Monthly Current Affairs : June 2013

Dear Readers,
we are posting the current affairs of June - 2013 for your ready reference.For students, aspirants who wish to crack important examination, current affairs is essential because in every competitive exam questions related to currents affairs are compulsorily asked.

Current Affairs: June 2013

• Rajiv Shukla resigned as the Chairman of the Indian Premiere League (IPL). He said he has decided to quit in the wake of recent controversies in the IPL Spot Fixing Scandal.

• NR Narayana Murthy has been re-elected as Executive Executive Chairman of the Board in Infosys. He would serve as board chairman for 5 years. Narayan Murthy was appointed as the chairman for the second time.

• Indian – origin diplomat Devanand Sharma appointed as a Australian envoy to Israel. A 37-year-old Devanand Sharma has made history by becoming the country’s youngest Ambassador after he was appointed Canberra’s envoy to Israel.

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed Rami Hamdallah, a politically independent academic, as his new prime minister. Rami Hamdallah replaced Western-favoured economist Salam Fayyad.

• According to a ranking by the MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities study report ,Bangkok is this year’s number one city for air travel.While London reached the top spot in 2012.

• Environmentalist Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the famed Sulabh project that provides basic and affordable toilet access to India’s poor, has been presented with the “Legend of Planet” award in Paris.

• The two-time former prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, has been convicted of corruption and sentenced to two years in prison. Mr Jansa was accused of soliciting bribes as part of a defence deal with a Finnish manufacturer in 2006.

• According to the World Steel Association (WSA) data , India’s rank in the world order of steel production remained unchanged at fourth slot with an output of 77.06 MT (million tonnes) steel produced in 2012.China gets first ranked in world steel production.

• The leading magazine “Forbes” prepared a list of world top 100 highes-paid athletes.In this list Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulukar got  16th and 51st places respectively.This list is prepared based on last year annual income.The annual income of MS Dhoni is $31.5 million.But he earned $3.5 million  from matches and remaining amount from advertisements and other business.Sachin Tendulkar’s annual income is $22 million.

• The first all-women police station in Arunachal Pradesh has started functioning in Itanagar to specifically deal with crimes against women.The plan to set up the maiden all-women police station was mooted by the state government days after the Delhi gangrape incident and the proposal was approved by the state cabinet.

• The Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari released a book entitled “Dard-e-Dil Likhun Kab Tak” (in Urdu and Hindi) authored by Rukhsar Amrohvi. The book is a compilation of poems composed by poetess Rukhsar Amrohvi and some rare pictures of the historic moments of Indian Cinema. This book is a valuable addition to the Urdu Literature.

• Union Government of India launched a placement linked skill development scheme ‘Roshni’  targeting 50,000 rural men and women, mostly tribals, in 24 worst affected districts. Under the scheme, national-level agencies will be designated to act as monitoring and coordinating agencies in the Naxal-hit districts.The three-year initiative aims at skilling and placement of 50,000 youth from 24 Naxalite-affected districts in nine states. The funding for the ‘Roshni’ scheme would be in the ratio of 75:25 to be shared between the Centre and the states.

• India’s first state-of-the art Air Ambulance, Flying Doctors India, was launched in New Delhi. The new aircraft is tailor-made and equipped with a state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit on a dedicated chartered aircraft. The goal is to provide critical care even when a patient is in transit.

• Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda launched “Priyadarshni Awaas Yojna”  in the state at Karnal to provide affordable housing facility to the people living in rural areas. People eligible under Indira Awaas Yojna and those who get 100 square yard plot under Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna would also be included in the scheme.

• Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, has gifted an imposing 16-foot-high statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of education and wisdom, to the American capital city of Washington DC.The goddess’ statue, on top of a lotus, stands tall a block away from the Indian Embassy in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

• Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the Canadian Grand Prix after  defeating Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in Montreal meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the third and second position simultaneously.

• China sent its second woman astronaut into orbit on its longest mission yet as the country works towards building a space station.The Shenzhou-10 — the name means “Divine Vessel” — was launched on a Long March rocket on 11 June 2013. Wang Yaping, 35, the second woman to go to space. The previous Shenzhou mission, in June 2013, included China’s first woman astronaut, Liu Yang, who became a national heroine.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed penalties on Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank for violating guidelines related to “know your customer” (KYC) rules. The RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs4.5 crore on HDFC Bank and Rs1 crore on ICICI Bank.

• Luo Meizhen, a woman who Chinese officials say is the world’s oldest person, has died. Chinese officials say Meizhen was born in 1885 and was 127 years old, but theGuinness Book of World Records never recognized her claim.

• Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was honoured with USD 10,000 ‘Nomura Award’ at Singapore for her outstanding humanitarian works. Bedi was given the award constituted by Nomura Group of Japan for improving the world for future generations.  The group is one of the leading financial services group.

• According to the ” Global Peace Index (GPI) 2013? released by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) , India ranks 141 st out of 162 in this year’s Global Peace Index (GPI).Iceland is on First Rank while Denmark on 2nd rank. The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations and regions peacefulness.

• According to Guinness World Records,the world’s oldest person, 116-year-old Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, died on 12 June 2013 in Tokyo.He died after few hours of unofficial world oldest woman of China , Luo Meizhen died.

• According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report , nearly 50 lakh children are eking out their livelihood in the country, of whom 17.5 lakh are in Uttarakhand.The second-largest share of child labourers comes from West Bengal (5.5 lakh), Rajasthan (4.05 lakh) and Gujarat (3.9 lakh).The NSSO estimated this figures on the eve of the World Day against Child Labour.

• NASA Astronomers have discovered 26 new likely black holes in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy.The new black holes were discovered using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which made 150 separate observations over 13 years to detect them.Many consider Andromeda (M31) to be a sister galaxy to the Milky Way. The two ultimately will collide, several billion years from now.The new black hole candidates were formed via powerful collisions of massive stars and are five to 10 times bigger than the sun.

• According to the World Bank “Global Economic Prospects (GEP) ” report ,Growth in India is projected to rise to 5.7 percent in the 2013 fiscal year and firm to 6.5 percent and 6.7 percent in FY2014 and FY2015, respectively.Global GDP is expected to expand about 2.2 percent this year and strengthen to 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent in 2014 and 2015.

• Dubai has inaugurated the world’s tallest twisted tower named “Cayan” Towerbuilt at a cost of  272 million US dollar, setting a yet another record for skyscrapers and other engineering marvels.

• S K Roy has been appointed as the Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).Roy succeed D.K. Mehrotra, and get a five-year term as chairman.

• Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has been named the world’s second best airport in the 25-40 million passengers category by the Airport Council International.

• According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics ,West Bengal is the most unsafe place for women in India. It tops the list of states with the highest number of registered cases against women.West Bengal accounted for 12.67 per cent of the total crime committed against women in the country.Mamata’s state is followed by Assam (37.6%) , Kerala (20.8%), Jharkhand (19.2%) , Bihar (18.5%) ,Uttar Pradesh (15 %) ,Andhra Pradesh (6.2%) ,Madhya Pradesh (5.1%).

• AirAsia announced that Ratan Tata, the ex-chairman of the Tata Group was appointed as the Chief Advisor of AirAsia’s India board.

• America’s fastest-supercomputer reign has ended, toppled by the Tianhe-2 out of China’s National University of Defense Technology. Tianhe-2 achieved 33.86 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark, earning it the title of the world’s fastest supercomputer in the world, according to the 41st edition of the twice-annual Top500 List. Tianhe-2, also known as the Milky Way-2, will be deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho, China by the end of 2013.