GK & Current Affairs June 2016

People of Britain in a historic referendum on 24 June 2016 voted in favour of leaving European Union (EU). The referendum ‘to leave’ or ‘to be a member’ of EU saw 51.9% votes in favour compared to 48.1% in against. 
•    Referendum turnout was higher than at 2015 general election.
•    Northern Ireland, London and Scotland voted strongly to stay back with the EU while the Wales and the English shires backed Britain exit (Brexit) from the EU.
•    Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation from his position.
•    The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results. It fell by 3% within moments of the first result showing a strong result for Leave in Sunderland and fell as much as 6.5% against the euro.
•    The departure of the bloc's second biggest economy would weaken Europe's unity and stability which is already grappling with the Greek financial crisis and a massive influx of refugees.
•    It triggered fall in major markets like Japan’s Nikkei fell by 7.5% whereas Singapore’s Strait Times fell by 2.5%. Even the stock markets of China, Taiwan and South Korea registered a fall between 2-4%.
•    Internationally, prices of oil tumbled but the prices of gold rose sharply.
•    The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex index fell as much as 4.04 percent or 1090.9 points in early trade to a day’s low of 25,911.33 points.
•    The Indian rupee fell to 68.14 against the dollar, its lowest level since February 2016, later it crawled to 67.79.
•    Productivity and GDP per person of the UK would be lower as the costs would substantially outweigh any potential benefit of leaving the EU.
•    It may lead to disintegration of United Kingdom as an entity because Scotland may again ask for a referendum to be a part of EU as it had a referendum on 19 September 2014.
•    Other nations of the 28 nation bloc, now 27 with exit of Britain, may call for a referendum giving rise to protectionism and ultra-nationalism which is getting hardened across the world.
•    IMF said in an April report that "a U.K. exit from Europe's single market would also likely disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows, curtailing key benefits from economic cooperation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale and efficient specialization.
•    It would likely result in a massive rebalancing of currencies. Investors would likely dive out of the British pound and into cash that's perceived as safe — the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar. The euro could also see some weakening if investors are worried about the fate of the EU.

China has launched first 'dark sky reserve' in the Tibet autonomous region's Ngari Prefecture, bordering India and Nepal, that aims to limit light pollution and preserve sites for making astronomical observations.
•    The reserve covering an area of 2,500 square kilometres was jointly launched by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation and the regional government of Tibet.
•    Wang Wenyong, head of the legal affairs department with the foundation, said that the launch of the preserve is only the first step in protecting the area from light pollution.
•    Due to its high altitude and large number of cloudless days throughout the year, Ngari is considered to be among the best sites for astronomical observation on Earth.
•    However, the recent increase in urbanization has led to the risk of more light pollution.

The Day of the Seafarer is being observed on 25 June every year as an expression of thanks to the seafarers for their contribution to the
economy and civil society of the world.Day of the Seafarer 2016 was observed across the world on 25 June 2016. The theme for the year is At Sea For All.
•    The theme for the year has a clear link with the 2016 World Maritime Day theme, Shipping: indispensable to the world.
•    The themes highlight the point that seafarers serve at sea not just for the shipping industry or for their own career purposes but for all of us.
•    Day of the Seafarer is observed to give thanks to the seafarers for their contribution to the economy and civil society of the world. 
•    The day also acknowledges risks and personal costs borne by them while being in their jobs.
•    The decision to designate 25 June as the Day of the Seafarer was taken by International Maritime Organization (IMO)in 2010.
•    The first edition of the Day of the Seafarers was observed by IMO in 2011.
•    The Day of the Seafarers has also been included in the list of observances by United Nations.

Yasmin Sooka, the South African Indian-origin lawyer and long-time human rights activist, was appointed to chair a UN commission on 24 June 2016.
The commission will monitor the human rights situation in South Sudan and make recommendations for their improvement.
She will serve together with Kenneth Scott from the US and Godfrey Musila of Kenya on the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
The UN resolved to establish the Commission following calls for investigation into alleged atrocities by both government and rebel forces before an independent South Sudan was carved out of the larger Sudan in 2011.
•    It will provide guidance to the government of South Sudan on transitional justice, accountability and reconciliation issues.
•    It will engage with international and regional mechanisms to promote accountability for human rights violations and abuses.
•    She carries vast experience in global human rights matters.
•    At the time of appointment, she was the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) in South Africa. FHR is a grant making institution that implements programmes that promote and protect human rights. It also addresses the legacy of apartheid, to promote and advance transformation in the country and to build a human rights culture using the Constitution as a tool.
•    Earlier, she has served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established by former President Nelson Mandela from 1996-2001, assisting with the final report of the Commission.
•    She has served UN’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone from 2002-2004.
•    She was also an advisor on the UN Secretary General on accountability for war crimes committed during the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a meeting with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov during which the two leaders called for more security cooperation to further expand and strengthen bilateral relations.

•    During the meeting, the two leaders recalled old historical and cultural connections and discussed ways to further expand and strengthen relations. 
•    The Prime Minister, who is on a second visit to the country within a year, conveyed India’s decision to extend e-Tourist Visa to Uzbek nationals.
•    He also said India will organise a ‘Festival of India’ and an ‘Indian Trade Exhibition’ in Uzbekistan to mark 25 years of Uzbekistan’s independence and 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with India. Both leaders noted that cooperation was growing in defence and an MoU on Cyber Security had been concluded. 
•    They called for more cooperation in security.
•    The Prime Minister also thanked President Karimov for support to India’s membership of SCO.

Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first Indian Women's cricketer to be signed by an overseas Twenty20 franchise, inking a deal with Sydney Thunder.
•    The signing was confirmed by BCCI president Anurag Thakur on Friday, the final day of the Indian board's working committee meeting in Dharamsala. 
•    The move is significant as it is the first official signing since the BCCI cleared the women players to participate in overseas leagues earlier this month.
•    It is understood that Harmanpreet, an allrounder and India's vice-captain, received an offer from three teams - including the Sydney Sixers, the runners-up in the inaugural season - before zeroing in on the Thunder
•    Blackwell's comments came after India recorded their first-ever bilateral series win in Australia, beating the then champions 2-1 in the T20 series ahead of the World T20. 
•    Harmanpreet contributed a 31-ball 46 in a historic chase in the series opener. She was a standout performer in a disappointing World T20 campaign for India, scoring 89 runs and taking seven wickets in four outings.
•    India captain Mithali Raj and fast bowler Jhulan Goswami were approached by the Adelaide Strikers for the inaugural edition of the tournament last year, but had to turn down the offer after the BCCI refused to grant permission.

Neil O'Brien, a pioneer of quizzing in India and leader of the Anglo-Indian community, died in Kolkata on 24 June 2016. He was 82.

•    A former member of Lok Sabha, Neil O'Brien was also a three-time nominated Anglo-Indian MLA in West Bengal and an educationist.
•    His son Derek O'Brien is an Indian television personality and Member of Parliament for All India Trinamool Congress.
•    He conducted the first well-organized, formal quiz in 1967 at Christ the King Church Parish Hall in Calcutta.
•    He has served the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) as its chairman from December 1993 till July 2011. CISCE is an all India examination body which conducts the ICSE and ISC Examinations. 
•    He served Oxford University Press, India as its managing director.
•    Being the leader of the Anglo-Indian community, he was the president-in-chief of All-India Anglo-Indian Association.
•    He also headed the Frank Anthony group of schools

The Union Cabinet on 22 June 2016 approved the establishment of Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS). The establishment of the fund is in tune with the Start up India Action Plan that was unveiled in January 2016 to boost start up ecosystem in the country.
•    Beneficiaries: It will be utilised for contribution to various Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which would extend funding support to Startups.
•    Resource allocation: It has a corpus of 10000 crore rupees which shall be built up over the 14th (2015-20) and 15th Finance Commission (2020-25) cycles subject to progress of the scheme and availability of funds.
•    An amount of 500 crore rupees has already been provided to the corpus of FFS in 2015-16 and 600 crore earmarked in the 2016-17.
•    Further provisions will be made as grant assistance through Gross Budgetary Support by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
•    The 10000 crore rupees corpus could potentially be the nucleus for catalyzing 60000 crore rupees of equity investment and twice as much debt investment.
•    This would provide a stable and predictable source of funding for Startup enterprises and thereby facilitate large scale job creation.
•    Employment: On full deployment, the Fund is expected to generate employment for 18 lakh persons on full deployment.
•    Execution: The expertise of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) would be utilized to manage the day to day operations of the FFS.
•    Monitoring: The DIPP will monitor and review performance of the fund in line with the Start up India Action Plan.
•    The monitoring and review of performance would be linked to the implementation of the Start Up Action Plan to enable execution as per timelines and milestones.
•    For India, accelerating innovation driven entrepreneurship and business creation through Start-ups is crucial for large-scale employment generation.
•    The NITI Aayog-appointed Tarun Khanna Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship opined that India has the potential to build about 2500 highly scalable businesses in the next 10 years.
•    Given the probability of entrepreneurial success that means 10000 Start ups will need to be spawned to get 2500 large scale businesses.
•    However, start-ups face several challenges - limited availability of domestic risk capital, constraints of conventional bank finance, information asymmetry and lack of hand holding support from credible agencies.
•    A large majority of the successful Start-ups have been funded by foreign venture funds and many of them are locating outside the country to receive such funding.
•    A dedicated fund for carrying out Fund of Funds operations would address these issues and enable flow of assistance to innovative Start ups through their journey to become full fledged business entities.
•    This would encompass support at seed stage, early stage and growth stage.
•    Government contribution to the target corpus of the individual Fund as an investor would encourage greater participation of private capital and thus help leverage mobilization of larger resources.

The Union Cabinet on 22 June 2016 approved a Special Package for employment generation and promotion of exports in Textile and Apparel sector.
The package includes a slew of measures which are labour friendly and would promote employment generation, economies of scale and boost exports.
•    Employee Provident Fund Scheme Reforms: The Union Government shall bear the entire 12 percent of the employers’ contribution of the EPF Scheme for new employees of garment industry for first 3 years who are earning less than 15000 rupees per month.
•    At present, 8.33 percent of employer’s contribution is already being provided by the Government under Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY).
•    Ministry of Textiles shall provide additional 3.67 percent of the employer’s contribution amounting to 1170 crore rupees over next 3 years.
•    EPF shall be made optional for employees earning less than 15000 rupees per month so that workers will be left with more money in hands.
•    Increasing overtime caps: Overtime hours for workers will not be exceeded 8 hours per week in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) norms. This measure will lead to increased earnings for the workers
•    Introduction of fixed term employment: Since the industry of seasonal nature, fixed term employment shall be introduced for the garment sector. A fixed term workman will be considered at par with permanent workman in terms of working hours, wages, allowanced and other statutory dues.
•    Additional incentives under ATUFS:  The package breaks new ground in moving from input to outcome based incentives by increasing subsidy under Amended-Technology Up gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) from 15 percent to 25 percent for the garment sector as a boost to employment generation.
•    A unique feature of the scheme will be to disburse the subsidy only after the expected jobs are created.
•    Enhancing scope of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act, 1961: Looking at the seasonal nature of garment industry, the provision of 240 days under Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act would be relaxed to 150 days for garment industry.
•    Indian textiles industry contributes about 14 percent to the industrial production, 4 per cent to the gross domestic production (GDP) and 11 percent to the country’s export earnings.
•    The textile sector is the second largest provider of employment after agriculture.
•    The growth in this sector is of significance to achieve the objective of inclusive growth as nearly 70 percent employed are women.

Japanese conglomerate Soft Bank on 22 June 2016 named Ken Miyauchi, head of the group's Japanese telecommunications operations, as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).
•    The appointment came after Nikesh Arora had abruptly resigned from his position after it became clear that Chairman and CEO Masayoshi wanted to remain at the helm longer than first planned.
•    Before being named as President and COO of Soft Bank, Ken Miyauchi led the Japanese telecommunications operations.
•    He held 1101230 shares of SBG as of 31 March 2016.
•    He joined SOFTBANK Corp. Japan in October 1984.
•    Soft Bank Group Corporation is a Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation.
•    It was established in Tokyo, Japan, on 3 September 1981.
•    As of 2015, Soft Bank was the 62nd largest company in the world based on a composite of sales, profit, assets and market value.