GK & Current Affairs June 2016

Shooter Jitu Rai on 25 June 2016 won silver in the 10 m Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
•    It is the second medal in a World Cup this season for Rai, who had won the free pistol gold in the first World Cup in Bangkok.
•    Brazilian shooter Felipe Almeida Wu won the gold medal, while Korea’s Jin Jongoh bagged the bronze medal.
•    Jitu Rai is an Indian shooter of Nepalese origin.
•    He competes in the 10 metre air pistol and 50 metre pistol events.
•    In 2014, he won the silver medal in the 10 metre air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
•    He won two medals, a silver in the 50 metre pistol event and a gold in the 10 metre air pistol event, in Maribor.
•    He became the first person to have won two medals at a single world cup for India.
•    He was ranked number 1 in the world, in 10 metre air pistol and number 4, in 50 metre pistol, in July 2014.
•    In the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon in South Korea, he won the gold medal in the 50 m pistol category. He also won a bronze in the men's 10 m air pistol team event.
•    The ISSF World Cup was introduced by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986.
•    It was introduced to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic shooting competitions.
•    It is still carried out in the Olympic shooting events, with four competitions per year in each event.

Lionel Messi, the Barcelona star, on 26 June 2016 announced his plans to retirement from international football.
•    The announcement from the foot balling great of his generation came just hours after he missed the penalty in the Copa America final. His team, Argentina, faced a defeat from Chile in Copa America final at New Jersey in the US.
•    Argentina lost 4-2 on penalties to Chile after a 0-0 draw in MetLife Stadium.
•    The 29-year-old has played four finals for his Argentina that includes the 2014 World Cup final and three Copa America finals.
•    He made his senior international debut in 2005, is his country's all-time top scorer, with 55 goals from 113 appearances.
•    An Argentine professional footballer plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona.
•    He is the only footballer in the history to win five FIFA Ballons d'Or, four of which he won consecutively
•    He is the first player to win three European Golden Shoes.
•    With Barcelona he has won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, as well as four Copas del Rey.
•    His major honour with Argentina is the 2008 Olympic gold.
•    Messi is the winner of four Champions League titles and eight Spanish La Liga crowns with Barcelona.

The European Union on 22 June 2016 reached agreement to set up a new Border and Coastguard Force to curb the influx of migrants.
To tackle the crisis from which the EU is suffering from, the force have the right to intervene in front-line countries like Greece and Italy.
•    The agreed subject that was endorsed by the negotiators for the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament was a proposal from the European Commission, the bloc's executive. It wanted to set up the force by the summer.
•    The parliament is expected to vote on the issue in a key committee in fourth week of June 2016.
•    Making of the force will represent an expansion of the size and tasks of the existing Frontex border agency, based in Warsaw.
•    In December 2016, EU leaders set a 30 June 2016 as a deadline for agreement on the new force, for tackling the flow of the migrants.
•    Several countries have reintroduced border controls that were eliminated years ago as part of Schengen as the EU deals with a record flow of more than one million migrants and refugees since the start of 2015.
•    Under the deal member states would still manage their borders on a daily basis but could call on emergency support from a pool of at least 1500 border guards.

The Colombian government and the leftist FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels on 23 June 2016 signed a historic ceasefire deal. This ceasefire deal helped in ending more than five decades of conflict, which is regarded as one of the oldest wars of history.
•    The signing ceremony held at Havana was witnessed by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, FARC chief Timoleón Timochenko Jiménez, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, Cuban president, Raúl Castro and Venezuela’s head of state, Nicolás Maduro.
•    The announcement is seen as one of the last steps before a full peace deal is signed, which is expected within weeks via a referendum. The formal peace talks for the deal were started three years ago, in October 2012, in the Cuban capital.
•    The peace talks between the government and the rebels were hosted by the Cuban president, Raúl Castro; while Venezuela that had the observer status played an important role in encouraging FARC to the negotiating table.
•    The core area of discussion focused on five main areas that island reform, the rebels' future role in political life, a definitive end of hostilities, fighting the illegal drug trade and the situation of the victims.
•    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC-EP) is a left wing militant organization established in 1964.
•    It is Colombia's largest rebel group and Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency. It is active in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.
•    Like any left-wing militant organisation, its aim is to overthrow the government in power.
•    It was established as a communist-inspired peasant army fighting for land reform and to reduce the gulf dividing rich and poor in the Andean country.
•    It resulted in killing of an estimated 2.2 lakh people and displaced almost seven million.

The Prime Minister of United Kingdom David Cameron on 24 June 2016 announced his resignation hours after the Brexit vote that favoured leaving the European Union (EU).
•    During the campaign, Cameron-led Conserve Party advocated for remaining with the EU. In the referendum that was held on 23 June 2016, 51.89 percent of the voters preferred to leave the EU.
•    Among the 46.5 million people who registered to vote, only 48.11 percent voted to remain in the grouping. However, the result must still be approved by the UK Parliament to become effective.
•    Cameron will step down in October 2016 at the Conservative Party Conference to make way for a new Prime Minister to guide the UK in the new direction for the country.
•    This British politician was first elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 2001. At present, he represents the Oxford shire constituency of Witney.
•    Following the election of a hung parliament in the 2010 general election, he became Prime Minister as the leader of a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
•    He was re-elected as the Prime Minister in the 2015 election, when his party won a parliamentary majority for the first time since 1992.

Union Ministry of Urban Development on 22 June 2016 approved the setting up of District Level Advisory and Monitoring Committees to promote people centric planning and execution of new urban development schemes.
•    These committees will comprise of elected representatives of the country, thus giving Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) a say in the implementation of the urban development schemes.
•    In a first of its kind, these Committees will oversee, review and monitor implementation of urban development, affordable housing and urban poverty alleviation programmes.
•    Swachh Bharat Mission
•    Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
•    Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)
•    Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All (Urban) and
•    Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission
•    To promote effective citizen involvement
•    To review improvements in service level indicators like water supply,
•    Review progress of implementation of reforms with focus on e-governance and ease of sanctioning of construction permits,
•    Advise state and central governments regarding bottlenecks in implementation,
•    Suggest mid-course correction in implementation
•    Facilitate coordination among various agencies
•    All MLAs from respective districts representing the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Mayors
•    Chairpersons of ULBs
•    Chairpersons and Chief Executives of Urban Development Authorities in districts
•    Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of ULBs
•    Senior most representatives of the Department of Public Health Engineering and
•    Senior most officials of para-statal bodies like water board and sewerage board
•    District Collector or Municipal Commissioner of metropolitan cities will be the Member Secretary.

World Hydrography Day (WHD) 2016 was observed on 21 June 2016 across the world.
•    The theme for the WHD 2016 was Hydrography - the key to well-managed seas and waterways. The theme tries to focus attention on the fundamental importance of hydrography.
•    The World Hydrography Day also marks the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
•    The day is celebrated to increase public awareness of the vital role that hydrography plays in everyone’s life.
•    On 29 November 2005, the United Nations adopted Resolution A/60/30 to welcome the adoption by the International Hydrographic Organization of the World Hydrography Day to be celebrated annually on 21 June.
•    The theme for the World Hydrography Day 2015 was Our seas and waterways - yet to be fully charted and explored.
•    Hydrography involves measuring the depth of the water and fixing the position of all the navigational hazards that lie on the seafloor.  
•    Hydrography also involves measuring the tide and the currents.
•    It is done mainly with specialised ships and boats operating echo sounders and sonars. Survey aircraft fitted with lasers are also used to measure the depth.  
•    Hydrographic information is required for the safe, competent and sustainable conduct of every human activity that takes place in, on or under the sea.

The International Olympic Day was celebrated on 23 June 2016. To mark the occasion, over 160 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and sports organizations across the world organized a series of events to spread Olympic values and encourage people to get involved in sports and lead more active lives.
•    The 2016 Summer Olympics host-city Rio de Janeiro unveiled its athletes' village to mark the day. The Brazilian city will host the XXXI Olympiad between 5 August and 21 August 2016.
•    The day is celebrated for promotion of participation of people in the sports all across the world, irrespective of athletic, gender or age ability.
•    The International Olympic Day was initiated in 1948 for commemorating the commencement of modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894 at Sorbonne in Paris.
•    There are three main pillars of the International Olympic Day - discover, learn and move.
•    These three pillars of the sports event are deployed by the National Olympic Committees into sports, educational and cultural activities.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today attended the first anniversary celebration of the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT, in Pune.
•    Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that a fresh trend is now noticed where cities are moving forward to compete on the path of development. 
•    He said there is a positive atmosphere of competing on development works through the spirit of Jan Bhaagidaari. He emphasized that people in the cities must decide about the development of their urban spaces, adding that these decisions cannot be taken in Delhi. 
•    He said that the spirit of participative governance is vital.
•    The Prime Minister said that the days when urbanization was seen as a problem are now over; it is now seen as an opportunity.
•    Shri Narendra Modi said that cities are growth centres which have the capacity to mitigate the problems faced by the people.
•    The Prime Minister also stressed on the need for cities to focus on solid waste management.
•    Earlier, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, joined the event through live video conferencing from Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur respectively.
•    They shared their views with the gathering. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Smart Net Portal, and Smart City Projects of Pune. He launched the “Make Your City SMART” Contest.

The new bio ink containing stem cells allows scientists to 3D print of living tissue which is also known as bio-printing. 
•    The ink contains two different polymer components: a natural polymer and a sacrificial synthetic polymer. 
•    The natural polymer was extracted from seaweed. 
•    It provides structural support when the cell nutrients are introduced. The synthetic polymer used in the medical industry helps the bio-ink to change its state from liquid to solid when the temperature is raised. 
•    The special bio-ink formulation has helped scientists to construct complex living 3D architectures after it was extruded from a retrofitted benchtop 3D printer, as a liquid that later transformed to a gel at 37°C. 
•    Stem cell is an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells (through mitosis) of the same type and from which certain other kinds of cell may be formed by the cellular differentiation. 
•    In the stem cell treatments new adult cells are introduced into the damaged tissue through the intervention strategy to treat the disease. 
•    These treatments have potential to change the face of curing human diseases and alleviate suffering.