GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Colombian government and the leftist FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels on 23 June 2016 signed a historic ceasefire deal. This ceasefire deal helped in ending more than five decades of conflict, which is regarded as one of the oldest wars of history.
•    The signing ceremony held at Havana was witnessed by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, FARC chief Timoleón Timochenko Jiménez, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, Cuban president, Raúl Castro and Venezuela’s head of state, Nicolás Maduro.
•    The announcement is seen as one of the last steps before a full peace deal is signed, which is expected within weeks via a referendum. The formal peace talks for the deal were started three years ago, in October 2012, in the Cuban capital.
•    The peace talks between the government and the rebels were hosted by the Cuban president, Raúl Castro; while Venezuela that had the observer status played an important role in encouraging FARC to the negotiating table.
•    The core area of discussion focused on five main areas that island reform, the rebels' future role in political life, a definitive end of hostilities, fighting the illegal drug trade and the situation of the victims.
•    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC-EP) is a left wing militant organization established in 1964.
•    It is Colombia's largest rebel group and Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency. It is active in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.
•    Like any left-wing militant organisation, its aim is to overthrow the government in power.
•    It was established as a communist-inspired peasant army fighting for land reform and to reduce the gulf dividing rich and poor in the Andean country.
•    It resulted in killing of an estimated 2.2 lakh people and displaced almost seven million.

The Prime Minister of United Kingdom David Cameron on 24 June 2016 announced his resignation hours after the Brexit vote that favoured leaving the European Union (EU).
•    During the campaign, Cameron-led Conserve Party advocated for remaining with the EU. In the referendum that was held on 23 June 2016, 51.89 percent of the voters preferred to leave the EU.
•    Among the 46.5 million people who registered to vote, only 48.11 percent voted to remain in the grouping. However, the result must still be approved by the UK Parliament to become effective.
•    Cameron will step down in October 2016 at the Conservative Party Conference to make way for a new Prime Minister to guide the UK in the new direction for the country.
•    This British politician was first elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 2001. At present, he represents the Oxford shire constituency of Witney.
•    Following the election of a hung parliament in the 2010 general election, he became Prime Minister as the leader of a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
•    He was re-elected as the Prime Minister in the 2015 election, when his party won a parliamentary majority for the first time since 1992.

Union Ministry of Urban Development on 22 June 2016 approved the setting up of District Level Advisory and Monitoring Committees to promote people centric planning and execution of new urban development schemes.
•    These committees will comprise of elected representatives of the country, thus giving Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) a say in the implementation of the urban development schemes.
•    In a first of its kind, these Committees will oversee, review and monitor implementation of urban development, affordable housing and urban poverty alleviation programmes.
•    Swachh Bharat Mission
•    Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
•    Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)
•    Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All (Urban) and
•    Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission
•    To promote effective citizen involvement
•    To review improvements in service level indicators like water supply,
•    Review progress of implementation of reforms with focus on e-governance and ease of sanctioning of construction permits,
•    Advise state and central governments regarding bottlenecks in implementation,
•    Suggest mid-course correction in implementation
•    Facilitate coordination among various agencies
•    All MLAs from respective districts representing the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Mayors
•    Chairpersons of ULBs
•    Chairpersons and Chief Executives of Urban Development Authorities in districts
•    Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of ULBs
•    Senior most representatives of the Department of Public Health Engineering and
•    Senior most officials of para-statal bodies like water board and sewerage board
•    District Collector or Municipal Commissioner of metropolitan cities will be the Member Secretary.

World Hydrography Day (WHD) 2016 was observed on 21 June 2016 across the world.
•    The theme for the WHD 2016 was Hydrography - the key to well-managed seas and waterways. The theme tries to focus attention on the fundamental importance of hydrography.
•    The World Hydrography Day also marks the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
•    The day is celebrated to increase public awareness of the vital role that hydrography plays in everyone’s life.
•    On 29 November 2005, the United Nations adopted Resolution A/60/30 to welcome the adoption by the International Hydrographic Organization of the World Hydrography Day to be celebrated annually on 21 June.
•    The theme for the World Hydrography Day 2015 was Our seas and waterways - yet to be fully charted and explored.
•    Hydrography involves measuring the depth of the water and fixing the position of all the navigational hazards that lie on the seafloor.  
•    Hydrography also involves measuring the tide and the currents.
•    It is done mainly with specialised ships and boats operating echo sounders and sonars. Survey aircraft fitted with lasers are also used to measure the depth.  
•    Hydrographic information is required for the safe, competent and sustainable conduct of every human activity that takes place in, on or under the sea.

The International Olympic Day was celebrated on 23 June 2016. To mark the occasion, over 160 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and sports organizations across the world organized a series of events to spread Olympic values and encourage people to get involved in sports and lead more active lives.
•    The 2016 Summer Olympics host-city Rio de Janeiro unveiled its athletes' village to mark the day. The Brazilian city will host the XXXI Olympiad between 5 August and 21 August 2016.
•    The day is celebrated for promotion of participation of people in the sports all across the world, irrespective of athletic, gender or age ability.
•    The International Olympic Day was initiated in 1948 for commemorating the commencement of modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894 at Sorbonne in Paris.
•    There are three main pillars of the International Olympic Day - discover, learn and move.
•    These three pillars of the sports event are deployed by the National Olympic Committees into sports, educational and cultural activities.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today attended the first anniversary celebration of the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT, in Pune.
•    Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that a fresh trend is now noticed where cities are moving forward to compete on the path of development. 
•    He said there is a positive atmosphere of competing on development works through the spirit of Jan Bhaagidaari. He emphasized that people in the cities must decide about the development of their urban spaces, adding that these decisions cannot be taken in Delhi. 
•    He said that the spirit of participative governance is vital.
•    The Prime Minister said that the days when urbanization was seen as a problem are now over; it is now seen as an opportunity.
•    Shri Narendra Modi said that cities are growth centres which have the capacity to mitigate the problems faced by the people.
•    The Prime Minister also stressed on the need for cities to focus on solid waste management.
•    Earlier, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, joined the event through live video conferencing from Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur respectively.
•    They shared their views with the gathering. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Smart Net Portal, and Smart City Projects of Pune. He launched the “Make Your City SMART” Contest.

The new bio ink containing stem cells allows scientists to 3D print of living tissue which is also known as bio-printing. 
•    The ink contains two different polymer components: a natural polymer and a sacrificial synthetic polymer. 
•    The natural polymer was extracted from seaweed. 
•    It provides structural support when the cell nutrients are introduced. The synthetic polymer used in the medical industry helps the bio-ink to change its state from liquid to solid when the temperature is raised. 
•    The special bio-ink formulation has helped scientists to construct complex living 3D architectures after it was extruded from a retrofitted benchtop 3D printer, as a liquid that later transformed to a gel at 37°C. 
•    Stem cell is an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells (through mitosis) of the same type and from which certain other kinds of cell may be formed by the cellular differentiation. 
•    In the stem cell treatments new adult cells are introduced into the damaged tissue through the intervention strategy to treat the disease. 
•    These treatments have potential to change the face of curing human diseases and alleviate suffering.

People of Britain in a historic referendum on 24 June 2016 voted in favour of leaving European Union (EU). The referendum ‘to leave’ or ‘to be a member’ of EU saw 51.9% votes in favour compared to 48.1% in against. 
•    Referendum turnout was higher than at 2015 general election.
•    Northern Ireland, London and Scotland voted strongly to stay back with the EU while the Wales and the English shires backed Britain exit (Brexit) from the EU.
•    Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation from his position.
•    The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results. It fell by 3% within moments of the first result showing a strong result for Leave in Sunderland and fell as much as 6.5% against the euro.
•    The departure of the bloc's second biggest economy would weaken Europe's unity and stability which is already grappling with the Greek financial crisis and a massive influx of refugees.
•    It triggered fall in major markets like Japan’s Nikkei fell by 7.5% whereas Singapore’s Strait Times fell by 2.5%. Even the stock markets of China, Taiwan and South Korea registered a fall between 2-4%.
•    Internationally, prices of oil tumbled but the prices of gold rose sharply.
•    The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex index fell as much as 4.04 percent or 1090.9 points in early trade to a day’s low of 25,911.33 points.
•    The Indian rupee fell to 68.14 against the dollar, its lowest level since February 2016, later it crawled to 67.79.
•    Productivity and GDP per person of the UK would be lower as the costs would substantially outweigh any potential benefit of leaving the EU.
•    It may lead to disintegration of United Kingdom as an entity because Scotland may again ask for a referendum to be a part of EU as it had a referendum on 19 September 2014.
•    Other nations of the 28 nation bloc, now 27 with exit of Britain, may call for a referendum giving rise to protectionism and ultra-nationalism which is getting hardened across the world.
•    IMF said in an April report that "a U.K. exit from Europe's single market would also likely disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows, curtailing key benefits from economic cooperation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale and efficient specialization.
•    It would likely result in a massive rebalancing of currencies. Investors would likely dive out of the British pound and into cash that's perceived as safe — the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar. The euro could also see some weakening if investors are worried about the fate of the EU.

China has launched first 'dark sky reserve' in the Tibet autonomous region's Ngari Prefecture, bordering India and Nepal, that aims to limit light pollution and preserve sites for making astronomical observations.
•    The reserve covering an area of 2,500 square kilometres was jointly launched by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation and the regional government of Tibet.
•    Wang Wenyong, head of the legal affairs department with the foundation, said that the launch of the preserve is only the first step in protecting the area from light pollution.
•    Due to its high altitude and large number of cloudless days throughout the year, Ngari is considered to be among the best sites for astronomical observation on Earth.
•    However, the recent increase in urbanization has led to the risk of more light pollution.

The Day of the Seafarer is being observed on 25 June every year as an expression of thanks to the seafarers for their contribution to the
economy and civil society of the world.Day of the Seafarer 2016 was observed across the world on 25 June 2016. The theme for the year is At Sea For All.
•    The theme for the year has a clear link with the 2016 World Maritime Day theme, Shipping: indispensable to the world.
•    The themes highlight the point that seafarers serve at sea not just for the shipping industry or for their own career purposes but for all of us.
•    Day of the Seafarer is observed to give thanks to the seafarers for their contribution to the economy and civil society of the world. 
•    The day also acknowledges risks and personal costs borne by them while being in their jobs.
•    The decision to designate 25 June as the Day of the Seafarer was taken by International Maritime Organization (IMO)in 2010.
•    The first edition of the Day of the Seafarers was observed by IMO in 2011.
•    The Day of the Seafarers has also been included in the list of observances by United Nations.