9th June 2015 – Important Current Affairs updates

• Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) wrapped up their two-day summit with a pledge to take actions on issues ranging from climate change, world trade to the Ukraine conflict and the fight against terrorism.
• Highlights of the Summit :
  • Leaders have agreed that sanctions against Russia must remain in place, until the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is fully respected.
• The G-7 group also addressed the threats from the militant groups Islamic State and Boko Haram.
• The G-7 leaders called on all nations to fight human trafficking, which is creating a refugee crisis in some of Europe’s Mediterranean countries.
• They pledged to increase aid to developing countries, and to pursue strict emissions control targets at the global climate change conference in France in December.
• G7 leaders want 100 billion dollars spent every year by governments and businesses to reduce emissions.
• The G-7 leaders also made a commitment to work with 60 countries to improve health care and avoid epidemics like the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
• The leaders promised to expand opportunities for women to gain the knowledge and skills they need to provide for their families.
  • They want one third more women to have vocational education by 2030.
• The group also reaffirmed commitment to continue its efforts to meet the target of providing 100 billion U.S. dollars a year by 2020 to developing countries to help them deal with climate change.

• Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said the Centre has approved the inclusion of three new districts – Jind, Karnal and Muzaffarnagar – inNCR.
  • Note : Jind and Karnal are in Haryana, Muzaffarnagar is in Uttar Pradesh.
• With this, the total number of districts outside Delhi that form the NCR goes up to 23 from the three neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• About NCR :
  • NCR – National Capital Region
  • The NCR is India’s largest and one of the world’s most populated regions with over five crore people according to the 2011 census.
• Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has been asked to ensure twenty four hours power supply to Government hospitals across the state.
  • This includes all District hospitals, District Women Hospitals and T.B. Hospitals.
• Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government will invest Rs. 8.5 lakh crore over the next five years to develop the Indian Railways services.
  • Note : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a joint research on material and engineering was signed between IIT-BHU and Railways.

• Uttar Pradesh Minister (Minister for Backward Classes Welfare) Ram Murti Singh Verma has been booked along with five others in connection with the killing of a journalist by allegedly setting him on fire in Shahjahanpur district.
  • The FIR has been lodged under IPC 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
• Maharashtra Police’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has filed an FIR against former deputy chief minister and public works minister Chhagan Bhujbaland five senior officials of the public works ministry, including a former secretary,  for illegally handing over Government land to a private builder.
  • Note : This case is better known as the Maharashtra Sadan case.
  • FIR: First Information Report
• Delhi law minister Jitendra Singh Tomar resigned today’s night, hours after being sent to four-day police custody, for allegedly forging his law degree.

Awards & Honors

• India’s low-cost Mars mission, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, which is in rendezvous with the red planet for an extended period, has been presented with the Space Pioneer Award for 2015 by the U.S. National Space Society.
  • This award was presented to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in the Science and Engineering category during the 34th Annual International Space Development Conference held at Toronto in Canada.
• Olympic-winning boxer Mary Kom will be seen in an animated avatar on India’s first girl superhero series. 
  • This series titled as “Mary Kom Jr.

• The National Center for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) has announced that a  tropical depression located on the Indian coast can begin its impact on the UAE as early as today evening.
  • They named it as Cyclone “Ashobaa“.
• Note : Cyclonic Ashobaa is the first tropical storm of the pre-monsoon season in the Indian seas.

• The RBI today unveiled the much-talked-about “Strategic Debt Restructuring” scheme (SDR) which paves the way for banks to trigger a change in management of chronically defaulting companies.
  • With this scheme, RBI has permitted banks to take control of 51 percent of stake in a company that has failed to recover financial health even after a period of financial restructuring, typically due to management inefficiency or other factors.
• This provision is aimed at ensuring promoters of defaulted companies have more skin in the game.
• The RBI said that it should be approved by 75% of the creditors by value and 60 percent of creditors by number.