Important Current Affairs 23rd June 2016

Cabinet passes MoU between India-Germany

1. Cabinet has approved MoU with Steinbeis GmbH Co. KG, Germany for technology transfer and resourcing in manufacturing, including sub-sectors of Capital Goods.
2. Steinbeis GmbH is leading German organization for applied industrial research in Europe.
3. It will act as a Technology Resource Partner for implementing identified projects in manufacturing.

International Widows’ Day: 23rd June

1. International Widows Day is a UN ratified day of action to address the “poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows & their dependents in many countries”.
2. The day takes place annually on 23 June and it was established by The Loomba Foundation.
3. The 1st International Widows Day took place in 2005 & was launched by Lord Loomba & the foundation’s president, Cherie Blair.

Mary Kom denied Olympics Wild Card

1. Chairman of AIBA and the ad-hoc committee, Kishen Narsi, confirmed that veteran pugilist M.C. Mary Kom has been denied a wild card entry into Rio Olympics.
2. She could not book after losing the second round of the World Championships.
3. Indian Olympic Association & the ad-hoc committee had sent a request for a wildcard entry for the celebrated boxer.
4. She said that she has no retirement plans for now.

Competitive exam scores to be put online

1. To boost hiring, scores of all candidates taking various competitive exams will be made available online for both public & private sector.
2. Candidates will have the option to opt out of the disclosure scheme at the time of filing up the exam application.
3. National Informatics Centre (NIC) will develop a website “Integrated Information System for Public Recruitment Agencies” for this purpose.

Aadhaar to be linked with Caste/Domicile

1. State Govts. have been asked to link Aadhaar with caste & domicile certificates to be issued to school students, as part of a first-of-its-kind initiative by the Centre.
2. Govt. has instructed to issue such certificates within 60 days to the students studying in Class V or VIII.
3. This is significant as there have been complaints of delay in grant of scholarship to students belonging to the SC/ST.

India wins T20 Series against Zimbabwe

1. India pipped Zimbabwe by three runs to win the three-match T20 series 2-1 at the Harare Sports Club in Harare.
2. Kedar Jadhav was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his brilliant 58 in the final game.
3. Man of the Series was awarded to Barinder Sran for taking 6 wickets with avg. of 6.83.
4. With this series, Dhoni equalled Ricky Ponting’s record of captaining in 324 international matches.

Modi leaves for Tashkent to attend SCO

1. PM Narendra Modi on left for Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
2. PM will also met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit during to seek China’s support for India’s bid for NSG.
3. PM will try to expand economic cooperation & people-to-people ties in Central Asia. The SCO summit will be held on June 23 & 24.

Russian weightlifters facing Rio ban

1. Russia, Kazakhstan & Belarus are to be suspended for one year by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) over failed retests from the 2008 and 2012 Games.
2. IWF also punished 3 other nations North Korea, Azerbaijan & Moldova — with sanctions that will reduce the number of slots available to them in Rio.
3. 24 positive tests were found at December’s world championships held in Houstan (US).

Nagpur & Jinan become ‘sister cities’

1. Nagpur city & China’s Jinan city have become sister cities for exchange of ideas & technology.
2. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Jinan, Municipal People’s Republic of China, entered into an agreement for the same.
3. This is for the first time city has developed sister city concept with any foreign city. Plans are also afoot to execute similar agreement with Santa Clara in California.

Country’s first ‘sunken’ museum in Delhi

1. Country’s first “sunken museum”, is set to come up at the World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb.
2. To be open by early 2018, it will display a mix of artifacts that have been locked up in the reserve collections of the National Museum, National Archives & Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
3. Work for the same began in April 2015 & 30% construction has been completed so far.

Govt. revises tax treaty with Belgium

1. Cabinet approved the signing of a protocol amending an agreement between India & Belgium for avoidance of double taxation & prevention of fiscal evasion.
2. Govt. had earlier revised the double taxation avoidance agreement with Mauritius & is in the process of amending pacts with Singapore & other nations.
3. India is revising these pacts to check abuse of tax treaty.

Tech Mahindra acquires ‘The BIO Agency’

1. Tech Mahindra Ltd (TechM) has acquired UK-based digital transformation firm The BIO Agency Ltd for around £40 million.
2. The acquisition will augment Tech Mahindra’s digital portfolio, enabling it to offer digital strategy, service design & customer experience services.
3. Mahindra Group’s IT arm last month bought UK-based financial services company Target Group for around £112 million.

Tesla to acquire Solarcity for $2.8B

1. Tesla Motors Inc, made an offer to buy solar installation firm SolarCity Corp in a stock deal worth as much as $2.8 billion.
2. Elon Musk, who is the chairman of SolarCity, CEO of Tesla & largest shareholder of both companies, described the deal as a “no brainer”.
3. SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive & CTO Peter Rive are Elon Musk’s cousins.
4. SolarCity has about $6.24 billion in liabilities, including debt.

Trees to be planted along 1500km highway

1. As part of its green initiative, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will plant trees along 1,500 km of highways on July 1.
2. This will be a part of Rs 5,000-crore initiative earmarking 1% of the about Rs 5 lakh crore projects for plantation & transplantation.
3. Ministry has called on NGOs, educational institutions, charitable trusts, and corporates to participate in the drive.

Govt withdraws Drugs & Cosmetics Bill

1. The bill had proposed to regulate the quality of medicines, medical devices, gene therapeutic products, & clinical trials.
2. Govt. will now review the existing laws keeping in view the objective of ‘Make in India’ – ease of doing business & substantially enhance the quality & efficacy.
3. India is one of the largest manufacturers of pharma products with annual production worth Rs 2 lakh crore.

RCom gets nod to launch 4G services

1. Reliance Communications’ CDMA devices, who have a 4G SIM, will now be able to access the service as the company had received the legal approval from the department of telecom.
2. RCom has got approval in 12 out of 22 circles & is expecting approval in remaining circles within 45 days.
3. RCom is shutting down its CDMA services & has offered subscribers to move to Jio’s 4G LTE network since May.

UN Public Service Day: 23rd June

1. The UN Public Service Day was designated in 2003, to “celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community”.
2. UN Public Service Awards are given away on this day for contributions made to the cause of enhancing the role, prestige, and visibility of public service.
3. United Nations Public Service Day is celebrated on June 23 of every year.

LIC chairman S K Roy resigns

1. SK Roy, Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) resigned from office on Wednesday.
2. Roy joined LIC in 1981 as a direct recruit officer. Roy took charge in 2013 as chairman, and has resigned two years before his five-year term ended.
3. The reasons for his resignation are not yet known.

InMobi to pay $950K fine

1. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent agency of the US, has charged InMobi, of deceptively tracking the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers – including children.
2. InMobi will pay $950,000 in civil penalties & implement a comprehensive privacy program to settle the charges.
3. In addition to the fine, it will be required to delete all information it collected from children.

Cabinet extends deadline of UDAY scheme

1. Cabinet approved proposal of extending the deadline for implementing the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to March 31, 2017.
2. With this decision, states shall take over 75% of ailing DISCOM (Power Distribution companies) debt as on 30th September, 2015 by 31st March, 2017 by issuing Bonds.
3. This is important for the vision of proving 24X7 affordable & environment-friendly power for all.