DAILY GK 17-18 JUNE 2026
1. PM
NARENDRA MODI’S VISIT TO FRANCE
·
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra
Modi undertook a 6-day official visit to France in June
2026, focusing on strategic cooperation, innovation, technology partnerships on
global issues.
·
During
his Europe tour, PM Modi participated at the 52nd Group-7 (G-7) summit held in Evian-les-Bains, France.
·
PM Modi
visited Paris, the capital city of France as the final leg of his visit to
attend the VivaTech 2026 Technology
Summit, alongside President Macron.
·
PM Modi
along with French President Macron inaugurated the inaugural edition of Bharat
Innovates 2026 at the Palais des Expositions de Nice in Nice,
France.
·
PM Modi
visit to Nice, France resulted in 13 key
outcomes such as: adoption of India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030;
establishment of Joint Working Group (JWG) on AI Governance; Expansion of
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in France; and double bilateral Trade
over the next 5 years, among others.
2. PM
NARENDRA MODI’S VISIT TO SLOVAKIA
·
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra
Modi undertook official visit to Slovakia in June 2026, focusing
on strategic cooperation, innovation, technology partnerships on global issues.
·
PM Modi was honoured with “The Order of the White Double Cross (1st
Class)”, Slovakia’s highest national award, presented by Peter Pellegrini,
President of Slovakia in Bratislava.
·
Both countries announced the establishment of
the first-ever ICCR Chair in AI at the
Technical University of Kosice in Slovakia.
·
Both countries formalized 11 key agreements to expand
bilateral cooperation in areas: skill mobility, defence, higher education,
emerging technologies (like in AI and quantum), among others.
3. INDIAN
NAVY DECOMMISSIONS ‘SEA KING MK42B FLEET’
·
The Indian Navy (IN) decommissioned
its Sea King Mk42B helicopters, known as the ‘Flying Frigates’, after 36 years of
distinguished service.
·
Operated
by Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS 330),
the fleet concluded its service with a final ceremonial flight from Indian
Naval Ship (INS) Shikra, the Western Naval Command
(WNC) base in Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
4. 2026
GLOBAL PEACE INDEX
·
Institute
forEconomics and Peace (IEP) released the 20th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI).
·
As per the Index, Iceland retained
its position as the world’s most
peaceful country for the 19th consecutive year,
with an overall score of 1.161.
·
India
dropped to 127th position (in 2026) with an overall
score of 2.409, from 115th position (in 2025).
·
The latest edition of GPI has assessed 163 independent
states and territories.
·
The report used 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure the state of peace across three 3 main segments,
including the level of Societal Safety
and Security; the extent of Ongoing
Domestic and International Conflict, and the degree of Militarization.
·
New
Zealand (rank 2nd),Switzerland
(rank 3rd),Slovenia (rank 4th) and Ireland (rank 5th)were among the top 5 countries in 2026 GPI.
·
Russia
ranked lowest in the index (163rd spot) and emerged as the least peaceful country in the world, followed by Sudan (162nd),
Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) (161st), Ukraine (160th)and Israel (159th).
5. QS
WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2027
·
London based global higher education
analytics firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released
the QS
World University Rankings 2027, in which the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi ranked 118th
globally with an overall score of 65.7,
improving five places from 123rd and emerging as India’s highest-ranked institution for the
second consecutive year.
·
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, (USA) retained 1st place
globally with a score of 100, while Imperial College London
and Stanford University, (USA) jointly ranked 2nd with
scores of 99.2.
·
After IIT Delhi, the highest-ranked Indian
institutions are IIT Bombay
(Maharashtra, 134), IIT Madras
(Tamil Nadu, TN 170), IIT Kharagpur (West Bengal, WB 205), and IISc
Bangalore (Karnataka, 221).
6. GLOBAL
STARTUP ECOSYSTEMS RANKING: GSER 2026
·
The Startup Genome, in
partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network released
the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2026, in
which it ranked Bengaluru, Karnataka ranked 15 among
the top 40 global startup ecosystems.
·
It has
also emerged the second-best AI-native cluster in
Asia continent after Beijing, China.
·
It is an annual
global ranking and research report that evaluates and compares startup
ecosystems across the world based on their startup performance, funding,
talent, innovation and business environment.
·
Silicon Valley (USA), New
York City (USA), and London (UK) retain
their top three positions, holding
steady with no change in rankings.
7.
WEF’S ENERGY TRANSITION
INDEX 2026
·
World Economic Forum (WEF) released
its annual report titled “Energy Transition Index(ETI 2026):
Insight Report June 2026”.
·
India jumped
to 2 places in ETI 2026 ranking i.e. to 70th spot
with an overall score of 54.9 (up by 1.9% over
2025), emerging as one of the top gainers in the index.
·
Sweden topped
the ETI 2026 with a score of 75.3, followed by Finland in second place with 74.1 points and Denmark in third place with a score of 72.6.
·
Global
energy transition readiness declined by 0.76%,
marking its first drop in over a decade, despite total energy investments
reaching USD 3.3 trillion, including USD 2.3 trillion in
clean energy.
·
The Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) ranked last (120th) with a score of 39.8,
followed by Botswana (119th, 41.8), Jamaica (118th, 43.6).
8. NEW
GI TAGS
·
The
Geographical Indications Registry (GIR), under
the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), granted
Geographical Indication (GI) tags to 11 products
from Jharkhand, including Bhoya Saree and Fabric, Kuchai
Silk Saree, and Jharkhand Bamboo Craft.
·
GIR
has also granted GI status to 4 traditional products from Assam namely:
Karbi Anglong Handloom Products, Assam Bihu Pepa, Assam Bamboo Crafts and Deuri
Handloom Products.
·
With
this latest recognition, the total
number of GI-certified products which are supported by NABARD in Assam reaches 12.
·
The registration of GI is valid for a period of 10 years from date of registration and
can be renewed from time to time for a further period of 10 years each.
9. RUSSIA
GRAND SAND MASTER CUP AWARD
·
Padma Shri awardee SudarsanPattnaik, a
sand artist from Puri, Odisha, won the Russia Grand Sand Master
Cup 2026 at the II International
Festival of Sand Sculpture in Kaliningrad, Russia, becoming the first
Indian to receive the honour.
·
His
three-metre high sand sculpture depicted two contrasting faces of Earth,
symbolising environmental degradation on one side and ecological
restoration through afforestation and conservation on the other.
10. PRESIDENT’S
GOLD MEDAL
·
President of India Droupadi Murmu presented
the Sword of Honour and President’s
Gold Medal to Lieutenant (Lt) Vishal Kumar, at
the Passing Out Parade of the 158th
Regular Course of the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, Uttarakhand,
for securing first place in the overall
Order of Merit and emerging as the best all-round officer cadet.
·
Academy
Under Officer Prince Raj secured the Silver Medal
for second position, while Senior Under Officer Tejas Bhatt won
the Bronze Medal for third position.
·
Sword of Honour
award is presented to the best all-round
gentleman cadet of the IMA, while the President’s
Gold Medal is awarded to the cadet securing
first position in the overall Order of Merit.
