Current Affairs Update – 17th June, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 17th June, 2016. These are important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains exam 2016.

• Max Financial Services and Max
  Life have entered into an agreement for a merger with HDFC Life.
• In a statement to the stock
  exchanges, Max Financial Services and Housing Development Finance Corporation
  (HDFC) said that their respective boards have approved entering into a
  confidentiality, exclusivity and standstill agreement to evaluate a potential combination
  through a merger.
• The agreement provides for a
  mutually agreed exclusivity period for due diligence and discussions between
  the parties in relation to a proposed transaction. However, it has not been
  mentioned as to how much stake the foreign partner of Max Life will hold post
  the merger. No timeline has been given for the merger.

• The Reserve Bank on Friday
  simplified the process of registration of new NBFCS by reducing the application
  form and the checklist of documents from the existing set of 45 documents to
  about eight.
• This has been done to make the
  process of registration of new Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)
  “smoother and hassle free”, RBI said.
• “Secondly, from now onwards,
  there would be two different types of applications for non-deposit taking NBFCs
  (NBFC-ND) based on Sources of Funds and Customer Interface,” it added.
• The processing of cases for Type
  I – NBFC-ND applicants would be on fast track mode. As these companies will not
  have access to public fund and will not have customer interface, they will be
  subjected to less intensive scrutiny/due diligence.
• These companies will be
  prohibited from accessing public funds and having customer interface. In case
  these companies intend to avail public fund or intend to have customer
  interface in the future, they are required to take approval from RBI.
• RBI further advised that the
  checklists mentioned by it are indicative and not exhaustive.

• India recorded its highest-ever
  tea production at 1,233 million kilos during 2015-16, while the exports crossed
  230 million kilos during the period.
• Tea production rose by 3% in
  2015-16, up from 36 million kilos in the preceding year, a Tea Board statement
  said on Friday.
• Exports during the last fiscal
  was the highest after 35 years and valued at Rs 4,493 crore, and a 17% rise in
  terms of quantity, it said.
• The last time exports crossed the
  230 mkg mark was during 1980-81, it added.
• Increase in exports was mostly in
  the markets of Russia, Iran, Germany, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE and Poland.
• The increase in production could
  be attributed to a rise in North India, while south suffered from adverse
  climatic conditions and labour issues in Kerala.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  16 June 2016 suggested a mantra, RAPID, to tax officials while inaugurating
  Rajasva Gyan Sangam, a two-day Annual Conference of Senior Tax Administrators
  in New Delhi.
• The mantra, RAPID means R for
  Revenue, A for Accountability, P for Probity, I for Information and D for
  Digitization.
• It will help people to respect
  the rule of law as well as fear of the long arm of the law for those who evade
  taxes.
• During the ceremony, Modi also
  motivated the revenue officers towards achieving high standards in taxpayer
  friendly service in view of fast paced changes in the world economy. He is also
  likely to address some of the challenges faced by these departments.

• Water4crops Project: 9 million
  euro Indo-EU project on water-scarce agricultural sector
• The 9 million Euro Indo-EU
  ‘Water4crops’ project was in news in third week of June 2016 after a review and
  planning meet on the project was conducted from 15 June to 17 June 2016 in New
  Delhi. The review meeting was held to mark the completion of 4-year of the
  project.
• Water4Crops stands for
  “integrating bio-treated wastewater reuse and valorization with enhanced water
  use efficiency to support the Green Economy in Europe and India”.

• Indian-origin diplomat Kamala
  Shirin Lakhdhir was on 17 June 2016 nominated as the next American Ambassador
  to Malaysia by US President Barack Obama.
• She will replace Joseph Y Yun, a
  career member of the Senior Foreign Service.

• Styletag.com, India’s first
  online women’s curated fashion and lifestyle destination has announced the
  appointment of its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Michael Mehran Adnani.
• Michael Adnani will spearhead the
  company’s operations and helm its evolution as it enters into a new phase of
  growth and expansion.
• Michael has joined Styletag from
  Flipkart, where he was the Vice President of the commerce platform and headed
  the strategic brand alliances for the e-commerce giant.

• Russia on 16 June 2016 launched
  the new Project 22220 nuclear icebreaker dubbed ‘Arktika’. It was launched from
  the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg – the second largest city of Russia.
• Project 22220 is the world’s
  largest and most powerful vessel of its kind and it has been built at the
  Baltic Shipyard of the United Shipbuilding Corporation of Russia.
• The vessel is 189.5 yards long
  and 37.1 yards wide.
• It displaces 33540 metric tons
  and is fitted with two specifically designed RITM-200 nuclear power reactors.
• Nuclear fuel for the vessel’s
  RITM-200 nuclear-power reactors is to be produced by the TVEL fuel company by
  the end of 2016.

• Baltimore’s National Aquarium on
  15 June 2016 announced its plan to create an Oceanside dolphin sanctuary. This
  will be first of its kind sanctuary for the marine mammals in North America.
• The aquarium will move its colony
  of eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins to an outdoor facility with natural
  seawater by 2020. Of the eight bottlenose dolphins (six female and two male),
  only one has ever lived in the open ocean.
• For this purpose of creating a
  sanctuary, a team is scouting locations in Florida and the Caribbean for the
  habitat.

• Mohun Bagan on 15 June 2016
  announced that it will honour country’s only Dronacharya football coach Syed
  Nayeemuddin with the Mohun Bagan Ratna.
• Nayeemuddin was chosen for the
  prestigious award for his overall contribution to the club and the country both
  as a player and as a coach.
• He is the only sports-person to
  win both the Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards for football.

• World Day to Combat
  Desertification (WDCD) 2016 was observed across the world on 17 June 2016.
  Inclusive cooperation for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality was the theme
  for the 2016 WDCD.
• The slogan for the day was
  Protect Earth. Restore Land. Engage People.
• The theme focuses on making Land
  Degradation Neutrality, which is a fundamental solution for achieving
  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Manimala  Devi, veteran Odia actress, passed away on 16
  June 2016 following a prolonged illness at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She was 86.
• Manimala ruled the Odia film
  industry in the 1960s as lead actress with her influential performances in
  various films.

• Assam Pradesh Congress Committee
  (PCC) President Anjan Dutta passed away on 16 June 2016 following cardiac
  arrest at the AIIMS hospital, New Delhi. He was 64.
• Dutta donned many hats in his
  eventful political career.

Regards

Team ExamPundit