Current Affairs Update – 19th June, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 19th June, 2015. These are Important for the Upcoming SBI PO Mains Exam 2015 and RBI Assistant 2015 Exam.

Finance
SBI launches Online
Forex Platform

  • Country’s largest lender State Bank of India today said it
    has launched SBI eforex, an Internet- based platform that enables customers to
    book their foreign exchange transactions online.
  • The customers will be able to obtain forex rates without
    having to visit the branch, the bank said in a statement.
  • The SBI eforex is an innovative platform incorporating
    robust security features and is designed to be user-friendly, fast and
    convenient.
  • It is a highly flexible product offering the facility to the
    customers to customise and set their own limits for deal size, daily
    transaction limits. Details of all deals done are made available to the users
    on a real-time basis.
  • This is SBI’s second forex technology initiative, having
    launched SBI Fx Out, which enables customers to send foreign currency
    remittances from any its branches in India.

CCEA approved Minimum
Support Prices for Kharif Crops of 2015-16 season
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 17 June 2015 gave its approval for the Minimum
    Support Prices (MSPs) for Kharif Crops of 2015-16 season.
  • All the approved MSPs were based on recommendations of the
    Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) for the Price Policy for
    Kharif Crops for the Marketing Season 2015-16 except for pulses.
  • The CCEA decided to give a bonus of 200 rupees per quintal
    for pulses over and above the recommendations of the CACP in view of a huge
    deficit of pulses in the country.
  • The approved MSPs of pulses per quintal, inclusive of bonus,
    are: Tur (Arhar) – 4625 rupees against 4350 rupees during the 2014-15 season;
    Moong- 4850 rupees against 4600 rupees; and Urad 4625 rupees against  4350 rupees during the previous season.
  • The increase in prices expected to give a strong price
    signal to farmers to increase acreage and invest for increase in productivity
    of pulses.
  • The prices of pulses have increased by over 50 per cent
    during the 2014-15 season due to inclement weather that subsequently resulted
    in import of 5000 quintals of imports by the government.

Indian Mission in
Sweden Launches ‘India Unlimited’
  • Seeking synergies between Swedish and Indian
    entrepreneurship, Indian mission in Sweden has launched ‘India Unlimited’
    platform.
  • The aim of the platform ‘India Unlimited’ is promoting Brand
    India in Sweden and Brand Sweden in India. It seeks to strengthen Indo-Swedish
    connections and partnerships in all areas that benefit both countries,
    especially economic relations and people-to-people ties.
  • The platform was at the forefront during the recent visit of
    President Pranab Mukherjee to the country, the first-ever visit by an Indian
    President to Sweden.
  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Sweden to India is
    pegged at USD 70 million and India exports goods worth USD 732 million while
    Sweden exports goods worth USD 1,679 million.
  • Nearly 150,000 jobs are directly created by Swedish
    companies present in India. The indirect numbers are much higher, including
    sub-contractors, farmers and service providers. A number of Indian companies
    have also invested in Sweden, particularly in the IT sector. In total there are
    more than 50 Indian companies present in Sweden.

India
India offers Tanzania
expertise in natural gas sector

  • India on Friday offered its expertise to Tanzania in
    development of its potentially rich natural gas sector and decided to extend
    e-tourist visa to people of the African nation even as the two countries signed
    eight MoUs to expand engagements in diverse areas.
  • During extensive talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with
    Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, both the countries also decided to
    establish a Joint Working Group to strengthen cooperation in counter terrorism.
  • The MoUs signed included a loan agreement between Exim Bank
    and Tanzanian government on a line of credit for $ 268.35 million for extension
    of a pipeline project and cooperation in the field of hydrology, tourism and
    agriculture.
  • The Prime Minister said he has conveyed to Mr. Kikwete that
    India will soon extend e-tourist visa scheme to Tanzanian tourists.
  • The Tanzania President thanked India for its continued
    assistance to his country and said both the nations have decided to take the
    relationship to the next level.

Union Government
launched weather alert service NOWCAST

  • Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on 18 June 2015
    launched a weather alert service named NOWCAST.
  • NOWCAST will be used to send SMS alerts on extreme weather
    data like hailstorm, thunderstorm and squall originated by India Meteorological
    Department (IMD) to over one crore farmers whose mobile numbers are registered
    on government’s mKisan portal.
  • Further, the mKisan portal will send warning SMSs to farmers
    located in affected district/blocks. These warnings will help the farmers to
    take precautionary measures as needed and feasible. The SMS will be sent in
    English, Hindi and regional languages as per farmers’ request.
  • This technological break-through is a collaborative effort
    between mKisan Portal developed by DAC, weather technologies adopted by IMD and
    GIS Portal of NIC.
  • Besides, Radha Mohan Singh also launched Insurance
    Web-Portals for Farmers (www.farmer.gov.in/insurance) that will enable farmers
    to insure their crops under three schemes.

Prevailing
provisions under which farmers can insure their crops are
  1. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS)
  2. Modified National Insurance Scheme (MNAIS)
  3. Weather based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS)

World
SoftBank teamed up
with Alibaba, Foxconn to market Pepper robot

  • Japan’s SoftBank Corp on 28 June 2015 announced that it has
    set up a joint venture with Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba and
    electronics supplier Foxconn Technology to sell its human-like robot Pepper
    around the world.
  • The company in its statement said that the robot will go on
    sale to general consumers from 20 June 2015 for 198000 yen (1610.54 dollars)
    each plus monthly fee and insurance. These waist-high peeper robots will serve
    as baby-shitters, medical workers or even party companions.
  • At present, these robots which can learn and express human
    emotions are used in stores including SoftBank’s mobile phone shops.

China and Australia
signed Free Trade Agreement

  • China and Australia on 17 June 2015 signed the
    China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) at Canberra in Australia.
  • The agreement was signed by China’s Commerce Minister Gao
    Hucheng and Australia’s Trade Minister Andrew Robb.
  • The chAFTA will ensure 85 percent of all exports of
    Australia to China tariff-free that will rise to 93 percent by 2019.

Sports
Indian paddlers won
team titles at South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships
  • India’s junior boys and cadet girls on 18 June 2015 won the
    team championship titles at the South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis
    Championships at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi.
  • To retain the title in junior boys section, the Indian
    paddlers won all the four matches without dropping a set. Similarly, cadet
    girls won all their matches without a hiccup.


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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:17 am