Current Affairs 6th June 2017

Current Affairs 6th June  2017 - Important Points

• Ties to Qatar cut by - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain
• India's heaviest satellite using launch vehicle GSLV Mark III D1 launched by - ISRO
• Loan agreement between World Bank and India signed for - Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery project
• Green protocol for weddings implemented by - Kerala Government
• Vijaya Bank set to develop - 100 digital villages
• Anand Neelakantan, Haraprasad Das, Paramita Satpathy to be honoured with - Kalinga Literary Awards
• United Nations observes 2017 - Russian Language Day
• First team to win back-to-back Champions League titles - Real Madrid
• A giant planet hotter than most stars discovered by - Astronomers

Current Affairs 6th June  2017 - Details

Ties to Qatar cut by - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain

Six countries of the Arab region, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt have cut off their diplomatic ties with Qatar. The countries accused Doha for destabilising the region and have declared that they would not maintain any diplomatic relations with the nation with an immediate effect.

Important Highlights

• Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh has closed its borders, severed land, sea and air contact with Doha. This step has been taken to protect the national security of the Kingdom from the terrorism and extremism.
• UAE has given 48 hours to Qatari diplomats to leave the country.
• Abu Dhabi accused Doha to support, fund and embrace terrorism, extremism and sectarian organisations.
• Bahrain also announced cutting of diplomatic ties by stating the reason of ongoing attempts to destabilize security in the kingdom.It blamed Qatar's support for armed terrorist activities and funding linked to Iranian groups to carry out sabotage for its decision.
• Egypt has also closed its airspace and ports for all the Qatari transportation. 
• The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also stated that it is severing diplomatic relations with Doha because of the continued hostility of its authorities towards Egypt.
• The Yemen government also announced snapping ties with Qatar accusing it for working with its enemies of the Iran-aligned Houthi militia.
• The Tobruk-based internationally recognized Libya government also broke diplomatic relations with Qatar.
•  Foreign Minister Mohammed Dairi stated that Doha has been the main source of supplying weapons to the Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and other armed Islamist groups since 2012 and poses a serious threat to the national security of the Arab world.
• The Saudi-led Arab temporary alliance of fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels have also banned Qatar from its alliance.

 India's heaviest satellite using launch vehicle GSLV Mark III D1 launched by - ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the communication satellite GSAT-19 into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on 5th June 2017. Launch vehicle named Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk- III) D-1 lifted this communication satellite from the second launch pad of the spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota at 5.28 pm IST. The GSLV Mk-III rocket is most powerful vehicle of India also called as FAT Boy of ISRO. The countdown to ISRO's historic launch of GSLV Mark III D-1 was started on 4th June 2017 only. India has managed to win a bigger share of the $300 billion global space industry  after this successful launch.

More on GSLV Mark III

• GSLV Mark III has twice the capacity of its previous version GSLV Mark II in terms of its payload carrying capacity.
• Its first stage is made up of two straps on motors filled with solid fuel.
• The second and core stage is fueled with liquid propellants. 
• The most crucial cryogenic engine at its upper stage gives a heavy thrust upto 20 tonne to give this huge rocket the edge to take heavier payloads such as 4-ton class communication satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbits.
• As per space agency, GSAT-19 satellite at 3136 kg is the India's attempt to put the heaviest satellite in the orbit.

Loan agreement between World Bank and India signed for - Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery project

India signed a USD 39.2 million loan agreement with the World Bank for the Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery project on 5th June 2017. An international financial institution under the World Bank, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will be providing the loan. 

This bank offers loans to middle-income developing countries. The Additional Chief Secretary, Assam Government and the Country Director (India) on behalf of the World Bank signed the Implementing Entity Agreement.

Key highlights of the project

• Approximate cost of the Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery project is USD 49 million, out of which USD 39.2 million will be financed by the World Bank.Assam Budget will utilize the remaining funds. 
• The project aims to improve access in the delivery of selected public services in Assam. 
• The Project will be adopting an integrated approach to improve access and accountability.
• This program has a duration of 5 years.

 Green protocol for weddings implemented by - Kerala Government

Kerala Government has implemented a ‘green protocol’ to make special occasions like weddings more nature-friendly. With the implementation of the protocol,plastic use and other non- biodegradable articles including disposable glasses, plates and thermocol decorations would be prohibited at the events. People would be encouraged to use tumblers, plates and utensils made from glass and other environment-friendly metals.

Important Highlights

• To ensure proper implementation of the protocol, inspections will be held at hotels, marriage halls, convention centers and other venues of the wedding ceremony.
• Suchitwa Mission and revenue department which are the state nodal agencies ,have formed special squads to carry these kind of inspections in wedding halls and record the ceremony.
• Strict action would be taken in case of any violation based on the nature in terms of using utensils and articles.
• Suchitwa Mission' has already launched the initiative on a pilot basis in some districts of the state including Kannur, Ernakulam, Kollam and Alappuzha.
• The government has sought cooperation of the owners of marriage halls and convention centers for effective  and immediate implementation of the protocol.
• The main objective behind the initiative is to minimize the plastic use in our daily life. 

Vijaya Bank set to develop - 100 digital villages

Vijaya Bank is going to develop 100 digital villages spread across different states of the country. The bank is taking initiative to promote digital banking among the rural population. Executive Director of the bank B S Rama Rao said that this Bank is the only public sector financial institution to develop digital villages which has a focus on rural areas and it has already developed five villages. One among those is in Guntur district.

Vital Highlights

• Within a month, bank has planned to set up 100 digital villages.
• The digital villages will comprise services such as ATM cards, Internet, Mobile payment facilities, Wi-Fi connectivity and online banking among others.
• Door-to-door campaign would be running by the bank to educate the villagers.
• Eligible villagers can open bank accounts and bank will encourage them to make transactions digital.
• Andhra Pradesh will be getting 10 digital villages out of 100.
• Vijaya Bank is a public sector bank with its corporate office in Bangalore.
• The bank has around 1900 branches all across the country.
• It boasts of about 8 lakh Internet banking users and 13 lakh mobile banking users.
• It is the first public sector bank to take up such initiative.
• The bank is further working on financing the metro project of the city.

Do you know?

The digital villages project of the bank was developed even before the announcement of demonetisation. The business worth of the bank is estimated to be ?229833 Crore as on March 31st 2017.

Anand Neelakantan, Haraprasad Das, Paramita Satpathy to be honoured with - Kalinga Literary Awards

Popular writer Anand Neelakantan, Odia poet Haraprasad Das and author Paramita Satpathy were on 6th June 2017 announced as the winners of the Kalinga Literary Awards.

• Kalinga International Literary Award was given to Neelakantan.
• Kalinga Literary Youth Award was given to Haraprasad Das.
• Kalinga Karubaki Award was given to Satpathy.
• They will receive the award during the Kalinga Literary Festival 2017 which will be held from 10th June to 12th June 2017.

United Nations observes 2017 - Russian Language Day

The United Nations Russian Language Day was observed on 6th June 2017. The day is observed annually to maintain the equality of all six official UN languages. These six official languages are Chinese, Russian, English, Arabic, Spanish and French. The decision to hold days of languages was adopted by the UN Department of Public Information on the eve of the International Mother Language Day celebrated annually on 21st February, at the initiative of the UNESCO.

More about Aleksandr Pushkin

• Alexander Pushkin was a Russian playwright, poet, and novelist of the Romantic era.
• He is considered by many to be the modern Russian literature founder and the greatest Russian poet.
• While under the strictly closed observation of the Tsar's political police and unable to publish that.
• Pushkin wrote the drama Boris Godunov and it was his most famous play.
• The UN Russian Language Day coincides with the Aleksandr Pushkin birthday, a Russian poet who is considered the modern Russian literature father. 

First team to win back-to-back Champions League titles - Real Madrid

Real Madrid made history on 3rd June 2017 as they became the first team ever to win back-to-back Champions League titles.Team defeated Juventus 4–1 to win a record-extending 12th title. Real Madrid became the first team to successfully defend their title in the Champions League era, and the first to do so since Milan in 1990 after this victory.

More about Real Madrid

• It is a professional football club based in Madrid in Spain, founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club.
• In domestic football, the club has won a record 19 Copa del Rey, 33 La Liga titles, a Copa Eva Duarte, nine Supercopa de España and a Copa de la Liga.
• The club has won a record 12 UEFA/European Cup Champions League titles, two UEFA Cups and three UEFA Super Cups in European competitions.
• They are the only Spanish club to have won both international titles, a joint record three Intercontinental Cups, and two FIFA Club World Cups in international football.

 A giant planet hotter than most stars discovered by - Astronomers

Astronomers team led by B Scott Gaudi, an astronomer at the Ohio State University discovered hottest giant planet named KELT-9b recently. It is an exoplanet that is hotter than the most stars.  The findings were published in the journal Nature on 5th June 2017. It is named as a hybrid planet-star with the planet mass and an atmosphere like a star. KELT-9b is estimated to be roughly 3777 degrees Celsius on the darker side and 4327 degrees Celsius on the star-exposed side.