IPCI Info

9 June

International News Affairs

  • The 17th SCO Summit is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan during 8th to 9th June 2017.
    • Highlights :
    • Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of this Summit.
    • India and Pakistan joined SCO, potentially making way for joint military exercises in the future.
    • India’s membership was strongly pushed by Russia while Pakistan’s entry into the group was backed by China.
    • As an SCO member, India is expected to have a bigger say in pressing for concerted action in dealing with terrorism.
    • Note : India and Pakistan signed the memorandum of obligations on 24 June 2016 at Tashkent, thereby starting the formal process of joining the SCO as full members
    • About SCO :
      • SCO – Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
      • Formed on – 26th April 1996
      • Headquarters – Beijing, China
      • Member Countries –  8 (India,  Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)
      • Secretary General – Rashid Olimov
      • Deputy Secretaries General :
        • Sabyr Imandosov
        • Wang Kaiwen
        • Aziz Nosirov
        • Vladimir Potapenko
      • The upper house of the Japanese parliament today passed a legislation paving the way for 83-year-old Emperor Akihito to abdicate.
        • The law sets the stage for the first abdication of a reigning monarch in two centuries.
      • The UK elections today ended in a hung parliament, as PM Theresa May lost her parliamentary majority after calling an election to strengthen it.
        • Although May’s Conservative Party lost the majority, it emerged as the largest and was followed by the Labour Party.
        • The Conservative government will remain in office until it is decided who will form the new government.
      • India and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation have launched a partnership fund to promote sustainable development projects across the developing world.
        • Note : The India-UN Development Partnership Fund was launched on occasion of the World Oceans Day at a special ceremony held at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

National News Affairs

  • Following the misuse of biometrics by a developer working for Aadhaar’s parent body UIDAI, new security features have been added to make the enrolment process secure.
    • The previous system of taking biometrics allowed operators to store data.
    • The new system will eliminate this vulnerability by attaching the biometric reader’s serial number with the fingerprint to generate an encrypted Personal ID.
  • The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has launched a mobile Application ‘Selfie with Daughter’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.
    • This App is aimed at raising awareness among people about female foeticide and sex selection.
    • Aim of this Campaign : To motivate society to feel proud to be parents of a girl child which in turn is expected to have a positive impact in improving the child sex ratio.
    • Note : This campaign was started in village Bibipur, Jind, Haryana by a former Sarpanch Sunil Jaglan in June 2015.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

  • The State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced rates for home loans above ₹75 lakh by 10 bps.
    • The revised interest rates will be 8.55% per annum for salaried women and 8.60% per annum for others.
    • The revised interest rates on home loans by the SBI will come into effect from June 15 this year.
  • Wipro has become the first Indian IT firm to declare US President Donald Trump a potential threat to business, by officially mentioning it in its filings.

MOUs & Agreements

  • India has signed the OECD multilateral convention that aims to check cross-border tax evasion by multinational companies.
    • This will modify India’s treaties to curb revenue loss through treaty abuse and profit shifting strategies by ensuring that profits are taxed where substantive economic activities generating the profits are carried out.
    • Note : More than 65 countries signed the convention.
    • OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development