7th june India ranks 137th on Global Peace Index 2018 • India has moved up four places to the 137th rank among 163 countries on the 2018 Global Peace Index. • Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. • New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark also sit in the top five most peaceful rankings. • Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, a position it has held for the past five years. • RBI tweaks norms to boost housing lending • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the eligibility limit for a loan to classify as priority sector lending in a bid to boost affordable housing. • The move is aimed at giving a fillip to low-cost housing for the economically weaker sections and lower income groups. • For metropolitan areas, loan limits have been raised from Rs. 28 lakh to Rs. 35 lakh. • Co-op banks can become small finance banks • The Reserve Bank of India has decided to allow urban co-operative banks (UCB) to convert into small finance banks (SFB), • The move is aimed at bringing these entities into mainstream banking. • UCBs currently face regulation by both the RBI and the respective State governments. • By turning into SFBs, they will be regulated only by the RBI. • India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio drops to 130 • Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda said India has seen a decline in its Maternal Mortality Ratio from 139 to 130. • India’s MMR has significantly fallen from 167 in 2011-13 to the present figure of 130, as per the latest Sample Registration System figures. • Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has implemented various schemes to increase access to quality healthcare • India-Denmark MoU on sustainable development • The Union Cabinet apprised the MoU signed between India and Denmark. • The objective of this MoU is to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable and smart urban development on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit through an exchange of knowledge, institutional cooperation, research. • Under this MoU, a Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategise. • Outstanding power bill waiver for poors: MP • The Madhya Pradesh government has announced a waiver scheme for outstanding power bills for labourers and poor families. • The scheme is expected to benefit around 77 lakh people in the state. • The state government also approved a scheme to subsidise electricity for registered labourers of the unorganised sector and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. • ‘fund of funds’ to ensure startup funding: PM • Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government’s ₹10,000-crore ‘fund of funds’ will ensure that startups get fundings. • He further said as of now the fund has provided an assistance of ₹7,000 crore to startups. • In the long term, the fund is expected to provide a funding of ₹1 lakh crore for startups. • WB approves 6,000 crore Atal Bhujal Yojana • The World Bank has approved Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY), a Rs.6000 crore Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. • The scheme is to be implemented over a period of five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23. • The scheme aims to improve groundwater management in priority areas in the country through community participation. • Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Ordinance 2018 • The President gave assent to promulgate the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018. • The Ordinance provides significant relief to home buyers by recognizing their status as financial creditors. • This would give them due representation in the Committee of Creditors and make them an integral part of the decision making process. • Cabinet approves MoU between India and Oman • The Union Cabinet approved a MoU signed between India represented by the ISRO and Oman represented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. • The MoU on Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space was signed in February 2018 at Muscat. • This MoU shall enable cooperation in space science, technology, and applications including remote sensing of the earth. • Issue of postage stamp between India & Russia • Cabinet has approved the agreement signed in connection with release of Joint Stamps between Department of Posts, India and Russia Post (MARKA) to establish postal cooperation. • Bilateral relations between India and Russia are marked by broad understanding on issues of mutual interest. • India and Russia enjoy enhanced levels of cooperation in almost all areas of the bilateral relationship. • Myanmar, UN sign pact for Rohingyas • Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an agreement that might eventually lead to the return of some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims. • The MoU signed promises to establish a “framework of cooperation” that aims to create the conditions for “voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable” repatriation of Rohingya refugees. • The U.N. and U.S. have described the army crackdown as “ethnic cleansing”. • Geo-Intelligence Asia – 2018 • The Eleventh edition of GeoIntelligence Asia 2018 was held in New Delhi. • The theme of Seminar was ‘GeoSpatial : A Force Multiplier for Defence and Industrial Security’. • The seminar brought together BSF, Police Forces, Government and industry together to examine the latest technology solutions and on the critical role of geospatial technology in military and security applications. • New course under GIAN launched • NITI Aayog has launched a new course on ‘Urban Analytics – Evaluating and Measuring Sustainability of Cities’ at IIT, Roorkee. • The course was launched under Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN). • The course will provide an understanding and analysis on the urbanisation and its impacts that would help in evaluating the conditions of sustainability in Indian cities. 8th june • World Ocean Day: 8th June 2018 • On June 8th each year, we celebrate the ocean, its importance in our lives, and how we can protect it. • World Oceans Day helps raise the profile of the ocean and inspire more involvement in helping to conserve this amazing resource we all depend on. • The main action focus is to prevent plastic pollution and encourage solutions for a healthy ocean. • Jakhar claimed hammer gold • India won four medals a gold, a silver and two bronze on the first day of the four-day event in Gifu, Japan at the 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. • Ashish Jakhar set a new national record en route to winning a gold medal in the men’s hammer throw event. • Jakhar, a former gold medalist at the 2016 Asian Junior Championships, threw the 6kg iron ball and chain to a distance of 76.86m. • Queen pineapple became Tripura’s ‘State Fruit’ • President Ram Nath Kovind declared Tripura’s queen variety pineapple as state fruit. • The state holds good potential in world trade. • Export of the pineapple to foreign countries is a major step in connecting with world trade. • Tripura exported its first consignment of one-tonne pineapples to Dubai earlier this month. • DAC approves procurement of radars • The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved procurement of high powered radars for the Indian Air Force and air cushion vehicles for the Army and the Coast Guard together worth over Rs. 5,500 crore. • The 12 high power radars will be procured indigenously under the ‘Buy (Indian) IDDM’ category. • The radars will have the capability to scan 360 degrees without mechanical rotation of Antenna, • Consortium to help women entrepreneurs • The UN India Business Forum and the Women Entrepreneurial Platform of NITI Aayog formed a consortium to reduce gender disparities in start-up investments. • It will provide mentorship and networking opportunities and accelerating financial and market linkages for women entrepreneurs. • The consortium aims to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship by creating an enabling ecosystem for investments. • U.S. team to join Indian Ocean study • A team of 20 scientists, along with a key vessel of the United States NOAA, is arriving in Goa. • It will mark the expansion of U.S.-Indian collaboration in the study of the Indian Ocean. • Subtle changes on the surface and deep below in the western Indian Ocean have significant impact on weather in India in days, and in the United States, two to four weeks later. • India not ready to sign the Hague treaty • The government is not yet ready to sign the Hague treaty on inter-country abduction of children by parents fleeing a bad marriage. • The Hague Convention is a multi-national treaty that seeks to protect children wrongfully removed by one of the parents from the custody of the other parent. • It also recommended setting up of a Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority to act as a nodal body. • L&T’s Nabha Power shuts 700 MW unit • L&T Group firm Nabha Power Ltd. (NPL) said it had been forced to shut a 700 MW unit of Rajpura thermal power station due to shortage of coal. • The present crisis was triggered by disruption in the supply of coal rakes to the plant. • NPL has been facing coal crisis since last year, forcing it to operate the plant at critical levels of coal stocks i.e. less than seven days. • HDFC Bank increases lending rate by 10 bps • HDFC Bank , the second largest private sector lender of the country, increased its marginal cost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points (bps) across various loan tenures. • As a result, its one-year MCLR is now at 8.4%. • The move comes after all major banks, including State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank, increased MCLR by an equal amount. • Min of Water Resources accepts major projects • The Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has accepted two major irrigation/multipurpose projects and four flood management schemes/master plans. • The Kaleshwaram Project of Telangana and The Upper Pravara (Nilwande-II) Project of Maharashtra are two projects. • The Advisory Committee met in Central Water Commission, New Delhi 5th edition of the Kalinga Literary festival (klf) kick started in odisha in the presence of eminent personalities fron Indian literature,politics,media and public service • KLF is an annual literary festival held in the Smart and Temple city of Bhubaneswar of Odisha normally in the month of june each year. • KLF WAS LAUNCHED IN 2014 TO celebrate the Classical Language Status of Odia Language. US CELEBRITY CHIEF ,AUTHORED THWE BOOK ““Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”?------------------- Anthony Bourdain Sudheesh Guruvayoor has set a Guinness World Record by distributing the largest number of curry tree saplings in Sharjah. He is native of KERALA Dr. Sapan Kumar Murmu, the renowned doctor of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) has passed away. The VIMSAR is located IN ODISHA Pietermaritzburg,THE South African city hosted the Mandela-Gandhi Youth Conference 2018. 9th June • PM Modi heads to China for SCO Summit • PM Narendra Modi departed for China’s Qingdao to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. • Modi will also hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit. • The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that focuses on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states. • Peace Mission 2018 • India and Pakistan will take part in a joint military exercise for the first time, courtesy the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. • The exercise, which is aimed at countering terrorism and will be conducted in Ural region of Russia. • Member states of the SCO will participate in the joint military drill ‘Peace Mission 2018’ to promote mutual trust, cooperation and coordination against terrorist • Committee to set up Asset Reconstruction Comp • Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced setting up of a committee to give recommendations on formation of an Asset Reconstruction Company. • The committe will give recommendations in two weeks for faster resolution of stressed accounts. • The committee will be formed under Sunil Mehta, non-executive chairman of Punjab National Bank. • 2.25 lakh shell firms to struck off • Centre said it has identified 2,25,910 companies whose names are to be struck off from the register of companies during the current financial year 2018-19. • This comes on the top of the removal of 2,26,166 companies from the register during the previous financial year. • Task Force on Shell Companies, which had, so far, met eight times, was set up in February 2017 by the Prime Minister’s Office • Brazilian tennis great Maria Bueno dies • Brazilian tennis great Maria Bueno passed away after a battle with mouth cancer, according to a statement by the hospital. She was 78. • Bueno was a former top-ranked player who spent most of her career on the court before the professional era. • She won 19 Grand Slam titles overall, seven in singles, 11 in doubles and one in mixed doubles, between 1959 and 1966. • Shantaram Naik passes away in Goa • Former Congress MP Shantaram Naik passed away in Goa, after suffering a heart attack while being shifted to Trimurti hospital. • The 73-year-old was a one-time North Goa Lok Sabha MP and a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. • He successfully contested the North Goa Lok Sabha seat in 1984 and was instrumental in the passage of the Statehood Bill that consequently granted statehood to Goa on May 30, 1987. • Facial recognition system: Varanasi airport • Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport will become India’s first airport to have an automated smart facial recognition system at its entry, security and boarding points. • The initiative, which is part of the DigiYatra scheme, will ensure quicker entry into airports by facilitating automated check-ins. • It will be functional within the next 4 months as per Airport Director AK Rai. • Tree museum in Vadodara • A landfill site in Gujarat’s Vadodara has been converted into a tree museum. • The municipal corporation planted over 12,000 saplings of nearly 100 varieties in an area of 50,000 square metres. • Gardening on the site, which is reportedly worth ₹250 crore, began in 2016 after locals • complained of the bad smell emanating from the landfill. • 1st Indian-made artillery gun ready • India’s first indigenous, long-range artillery gun ‘Dhanush’ has cleared its final test and is ready to be inducted into the Indian Army. • Earlier this month, fifty rounds of shells each were fired from six Dhanush guns, which are reportedly called ‘desi Bofors’. • The gun also passed the tests in cold, humid, and hot conditions. • Scientists in India discover a planet • Scientists at Ahmedabad’s Physical Research Laboratory have discovered an exoplanet, propelling India into a select group of countries which have found planets outside the solar system. • The ‘super-Neptune’ is about 27 times the mass of Earth and six times its radius. • It is most likely ‘uninhabitable’ due to the proximity to its star, 600 light-years away from Earth, scientists found. • HP to scrap semester system in UG courses • The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to do away with semester system in undergraduate (UG) courses and revert to annual examination system. • HP Govt had set up a review committee headed by former vice-chancellor to review RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan) and it has recommended reverting back to annual examination system. • The RUSA was introduced in the state in 2013. • ‘FDI rose to $61.96 billion in 2017-18’ • Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased by about 3% to $61.96 billion in 2017-18. • FDI inflows stood at $60 billion in the previous fiscal. The figure includes equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital. • In the last four years, the government has liberalised FDI norms in sectors such as defence, medical devices, construction development, retail and aviation. • Indonesia wins UNSC vote • Indonesia was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term. • Maldives and Indonesia had contested for a seat in the UNSC. • Indonesia won the seat after securing 144 votes against 46 for the Maldives. • The other newly elected non-permanent members of UNSC are Germany, Belgium, Dominican Republic and South Africa. • Sikkim got its longest tunnel • Minister of State for Defence, Dr, Subhash Bhamre has dedicated a highway tunnel at Theng near Chungthang in north Sikkim to the nation. • The tunnel will benefit the tourism and rapidly propel the growth of the state. • The double-lane tunnel stretching about 600 meters has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation at cost of over 42 crore rupees. • Uranium in Rajasthan groundwater • Many parts of Rajasthan may have high uranium levels in their groundwater. • The main source of uranium contamination was “natural,” but human factors such as groundwater table decline and nitrate pollution could be worsening the problem. • Uranium is not included in the list of contaminants monitored under the Bureau of Indian Standards’ Drinking Water Specifications. • Andhra Pradesh declared open-defecation free • Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has declared the state open-defecation free after achieving the goal of constructing 2.77 lakh individual toilets. • “We’ve completed the task of constructing toilets but they have to be used by every individual. For that, the administration has to take up some awareness programmes,” Naidu said. • Notably, the state’s urban areas were declared ODF in 2016. • CAG to audit Rafale procurement after payment • CAG will audit the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France only after the “deal is fully executed and the payments are completed”. • The ₹59,000 cr deal became contoversial after the Congress claimed that the current deal is more expensive than the one struck during the UPA government. • The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, multirole fighter aircraft. • CRPF jawan posthumously given PM’s medal • CRPF constable Harvinder Singh has been posthumously honoured with the PM’s police medal for saving the lives of Vaishno Devi pilgrims in 2016. • Singh had been helping pilgrims reach the shrine when he saw some women and children trapped under a landslide. • While saving them, he was hit by a huge rock, later succumbing to his injuries. • Indian government sent notice to Facebook • The Indian government has sent a notice to Facebook, demanding an explanation to reports that claimed the platform shared users’ personal data with 60 companies including Apple and Samsung. • “The Government of India is deeply concerned about reports of such lapses/violations,” an official statement said. • The company has been given time till June 20 to respond to the notice. • Solar car to protect Taj from pollution • Students of ACE College of Engineering & Management in Agra have developed a four-seater solar car to help reduce air pollution which is damaging the Taj Mahal. • Priced at ₹50,000, the car can attain a maximum speed of 30 kmph. • The vehicle can be used at night and is also sturdy enough for rural areas, college officials said.