8th JUNE CURRENT AFFAIRS IN ENGLISH

1. IN Ships arrive Guam to participate in Ex-Malabar 2018

Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kamorta of the Eastern Fleet arrived at Guam on 07 June to participate in the 22nd edition of Exercise Malabar, off Guam, USA from 07 to 16 June 2018.

• Exercise Malabar, which started as a bilateral exercise between the US Navy and the Indian Navy in 1992, has evolved over the years with the participation of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) from 2007.
• Malabar 17 was held in July last year on the Eastern Sea Board of India, off Chennai and Visakhapatnam.
• It is for the first time that the exercise is being conducted off Guam, a major US Naval Base in the Western Pacific.
• It would be of interest to note that the US has recently named their Hawaii-based Pacific Command as the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

2. India ranks 137th on Global Peace Index 2018

According to a report by an Australian think tank, India has moved up four places to the 137th rank among 163 countries on the 2018 Global Peace Index.

• Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark also sit in the top five most peaceful rankings.
• Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, a position it has held for the past five years.

3. Three Indian cities among top 10 for GDP risk from terrorism

 

Three Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are ranked among the top 10 cities globally for GDP risk from terrorism threats, a recent study found out.

• Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore stood at fifth, sixth and seventh in this aspect, in the latest edition of Lloyd's India's City Risk Index (CRI).

4. President Declares ‘Queen Pineapple’ as State Fruit of Tripura

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind formally declared the “Queen Pineapple” as the state fruit of Tripura.

• The President inaugurated the National Highway from Matabari to Sabroom in Udaipur, Tripura.
• The President also visited the Matabari Temple complex in Udaipur.

5. Andhra Pradesh, Singapore sign pacts for Amaravati development

 

The state government of Andhra Pradesh and Singapore has signed several pacts for the development of a start-up area (1,691 acres) in the new capital, Amaravati, to transform it into a world-class city.

• Under the agreement, the land would be handed over in three phases – 660 acres in the first phase – to the Singapore companies for infrastructure development and other promotional activities.

6. World Bank forecasts 7.3 per cent growth for India

The World Bank has forecast a growth rate of 7.3 per cent for India this year and 7.5 per cent for the next two years, making it the fastest growing country among major emerging economies.

• A top World Bank official said India's economy is robust, resilient and has potential to deliver sustained growth.
• It said that growth in South Asia is projected to strengthen to 6.9 per cent in 2018.

7. Virat Kohli to get cricketer of the year award at BCCI annual awards

The Board of cricket control in India (BCCI) has announced its annual awards for the previous two seasons.

The award winners for 2016-17 season:

• COL. C.K. NAYUDU LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Late Mr. Pankaj Roy (posthumously)
• BCCI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR WOMEN: Diana Edulji (DECLINED)
• BCCI SPECIAL AWARD: Abbas Ali Baig and Late Naren Tamhane
• POLLY UMRIGAR AWARD: Virat Kohli
• BEST INTERNATIONAL CRICKETER (WOMEN): Harmanpreet Kaur
• LALA AMARNATH AWARD FOR THE BEST ALL-ROUNDER IN THE RANJI TROPHY: Parvez Rasool of Jammu and Kashmir
• LALA AMARNATH AWARD FOR THE BEST ALL-ROUNDER IN DOMESTIC LIMITED-OVERS COMPETITIONS, 2016-17: Krunal Pandya
• MADHAVRAO SCINDIA AWARD (HIGHEST SCORER IN THE RANJI TROPHY IN 2016-17): Priyank K Panchal of Gujarat.
• MADHAVRAO SCINDIA AWARD (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN THE RANJI TROPHY IN 2016-17): Shahbaz Nadeem of Jharkhand
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U23) COL. C K NAYUDU TROPHY IN 2016-17): Ekant C Sen of Himachal
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U23) COL. C K NAYUDU TROPHY IN 2016-17): Karan Kaila of Punjab
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U19) COOCH BEHAR TROPHY IN 2016-17): Jonty Sidhu of Delhi
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U19) COOCH BEHAR TROPHY IN 2016-17): Rahul Singh of Assam
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U16) VIJAY MERCHANT TROPHY IN 2016-17): N Thakur Tilak Varma of Hyderabad
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U16) VIJAY MERCHANT TROPHY IN 2016-17): Rohit Dattatraya of Vidarbha C A
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (BEST WOMAN CRICKETER OF 2016-17): Punam Raut

AWARD WINNERS OF 2017-18:

• COL. C.K. NAYUDU LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Anshuman Gaekwad
• BCCI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR WOMEN: Sudha Shah
• BCCI SPECIAL AWARD: Late Mr. Budhi Kunderan
• POLLY UMRIGAR AWARD: Virat Kohli
• BEST INTERNATIONAL CRICKETER (WOMEN): Smriti Mandhana
• LALA AMARNATH AWARD FOR THE BEST ALL-ROUNDER IN THE RANJI TROPHY, 2017-18: Jalaj Saxena of Kerala
• LALA AMARNATH AWARD FOR THE BEST ALL-ROUNDER IN DOMESTIC LIMITED-OVERS COMPETITIONS, 2017-18: Diwesh Pathani of SSCB
• MADHAVRAO SCINDIA AWARD (HIGHEST SCORER IN THE RANJI TROPHY IN 2017-18): Mayank Agarwal of Karnataka
• MADHAVRAO SCINDIA AWARD (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN THE RANJI TROPHY IN 2017-18): Jalaj Saxena of Kerala
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U23) COL. C K NAYUDU TROPHY IN 2017-18): Aryaman Birla of Madhya Pradesh
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U23) COL. C K NAYUDU TROPHY IN 2017-18): Tejas Baroka of Delhi
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U19) COOCH BEHAR TROPHY IN 2017-18): Y V Rathod of Vidarbha
• M.A. CHIDAMBARAM TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U19) COOCH BEHAR TROPHY IN 2017-18): Ayush S Jamwal of Himachal Pradesh
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (HIGHEST SCORER IN (U16) VIJAY MERCHANT TROPHY IN 2017-18): K Nithish Kumar Reddy of Andhra
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (HIGHEST WICKET-TAKER IN (U16) VIJAY MERCHANT TROPHY IN 2017-18): Reshu Raj of Bihar
• JAGMOHAN DALMIYA TROPHY (BEST WOMAN CRICKETER OF 2017-18): Deepti Sharma.

8. Mithali Raj becomes first Indian to score 2,000 T20I runs

Star batswoman Mithali Raj has became the first Indian cricketer to amass 2,000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I).

• Mithali achieved the landmark after scoring a knock of 23 during India's seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Women's Asia Cup T20.
• She now has 2,015 runs in 75 matches. Mithali is the seventh woman to reach 2,000 runs.