Daily Current Affairs, 13th June 2018

1) India’s 1st National Police Museum To Come Up In Delhi

•The Union Government has announced to establish India’s first national police museum in Lutyens' Delhi. The museum is expected to be inaugurated on 21st October 2018 on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day.

•The unique museum, depicting the history, artefacts, uniforms and gear of central and state police forces, will come up as an underground facility in the premises of the national police memorial in Chanakyapuri area. 

2) India To Host 1st BIMSTEC Military Exercise

•India will host first military exercise of the BIMSTEC Countries in September 2018 in Pune, Maharashtra. The theme of the exercise includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search.

•The main aim of this military exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism. Each participating member country will bring in some 30 soldiers. BIMSTEC countries had held disaster management exercise in 2017 in New Delhi, but this will be the first military exercise of the grouping.

3) 10 New Swachh Iconic Places Launched Under Swachh Bharat Mission

•Ten new iconic sites have been taken up under Phase III of the flagship project Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The project envisioned by the Prime Minister is being coordinated by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation with the support of State governments and local administration.

•The consultation is in process for finalising the PSUs/corporates for extending support to new sites as CSR partners. These new sites have joined the 20 iconic places under Phase I & II.

•10 New Iconic Sites are as follows: 
1. Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh);
2. Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal);
3. Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana);
4. VidurKuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh);
5. Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand);
6. Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K);
7. Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh);
8. ImaKeithal/market (Imphal, Manipur);
9. Sabarimala Temple (Kerala); and 
10. Kanvashram (Uttarakhand).

4) President Kovind To Embark On 3-Nation Visit To Greece, Suriname And Cuba

•President Ram Nath Kovind will embark on a three-nation tour to Greece, Suriname and Cuba. On the first leg of the visit, the President will leave for Athens. President Kovind will leave for Suriname on the 2nd leg. A number of agreements and MoUs in the areas of health and medicine, elections, IT, Ayurveda are scheduled to be signed. 

•Suriname is a founding member of the International Solar Alliance. A Line of Credit of 54.5 million dollars is being offered to Suriname for solar-related projects. On the last leg of the visit, the President will be in Cuba. A number of agreements and MoUs in the areas of biotechnology, research and education in homeopathic medicine, traditional system of medicine and medicinal plants would be signed during the visit.

5) Mauritius To Host 11th World Hindi Conference

•The 11th World Hindi Conference will be held in Mauritius in August 2018 with an aim to increase the popularity of Hindi globally. The Union External Affairs Ministry has already undertaken the work on the international meet.

•The main theme of the Conference is ‘Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti’. The World Hindi Secretariat (WHS) will be the organising authority of the event. The conference will cover both classical and modern elements of Hindi and will see participation of delegates and scholars of Hindi from all over the world.

6) International Conference On ICT To Be Held In Kathmandu

•An International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be held in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal from June 17. The Theme of the two-day conference is “Sustainable Development Goals for Smart Society”. The conference is organised by the Federation of Computer Association Nepal (CAN).

•Around 500 delegates, including ICT users, trainers, professionals, experts, and researchers from Japan, China, Korea, India and Nepal will attend the event. The conference aims to bring government and private sector together for developing a plan of action using sustainable ICT applications. It also seeks to unleash the prospects of SMART Nepal by 2030.

7) Global Environment Performance Index 2018: India Ranks 177, Switzerland Tops

•India stands 177th at the bottom of the Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings. In 2016, the country had ranked 141 out of 180 countries.

•In 2018, according to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2018 in Figures, it has slipped to the 177th position. India scored 5.75 out of 100 in air quality. The Top 3 countries on the list are:
1. Switzerland, 
2. France, and 
3. Denmark.

8) RBI Releases Draft Guidelines To Modify Loan System For Large Borrowers

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the draft guidelines to modify the loan system for delivery of bank credit, making the rules stricter to regulate larger borrowers enjoying working capital facility from the banking system.

•The draft specifies a minimum level of loan component in fund based working capital finance and a mandatory Credit Conversion Factor (CCF) for the undrawn portion of cash credit availed of by large borrowers.