Current Affairs Update – 18th June, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 18th June, 2015. These are important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains 2015 and RBI Assistant 2015 Exam.

Banking
HDFC Bank launches
10-second personal loan disbursement scheme

  • Country’s second-largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank on
    Thursday launched a 10-second paperless instant loan plan for its existing
    customers.
  • HDFC Bank will now disburse personal loans to its customers
    in just 10 seconds. With this product, existing customers will have a
    pre-approved loan amount available to them 24×7.
  • The entire process of availing the loan is completely
    paperless, and users can simply log into their bank account via net-banking or
    mobile banking and avail of this loan at a click, it added.
  • The loan is completely hassle-free and transparent. Users
    will no longer have to wait for disbursement of funds, particularly in medical
    or other types of emergencies.

India
Union Cabinet
approved Housing for All by 2022 Mission

  • The Union Cabinet on 17 June 2015 gave its approval for
    Housing for All by 2022 Mission aimed at providing housing facilities to all
    eligible people in urban areas by 2022.
  • It will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and
    the States and Union Territories (UTs) are given greater autonomy in execution
    of the mission.
  • A detailed PDF will be given soon.

Union Cabinet
approved agreement with Spain on abolishing visa requirements for diplomatic
passports
  • Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 17
    June 2015 approved the agreement between India and Spain on abolishing visa
    requirements for the holders of diplomatic passports.
  • The Agreement will facilitate visa-free travel for holders
    of diplomatic passport of one country while entering into, transiting through,
    exiting from or staying for up to 90 days in the territory of the other country
    with additional safeguards.
  • In order to prevent the misuse of this facility certain
    safeguards have also been proposed.
  • Similar agreements on abolishing visa requirements for
    diplomatic passports holders have been signed by India with 40 countries.

Appointments
G Gurucharan given
additional charge as Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards

  • Senior IAS officer G Gurucharan was on 17 June 2015 given
    additional charge as Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for
    three months. He will hold the additional charge till the appointment of a
    regular incumbent or until further orders.
  • Gurucharan is a 1982-batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre.
    Presently, he is serving as an Additional Secretary in Department of Food and
    Public Distribution.
  • The post of Director General has been lying vacant since MJ
    Joseph resigned and assumed the charge of Director of Controller General of
    Accounts on 15 May 2015. Joseph was appointed as DG of BIS on 6 January 2015.

Aakar Patel Joins as
New Head of Amnesty International India

  • Journalist and writer Aakar Patel has joined Amnesty
    International India as its new Executive Director from today.
  • Patel will head Amnesty International India’s operations.
  • As the organisation’s chief political advisor, strategist
    and spokesperson, he will give direction to its goal of being an independent,
    effective and deep-rooted organisation in India, the London-based global rights
    body said in a statement.

Awards
& Honors –
Hindi writers Babusha
Kohli, Upasana won 10th Navlekhan Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith
  • 10th Navlekhan Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith was awarded to
    Hindi writers Babusha Kohli and Upasana on 16 June 2015. They were awarded for
    poem Prem Gilhari Dil Akhrot and novel Ek Zindagi Ek Ek Script Bhar
    respectively.
  • The awards ceremony held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
    saw discussion on Contemporary Modern Poetry and Fiction Writing by writers
    Upasana & Jitendra Biseria and poetry recital by Babusha Kohli & Dilip
    Shakya.
  • Navlekhan Award was instituted with an objective to award
    young authors writing in Hindi.

Books
& Authors –
Book titled Bikhare
Khyalat written by Abdul Haq presented to Vice-President
  • Book titled Bikhare Khyalat written by Prof Abdul Haq was
    presented to the Vice-President M Hamid Ansari on 18 June 2015. The book is an
    Urdu translation of Mohammed Iqbal’s writing in English tilted Stray
    Reflections.
  • The book contains old jottings based on Iqbal’s impressions
    of the books he was reading at that time, his thoughts and feelings about the
    environment in which he lived, and reminiscences of his student days.
  • According to this book, Iqbal started writing it on 27 April
    1910 but stopped writing after several months for some unknown reason.
  • Prof Abdul Haq is the former head of the Department of Urdu
    at Delhi University.

Sports
India Third in Global
Doping Report For 2013 by WADA
  • India may be considered a sporting minnow but in terms of
    doping by its athletes, it has been ranked third behind Russia and Turkey in a
    World Anti-Doping Agency Report for 2013 with as many as 91 from the country
    testing positive for banned substances in that year.
  • According to the 2013 Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report
    released by the WADA on June 15, Russia has maximum number of dope offenders
    with 212 testing positive while the figures for Turkey and India were 155 and
    91 respectively. Of the 91 Indians, 20 were women athletes.
  • France came a close fourth with 90 dope cheats in the report
    compiled by the WADA based mainly on the information received from National
    Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs). The comprehensive report, which dealt with
    testing of 207513 samples, covered 115 nationalities and 89 sports.
  • If the four non-analytical Anti-Doping Rule Violations
    (ADRVs) are taken into account, India has 95 ADRVs, fourth in the WADA list
    behind Russia (225), Turkey (188) and France (108). Russia had 13
    non-analytical ADRVs, while the corresponding figures for Turkey and France
    were 33 and 18 respectively.


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