Today Current Affairs for Competitive
Exams - Current Affairs 2021 Online
World Music Day: 21 June
 World Music Day is observed every year on
21 June.
 The first World Music Day was observed and
celebrated on the Summer Solstice in France
in the year 1982 when the former French
minister of art and culture, Jack Lange, along
with Maurice Fleuret started the Fête de la
Musique in Paris.
 That is also why World Music Day is
alternatively known as Fête de la Musique.
NIOS Diploma course in Yogic Science
 Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre
launched the NIOS Diploma course in Yogic
Science on the occasion of the International
Day of Yoga.
 The Minister released the self-instructional
material of the course.
 The two-year Diploma programme has 5
subjects in the first year in which Yoga
Teaching Training will be taught and in the
2nd year, 5 subjects related to Yoga Therapy
will be taught.
Reliance aims for net-zero carbon emissions
 Reliance Industries Ltd aims for net-zero
carbon emissions by 2035.
 This was informed by Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s
richest man at the Qatar Economic Forum.
 The three-day event kicked off on 21 June
2021.
 The forum focuses on global leadership and
strategies to support post-pandemic economic
growth.
 The event was held in cooperation with
Bloomberg.
Heineken's to acquire United Breweries
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 Competition Commission of India (CCI) has
approved Heineken International B.V's
proposed acquisition of an additional equity
stake in United Breweries Ltd (UBL).
 United Breweries is engaged in the
manufacture, sale, and distribution of beer in
India.
 Heineken International B.V. (HIBV) is an
investment holding company and is itself not
engaged in any business activity.
Assam signs MoU with Survey of India
 The Assam government has signed an MoU
with the Survey of India for implementing the
Svamitva scheme in the state.
 The scheme aims to provide an integrated
property validation solution for rural areas.
 Survey of India will take steps for a survey of
inhabited rural land by drone as well as the
establishment of ground-based control
stations to enable a detailed spatial database.
RBI imposes fine on 3 cooperative banks
 The RBI has imposed penalties of ₹23 lakh on
three cooperative banks.
 The RBI imposed a penalty of ₹12 lakh on
Mogaveera Co-operative Bank Limited, ₹10
lakh on Indapur Urban Cooperative Bank, and
₹1 lakh on The Baramati Sahakari Bank
Limited.
 The penalty was imposed due to deficiencies
in regulatory compliance and is not intended
to pronounce upon the validity of any
transaction.
Yellow watermelon variety introduced by Bayer
 German agrochemicals major Bayer has
launched the first-ever yellow watermelon
variety Yellow Gold 48 under Seminis brand
in India.
 This yellow watermelon has been developed
from superior germplasm as part of Bayer's
global research and development efforts.
 Yellow Gold 48 variety is best suited for
cultivation from October to February and for
harvest from April onwards.
Intel to work with Reliance Jio on 5G
 Intel Corp will work with India's Reliance Jio to
develop 5G networking technology.
 Intel's venture capital unit in 2020, invested
$250 million in Reliance Industries Ltd's Jio
Platforms unit.
 Intel will work on "co-innovations" with
Reliance Jio for its 5G radio-access network
(RAN), among other things.
Israel successfully tests high-power laser
 The Israeli military has successfully tested an
airborne high-power laser that can shoot
down drones.
 A prototype, developed with Elbit Systems,
was mounted on a civilian plane and
successfully shot down several drones in a
recent test over the Mediterranean Sea.
 The system shot down drones from within a
range of about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles).
Muthoot Fincorp acquires stake in Paymatrix
 Muthoot Fincorp has picked up a 54 percent
stake in Hyderabad-based fintech startup
Paymatrix by buying out existing investors as
part of its added focus on the digital payments
segment.
 Paymatrix was set up in 2016 with a vision to
streamline property rent payments and rent
collections for tenants and landlords.
 It was incubated at IIIT-Hyderabad along with
the Paypal accelerator programme.
Government eases listing norms for companies
 Companies that have a market capitalization
of more than ₹1 lakh crore at the time of
listing can now sell just five percent of their
shares, with the latest amendment in rules.
 The move will be beneficial for the
government during the proposed initial public
offer of LIC.
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 Such entities will be required to increase their
public shareholding to 10 percent in two years
and 25% within 5 years.
Nasa sends squid from Hawaii
 Dozens of baby squid from Hawaii are in
space for study.
 The baby Hawaiian bobtail squid was raised
at the University of Hawaii's Kewalo Marine
Laboratory and was blasted into space earlier
in June'21 on a SpaceX resupply mission to
the International Space Station.
 Understanding what happens to the squid in
space could help solve health problems that
astronauts face.
US solar firm plans an investment in India
 Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures-
backed 1366 Technologies plans to invest
$300 million to set up a 2-gigawatt (GW) solar
wafer and cell manufacturing facility in India.
 It would be set up under the government’s
production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
 1366 Technologies also has North Bridge
Venture Partners and Polaris Partners as
investors.
BMC appoints arborist to assess old trees
 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) has roped in a tree surgeon also
known as an arborist to assess old trees and
protect them from falling.
 Arborist Vaibhav Raje has been appointed in
BMC’s D-ward, which includes areas such as
Malabar Hill, Tardeo, Peddar Road, and other
locations in Mumbai.
 He will study around 100-150 trees and
suggest ways to prevent them from falling.
Ladakh administration starts community classes
 The Ladakh administration has started a
concept of community classes to save the
classwork culture and to impart education to
the students from internet suffered areas for
online classes.
 In 385 community teaching centres with the
help of 1,711 teachers and 2,166 volunteers,
 more than 18,539 students are presently
being imparted teaching.
 The classes are run in the available open
spaces.
Serendipity Media Technology launched
 Tarun Katial, former CEO of ZEE5, and
Keertan Adyanthaya, former Head of content
at The Walt Disney Co., have come together
to launch Serendipity Media Technology.
 It is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered
platform for writers, producers, and
entertainment companies.
 It will help writers with tips on how to make
their scripts better besides providing them
timelines of topical events.
Expert group formed by the central government
 The Central govt has constituted an expert
group under the chairmanship of Professor
Ajit Mishra, a renowned economist.
 It will provide technical inputs and
recommendations on the fixation of minimum
wages and national floor wages to the got.
 The tenure of the group is three years.
 The first meeting of this Group was held on 14
June'21 and the second meeting is scheduled
for 29 June 21.
First sero-survey among children in Telangana
 The ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition along
with the Telangana government is holding for
the first time the sero-surveillance survey
among children in the state.
 The Survey will be held in Janagaon,
Kamareddy, and Nalgonda districts as part of
its 4th round sero-surveillance survey.
 For the first time, the sero-survey is being
held among children aged between 6-9 years.
TN releases guidelines against sexual abuse
 The Tamil Nadu government has released
guidelines for protecting school students from
sexual abuse.
 The regulation states that every school should
have an eight-member student protection
counsel group.
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 The group should consist of the school
headmaster or headmistress, teachers,
members of the parent-teachers association,
non-teaching staff, outside members, and
management representatives.
Armenia’s acting PM, Pashinyan wins the election
 Armenia’s acting Prime Minister, Nikol
Pashinyan, and his Civil Contract Party won a
parliamentary election with 53.92 percent
votes.
 A bloc led by former President Robert
Kocharyan was in a distant second place with
about 21% votes.
 The election is being monitored by experts
from the Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE).
Government extends the waiver of ISTS charges
 On 21 June 2021, Government extended the
waiver of Inter-State Transmission system
(ISTS) charges on the transmission of
electricity generated from solar and wind
sources up to 30th June 2025.
 Earlier, it was up to 30th June 2023.
 The waiver of ISTS charges has also been
allowed for Hydro Pumped Storage Plant and
Battery Energy Storage System projects to be
commissioned up to 30 June 2025.
K K Shailaja receives CEU Open Society Prize
 Former Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja
has been awarded the prestigious Central
European University (CEU) Open Society
Prize in recognition of her commitment to
public health services.
 The Open Society Prize was announced
during the 30th graduation ceremony which
was held online.
 The prize is awarded annually to persons of
exceptional distinction who serve the ideals of
an open society.
Conclave on 'Sickle Cell Disease in India'
 To commemorate World Sickle Cell Disease
(SCD) Day on 19 June 2021, the Ministry of
Tribal Affairs organized the Second Online
 National Conclave on ‘Sickle Cell Disease in
India’.
 It was organized in partnership with FICCI,
Novartis, Piramal Foundation, Apollo
Hospitals, NASCO, and GASCDO.
 Nearly 20 percent of tribal children with SCD
die before reaching the age of two.
Tokyo Olympics: Maximum of 10,000 fans allowed
 Tokyo Olympics organising committee on 19
June confirmed that the spectator limit for the
Games has been set at 50 percent of venue
capacity, up to a maximum of 10,000 people.
 The decision on the Paralympic Games will
be made by July 16.
 Students in the schools' spectator programme
and their supervisors will not be considered in
these limits and will be treated separately.
M Sudan: 1st woman fighter pilot from Rajouri
 Mawya Sudan, a resident of Jammu and
Kashmir, has become the first woman fighter
pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF) from the
Rajouri district.
 She has become the 12th woman officer to be
inducted as a fighter pilot in the IAF.
 She is the only woman pilot out of 161 officers
who graduated at the Combined Graduation
Parade (CGP) of Flight Cadets at Air Force
Academy in Hyderabad on 19 June 2021.
Swedish PM Löfven loses no-confidence vote
 Sweden’s government was toppled on 21
June 2021 after Stefan Lofven became the
country’s first Prime Minister to lose a no-
confidence vote.
 He can now either resign or trigger a snap
election.
 Lofven is the leader of the Social Democrats
and PM since 2014.
 The motion of no confidence was filed by the
far-right Sweden Democrats.
India receives USD 64 billion in FDI in 2020
 India received USD 64 billion in Foreign Direct
Investment in 2020, according to a UN report.
 Indian is the fifth-largest recipient of inflows in
the world.
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 As per the World Investment Report 2021 by
the UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), global FDI flows
have plunged by 35 percent in 2020 to USD 1
trillion from USD 1.5 trillion in 2019.
Adani Power to acquire Essar's Mahan project
 Adani Power Limited (APL) will acquire the
1,200 megawatts (MW) Essar Power's Mahan
Project located at Singrauli district of Madhya
Pradesh.
 Resolution Professional of the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has issued a
Letter of Intent to Adani Power.
 Essar Power's Mahan power plant supplies
power through the Mahan-Sipat transmission
line.
'Jaan Hai To Jahaan Hai' campaign launched
 A nationwide Jaan Hai To Jahaan Hai
awareness campaign has been launched.
 It will create awareness on corona vaccination
in rural and remote areas of the country and
also end the rumors and apprehensions,
being spread regarding the ongoing
vaccination drive.
 Under the campaign, various religious
leaders, prominent people, etc. will give
effective messages to the people to get
vaccinated.
Airtel, TCS join hands for 5G network
 Bharti Airtel has announced a strategic
partnership with Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) for implementing 5G network solutions
for India.
 Tata Group has developed an O-RAN-based
Radio and NSA/SA Core and has integrated a
totally indigenous telecom stack, leveraging
the Group capabilities and that of its partners.
 This will be available for commercial
development starting January 2022.
Dr. Krishna Saksena's new book launched
 Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan
unveiled Dr. Krishna Saksena’s book ‘My
Joys and Sorrows – as a Mother of a Special
Child', on 20 June 2021.
 The book talks about the journey of Dr.
Saksena and her disabled son Shiv.
 The author, Dr. Krishna Saksena has been a
teacher by vocation.
 Dr. Saksena was the first woman to get a
Ph.D. degree from Lucknow University in
1955.
Dr. Tadang Minu: AIBA’s coaches member
 Dr. Tadang Minu from Arunachal has become
the first woman in the country and the second
Indian to be appointed as a member of the
Coaches Committee of the International
Boxing Association (AIBA).
 AIBA is the parent body for boxing in the
world.
 Dr. Minu is an assistant professor at Rajiv
Gandhi University (RGU).
 She is also the president of the Arunachal
Amateur Boxing Association (AABA).
Mukhya Mantri Udyaymi Yojna extended in Bihar
 Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has launched two
schemes - the 'Mukhya Mantri Yuva Udyaymi
Yojna' and the 'Mukhya Mantri Mahila Udyami
Yojana.
 Both will promote entrepreneurship among
youth and women of all sections under the
state's 'Mukhaya Mantri Udyami Yojana
scheme.
 Youth and women, irrespective of caste and
creed, wishing to start entrepreneurship, will
get a loan of Rs 10 lakh.
SENSIT Rapid COVID-19 Ag Kit developed
 Under the aegis of COVID-19 Research
Consortium, DBT-BIRAC supported product
‘SENSIT Rapid COVID-19 Ag kit’ has been
developed by UBIO Biotechnology Systems
Pvt. Ltd.
 It has been developed for the qualitative
detection of SARS CoV-2 Nucleocapsid
Protein with an assay time of 15 minutes.
 The samples are collected using
nasopharyngeal swabs from the suspected
individual.
Haryana to open Paragliding club
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 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar
has announced the opening of a Paragliding
club after the name of the late Indian sprinter
Milkha Singh, widely regarded as Flying Sikh.
 Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has also
announced a Milkha Singh Chair at the
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports
University in Patiala in his memory.
 The legendary athlete held the 400m national
record for 38 years.
Kanagaraj: Chairman of Andhra Pradesh SPCA
 The government of Andhra Pradesh has
appointed the former Judge of Madras High
Court Justice V Kanagaraj as the Chairman of
the State Police Complaints Authority.
 Kanagaraj will hold the post for three years
from the date of taking charge.
 Earlier, the government had removed
Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as the State
Election Commissioner and placed Kanagaraj
in that position.
Seoul will host the 2022 Formula E electric race
 The electric motorsport competition will be
held in Seoul in August 2022.
 'SEOUL E-PRIX 2022', the ABB FIA Formula
E World Championship, will be held at Jamsil
Sports Complex from August 13 to 14, 2022.
 The ABB FIA Formula E World
Championship, called shortly 'Formula E', is
the competition event by International
Automobile Federation (FIA) and is being held
annually since 2014.
Climate change to increase sea level
 Sea levels will rise around the Lakshadweep
Islands between 0.4 mm per year to 0.9 mm
per year and will affect airport and residential
areas, according to a study.
 The study was carried out by a team of
scientists from the Department of Architecture
and Regional Planning and the Department of
Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture,
IIT Kharagpur.
National Tennis Day declared in Spain
 Rafael Nadal, the 13 time French Open
winner celebrated his 35th birthday on June 3,
2021.
 The Royal Spanish Tennis Federation
decided to celebrate his birthday as the
National Tennis Day in Spain on 18 June
2021.
 The day celebrates the player’s legacy and
achievements.
 The inauguration of National Tennis Day will
take place on June 3, 2022.
Attempt Daily Current Affairs Quiz
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Day of the Celebration of the Solstice: 21 Jun
 International Day of the Celebration of the
Solstice is observed on 21 June every year.
 It was proclaimed by the United Nations
General Assembly on June 20th of 2019.
 The observance brings awareness to the
importance that solstices and equinoxes have
for many religions.
 The summer solstice is the day with the
longest period of sunlight.