Important Current Affairs 1st July 2016

Indian Money in Swiss Banks Drops

1. Money held by Indians in Swiss banks has fallen by nearly one-third to a record low of 1.2 billion franc or about Rs 8392 cr.
2. The funds held by Indians with banks in Switzerland fell by 596.42 million Swiss francs to 1,217.6 million Swiss francs at the end of 2015.
3. This is the lowest amount of funds held by Indians in the Swiss bank.
4. This was as per the data released by the Swiss National Bank.

CBDT Notifies Foreign Tax Credit Rules

1. The tax dept has notified Foreign Tax Credit rules allowing companies to claim credit for taxes paid overseas.
2. The rules will come into effect from April 1,2017.
3. Foreign tax credit (FTC) will be available against tax,surcharge & cess payable under the Act,
4. Taxpayers claiming FTC shall now be required to file a Statement of Income from a foreign country with details of tax paid.

WB to give $1bn for India Solar Projects

1. The World Bank has committed USD 1 billion or about Rs 6,750 cr to support solar energy programme in India.
2. It aims at reducing dependence on conventional energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3. India has a target to generate 1 lakh MW power through solar energy by 2022.
4. The combined investments for India would be the Bank’s largest financing of solar for any country till date.

S&P Cuts Rating on EU to ‘AA’

1. Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings had cut its long-term credit rating on the European Union to ‘AA’ from ‘AA+’ .
2. S&P is the first major ratings agency to cut rating on the EU.
3. The UK voted to leave the European Union last week, plunging global markets into turmoil.
4. S&P said the UK’s exit from the EU would complicate budgetary & policy priorities among the remaining 27 EU members.

Delhi to Host ISSF World Cup Finals

1. Delhi will host the ISSF World Cup finals in 2017.
2. The International Shooting Sport Federation Executive Committee made the decision to award the 2017 edition of the ISSF World Cup finals Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun combined to the Delhi.
3. The event will be hosted in October.
4. This is in addition to the ISSF World Cup series scheduled to be held in the capital in Feb 2017.

Saina Moves to 5th in the BWF Rankings

1. Ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the 5th spot.
2. Saina exchanged places with Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara who now occupies the 6th spot.
3. PV Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings.
4. In the women’s doubles,Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponappa slipped 4 places to be at 20th spot.
5. In the men’s singles,Srikanth Kidambi remain unchanged at 11th.

‘Future Shock’ Author Alvin Toffler Dies

1. Alvin Toffler, the US author & visionary known for several world best-sellers has died.
2. He wrote more than a dozen books charting the cultural shift from manufacturing-based economies to those driven by knowledge &data in the 20th century.
3. His groundbreaking 1970 book was Future Shock.
4. Several world statesmen among them China’s then-premier,Zhao Ziyang were inspired by Toffler’s writings.

Vocalist Veena Sahasrabuddhe Passes Away

1. Acclaimed Hindustani classical singer Veena Sahasrabuddhe passed away.
2. Her singing style had its roots in Gwalior gharana, but it also borrowed from Jaipur and Kirana gharanas.
3. She was known as a singer of khyal and bhajan.
4. She had a bachelor & master degree in both vocal performance & Sanskrit literature.
5. She had also received the ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi’ award in 2013.

Parrikar Dedicates DCN to Nation

1. The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar dedicated the Defence Communication Network (DCN) to the nation.
2. DCN is the first tri-service communication & IT network of the Armed Forces.
3. It is a strategic, exclusive, secure and state-of-the-art communication network.
4. The network provides converged voice, data & video services to the three Services based on secured system with adequate redundancy.

World Bank, ISA Sign Agreement

1. The World Bank Group has signed an agreement to be the financial partner for the International Solar Alliance(ISA)
2. The aim is to collaborate on increasing solar energy use around the world with the goal of mobilising $1 trillion in investments by 2030.
3. The agreement signed in the presence of Arun Jaitley,Piyush Goyal & WB President Jim Yong Kim.
4. The ISA is a group of 121 countries led by India.

HRD Min Launches Portal for Teachers

1. The HRD minister Smt. Smriti Irani  has launched ‘Prashikshak’ – a teacher education portal.
2. It is launched with a vision to strengthen District Institutes of Education & Training (DIETs).
3. The objective of Prashikshak is to define the quality benchmark & thus helping DIETs to make informed decisions about their institutes.
4. It will bring quality teachers into the Indian school education system.

A.K. Bhaduri is New IGCAR chief

1. Distinguished scientist Arun Kumar Bhaduri would take over as the Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR).
2. He took over from S.A.V. Satya Murty on his superannuation
3. He joined IGCAR in 1984 & eventually become the Director of the Metallurgy and Materials Group.
4. He received several awards, including the ‘Metallurgist of the Year Award’ in 2003.

MP CM Inducts Nine New Ministers

1. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has inducted nine new ministers in his council of ministers.
2. Governor Ramnaresh Yadav administered oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal.
3. Out of nine new ministers, four have been given rank of cabinet minister.
4. They include Archana Chitnis, Jaibhan Singh Pawaiyya, Rustam Singh & Om Prakash Dhruve.

Suresh Prabhu Launches NIVARAN Portal

1. Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu has formally launched NIVARAN portal,
2. It is an online system for redressal of service related grievance of serving & former railway employees.
3. This online system facilitates the employees to lodge their grievances and also monitor their progress.
4. Highest controlling authorities shall also be able to monitor the progress of grievance redressal by field offices.

LCA Tejas Inducted in IAF

1. Indian Air Force raise the first squadron of home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas with the induction of two aircraft into the force in Bengaluru.
2. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first two Tejas aircraft to the Air Force for ‘Flying Daggers’ 45,the name of the first squadron of the LCA.
3. The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-seat,single engine,multi-role light fighter plane.

Healing Detected in Antarctic Ozone Hole

1. The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has begun to shrink.
2. The study found that the ozone hole had shrunk by four million sq km an area about the size of India since 2000.
3. Scientists have first noticed the thinning of ozone above Antarctica in the mid 1980s caused by use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
4. In 1987 most of the countries signed on the Montreal Protocol to ban the use of CFCs.

Pentagon Lifts Ban on Transgender Troops

1. The US military has ended a ban on transgender troops.
2. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that U.S. armed forces will no longer prevent transgender people from serving openly.
3. The new rules will be phased in over the course of one year.
4. The military services will begin allowing transgender individuals to enlist, as long as they meet the required standards.

World’s 2nd Largest Diamond Fail to Sell

1. The “Lesedi la Rona,” a 1,109-carat uncut diamond failed to sell at auction in London after the bids fell short of the reserve price.
2. The bidding stopped at $61 million but its reserve price was more than $70 million.
3. It is the world’s largest gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in more than a century.
4.  It was found in the Karowe mine in Botswana

US Human Trafficking Blacklists Myanmar

1. The United States released its annual human trafficking report.
2. It added eight countries, including Uzbekistan & Myanmar to the blacklist of those not doing enough to halt it.
3. Djibouti,Haiti,Papua New Guinea,Sudan,Suriname &Turkmenistan were also added to the now 26 blacklist of govts.
4. Kuwait & Thailand promoted from this “Tier 3” list of worst offender to the “Tier 2 watch list.

China Launches 2nd Shijian-16 Satellite

1. China has launched its second Shijian-16 series satellite.
2. The satellite was carried by a Long March-4B rocket and took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China.
3. It will mainly probe the space environment,radiation & its effects & also record space physical environment parameters.
4. The first Shijian-16 satellite was launched in October 2013.