02-03 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

02-03 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

02-03 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Elephanta festival of art and culture begins in Mumbai

  • The two-day Elephanta Festival of art and culture kicked off at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai.
  • The gala event is organised on the Elephanta Island and promoted by the Maharashtra government.
  • They are a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to Lord Shiv.
Note:
  • The MTDC organises the festival every year to promote tourism and the culture of Mumbai.
  • The festival is held on Gharapuri island, which was christened Elephanta by the Portuguese after they found a statue of an elephant on the island.
Source: The Hindu

2. Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa leaves for 4-day Sweden visit

  • Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa has left for Sweden a four-day official visit.
  • Mr. Dhanoa will visit various operational and training units as well as interact with senior functionaries of the Swedish Air Force amongst others.
  • The visit would provide an impetus towards defence cooperation and pave the way for greater interaction and cooperation between the Air Forces.
  • This would also strengthen relationships and enable engagement in productive exchanges between the two Air Forces.
Source: Hindustan Times

3. Centre shortlists five cities for International Yoga Day

  • The Union Government has shortlisted five cities (Delhi, Shimla, Mysore, Ahmedabad and Ranchi) to hold National Programme of the International Yoga Day this year.
  • According to Official sources, names of these cities have been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which will finalize the venue of the main function to be held on June 21.
  • If selected, the national capital would be hosting the event for the second time.
  • About 10,000 people, including yoga teachers, professionals, enthusiasts and others are attending it.
  • For the first time this year, Indian experts will be demonstrating yoga postures to the members of the British Parliament.
Source: AIR News

4. AYUSH Ministry launches App to locate yoga centres, instructors

  • AYUSH Ministry has launched a mobile application to enable people to locate yoga events and centres providing training and instructors.
  • ‘Yoga locator’ is a map-based location app which will also enable yoga instructors to register themselves and reach out to a large number of people.
  • The mobile app was launched ahead of International Yoga Day (21st June).
  • Yoga locator app will help people to locate yoga centres as well as yoga instructors within the preferred radius of their vicinity.
  • It will be a permanent app which will give information to people about yoga activities happening in their vicinity throughout the year.
Source: AIR News


5. Assam govt hikes parental income limit under the fee waiver scheme

  • Assam government has hiked the parental income limit to waive admission fees for students taking admission up to Post Graduate level.
  • Student’s whose parental income is less than 2 lakh rupees per year can avail the benefits.
  • All provincialized government colleges and 5 universities are incorporated under the scheme.
Source: Shillong times

6. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik resigns from Bijepur constituency

  • Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has resigned from Bijepur assembly constituency.
  • Odisha’s Assembly Speaker Surya Narayan Patra has accepted his resignation.
  • Mr Patnaik had contested assembly elections from Hinjili and Bijepur constituencies and won both the seats.
Source: AIR News

7. PM-KISAN Scheme extension to include all eligible farmer families irrespective of the size of land holdings

  • The Union Cabinet approved the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana to all eligible farmer families, irrespective of the size of their landholding.
  • The ‘PM-KISAN scheme’ for farmers was launched by PM Modi on 24th February 2019.
  • Under the original scheme, households with agricultural landholdings smaller than two hectares were eligible to receive Rs 6,000 annually (as direct benefit transfers from the Centre).
  • The extension of the scheme will increase its coverage to 14.5 crore farmers, an addition of 2.5 crores, the government claimed.
  • The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana will provide a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 per month to farmers above the age of 60.
Source: The Economic Times


Important Days

8. 2nd June: Telangana celebrates its fifth formation day'

  • Telangana people celebrated the fifth anniversary of its Formation Day with enthusiasm and fervour.
  • Telangana was formed on 2nd June in 2014 following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
  • Telangana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao hoisted the tricolour at a ceremonial programme held on the lawns of Jubilee Hall at Public Gardens in Hyderabad.
  • A number of cultural, sports and social events have been lined up in the state capital Hyderabad & also in districts as part of the celebrations.
Note:
  • Telangana is bordered by the states of Maharashtra to the north and northwest, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka to the west and Andhra Pradesh to the east and south.
Source: The Hindu

9. 3rd June: World Bicycle Day

  • The World Bicycle Day (WBD) is observed by United Nations (UN) on 3rd June every year to raise awareness about the multiple societal benefits of using the bicycle for transport and leisure.
  • The WBD was approved on 12th April 2018 as an official United Nations day of awareness about the multiple societal benefits of using the bicycle for transport and leisure.

Honours & Awards

10. Pratibha Patil receives Mexico’s highest civilian honour

  • Former President of India Pratibha Patil (85-year) was conferred with the “Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the Aztec Eagle), the highest civilian award of Mexico given to foreigners.
  • The award was accoladed by Mexico’s Ambassador to India, Melba Pria, at a special ceremony held in the MCCIA Bhavan, Pune.
  • She is the first Indian female and only the second Indian (first late President S Radhakrishna) to get the Mexico’s civilian award.
  • Pratibha Patil is the first Indian women to have served as the President of India (2007-2012).
Note:
  • The award was created in 1993 by the then President of Mexico, Abelardo L. Rodriguez.
Source: Indian Express


Appointment

11. Nayib Bukele sworn in as president of El Salvador

  • Nayib Bukele (37-years) has been sworn-in as the Central American country El Salvador's President.
  • Mr. Bukele was sworn-in by the Speaker of the National Assembly in downtown San Salvador.
  • Delegations from 83 countries attended the ceremony.

12. Kasturirangan committee submits new draft education policy to HRD Ministry

  • Former ISRO chief Dr Kasturirangan led Committee submitted the draft National Educational Policy (NEP) to HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in New Delhi.
  • The policy draft recommends incorporation of Indian knowledge systems in the curriculum, constituting a National Education Commission and curbing arbitrary fees hikes by private schools.
  • The expert panel also proposed massive transformation in Teacher Education by moving all teacher preparation and education programmes into large multidisciplinary universities or colleges.
  • The topics will include Indian contribution to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, psychology, yoga, architecture, medicine, as well as governance, polity, society, and conservation course on Indian knowledge systems.
  • The existing NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992.

Banking and Finance

13. GDP growth slows to a five-year low at 5.8% in the January-March quarter

  • India's economic growth rate slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 % in January-March 2018-19, due to poor performance in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
  • According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, GDP growth during 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8%, lower than 7.2% in the previous financial year.
  • The growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) was slowest since 2014-15.
  • The previous low was 6.4 per cent in 2013-14.

14. Forex reserve rises by 1.99 billion to 419.99 billion

  • As per RBI press release, India's foreign exchange reserves increased by 1.994 billion to 419.992 billion US Dollar in the week ended 24th May 2019.
  • The reserves had declined by 2.05 billion to end at 417.99 billion US Dollar. 
  • Gold reserves remained stable at 23.021 billion US Dollar.
  • India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund went by 0.8 million to 1.445 billion US Dollar, while the country's reserve position also increased by 2 million to 3.336 billion US Dollar.
Note:
  • Foreign-exchange reserves are the money, assets or other monetary authority so that it can pay its liabilities if needed, such as the currency issued by the central bank, as well as the various bank reserves deposited with the central bank by the government and other financial institutions.
  • Reserves are held in one or more reserve currencies, mostly the United States dollar and to a lesser extent the Euro.

15. GST revenue collection crosses Rs One lakh cr in May

  • The GST revenue collection has crossed one lakh crore rupees in May 2019, which is a growth of 6.67% over the revenue collected in the same month last year.
  • The GST collected during last month was one lakh 289 crore rupees as compared to over 94 thousand crore rupees in the same period of last year.
  • Total of 72.45 lakh GSTR-3B returns was filed in the month of May.
  • An amount of 18,934 crore rupees has also been released to the states as GST compensation for the months of February-March 2019.
Note:
  • The goods and services tax (GST) is a value-added tax levied on most goods and services sold for domestic consumption.
  • The GST is paid by consumers, but it is remitted to the government by the businesses selling the goods and services. In effect, GST provides revenue for the government.

Sports

16. Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur to win Champions League trophy

  • Liverpool breezed past Tottenham at Madrid to win the Champions League Football for the sixth time.
  • In the all-English showpiece, the Reds got the better of Spurs with a 2-nil win.
  • Mohamed Salah put Liverpool in front after just two minutes when he converted a penalty following a handball by Moussa Sissoko.
Note:
  • The European Cup is a trophy awarded annually by UEFA to the football club that wins the UEFA Champions League.

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