Current Affairs June 27, 2016 (English)

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the date to exchange pre-2005 bank notes till 31 December 2015.

ii. RBI in an official statement said that the notes can be exchanged for their full value. It has also clarified that all such notes continue to remain legal tender.

iii. Soliciting cooperation from members of public in withdrawing these banknotes, it also urged them to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them.

iv. Earlier on 23 December 2014, it extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 of various denominations by another six months till 30 June 2015 from previous 31 December 2015.

i. India has extended additional Line of Credit (LOC) to the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, of USD 268.

ii. 35 million for financing the extension of Lake Victoria pipeline to Tabora, Igunga and Nzega in Tanzania.The loan has been routed through Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank).

3. Ericsson appoints Paolo Colella as India Head

i. Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson today appointed Paolo Colella as India Head with effect from September 1.

ii. Colella succeeds Chris Houghton who will assume the role as Head of North East Asia region, the company said in a statement.

iii. Ericsson said in his new role, Colella will take a seat on Ericsson’s Global Leadership Team, reporting to Chairman of Region India and Senior Vice President Asia-Pacific, Mats H Olsson.

iv. Paolo takes charge from Chris at a time when Ericsson in India is well poised for growth and team. Fully geared to leverage the new market opportunities and contribute to the growth of the Indian telecom sector, Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said.

4. Union Government exempts educational institutions from prior green nod

i. Union Government has exempted builders from obtaining prior green nod for construction of Universities, School, College and Hostel facilities.

ii. In this regard Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has issued a circular to exempt green nod for educational institutions provided they should follow sustainable environment practises of construction.

iii. These educational institutions are exempted from prior green nod under the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 subject to sustainable environmental management.

iv. It also exempts godowns and buildings which are connected with production related and other associated activities of the unit in the same premise.

5. J-K: Mobile tower set up at 16k feet in Ladakh

i. State-run BSNL, with the Army’s assistance on Friday operationalised a mobile tower at an altitude of 16,000 feet in Eastern Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

ii. The highest mobile tower in Eastern Ladakh at an altitude of 16,000 feet has been operationalised today in a joint effort by the BSNL and Indian Army, Udhampur-based defence spokesman Colonel S D Goswami said.

iii. He said the tower provides vital communication link to one of the remotest locations of Eastern Ladakh at Chongtash.

iv. The mobile tower at Chongtash has been established with assistance from the Indian Army’s Trishul Signallers in terms of transportation, setting up and rearward connectivity, he added.

6. We will push for a second Delhi airport at the right time: Mahesh Sharma

i. As tourism and culture minister and minister of state for civil aviation, Mahesh Sharma, 56, has his hands full.Only a few months into the job, he has a blueprint of what he wants to achieve in aviation.

ii. At present we have MoUs (memorandums of understanding) with 43 counties with which we started visa on arrival since 29 November. Since then, there has been a growth of 1,200%—68,000 people took visas.

iii. And if we add only six more countries to this list of 43— such as China, France, UK, Italy, Spain—we (will cover) 62% of the tourist market of the world.

iv. Till now, we are covering 42% of the international tourist market. Now with the Prime Minister’s and finance minister’s vision of making it to 150 countries, you can very well imagine what will be the impact. Of these 68,000 visas, 32% was from the US alone.

7. India, US ink pacts to enhance cooperation in health sector

i. India and United States have signed a series of agreements on health in order to enhance cooperation in health sector.

ii. The multiple areas covered under such agreement include cancer research, medical infrastructure development and application of new diagnostic technologies.

iii. Letter of Intent (LoI) on Anti-microbial Resistance Research: Set up mechanism of antimicrobial resistance which also include the applications of systems biology.

iv. MoU on collaboration in Environmental, occupational Health and Injury Prevention and Control. Further enhance cooperation in the fields of environmental and occupational health along with injury prevention and control research.

8. International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction concluded

i. The one-day International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction (ICNR) concluded in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

ii. The Conference was organised by the Government of Nepal to raise funds for carrying out rebuilding of areas devastated by the April 25 earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on Richter scale, which claimed nearly 9000 lives.

iii. The Conference was attended by at least 35 countries, including China, Britain, Norway, Japan, Sri Lanka, the European Union besides the UN, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

iv. The assistance is over and above India’s existing bilateral developmental assistance of another 1 billion US dollars over the next five years which takes the total assistance to 2 billion US dollars.

9. International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking observed globally

i. The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was on 26 June 2015 observed globally with the theme Let’s Develop our Lives, our Communities, our identities without Drugs.

ii. This important day was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 7 December 1987 to help create a society free of illegal drugs and drug abuse.

iii. Each year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) selects a theme for the day.

iv. The day is observed internationally by various countries by spreading awareness about Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking through events and programmes.

10. Satnam Singh Bhamara: Meet the first NBA player from India

i. Satnam Singh Bhamara, the first Indian-born player to be drafted in the NBA League, was introduced to basketball by his father, who is a farmer.Picked by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2015 NBA Draft, Singh has made history. But, there’s a long way to go.

ii. In 2010, at age 14, Singh was one of 29 Indian athletes in three sports who moved to the United States to get trained at the renowned IMG Academy in Bradenton.

iii. Florida, as part of a new scholarship programme to promote, develop, and manage sports and entertainment in India.

iv. Although the programme was just three months long, such was Singh’s talent that the academy was reluctant to let him return to India.

11. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar voted best Test player of 21st century

i. India’s legendary batsman and Bharat Ratna recipient Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the ‘Best Test player’ of the 21st century in an online poll.

ii. The online poll was conducted by Cricket Australia’s website for the list of the 100 best Test players since 2000.In this poll, Sachin got the highest number of votes to emerge top on the list. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara received the second highest votes.

iii. In 200 Test matches he had scored 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78. It comprised of 51 centuries and 68 half centuries. Highest test score was 248 runs (not out).

iv. In 463 ODI matches he had scored 18,426 runs at an average of 44.83. It comprised of 49 centuries and 96 half centuries. Highest ODI score was 200 runs (not out).

12. Leander Paes became 47th player to join 100 partners club on ATP Circuit

i. India’s tennis player Leander Paes became the 47th player to play with 100 different partners on ATP Circuit.

ii. The 42-year-old achieved this land mark feat when he joined Marcel Granollers of Spain in a match against Treat Huey and Scott Lipsky at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, the UK.Of these 100 partners, While 71 played with him on the tour level, 29 at the Challenger level.

iii. Among all the partners, Paes had been most successful with his Indian partner Mahesh Bhuapthi with whom he won three of his eight men’s doubles Grand Slam titles.

iv. He won two each with Radek Stepanek and Lukas Dlouhy and one with Martin Damm. Incidentally, all of them are from Czech Republic