19th June 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (3rd Sunday of June) is Father's Day. 
• This day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. 
  
• India is going to setup a joint panel of parliamentarians with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a bid to boost bilateral strategic ties. 
• The decision was taken when UAE's Federal National Council Speaker Amal Abdullah Al-Qubaisi met Indian Ambassador TP Seetharam today. 
• This panel will aim to facilitate parliamentary visits between both the nations.
• Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was on a visit to China to discuss India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group. 

• This comes amid reports of Beijing trying to block India's entry to the 48-member anti-proliferation group. 
• Note : The decision on India's membership will be taken during the NSG plenary meeting to be held from June 23-24.
• Canada's parliament has passed a contentious bill to allow medically-assisted death for terminally ill people.
• This move makes Canada one of the few countries where doctors can legally help sick people die.
• Assisted suicide is currently legal in just a few countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Albania, Colombia and Japan.
• The practice is legal in the US states of Washington, California, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana.

National Affairs

• The Union Ministry of AYUSH released a Yog Geet (Yoga Song) in connection with the celebration of International Day of Yoga–2016.
• This 3 minutes and 15 seconds song was written by Deeraj Saraswat in Hindi language and composed by Sumanto Ray.
• The Haryana government today gave its approval to set up an AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) University, the first-of-its-kind in India. 
• Note : The university, to be formed by upgrading Shri Krishna Government Ayurvedic College in Kurukshetra, would offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in all the AYUSH systems.
• The Delhi government has decided to disburse old age, physical disability, and widow pensions on a monthly basis starting July, instead of making quarterly payments. 
• The move is aimed at easing the financial problems faced by the beneficiaries in the city, reportedly comprising of 3.88 lakh old people, 1.6 lakh widows and 63,000 people with physical disabilities.
• Under a revised central sector scheme, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will now bear the entire expenditure incurred by SC and OBC students on coaching for competitive examinations. 
• Earlier, the government paid a maximum coaching fee of ₹20,000 per candidate. 
• The Ministry will also empanel reputed coaching institutes to provide quality coaching to the said students.
• Punjab has become the first state in India to provide free treatment to confirmed cases of Hepatitis C. 
• Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal launched the 'Mukh Mantri Punjab Hepatitis C Relief Fund', with an initial contribution of ₹20 crore, for providing the free treatment. 
• Note : According to reports, around six lakh people require Hepatitis C treatment in Punjab.

Science & Technology

• UK astronaut Tim Peake and his crewmates, America's Tim Kopra and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko, returned to Earth after spending six months on the International Space Station. 
• His mission took him on about 3,000 orbits of Earth, covering around 125 million km. 
• The International Astronomical Union has named a 9.8-kilometre​ wide crater on Mars after Nepal's earthquake-hit village of Langtang. 
• The village, which served as a Himalayan base camp, was one of the worst hit villages in the 2015 Nepal earthquake, killing more than 200 people. 

Business & Economy

• California is now the 6th largest economy in the world with its gross state product at $2.46 trillion, leapfrogging France, which dropped to seventh, with a GDP of $2.42 trillion. 
• The most populous US state is also ahead of India, which is in eighth place with a GDP of $2.09 trillion. 
• Markets regulator SEBI has eased the norms for overseas fund managers to relocate to India, under which they need not fulfil the minimum investment requirement of ₹25 lakh. 
• Further, the requirement of such firms to report their overseas funds was removed. 
• Note : The government had announced taxation incentives for overseas fund managers willing to relocate to India during the 2015-16 Budget.
• The Union Railway Ministry has launched two policies related to Parcel Cargo Train Express and Parcel Leasing. 
• They are, 
• Liberalised Comprehensive Parcel Leasing Policy (CPLP) 
• Liberalised policy on Parcel Cargo Express Trains (PCET). 

Awards & Honors

• The Kannada film 'Thithi' has won 2 awards (Best Film & Best Script Writer) at the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival. 
• The awards were part of the 'Asia New Talent Awards' where 'Thithi' was the only nomination from India. 
• Kerala Tourism has won 4 awards at ‘FilmAT’ which is one of the biggest international film festivals dedicated to tourism, art and ecology in Poland.
• ‘Responsible Tourism’ initiative started by Kerala Tourism  has won three awards under categories of the Best Promotional Social Campaign, Protection of Nature, and Eco-Food categories respectively.
• The tourism board’s ad film ‘The Great Backwaters of Kerala’  has won the ‘Best Editing Award’.
• Note : The FilmAT festival is associated with the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals.

Sports

• Australia has won the 2016 Champions Trophy title of Hockey by defeating India.
• Note : With this victory, Australia created history by winning the title for record 14 times.
• Aida Gemanque (106), known as Grandma Iaià, became the oldest Olympic torchbearer, when she lit the cauldron in the Brazilian city, Macapa. 
• She broke 101-yr-old Alexander Kaptarenko’s record, who carried the torch at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. 
• Note : Grandma Iaià holds a Guinness record for being the oldest skydiver at 103, giving her the nickname ‘Extreme Granny’.

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