Current affairs JUNE 2010

GK UPDATES – JUNE 2010
NATIONAL
 Anti Tank Missile ‘Nag’ test fired successfully from Army’s Firing Range at Shamirpet, Hyderabad.
 A recent amendment to Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 adds “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a new ground for seeking divorce.
 Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka visits India; signs seven pacts.
 World Classical Tamil Conference held at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
 National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) launched; Aim: to cut down green house gas emission by 98 MT per year.
 Civil Nuclear Co-operation Agreement signed with Canada, at Toranto
 Agreement signed with Botswana, for development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
 Prithvi – II, nuclear capable ballistic missile, test fired from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Balasore, Orissa. Range – 350 kms.
 Two water-jet propelled fast attack crafts, INS Cankarso and INS Kondul, launched by Navy at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
 Manohar Malgaonkar, 97, a veteran English author, died at Jagalpet, Karnataka.
 Basant Kumar Singha Roy, a PNB employee, scales Mount Everest.
 Women to be allowed ‘permanent commission’ in Indian Air Force.
 Country’s biggest solar power plant (3MW) set up at village Yelesandra near Bangarpet, Distt Kolar, Karnataka.
 UIDAI -- The Unique Identification Authority of India, to start collecting biometrics data of entire adult population of India from Dec – 2010 for compiling National Population Register.
 Delhi to have India’s first solid waste based power plant to process around 2000 MT per day of solid waste to generate 16 MW.
 The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal Gas Tragedy recommends package of Rs. 1500 crore.
ECONOMY
 Govt deregulates petrol and diesel price and makes them market driven as per recommendations of Kirit Parikh Committee
 GDP growth rate for 2009-10 revised to 7.4%.
 Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy common and grade A declared at Rs. 1000 and Rs.1030 per quintal.
 25% public shareholding made mandatory for all listed companies
 All commercial banks shift to the system of Base Rate wef July 1, 2010.
 India enters in to Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Vietnam and Myanmar.
 Index of Industrial Production (IIP) registers highest growth of last 20 years – 17.6 % in April, 2010.
 JNNURM – Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Rural Mission, to be extended to cover 28 more cities; at present covers 63 cities.
INTERNATIONAL
 Afghanistan reported to have mineral reserves of nearly one trillion dollars, estimated by US Geological Survey.
 Iran and Pakistan sign deal for supply of natural gas by Iran, through pipeline.
 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
 G-20 nations conference held at Toranto, Canada.
 G – 8 nations meet held at Huntsville, Canada.
 Hayabusa, A Japanese spacecraft, comes back after making world’s first round trip to an asteroid (Itokawa).
 Anamika Veeramani, an Indo American girl won the Scripps National Spelling Bee Contest, USA.
AWARDS / HONOURS
 Anuvrat Ahimsa International Peace Award : S. N. Subba Rao
 Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar – 2008 : Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foudation
 Hon. Group Captain of IAF, : Sachin Tendulkar, Brand Ambassador for IAF
APPOINTED / ELECTED
 Naoto Kan : New Japanese Prime Minister P Bhatt : Chairman of Indian Banks’ Association
 Julia Gillards: First women PM of Australia K G Balakrishnan (Justice) : Chairman, National Human Rights Commission
ABBREVIATIONS
 CICA : Conference on Interaction and Confidence building measures in Asia
 UNSC : United Nations Security Council SCO : Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
 INTACH : Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage SCOPE : Standing Conference on Public Enterprises
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Fault Lives: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy – Raghuram Rajan, Princeton University Press.
SPORTS
 Vuvuzela : The high sound plastic trumpet, very popular in FIFA.
 Master Chandgi Ram: Bharat Kesari, A veteran wrestler, passes away.

Source: ctdi