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.

Finance/Banking/Economy
Union Government
hiked national floor-level minimum wage to 160 rupees per day

  • 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.

About national
floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW)
  • 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.

SBI partners with
MakeMyTrip for travel biz

  • 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.

Bharti Airtel is now
world’s third largest mobile operator

  • 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.

Airtel Inks Four-Year
Deal With Nokia for 3G Services
  • 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.

Flipkart Ranked
Second Among Top Global Book Sellers

  • 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’.

Infrastructure sector
grew at 4.4 per cent in May 2015

  • 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
India, Thailand
signed five MOUs during the 7th Meeting of India-Thailand Joint Commission
  • 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.

The signed
Agreements/MOUs includes
  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.

Gadkari Announces
Construction of Two National Highways in North-East
  • 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.

Union Government
approved Shimla drinking water project for World Bank funding
  • 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
Ministry inaugurated Integrated Security System in Mumbai
  • 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.

Memorial for former
PM Narasimha Rao constructed at Ekta Sthal Samadhi Complex in New Delhi
  • 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.

Days
9th National
Statistics Day observed with theme Social Development

  • 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.

World
Nearly 30 percent of
China’s Great Wall disappeared over time: Survey
  • 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, China
Sign Pact to Build Under-River Tunnel
  • 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.

Reports/Indexes
India Among ‘Bottom
Three’ Among 31 in Women Entrepreneurship: Report
  • 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.

Appointments
IDFC appoints former
CAG Vinod Rai as independent director

  • 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
nominates Anisa Rasouli as first female judge to Supreme Court

  • 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.

Sports
First ever day-night
Test in November at Adelaide Oval

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