17th June 2017 - Current Affairs Today

Download : 17th June, 2017 – Current Affairs PDF

NITI Aayog shortlists States for transformative change in health & education

For Health Sector, the shortlisted states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Karnataka and Gujarat.
For Education Sector, the shortlisted states are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

16th NERCPA Conference at Imphal

The conference will planned on themes like ‘North East and Look East Policy’, ‘Special plan for development of railways and airways for speedy economic development of North East region’, and ‘Setting up of a chapter of Speaker’s Research Initiative (SRI) in the region’.
It helps in recognising the importance of north-east region in the holistic development of India.
It is also used to compose appropriate mechanism for interaction with members of both Houses of Parliament for information dissemination and capacity building.
The SRI has conducted several meetings and workshops with stakeholders in democracy and eminent domain experts for members of Parliament during sessions, specifically on subjects listed before Parliament.

Shipping Ministry organise “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sammelan”

The seminar was held to showcase the Government’s and Shipping Corporation of India’s achievements in last three years.

Punjab govt inks MoU with Centre, AAI

The four airports of Bathinda, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Adampur have been connected under the scheme through five proposals.
Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi by Alliance Air is already operational, Delhi-Pathankot-Delhi and Delhi-Ludhiana-Delhi routes will be serviced by Alliance Air from July 2017.
Under the scheme all regions have been connected (Northern region 17, Southern 11, North Eastern 6, Western 24 and Eastern 12).
Under the scheme one lakh seats will be made available to passengers, wherein 50 per cent – 50,000 seats will be under fare cap.
The VGF for the state share will be around Rs three crore per annum.

Govt makes Aadhaar card mandatory for opening bank account

Government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for opening of bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.
The government in Budget 2017 has already mandated link of Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number to avoid individuals using multiple PANs to evade taxes.
Existing bank account holders have been asked to furnish the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by December 31, 2017.

India ranks 75th in environmental impact survey says Report

The survey highlights the individual contribution to the world’s climate and also outlines areas for improvement for each country.
The survey has been topped by Southern African country Mozambique as almost all its energy use comes from green sources.
India ranked dismal 75th, with renewable energy making up only 15.2% of all energy used; only 2.2% of waste water being recycled, and municipal waste of 0.34 kg per person being generated daily.
Although Mozambique has topped the survey, its neighbouring country South Africa has fared poorly ranking at 95^th.However South Africa has performed better than developed economies such as US, Canada and Australia.

UN approves creation of new office on counter-terrorism

Existing Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office (CTITF) and the UN Counter- Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), currently in the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) will be transferred to the new office, together with their existing staff and all associated regular and extra-budgetary resources.
India won re-election To UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). India has been re-elected for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2018.

GST Bill: ClearTax launches free GST billbook software

It is used to assist small and medium businesses (SMEs) in the country get GST-ready.
The GST Billbook is a free of cost software platform.
It works both online and offline and can be used to prepare GST-compliant invoices.
With this Billbook, ClearTax plans to reach out to 1 lakh SMEs in the next 90 days and to 10 lakh SMEs across the country over the next 12 months.
It will be available on the company’s Web site, mobile site and a soon to be launched app.
The GST billbook supports key features needed for SMEs such as, creating a sales invoice, recording of discount, freight, insurance and package handling charges.
It will support other documents mandated by GST such as delivery challan, e-way bill, advance payment receipts
It helps in curbing the tedious task of uploading to GST Network every month.
The Bill book for SMEs is completely electronic solution to help these businesses do GST compliance in the simplest manner with minimum interventions.

China, ADB launch green financing platform to fight pollution

China and the Asia Development Bank (ADB)have launched a green financing platform to cut pollution in the smog-hit Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
China selected five regionsthis week to take part in pilot government green financing schemes.
It would explore new green credit mechanisms, including the granting of loans that accept emission trading earnings as collateral.
The government is only expected to provide around 10-15 percent of the 3-4 trillion yuan of green investment China needs every year over the next five years.

World Bank approves $500 million grant package for Afghanistan projects

The largest chunk of the package, some $205.4 million, will go towards supporting communities affected by refugees returning from Pakistan. Some 800,000 Afghans have been sent back from Pakistan and Iran.
In addition, $100 million will support reforms and business development for the poor.
$20 million will go to improving services in five provincial capital cities.
$29.4 million will help establish wheat reserves and improve grain storage.
$60 million will boost electricity in the western Herat province.

20 Indian firms in top 100 companies in Asia300 ranking

As many as three Indian companies have made it to the top 10 list. Indian IT service provider HCL Technologies came in at the second place, followed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Tata Consultancy Services at the third and fourth place respectively.
Other Indian companies named among top 100 include Sun Pharmaceutical Industries at the 11th place, Infosys (15), ITC (16), Maruti Suzuki India (17), Lupin (18), Dabur India (24), Asian Paints (28), Power Grid Corporation of India (40), Godrej Consumer Products (41), Bajaj Auto (43), Wipro (48), Hero MotoCorp (57), Hindustan Unilever (62), Housing Development Finance Corp (71), Motherson Sumi Systems (72) and Vedanta at 93rd place.
The list was topped by Taiwan’s Largan Precision, the world’s leading maker of lenses for smart phone cameras.

EazyDiner Appoints Yuvraj Singh As Brand Ambassador

EazyDiner is an online restaurant reservation platform.
EazyDiner is currently live in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Goa in India and Dubai.

Virat Kohli becomes fastest to 8000 ODI runs &Yuvraj Singh fifth Indian to play 300 ODIs

Kohli has beaten AB de Villiers’ mark in seven fewer innings
Earlier this year, South Africa opener Hashim Amla had broken Kohli’s record of being the quickest to 7000 runs in ODIs, getting there in his 150th innings.
Amla is also the fastest to 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 runs. Amla is currently at 7186 runs in 153 ODI innings.