12th June 2017 - Current Affairs Today

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Kolkata to get India’s first underwater Metro

The tunnel has been constructed 30 meters below riverbed.
It will be connecting two main terminals: Howrah and Sealdah– each of which has a footfall of about 10-12 lakh passengers per day.
It is just a few meters away from the famous Howrah Bridge, built in the last century to connect Howrah and Kolkata.

22nd edition of European Union Film Festival begins

22nd European Union Film Festival (EUFF) has opened at Siri Fort auditorium with the screening of Estonian film Cherry Tobacco.
The five-day event is being organised by the Delegation of the EU and Embassies of EU Members.’
Movies from comedy to family drama, romance and adventure are part of EUFF.

Insurance up for crop loan in Rajasthan

Rajasthan government has raised the insurance cover by 1 lakh to 6 lakh for farmers who avail crop loan from cooperative banks in the State.
It aims to bring around 25 lakh peasants under the scheme.

Hill Area Development Program in Manipur

The program aims to bridge the gap between the hill and valley districts in terms of infrastructure, quality of roads, health and education.’
Areas which form part of a State (which are termed as Designated Hill Areas) covered under the HADP, are the areas identified in 1965 by a Committee of the National Development Council (NDC) and those recommended by the High-Level Committee for Western Ghats in 1972.

India Pavilion at Expo 2017 in Astana

The world class exhibition displays renewable and green technologies.
Theme of Expo 2017 is “Future Energy”
According to preliminary estimates, the three-month exhibition (from 10^thJune 2017 to 10^thSeptember 2017) is expected to receive more than five million visitors from 100 countries and 10 international organisations.

EU, France grant 3.5 mn euros to curb emissions in India

EU and France will give a grant of 5 million euros to three Indian cities- Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad. It is a part of the EU’s commitment under the Paris Climate agreement.
It aims to curb emissions and promote sustainability in these cities.
India has become the first country to get benefits from the MYC initiative.
The initiative is aimed at helping 100 cities across the world to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
The grants have been provided to help India’s smart city program under the ‘Mobilise Your City’ (MYC) initiative.
The MYC initiative is supported by the French and German government and also has financial support of the European Union (EU).
It will promote sustainable urban transport and sustainability in urban spaces.

IOB launches retail mart in Thiruvananthapuram

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), the Lead Bank for Thiruvananthapuram district, has launched the Retail Mart, a retail lending concept, in Kerala’s capital city.
The Retail Mart has been designed with an aim to complete all the pre-release formalities at the customer’s doorstep.
It will also sanction quality retail loans at a competitive rate of interest with a minimum turnaround time.

India drags US to World Trade Organisation for not complying verdict on steel duty

Indiahas approached World Trade Organisation (WTO) against US for its non-compliance of a verdict on high import duty on certain Indian steel imports.
As of now, India has requested WTO dispute consultations with the US to address US compliance with WTO ruling.
If this issue remains unresolved post consultations, India will approach WTO’s compliance panel.
In order to resolve this issue, US needs to amend its domestic regulations pertaining to carbon steel products.

Soumitra Chatterjee to get France’s Legion of Honour

Veteran Bengali film actor Soumitra Chatterjeehas been conferred with the highest French civilian honour, the Legion d’Honneur.
30 years ago, Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was awarded the Legion of Honor by then French President Francois Mitterrand in 1987.

China launches record-breaking drone swarm

China has launched a record-breaking swarm of 119 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles
The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) has said that the feat broke the previous record of a swarm of 67 drones.
According to the CETC, “swarm intelligence” is regarded as the core of artificial intelligence of unmanned systems and the future of intelligent unmanned systems.
Chinese military is also testing to launch mass armed drones as a new technique in battle conditions.

2017 French Open – Overview

116th edition of the French Open tennis tournament took place at Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France from 28^th May 2017 to 11^th June 2017.

2017 French Open – Winners:

Category	Winner	Runners-up
Men’s Singles	Rafael Nadal (Spain)	Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)
Women’s Singles	Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)	Simona Halep (Romania)
Men’s Doubles	Ryan Harrison (US) & Michael Venus (New Zealand)	Donald Young (US) & Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico)
Women’s Doubles	Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) & Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)	Ashleigh Barty (Australia)& Casey Dellacqua (Australia)
Mixed Doubles	Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) & Rohan Bopanna (India)	Anna-Lena Grönefeld (Germany) & Robert Farah (Colombia)

Kutwal wins gold at world chess championship for differently-abled

Shashikant Kutwal has won the gold medal at the 17th World Individual Chess Championship for differently-abled.
Shashikant Kutwal is a railway employee with Pune Division.
Dhanya-Sanmay win U-14 Asian junior tennis title
Dhanya Shah and Sanmay Gandhi have won the Under-14 doubles title of the Asian Junior Tennis Championships on 11^th of June.
Asian Junior Tennis Championships held at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune.

Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships held in Punjab

The event was organised by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) with support from Punjab Athletics Association and Sports Authority of India.
The championship provided an opportunity to Indian track and field athletes to qualify for the Asian Athletics Championships which is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from 6^th-9^th July 2017
More than 700 Indian athletes including top athletes such as Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw), Ankit Sharma (Long Jump), Tintu Luka (800m), Sudha Singh (3000m SC) and Irfan K T (20km Race Walk) participated in this event.