreement on Climate Change came into effect in November last year.

Astana Summit: India and Pakistan to become Full members of SCO

• India and Pakistan’s admission to the China-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be

formalised at the SCO’s summit to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan.

• The Astana Summit will be held on 8-9 June.

• The summit will complete the admission procedures of these two countries.

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisaiton (SCO) granted full membership status to Pakistan and India

during its Ufa summit held in Russia in 2015. India signed the Memorandum on accession in June 2016.

• The presence of world’s two most populous countries, China and India in the grouping would make

SCO as the organisation with the largest population coverage.

• SCO is the political and security grouping headquartered in Beijing. It was founded in 2001.

The full members of the organization are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and

Kyrgyzstan.




Science & Defence Indian American among 12 new Astronauts Selected by NASA

• NASA has selected 12 new astronauts including an Indian-American, Lt Col Raja “Grinder” Chari, from

18000 applications, Lt Col Raja Grinder Chari, 39, is a commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron as

well as the director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

• He belongs to Iowa. His father is from India.

• In total, NASA has selected seven men and five women who will comprise the 22nd class of American

spaceflight trainees since 1959.

• This is the largest group of astronauts NASA has selected in almost two decades. The 12 candidates

include six military officers, three scientists, two medical doctors, a lead engineer at SpaceX and a

NASA research pilot.

• To get selected as astronauts, the candidates must meet some physical requirements as well as certain

education and experience criteria.

• They should hold a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or have up to 1,000 hours of experience in

piloting jets.

• After the completion of two years of training, the selected astronauts will be assigned various roles like

performing research on the International Space Station (ISS) and flying on deep space missions.

Hottest Known Planet in Universe

• Scientists have discovered the hottest known exoplanet, designated KELT-9b which is warmer than

most stars in the universe.

• The study has been published in the journal Nature.

• Exoplanet is a planet that does not orbit the Sun and instead orbits a different star, stellar remnant, or

brown dwarf.

• They are also called as extrasolar planet.

Indian Girl SahithiPingali to get Planet Named after Her

• SahithiPingali, 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.

• She 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.

India’s biodiversity riches increases by 499 species

• According to the Animal Discoveries 2016, New Species and Records, brought out by the Zoological

Survey of India and Plant Discoveries 2016, by the Botanical Survey of India, 499 new species have

been discovered from various parts of the country last year.

• Of the new discoveries, 258 are invertebrates and 55 are vertebrates.

• As per Plant Discoveries 2016, 186 new species of plants have been discovered including seven new

genera, four subspecies and nine new varieties taking the total number of species to 206.

• The publication lists 113 new records from India.

• The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was launched in 1916.

• It is India’s apex organization on animal taxonomy.




Soon Women to get Combat Role in Indian Army

• The Indian Army is expected to soon open up combat positions for women.

• This has been stated by Army Chief Gen. BipinRawat.

• The Indian Army has taken up this issue with the government.

• At present, women are employed in select areas such as medical, legal, educational, signals and

engineering wings of the Army but are not offered combat roles due to operational concerns and

logistical issues.

• As of now, only a few countries such as Germany, Australia, Canada, the U.S., Britain, Denmark,

Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and Israel have allowed women in combat roles.

NASA to launch Sounding Rocket to release Radiant Artificial Clouds

• NASA will launch the Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket into the space that will release blue-

green and red artificial clouds.

• The launch is expected to support space studies.

• The ground stations will require clear skies to clearly view blue-green and red artificial clouds that will

be produced as part of the test.

• These artificial clouds will be visible from New York to North Carolina.

• The rocket will eject vapour canisters from 10 to 20 km from the rocket’s main payload.

• These canisters will release the vapour after launch. Ground cameras will be stationed to view the

vapour tracers.

• The vapour tracers will be formed due to the interaction of barium, strontium and cupric-oxide.

• The multi-canister or ampule ejection system will facilitate the scientists to gather information over a

much larger area.

The significance of the launch lies in the fact that the vapour traces can be helpful in studying the

ionosphere.

NASA is all Set to Launch First Ever Mission to Study Neutron Stars

• NASA is all set to launch the world’s first ever mission devoted for studying neutron stars.

• NASA will launch the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

• The NICER will be installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as an external attached

payload.

• The mission will focus especially on Pulsars.

• During the mission, NASA will also carry out the world’s first demonstration of X-ray navigation in

space.

• NICER will perform tests for the first time in a space technology that relies on pulsars as navigation

beacons.

Prithvi-II Missile Test Fired Successfully

• The land version of the short range surface–to–surface ballistic missile Prithvi-II was successfully test-

fired from a defence base off Odisha coast.

• The test was conducted by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army with logistics

support from DRDO.

• The missile carrying a dummy payload was mounted on a Mobile Tatra transporter-erector Launcher

(MTL).

• Prithvi-II is a tactical short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed indigenously by Defence Research

and Development Organisation (DRDO).

• It is the first missile to be indigenously developed by DRDO under India’s prestigious Integrated Guided

Missile Development Program (IGMDP).

• The missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of nuclear as well as conventional warheads.




The missile has a strike range of 350 km. The missile is powered by liquid propellant and can operate

with both liquid as well as solid fuel.

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur Develops ‘AmbuSens’ for monitoring Hospital-bound Patients

• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has developed a wireless technology called ‘AmbuSens‘ for

remote monitoring of condition of those patients who are ferried in ambulances.

• AmbuSens will help in wireless monitoring of various physiological conditions of patients who are

ferried in ambulances. The AmbuSens system includes both hardware and software.

• The ambulance and the hospitals will have laptops or tablets with internet connection to continuously

monitor the health condition of the patients in real-time.

• The patients will be fitted with wireless body sensors.

• The technology will monitor the parameters like ECG, heart-rate, temperature and blood-pressure and

can ensure remote monitoring of the patient’s condition even before they reach the hospital.

• This new system assumes significance at the backdrop of limited knowledge of medical technician who

accompanies a critical patient in an ambulance.

With this technology, the doctors will be able to instruct life-saving medical interventions to the

technician.

Second Scorpene Class Submarine Ready for Sea Trials

• Defence Minister ArunJaitley has announced that the second Scorpene-class submarine is ready for

surface sea trials.

• INS Khanderi, the second Scorpene class submarine has been built at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in

Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• It is the second of the six submarines being built at MDL in collaboration with France’s DCNS as part of

Project 75 of Indian Navy.

• INS Khanderi has been named Khanderi, after the Island fort of Maratha ruler ChhatrapatiShivaji which

played had vital role in ensuring their supremacy at sea in late 17th century.

• Khanderi is also name for Tiger Shark.

ISRO’s GSLV-Mk III

• ISRO’s GSLV-Mk III is all set to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on

June 5, 2017.

• GSLV-Mk III is the heaviest rocket ever made by ISRO which is capable of carrying heavy payloads.

• GSKV-Mk III can put four-tonne satellites in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and is capable

of placing up to eight tonnes in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

This capacity is enough to carry a manned module and launch people into space.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to Explore Sun’s Atmosphere

• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be launched in the summer of 2018 to explore the sun’s atmosphere.

• The purpose of the launch will be to study sun’s outer atmosphere and to understand how sun works.

• The name of the probe initially called the Solar Probe Plus has been renamed as the Parker Solar

Probe in honor of astrophysicist Eugene Parker.

• This is the first time NASA has named a spacecraft after a living person.

• Astrophysicist Eugene Parker published a research paper predicting the existence of solar wind in 1958.

At that time, it was thought that the space between planets was a vacuum. Parker’s theory of solar wind

was later on confirmed by satellite observations. Solar wind is the flow of charged gases from the sun.




RANKING & REPORTS India One of Top 5 Consumer Markets in Asia

• According to BMI Research, a Fitch group company, India is among the top five consumer markets in

Asia offering retailers the strongest consumer spending growth of an average of 6.1% over the next five

years.

• The other four countries are China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia.

• BMI Research was founded in 1984 Business Monitor International and later in 2014 was acquired by

Fitch Group.

• The firm performs industry and financial market analysis in 24 industries and 200 global markets.

UNCTAD: India among Top FDI Destinations

• According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2017, India continues to remain as a favourite

destination for FDI even though tax related concerns remain as a deterrent for the foreign investors.

• According to the report, the favourite destinations for FDI are the US, China and India.

• As per the report FDI inflows into a developing Asia has reduced by 15% to USD 443 billion in 2016.

• This decline is the first since 2012.

• However, the report has observed that an improved economic outlook in major economies like ASEAN,

China and India is expected to boost investor’s confidence thereby increasing the region’s prospects for

2017.

• In Asian region, major recipients like China, India and Indonesia have renewed their policies to attract

FDI.

• The report has also noted that signing of tax treaty with Mauritius would have contributed to decline in

instances of round tripping of FDI for the first time, China has emerged as the world’s second largest

investor of FDI.

• The World Investment Report has been published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) annually since 1991.

India to grow at 7.2% in 2017

• The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) has projected a growth rate of 7.2% for India in

the financial year 2017 as against 6.8% growth in 2016.

• Also, the bank in its report expects India’s growth rate to remain at 7.5% in 2018 and 7.7% in 2019.

• The World Bank has kept the global growth forecast in 2017 and 2018 at 2.7% and 2.9% respectively.

• Despite the slowdown in the growth rate, the world bank has stated that India still remains the fastest

growing major economy in the world.

• According to the bank, the growth projections for China remained unchanged at 6.5% for 2017 and then

6.3% for the next two years 2018 and 2019.

• The report has stated that the domestic demand is expected to remain robust in India supported by

ongoing policy reforms, especially the introduction of the Goods and Services tax (GST).

• World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Breton Woods Conference in 1944. World Bank is

part of the United Nations system, but its governance structure is different.

• World Bank’s headquarter is situated at Washington DC.

India Secures Top Position in Global Retail Development Index

• The 2017 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) titled ‘The Age of Focus‘ has placed India at the

top position among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business in the retail sector.

• This is the 16th edition of the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI).

• The index has placed China at the second place.




• However, it has been stated that the China’s market size and the continued evolution of retail still make

it one of the most attractive markets for retail investment.

• India’s rapidly expanding economy, relaxation of FDI rules and the consumption boom are said to be the

key drivers for India’s top ranking in the GRDI.

• The GRDI is annually published by London-based business consultancy A T Kearney.

• The study is unique as it identifies the markets that are most attractive in present and also helps to

identify those that offer future potential.

• The index ranks the 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide and analyses 25

macroeconomic and retail-specific variables.

India ranked 137th in Global Peace Index 2017

• India has been ranked 137th in the Global Peace Index 2017, which ranks 163 independent states and

territories according to their level of peacefulness.

• In Last year’s index, India was ranked 141st.

• This is the eleventh edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI).

• The index is compiled every year by the Sydney-based think tank Institute for Economics and Peace.

• GPI is considered as one of the most comprehensive analysis that captures trends in peace, its economic

value, and how to develop peaceful societies.

• The index has been topped by Iceland followed by New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark.

IMD to release Malaria and Chikungunya Alerts

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that it is working on a forecasting system

that will give 15-day warnings on the likelihood of a malaria or chikungunya outbreak across different

regions of the country.

• The services are aimed at providing custom, weather-related information to cope with challenges of a

global warming and its associated impact of weather.

• Instances of extreme rainfall could mean instances of humid conditions and water logging that could

precipitate vector-borne disease outbreaks.

• IMD will release five-day and 15-day forecasts of heat-waves, cold waves and disease outbreaks.

• IMD will offer this service by teaming up with the Medical Council of India and the Red Cross Society.

• IMD will customize the dynamical model for generating this service.

• The IMD’s National Climate Centre in Pune will be reorganised to offer such climate services.

• At present, the pune Centre is tasked with forecasting the monsoon and documenting monsoon-related

statistics.

APPROVALS & MoUs

Law Ministry clears Kambala Bill

• The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has cleared the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka

Amendment) Bill 2017, and thus legalizing kambala.

• The bill will now be sent to the President for getting his assent.

• In November 2016, the Karnataka high court had banned the kambala along with bull-cart race in the

state while hearing a case filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) citing animal

cruelty.




• The high court had stayed these traditional sports in view of the Supreme Court’s ban on jallikattu, a

traditional bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu.

India signs Agreement to provide $318 million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka

• India has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to provide USD 318 million as line of credit for

developing Sri Lanka’s railway sector.

• The agreement was signed between Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance and Mass media, and Managing

Director of India’s Export Import Bank in Colombo.

• In 2015, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka he had declared a line of

credit of USD 318 million for the development of Sri Lanka’s railway sector.

• The line of credit comes at the backdrop of increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean nation.

China has made significant investments in Sri Lanka mainly in developing ports.

So far India has provided four lines of credit to Sri Lanka for developing its railway sector that totally

amounted to USD 966 million.

Finance Ministry asks Ministries to decide on FDI proposals within 60 Days

• The finance Ministry has asked all those ministries tasked with clearing foreign direct investment

proposals in the 12 sectors that require government’s nod to take a decision on such proposals within 60

days.

• Last month, the Cabinet abolished the Foreign Investment and Promotion Board (FIPB), which was the

authority for clearing foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals for a period of 25 years.

• A timeline of 4 weeks has been fixed for the transfer of all pending applications with the FIPB to the

respective administrative ministries.

• Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) would come up with standard operating

procedures to process FDI proposals in consultation with the administrative ministries.

• This will be helpful in ensuring consistency of treatment and uniformity of approach.

National Board of Wildlife Clears Rutland Island for DRDO’s Missile Testing Project

• The National Board of Wildlife has approved Rutland Island in South Andaman to be the site for

the country’s long-range missile test facility.

• DRDO has been seeking the approval for the test facility since 2012.

• Taking into account the strategic importance of the project for country’s defence, the Standing

Committee of the National Board of Wildlife has approved the project.

Samsung Signs MoU with Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to Set Up 2 more

Tech Schools

• Samsung India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small

and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for setting up two new Samsung Technical Schools in Bengaluru and

Jamshedpur as well as to renew the partnership for 10 existing schools being run across the country.

• As a part of Samsung’s commitment to government’s BetiBachao, BetiPadhao campaign, the company

has announced the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship programme for girls and differently-

abled trainees.

• Under this Programme, 1,000 girls and differently-abled trainees will be given a grant of up

to Rs. 20,000. Also, a Meritorious Reward Programme for toppers has also been launched.

• Samsung already runs 10 schools in the Sates of Rajasthan, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal.

• These schools are run in collaboration with Departments of Technical Education.

• Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate headquartered in Seoul.

India and Russia Sign 5 Pacts

• India and Russia have inked 5 pacts after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Russia.




• Agreements are:

• An agreement on cultural exchanges for a period of two years (2017-2019) has been signed

between the two nations.

• An agreement for the construction of the third stage of the Kudankulam NPP (KK5 & KK6)

along with the Credit Protocol has been signed between NPCIL and ROSATOM

• An agreement between the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) and the Council

of India on Scientific and Industrial Research has been signed to provide access to Rospatent

experts to the Indian Digital Library of Traditional Knowledge (TKDL).

• Contract between JSC (Russian Railways) and the Ministry of Railways on the preparation of the

justification for the implementation of the high-speed service at the Nagpur-Secunderabad

section has been signed.

• Memorandum of cooperation between ALROSA Joint Stock Company and the Council for the

Promotion of the Export of Precious Stones and Jewellery of India has been signed.

• India and Russia have decided to hold the first tri-Services exercises, named ‘Indra-2017’, this

year.

Petrol and Diesel Prices to be revised Daily from June 16

• 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. • Daily revision of prices will insulate the retailers from volatility of global crude prices.

Appointment

Appointment Appointee

New Chief of Copyrights office Hoshiar Singh

New PM of Ireland Leo Varadkar

40th Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba

New CEO of PrasarBharati Shashi ShekarVempati

First Indian to be in inducted in ITTF

URC

Ganeshan NeelakantaIyer




Awards

Union Health Minister Conferred WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for Global

Tobacco Control

• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has been conferred the WHO Director-

General’s Special Recognition Award for global tobacco control.

• The award was presented to him by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East

Asia at the ‘National Consultation on Accelerating Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on

Tobacco Control (FCTC) for achievement of SDGs’.

Sports

Jelena Ostapenko wins Women’s Crown

• Unseeded JelenaOstapenko of Latvia has lifted the the 2017 French Open Women’s Singles crown.

• She defeated Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

• This will be Ostapenko’s first ever Grand Slam title.

• With this win, Ostapenko, 20, has become the first unseeded woman to win the French Open after

Britain’s Margaret Scriven’s feat in 1933.

• Ostapenko also earned the distinction for being the first player of Latvian origin – men or women – to

win a Grand Slam event.

IOC Approves New Events for Tokyo Olympics

• The International Olympic Committee has approved a number of new events for the 2020 Tokyo

Games at the IOC’s Executive Board meeting held at Lausanne, Switzerland.

• The new events were added to reflect the IOC’s focus on gender equality and appeal to young people.

• The Tokyo Olympics would include 321 events which is an increase from 306 events held at Rio 2016.

• The new additions inlcude a mixed 4x400m relay along with 14 other events such as 3-on-3

basketball, the mixed relay, mixed swimming, mixed team archery, BMX freestyle etc.

• In addition, Mixed triathlon will also be included in the Tokyo games for the first time. Further, a mixed

team event for judo will be included.

• Each team of judo will have 3 men and 3 women, all representing different weight classes.

• Mixed Doubles Table Tennis competition will also be included.

• The mixed event was recently featured in the world championships held in Germany.

• The 10 minute 3-on-3 basketball event which will be played on a half-sized court is known for its speed.

• The game was adopted by the International Basketball Federation as an official discipline with common

rules in 2007.

• Totally, the number of mixed events at Tokyo Olympics will double to 18 up from 9 held in

Rio Olympics.

• The IOC’s focus in selecting the new events was for their appeal to young and urban audiences as well

as for redressing long-standing imbalances between male and female athletes.

• IOC also reduced the number of athletes who will be competing in Tokyo olympics by 285 compared to

Rio in order to prevent the games from being increasingly bloated and costly.

• The IOC is the supreme authority of the Olympic Movement headquartered at Lausanne, Switzerland.




Bopanna-Dabrowski Wins French Open Mixed Doubles

• Rohan Bopanna has won his maiden Grand Slam title along with his Canadian partner Gabriela

Dabrowski by winning the French Open mixed doubles trophy.

• This is Bopanna’s maiden Grand Slam title at French Open.

• With this title win he has become only the fourth Indian to clinch a major.

• The other three being Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza who all have won Grand Slam

trophies for India.

Bopanna-Dabrowski pair defeated the pair of Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Colombia’s Robert

Farah by 2-6, 6-2, 12-10.

Sai Praneeth wins Thailand Grand Prix Gold Title

• Ace Indian Shuttler B Sai Praneeth has clinched Thailand Grand Prix Gold title by defeating Indonesia’s

Jonatan Christie 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 in Bangkok.

• Six weeks earlier, he had defeated the world No 29 Kidambi Srikanth and clinched Singapore Open

Superseries badminton title.

• Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold was held at Nimibutr Stadium In Bangkok in Thailand between 30 May

– 4 June 2017 and had a total purse of $120,000.

Mouma-Manika Pair made History by becoming First Indian Pair to reach Quaterfinals in World TT

Championships

• India’s ManikaBatra and Mouma Das have created history by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the

quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Championships.

• The event is held in Dusseldorf.

• The last edition of the event was held in Suzhou in 2015.

The next world TT championships will be held in Budapest in the year 2019.

Important days

01 Jun: World Milk Day; Global Day of Parents 04 Jun: International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 05 Jun: World Environment Day 08 Jun: World Oceans Day 12 Jun: World Day Against Child Labour 14 Jun: World Blood Donor Day 15 Jun: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day; ASEAN Dengue Day 17 Jun: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 18 Jun: Autistic Pride Day 20 Jun: World Refugee Day 21 Jun: International Yoga Day; World Hydrography Day; World Music Day 23 Jun: United Nations Public Service Day; Olympic Day; International Widow’s Day 25 Jun: Day of the Seafarer 26 Jun: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking; United Nations International Day in Support

of Victims of Torture

3rd Sun of Jun: Father’s Day

ALL THE BEST !!



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