20 June 2016 Current Affairs
Union Government Approves 100% FDI In Aviation, Defence and e-commerce Sectors
The Union Government has radically liberalized the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms by permitting 100 % FDI under government approval route for almost every sector including defence to give impetus to job creation and ease of doing business in the country. The decision in this regard was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi. With these changes in FDI norms, India has become the most open economy in the world for foreign direct investment. Some of these sectors are Food products, Defence Sector – Present FDI regime in this sector permits 49% FDI participation in the equity of a company under an automatic route. Now, FDI beyond 49% has now been permitted through government approval route, in cases resulting in access to modern technology in the country, Pharmaceutical Sector, Aviation Sector, Animal Husbandry, Single Brand Retail Trading. The Union Government has also mentioned few sectors in the small negative list in which FDI continues to be prohibited in atomic energy, lottery, gambling, real estate and Real Estate Investments Trusts (REIT) and railways operations.
Scientists Create The World’s First 1,000-Processor Microchip
US scientists team has created the world’s first microchip that has 1,000 processors and is thought to be the fastest chip designed in a university lab. This energy-efficient microchip, designed by a team at the University of California, Davis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is named as the “KiloCore” chip and has a maximum computation rate of 1.78 trillion instructions per second and contains 621 million transistors. To the best of our knowledge, it is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university. Fabricated by IBM using their 32nm CMOS technology, KiloCore chip’s each processor core can run its own small programme independently of the others. The team said other multiple-processor chips that have been created till now never exceeded 300 processors.
Virginia Raggi Becomes First Female Mayor of Rome
Virginia Raggi, a leading member of the populist anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S), on 20 June was elected as Rome’s first female mayor. She is also the first candidate from that party, M5S to be elected to Rome’s mayoralty. Raggi, who will turn 38 in July 2016, is also the youngest mayor in Rome’s history. A lawyer and local councilor, Raggi was elected to the post for the Italian capital after winning 67% of the vote in a runoff ballot against the Democratic Party’s (PD) Roberto Giachetti. Apart from her, Chiara Appendino another M5S candidate won the mayoral elections in Turin.
World Refugee Day Observed On 20 June
World Refugee Day was observed on 20 June 2016. It is observed annually to draw attention to the plight of refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience and renew commitment to solve refugee problems. On this day, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA) also known as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hosts various events and announces a theme for its campaign. With this UNRA seeks to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide who have fled their homes forcefully due to war, conflict and persecution.The UN General Assembly via its resolution 55/76 on 4 December 2000 decided to observe the World Refugee Day on 20 June every year. On this day of adoption of the resolution the General Assembly also noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June. As per United Nations, every minute eight people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror.