6th July 2018 Daily Current Affairs

International Current Affairs

• Today (6th July) is World Zoonosis(also spelled zoönosis and zoonoses) Day.
• Zoonosis is an ailment that is transmitted from animals to human beings.
• Zoonosis is derived from the Greek words zoon (animal)and nosos (ailment).
• Approximately 150 zoonotic diseases are known to exist.
  
• This day is observed every year to emphasize and bring the problem awareness amongst people, and teach them to take right action.
• Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a corruption case. 
• His daughter Maryam and her husband Captain Safdar were also sentenced to seven years and one year in jail respectively.
• The case pertains to the purchase of flats in London and came to light after the Panama Papers leak in 2016.

National Current Affairs

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a ban on plastic in the state effective July 15, days after Maharashtra announced a plastic ban from June 23. 
• The Law Commission has recommended that gambling and betting on sports including cricket should be allowed in India as regulated activities under the direct and indirect tax regimes. 
• The panel held that this would "strike at the underworld's control over the illegal and unregulated gambling industry". 
• It further recommended linking Aadhaar or PAN card of individuals involved in such activities.
• Madhya Pradesh government has launched an outstanding power bill waiver scheme and subsidized power scheme titled ‘Sambal’ for laborers and poor families.
• Under the Sambal scheme, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families would be provided electricity at a cost of 200 rupees per month.
• One crore 83 lakh workers registered under Sambal Yojana in the state till now.
• Under this scheme, outstanding electricity bill worth five thousand 179 crores rupees is to be waived off.

Science & Technology

• As part of its preparations to send an Indian astronaut into space using an indigenous rocket in the future, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today successfully tested the Crew Escape System, which is critical to ensure safety of the astronauts in case a rocket explodes on the launch pad.
• The Crew Escape System is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.
• Australia's Sydney Airport is starting to test the first phase of biometric technology for check-in alongside Qantas airlines eliminating the requirement of a passport.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested two senior retired officers of Bank of India (BOI) in connection with alleged loan fraud of Rs 2,654 crore by Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd. (DPIL) in the bank. 
• V V Agnihotri and P K Shrivastava, retired GM and DGM respectively, had allegedly granted undue favours to the company in granting credit limits, the officials said.
• India is going to develop Sri Lanka's loss-making Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota, which is known as the 'world's emptiest airport'. 
• With India's investment, the project is expected to handle 5 million passengers, 50,000-ton cargo, and over 6000 air traffic operations every year by 2028. 
• Turkey is going to sell four corvette warships to Pakistan which will be the country's largest single export deal. 
• Turkey signed an MOU to build four corvettes for Pakistan under the MiLGEM project last year. 
• Two of the corvettes will be built in Istanbul while the other two in Pakistan's Karachi.
• To protect interest of consumers, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has developed and launched a mobile app named ‘GST Verify’.
• The application will verify if the person collecting GST from the consumer is eligible to collect it or not.
• It also provides the details of the person / company collecting GST.
• Indian banking and financial services company HDFC Bank has gone past Russia's Sberbank to become the most valuable bank in the emerging market outside China. 
• HDFC Bank’s current market capitalisation is $78.4 billion against Sberbank's $74.4 billion.
• Note : There are four lenders from India that now rank among the world's 500 most valuable companies. HDFC Bank is followed by its housing finance cousin Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India (SBI).
• Commercial banks in India will no longer be able to transact in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin from today in view of an RBI directive in April. 
• The RBI had, on April 5, barred all its regulated entities, including banks, from dealing in virtual currencies like bitcoins, following its earlier multiple warnings on their risks.  
• Cryptocurrency trade in rupees will stop from midnight, while exchanges or cryptocurrency companies will now be unable to avail loans or hold bank accounts.
• Regulated entities already providing services to any individual or business dealing in digital currencies had been given three months to exit the relationship.

New Appointments

• The Cabinet has approved the appointment of Former Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Justice L. Narasimha Reddy as the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)