Current Affairs Updates - 17th June 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 17th June 2018

Read our Current Affairs Updates - 17th June 2018 where we have brought for each one of our perusers the Latest Current Affairs Headlines which are essential on your availability arrange for the examination. Wannabes should encounter these in purposes of enthusiasm as these are inside and out Updated News and are basic for exams, for instance, IBPS PO, IBPS CLERK, SSC CGL, Railway and other Competitive Examinations. Perusers must experience these in unpretentious components and moreover take after our Static GK and Note Down Points nearby Daily Current Affairs Quiz. 

Rankings & Indexes

Global ratings agency Fitch said ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have “gaps” in their risk control mechanisms and has revised down its outlook on the latter to negative on sour assets worries.

• The agency cut its outlook on Axis Bank’s issuer default rating to negative from stable, pointing to the high proportion of NPAs and the limited capital buffers available, despite a recent infusion. 

Gujarat has topped the Niti Aayog's composite water management index (CWMI), while tribal state Jharkhand was adjudged as the worst performer.

• Gujarat is followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra on the index.

Fitch Ratings raised India growth forecast for 2018-19 to 7.4 percent from 7.3 per cent, but cited higher financing costs and rising oil prices as risks to growth. 

• The economy grew at 6.7 per cent in 2017-18 and 7.7 per cent in January-March quarter. 

National Affairs

President Kovind leaves on 3-nation visit to Greece, Suriname, Cuba

• This is Kovind's fourth state visit as President and the first outside Africa. 

International Affairs

NASA’s record-breaking astronaut, Peggy Whitson, retired less than a year after returning from her last and longest spaceflight.

• She’s spent more time off the planet than any other American: 665 days over three space station missions. 
• She’s also the world’s most experienced female spacewalker, with 10 under her spacesuit belt.

Jordan's King Abdullah issued a decree forming a new government led by a former World Bank economist and mandated to review a disputed tax system after widespread protests against IMF-driven austerity measures.

• A government official said the new cabinet decided at a meeting after the swearing-in ceremony decided to withdraw a contentious personal and corporate tax bill which the previous government had sent to parliament and triggered the protests.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced his resignation after a series of mass protests highlighted a dramatic drop in his government's popularity.

• Kvirikashvili's move, after two and a half years in power, comes amid growing popular discontent over his government's handling of the economy and after mass protests in recent months.

Schemes / Programme

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari released a book ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ published by NABARD in a function at New Delhi.

• We are committed for the vision of ‘Har Khet Ko Pani’ and ‘Per Drop More Drop’. He also stressed on the need of water testing like soil testing before cultivating any crop. This will improve crop yield and avoid wastage of water also.

Agreements/ MoUs Signed

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva in Washington DC to seek assistance for a Multimodal Transport Corridor and the Rural Livelihood Project which aims to provide sustainable livelihood enhancements in 10,000 villages in the state.

• According to a press release by CMO, World Bank has assured of positive consideration of both the projects. Fadnavis, who is on a three-nation tour, also attended a business discussion organised by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum where he spoke about the state’s growth story and infra-led growth model. 

Flipkart-owned PhonePe said that it has partnered cab aggregator Ola that will allow riders to book rides using the former’s payment platform.

• He added that PhonePe has also added ‘Auto-pay’ feature that allows users to make payments seamlessly.

Marg ERP limited, a leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) company has partnered with ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, to offer an integrated payments platform to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers, using Marg’s accounting software.

• This integration enables ICICI Bank’s current account holders to securely connect their bank account with the Marg ERP software and undertake an array of digital transactions from within the ERP platform. 

Summit /Conference / Events

India to host European Union Film Festival on 18th June, 2018 at the Siri Fort Auditorium.

• The festival will traverse through 11 cities in India including New Delhi, Chennai, Port Blair, Pune, Puducherry, Kolkata, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Thrissur, Hyderabad and Goa from 18th June till 31st August. 

A Conference on Implementation of National Pension System (NPS) by the Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs) was organized by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

• The prime objective was to provide a forum to all the Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs), where the progress in the implementation of NPS with respect to compliance of timelines in various NPS related activities could be brought to the fore and a way forward could be provided. Officials from most of the Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs) attended the Conference.

Other Sports & Award Related News

Indian women's cricket team opener, Smriti Mandhana, will become the first player from her country to appear in England's Kia Super T20 League beginning July 22.

• Smriti was signed by Western Storm ahead of the upcoming edition that features six teams.

Obituary 

Veteran journalist Adiraju Venkateswara Rao passes away

• Senior journalist and writer Adiraju Venkateswara Rao passed away here. He was 79. Rao had not been keeping well for some time and the end came late last night, sources said.