Important Current Affairs of 10th June

NATIONAL:

India partners with Portugal to set up a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal.

• India has partnered with Portugal to set up a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal in Gujarat.The Indian Navy will be the stakeholder in the project and the Portuguese Navy will assist as they have experience in it by administering the maritime museum in Lisbon, Portugal. India is to follow a similar model of the maritime museum.

Implementation of the project:

• In March 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project and the Government of India has allocated a grant for building the maritime museum.

• The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) along with the State government and other stakeholders is also involved in setting up the museum.

Partnership and plans:

• The initial discussion about the partnership was held during the visit of Portuguese Defence Minister João Gomes Cravinho to India in April 2019. A Defence Ministry-led delegation will visit Portugal to study the existing museum.

Maritime museum:

• A maritime museum is a museum that specializes in display the objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the military use of the sea.

AGREEMENTS AND MOU’s:

The G20 Summit ended with the issual of joint statement on trade and the digital economy.

• In the G20 Summit, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the Group of 20 economies issued a joint statement on trade and the digital economy. The meeting was held inTsukuba, Japan on 8 and 9 June 2019.

Aim:

• The G20 Summit was focused on the ways to promote trade and cooperation among the G20 countries in order to harness the potential of the digital economy.

New tax rules:

• The Finance Ministers discussed new tax rules on global IT giants as well as the impact of aging populations on the economy as the corporate sector make huge profits through cross-border data transfers.

• Global growth is being stable and is expected to pick up moderately by late 2019 and into 2020. However, growth remains low and risks remain tilted to the downside as trade and geopolitical tensions have been intensified.

Agreements:

• The Ministers confirmed their commitment to refraining from competitive currency devaluations in order to gain an unfair trade advantage.

• They also agreed on guiding principles for using artificial intelligence which is created on the 36-member OECD and an additional six countries. They also planned to highlight divisions over trade issues such as reform of the World Trade Organization.

SEBI signed MoU with MCA to facilitate the sharing of data and information for regulatory purposes.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

Aim:

• The MoU will ensure that both the MCA and the SEBI have seamless linkage for regulatory purposes and in addition to regular exchange of data. It also aims to facilitate the continous sharing of data and information for carrying out scrutiny, inspection, investigation, and prosecution.

Benefits:

• The MoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between SEBI and the MCA on an automatic and regular basis. It will also enable sharing of specific information such as details of suspended companies, delisted firms, shareholding pattern from the SEBI and financial statements filed with the Registrar by corporates, returns of allotment of shares and audit reports relating to corporates.

• The MCA has the database of all registered firms whereas the SEBI only regulates listed entities that may have unlisted subsidiaries. The MCA alone has access to all the data of such unlisted entities.

• The data exchange status will be reviewed and analyzed by a Data Exchange Steering Group which will meet and review periodically.

Significance:

• The move comes after the view to increase the need for surveillance in the context of corporate frauds which affects important sectors of the economy. It is a known fact that the private sector plays an increasingly vital role in economic growth, the need for a robust corporate governance mechanism becomes the need of the hour.

• Already there exists a protocol of sharing of data between SEBI and MCA, in many cases, the regulator has also sent its orders against various entities to the MCA for further action.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

Formed: April 12, 1988

Acquired Statutory Status on: January 30, 1992

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Chairman: Ajay Tyagi

Executive Director: Anand Rajeshwar Baiwar

SEBI is the regulator for the securities market in India

India signs six key agreements with the Maldives.

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Maldives on 8 June. PM's visit to the Maldives reflects the importance India attaches to its Neighbourhood First policy. 

Highlights:

• During his visit, PM Narendra Modi and the President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih signed six key agreements and substantive bilateral level talks.

• MoU includes maritime and defence ties which are a top priority and the radar system are expected to boost maritime security.

• The leaders jointly inaugurated a coastal surveillance radar system and a composite training centre for the Maldives defence forces.

• Launch of RuPay Card in the Maldives was welcomed by PM Modi as it will give a boost to tourism in the island nation.

The six agreements include:

• cooperation in the field of hydrography

• cooperation in the field of health

• customs capacity building between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Customs of India and the Maldives Customs Service

• the establishment of passenger and cargo services by sea

• training and Capacity Building Programme for Maldivian civil servants Maldives Civil Service Commission signed with India's National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) with the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

• sharing white shipping information between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force

Previous agreements:

In March 2019, India and Maldives signed an $800-million Line of Credit Agreement with an aim to assist the Maldives in achieving sustainable social and economic development.

Maldives:

President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

Vice President: Faisal Naseem

Capital: Malé

Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR)

Official languages: English, Dhivehi

SPORTS:

Japan defeat Mexico and won FIH Hockey Series.

• International Hockey Federation (IHF) conducted Men's Hockey Series.

• The Final match is played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar

• Japan defeated Mexico by a goal 3 - 1.

About International Hockey Federation (FIH)

• Founded: 7 January 1924

• Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

• Membership: 137 national associations

• Motto: FairPlay Friendship Forever

• President: Narinder Batra

• CEO: Thierry Weil

About Japan

• Capital: Tokyo

• Currency: Japanese yen

• Prime minister: Shinzō Abe Trending