Current affairs notes on 17/06/2018

1.Flying Officer Meghana Shanbough MR, an engineering graduate, has become the sixth female fighter pilot to join the ranks of Indian Air Force (IAF). She is the first from Karnataka and South India.

2.India would introduce retaliatory tariffs worth $240 million soon on a revised list of 30 items imported from the United States to counter United States move to increase duties on Indian steel and aluminium. This move has been made at a time when India is planning to negotiate a "trade package" with the United States to ease tensions between both the countries. In the revised list,

3.The conference on implementation of National Pension System (NPS) by the Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs) was held in New Delhi. It was organized by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 

4.The Tripura government launched the GPS (Global Positioning System) and wireless-based 24x7 mobile policing service. It will help in curbing crime, especially against women. To operate the 'mobile policing' service, a police van or a small vehicle with police personnel would keep patrolling round-the-clock in their assigned zone.

5.Reliance Industries said that, it is investing in establishing India's first carbon fibre manufacturing unit to cater the aerospace and defence sectors. Reliance Industries will also make low-cost and high-volume composite products such as modular toilets, homes and composites for windmill blades and rotor blades.

6.Russia has successfully launched a Glonass- M positioning satellite by using a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space center on June 17, 2018. The Glonass network provides real-time positioning data for surface, sea and airborne objects around the globe, at an accuracy reportedly at par with the U.S. Global Positioning System.

7.Adiraju Venkateswara Rao (80), the veteran journalist and author, has passed away in Hyderabad, Telangana on June 15, 2018. He had played an important role in the separate Telangana protests in 1969. He was honoured by the state government in the Telangana formation day celebrations recently.

8.Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently chaired the fourth meeting of Governing Council of NITI Aayog. The meeting was yet another attempt to take India – a federation of states forward with equal participation of all the stakeholders.The institution has to provide governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy. 

9.After a growing political opposition, Seychelles President Danny Faure has cancelled the agreement with India for the development of Assumption Island. The decision by the Seychelles President to drop the deal in the face of protests over a perceived loss of sovereignty is a blow to the government’s “SAGAR” (Security and Growth for All in the Region) programme, announced by PM Modi during a visit to Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries in March 2015.

10.June 17th the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed every year to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification.2018 Theme: “Land has true value – invest in it.”

11.The indigenously upgraded artillery gun Dhanush has successfully completed final user trials and is ready for induction into the Army. Dhanush is an upgraded version of the Swedish Bofors gun procured by India in the mid-1980s.