Current Affairs 19th June 2017

Current Affairs 19th June 2017 - Important Points

• International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict observed globally on - 19th June 2017
• ‘National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India’ launched by - Ministry of Culture
• A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman wins Man Booker International Prize 2017 on - 14th June 2017
• Kidambi Srikanth beats Kazumasa Sakai to win - Indonesia Open Super Series Premier title
• President Emmanuel Macron's party wins - Clear parliamentary majority
• Pakistan beats India to win 2017 ICC Champions Trophy on - 18th June 2017
• Narmada Control Authority cleared - Final raising of Sardar Sarovar Dam
• Ramakrishna Mission Chief Swami Atmasthananda passed away on - 18th June 2017
• 12 percent reservation for poor Muslim communities by - Telangana state

Current Affairs 19th June 2017 - Details

International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict observed globally on - 19th June 2017

The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict was observed globally on 19th June 2017 with the theme ‘Preventing Sexual Violence Crimes through Justice  and Deterrence’.
The United Nations is going to host a panel discussion to celebrate the day at its headquarters in New York on 20th June 2017. The common public can follow the conversation on social media with the hashtag #EndRapeinWar.

Do you know?
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the day as the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on 19th June 2015.

‘National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India’ launched by - Ministry of Culture

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture & Tourism launched the implementation
of the ‘National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India’ at Goverdhan Block, Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh on 17th June 2017. The national mission on cultural mapping was launched in a day long, Block level mega talent hunt program.

Key Highlights

• The Mission is the part of the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ umbrella.
• Ministry of Culture launched it in the year of commemoration of the birth centenary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay hailed from Mathura.
• The mission's main objective is to convert the Indian widespread and vast cultural canvas of India into an objective cultural map, designing a mechanism to fulfil the aspirations of the whole artist community of the nation and preserving the rich cultural heritage of this country in the form of a cultural repository of artists and art forms.

A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman wins Man Booker International Prize 2017 on - 14th June 2017

A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman was announced as the winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize on 14th June 2017. Jessica Cohen translated the novel and Jonathan Cape published it in Britain. Grossman has become the first Israeli author to take home the prestigious prize.

Important Highlights

• Born on 25th January 1954, David Grossman is an Israeli author.
• His most recent book, Falling Out of Time, deals with the parents grief in the aftermath of their children's death.
• The Man Booker International Prize is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom every two years till 2015 and after wards it is been given annually.
• The Vegetarian honored by Han Kang was the winner of this award in 2016.

Kidambi Srikanth beats Kazumasa Sakai to win - Indonesia Open Super Series Premier title

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched the Indonesia Open Men's Singles trophy with a straight-game victory over Japanese qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in the final on 18th June 2017.
It was his third Super Series title and fifth Super Series tournament of the 2017 BWF Super Series.
The tournament was held in Jakarta, Indonesia and has a total prize of $1000000.
More about Kidambi Srikanth

• Born on 7th February 1993, Srikanth Kidambi is an Indian badminton player.
• As on 18th June 2017, his world ranking is 22.
• Japan’s Sayaka Sato won The Women’s Singles title of the tournament.

President Emmanuel Macron's party wins - Clear parliamentary majority

French President Emmanuel Macron's En Marche has won a clear parliamentary majority in legislative elections held in 2017, just weeks after his own presidential victory.
With nearly all votes counted, Macron's En Marche alongside its Democratic Movement (MoDem) allies, has won more than 300 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.
The party was formed just over an year ago on 6th April 2016 and around half of its fielded candidates have little or no political experience.

Important Highlights

• The La République en Marche along with MoDem has surpassed the required the 289-seat mark to control the National Assembly, delivering a huge blow to traditional parties on both the left and right.
• The conservative Republicans and their allies could form a large opposition block with 125-131 seats, which in comparison to the last parliament is low from 200.
• Though Marine Le Pen’s far right political party – the National Front(FN)- performed worse than expected by getting just 8 seats in comparison to their expected 15, Pen won a seat in the parliament for the first time representing Henin-Beaumont town.
• The Socialist Party (PS), which was in power since the past 5 years along with their ally the Radical Party of the Left (PRG), are looking set to get only 41-49 seats, their lowest tally ever.
• The defeat has led the Socialist party leader - Jean-Christophe Cambadelis- who lost in last week's first-round vote to declare his retirement from the post.
• The result gives the young French President a strong mandate in parliament to continue his pro-EU, business-friendly reform plans.
• The 48-year-old FN leader Marine Le Pen however, thinks otherwise, as she said after the results release that while President Macron may have gotten a large parliamentary  majority, he must know that his ideas are not of the majority in the country and that the French will not going to support a project that weakens their nation.

Pakistan beats India to win 2017 ICC Champions Trophy on - 18th June 2017

Pakistan defeated India in the final played at The Oval, London to lift the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy on 18th June 2017. Pakistan won the match by 180 runs with the largest margin by any team in the final of an ICC ODI tournament.

Important Highlights

• The match was held on 14th June 2017 at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff where Pakistan won the match by 8 wickets.
• It was the first time that Pakistan had qualified for a Champions Trophy final. It was also their first final in an ICC ODI competition since 1999.
• The match was held on 15th June 2017 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. India won the match by 9 wickets.
• Rohit Sharma from Indian Cricket Team was declared the Player of the match.
• It was inaugurated as the ICC KnockOut Tournament in 1998 but its name was changed to the Champions Trophy in 2002.
• India and Australia have won the tournament matches twice each.
• Pakistan’s Hasan Ali was announced the Player of the Series.

Narmada Control Authority cleared - Final raising of Sardar Sarovar Dam

Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has cleared the proposal of final raising of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) in Gujarat by lowering of the gates and impounding of water in the reservoir up to its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of EL 138.68 meters. Before clearing the proposal for raising the Sardar Sarovar Dam, the NCA in its meeting considered all aspects of Environmental and Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) issues on 16th June 2017. Dr. Amarjit Singh, Secretary (WR, RD & GR) chaired this meeting.

Important Points

• With this lowering of the SSD, the live storage capacity of the dam would be increased from 1565 to 5740 million cubic meters (MCM) i.e. by 4175 MCM (267%).
• Secondly, the clean hydro-power generation will go up by existing 1300 MW to 1450 MW with an increase in annual generation for about 1100 Million Units.
• Along with this, this additional storage would irrigate about 8 lakh hectares and provide drinking water to about one crore people.
• The Sardar Sarovar Project would be meeting primarily meet the desert areas and water requirement of drought prone areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
• Prior to NCA clearance, the Environment Sub-group of NCA chaired by Shri Ajay Narayan Jha, Secretary (MoEF&CC) reviewed the implementation of Environment Safeguard Measures on 1st May 2017 and after observing this progress, recommended Phase-II proposal of impounding of water in the reservoir and lowering down of the gates to FRL of EL 138.68 mts.

Ramakrishna Mission Chief Swami Atmasthananda passed away on - 18th June 2017

Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission President Swami Atmasthananda passed away on 18th June 2017 after a prolonged illness. He was elected as the President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission on 3rd December 2007.

Important Highlights

• Born on 10th May 1919, Swami Atmasthananda was the fifteenth president of the the Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math.
• He received spiritual initiation from Vijnanananda in 1938.
• He joined the Ramakrishna Order at Belur Math on 3rd January 1941 at the age of 22 years.
• President of the Order Swami Virajananda gave him Sannyasa vows and the name Atmasthananda in 1949.
• He was elected a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and the governing body member of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1973.
• He was elected as the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission's 15th president  on 3rd December 2007.
• The Ramakrishna mission is headquartered near Kolkata at Belur Math in Howrah, West Bengal.
• The mission conducts substantial work in health care, rural management, disaster relief,elementary and higher education,tribal welfare and culture.

India’s Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan completes 1000 days in orbit on - 19th June 2017

ISRO’s maiden interplanetary mission, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) completed 1000 Earth days in its orbit on 19th June 2017 well beyond its designed mission life of six months.
This mission was launched on 5th November 2013 by PSLV-C25 and got inserted into the Martian orbit on 24th September 2014 in its very first attempt. 1000 Earth days corresponds to 973.25 Mars Sols (Martian Solar day) and MOM completed 388 orbits. The mission was successful in the first go only plus it came at a fraction of the cost of similar space missions launched by organisations such as NASA and the European Space Agency.

Important Highlights

• The Mangalyaan mission is credited with many laurels including a short period of realization, economical mass-budget,cost-effectiveness and miniaturization of five heterogeneous science payloads.
• According to ISRO, the satellite is still in good health and continuing to work as per the expectations.
• Data received from the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is in progress for Scientific analysis.
• The Mangalyaan performed a man-oeuvre on January 2017 to migrate from its original orbit to avoid a risky 8-hour eclipse that threatened to destroy the satellite by draining it its reserve battery.
• The spacecraft’s reserve power source is designed to last only for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
• The Mars Colour Camera, one of the 5 scientific payloads on board MOM, has produced more than 715 images till date.

12 percent reservation for poor Muslim communities by - Telangana state

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said during a government-sponsored Iftar that was held in Hyderabad on 18th June 2017 that the state will shield the  proposed 12 percent reservation for poor Muslim communities even in the highest Central Government offices.

Key Highlights

• 
  The Minister also added that he had conveyed to the Prime Minister that the reservation bill was passed in keeping with the election promise  that his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party made in 2014.
• He affirmed strongly that he intended to keep his promise and will respond strongly in case of any opposition to the bill.
• Telangana Legislature passed this bill that proposes to raise reservations in jobs and education for backward sections of the Muslim community from 4 percent to 12 percent.
• Till now, the state government has set up 204 residential schools for underprivileged children of the Muslim community, which is expected to benefit almost 1.33 lakh students.