18th June Current Affairs - English

First batch of three female fighter pilots commissioned

i. Creating history, the first batch of three female pilots - Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh were inducted in Indian Air Force fighter squadron. On successful completion of their training, the trio were formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

ii. Ms. Avani from Satna in Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Mohana Singh from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan and Ms. Bhawana Kanth, who hails from Darbhanga in Bihar.

iii. In February 2016, President Pranab Mukherjee had announced that all military combat roles will be opened to women in the future.

Kerala Tourism bags four awards at ‘FilmAT’ International Film Festival in Poland

i. Kerala Tourism won four awards at ‘FilmAT’ which is one of the biggest international film festivals dedicated to tourism, art and ecology in Poland.

ii. Three of the honours were given to a single campaign. ‘Responsible Tourism’ initiative started by Kerala Tourism won three awards under categories of the Best Promotional Social Campaign, Protection of Nature, and Eco-Food categories respectively.

iii. The tourism board's ad film ‘The Great Backwaters of Kerala’ won the ‘Best Editing Award’. 

NRIs can now join NPS online through eNPS

i. The Union Finance Ministry has announced that non-resident Indians (NRIs) can now open National Pension Savings (NPS) accounts online i.e. through eNPS if they have Aadhaar Card or Permanent Account Number (PAN) card.

ii. Earlier, NRIs could open NPS accounts only through paper based applications by approaching Bank offices.  

ii. NPS are being regulated by the PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority), a regulator established by the Finance Ministry.

iii. Through eNPS, NRI’s will be able to open NPS accounts both on repatriable and on non-repatriable basis.

SpaceX successfully launches two commercial satellites

i. United State based private space transport service company SpaceX successfully launched two commercial satellites viz. EUTELSAT 117 West B and ABS-2A.

ii. They were launched using SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket which had lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. This mission was SpaceX’s second dual-satellite launch.

iii. These two commercial satellites are operated by Eutelsat and ABS companies respectively. They are geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) satellites that seek to provide global communications services to their users. 

iv. However in this mission, the reusable rocket was lost before it could land on a drone ship platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

State Bank of India creates a dedicated Rs 200 crore fund for startups

i. India's largest public sector lender State Bank of India  (SBI) has created a dedicated IT innovations and startup fund and have set aside Rs 200 crore for investment in promising startups. 

ii. The fund would be extending upto Rs 3 crore for any India registered company for promoting their business in India using information technology for banking. 

Rio declares financial crisis

i. Rio de Janeiro's governor declared a state of financial emergency and requested federal funds to help fulfill obligations for public services during the Olympics that start Aug. 5.

ii. Rio is expecting about 500,000 foreign visitors during the Olympics, which has coincided with Brazil's worst recession since the 1930s and a political crisis that last month led to the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff.

iii. The budget deficit expected in the state of Rio is over 19 billion reais ($5.56 billion) because the spending that was decided before the prices of the oil lowered, outran the revenue that is collapsing during the recession of Brazil.

UN Women announces Anne Hathaway as ‘goodwill ambassador’ to promote gender equality

i. The United Nations entity tasked with promoting gender equality today announced the appointment of Academy Award-winning American actor Anne Hathaway as global Goodwill Ambassador.

ii.  She previously served as an advocate for Nike Foundation and travelled to Kenya and Ethiopia to raise awareness on child marriage. In 2013, Hathaway provided the narration on Girl Rising, a CNN documentary film, which focused on the power of female education as it followed seven girls around the world who sought to overcome obstacles and follow their dreams.

Govt decides to allow export of 10% missile systems to friendly countries

i. Government has decided in principle to allow export of missile systems to 'certain' countries who have friendly relationship with India. 

ii. As per the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, the government had taken a very conscious decision that 10 per cent of the missile capacity will be permitted to be exported if producers manage to get export orders subject to parameters set by the union government and External Affairs Ministry.

iii. The deal was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April last year during his visit to France. Earlier, Parrikar flagged off the inaugural flight of India's indigenous basic trainer aircraft HTT 40 designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

India, South Korea launch platform to promote investments

i. India and South Korea today launched a platform to promote and facilitate investments from the east Asian country. 

ii.The platform 'Korea Plus' was launched by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her South Korean counterpart Joo Hyunghwan in New Delhi.

iii. As per the industry ministry, it is a special initiative to promote and facilitate Korean Investments in India. Korea Plus comprises a representative each from the South Korean Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy and Korea Trade Investment and Promotion Agency (KOTRA).