Current Affairs June - II 2010

1.      The economy is likely to grow around 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal if the country gets a normal monsoon, Prime Minister's economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan.

2.      Indians are the most eco-friendly people while Americans the least, according to a 17-nation survey on consumers' progress towards environmentally sustainable consumption patterns. India toped the Consumer Greendex, compiled by National Geographic which studied 17,000 consumers in 17 countries. The rankings are Indians, Brazilians, Chinese, Mexicans, Argentineans, Russians, Hungarians, South Koreans, Swedes, Spanish, Australian, German, Japanese, British, French, Canadians and Americans.(June CA Part-1)

3.      The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) announced its huge dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which could be the world's largest-ever initial public offering, says a media report. ABC, the biggest bank in China by customers, plans to sell as many as 22.24 billion A shares in its IPO in Shanghai and another 25.4 billion shares in Hong Kong.

4.      Israel will set up three centres of excellence to enhance productivity of fruits in Maharashtra. The west Asian nation is also mulling setting-up a post-harvest college.

5.      Tamil Nadu Government launched an eco tourism policy which would facilitate conservation and preservation of the state's natural resources.

6.      Justice Rao takes charge as chairperson of National Commission for Backward Classes.

7.      Yogesh Aggarwal Chairman & Managing Director of IDBI Bank has resigned following his appointment as the Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

8.      Former Infosys co-chair Nandan Nilekani will head a committee that will recommend to the finance ministry on how best to tap information technology for an effective tax administration and financial governance system.

9.      Russia said it will share the enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology with India for production of nuclear fuel for atomic power plants in the country.

10. An Indian American science teacher is among the pedagogues nominated by US President Barack Obama as a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Radhika Plakkot is among 103 Maths and Science teachers who have been selected for this prestigious award from across the country.

11. India's growth is expected to rise to nine percent in 2011 with South Asia poised to become the second-fastest growing region after East Asia & Pacific, says the latest World Bank update.

12. India has slipped to a low of 128 in the Global Peace Index ranking with the country along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka experiencing more incidents of internal conflicts, terrorism and human rights abuses. The only study to quantify global peacefulness, the GPI is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

13. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the government is in the process of setting up 8 more income tax overseas units, including in the US and Britain, to facilitate exchange of tax related information. At present, the government has one such unit (ITOUs) each at the Indian mission in Singapore and Mauritius.

14. The French government says it's selling off 1,700 properties including chateaux, barracks and Parisian mansions, in part to cut the country's heavy debt.

15. The government has a cash balance of around Rs 48,000 crore with the Reserve Bank currently and will spend it gradually rather than at one go, three sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters.

16. Surging prices notwithstanding, the government has hiked the minimum support price of pulses by up to Rs 700 to a maximum of Rs 3,170 a quintal but support for paddy has been increased by a meager Rs 50 a quintal. 

17. India win gold medal in World Cup archery. The Indian trio of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar clinched the men's team recurve gold medal with a 218-214 win over the US in the final of the World Cup archery (Stage II) in Antalya, Turkey.

18. Russian Grandmaster Dmitry Kokarev drew his final match to emerge as the winner in the Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess tournament.

19. A British environmentalist (Roz Savage) has become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific Ocean, receiving a rock star welcome in Papua New Guinea after finishing a nearly 13,000-kilometre journey.

20. The US is home to about 1.6 million Indian origin people, making them the third-largest immigrant group in the country after Mexicans and Filipino, a Washington-based think tank has said.

21. The Cabinet approved the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12), which scaled down the average growth target of the economy to 8.1 per cent from 9 per cent. The MTA will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the highest policy making body in the country headed by the Prime Minister.

22. A global effort to ban cluster bombs has gained the signatures of 106 countries, but 70 more have yet to sign on with only weeks to go before the ban goes into effect on Aug 1. The United States is among those refusing to sign. The Pentagon considers cluster bombs to be a key part of its defence strategy.

23. China is to impose new age limits on mountaineers seeking to climb in Tibet, authorities said, after an American 13-year-old became the youngest person ever to scale Mount Everest.

24. Justice Rekha Manharlal Doshit and Justice M Yusuf Eqbal were appointed as Chief Justices of the Patna High Court and the Madras High Court respectively.