International News Affairs
- India has voluntarily contributed $100,000to a UN fund to help developing countries actively participate in the discussion of tax issues.
- Important Note: With this, India has become the first country to voluntarily contribute.
- Iraqi government troops today declared an end of Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ in the country after recapturing the Grand al-Nuri Mosque where the militants proclaimed the creation of their state.
- PM Narendra Modi will become the 1st Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel with his three-day visit to the country starting 4th July 2017.
- During this visit, Modi will meet his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and address the Indian community in Tel Aviv.
- Modi’s visit is aimed at commemorating 25 years of diplomatic ties between India and Israel.
- The Philippines‘ parliament today passed a law where singing the national anthem shall be “mandatory and must be done with fervour”.
- Violators of the law could face up to one year in prison and fines up to $2,000.
- The United States has dropped Iraq and Myanmar from a list of the world’s worst offenders in the use of child soldiers, despite multiple reports of continuous usage of children in armies and militias in the two countries.
- Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, US must be sure that no children are in any way compelled to serve as soldiers.
- North Korea has issued a standing order for the execution of South Korea’s former President Park Geun-Hyeover reports that Park had planned to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
National News Affairs
- Today (29th June) is National Statistics Day.
- This day is organised by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- This day commemorates the birth anniversary of Indian Bengali scientist and applied statistician, Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
- He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure.
- Important Note: This year observes 125th birth anniversary Mahalanobis.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmadabad.
- The Election Commission announced today that elections for the post of Vice-President will be held on August 5, and the counting will also take place on the same day.
- The Indian Army has received itsfirst batch of modern bullet-proof helmets, two decades after initiating the process.
- The ballistic helmets can withstand impact of ammunition fired from short range, meeting the global standard for protection among leading armed forces.
- They provide all-round protection from head injuries, as opposed to the previous ones that protected only the forehead and the back.
- The Election Commission of India has joined hands with the social networking giant Facebook to launch nationwide voter registration reminderaimed at reminding eligible Indian voters to register themselves on the electoral rolls.
- As a part of the initiative, Facebook will activate a unique ‘Register Now’ buttonreminding all the eligible Indian users to enrol themselves as voters.
- Bollywood Actress Preity Zinta has launched Kavach Safety, an emergency response service for women.
- The “pro victim-anti perpetrator” service assures safety at the press of a button by helping in preventing incidents and assisting victims through medical services and trauma support.
- The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has launched a web application for free Legal Services to Prisoners at the conference held at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi.
- This system has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
- Odisha is set to become the first state in the country to open a blood bank for cattle.
Banking, Business & Economic News
- Government issues notification for roll out of Goods and Services Tax, GST from Saturday.
- To launch GST, the government has organised a special programme to be held in Central Hall of Parliament in the midnight of June 30th.
- The event will see the participation of President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other Ministers and bureaucrats.
- TheReserve Bank of India (RBI) has started printing currency notes of ₹200 denomination, the third denomination notes to be printed after demonetisation.
- The new notes with advanced security features are unlikely to be circulated through ATM machines to avoid recalibration of machines.
- Note: The proposal to issue ₹200 banknotes was cleared by the RBI in March.
- The government has given in-principle approval for the disinvestment of state-run carrier Air India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced today.
- He further announced that a body will be set up to finalise modalities and details for disinvestment of Air India.
- Note: Currently, Air India has a debt of over ₹50,000 crore and is surviving on a taxpayer bailout.
- The Union Cabinet today approved the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commissionfor higher allowances, including house rent allowance (HRA).
- The move will benefit more than 50 lakh serving and retired central government employees.
Science & Technology
- The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) GSAT-17satellite was successfully launched today aboard French rocket Ariane 5, making it the third satellite launch in a month.
- The 3,477-kg satellite is carrying payloads for communication services, apart from equipment for meteorological data relay.
- The other launches this month were with PSLV C-38 and India’s heaviest rocket GSLV Mk III.
- Apple launched it’s first-ever iPhone on this day (29th June) in the year 2007, after being introduced by Steve Jobs in January that year.
- The iPhone was among the world’s first consumer devices with a multi-finger touch interface and was claimed to be “five years ahead of any other mobile phone”.
- Note: Fifteen iPhone models have been launched since then, with iPhone 7 being the latest.
Current Sports Affairs
- The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) is set to shift India’s Under-17 World Cup matches from Mumbai to Delhi on request of India’s sports ministry.
- Note: The first-ever FIFA event in India will be held across six cities from October 6.