Current Affairs Current Affairs June 2018

 With 1,86,000 Indian students currently studying in the United States, India is the second highest sender of foreign students to the US, next only to China. US consul general in Kolkata, Craig Hall, stated that the United States is the top destination for foreign students worldwide and the number of Indian students in the US has more than doubled in the last 10 years.
Source- The Times of India

 The Ministry of Railways has launched two mobile applications to ease the traveling experience. The two apps, 'Rail MADAD' and 'Menu on Rails', were launched by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State (MoS) Manoj Sinha during a press conference organized to highlight the achievements of the Ministry in the last four years. While Rail MADAD will enable travelers to lodge complaints, Menu on Rails will facilitate seamless ordering of food. The Minister stated Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh has been created with a corpus of one lakh crore rupees for making additional funds available for safety-related works.
Source- The Economic Times

 India and China signed two bilateral agreements following the meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. The agreements include continuing to share Brahmaputra water data during flood season and exporting non-Basmati rice to China. The two countries have set a trade target of 100 billion dollars by 2020. During the hour-long meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Xi, both countries agreed on several initiatives to take forward the spirit of Wuhan Informal Summit. Chinese President accepted Prime Minister Modi’s invitation for a Wuhan type informal summit in India next year.
Source- The Hindu

 World number one Simona Halep has won her first Grand Slam title with a gutsy comeback victory over American 10th seed Sloane Stephens in the French Open final. Halep, who had lost her three previous major finals, went a set and a breakdown at Roland Garros. But the 26-year-old Romanian battled back to take a see-saw second set against the US Open champion. She then raced away with the third to win 3-6 6-4 6-1.
Source- BBC Sports

 According to Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased to US $61.96 billion in 2017-18. FDI inflow in previous fiscal was US $60 billion. In last four years perod, FDI inflows has jumped to US 4222.75 billion from US $152 billion. The main sectors that received maximum FDI were services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, construction, trading and automobile. Major sources of FDI to Indian included Mauritius, Singapore, Japan, Netherlands, US, Germany, France and UAE. However, according to recent UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) report, FDI to India decreased to US $40 billion in 2017 from US $44 billion in 2016, while outflows from India, the main source of investment in South Asia, has doubled.
  • Background
Foreign investments including FDI are considered crucial for India as it needs around $1 trillion for overhauling its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth. Strong inflow of foreign investments mainly helps to improve the country’s balance of payments (BoP) situation and also strengthen the rupee value against other global currencies, especially dominant US dollar. To attract inflow of foreign investments, the central government has announced several measures including liberalisation of FDI policy and improvement in business climate.

 The Eleventh edition of Geo-Intelligence Asia 2018 organized by GeoSpatial Media and Communication with Directorate General of Information System as Knowledge Partners and Military Survey as Co-organisers, took place in New Delhi. The theme of Seminar was ‘Geo-Spatial: A Force Multiplier for Defence and Industrial Security’. The seminar brought together the military, security officials including BSF and Police Forces, Government and industry together to examine the latest technology solutions and on the critical role of geospatial technology in military and security applications.
Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Qingdao, China, to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.  This will be India's first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organization. India, along with Pakistan, became a full-time member during the Astana summit in June 2017. Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.
Source- Business Standard

 Veteran actor Anupam Kher will be given the prestigious Outstanding Achievement honour at the upcoming International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards ceremony in Bangkok. The 63-year-old actor, who has worked in over 500 films spanning across languages along with projects both in India and abroad for over three decades, will be honoured for his contribution in the field of cinema. Kher will be presented with the honour on June 24 at the 19th edition of IIFA.
Source- Hindustan Times

 In a bid to check loan defaults, RBI stated that a Public Credit Registry (PCR) will be set up containing information on all borrowers to ensure financial stability. Following a report by Yeshwant M Deosthalee headed High-Level Task Force, RBI stated it has considered the recommendations and decided to set up a PCR in a modular and phased manner.
Source- The Hindu Business Line

 Odisha's most popular lyricist, Narayan Prasad Singh was popularly known as 'Rasaraj' passed away at his residence in Bhubaneswar. Singh was 86. Born on May 28th, 1933 at Koeli village, Singh earned his name in the world of Odia music. He was the lyricist of several popular melodious songs in Odia cinema.
Source- Business Standard 


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