Latest Current Affairs – June 21 2018
1. Northern Hemisphere witnesses longest day of the year on June 21
June 21 marks the beginning of summer in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, referred to as the ‘summer solstice’, the year’s longest day and shortest night. A solstice is an astronomical event when the tilt of Earth’s axis with respect to the Sun is maximum. After summer solstice, days start getting shorter till winter solstice on December 21, Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day.
2. India raises import duties on many items against US tariff hike
India raised import duties on almost 30 items including agricultural and steel products in protest against the US imposing higher levies on products shipped from the country. Earlier, US hiked tariffs on certain steel and aluminium products which had tariff implication of $241 million on India. China, EU and other trading partners have also hiked tariffs in protest.
3. Amit Jain to be first Indian MD of L’Oréal India
French beauty giant L’Oréal has appointed Amit Jain as its new India Managing Director, making him the first Indian to lead its operations in the country. He succeeds Jean-Christophe Letellier who, after five years in the role, will take up a new position within L’Oréal Group. Jain has 30 years of experience with companies such as Coca-Cola, Viacom and AkzoNobel.
4. Sikkim government appoints AR Rahman as its Brand Ambassador
Music composer AR Rahman has been appointed as the Brand Ambassador of the Sikkim government, an official notification issued by Chief Secretary AK Srivastava stated. Rahman will promote and project Sikkim’s achievements nationally and globally. Earlier this year, he was made the state’s Brand Ambassador of tourism and business.
5. Rajasthan ranked No. 1 in water conservation: NITI Aayog
Rajasthan has been ranked first by the NITI Aayog among all states after it registered a significant increase in groundwater level due to the water conversation structures built under Chief Minister’s Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan. The state also witnessed an increase of 81% in irrigation capacity. As many as 4 lakh structures were built in Rajasthan in the last three years.
6. PM Modi leads 4th International Yoga Day
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed Yoga with over 50,000 enthusiasts at the Forest Research Institute campus in Dehradun. “Yoga is beautiful because it is ancient yet modern, it is constant yet evolving,” he said. The PM said Yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness.
The Theme for Yoga Day 2018 is “Yoga for Peace.”
7. Kidambi Srikanth named Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year
The country’s top-ranked men’s shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was adjudged Sports Illustrated ‘India’s Sportsperson of the Year’ for his stupendous performance in 2017.
- Women’s cricket team – ‘Team of the Year’ award
- National football team coach Stephen Constantine – ‘Coach of the year’.
- Tennis veteran Leander Paes – ‘Outstanding contribution to Sport’
- I-League side Aizawl FC – Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Team)
- Commonwealth gold medallist Jitu Rai – Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Male).
- Young paddler Manav Thakkar – ‘Young Sportsperson of the Year’
- Golfer Shubhankar Sharma – ‘Gamechanger of the Year’ respectively.
- Legendary hockey player Dhanraj Pillay – Lifetime Achievement Award
8. Indian American Atul Gawande appointed as CEO of New Amazon led Joint Health Care Firm
Eminent Indian-American surgeon, writer and public health innovator Atul Gawande has been named as the CEO of a new US employee health care company,started by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon. He will take over as the CEO of the company from July 9.
9. Trump signs order to stop his policy of separating families at border
President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sought to end immigration policy that separated children from their parents at the U.S. border. In May, Sessions announced that the U.S. would take a stricter stance on illegal crossings at the Mexican border. From April 19 to May 31, some 1,995 children were separated from roughly as many adults at the U.S. border.
10. Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya, selected as the 100th Smart City
Shillong has been selected as the 100th city to receive funding under the Centre’s flagship “Smart Cities Mission”. In January 2016, 20 cities were announced under the Smart Cities Mission, followed by 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016, 30 cities in June 2017, and 9 cities in January this year.
The total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs 2,05,018 crore. Under the scheme, each city will get Rs 500 crore from the Centre for implementing various projects. The 100 Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015.
11. SBI’s MD B Sriram took charge as the CEO and MD of IDBI Bank for 3 months
State Bank of India’s Managing Director B Sriram has been appointed as the MD and CEO of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months. Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. Sriram joined the government-run bank in 1981 as a Probationary Officer. During over three-decade-long career, he held several positions and also had a stint at SBI’s Singapore office. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing a Rs 600-crore loan fraud case involving IDBI Bank.
12. World’s first International Centre for Humanitarian Forensics launched in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
The world’s first of its kind and state-of-the-art International Centre for ‘Humanitarian Forensics’ (ICHF) was launched at the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The centre is a joint venture of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in India, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives and also Gujarat Forensic Science University. The main aim of the Centre would be to provide service to the nation and to the entire world when the need arises.
13. India Smart Cities Award 2018: Surat Smart City selected for City Award for implementation of projects
Nine awards in three categories, i.e., Project Award, Innovative Idea Award and City Award have been announced under the India Smart Cities Awards. The city award is being given to Surat for showing great momentum in implementation of projects especially in the categories of urban environment, transport and mobility and sustainable integrated development.
The Innovative Idea award is being given to a project/idea particularly remarkable for its innovative, bottom-up and transformative approach towards achievement of sustainable integrated development. Joint winners in this category are Bhopal for their Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and Ahmedabad for Safe and Secure Ahmedabad (SASA) Project.
14. Australian golfing great Peter Thomson dies in Sydney at 88
The Australian golfing great Peter Thomson has died at the age of 88. The five-time British Open champion had been treated for Parkinson’s disease for the past four years. The first Australian to win the British Open, he claimed the title five times between 1954 and 1965, a record equalled only by the American golfer Tom Watson. On the US senior circuit he won nine times in 1985. Thomson served as president of the Australian PGA for 32 years, designing and building courses across the country and around the world.
