19 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Om Birla unanimously elected as Speaker of 17^th Lok Sabha

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Om Birla was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha on 19th June.
He was declared elected and the Speaker by pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar.
His candidature as the Speaker was supported by all major parties including Congress, TMC, DMK and BJD.
He succeeded Sumitra Mahajan to replace her as the LS speaker.
Sumitra Mahajan did not contest the Lok Sabha elections this year.
A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Birla.
Om Birla represents the Kota parliamentary constituency since the 2014 general elections and well-known political leader from Rajasthan.

Note:

Birla’s political career took off at the age of 17 when he became president of the students association of the Government Senior Secondary School in Gumanpura in Kota in 1979.
Birla has been a three-time member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Rajasthan. He first contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.
The 56-year-old Birla has been an agriculturalist and social worker in Rajasthan. He is married to Amita Birla and has two daughters.

2. IIT Bombay has emerged the country’s best university: QS Rankings

IIT Bombay has emerged the country’s best university for the second consecutive year in the 2019 QS World University Ranking.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was named the world’s best for a record eighth consecutive year.
Twenty-three Indian institutes feature in the sixteenth edition of the QS World University Ranking in which IIT Bombay (152), IIT Delhi (182) and Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (184) are ranked in the global top 200.
Four of the 23 Indian institutes improved their position and seven dropped in rank, compared to last year. OP Jindal Global is the only new entrant from India this year.
IISc Bangalore, meanwhile, has achieved the world’s second-best score for research impact, adjusted for faculty size.
The institute has achieved a perfect score of 100/100 for QS’s Citations per Faculty metric and is the first Indian institution ever to see its research cited more than 100,000 times in a five-year period.
Produced by global higher education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds, QS ranks the world’s top 1,000 universities.
Asia’s top universities are the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University (both ranked 11th).

Source: The Indian Express

3. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approves Cancer Institute at GMC Jammu

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has formally approved 120 crore rupee Cancer Institute at Government Medical College, Jammu for strengthening the tertiary level cancer services in the
Earlier, one State Cancer Institute was approved for Shere Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura in Srinagar for which first grant-in-aid of 25 crore rupees has already been released.
With the setting up of the facility at Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, the patients now need not move outside the State for specialized treatment facilities particularly the PET scan facility.

Source: News on air

Important Day

4. World Sickle Cell Day observed today

World Sickle Cell Day observed every year on 19th June.
It is observed each year to raise public awareness about the sickle cell disease and its treatment methods.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited form of anaemia in which red blood cells are not able to carry adequate oxygen throughout the body.
Government has organised several campaigns for the proper treatment and cure of those suffering from the disease.

Source: News on air

Banking & Economy

5. RBI names Rabi N. Mishra as new Executive Director

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has promoted Rabi N. Mishra as executive director (ED).
He was earlier holding the position of the Principal Chief General Manager at the central bank’s Risk Management Department.
He would be looking after the newly-created specialized supervisory and regulatory cadre within the central bank. The post had been lying vacant after the retirement of Rosemary Sebastian.
He has been serving RBI for about 30 years now. He has been associated with many research papers.
He has also authored a book on banking, which is likely to be launched soon.
The central bank currently has 12 executive directors, including the chief financial officers.

Source: The Economic Times

6. Amazon India is the country's most attractive employer brand: Survey

According to the survey conducted by the Randstad Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2019, Amazon India is the country’s most attractive employer brand.
Microsoft India emerged as the runner-up, followed by Sony India.
According to the REBR 2019 report, Amazon scored high on financial health, utilisation of the latest technologies and a strong reputation.
Others in the top 10 are Mercedes-Benz (4th), IBM (5th), Larsen & Toubro (6th), Nestlé (7th), Infosys (8th), Samsung (9th), and Dell (10th).
Google India had been inducted into the REBR’s Hall of Fame category last year for winning the coveted title of the most-attractive employer brand for three consecutive years.

Source: Business standard

7. RBI sets up panel under UK Sinha to study MSMEs

On 18^th June, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up an eight-member expert committee to suggest long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The committee will be headed by former chairman of Sebi UK Sinha.
The committee will examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the MSME sector.
The other members include development commissioner for MSME Ram Mohan Mishra; joint secretary at the department of financial services Pankaj Jain; SBI managing director PK Gupta; ICICI Bank executive director Anup Bagchi; IIM- Ahmedabad professor Abhiman Das; Ispirit Foundation founder Sharad Sharma and Dvara Trust chairperson Bindu Ananth.
The central bank had announced setting up this expert committee at the December 2018 monetary policy announcement.

Source: money control

8. RBI to infuse Rs 12,500 cr liquidity through bond purchases

The Reserve Bank of India June 18 said it will infuse Rs 12,500 crore of liquidity into the system through purchase of government bonds.
According to the RBI, it has decided to conduct the purchase of five government securities under OMOs for an aggregate amount of Rs 12,500 crore on June 20, 2019.
On June 11, the RBI had infused Rs 15,000 crore into the system through OMO purchase of six government bonds.

Source: money control

9. India ranked 20th among the top capital importing countries: Knight Frank

Indian commercial real estate has attracted inbound cross-border investments worth $2.6 billion over the last 12 months to the first quarter of 2019, while outbound investment stood at $0.7 billion during this period.
According to the data from property consultancy Knight Frank, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, the United States of America and Australia were the top destination countries of Indian capital investments.
Singapore, with investment volumes of $0.7 billion, was the biggest capital source country for the Indian commercial real estate between followed by Australia and Japan.
With an investment of $2.6 billion, India was ranked 20th among the top capital importing countries globally, while China was at the 6th position with an investment of $14.30 billion.
The US was the top capital importing country globally with an investment of $80.89 billion.
The report noted that the US also topped the list of capital exporting countries globally, with an investment of $59.62 billion, followed by Canada ($50.41 billion) and Germany ($24.50 billion).

Source: money control

10. MSME Ministry to organize International SME Convention on June 28-29 in New Delhi

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) will be organizing the 2nd edition of International SME Convention 2019 from 28-29 June 2019 in New Delhi.
The International SME 2019 convention will give a platform for intensive business discussions & interactions on the Indian Market opportunity.
International SME Convention is the foremost International platform for discussing & sharing best practices for enterprise development, facilitating business discussion and encouraging trade partnerships by and between innovative, progressive and sustainable small and medium enterprises, from all over the world.

Source: knnIndia

11. RBI slaps Rs 1 crore fine on HDFC Bank for non-compliance of KYC norms

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on private sector lender HDFC Bank for non-compliance of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and anti-money laundering norms, and for failure to report frauds.
The penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI.

Source: Business today

12. India accounts for 6.3% of global fish production: Fisheries department

According to the Fisheries Department, India is the second largest fish producing country in the world as it accounts for 6.3 per cent of the global fish production.
China is the largest producer of fish in the world.
Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, there is a huge potential in harnessing tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
She is addressing the 23rd session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), in Hyderabad. She said 30 per cent of the Indian EEZ is spread across the Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, but only 1 per cent comprises the production of tuna fish.
She added that fisheries is a sunrise sector in India, considering the commercially viable global tuna market which stood at USD 11.38 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 13.75 billion by 2023, the release said.
The 23rd session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), being held in Hyderabad, India from 17 to 21 June 2019.

Source: money control

International Affairs

13. Bangladesh's first iron ore mine discovered

For the first time in Bangladesh, iron ore mine has been discovered at Isabpur village in Dinajpur.
The announcement was made by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh following extensive drilling over two months in the area.
According to the Geological Survey, a 400-foot thick iron layer was found 1,750 feet beneath the surface stretched over an area of 6-10 square kilometre.
The percentage of iron in the mine was 65 which indicates the high quality of the ore.
In most other countries like Canada, China, Brazil Sweden and Australia the percentage is below 50.

Source: News on air