DAILY GK 25-26 JUNE 2024
1.
FIRST UNESCO
“CITY OF LITERATURE”
·
Kozhikode in
north Kerala has become
the first Indian city to
be be officially declared as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
“City of Literature”.
·
P A Mohammed
Riyas, Tourism Minister, Kerala unveiled the logo of the “City of Literature” by UNESCO.
·
23rd June will
celebrated as the “City of
Literature” Day of
Kozhikode across Kerala.
·
UNESCO Director General (DG)- Audrey Azoulay
·
Headquarters- Paris,
France
·
Established- 1945
2.
TABLE TENNIS
WTT CONTENDER LAGOS 2024
·
The Indian contingents won 9 medals (3 gold, 1 silver and 5
bronze) at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Lagos
2024 held in Sir MoladeOkoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Lagos, Nigeria.
·
India’s Sreeja Akula won the 2024 WTT Women’s Singles title by
defeating China’s Yijie Ding in the
finals.
·
She became
the first-ever Indian player to
win a Women’s Singles title in the WTT Contender.
·
Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany won the Men’s
Singles title by defeating Ricardo Walther (Germany) in the finals.
·
this marks his 2nd
WTT Series Singles title
3.
SPANISH GP
TITLE
·
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, a Belgian-Dutch racing driver, won the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix (GP)
(officially known as the Formula 1 (F1) Aramco
Gran Premio de España 2024) held at the Circuit de
Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
·
This marks Verstappen’s 3rd Spanish GP title in a
row and his 4th Spanish GP (overall) at this track.
4.
INTERNATIONAL
DAY OF WOMEN IN DIPLOMACY 2024 – JUNE 24
·
24 June 2024 marks
the 2nd observance of IDWID.
·
In 2024 IDWID focussed on
the theme, “Women’s Leadership in
Multilateral Diplomacy.”
·
According to
the UN Women’s Global Data on Women Political Leaders 2024, India
(6.5%) ranked 171st in terms of representation of women in
Parliament.
·
Finland(63.2%) topped in the list, followed by
Nicaragua(62.5%) and Liechtenstein(60%).
·
During the
Commemorative Event of IDWID 2024, UNGA President Dennis Francis honoured
Hansa Jivraj Mehta, an Indian feminist leader,
activist, and diplomat, who played a pivotal role in making the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) more inclusive.
·
UN Women is the United Nations entity which works specifically
for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
·
Headquarters- New York
·
Established- July, 2010
5.
BANGLADESH PM
SHEIKH HASINA’S TWO-DAY STATE VISIT TO INDIA
·
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a two-day state visit to India from 21st to 22nd June ,2024 and
was the first state guest to be hosted by India after the formation of the new
government.
·
This was the 3rd consecutive time India and
Bangladesh partnered and established bilateral ties with each other.
·
It included
signing of 10 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs),
including seven new
and three renewals.
·
Three of
the new MoUs were vision documents in the area of digital partnership, green
partnership and blue economy.
·
Thirteen announcements were also made including e-visa
for Medical Patients from Bangladesh and opening of a new Indian consulate in
Rangpur in Bangladesh.
·
Bangladesh Capital – Dhaka
·
Currency – Bangladeshi Taka
6.
STOP DIARRHOEA
CAMPAIGN 2024
·
Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda , the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare (MoHFW), Government
of India (GoI) launched
the National STOP Diarrhoea
Campaign 2024.
·
The slogan
of the campaign is: “Diarrhoea ki
Roktham, Safai Aur ORS Se Rakhen Apna Dhyaan”.
·
The new strategy involves
a 2-month long campaign with
pre-positioning of 2 ORS packets
and Zinc as a co-packaging to under-5 children.
·
India was the 1st
country in the world to introduce the
Rotavirus vaccine in 2014.
·
Earlier, MoHFW
launched Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) initiative
in 2014
7.
50TH G7
SUMMIT
·
Italy,
which holds the Presidency of
Group of Seven (G7) for 2024, hosted
the 50th G7 summit (G7
Italia 2024) in Borgo Egnazia in the city of Fasano in Apulia, Italy
·
Prime Minister(PM)
Narendra Modi visited Italy to attend the G7 Summit at the invitation of Giorgia Meloni, PM of Italy.
·
Joe Biden, President
of the USA and Volodymr Zelensky, President
of Ukraine, signed a 10-year
bilateral security agreement, during the 2024 G7 summit held in Italy.
·
Italy Capital- Rome
·
Currency- the
Euro
8.
IB
CHIEF & NHRC SECRETARY GENERAL GETS ONE YEAR EXTENSION
·
The Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet(ACC) headed
by Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi
has approved a one-year extension
in service to Tapan Kumar Deka as
the Director of
Intelligence Bureau (IB) beyond 30th June 2024 or until
further orders, whichever is earlier.
·
He will continue
to serve as Director of IB until 30th
June 2025.
·
The ACC has also
approved the extension in service of Bharat
Lal as Secretary General (SG)
of the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) on contract basis for a period of one year beyond 30th June 2024.
·
Intelligence Bureau (IB) Headquarters – New Delhi,Formed- 1887
·
NHRC Acting Chairperson– Vijaya Bharathi Sayani
·
Headquarters – New Delhi
·
Established- 12th
October 1993
9.
ISRO CONDUCTS
“PUSHPAK” REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE (RLV)
·
Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted
the “Pushpak”– Reusable Launch
Vehicle Autonomous Landing Experiment (RLV-LEX-03) at
the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in
Chitradurga, Karnataka.
·
RLV-LEX-03 Mission: executed an accurate
horizontal landing and demonstrated advanced autonomous capabilities under
challenging conditions such as: the deviation was 500 meters (m) as compared to 150 m for LEX-02 mission.
·
Pushpak RLV
has been designed as an all-rocket and
fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle.
·
ISRO Chairman- Sreedhara Panicker Somanath
·
Headquarters– Bengaluru,
Karnataka
·
Established– 1969
10. INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND
ILLICIT TRAFFICKING 2024 – JUNE 26
·
The United Nations
(UN) International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking (also known as World/International Drug Day)
is annually observed across the globe on 26 June
·
The UN Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) selects themes for World Drug Day and
launches campaigns to raise awareness about the global drug problem.
·
The 2024
campaign theme selected by UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is, “The
evidence is clear: invest in prevention.”
·
According to the
report “World Drug Report 2024: Harms of world drug problem
continue to mount amid expansions in drug use and markets” , Overall,
almost 292 million people or 1 in 18 of the world’s population
used a drug in 2022, a 20 percent more than a decade earlier.
·
Cannabis remains
the most widely used drug worldwide (228
million users), followed by opioids (60 million users), amphetamines (30
million users), cocaine (23 million users), and ecstasy (20 million users).
·
The UNODC was
established in 1997 as a result of the merging of the UN Centre for
International Crime Prevention and the UN International Drug Control Programme.
·
Headquarters– Vienna, Austria
11. 12TH PASSPORT SEVA DIVAS – 24 JUNE 2024
·
Passport Seva Divas is annually observed across India on 24
June to mark the enactment of
the Passports Act on 24 June 1967.
·
On 18th June 2013,
the MEA has decalred that the 24th June of every year will be celebrated as
the “Passport Seva Divas” to commemorate the enactment
of the Passports Act, 1969.
·
As per the Henley Passport Index 2024(June 2024),
India is ranked at the 81st position, with access to 61 countries.
·
The ranking is topped by Singapore with access to 195
countries.
12. MAZAGON DOCK SHIPBUILDERS RECEIVES NAVRATNA STATUS
·
Department of
Public Enterprises, under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), has granted the ‘Navratna’ status to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), a
Central Public sector undertaking (CPSU) under
the Ministry of Defence(MoD).
·
Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a
PSU under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Ministry of Science
and Technology (MoST), has received
the ‘Mini RATNA (Category-1)’ Status
from the Department of Public Enterprises.
13. INDIA’S EXTERNAL DEBT RISES TO USD 663.8 BILLION: RBI
DATA
·
According to the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) official
data released on 25th June 2024, India’s external debt at end-March 2024 was
at USD 663.8 billion, saw an
increase of USD 39.7 billion over
its level at end-March 2023.
·
The external debt to Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) ratio (which included
both government and non-government debt) decreased from 19.0% (at end-March 2023) to 18.7% (at end-March 2024).
·
As per RBI’s data,
the government’s external debt and non-government sector’s external debt
was at 4.2% and 14.5% of India’s GDP.
·
The RBI data
revealed that US dollar-denominated
debt, with the share of 53.8%, again
emerged as the largest component of India’s external debt at end-March 2024, followed
by Indian Rupee (INR)(31.5%), Yen (5.8%), SDR (5.4%) and the Euro (2.8%).
·
loans with
share of 33.4% remained with largest component of India’s
external debt at end-March 2024, followed by currency and deposits (at
23.3%), trade credit and advances (at 17.9%), and debt securities (at 17.3%).
·
Short-term debt on residual maturity basis means debt obligations that include long-term
debt by original maturity falling due to over
the next 1 year and short-term debt by original maturity, accounted 42.9% of total external debt at
end-March 2024 and stood at 44.1 % of
foreign exchange reserves at end-March 2024.
14. UNESCO’S FIRST-EVER GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOR YOUTH
·
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), appointed SEVENTEEN, the South Korean (K-Pop) boy band
with 13 members, as UNESCO’s
first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for Youth, during a ceremony held in Paris,
France.
·
UNESCO and K-pop
group SEVENTEEN launched a joint program called “Going Together – For Youth Creativity and Well-Being”, an ambitious
joint grant programme for youth projects around the world.
·
In 2022, SEVENTEEN
launched the ‘#GoingTogether’
initiative with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU), aiding in
establishing new education centers in Timor-Leste and educational aid in
Malawi.
·
Members of Seventeen(stage name): S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo,
Woozi, The8, Mingyu, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino.
15. CONVENER OF RECONSTITUTED GST
RATE RATIONALISATION PANEL
·
The Goods and
Services Tax (GST) Council
has announced the appointment of Samrat Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Minister (CM), Bihar as
new convener of the Group of Minister
(GoM) of the reconstituted GST rate rationalisation panel.
·
GST rate rationalisation
panel was constituted in September, 2021 and
was headed by Basvaraj Bommai,
Chief Minister (CM) of Karnataka.
·
The panel has been
tasked to suggest the required rate
rationalization and correction of inverted duty structure with the
objective to simplify the rate
structure, to review the GST exemption list and to enhance revenues
from GST.
·
GST regime has 5 broad tax slabs of 0%, 12%, 18% and 28%. A cess is levied on luxury
and demerit goods which is the highest i.e. 28%.
·
GST Council is a constitutional
body introduced through 101st Amendment
Act, 2016 in the constitution.
·
It was constituted
under Article 279-A of the
constitution.
·
Chairperson- Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister (Rajya Sabha
member- Karnataka)
