Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 June 2018

::NATIONAL::

Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50% to Swiss Francs (CHF) 1.01 billion (₹7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India’s clampdown on suspected black money stashed there.
In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks rose about 3% to CHF1.46 trillion or about ₹100 lakh crore in 2017, according to the official annual data released on June 28 by Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation.
The latest data from Zurich-based SNB comes months after a new framework having been put in place for automatic exchange of information between Switzerland and India to help check the black money menace.
The issue of black money has always been a matter of big debate in India and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for such funds.

NITI Aayog will release the First Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts Programme tomorrow, i.e. June 29, 2018.
The districts have been ranked in a transparent basis on parameters across Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure through 49 key performance indicators.
The rankings are publicly available through the Champions of Change Dashboard, which includes data entered on a real-time basis at the district level.

Military Engineer Services (MES), which is the dedicated Engineering Department to provide infrastructure (development and maintenance) support to Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and DRDO, launched its newly designed website on 28 June 2018. The website was launched by Defence Secretary Shri Sanjay Mitra.
The website is bilingual and has been developed in line with aspirations of 3500 officers and approximately 1.2 Lacs subordinate staff of MES.
Policies and advisories related to Recruitment, Promotions, Postings and other personnel matters of MES civilian employees would be easily accessed through the Website.
Online Registration of Contractors, approved list of contractors and consultants, product approvals and enlistment procedures are the additional facilities which have been added to the website.

U.S representative nikkihaley has conveyed the message from Trump administration to India regarding revision of ties with Iran government.
This is will prove especially tricky since New Delhi had committed to raising its imports from Tehran by as much 25% after a visit by Iranian President Rouhani in February this year.
The U.S. strictures follow President Trump’s decision in May to pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) multilateral nuclear deal and subsequently bring in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act ( CAATSA) law that sanctions countries dealing with the Washington’s “adversaries”.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed Pakistan on the ‘grey list’ for failing to curb anti-terror financing despite Islamabad submitting a 26-point action plan, officials said.
The decision was taken on Wednesday at the FATF’s plenary session in Paris, according to official sources.

The Centre is considering a proposal to set up a Centre of Excellence for block chain technology in Hyderabad to drive innovation.
The proposal has been submitted by C-DAC Hyderabad, along with the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and VeermataJijabai Technological Institute (VJTI),Mumbai
The government plans to use blockchain technology to digitise and secure land records of telangana in the initial phase thereafter expanding the technology application later.

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has instructed the BCCI staff not to implement the resolutions adopted at the Special General Meeting (SGM) convened by the BCCI acting-secretary Amitabh Choudhary.
The BCCI’s acting-secretary had asserted that the SGM was convened following a requisition from a number of members and it was the will of the members to consider important cricket-related matters, whereas the CoA felt that Choudhary had not adhered to the process as stated in the directions it had issued on March 15.
The Supreme Court had appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India VinodRai to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.
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