3rd June 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

The 'Good Country' 2015 index has named Sweden the best country in the world in terms of serving its citizens' interests and contributing to the 'common good of humanity'.
- Sweden has been followed by Denmark and the Netherlands, while Libya has been ranked last on the list, at the 163rd position.
- Top 10 countries in the list
- - Sweden,
  - Denmark,
  - Netherlands,
  - United Kingdom,
  - Germany,
  - Finland,
  - Canada,
  - France,
  - Austria,
  - New Zealand
- Note : India has been placed at 70th position, three places after China.
India and Singapore today agreed to increase the interaction between their armed forces and defence research and development at the first dialogue between their defence ministers.
Northern Ireland will lift the ban on homosexual and bisexual men donating blood, its Health Minister Michelle O'Neill announced today.
China will send five ships to participate in a United States-hosted naval drill this summer.
- The Rim of the Pacific exercise (RIMPAC), the world's largest international maritime exercise, is conducted in June and July, every two years in Hawaii.
- Note : China earlier participated in the RIMPAC in 2014.
According to a Global Renewables Report 2015 India being ranked among the top five nations in new investments, and in the top four as regards creating jobs in the green energy sector.
- India’s investments in renewable energy sector increased to $10.2 billion in 2015, when compared to $8.3 billion in 2014.
- Top 5 Nations in the List are
- - China
  - US
  - Japan
  - UK
  - India

MOUs & Agreements.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Madhya Pradesh's Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL).
- Under the agreement, RUMSL will provide 150-200 MW solar power daily from 2017 to operate DMRC's trains.
- According to reports, the 750 MW solar power project, once completed, will be the world's largest solar power plant.

National Affairs

Rajya Sabha members are now allowed to wear the national flag in the form of a lapel pin in the House from the upcoming Monsoon Session in July.
- This comes after a recommendation by the General Purposes Committee of Rajya Sabha.
- Note : MPs of the Upper House were previously barred from wearing any badge including the tricolour.
According to a joint study by Assocham and cKinetics, e-waste generated by India is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30%.
- The country is likely to generate 52 lakh metric tonnes of annual e-waste by 2020 from the current level of 18 lakh metric tonnes.
- Further, only 1.5% of India's total e-waste gets recycled, the study added.
The Maharashtra government has invited animal welfare organisations to nominate candidates for the post of 'Honorary Animal Welfare Officer' to help implement the beef ban.
- The officers will help expose cases of cow slaughter or illegal possession of beef.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered the complete sealing of Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam by June 2017 to check illegal immigration.
- This follows Assam’s newly elected Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's electoral pledge of sealing the said border within two years.
- Note : The total length of the Indo-Bangladesh border is 4,096 km, of which 284 km falls in Assam.

Business & Economy

The RBI today directed all banks to immediately frame cybersecurity policies, separate from their overall IT and security policies.
- Banks must take necessary preventive and corrective measures for addressing cyber threats like denial of service, ransomware, malware, business email frauds including spam, phishing, identity frauds, and password related frauds among others, the RBI said.
Pakistan has in its annual budget announced that it will raise its defence budget by 11% to 860 billion Pakistani rupees, from 776 billion Pakistani rupees allocated last year.
- Pakistan had, even in the budget for the previous year 2015-2016, increased the defence budget by 11%.
- A further 800 billion Pakistani rupees were set aside for development projects.

New Appointments

Indian-origin Sayonara Luxton, who was born in Goa, is now the Mayor of the royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the United Kingdom.
Nita Ambani today was nominated for the Membership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
- If elected, she will become the first Indian woman to be a member of the Olympic governing body.
- Note : She has been nominated for her contribution towards promoting sports and education among the youth in India.
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Satyanarayana Chowdary were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh today.
- Further from Maharashtra, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane were also elected unopposed in the biennial elections.
Senior IPS officer Navin Agarwal was today appointed Chief of National Anti-Doping Agency ( NADA ), working for dope-free sports .
In Tamil Nadu, P Dhanapal and Pollachi V Jayaraman were today unanimously re-elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the Legislative Assembly.
In Kerala, ruling LDF candidate P. Sreeramakrishnan was today elected Speaker of the 14th State Assembly.

Science & Technology

NASA today announced that it has selected Blue Origin to help transport new technologies to space on its reusable New Shepard rocket.
- Blue Origin is the sixth company to get selected for the program that offers ways to transport technologies into space.
- The six companies will compete for the task orders to deliver payload integration and flight services.

Sports

Indian teen golfer Shubham Jaglan recently clinched his maiden European Junior Championship held at the Craigielaw Golf Club in Longniddry, Scotland.
- The 11-year-old had finished as the runner-up at the same event last year.
- He also won the Junior Golf Academy World Stars and Junior World Golf Championships in 2015, and World Junior Golf Tournament in 2013.
The ICC committee, led by former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble, has suggested limiting the dimensions of bats used in matches to restore balance between batting and bowling.
- The Committee received a research paper from the Marylebone Cricket Club with scientific and statistical evidence, which revealed that bats have become more powerful over the years, mainly due to having bigger ‘sweet-spots’.
The International Olympic Committee today unveiled its first ever team of refugees comprising 10 members and 12 officials set to compete at the Rio Olympics under the Olympic flag.
- The team includes five athletes from South Sudan, two each from Syria and Democratic Republic of Congo and one from Ethiopia.
- The athletes will compete in swimming, judo and athletics.
E-commerce giant Flipkart has launched Flipkart Gaming Online Championship (FGOC), an online eSports tournament being held between June 3 and July 11.
- The tournament will feature four games, namely FIFA, Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends (LOL) and Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2). Gamers can register for the same on a Facebook page named "Flipkart Gaming".
Five new sports – baseball, skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing and karate – are set to feature at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after the International Olympic Committee today recommended their inclusion.
- As part of reforms initiated in 2014, Olympic hosts can bring in sports popular in their countries to boost ratings, attract greater sponsorship and a younger generation of fans.

3rd June 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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