25 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

25 June 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Maharashtra to get floating solar power generation plants on four dams

• According to state Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan, Maharashtra is all set to get floating solar power generation plants on four dams.
• The backwater of Wardha, Bebala, Khadakpurna and Pentakli dams has been selected for setting up the floating solar panels as per the Swiss Challenge method.
• The estimated investment per megawatt is 4.45 crore rupees, with a total installed capacity of 500 MW.
• A committee headed by the executive director of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is currently scrutinising the detailed project report and drafting the tenders.
• The work to set up the plants is under progress as permitted under the Maharashtra Infrastructure Development Enabling Authority Act.

Source: AIR News

2. Govt. to provide CNG, PNG infrastructure in 406 districts

• According to Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister 'Dharmendra Pradhan', The Centre has chalked out a plan to provide CNG and PNG infrastructure in 406 districts of the country.
• Till 2014, only 66 districts of the country were covered under Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) infrastructure.
• After expanding this-facilities 70% of the population will get clean energy.
• One lakh twenty thousand crore rupees will be invested in the next eight years in the energy sector.

Note:

• CNG (Compressed Natural Gas): Natural gas is stored in vehicle compressed form (200-250 bar pressure). The Major gas in CNG is methane.
• PNG (Pipelined Natural Gas): Only difference that it is supplied through pipelines for household uses.
• LNG (Liquified Natural Gas): This is a form of Natural gas which is kept in super-cooled (cryogenic) temperature.
• LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas): It is by-product during the processing and refining petroleum products. It mainly consists of propane, butane, propylene, butylene.

Source: Business Standard

3. US Secy of State Mike Pompeo arrives on 3-day visit to India

• US Secretary of State ‘Mike Pompeo’ arrives in New Delhi today to further strengthen India-US strategic partnership.
• During the three days visit, Mr Pompeo will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and call on other dignitaries in the government.
• It will also continue the high-level engagement on matters of mutual interest including bilateral, regional and global issues.
• The visit will deepen and broaden the bilateral relationship and kick-start a dialogue towards the resolution of some of the key issues in trade ties.

United States Secretary of State:

• The secretary of state is a senior official of the federal government of the United States of America, and as head of the United States Department of State, is principally concerned with foreign policy, considered to be the U.S. government's equivalent of a minister for foreign affairs.
• Four most important Cabinet members (The secretary of state, along with the secretary of the treasury, secretary of defence, and attorney general) because of the importance of their respective departments.

Source: AIR News

4. NITI Aayog releases the second edition of 'Healthy States, Progressive India' report today

• NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has released the second edition of 'Healthy States, Progressive India' report in New Delhi.
• The report takes a comprehensive look at health in terms of health outcomes, governance and processes and impact of policy interventions.
• An official release said the Round-II report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvements in these parameters over a two-year period of 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the states and Union Territories.
• The report has been prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with technical assistance from the World Bank.

Category	Large States	Smaller States	Union Territories
Overall performance	1.Kerala 2.Andhra Pradesh 3.Maharashtra	Mizoram	Chandigarh
Incremental improvement	1.Haryana 2.Rajasthan 3. Jharkhand	1.Tripura 2.Manipur	Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Source: AIR News

5. Government to launch Universal Smart Card Driving License

• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to modify the format of driving licenses to smart card type driving licences.
• Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that his Ministry has prescribed a common standard format and design of the Driving Licence for the whole of the country.
• This Ministry, through its flagship application called SARATHI developed by NIC, has a common countrywide database of all driving license holders.
• Almost 15 crore driving license records are available in its central repository.
• The SARATHI application has the feature to identify duplicate records online in real time and access information about the challans if any.

Source: AIR News

6. Japan Gifts Museum of Peace to Manipur in Memory of Second World War

• Japan has gifted a war museum called ‘Imphal Peace Museum’ to Manipur located at Red Hill, 20 km south-west of Imphal.
• The museum has been inaugurated to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Imphal.
• The Battle of Imphal is regarded as one of the fiercest battles of World War II in which about 70,000 Japanese soldiers along with the Indian National Army, died in battles with the British-led Allied forces in areas around Imphal and Kohima from March to June 1944.

Important Days

7. 25th June: Day of the Seafarer

• The Day of the Seafarer is being observed on 25th June by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
• The theme of the 2019 Day of the Seafarer is ‘Get on board with gender equality’.
• The theme supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development goals, specifically SDG 5. 
• The Day was proclaimed with an aim to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade and civil society as whole.

Note:

• The Day of the Seafarer was established in a resolution adopted by the 2010 Diplomatic Conference in Manila.
• IMO is the United Nations specialised agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.

International Affairs

8. Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab Nation to get FATF Membership

• Saudi Arabia has become the first Arab country to be granted full membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
• The decision was taken during the group’s annual general meeting in the United States.
• With the induction of Saudi Arabia as FATF member, the number of permanent members in the group is now 39.

Obituaries

9. Rajasthan BJP chief Madan Lal Saini passes away

• Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajasthan chief and Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini (75-years) passed away at AIIMS in New Delhi.
• Mr. Saini was suffering from a lung infection and was flown to Delhi for treatment in AIIMs.
• Saini, who hailed from Sikar district (Rajasthan), was appointed BJP state president last year.

Books & Authors

10. The function of Data Sovereignty: Vinit Goenka’s new book

• Author Vineet Goenka has released his book titled 'Function of Data Sovereignty - The Pursuit of Supremacy'.
• He is a founder member of Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty (CKS), which is an endeavour to acquire knowledge through experts of eminence in the respective field.
• The Book focuses in-depth on steps and concrete actions required to build highly capable data centres that will ensure data security.

Banking and Finance

11. RBI launches CMS for filing online complaints against banks, NBFCs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has launched an application on its website (https://cms.rbi.org.in) for lodging complaints against banks and NBFCs with a view to improving customer experience in timely redressal of grievances.
• The Complaint Management System (CMS) is a software application, aims to facilitate RBI's grievance redressal process.
• Mr Das said application also improves transparency by keeping the complainants informed through auto-generated acknowledgements and enabling them to track the status of their complaints and file appeals online against the decisions of the Ombudsmen, where applicable.
• RBI also plans to introduce a dedicated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system for tracking the status of complaints.
• The RBI Governor stressed that sustaining the confidence of consumers in banks and other financial service providers (FSPs) through prompt and effective grievance redressal, together with empowering customers through education is pivotal for maintaining trust in the banking system.

Source: AIR News

Sports

12. International Olympic Committee opens new headquarters in Switzerland

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally opened its new headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
• It has been opened exactly 125 years after the Olympic Games were revived.
• The Olympic House has been built on the site of the former headquarters, and 95% of the old materials were reused and recycled.
• Designed by architecture firm 3XN of Denmark, the energy-efficient building has won international awards for sustainability.

13. Feliciano Lopez wins Queen’s Tennis Title

• Spanish Tennis player Feliciano Lopez (37-years) has won the men’s single Queen’s Club Championships.
• He defeated Gilles Simon.
• In the men’s double, Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez defeated Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 10-5 to win the men’s double Queen’s Club Championships.