GK & Current Affairs June 2016

India is offering Commonwealth citizens fully funded training courses across a range of areas, including rural development, IT, telecommunications and renewable energy, in association with the Commonwealth Secretariat.
•    The courses are sponsored by the Indian government and delivered by Indian institutions through the Indian Technical and Economic (ITEC) programme, the Commonwealth Secretariat here said.
•    ITEC is part of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Third Country Training Programme, which aims to build capacity in member countries by providing specialist training in key areas of development work.
•    This is a fantastic opportunity for those in the public and private sectors, as well those who work with NGOs. 
•    India has allocated 30 places for participants from Commonwealth member states for the 2016-2017 program
•    In general, a Commonwealth citizen is a person who has that status under British nationality law and may enjoy some privileges in the United Kingdom and less commonly, other Commonwealth countries. 
•    Each country can determine what special rights, if any, are accorded to non-nationals who are Commonwealth citizens. 
•    The term is largely confined to British nationality law and is not used in many other Commonwealth countries such as Australia.

The Cabinet has approved the signing of a protocol amending an agreement between India and Belgium for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

•    The amendment in the protocol will broaden the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information between the two countries, which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance, an official statement said.
•    The protocol will also revise the existing treaty provisions on mutual assistance in collection of taxes, it added.
•    The decision regarding this was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
•    Earlier, the government had revised the double taxation avoidance agreement with Mauritius and is in the process of amending pacts with Singapore and other nations.
•    India is revising these pacts to check abuse of tax treaty.

Anand Desai led Expert committee set up to examine the Specific Relief Act, 1963 on 20 June 2016 submitted its report to Union Law & Justice Minister DV Sadananda Gowda.
•    In its report the committee has recommended modifications in the Specific Relief Act, 1963, which will help in ensuring the ease of doing business.
•    To change the approach, from damages being the rule and specific performance being the exception, to specific performance being the rule, and damages being the alternate remedy.
•    To provide guidelines for reducing the discretion granted to Courts and tribunals while granting performance and injunctive reliefs so that public works projects is not be impeded or stalled.
•    To introduce provisions for rights of third parties (other than for Government contracts).
•    To consider addressing unconscionable contracts, unfair contracts, reciprocity in contracts etc., and implied terms.
•    Need to classify diverse Public utility Contracts as a distinct class recognising the inherent public interest/importance to be addressed in the Act.
•    The Act was enacted by the Parliament to replace the earlier Act of 1877 with an aim to assure that whenever there is a wrong there must be a remedy.
•    The Act does not confer any Rights on itself. Specific relief is only provided for the violation of a legal right.

Nagpur City and China's Jinan city have become sister cities for exchange of ideas and technology. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Jinan, Municipal People's Republic of China, entered into an agreement on Monday to develop sister city relationship between the two cities.
•    Municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar and director of Jinan Municipal People's Congress Xu Changyu signed the agreement. Mayor Pravin Datke and other officials of NMC and Jinan were present.
•    The move is a part of agreement signed between union ministry of external affairs and ministry of foreign affairs, People's Republic of China, for facilitating cooperation and linkages between cities of the two countries and states/provinces on May 20, 2013.
•    Hardikar gave a presentation on NMC's developmental projects and also gave details of the city. Xu Changyu spoke in detail about Jinan and its expertise in fields of education, culture, development of rivers, urban planning etc. 
•    He also suggested that NMC send students from the city to Jinan for seeking knowledge about various technologies.
•    Mayor Pravin Datke said Jinan's assistance could be taken for improvement of education, orange products production and mining activities.
•    NMC may also seek Jinan's cooperation in the field of sports, youth affairs, urban planning, waste water management, infrastructure, environment, public health and exchange of trade and commercial delegations. 
•    The agreement was executed for five years and can be extended by another five years. The two cities can part ways by giving a three months' prior notice. 

The Maharashtra Cabinet on 21 June 2016 approved the minority status to Jew community. This decision will benefit the students from these communities to avail scholarships from the state government.
•    After getting the minority status, the Jews in the state will be entitled to use benefits of government schemes meant for minorities and can also apply in educational institutions under the minority status.
•    The people of this community will now be able to easily get their marriage registrations done in Maharashtra.
•    The Jewish people living in the state would now also be able to set up their own educational institutions and practice and promote their culture.
•    According to 2001 Census, the number of Jews living in India was 4650 with 2466 of them living in Maharashtra. 
•    The Jews have been a part of the Indian society for over 2300 years now.
•    The Jews of Manipur and Mizoram identify themselves as Beni Menashe. 
•    There are also some in Andhra Pradesh who call themselves Bene Ephraim Jews.
•    India is one of the few countries in the world where Jews have never faced any harassment or persecution. 
•    At present, there are six notified minority communities in India - Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains.

The Union Government on 20 June 2016 banned use of potassium bromate (KbrO3) as a food additive on recommendation of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

•    Early in May 2016, FSSAI in its recommendation asked health ministry to remove potassium bromate, a cancer causing chemical, from the list of permissible food additives.
•    The recommendation was made following a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that claimed that potassium bromate, which is classified as a category 2B carcinogen, can be a cause of cancer to humans. 
•    CSE in study found that 84 percent of 38 commonly available brands of pre-packaged breads, including pav and buns, tested positive for potassium bromate and potassium iodate (KIO3).
•    Besides, FSSAI has referred potassium iodate, also claimed to be carcinogenic used as a food additive, to a scientific panel.
•    These two food additives are banned in many countries and listed as hazardous for public health.

India and Thailand on 17 June 2016 signed two agreements that are aimed at enhancing cooperation in culture as well as educational sectors.
•    The set of agreements pertains to extension of the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) for 2016-19 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nagaland University and Thailand’s Chiang Mai University.
•    The agreements were signed in New Delhi during the 3-day visit of Thailand Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha that concluded on 18 June 2016.
•    During the visit, he held talks with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues that are of concern for both the countries and the region as a whole.
•    At the end of the summit level meeting, a joint statement that mentioned cooperation in areas like maritime security, cyber security, military and intelligence cooperation among others.
•    India's relations with Thailand are an important and integral component of India's strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
•    India's 'Act East' policy is complemented by Thailand's 'Look West' policy in bringing the two countries closer.
•    They have strong economic synergies and the diversifying profile of growing bilateral trade and investment reflects the growth and maturity of the interaction between the two economies.
•    Extensive people-to-people contacts are central to the India-Thailand relationship. In 2015, more than 1 million Indian tourists visited Thailand and over 100000 Thai tourists visited India.
•    Two-way trade between India and Thailand stands at 8 billion US dollars. While export to Thailand from India is 2.63 billion US dollars, Thai imports reached 5.3 billion US dollars in 2015-16.
•    Beginning from 2004, 29 rounds of talks for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were conducted so far.
•    During the present visit, both the countries agreed to commence negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The International Astronomical Union in June 2016 named a 9.8 kilometers wide crater on Mars as Langtang, a popular trekking site in Nepal.
•    Langtang is one of the villages of Nepal that was worst hit by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. 
•    As per reports, at least 215 people were killed in the village after the quake triggered an avalanche.
•    The researcher behind the move, Dr. Tjalling de Haas, said that he chose this name because his colleague had worked there while studying Himalayan glaciers. 
•    It was his base camp for a long period, so we said may be it is a nice tribute.
•    Dr de Haas, who studies Mars's physical geography at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, has named another crater as Bunnik, his hometown in Utrecht.
•    Both names were approved by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature.

Leading member of the populist anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S) of Italy, Virginia Raggi (38) was elected as first female mayor of capital city Rome.
Virginia Raggi, a leading member of the populist anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S), on 20 June 2016 was elected as Rome’s first female mayor.
•    She is also the first candidate from that party, M5S to be elected to Rome's mayoralty.
•    Raggi, who will turn 38 in July 2016, is also the youngest mayor in Rome's history.
•    A lawyer and local councilor, Raggi was elected to the post for the Italian capital after winning 67% of the vote in a runoff ballot against the Democratic Party’s (PD) Roberto Giachetti.
•    Apart from her, Chiara Appendino another M5S candidate won the mayoral elections in Turin.
•    M5S is a political party which was founded by comedian-turned politician Beppe Grillo. 
•    With this win in Rome, the party also emerged as the main opposition to centre-left Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi.

Kannada Movie Thithi in the third week of June 2016 won two awards - Best Film and Best Script Writers - under the Asia New Talent Awards Category at the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival.
•    Earlier, in August 2015, the film premiered at the 68th Locarno International Film Festival and won the Golden Leopard honour in the Filmmakers of the Present category and the Swatch First Feature award.
•    The film also won numerous other awards at film festivals held in Mumbai, Palm Springs, Marrakech, etc. Some of the important among them are–
•    63rd National Film Awards: It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada.
•    2016 Karnataka State Film Awards: It bagged the awards, namely, First Best Film, Best Supporting Actress and Best Dialogue award.
•    It was invited to the 45th edition of New Directors/New Films in New York, the USA.
Thithi is a drama film consisting of a cast of non-professional actors from villages in the Mandya district of Karnataka. It is a light-hearted story about three generations of men reacting to the death of their 101-year old patriarch.