Important Current Affairs 15th June 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Naftali Bennett is Israel’s new Prime Minister

•Naftali Bennett, the former Defence Minister of Israel, and leader of the Yamina party took oath as the Prime Minister of the country. The 49-year-old former tech entrepreneur replaces Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been forced out of office after 12 years (2009 to 2021). (Netanyahu is the longest-serving PM of Israel).

•Bennett will lead a new coalition government, formed with Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party. The new Coalition government will run on a rotation basis, which means that Bennett would serve as Israel’s prime minister until September 2023, following which Lapid would take charge of the office, for the next two years, until 2025.

NATIONAL

Jammu kashmir to set up mythological theme park

•The Jammu and Kashmir administration is planning to set up a theme park to showcase Indian mythology, particularly the Ramayana and Mahabharata, near the famous Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district and has sought investors for the project.

•The Katra Theme Park will combine education and entertainment and of course, mythology will headline Jammu and Kashmir's economic development, which aims to take a different route.

•The Union Territory's attempt at development, senior government officials said, will not be by building cement-making factories, but by using unique methods.

IIT launches new centre for digital Health

•The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has set up the 'Koita Centre for Digital Health' (KCDH) under the aegis of the Koita Foundation. KCDH will be focused on driving academic programmes, research and industry collaboration in Digital Health. KCDH's academic and research focus areas include clinical applications (including electronic patient records and medical imaging), healthcare data management (including healthcare data privacy and security), healthcare analytics, healthcare AI/ML, consumer health, public health and public policy.

•KCDH will offer minor, dual degree, Masters and PhD programs in Healthcare Informatics.

•KCDH will conduct industry, outreach programs for healthcare and industry professionals in digital health and enable them to act as force-multipliers.

SPORTS

Vinoo Mankad and 9 others inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

•The ICC has inducted 10 icons of the game, including India’s Vinoo Mankad, into its illustrious Hall of Fame with two players each from five eras, dating back to cricket’s early days, making it to the list. The announcement has been coincided with the inaugural World Test Championship final, to be played between India and New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton.

•The 10 legends of the game to be inducted have all made a significant contribution to the history of Test cricket, and join an illustrious list of ICC Hall of Famers, taking the total number to 103 as a result of this intake. The inductees are:

•Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa and Monty Noble of Australia for the early era (pre-1918),

•Sir Learie Constantine of West Indies and Stan McCabe of Australia for the inter-war Era (1918-1945),

D. Gukesh wins Gelfand Challenge chess title

•D. Gukesh sensationally won the $15,000 Gelfand Challenge chess title and with it, a ‘wild card’ for the elite Meltwaters Champions Chess Tour.

•He won all four rounds, including the key battle against Praggnanandhaa, and emerged on top after a series of favourable results from the games involving other title-contenders.

OBITUARY

National award winning Kannada actor Sanchari Vijay passes away

•Veteran Kannada film actor Sanchari Vijay, who won the National award in 2015, has passed away.

•He made his debut in films in 2011 with the Kannada film Rangappa Hogbitna. His 2015 film Naanu Avanalla…Avalu, fetched him the Best Actor Award at the 62nd National Film Awards, in which he played the role of a transgender.

Former Indian volleyball captain Nirmal Milkha Singh passes away

•The former Indian women volleyball team captain Nirmal Milkha Kaur, who is the wife of sprint legend Milkha Singh (Flying Sikh), has passed away due to COVID-19 complications.

•Nirmal Milkha Singh was also a former Director of Sports for Women in the Punjab Government.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2021: 15 June

•World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed globally on 15th June every year. This day is celebrated to raise a voice for the elderly who are abused and victimized. The main objective of this day is to provide an opportunity for communities around the globe to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons by creating awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect.

•The day was officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2011 bypassing the resolution 66/127 of the United Nations following a request from the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA).

BANKING AND ECONOMY

Federal Bank partners with Infosys

•Federal Bank, to improve its marketing, sales and offer a better customer experience, has partnered with Infosys for Oracle CX adoption, a cloud-based tool to manage the relationship with customers.

•Federal Bank is an Indian commercial financial services institution headquartered in Kerala with generating revenue of more than $1.5 billion. The bank is spanned over 1,400 branches working with the cooperation of 11,000 employees.

•Now the bank has decided to transform its service offering model, and partnership with Infosys for Oracle CX implementation is a step in this direction.

•Shalini Warrier, the Executive director and business head for retail, in collaboration with Infosys for Oracle CX adoption, said that it fits with the bank’s value of using digital resources to build a human-like relationship with the customers.

India’s retail inflation touches 6.3%  in May 2021

•India’s retail inflation shot up to a six-month high of 6.3 per cent in May, after easing to a three-month low of 4.23 per cent in April. Inflation, based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), has breached the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target range for the first time after five months. The RBI is mandated to maintain the crucial number at 4 per cent in the medium term, with a 2 percentage point margin on either side as part of its inflation target.

•National Statistical Office data for retail inflation showed food inflation shot up to 5% in May from 2% in April as prices of protein items such as meat, fish, eggs, oils and fats accelerated. The fuel bill also went up 11.6% as the government increased retail prices of petrol and diesel after state election results on 2 May. Services inflation jumped as costs of health, transport and personal care rose during the second wave of the pandemic.