DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 21.06.2018 TO 23.06.2018

NATIONAL Shillong 100th city to be selected under Smart Cities Mission (a) Shillong, the capital city of has been selected as 100th Smart City, to receive funding under the Centre’s flagship Smart Cities Mission, after evaluating the proposal submitted by it. (b) According to the release, with the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs 2,05,018 crore. (c) Under the scheme, each city will get Rs 500 crore from the Centre for implementing various projects. An equal amount, on matching basis, will have to be contributed by the state or urban local bodies. Surat Bags ‘City Award’ Under India Smart Cities Award 2018 Surat has been honored with the “City Award” under ‘India Smart Cities Award’ 2018. The award has been given to Surat for showcasing “great momentum” in the implementation of projects under the Smart Cities Mission especially in the categories of urban environment, transport and mobility and sustainable integrated development.  The India Smart Cities Awards were announced in 3 categories with total 9 awards. The categories includes: City Award, Innovative Idea Award and Project Award.  Bhopal and Ahmedabad were jointly selected in the Innovative Idea’ category for Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and Safe and Secure Ahmedabad (SASA) Project respectively.  The Project’ awards were given in seven categories namely:  Social Aspects’ category – NDMC, Jabalpur (), Visakhapatnam, Pune  Urban environment category – Bhopal, Pune and Coimbatore and Jabalpur  Culture and Economy category – Bhopal and Jaipur Transport and Mobility category – Ahmedabad and Surat  Water and Sanitation category – Ahmedabad Governance category – Pune  Built Environment category – Pune India Smart Cities Award were launched on 25 June 2017 with an objective to reward cities, projects and innovative ideas, promoting sustainable development in cities. Unveils Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy (a) The state government of Gujarat has announced a policy ‘Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy-2018’ to promote setting up of wind as well as solar power projects at one location to ensure optimal use of land and transmission infrastructure. (b) The policy will remain in force for five years. Projects approved under this policy can avail various benefits and rebates as mentioned in the policy document for a period of 25 years or till the life of the project to give kids Rs 50 for planting trees The Haryana government has decided to introduce a scheme under which an incentive of Rs 50 will be given to school children for planting trees. Under the new scheme, students from Classes 6 to 12 of both government and private schools will be given an incentive of Rs 50 each for every live tree planted by them every six months for a period of three years. The students will also be provided with books about environment conservation. The drive will be launched by the school education department on July 10 Haryana approves scheme to provide Rs 8,000 monthly assistance to female acid victim The Haryana state government has approved a scheme to provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 8,000 to female acid victims. Besides, the women and girl acid attack victims would also be given preference in the allotment of fair price shops by the Haryana Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department. World’s 1st International Centre for Humanitarian Forensics Launched in Gujarat The World’s first International Centre for Humanitarian Forensics (ICHF) has been inaugurated in Gujarat, India on 20 June 2018. It is a joint initiative of the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for India, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. ICRC--Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland,Founder: Henry Dunant,President: Peter Maurer Health Ministry launches National Health Resource Repository project Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda launched the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) on June 19, 2018 in New . The repository is India’s first ever national healthcare facility registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare establishments. The Minister also released the National Health Profile (NHP)-2018 prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) on the occasion. to execute Smart City project with ADB loan The state government of Tripura has taken Rs 500 crore as loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Hudco (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) to carry out the Rs 1,000 crore smart City project in Agartala by 2021. Government Launched Mobile App- ‘i-Hariyali’ To increase the state’s green cover, the Punjab government has launched ‘i-Hariyali’ app that lets users order free plant saplings. The ‘i-Hariyali’ app under ‘Mission Tandarust’ can be downloaded from the app store for free. The users can book a sapling of their choice, a maximum of 25 per person, from a nearby government nursery. Government to expand BPO promotion scheme, plans largest National Data Centre in Bhopal The Indian Government has planned to expand its BPO promotion scheme from current 48,000 seats to one lakh seats as well as set up India’s largest National Data Centre in Bhopal.

1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 1 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected]

DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 21.06.2018 TO 23.06.2018

The National Data Centres, that host Government websites, services and apps, are currently operational at four locations namely Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bhubaneswar. The fifth and the largest National Data Centre will come up in Bhopal with capacity of five lakh virtual servers. TN sets up Committee to Suggest Downsizing, Outsourcing The state government of has set up a Staff Rationalisation Committee in an attempt to downsize its workforce. The Committee will be headed by S. Audseshiah, a retired Principal Secretary of the state government. It will evaluate the staff structure in various departments to identify non-essential posts as well as the categories of posts which can be outsourced or appointed through contract appointment among other relevant issue concerning administrative expenditure management in government and government agencies and make suitable recommendations. INTERNATIONAL Canada becomes second nation to legalize marijuana Canadian Parliament has passed a “historic” bill legalizing the recreational use of marijuana(Ganja) nationwide, becoming the second country in the world to do so.Uruguay became the first country to legalize the sale of cannabis for recreational use in December 2013. Uruguay became the first country to legalize the sale of cannabis for recreational use in December 2013.The Bill C-45, otherwise known as the Cannabis Act, controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed and sold. BILATERAL India to construct war memorial at Villers Guislain in France (a) India will construct a war memorial at Villers Guislain, a town around 200 km from Paris, to honour the valour and sacrifice of the thousands of its soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought for peace in the World War I.This was announced by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. (b) She also handed over certificates of appreciation to Indian community organisation and individuals who have contributed to the Swacch Bharat Kosh. (c) The minister also attended a ceremony held to name the Indian Culture Centre in the memory of Swami Vivekanand. Russia to supply technical security equipment to India India and Russia have decided to cooperate in area of integrated security system taking forward their decades old defence cooperation. For this, Russia’s NIKIRET, a subsidiary of Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, and Indian engineering services firm Core Energy Systems Pvt Ltd have signed an agreement to promote the technical security equipment of NIKIRET in India. UK excludes India from student visa norms list The United Kingdom government has excluded Indian students from a new list of “low risk” countries eligible for easier visa application to the UK. The decision is based on India’s refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the return of illegal Indian immigrants in the UK to India and vice-versa. ECONOMY Vodafone – Idea to merge to form Vodafone Idea Ltd (a) Idea and Vodafone India are in process of merging their businesses, the approval for which is in final stage by the Department of Telecom. (b) The combined entity would be known as “Vodafone Idea Ltd” post merger.Idea and Vodafone India are in process of merging their businesses. According to official sources, the approval for merger by the Department of Telecom is in final stages. The merger, when it comes through, will create India's largest telecom firm worth over $23 billion and is expected to intensify the telecom battle dominated by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. (c) Vodafone is expected to own 45.1 per cent, 26 per cent by Aditya Birla Group and Idea shareholders will own 28.9 in the combined entity. RBI alters ‘relative’ definition to check outward remittances (a) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has narrowed the definition of relatives under the ‘maintenance of close relative’ category of Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to check outflow of funds and prevent misuse of facility. (b) Henceforth, funds under this category can be sent only to immediate relatives such as parents, spouses, children and their spouses. (c) The definition of relatives under LRS has been now aligned with definition of relative with definition given in Companies Act, 2013 instead of Companies Act, 1956. (d) Outward remittances under maintenance of close relatives had shot up to almost $3 billion in 2017-18 from mere $174 million in 2013-14. (e) Earlier in June 2018, RBI had made PAN mandatory for anyone using LRS for remitting money outside the country. Earlier PAN was not insisted upon for putting current account transactions of up to $25,000. Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) (1) LRS is facility provided by RBI for all resident individuals including minors to freely remit upto certain amount in terms of US Dollar for current and capital account purposes or combination of both. (2) The scheme was introduced in February 2004 and its regulations are provided under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. (3) After it was launched, the LRS limit was US $25,000, but it has been revised in stages consistent with prevailing macro and micro economic conditions. (4) At present, LRS limit for all resident individuals, including minors, is US $2,50,000 (Rs. 1.5 crore) per financial year.

1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 2 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected]

DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 21.06.2018 TO 23.06.2018

(5) Under LRS, individuals can make remittances for overseas education, travel, medical treatment, maintenance to relatives living abroad, gifting and donations. Restrictions: Under LRS, remittances cannot be used for trading on foreign exchange markets, purchase of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds issued abroad by Indian companies and margin or margin calls to overseas exchanges and counterparties. Similarly, individuals are not allowed to send money to countries identified as ‘non cooperative jurisdictions’ by Financial Action Task Force (FAFT). It also prohibits remittances to entities identified as posing terrorist risks. Bank of Baroda ropes in IBM, Accenture for ‘increased digitisation’ (a) The Bank of Baroda has announced its partnership with technology majors IBM and Accenture to enhance business growth and portfolio diversification using “digitisation”. (b) Under the tie up, BoB will power its state-of-the-art IT Centre of Excellence (ITCoE) and Analytics Centre of Excellence (ACoE). (c) Using IBM’s digital reinvention framework and innovation roadmap, the bank will be able to make critical strides in achieving business transformation, improving overall service delivery and creating compelling customer experiences. Second tranche of Bharat-22 ETF for rising Rs.6000 crore. (a) The Finance Ministry has launched the second tranche of Bharat-22 exchange traded fund (ETF) on June 19 which will help raise up to Rs 8,400 crore from the markets. (b) The issue was opened for anchor investors on June 19 and for other institutional and retail investors the next day. The ETF follow on offer will remain open till June 22. (c) The investors would get a 2.5 per cent discount over the issue price. (d) The government aims to raise Rs 6,000 crore from this round. There is also a green shoe option of Rs 2,400 crore, subject to government approval. (e) Greenshoe option is a special provision where the bid issuer allows for oversubscription to the issue up to a certain limit/cap. Background On November 14, 2017, the government launched the BHARAT-22 exchange traded fund (ETF), which is managed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund. It's a part of the government’s disinvestment programme. About 1st tranche (1) Bharat-22 ETF’s new fund offer (NFO) had an initial issue size of over Rs 8,000 crore. (2) While FIIs bid for one-third of the issue, the portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 1.45 times, HDFC Securities noted in a report. (3) Some 3.35 lakh applications amounting to Rs 32,000 crore were received out of which Rs 14,500 crore was retained. Subscription by retirement funds stood at 1.50 times and that of NIIs and QIBs at 7 times. (4) The government offered 3 per cent discount to all investors on the reference market price. About BHARAT-22 Index A special index S&P BSE BHARAT-22 Index was created on BSE. The index is a blend of shares of key CPSEs, public sector banks (PSBs) and government-owned shares in bluechip private companies like L&T (L&T), Axis Bank and ITC. Yes Bank gets SEBI nod for custodian of securities business enhancing its market offerings Yes Bank has received approval from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for acting as custodian of securities. Custodian of securities is a licence granted by Sebi to eligible entities allowing them to offer custodial services to financial market participants including foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). This will complement the bank’s existing capital market offerings and enable it to play a larger role in channelising domestic and foreign investments into Indian financial market PERSON IN NEWS Arvind Subramanian: Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, who succeeded the high-profile Raghuram Rajan in the Finance Ministry in 2014, has quit the government with plans to go back to the US for research and writing. Rama Subramaniam Gandhi: One97 Communications, which runs Paytm, has appointed former RBI Deputy Governor Rama Subramaniam Gandhi as an advisor of Paytm.Gandhi was a member of the first Monetary Policy Committee. He has also been the head of two regional offices of the Reserve Bank and held a charge as the Director of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad. A.R. Rahman: Famed Indian composer and singer-songwriter A.R. Rahman has been appointed the brand ambassador of the government for a year. Sunil Mittal to be ICC’s Honorary Chair Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, stepped down as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on June 21. He will now function as the Honorary Chairman of the ICC. He will be succeeded by Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, as ICC Chairman. Ajay Banga, the President and CEO of MasterCard will be appointed as the ICC First Vice-Chair. BVR Subhrahmanyam appointed J-K Chief Secy Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra has appointed IAS officer BVR Subrahmanyam as the new Chief Secretary of the state. In addition, Vijay Kumar, a retired IPS officer, and BB Vyas, the current Chief Secretary of the state, has been appointed as Advisors to the Governor. B Sriram: State Bank of India’s (SBI) Managing Director B Sriram has been appointed as the IDBI Bank’s CEO and Managing Director for a temporary period of three months.He has been appointed in place of incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was recently named Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 3 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected]

DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 21.06.2018 TO 23.06.2018

AWARD Tamil Nadu girl wins Miss India World 2018 title Miss Anukreethy Vas from Tamil Nadu was declared the winner of the 55th edition of 2018 pageant held at Dome, NSCI Stadium, .Miss from Haryana and Miss Shreya Rao from bagged the first and second runner up positions respectively. Nashik’s Vishwas Mandlik, Mumbai’s Yoga Institute win PM awards Vishwas Mandlik of Nashik and The Yoga Institute in Mumbai are the recipients of the 2018 Prime Minister’s Award for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of yoga. Mandlik won the award in the category Individual – National and The Yoga Institute won in the category Organisation – National. MISCELLANEOUS Vice President Receives The Book ‘Vedvigyan Alok’ The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has received the book “Vedvigyan Alok” (Maharishi Aitareya Mahidas Praneet – Aitareya Brahmina ki Vaigyanik Vyakhya) authored by Acharya Agnivarat Naishthik. The Book Vedvigyan Alok is the scriptural verse in Vedas’ prose and is divided into four broad volumes. Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Rani Rashmoni’ commissioned in Visakhapatnam The last of the five Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) project of Indian Coast Guard ‘Rani Rashmoni’ was commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard on June 18 at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) by Additional-Director General, Indian Coast Guard VSR Murthy. So far four such ships such as ICGS Rani Abbakka, ICGS Rani Avanti Bai, ICGS Rani Durgavati and ICGS Rani Gaidinliu, have been commissioned and are in active service at various locations on the eastern seaboard. ‘Rani Rashmoni’ was the last in the first phase of five FPVs. Differently-abled attempt Guinness Record in Yoga Around 800 differently-abled people from across India attempted to set a Guinness World Record for ‘Largest Silent Yoga Class’ in Ahmedabad on the occasion of 4th International Yoga Day. Participants were chosen from ten city-based organisations like Blind People’s Association (BPA), Apang Manav Mandal and Andh Kanya Prakash Gruh along with many more. They were trained for this occasion since May with yoga experts at the Shivanand Ashram. Facebook launches free version of ‘Workplace’ for NGOs (a) Facebook has launched a free version of its enterprise communications app ‘Workplace’ to make working better, smarter and faster for charities and non-governmental organisations. (b) The App, named “Workplace for Good”, would donate work-essential mobile, video, communication and collaboration tools free of charge to organisations like World Wildlife Fund, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and more. (c) Additionally, the app also comes integrated with tools like “OxBot” which is a jargon-busting bot that provides a link to internal sources of information, increasing accessibility options. Instagram launches IGTV app to counter YouTube Instagram has launched a new app called IGTV which is its step towards competing with YouTube to attract video creators. The IGTV app is available for iOS and Android. It is meant for publishers to create full-screen, vertical videos in longform. While it is a separate app, the IGTV channels are connected to the main Instagram account. There won’t be ads in the beginning but creators will be able to link out in the future to monetize. EY, Microsoft launch blockchain solution for Media & Entertainment industry EY and Microsoft has launched a blockchain solution for better content rights and royalties management. The solution aims to streamline the costly and time-consuming processes in entertainment rights and royalties. It will be first being deployed within gaming with Microsoft and its game publisher partners. IMPORTANT DAY World Music Day: June 21 World Music Day is observed on June 21 every year with the aim to shed light on the importance of music. The day is known as Fete de la Musique after a music festival that began in France in 1982. International Yoga Day 2018: June 21 (a) The 4th International Yoga Day was observed across the world on June 21 in Dehradun.The theme for Yoga Day 2018 is “Yoga for Peace.” (b) The first International Day of Yoga was observed all over the world on June 21, 2015. (c) Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed this date at the United Nations General Assembly 2014 and recognizing its universal appeal, on December 11, 2014, the United Nations declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga in 2014. (d) The word yoga originates from Yuja, a Sanskrit word which means, “to join or to unite”, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness ONE LINER  7th India Minerals and Metals forum was inaugurated in on June 21.  Jiya Das is the first transgender Operation Theatre (OT) technician in India. Kolkata based Jiya is working in a city- based super-specialty hospital.  Indian Army is observing year 2018 as “Year of Disabled Soldiers in Line of Duty” to honour soldiers who have been disabled in line of duty.  With the aim to boost AI and machine learning capabilities, Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Bonsai, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in San Francisco.  The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has sanctioned Rs 41,548 crore as total Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund till June 16.  The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is all set to launch its multi-species Aquaculture Complex in Kochi with an aim to revolutionize fish production in the country.

1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 4 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected]