Current Affairs Update 20 June 2017

CURRENT AFFAIRS UPDATE FOR UPCOMING EXAMS

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China is going to world’s second largest Yoga day celebration.

• Yoga fever has gripped China ahead of the third UN International Day of Yoga as thousands of Chinese would participate in scores of events organised across the country which officials say will make it the second biggest celebrations of the day in the world after India.
• Beijing’s iconic Great Wall as well as numerous parks, lakes and resorts across China have become venues for the both official and unofficial yoga events being held with active support of Chinese government bodies. Though yoga has become immensely popular over the years in China vying with ancient indigenous physical fitness martial art form Tai Chi, it got an official sanction when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in 2015 at a joint event during the latter’s visit.
• China also backed India’s move in the UN to make 21 June as ‘International Yoga Day’, giving a fillip to hundreds of yoga clubs and organisations. A first yoga college has come up outside India with joint collaboration of India and China in Yunnan Minzu (Nationalities) University in Kunming, which has also lined up several yoga events.

The Union Government has set up GST Facilitation Cell in DIPP.

• The industry department today said it has established a GST facilitation cell to address any tax issue that can come up in sectors related to the DIPP. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) looks after policies related to sectors including leather, cement, paper, salt and explosives. The GST (Goods and Services Tax) facilitation cell is headed by Sudhansu Sekhar Das, Economic Adviser of the department. It would “be in constant touch with the major industry and business associations relating to the department,” the DIPP said in a statement. The Department of Commerce too has set up a similar cell and a help desk to aid exporters and importers. It shall be the first point of contact for addressing any issue faced by any sector related to the department. The new indirect tax regime – GST – will be rolled out from July. It will subsume central excise, service tax and state VAT among other indirect levies on manufactured goods and services.

The Reserve bank of India initiates Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) against  Bank of Maharashtra as NPA mounts.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated "prompt corrective action" for state-run Bank of Maharashtra Ltd because of its high level of bad loans, the lender said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.
• The mid-sized institution is the fifth state-run lender to come under curbs since the RBI tightened the corrective action framework in April to help cut the $150 billion of troubled loans afflicting banks.
• Bank of Maharashtra said the corrective actions will not have any material impact on its performance, but will help strengthen its internal controls, and improve asset quality and profitability.

Connaught Place is ninth most expensive office market in world.

• Connaught Place in Delhi has been ranked ninth most expensive prime office market in the world with an occupancy cost of $153.89 per square feet per annum, said a new survey. Connaught Place was seventh in the last year's survey.
• According to the bi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey of US-based CBRE, Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) moved one place up from nineteen to 20 while the CBD of Nariman Point ranked thirty-third on the list of the top 50 most expensive office markets around the world. Global prime office occupancy costs include rent, plus local taxes and service charges for the highest-quality, prime office properties.

Union Government appoints Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador of GST.

• The Union government has roped in actor Amitabh Bachchan to promote the Goods and Services Tax (GST), ahead of its implementation from July 1.
• The Central Board of Excise and Customs will make the 74-year-old star the brand ambassador of the GST. A 40-second video featuring him had been shot and is being circulated.
• “GST — An initiative to create a unified national market,” the Finance Ministry said in a tweet, attaching the video.

Srikanth clinches Indonesia Open badminton title.

• Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched his third Superseries title, lifting the Indonesia Open men’s singles trophy with a straight-game victory over Japanese qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in the finals here on Sunday.
• World No.22 Srikanth, who had reached the finals at Singapore Open in April, outclassed Sakai, ranked 47th, 21-11, 21-19 in just 37 minutes to take home a cheque of $75,000. Later, reacting to the win, the Badminton Association of India announced a cash award of ₹5 lakh.

Veteran actor Sam Beasley has passed away.

• Actor Sam Beazley, who played Professor Everard in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), has passed away. He was 101.
• He began his professional acting career as a teenager in 1930s, which saw him acting in films like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.
• He returned to the profession in his seventies, after serving in World War II and later running an antiques shop for several decades.
• Beazley also appeared in movies such as Don Bosco and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.
• He most recently did guest roles on Foyle's War, Kingdom and Casualty, all in 2007.

World Refugee day is celebrated across the world on 20th June.

• On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
• African Refugee Day had been formally celebrated in several countries prior to 2000.