Current Affairs Update – 30th June, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 30th June, 2015. These are important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains 2015 and RBI Assistant 2015 Exam.

• The Union Government in June 2015 increased the national floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW) to 160 rupees per day from 137 rupees per day. The new rate will be effective from 1 July 2015.
• If states revise their minimum wages as per the new NFLMW, the decision is expected to benefit millions of workers in the scheduled employments in the respective state jurisdictions.

• It was implemented for the first time in 1996 on the basis of the recommendations of the National Commission on Rural Labour (NCRL) under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
• It is a non-statutory measure and after every revision, the State Governments are persuaded to fix minimum wages such that in none of the scheduled employments, the minimum wage is less than NFLMW.
• It was fixed at 35 rupees per day in 1996 and has since been revised almost regularly every two years taking into account the increase in the CPI (IW).
• It was last raised in July 2013 from 115 rupees a day fixed in 2011.

• In its series of digital initiatives and tie-ups, State Bank of India, country’s largest bank, partnered with online travel company MakeMyTrip.com to capitalise on the business opportunities of the booming e-commerce and m-commerce ecosystem.
• The alliance includes partnership with personal banking unit for consumer facing propositions – including EMIs on purchase of holidays & international travel, customized travel products like Forex cards and travel products that inspire SBI customers to travel.
• It also includes partnership with SME & Acquiring Business -- MMT suppliers, such as 2-3 star hotels, franchisees, Trade & Travel partners will get access to SBI products, loans, bank guarantees, PoS payment instruments at preferential rates and partnership with cards for promoting card usage which will help in pushing the agenda of a less cash economy.
• MakeMyTrip customers will be able to access special offers from SBI on debit/credit cards and personal financing.

• Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel is now the world's third largest mobile operator with 303 million subscribers.
• With operations in 20 countries, Bharti Airtel, which is present in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa, has "become the third largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscribers", the company said in a statement.
• Quoting latest data published by World Cellular Information Service (WCIS), it said Airtel has over 303 million mobile subscribers across its operations and has moved up one position in the global rankings. China Mobile, according to WCIS, is the top mobile operator in the world with 626.27 million subscribers. Vodafone Group of UK ranks second with 403.08 million subscribers.
• China Unicom is ranked fourth with 299.09 million subscribers, followed by America Movil with 274.14 million users.

• Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has selected Nokia Networks for the rollout its 3G services in five telecom circles and network expansion in three zones.
• Under the four-year contract, Nokia will provide its equipment and services to Bharti Airtel's infrastructure.
• Bharti Airtel in the spectrum auction held in February this year bought 3G spectrum in seven telecom service areas, including in six new circles of Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and UP East, for Rs 5,833.5 crore. It bought additional slot in Tamil Nadu.
• Under the deal, Nokia will work on network planning and optimisation, network implementation, network operations, project management and care services, including hardware and software maintenance as well as competence development.

• E-commerce major Flipkart has been ranked second among top book sellers of the world, according to a survey.
• Flipkart is the only Indian brand to be ranked among the top five, says the survey report 'Top 40 Global Bookstore Mind Share' (BMS Index).
• The survey, which assessed both offline as well as online book sellers across the globe, has ranked Flipkart ahead of companies like Barnes & Noble of the United States, FNAC of France, Waterstones of the UK and The Book Depository, also from UK.
• The results were finalised by standardising data from sources like Wikipedia traffic, Google Books N-Gram and Google search term frequency.
• The index was based on two factors -- the number of people thinking about these stores and its frequency.
• The research project for BMS Index was led by Paul Xavier McCarthy, Adjunct Professor of University of New South Wales, Australia and author of 'Online Gravity'.

• The output of eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 4.4 per cent in May, the highest growth rate in past six months, on the back of upsurge in production of coal and refinery products.
• The output of eight core sectors had declined in the previous two months of March and April. The core sectors had expanded at a rate of 3.8 per cent in May 2014. The growth in May 2015 was driven by healthy output of coal (7.8 per cent), refinery products (7.9 per cent) and electricity generation (5.5 per cent).
• Crude oil production increased by 0.8 per cent while steel and cement grew by 2.6 per cent. Fertiliser output grew by 1.3 per cent. Natural gas, however, recorded a negative growth of 3.1 per cent in May 2015.
• In March and April, the eight sectors, which contribute 38 per cent to overall industrial production, had declined by 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. The core sectors’ growth rate in May this year is the highest since November 2014, when these segments had expanded by 6.7 per cent.
• During April-May period of the current fiscal, the sectors’ output expanded by 2.1 per cent as against 4.7 per cent in the same period last year.

• India and Thailand on 29 June 2015 signed five Agreements/ Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) during the 7th Meeting of India-Thailand Joint Commission in Bangkok.
• The documents were signed by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn.
• Swaraj was on a three-day (27-29 June 2015) visit to Thailand and during the travel she co-chaired the 7th meet of the India-Thailand Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation.

1. Agreed Minutes of the Seventh Meeting of the Thailand-India Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation: Record of decisions on the review of bilateral relationship at Ministerial level.
2. Exchange of Instruments of Ratification of the Treaty on Extradition: The Treaty provides the legal framework for seeking extradition of fugitive offenders, including those involved in terrorism, transnational crimes, economic offences etc. This will help both the countries in expedited extradition of fugitives. This Treaty would further strengthen the relationship between two law enforcement agencies by providing a firm legal basis for their bilateral cooperation
3. Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Nalanda University: By signing this Agreement, Thailand joined other East Asian Summit (EAS) countries in the establishment of Nalanda University
4. Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on Income: The agreement provides the framework to avoid double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income so as to promote economic cooperation between two countries.
5. MoU on the Establishment of the "Academic Chair” in Ayurveda: The MoU was inked between Ministry of AYUSH, India and Rangsit University, Thailand. Under the MoU, the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences will set up a Chair at Rangsit University, Thailand to undertake an academic and research activities in Ayurveda.

• As part of Centre's efforts to strengthen infrastructure development in the North-East, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today announced the construction of two new national highways to connect Tripura with Assam.
• "The state government has long been demanding for construction of two new national highways – one from Sabroom to Kukital in Assam and the other is from Khowai sub-division to Agartala," Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
• "These highways would be constructed under 'Bharatmala' and works would be started before December this year. The total expenditure would be Rs 801.79 crore," he said after laying foundation of the double laning of a 55-km long road from here to Udaipur in Gomati district.
• A 30-km long road would also be constructed from Jolaibari in South Tripura district to Bangladesh border and double laning of the Assam-Agartala national highway from Churaibari to Sabroom would soon be completed.
• He said, recently an agreement was signed in Thimpu in Bhutan for road connectivity between India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

• The Union Government on 29 June 2015 approved 643 crore rupees drinking water and sewerage project for Shimla town for World Bank funding. Under the project, World Bank will provide a loan of 514 crore rupees and remaining 129 crore rupees will be provided by the state government as counterpart funding over a project period of three years.
• The project would help the people of Shimla and adjoining Special Planning Area in addressing the chronic water shortage problem and also sewerage connectivity.

The project approved by the Union Finance Ministry during a meet in New Delhi would have three components and they are

1. Augmentation of water supply of Shimla town by lifting water from Kol Dam reservoir
2. Rehabilitation of water supply distribution system
3. Rejuvenation of sewerage network

• Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 29 June 2015 inaugurated the Integrated Security System (ISS) at four railway stations in Mumbai comprising Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar, Kurla and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT).
• The ISS was installed with a total cost of 21.72 crore rupees. The ISS is aimed at improving security on Railway premises, ensuring safety of the people and averting terror attacks.
• The system will monitor passenger activities through a network of CCTV cameras at six railway stations comprising CST, Dadar, Kurla, LTT, Kalyan and Thane. It has a total of 118 CCTV cameras that will beam the live images of railway stations under its coverage on six monitors.

• Construction of a memorial for former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was completed in the fourth week of June 2015 at the Ekta Sthal Samadhi Complex in New Delhi.
• The completion of the work coincided with his birth anniversary that falls on 28 June.
• Already, Ekta Sthal Samadhi Complex hosts memorials of former Presidents Shankar Dayal Sharma, K R Narayanan, R Venkatraman, Giani Zail Singh and former Prime Ministers - Chandrasekhar and I K Gujral.
• P V Narasimha Rao (1921-2004) was the tenth Prime Minister of India.
• During his tenure between 1991 and 1996, along with his finance minister and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he introduced a slew of economic reforms, known as New Economic Policy (NEP) or Rao-Manmohan growth model.

• India on 29 June 2015 observed its ninth National Statistics Day. Theme for the 9th Statistics Day is Social Development.
• The day organised by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) commemorates the birth anniversary of late Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
• PC Mahalanobis born on 29 June 1893 was an Indian Bengali scientist and applied statistician. He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure. He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India.
• Later in his life, as a member of Planning Commission, he gave the Two-sector Input-output model for the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) which became famous as Nehru-Mahalanobis model or Basic Industry strategy of economic growth.
• He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.
• World Statistics Day is celebrated on 20 October 2010 worldwide.

• The Great Wall of China, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was in news in the fourth week of June 2015 as Beijing Times published a survey report stating that around 30 percent of the Wall disappeared overtime and around 1185 km of the fortification are in poor condition.
• The survey was conducted by the Great Wall of China Society in 2014.
• As per the survey, the disappearance of over 1962 kms length of the wall, out of the total length varying between 9000 km to 21000 km, was caused by numerous factors over many centuries.
• Some of them are perennial exposure to wind and rain, tourism, growth of plants in the walls and reckless human activities like stealing the bricks to build houses, etc.
• Though the construction of the UNESCO World Heritage site was first begun in the third century BC, nearly 6300 kms were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

• Bangladesh signed an agreement with China for the construction of a 3.5-km tunnel under the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong at an estimated cost of over USD 1 billion.
• Ministry spokesperson Abu Naser said that Bangladesh's Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges signed the deal with China Communications Construction Company in Beijing, .
• Bridges Division Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh in presence of Minister Obaidul Quader, Naser was quoted as saying by bdnews24.Com.
• A memorandum of understanding was signed between Bangladesh and China for the tunnel during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Beijing visit in June last year.
• The tunnel would be connected to the proposed Asian Highway and to Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway, according to the minister.
• It is expected to be completed by December 2018.

• When it comes to opportunities for women to start entrepreneurial initiatives, India is placed in the "bottom three" among 31 countries as lack of equal rights hinder their opportunities, says a report.
• United States, Canada and Australia were named best countries for women entrepreneurs, while India was ranked among the bottom three, according to the Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard released at Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network summit in Bangalore.
• The 2015 scorecard that evaluates 31 countries, ranked India at the 29th position, followed by Pakistan (30th) and Bangladesh (31st).
• The United States topped the list due to predominantly favourable business environment and women's job mobility in the private sector registering an overall score 71 per cent.
• Sweden and the UK made to the top five positions with 68 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively.
• In India only 4 per cent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are women, while a mere 9.5 per cent of board members belong to the fairer sex and in case of senior management, the figure stood at around 15 per cent.

• Infrastructure financing firm IDFC today appointed Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), as independent director.
• The appointment has been made with immediate effect, IDFC said in a filing on the BSE.
• Rai also worked as Financial Services Secretary. He was director on several boards including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and Life Insurance Corporation of India.
• He was instrumental in setting up the India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited and was also on the board of that company.

• Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday nominated a female judge to sit on the Supreme Court in an unprecedented move that has angered some Islamic conservatives.
• Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan Women Judges Association and a former juvenile court judge, was the only female nominated to the nine-member bench after the announcement was delayed due to opposition by a group of Islamic conservatives earlier this month.
• The nomination, which requires approval by parliament, is part of efforts by Ghani's unity government to promote more women to high-profile positions since he and his Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah assumed office last September.
• Under the constitution, Supreme Court judges have fixed ten-year terms. In April lawmakers approved Ghani's nominees for a number of cabinet positions, including four women.

• Australia and New Zealand will play the first ever day-night Test in November this year, Cricket Australia (CA) has confirmed.
• This historic match will be played at the Adelaide Oval from November 27, CA said today.
• This game will be the third and final Test of the series between the Trans-Tasman rivals for Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
• Pink Kookaburra ball will be used.
• The first ever Test match was played in 1877 and so far till date 2,168 five-day games have taken place. And in November it will be a new beginning for the traditional format.

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