GK and Current Affairs Updates

India on 27 June 2016 became the 35th full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). This entry would be mutually beneficial to enhance global non-proliferation norms.

•    The instrument of accession to MTCR for India was signed in New Delhi by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. The entry also marks India's first entry into any multilateral export control regime.
•    The MTCR Point of Contact in Paris conveyed the decision regarding India's accession to the regime through the French Embassy in New Delhi as well as the Embassies of The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
•    India's entry into the regime as its thirty-fifth member would be mutually beneficial in the furtherance of international non-proliferation objectives.
•    It entered this multilateral export control regime with the support of all thirty-four MTCR Partners. In 2015, India’s membership to the group was blocked by Italy.
•    MTCR membership will now enable India to buy high-end missile technology and also enhance its joint ventures with Russia.
•    Set up in 1987 by G-7 countries, the aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500 kilogram payload for at least 300 kilometres, as well as systems intended for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction.

Lalchand Rajput, former Indian opening batsman, has been roped in by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to replace Inzamam-ul-Haq as the head coach of the national set-up on Saturday (June 25). Inzamam stepped down from the post in April this year. 
•    After retiring from the game, Rajput served as the Joint Honorary Secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association. 
•    He had a successful stint as the coach of the Under-19 Indian cricket team. Rajput also was the manager of the Indian set-up when they won the inaugural World T20 in South Africa in 2007. 
•    Recently, he applied for the post of India coach, but lost out to Anil Kumble.
•    According to reports, Mohammad Yousuf, former Pakistan middle-order batsman, Herschelle Gibbs, former South African opener and Corey Collymore, former West Indies pacer, were the other applicants. Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif was also in the reckoning for the post, but lost out to Rajput in the final round.
•    Rajput is slated to join the side for their upcoming tours of Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands in July and August.

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was observed on 26 June 2016. The day was observed with theme Listen First.
•    2016 theme Listen First is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities.
•    On this day, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also released the World Drug Report 2016.
•    On 7 December 1987, United Nations general Assembly (UNGA) via resolution 42/112 decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It was decided to observe the day as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
•    This resolution recommended further action with regard to the report and conclusions of the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
•    Earlier in April 2016, the United Nations held a Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs. This session marked an important milestone in achieving the goals set in the policy document of 2009 "Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem.
•    The plan defined action to be taken by Member States as well as goals to be achieved by 2019.
•    Measures to address demand and supply reduction and to improve access to controlled medicines while preventing diversion.
•    It also cover the areas of human rights, youth, children, women and communities; emerging challenges, including new psychoactive substances; strengthening international cooperation; and alternative development.
•    The text puts new emphasis on proportionate national sentencing policies and practices for drug-related offences, and features a strong focus on prevention and treatment.
•    On this day, the Punjab Frontier of Border Security Force organised a Cycle Rally comprising 65 BSF personnel led by Deputy Inspector General (Operations) BSF Punjab Frontier Mohan Lal from its Jalandhar Headquarters.
•    This Cycle Rally was aimed at spreading the message of utmost dedication to national Security, awareness against drugs and to spread the message of physical fitness amongst the citizens and particularly amongst the youth.

Nepal on 24 June 2016 banned its citizens from working in strife-torn Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. The decision was made at a cabinet meet after 13 Nepali security guards were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul.
Nepali nationals killed in Afghanistan were employed as security guards in the Canadian embassy in Kabul. They were killed when militants exploded a bomb in a minibus on 20 June 2016.
•    It decided to suspend issuing labour permits to Nepalese nationals in four conflict-hit countries, namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
•    It also decided to hold diplomatic talks with the Afghanistan government in order to guarantee the security and safety of the Nepalese in Afghanistan and also to provide necessary support for those willing to return home.
•    It will provide 10 lakh Nepalese Rupee as compensation to families of the victims.
•    It has also made arrangements for the treatment of those injured in the attack by Taliban.
•    It also decided to ask the Canadian government to provide compensation to the families of the dead.
•    As per reports, the killed Nepali security guards were not directly employed by the embassy but were hired by a British agency. In total, 147 Nepalis were working as security guards in the Canadian embassy in Kabul.
•    Nepal government also evacuated 24 other Nepalese nationals who were working as security guard in the Canadian Embassy in Kabul following the terror attack.

IIT-Kanpur professor Sanjay Mittal in third week of June 2016 bagged the prestigious G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2015.
Mittal was instrumental in establishing the High Performance Computing (HPC) facility at IIT Kanpur and heads the National Wind Tunnel Facility.
•    Sanjay Mittal is a Professor of computational fluid dynamics in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIT-Kanpur.
•    He completed his BTech from IIT Kanpur in 1988.
•    Thereafter, he got enrolled at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities for MS programme.
•    He received his PhD and worked as a Research Associate under Professor Tayfun E. Tezduyar.
•    Then, he worked at Army High Performance Computing Center for 2 years.
•    He returned to India and joined IIT Kanpur in 1994 as an Assistant Professor.
•    He is also a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology.
•    His most significant contribution has been in the area of Bluff Body Flows (flows past blunt bodies associated with large unsteady separation and leading to large fluid forces).
•    G D Birla Award for Scientific Research was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation.
•    It was instituted in honour of the Indian philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla.
•    The award is given to an outstanding scientific research, mostly during the past 5 years, undertaken by an Indian scientist, who is below the age of 50, living and working in India.
•    The award is given every year and is available for all branches of science including medical science, basic and applied.
•    G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014 was given to Sanjeev Galande.

Anju Bobby George and Pullela Gopichand were named as the members of Khelo India on 26 June 2016. Khelo India is a national programme launched by the Union Government for the development of sports in the country.
•    George, India's lone athletics World Championship medal winner and Gopichand, the chief national badminton coach are the two sportsperson who were included in the seven-member committee of Khelo India.
•    The committee will be headed by Sports Secretary Rajiv Yadav.
•    Born 16 November 1973, Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player.
•    In 2001, he became the second Indian to win the all-England badminton champion. The first one was Prakash Padukone.
•    He has been the coach of the Indian national badminton team since 2006.
•    He runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy.
•    Awards felicitated on him include
•    He received the Arjuna Award in 1999
•    He received the Dronacharya Award in 2009
•    In 2014, he was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award
•    Born on 19 April 1977, George is an Indian athlete.
•    On 22 June 2016, George resigned as the president of the Kerala Sports Council along with 13 other members. 
•    She won the Gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005.
•    In 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo, she was upgraded to gold status from silver following the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
•    She was awarded Arjuna Award in 2002.
•    She won the bronze medal clearing 6.49 m at the 2002 Commonwealth Games at Manchester.
•    She also won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Busan. In 2001, she also won gold for triple jump and long jump in the Ludhiana National games.
•    In 1999 she set the national record for triple jump in the Bangalore Federation Cup and Silver medal at the South Asian Federation Games in Nepal.

Nokia on 24 June 2016 announced the appointment of Sanjay Malik as the head of Indian market. The appointment of Malik will be effective from 1 August 2016.
•    Malik will lead customer operations, drive the business growth strategy and superior customer engagement services for the India market. He will be based in Gurgaon.
•    Malik will take over from Sandeep Girotra, who has been heading Indian market since 2011.
•    At present, Malik serves as the Head of Network Implementation (NI) at Nokia Global Services.
•    He is credited with efficiently driving growth and delivering strong performance both in terms of revenue and operational efficiency.
•    He had joined Nokia in 2000.
•    Previously, he was heading Bharti GCBT, where he led the transformation of the business.
•    Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications and information technology company.
•    It was founded in 1865.
•    It is headquartered in Espoo, Uusimaa.
•    It is a public limited-liability company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.
•    According to the Fortune Global 500, it is the world's 274th-largest company measured by 2013 revenues.
•    The company entered into a pact with Microsoft in 2011 to exclusively use its Windows Phone platform on future smartphones.
•    Its mobile phone business was bought by Microsoft in an overall deal totaling 7.17 billion US dollars.

Shooter Jitu Rai on 25 June 2016 won silver in the 10 m Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
•    It is the second medal in a World Cup this season for Rai, who had won the free pistol gold in the first World Cup in Bangkok.
•    Brazilian shooter Felipe Almeida Wu won the gold medal, while Korea’s Jin Jongoh bagged the bronze medal.
•    Jitu Rai is an Indian shooter of Nepalese origin.
•    He competes in the 10 metre air pistol and 50 metre pistol events.
•    In 2014, he won the silver medal in the 10 metre air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
•    He won two medals, a silver in the 50 metre pistol event and a gold in the 10 metre air pistol event, in Maribor.
•    He became the first person to have won two medals at a single world cup for India.
•    He was ranked number 1 in the world, in 10 metre air pistol and number 4, in 50 metre pistol, in July 2014.
•    In the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon in South Korea, he won the gold medal in the 50 m pistol category. He also won a bronze in the men's 10 m air pistol team event.
•    The ISSF World Cup was introduced by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986.
•    It was introduced to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic shooting competitions.
•    It is still carried out in the Olympic shooting events, with four competitions per year in each event.

Lionel Messi, the Barcelona star, on 26 June 2016 announced his plans to retirement from international football.
•    The announcement from the foot balling great of his generation came just hours after he missed the penalty in the Copa America final. His team, Argentina, faced a defeat from Chile in Copa America final at New Jersey in the US.
•    Argentina lost 4-2 on penalties to Chile after a 0-0 draw in MetLife Stadium.
•    The 29-year-old has played four finals for his Argentina that includes the 2014 World Cup final and three Copa America finals.
•    He made his senior international debut in 2005, is his country's all-time top scorer, with 55 goals from 113 appearances.
•    An Argentine professional footballer plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona.
•    He is the only footballer in the history to win five FIFA Ballons d'Or, four of which he won consecutively
•    He is the first player to win three European Golden Shoes.
•    With Barcelona he has won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, as well as four Copas del Rey.
•    His major honour with Argentina is the 2008 Olympic gold.
•    Messi is the winner of four Champions League titles and eight Spanish La Liga crowns with Barcelona.

The European Union on 22 June 2016 reached agreement to set up a new Border and Coastguard Force to curb the influx of migrants.
To tackle the crisis from which the EU is suffering from, the force have the right to intervene in front-line countries like Greece and Italy.
•    The agreed subject that was endorsed by the negotiators for the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament was a proposal from the European Commission, the bloc's executive. It wanted to set up the force by the summer.
•    The parliament is expected to vote on the issue in a key committee in fourth week of June 2016.
•    Making of the force will represent an expansion of the size and tasks of the existing Frontex border agency, based in Warsaw.
•    In December 2016, EU leaders set a 30 June 2016 as a deadline for agreement on the new force, for tackling the flow of the migrants.
•    Several countries have reintroduced border controls that were eliminated years ago as part of Schengen as the EU deals with a record flow of more than one million migrants and refugees since the start of 2015.
•    Under the deal member states would still manage their borders on a daily basis but could call on emergency support from a pool of at least 1500 border guards.