Current Affairs 16th June 2017

Current Affairs 16th June 2017 - Important Points

• Ireland's youngest PM from Indian-origin is - Leo Varadkar
• Proposal to introduce Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017 approved by - Union Cabinet
• Bhupen Hazarika Award 2017 won by - Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi
• India re-elected to United Nations Economic and Social Council on - 15th June 2017
• IOC, BPCL, HPCL sign agreement to set up USD 30 billion refinery on - 15th June 2017
• Who has been elected as Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker?- Ajaib Singh Bhatti
• Former Chief Justice of India PN Bhagwati passed away on - 15th June 2017

Current Affairs 16th June 2017 - Details

Ireland's youngest PM from Indian-origin is - Leo Varadkar

Leo Varadkar who is a 38-year-old Indian-origin doctor, became Ireland's youngest and the first openly gay Prime Minister of the Catholic-majority  country on 15th June 2017 as he promised to build a Republic of opportunity.
He officially took over after a parliamentary voting done in Dublin which later on confirmed him as the leader by 57 votes to 50, with 47 abstentions. His leadership rival Simon Coveney will be the deputy leader of the party. President Michael D Higgins gave him the seals of office to officially confirm his appointment.

More about Leo Varadkar

• Varadkar came out as a gay in 2015 with his partner, Matthew Barrett who is also a doctor.
  when Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage through popular vote.
• At the age of 24, He was first elected as a Councillor where he took a seat in the Dáil in 2007.
• In 2011, Fine Gael appointed Varadkar as the transport minister, tourism and sport minister- and then health minister.
• More recently he has also overseen Ireland's welfare system.
• Due to his approach to socio-economic issues, his views are regarded as a centre-right politically.

Proposal to introduce Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017 approved by - Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a green signal to the proposal to introduce a Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 on 14th June 2017  has an objective to give a complete decision layout for specific financial sector entities to deal with bankruptcy situation in insurance companies, banks and financial sector entities.
Important highlights

• 
  The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 seeks to give comfort to the consumers of financial service providers in financial crisis.
• Recently approved Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill in 2017 is expected to put discipline among financial service providers in case of financial affliction by minimizing the use of public money to bail out the distressed entities.
• It would  be expected to maintain Financial stability in the economy by ensuring enough preventive measures.
• The Bill is also expected to streamline and  strengthen the current framework of deposit insurance for the benefits of a high number of retail depositors.
• Bill also seeks to reduce the time and cost involved in resolving distressed financial entities.
  When enacted, the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017 will help in setting up of the Resolution Corporation.

Bhupen Hazarika Award 2017 won by - Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi

Eminent litterateur Yeshe Dorje Thongchi was chosen for the Bhupen Hazarika Award 2017 for his outstanding literary work at national and international level on 15th June 2017. The award will be conferred by Pune-based social organization Sarhad on Thongchi at a function to be held in Jammu and Kashmir in September 2017.

More about Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi

• Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi belongs to the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, graduated from Cotton College, Guwahati and did his MA from Guwahati University.
• His first poem called Jonbaai (The Moon) appeared in an Assamese children’s magazine with the same name in 1967.
• His popular novels are Sav Kata Manuh and Mauna Oonth Mukhar Hriday.
• His novel Mauna Onth Mukhar Hriday was awarded with the Sahitya Akademi award in 2005.
• He also joined the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service in 1977 and was promoted to the IAS in 1992.
• He is the President and Founder of Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society.
• Sarhad, a Maharashtra-based organisation instituted the award in 2012 with the prize money of Rs 51000, a memento and a certificate.

India re-elected to United Nations Economic and Social Council on - 15th June 2017

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) re-elected India to another three-year term on the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 15th June 2017.

Important Highlights

• India was elected to the ECOSOC with the backing of Pacific group of nations and Asia.
• India overall received 183 out of the 188 votes on the 36-member UN body to serve again that is responsible to  coordinate the activities of several UN units , organisations working development, social and economic issues and to guide sustainable development policies.
• Japan received 185 votes, the highest number of votes for the three seats from the Asia-Pacific region, and the Philippines received 182 votes in total.
• India will be taking its seat again in January 2018 after its current term ends.

IOC, BPCL, HPCL sign agreement to set up USD 30 billion refinery on - 15th June 2017

Three public sector oil marketing companies,Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum signed the joint venture agreement to jointly set up the world’s largest refinery along with petrochemical complex in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra on 15th June 2017.   Mukesh Kumar Surana who is the HPCL Chairman and Managing Director, Sanjiv Singh who is IOC Chairman and D Rajkumar who is the BPCL Chairman and Managing Director signed this joint venture.

Key Highlights

• Indian Oil Corporation will be having majority of the shares which is 50 percent stake and the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will hold a stake of 25 percent each in the refinery.
• The refinery complex will be having another joint mega petrochemical plant which will include naphtha cracker, an aromatic complex and polymer complex.
• The refinery is expected to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 3 lakh crore.
• The refinery will be set up in two phases. Phase-1 will have 40 million tonnes altogether with an estimated cost Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh crore with an aromatic complex, naphtha cracker and polymer complex.
• It will have a refining capacity of 60 million tonnes and three crude units of 20 million tonnes each.
• The refinery will produce LPG, ATF, petrol, diesel and feed-stock for making petrochemical.
  The refinery and complex will get completed by 2022 as estimated during the agreement.

Who has been elected as Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker?- Ajaib Singh Bhatti

Congress MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti was unanimously elected as the Deputy Speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly on 16th June 2017.  The leader of the House Captain Amarinder Singh proposed his name and Health Minister Brahm Mahindra, who escorted Bhatti to his new seat.
His appointment was made amid commotion by Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs, who continued to raise slogans demanding debt waiver relief for farmers. AAP MLA's on the other hand,  staged a walk out after they were not heard ahead of Question Hour. They also re-entered the House later.

More about Ajaib Singh Bhatti

• Ajaib Singh Bhatti is a 65-year old from Bathinda joined the Congress in 2007 and is serving as an MLA from Malout (Reserve) constituency, a seat where he got during the recent elections held in 2017.
• He won the Assembly elections from Bhucho in Bathinda in 2007 and 2012.
• He had also previously served as an Additional Deputy Commissioner in Bathinda and Muktsar districts.
• Speaking on his appointment, Bhatti assured the house that he will work impartially keeping in view the people welfare.

Former Chief Justice of India PN Bhagwati passed away on - 15th June 2017

Former Chief Justice of India PN Bhagwati passed away on 15th June 2017 due to brief illness in New Delhi. He was always considered as a pioneer of Judicial Activism in the country for introducing the concept of PILs.
More about Justice PN Bhagwati

• Bhagwati remained on the highest judicial post between July 1985 and December 1986, as the 17th Chief Justice of India.
• He was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in July 1973, after serving as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court.
• As a Supreme Court judge, Bhagwati introduced the Public Interest Litigations (PIL) concepts and absolute liability in the Indian judicial system.
• One of the important judgments, he gave, was in the Maneka Gandhi passport impound case in 1978 in which he elaborated the concept of Right To Life, and ruled that a person's movement cannot be restricted.
• In the Minerva Mill, he was the only officially held judge who upheld the 42nd Constitution amendment during the Emergency situation.