Daily Current Affairs 26th June, 2018

Daily Current Affairs 26 June 2018 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Haryana Mandates LED Bulbs in Offices

Annual Sindhu Darshan Festival Begins In Ladakh Region

The three-day annual symbolic festival of Indus River known as Sindhu Darshan Festival was inaugurated in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on the bank of Indus River.

• The 22nd Sindhu Darshan festival was organized by Sindhu Darshan Yatra Samiti and Ladakh Phanday Tsogspa Leh.
• The main reason behind the celebration of Sindhu Darshan Festival is to endorse the Indus River (Sindhu River) as an icon of the communal harmony and unity of India.
• It was first started in the October, 1997 and continues to be held every year since then

India commits $15m to handle global environment crises

The Indian government has announced an increase in the sum of money to be paid to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the next four years in a bid to play crucial role to mitigate climate change and other environmental challenges across the globe.

• As per the announcement, India will now be contributing $15 million instead of $ 12 million to the GEF’s new four-year investment cycle, known as GEF-7.
• Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism to provide grants for environment projects across the globe including India.

15th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission held in Australia  

The 15th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held on 25th June 2018, in Canberra, Australia after a gap of 4 years.

• The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo.
• An MoU was also signed in order to facilitate bilateral investment flows between Austrade,the Australian Trade and Investment Commission and Invest-India, which is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India.

India hands over Dornier aircraft to Seychelles

In a bid to help the Seychelles enhance its surveillance capabilities to tackle maritime threats, India has gifted them a second Dornier aircraft.

• The Seychelles president said the aircraft, Dornier 228, would help to maintain security in the coastal surveillance capacity of his Indian Ocean island nation.
• Seychelles will observe its 42nd Independence Day on June 29.
• India has earlier gifted the Seychelles Coast Guard a fast track vessel, a Dornier aircraft, and two helicopters.

Two-day training workshop on cybercrime targeting children begins in New Delhi

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has organised a two-day training workshop on cybercrime targeting children. 

• The workshop has been organised in collaboration of Police Bureau of Research and Development (PBR&D) and UNESCO in New Delhi.
• It aims to provide professional training to the investigators designated to tackle crime against children.
• Considering the rising menace of cyber crimes targeting children, NCPCR has opened-up POCSO e-box earlier to handle children specific cybercrime.

Govt proposes to set up 3,000 Van Dhan Kendras across country

The Government has proposed to set up 3000 Van Dhan Kendras involving 30,000 SHGs across the country under the Van Dhan Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to provide skill up-gradation and capacity building training for value addition of forest produce.

• These groups will be working under the leadership of Collector and they can market their products not only within the states but also outside the states.
• The training and technical support is provided by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, TRIFED.

Van Dhan Scheme

• The Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED was launched by Prime Minister on 14th April, 2018 during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur Chattisgarh. Under the scheme, 10 self-help groups with each having 30 tribal gatherers were constituted.
• They are being trained and provided with working capital to add value to the products, which they collect from the jungle.

India pledges $5 million for Palestinian refugees

The Government of India has pledged USD 5 million assistance to the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, to make up for the shortfall in its funding following US’ cut in its annual aid to UNRWA.

• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees, faces a shortfall of $250 million, according to the UN.
• In March, India announced it will increase its annual contribution to the UNRWA from USD 1.5 million to USD 5 million from 2018-19 for a period of three years.
• 20 countries including India made pledges for UNRWA. The agency serves about 5.3 million refugees scattered around the Middle East.

India Is World’s Most Dangerous Country For Women, US At 3rd Spot

Based upon the report of a survey of global experts by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, India has been ranked as the most dangerous country for women in the world due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour.

• War-torn Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia.
• The only Western nation in the top 10 was the United States, which ranked joint third.
• The poll was a repeat of a survey in 2011 wherein experts saw Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the most dangerous nations for women respectively.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on a visit to India 

United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley will be on three-day visit to India from June 26.

• The 46-year-old highest ranking Indian-American diplomat in US President Donald Trump’s administration will meet senior Indian Government officials to discuss a host of topics including India-US strategic ties and significant global developments.
• The visit comes ahead of the inaugural US-India 2+2 Dialogue on July 6 in Washington, where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will represent India.
• Nimrata “Nikki” Haley is currently the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She served as the 116th governor of South Carolina and is a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.

BANKING

AIIB’s 4th Annual Meeting 2019 in Luxembourg

The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will take place in Luxembourg in July 2019.

• This will be for the first time that the meeting will be held out of Asia and Luxembourg is the first non-regional member of AIIB to host the bank’s Annual Meeting in Luxembourg City.
• Luxembourg is a founding member of AIIB as well as a leading international financial centre and facilitator of investments between Europe and Asia.
• The first AIIB Board of Governors meeting was held in Beijing in 2016, followed by Jeju, South Korea in 2017 and the latest two-day meeting in Mumbai which concluded on June 26, 2018.

APPOINTMENT

Airtel announces senior leadership appointments

Country’s top telecom operator Bharti Airtel has appointed Ajay Chitkara as Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Business to spearhead the domestic and global enterprise business as one unit.

• Chitkara will continue reporting to Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, Bharti Airtel.
• Airtel also announced the appointment of Pankaj Miglani as Chief Executive Officer, Global Business. Miglani will report to Chitkara.

TECHNOLOGY

Aviva India launches AI-powered chatbot

Aviva Life Insurance has launched a chatbot named “ALISHA” in partnership with Findability Sciences, a cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Odisha’s Pallavi Darua crowned as India’s first ‘Tribal Queen’

Pallavi Durua, who belongs to Odisha’s Koraput district, was crowned as the first Tribal Queen at the Adi Rani Kalinga Tribal Queen competition held at Utkal Mandap in Bhubaneswar.

• Panchami Majhi of Titlagarh and Rashmirekha Hansdah of Mayurbhanj were declared as the first and second runners-up of the beauty pageant respectively.
• The trio will now feature in a short movie on tribal culture, to be produced by a Mumbai-based producer.
• The prime objective of the event was to promote tribal art and culture.

DEFENCE

India, Bangladesh Navies Institute Annual Coordinated Patrol: CORPAT

The Indian Navy and the Navy of Bangladesh have agreed to institute a Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) as an annual exercise between the two Navies.

• The first edition of the CORPAT has been inaugurated by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba during his visit to Bangladesh from June 24 to 29.
• The aim of the visit is to consolidate bilateral defence relations between India and Bangladesh and to explore new avenues for naval cooperation.
• The Navy regularly conducts CORPATs with Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. 

BOOKS & AUTHOR

WWF-India Launches First-Ever Nature-Themed Comic Book

The WWF-India has come up with its first-ever comic book that revolves around the geographical diversity of India.

• The book titled “The Great Indian Nature Trail with Uncle Bikky” aims to foster love for the nature and raise awareness about its protection among children.
• This is a comic book about mad trio namely Uncle Bikky (the ornithologist), his niece Chunmun (who is a wildlife photographer), and their dog, Duggu who all are on their wildlife adventure across India and uses a humorous approach towards raising awareness for wildlife protection and conservation.
• The series has been developed for WWF-India by Rohan Chakravarty, cartoonist, illustrator and creator of Green Humour (www.greenhumour.com) with essays by Bijal Vachharajani, author and editor of children’s books.

SPORTS NEWS

Sathish Becomes First Indian Weightlifter to Turn Brand Ambassador

Commonwealth gold medal-winning weightlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam is the first Indian weightlifter to become brand ambassador for a product/service.

• Sivalingam has been roped in by “i steel TMT bars” as he represents the core attributes of i steel brand strength and flexibility.
• The general imagery of a weightlifter and a wrestler is that he is strong and powerful. So steel is one product for a weightlifter to promote.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking Observed

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed annually on 26 June, since 1989.

• The day is an effort of the United Nations aimed at strengthening action and spreading awareness about drug abuse and illegal drug trade in the world.
• The theme for 2018 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is “Listen First- Listening to Children and Youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe”.

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