GK and Current Affairs Updates

World Blood Donors Day (WBDD) 2016 was observed on 14 June 2016.
The theme of the 2016 World Blood Donor Day campaign is Blood connects us all. The theme highlights the common bond that all people share in their blood.
•    The slogan for 2016 WBDD is Share life, give blood. The slogan focuses on voluntary donation systems. 
•    The voluntary donation systems play a pivotal role in encouraging people to care for one another and promoting community cohesion.
•    The World Blood Donors Day was established in 2004.
•    The day was established to raise awareness of the need for safe bold and blood products. The day also expresses gratitude towards donors for their voluntary gifts of blood.
•    It is one of the eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).
•    The day also collides with birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, who is noted for having distinguished the main blood groups in 1900.
•    The theme for the 2015 WBDD was Thank you for saving my life.
•    Apart from this there are following notable commemorative  days coming up in this month 
    June 15- World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
    June 17 World Day to Combat Desertification
    June 19 father's day
    June 20 World Refugee Day
    June 21 International Day of Yoga
    June 23 United Nations Public Service Day
    June 26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
    June 29 National Statistics Day

India and Ghana on 13 June 2016 signed three bilateral agreements to strengthen co-operation in varied fields. The agreements were signed during the first ever visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Ghana, a nation on West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea.
•    The three agreements signed with Ghana included one for visa waivers for holders of diplomatic and official passports and one for setting up a Joint Commission.
• The commission will periodically review various aspects of the multi-dimensional relationship between the two countries. A mutually convenient date for its first meeting will be decided later.
•    The third agreement was for collaboration in diplomatic training between the Indian Foreign Service Institute and a Ghanaian institute of the same standing.
•    India is the largest foreign investor in Ghana today, with more than 700 projects. More than 222 of these projects are in the manufacturing sector. 
•    Bilateral trade between India and Ghana has increased to 1.2 billion US dollars from 538 million US dollars in 2010. 
•    Ghana has also sought India’s civil nuclear cooperation to explore the possibilities of reducing its dependence on traditional energy sources to cut costs and focus on cleaner environment.
•    After hosting the third India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in New Delhi in October 2015, India is working on a plan to consolidate and further strengthen its engagement with Africa.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 June 2016 issued the guidelines on the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets.
The guidelines were issued with an aim to further strengthen the lenders’ ability to deal with stressed assets and to put real assets back on track.
•    RBI formulated the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) as an optional framework for the resolution of large stressed accounts. 
•    The S4A envisages determination of the sustainable debt level for a stressed borrower.
•    It also envisages bifurcation of the outstanding debt into sustainable debt and equity/quasi-equity instruments which are expected to provide upside to the lenders when the borrower turns around.
•    In order to make sure that that the entire exercise is carried out in a transparent and prudent manner, S4A envisages that the resolution plan will be prepared by credible professional agencies.
•    An Overseeing Committee, set up by the Indian Banks Association, comprising of eminent experts will independently review the processes involved in preparation of the resolution plan for reasonableness and adherence to the provisions of these guidelines.
•    The scheme is applicable to those projects that have started commercial operations and have outstanding loan of over 500 crore rupees.
Resolution of large borrowal accounts which are facing severe financial difficulties may require coordinated deep financial restructuring which often involves a substantial write-down of debt and/or making large provisions. 

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a mysterious solitary dwarf galaxy known as UGC 4879. 
•    The galaxy is smaller and messier than its cosmic cousins and lacks the majestic swirl of a spiral or the coherence of an elliptical. 
•    The galaxy UGC 4879 is very isolated and consists of a scattered drizzle of stars. It about 2.3 million light years away from its closest neighbour, Leo A which is about the same distance as that between our Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. 
•    The galaxy has not interacted with any of surrounding galaxies that makes it an ideal laboratory for astronomers to study star formation by interactions with other galaxies. 
•    The scientific studies of this solitary galaxy UGC 4879 will provide ample scientific study material for astronomers looking to understand the complex mysteries of star birth throughout the universe. 
•    It will especially help astronomers to study amount of star formation in the first 4 billion years after the Big Bang and followed by a strange 9 billion-year lull in star formation.
•    HST was launched in 1990 as an international cooperation space project between NASA and European Space Agency. 
•    It is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 
•    Its science operations are conducted by Baltimore based Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). 
•    It is located in low Earth orbit outside the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere that allows it to take extremely high-resolution images.

Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prasad, the senior-most Judge of the Manipur High Court on 13 June 2016 assumed charge of the Chief Justice of the High Court.
He succeeded Justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra who relinquished the office on 9 June 2016.
•    Earlier on 9 February 2016, Justice Prasad was transferred from Jharkhand High Court to Manipur High Court. He was transferred by President of India in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 222 of the Constitution of India.
•    Clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution empowers the President to transfer a judge from one high court to other high court, which can be done after consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
•    Born on 1 July 1955, Prasad did his schooling and graduation from Bihar.
•    He is a Science graduate and obtained his LL.B. Degree from Patna Law College, Patna.
•    He was enrolled as an Advocate in Bihar State Bar Council, Patna on 17 September 1980 and practiced in the area of Civil, Criminal and Writ matter at Patna High Court, Patna.
•    He joined into Superior Judicial Service as Additional District Judge on 6 May 1991 and was promoted to the post of District Judge on 8 June 2001.•    He was joined as Registrar General, High Court of Jharkhand on 8 June 2001.

Tata Power Co. Ltd on 12 June 2016 agreed to acquire renewable energy company Welspun Renewables Energy Pvt. Ltd.
Tata Power took the step in a bid to grow its clean energy portfolio to 2.3 giga watts (GW).
•    Tata Power’s renewable energy unit Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) has signed an agreement to acquire Welspun Renewables Energy Private Ltd (WREPL).
•    It is the largest transaction in renewable space in India.
•    The acquisition is being made at an enterprise value of 9249 crore rupees.
•    TPREL will acquire 1140 MW solar and wind power assets of Welspun Energy Private Ltd.
•    The deal is expected to close in September 2016.

Mercedes racing driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain on 12 June 2016 won the Formula 1 Canada Grand Prix title.
•    To win the title, he overcame Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in the final race held in Montreal, Canada.
•    For Hamilton, the present win in Montreal was the fifth in his career and the second in a row. His previous titles were secured in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2015.
•    In the 2016 season, it was the second title for him as he already secured the Monaco Grand Prix on 29 May 2016.
•    Overall, he has more race victories than any other British driver in the history of Formula One and is currently third on the all-time wins list, with 45 wins.
•    He is a British Formula One racing driver from England.
•    He currently races for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team.
•    He is the 2008, 2014 and 2015 Formula One World Champion.
•    In his first season in Formula One, he set numerous records while finishing second in the 2007 Formula One Championship.
•    He won the World Championship the following season, becoming the then-youngest Formula One world champion in history before Sebastian Vettel broke the record two years later.
•    Following his second world title in 2014, he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
•    In 2015, he became the first British driver in history to win consecutive F1 titles.
•    He is the only driver in the history of the sport to have won at least one race in each season he has competed to date.

The United Nations General Assembly on 13 June 2016 elected Israel to chair its Legal Committee, which is also known as the Sixth Committee.
It is for the first time ever that Israel has been chosen to head one of its six permanent committees.In the secret ballot election, Israel received 109 Yes votes. No votes were cast against Israel. 
•    There were 23 abstentions, 14 invalid ballots and 43 votes for other countries in the Western European.
•    The United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee (Legal) is one of the main committees of the United Nations General Assembly.
•    The Sixth Committee is the primary forum for the consideration of legal questions in the General Assembly.
•    The committee has universal membership, which means all member states of the UN are de jure members of the Sixth committee.
•    It is led by a chairman assisted by three vice-chairmen and a reporter.
•    It meets every year from late September to late November.

The Indian men's 4x400m relay team on 12 June 2016 created a new national record, clocking 3:02.17 at the International Sprint and Relay Teams Cup at Erzurum, Turkey.
The team improved the previous record of 3:02.62 set at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
On the other hand, the Indian women's 4x400m relay team clocked 3:30.16 and jumped to world No 12 in the rankings. In the 2016 South Asian Games, the women's relay team finished the race with a timing of 3:35.44 to win the gold. They also recorded their fastest time of 3:29.08 in the 2016 IAAF World Championships which took place in Beijing.
•    The 4×400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap.
•    It is traditionally the final event of a track meet.
•    Relay race runners typically carry a relay baton which they must transfer between teammates.
•    Runners have a 20 m box in which to transfer the baton.
•    Unlike the 4 × 100 m relay, runners in the 4 × 400 typically look back and grasp the baton from the incoming runner.
•    Internationally, the U.S. men's team has dominated the event, but have been challenged by Jamaica in the 1950s and Britain in the 1990s.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has announced four proposed names for the four new elements that were added in periodic table in January 2016. 
•    These names and symbols were chosen by the by nuclear researchers who discovered them. They will be finalised after public review and formal nod by the IUPAC Council. 
•    All these four elements are super heavy and are synthetic in nature i.e. they were created in laboratory. 
•    These new elements are Nihonium (Nh), Moscovium (Mc), Tennessine (Ts), and Oganesson (Og). 
•    They were added in the seventh row of the periodic table. Their addition has completed the seventh row of the periodic table of the elements. 
Atomic No – 113 – Nihonium – Nh .
Atomic No – 115 – Moscovium – Mc
Atomic No – 117 – Tennessine – Ts
Atomic No – 118 – Oganesson – Og
•    IUPAC is panel of scientist that governs chemical research and the admission of the new elements in the periodic table. 
•    Under it rules, names of the elements must reflect one of the physical characteristics or chemical properties, a place, a mineral, a scientist (living or dead), or a mythological concept. 
•    The names of elements is finalised by IUPAC which are easy to translate across major languages. The names usually have endings like “-ine”, “-ium,” or “-on,” depending on the grouping of elements they belong to.