7th June 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• The Chinese government as part of its 'uncivilised behaviour law' has released a set of rules relating to public conduct for Chinese tourists. 
• • The rules include interference with public transport, gambling, vandalism and pornography among others. 
  • A violation of these rules could lead to a ban from travelling for a maximum period of five years.
• Switzerland's President Johann Schneider-Ammann today announced the country's support for India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). 
• • The USA and many other NSG members have already backed India's membership due to its nuclear non-proliferation track record. 
  • Note : NSG functions on unanimity, and the support of all 48 members is required for India's membership.
• The United States Navy has today enforced a drinking ban on its sailors in Japan after a US sailor was arrested on the southern island of Okinawa for suspected drunken driving. 
• • This was after the sailor was allegedly involved in a car crash that injured two people. 
  • Note : There are 18,600 US sailors stationed in Japan.

National Affairs

• Guwahati became the first Indian city to have an official city animal after the Gangetic River Dolphin was declared the city's mascot today. 
• • The dolphins are categorized as a Protected species, with less than 2,000 remaining in the Guwahati region. 
• Puducherry’s Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has banned the use of sirens in the cars of VIPs in the union territory. 
• • However, the ban is not applicable to emergency service vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks. 
  • Bedi, a retired IPS officer, has also issued directives that the cars of VIPs will no longer have special privileges like the stopping of traffic.
• According to the Ministry of Power, 8,095 villages have been electrified from April 2015 to June 2016 under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. 
• • PM Narendra Modi had earlier set a May 2018 deadline for the electrification of all villages. 
  • Note : A village is considered electrified if 10% of its households and all public places have access to electricity.
• Indian Railways has decided to install bio-toilets in all coaches to ensure the entire rail network is a zero discharge zone by 2019, ahead of the earlier decided 2021, Railway Board Chairman AK Mittal announced today. 
• • According to the plan, 1.40 lakh bio-toilets will be installed during the next three years, while 37,000 have already been installed.
• Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today announced that medical insurance of ₹2 lakh will be launched for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families for the treatment of serious ailments. 
• • They will also be given an insurance cover of ₹50,000 for common diseases. 
  • Further, families earning ₹72,000 per annum will be provided with free dialysis facilities.
• The Western Railway today started observing a safety awareness week to educate people regarding safety at railway level crossings. 
• • The awareness campaign will be conducted among school and college students and panchayats, and safety drives will be held at level crossings. 
  • Further, all six divisions of Western Railway will observe the International Level Crossing Awareness Day on June 10.

Business & Economy

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the Repo rate unchanged at a five-year low of 6.5% in its bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting today. 
• • The central bank has cut the repo rate by 150 basis points since January 2015, including a 0.25% reduction in April. 
  • The RBI further maintained the reverse repo rate at 6%, and the cash reserve ratio at 4%.
• Retail giant Walmart has topped the Fortune 500 list for the fourth consecutive year. 
• • Walmart is followed by oil and gas company Exxon Mobil and Apple, the top tech company on the list. 
  • While Amazon has been ranked 18th, Facebook has jumped 85 spots to be ranked 157th. 
  • The annual list features 500 US companies based on their total revenue.
• In an attempt to decrease the economic dependence​ on oil revenue, Saudi Arabia, as a part of the National Transformation Plan (NTP), aims to triple the government's non-oil revenues and clamp down on public-sector salaries over the next five years. 
• • Among the 500 proposed projects under the NTP, it also aims to install 3.5 gigawatts of renewable power capacity.
• India's steel imports in May fell 41% year-on-year to 5.46 lakh tonnes, their lowest level in 14 months, according to government data. 
• • This comes after the government had earlier imposed restrictions on imports of cheaper steel from overseas. 
  • Meanwhile, steel production in the country during April-May rose 2.4% to 160 lakh tonnes. 
  • Note : India is the third-largest producer of steel.
• The government has offered Saudi Arabia a stake in the oil refinery and petrochemicals project proposed along Maharashtra coast at an estimated cost of ₹1.5 lakh crore.
• • Oil Minister : Dharmendra Pradhan

Science & Technology

• The Highest Temperature to be ever recorded in the World stands at 56.7°C, as per the World Meteorological Organisation. 
• • It was measured on July 10, 1913 at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley in California, USA. 
  • Note : India recorded its highest ever temperature of 51°C on May 19 this year in Rajasthan's Phalodi city.
• According to a study by IIT-Gandhinagar and IIM-Ahmedabad, the temperature in Madhya Pradesh is expected to increase by 1-1.2°C by 2045. 
• • This will increase the "frequency of severe, extreme, and exceptional droughts", the study found. 
  • The temperature will rise much faster than the Paris Climate Agreement target to restrict it to 2°C till the end of the century, researchers said.
    

Awards & Honors

• Deshauna Barber, a 26-year-old Army Reserve lieutenant from the District of Columbia, has become the first military personnel to be crowned Miss USA by winning the pageant this year. 

New Appointments

• Facebook today appointed Umang Bedi as Managing Director for India, effective from July this year. 
• • He will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who is relocating to the US to take on a new role at Facebook's headquarters. 
  • Prior to joining Facebook, the Harvard Business School alumnus was the Managing Director, South Asia, at Adobe for five years.

Sports

• Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna has earned a berth to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August on the back of his performance at the recently concluded French Open. 
• • Bopanna's ATP men's doubles rank climbed to 10th after exiting the tournament at the quarter-finals​ stage. 
  • This will be Bopanna's second appearance in the Olympics.
• Boxer Vijender Singh is set to fight the WBO Asia title bout against Australian Kerry Hope on July 16 in Delhi, which will be his first as pro in India. 
• • The bout had originally been scheduled for June 11, but was postponed due to logistical reasons. 
  • Note : Singh has not lost a single match since he turned pro last October.

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