NATIONAL
UPDATES:
1. Mumbai in top 20 most expensive cities in Asia for expatriates: Mumbai is India's most expensive city and included in the list of top 20 most expensive cities in Asia. The residential housing prices remain the highest in the world according to a recent survey done by the global consulting leader- Mercer. As per Mercer's 25th Annual Cost of Living Survey, Mumbai dropped down to 12 spots. It ranked at the 67th position out of the total 209 cities that were surveyed. The other Indian cities included in the list are New Delhi at 118th place. Chennai is ranked 154th position. Bengaluru stands at 179th position. Kolkata obtained the 189th place.
2. Social welfare schemes awareness at Noksen village:
The Government of India is implementing One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme for
setting up One Stop Centre since 1st April 2015 to support
women affected by violence. About the scheme: Popularly known as Sakhi,Ministry
of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has formulated
this Centrally
Sponsored Scheme. It is a subscheme of Umbrella Scheme
for National
Mission for Empowerment of women including Indira Gandhi
Mattritav Sahyaog Yojana. Under the scheme, One Stop
Centres are being established across the country to
provide integrated support and assistance under one roof to
women affected by violence, both in private and
public spaces in a phased manner. The OSC will support all
women including girls below 18 years of age affected by
violence, irrespective of caste, class, religion, region, sexual orientation or
marital status. The Scheme will be funded through the Nirbhaya Fund. The Central Government
will provide 100% financial assistance to the State Government /UT
Administrations under the Scheme.
INTERNATIONAL
UPDATES:
1. Nirmala Sitharaman among 100 most
influential women driving UK-India relationship: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is among the 100
most influential women driving the UK-India relationship forward alongside one
of Britain’s senior-most Cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt. The ‘100 Most
Influential in UK-India Relations: Celebrating Women’ list was launched by UK
Home Secretary Sajid Javid to mark India Day in the Houses of Parliament in
London on Monday.
2. India welcomes ASEAN's outlook on Indo-Pacific:
India welcomed the ASEAN’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific by saying
that it sees important elements of convergence with its
own perspective on the region. The ten-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has adopted the ‘ASEAN
Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’ after more than a year of
negotiations in the recently concluded (20th to 23rd June 2019) ASEAN Senior
Officials Meeting (SOM) held in Bangkok,
Thailand.
Note: ASEAN
was established
in 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN
Declaration (Bangkok Declaration); Secretariat: Jakarta;
Membership: 10 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
3. NASA to send 'Dragonfly' drone to Saturn moon Titan:
US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
has announced that it will send a multi-rotor vehicle called 'Dragonfly'
to Saturn moon Titan (Saturn's largest moon). Dragonfly
will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking
for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth. Dragonfly
has eight
rotors and flies like a large drone. This will be the first
time NASA will fly a multi-rotor vehicle for science on another planet. The mission will be launched
in 2026
and arrive in 2034. Dragonfly took advantage of 13 years' worth
of Cassini
(a joint mission between Nasa, ESA and Italy that studied Saturn) data
to choose a calm weather period to land, along with a safe initial landing site
and scientifically interesting targets.
4. Indian scientist to be Co-I for NASA’s PUNCH mission:
Dipankar
Banerjee, an Indian solar physicist from Indian Institute
of Astrophysics has been selected as a Co-Investigator
of PUNCH mission by NASA. PUNCH stands for “Polarimeter
to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere”. Mission Objective: It
will image
regions beyond the Sun’s outer corona. It will image and track the
solar wind and also the coronal mass
ejections – which are huge masses of plasma that get
thrown out of the Sun’s atmosphere. The coronal mass ejections can affect and
drive space weather events near the Earth. PUNCH will consist of a
‘constellation’ of four suitcase-sized microsats that will
orbit the Earth in the formation and study how the corona, which
is the atmosphere of the Sun, connects with the interplanetary medium. The
mission is expected to be launched in 2022.
5. Social Media Day: 30 June: Social Media Day is observed annually on June 30th. Mashable
launched Social Media Day as a way to recognize and celebrate social media’s
impact on global communication. Mashable is a digital media website founded by
Pete Cashmore in 2005.
6. International Day of Parliamentarism:
30 June: International Day of
Parliamentarism is observed on June 30. It is also the date, in 1889, on which
the Inter-Parliamentary Union — the global organization of parliaments — was
established. This Day celebrates parliaments and the ways in which
parliamentary systems of government improve the day-to-day lives of people the
world over. It is also an opportunity for parliaments to take stock, identify
challenges, and ways to address them effectively
7. International Asteroid Day: 30 June: International Asteroid Day on 30th June is an annual
global event which is held on the anniversary of the Siberian Tunguska event. The
Siberian Tunguska event that took place on June 30, 1908, the most harmful
known asteroid-related event on Earth in recent history. Tunguska event is
believed to have been caused by an incoming asteroid (or comet), which never
actually struck Earth but instead exploded in the atmosphere, causing what is
known as an air burst, three to six miles (5–10 Kms) above Earth’s surface.
OTHER
UPDATES:
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. Indian Crypto Exchange Koinex Shuts down its operation:
India's Largest cryptocurrency exchange, Koinex terminating its digital asset
trading set-vices and other crypto-related operations citing regulatory
uncertainty and disruption. It was facing problems with its payment services
and gateways, along with non-crypto related transactions like payment of
salaries, rent, and purchase of equipment. It started its digital assets
exchange services in August 2017. It executed over 20 million orders in trading
volume on its platform so far. The country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI), barred banks from serving companies dealing in cryptocurrency
exchanges.
Note: Koinex
Founders:Rahul Raj, Rakesh Yadav, Aditya Naik
2. Sarada Kumar Hota took over as NHB MD:
Government of India, Canara Bank General Manager (GM) Sarada Kumar Hota assumed
charge as the National Housing Bank (NHB) Managing Director. It lasted for a
period of three years. He succeeds Sriram Kalyanaraman. Earlier he served as
the managing director of Can Fin Homes, a subsidiary of Canara Bank. NHB
is now 100% owned by the government.
Note:
NHB Founded: 9 July 1988; Headquarters: New Delhi
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. NALCO to get President’s award for excellent CSR in social
development: Odisha-based Navaratna
Company NALCO has been selected for President's
award for utilization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund in
social development. In 2015, NALCO started "Aliali Jhia", a new
scheme on the line of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to promote the
education of Girls of BPL families. Under this scheme, 416 girls
from BPL families of 66 villages of Anugul, Damanjodi and
Potangi area in Anugul and Koraput districts have been adopted by Company.
These girls are reading in 45 different schools. NALCO is bearing all the
expenditure for education and promotion of talent from 8th to 10th class
