Important Current Affairs 27th June 2016

Train between Sonepat & Jind Flag Off

1. Suresh Prabhu along with Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar flagged off a maiden train on 81-km railway line between Sonipat & Jind  via video-conferencing from Chandigarh.
2. The train between Sonipat & Jind in Haryana will  connect several villages & urban clusters with 13 railway stations.
3. Railways have joined hands with Haryana seeking speedy execution of rail projects in a joint venture model.

2 Indians Win Queen’s Young Leader Award

1. Kartik Sawhney, 21 & Neha Swain,28 from India are among 60 others who won the Queen’s Young Leaders award 2016 in UK.
2. They won the award for their exceptional work in transforming the lives of others & making a lasting difference in their communities.
3. Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust presents the award to recognise young people from across the 53 countries of the Commonwealth.

Nine Regional Parties Join NEDA

1. Nine regional parties have become members of the North East Democratic Alliance,NEDA.
2. The three parties from Assam & two parties from Meghalaya have become part of it.
3. Alliance also included one each from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland & Sikkim.
4. The first convention of the NEDA, which is a part of National Democratic Alliance will be held in Guwahati soon.

Spanish Vote Delivers Hung Parliament

1. Spanish elections delivered a hung parliament for the second time in six months.
2. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) again emerged with the single biggest bloc of seats but fell short of a majority.
3. The PP won 137 seats but short of the 176 needed for an outright majority.
4. The results put the euro zone’s 4th largest economy at risk of another lengthy political stalemate.

Gudni Wins Iceland Presidential Election

1. Gudni Johannesson,a history professor has won Iceland’s presidential election.
2. The final count showed 39% of Icelanders voted for him placing him ahead of a former PM & central bank governor Davíd Oddsson.
3. Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position acting as a guarantor of the constitution.
4. Johannesson will now replace Olafur Ragnar Grímsson who served 20 years as head of state.

Chile Retain Copa America Football Title

1. Chile has retained the Copa America Football title beating Argentina in the penalty shootout.
2. In the final played at New Jersey, Chile defeated the Argentina 4-2.
3. This final was repeat of last year’s title clash which Chile had also won in penalties.
4. Colombia had defeated hosts United States, 1-0 to finish at third.
5. Copa Amercia is the oldest international continental football competition.

Messi Announces Retirement from Football

1. Argentina ace footballer Lionel Messi has announced retirement from International Football after Argentina’s loss in Copa America final.
2. This is the 7th straight loss for Argentina in major international tournaments.
3. The Argentinian national football team last won a major trophy at the 1993 Copa America .
4. Messi was making his 112th appearance for Argentina since making his debut in 2005.

4 more Indians Qualify for Rio Olympics

1. Ankit Sharma qualified for Rio Olympics in men’s long jump after meeting qualification mark in Kazakhstan.
2. Srabani Nanda qualified for the women’s 200 meter event by covering the distance in 23.03 seconds in Almaty,Kazakhstan.
3. In Archery, Atanu Das qualifies for Rio in the men’s individual recurve event.
4. Mohammad Anas has qualified for the Rio by shattering the men’s 400-metre national record.

India Joins MTCR

1. India has officially joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) as a full member.
2. India becomes the 35th member of the MTCR.
3. Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology.
4. The aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles,rocket systems,unmanned air vehicles &related technology capable of carrying a 500kg payload for at least 300 km.

Theatre Artist Kavalam Narayana Dies

1. Veteran Malayalam theatre artist & poet Kavalam Narayana Panicker passed away.
2. His notable plays include Madhyamavyayogam ,Vikramorvashiyam & Dootavakyam authored & staged over a period from 1979 to 1996.
3. He was a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award& later received the Sangeet Natak Akademic Fellowship in 2002.
4. He was accorded with Padma Bhushan in the year 2007.

SIDBI Disburses Rs 3337 crore in 2015-16

1. SIDBI has disbursed Rs 3337.20 cr out of Rs 3783 cr sanctioned during 2015-16 through its wholly-owned subsidiary MUDRA to fund the small enterprises.
2. MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinancing Agency encourages development of micro units.
3. To help startups, SIDBI created a Rs 2,000-crore India Aspiration Fund to be utilised as a Fund of Funds for making investments in Venture Capital Funds.

Akhilesh Yadav Expands Cabinet

1. Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav has expanded his cabinet for the 7th time.
2. He inducted 3 cabinet ministers including Balram Yadav &2 Ministers of State.
3. Balram Yadav was sacked by Akhilesh for his role in the merger of Quami Ekta Dal.
4. Narad Rai, Ravidas Mehrotra, Sharda Prasad Shukl & Ziauddin Rizvi were also inducted into the cabinet.
5. The ministers were administered oath by Governor Ram Naik.

MoU Singed between RD Ministry & ISRO

1. A MoU was signed here between the Rural Development Ministry &ISRO for geo-tagging the assets created under MGNREGA in each gram panchayat.
2. Annually around 30 lakh assets are created under the rural job schemes across the country.
3. The asset created under MGNREGA will be geo-tagged with photograph through Bhuvan Mobile Platform.
4. The geo-tagging of assets will help to check and curb leakages.

BET Awards Winners 2016

1. The BET Awards celebrate African Americans & other minorities in music,acting & other fields of entertainment.
2. The Award were handed at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
3. Beyonce took home a total of 4 awards including Best female R&B/pop artist.
4. Bryson Tiller was named best male R&B/pop artist.
5. Other winners included Nicki Minaj (best female hip-hop artist) & Kirk Franklin (best gospel).

China’s First Dark Sky Reserve Launched

1. China has launched its first dark sky reserve in the Tibet autonomous region’s Ngari Prefecture.
2. The purpose of the dark sky reserve is to limit light pollution &preserve sites for making astronomical observations.
3. The reserve covers an area of 2,500 square kilometers.
4. The launch of the preserve is only the first step in protecting the area from light pollution.

China Tightens Rules for Search Engines

1. Chinese authorities will require search engines to report banned content &verify advertisers’ qualifications in its latest attempt at internet regulation.
2. Under rules to take effect Aug 1,search engines will be prohibited from providing banned information including links,cached pages & associative words.
3. They will also be required to report websites & applications that contain prohibited content.

Govt Unearths Rs 13K crore Black Money

1. The income tax authorities have unearthed Rs 13,000 crore of black money from just two sets of information received in 2011 & 2013.
2. The govt’s crackdown on those holding undisclosed income has yielded hundreds of cases of such income stashed in banks like HSBC, Geneva.
3. It has raised a tax demand of Rs 5,377 crore against such account holders till March 31, 2016.

Reliance Jio Amitabh Jaipuria Steps Down

1. Amitabh Jaipuria, president & mobility business head of Reliance Jio Infocomm, has stepped down ahead of the company’s commercial launch of 4G services.
2. Jaipuria joined Reliance Jio a little over two years back.
3. Later he was asked to manage the company’s mobility business as well as oversee functions.
4. Reliance Jio  had announced plans to launch the 4G services by the end of this year.

All States Barring UP Sign Power for All

1. All states/UTs, barring Uttar Pradesh have signed 24×7 Power for All documents.
2. The plans aim to provide each household the access to 24×7 reliable power supply & also adequate supply to agricultural consumers by 2019.
3. The plans include reduction of Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses.
4. It also emphasises the development of transmission & sub-transmission network.

Bhanubhakta’s Ramayana in Eng Released

1. The first English translation of Nepali ‘Ramayana’, written by the 19th century legendary poet Bhanubhakta Acharya, was released.
2. It was translated by celebrated writer Gokul Sinha.
3. Though Bhanubhakta’s ‘Ramayana’ has been translated into other languages, but not ever translated into English.
4. Bhanubhakta Acharya was a Nepalese poet & writer who translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit to Nepali.