Current Affairs June 21, 2015

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1. Largest Yoga demonstration or class at single venue: With India Gate in the background 35,000 people including School children and officials will turn Rajpath in Delhi into one big Yoga class on the International Yoga Day 21st June 2015. PM Modi is expected to personally attend the function and speak for few mins. The ministry of AYUSH hopes to get this event into the Guinness Book for the “ largest yoga demonstration or class at a single venue”
2. Chengdu is India’s gateway to western China: India is discovering Chengduwhich is located away from the coast in the Central western China as a gateway to western China .Since western region of China is developing rapidly India’s presence in this region will be helpful in developing relations between China and India in different areas.
3. Bt Cotton leading to suicides in rain- fed areas – U.S Study: The cultivation of Bt Cotton, a genetically modified, insect-resistant cotton variety, is a risky affair for Indian farmers practising rain fed agriculture, says a latest study published by California- based agricultural scientists in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe.
4. Government push for cheaper debit card payments: Government is taking steps to include compulsory use of credit/debit cards for high value payments and is also asking petrol pumps to stop imposing surcharge on debit card payments. Banks also to waive debit card charges for 2-3 years. These steps are expected to push more debit card use.
5. Earth enters sixth extinction phase: With animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, the world has embarked on its sixth mass extinction and humans could be among the first victims, said scientists in a report published in the Science Advances journal.
6. EVMs to display images along with names and symbols: To ensure greater transparency and avoid confusion in the minds of the voters, The Election Commission( EC) has decided that electronic voting machines( EVMs) would henceforth display images of the contestants along with their names and party symbols.
7. India- born Nikesh Arora is now President of Soft Bank: India born former Google executive Nikesh Arora has been appointed as the President of Japan’s telecommunication giant Soft Bank corporation that paid him the salary of whooping $135 million for the financial year 2014.
8. Ramachandra Guha to get top Japanese award: Author and historian Ramachandra Guha has been named as one of the three recipients of Japan’s prestigious Fukuoka Prize this year. Guha has been awarded the prize in the academic category.