Important Current Affairs 15th June

NATIONAL:

India to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 US goods

• Ministry of Commercehas announced to impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods that will be effective from June 16 onwards. The retaliatory tariffs on 29 goods imported from the U.S. The Ministry initially decided to  impose tariffs in 2018. The decision is ahead of the meeting between Modi and Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan.The move made by the trade ministry was approved by the Ministry of External Affairs.

• The tariffs will be applied on $220-290 million worth of goods that are imported from the US, and will have about the same impact as the tariffs imposed by Washington on India in 2018.

Ministry of Finance said that the Commerce ministry will release the official notification of the tariffs before 16 June.  

Why India is imposing tarrifs:

• In March 2018, the US imposed 25% tariff on steel and 10% import duty on aluminium. India was one of the major exporters of these items.

• Trarrifs on 29 major products ere impacted which includes Chickpeas, Bengal gram, Mansur dal, Boric acid, domestic reagents, apples, Binders for foundry moulds. India repeatedly asked for exemption from these higher tariffs, but US did not respond.

• On June 2018, India decided to retaliate by imposing duties but extended the deadline.

On 5 June 2019, the U.S. withdrew export incentives to India under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme. India was the largest beneficiary of GSP.

India ranks 141 in the 2019 Global Peace Index

• Iceland topped the Global Peace Index 2019 rankings which was released by Institute for Economics & Peace.  Since 2008, Iceland holds the most peaceful country in the world. India ranked 141 among 163 countries. In 2018, India ranked at 136th among 163 countries.

• Afghanistan ranked as the least peaceful country in the world. Th has replaced Syria, which is now the second least peaceful.

Parameters:

The Australian think tank ranked countries according to their level of peacefulness.

The analysis were based on three major domains:

1) the level of societal safety and security

2) the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict

3) the degree of militarization

• Top/Bottom 5 countries:

The top five countries in the list are Iceland, New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark.

The least 5 peaceful countries in the list are Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan (ranked the least) remains the world's least peaceful counties.

INTERNATIONAL:

NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft creates new record

• NASA's OSIRIS-REx rocket entered its second orbital stage around space rock Bennu, called Orbital B on June 12, 2019. It broke its very own reality record for the nearest circle of a planetary body.

• In the Orbital B stage, the move set the rocket in a circle 680 meters over the outside of space rock Bennu. The past record was set by OSIRIS-REx on 31 December, 2018, when the rocket flew 1.33 km over the space rock's surface during Orbital A stage.

OSIRIS-REx:

•  The OSIRIS-REx rocket was sent to consider the space rock Bennu and return an example from its surface to Earth. The rocket is on a seven-year venture. The example of a crude space rock will enable the researchers to comprehend the arrangement of the Solar System over 4.5 billion years prior. Test gathering has been booked for summer of 2020. The shuttle is relied upon to convey the example to Earth in September 2023.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY:

India's FDI Inflows during the five fiscal years of the Modi Govt hit to $42 billions

• India ended up being the sub district's biggest beneficiary getting remote direct ventures worth $42 billion out of 2018. The interest in India billion with solid inflows in assembling, correspondence and money related administrations.

• As indicated by the report, FDI inflows have expanded by 3.5% to $54 billion. India pulled in over 77% of the all out remote direct speculations eventually arrived up toward the South Asian district. The development in India in cross-fringe merger and acquisitions (M&As) came to $33 billion of every 2018 from $23 billion per year back. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka rose to a record level, to $3.6 billion and USD 1.6 billion, individually, while Pakistan saw a 27% decrease in venture to USD 2.4 billion, the report read.

• A few nations received arrangement measures to advance and encourage venture with India To revise the model concession concurrence on open private associations in the port area.

•  The report featured that of the 5,400 extraordinary financial zones (SEZs) on the planet, more than 4,000 are in creating nations in Asia. China bested the rundown at 2,543 pursued by Philippines (528), India with 373, Turkey - 102, Thailand - 74 Korea 47, Malaysia - 45.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION:

Narasimhan has been appointed as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser

• PepsiCo executive Laxman Narasimhan has been delegated as the CEO of the British shopper products goliath Reckitt Benckiser. He will succeed Rakesh Kapoor.

• Narasimhan will join Reckitt as CEO-assign and be designated to the board on July 16. He will continue his office and become bunch CEO on September 1. Narasimhan's underlying needs will be to concentrate on conveying outperformance particularly in the wellbeing specialty unit, and to drive the Lysol creator's arrangement to part the firm into two specialty units under a similar organization.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

Akshaya Patra was awarded the BBC World Service Global Champion Award

• The Bengaluru-based NGO Akshaya Patra has been granted the BBC World Service Global Champion Award for the program. The honor is exhibited at the BBC Food and Farming Awards in Bristol, London.

•  The honor perceives an undertaking or individual who is changing the way the world produces, forms, expends or considers sustenance to improve things.

• Akshaya Patra was chosen by a global board of judges from selections sent in by the World Service group of spectators around the globe. Different activities on the waitlist included UK philanthropy WRAP, and Food 4 Education.

OBITUARIES:

Poet and lyricist Pazhavila Ramesan passed away on 13 June

• Poet and lyricist Pazhavila Ramesan passed away on 13 June 2019 at Thiruvananthapuram. He was 83. He was debilitated for quite a while.

• Pazhavila Ramesan: Ramesan had gotten the 2017 Kerala Sahithya Akademi grant for generally speaking commitments. He composed verses for Malayalam motion pictures, for example, Njattadi, Aashamsakalode, Uncle Bun, Malootty, and Vasudha.

• He was co-manager of K. Balakrishnan's Kaumudi Weekly in the sixties. He worked at the State Institute of Languages in different limits till 1993.

• He is a beneficiary of different honors, Ramesan brought out verse accumulations, for example, Mazhayude Jalakam, Njan Ente Kadukalelikku, and Pazhavila Ramesante Kavithakal, other than accumulations of his compositions, for example, Ormayude Varthamanam, Mayatha Varakal, and Nervara.

SPORTS:

Peter Gilchrist won the 2019 Pacific International Billiards Championship

• Peter Gilchrist won the 2019 Pacific International Billiards Championship at the Yarraville Club in Melbourne, Australia. Peter Gilchrist defeated Kolkata cueist Kothari who had been on a roll winning the International Reventon Classic Snooker championship, a triple crown event of Australia and thereafter went on to display some outstanding billiards en-route the final.

Peter Gilchrist:

• Peter Gilchrist is an English-born Singaporean English billiards player. He has won the WPBSA World Championships in 1994, 2001 and in 2013.

• He has also represented Singapore in the SEA Games in 2009, where he won Gold for English Billiards Singles, and Bronze for the doubles.

• He also set the world record for highest break in billiards (1346) under modern rules, at the New Zealand Open Billiards Championships.

• In 2014, he scored his second 1000 break at the World Billiards Irish Open. He is the only player of the modern era who scored more than one 1000 points in tournament break.