• India’s pugilist Sanjeet Kumar won a gold medal in the 91 kg weight category at the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships.
• Sanjeet pulled off a massive upset as he defeated five-time Asian Championships medallist and Rio Olympic silver medalist Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan in a 3-2 split decision in the final of Asian Championships in Dubai to clinch the gold.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the licence of Pune-based Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank. The bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from the close of business on May 31.
• The bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provision of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
• The RBI observed that the bank with its present financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full. The bank was placed under RBI Directions from the close of business on May 4, 2019.

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has increased overseas investment limit for local mutual funds.

About:

• With this, mutual funds can make overseas investments to a maximum of US $ 1 billion per Mutual Fund out of overall industry limit of US $ 7 billion.
• While in overseas Exchange Traded Fund, mutual funds can invest a maximum of US $ 300 million per Mutual Fund with industry limit of US $ 1 billion.

• World Environment Day (WED) is being observed on June 5 under the theme “Ecosystem Restoration”. It will be hosted by Pakistan.
• Amid the on-going covid-19 pandemic, which the world has been fighting for 1.5 years, WED has become more significant. Pandemic has shown how disastrous ecosystem loss can be. As the area of natural habitat for animal is shrinking pathogens like coronavirus are easily spreading. Thus, only healthy ecosystems can enhance livelihoods, counter climate change and stop collapse of biodiversity.

• Supreme Court of India has quashed the FIR lodged against a senior journalist for sedition charge and other offences. In that, the court held that the Journalists need protection against sedition charges.
• In Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962), the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the sedition law.
• The Court said that sedition is a reasonable restriction on free speech as provided in Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
• However, the court made it clear that a citizen has the right to say or write whatever she/he likes about the government or its measures.
• But this is only as long as he/she does not incite people to violence against the government and not do things with the intention of creating public disorder.

Why in News ?

• NITI Aayog released third edition of Sustainable Development Index for 2020-2021, evaluating progress of states and Union Territories with respect to social, economic and environmental parameters.

Sustainable Development Index 2021

• In the index, Kerala has retained the top rank with score of 75.
• Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were worst performers.
• Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu retained second spot with score of 74.
• Chandigarh retained top spot among UTs with a score of 79. It is followed by Delhi with score 68.
• In terms of score improvement, Mizoram, Haryana and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020-21 who have gained 12, 10 and 8 points, respectively as compared to index of 2019-2020.

Why in News ?

• World Bicycle Day (WBD) is observed on June 3 every year with the objective of promoting health benefits of cycling among all age groups.
  • Aim of WBD
• Its primary aim is to draw attention of people towards the fact cycling is a zero-pollution mode of transportation which is good for environment.

Background

• United Nations General Assembly had declared June 3 as World Bicycle Day. UN resolution recognises “uniqueness, longevity, and versatility of bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries.”. Campaign to promote UN resolution for World Bicycle Day was led by Professor Leszek Siblisk, a social scientist in the United States. Campaign is supported by 56 countries.

Logo of WBD

• The logo of WBD is a Blue and White in colour, depicting bicyclists around the globe. Its tagline is #June3WorldBicycleDay. It was designed by Isaac Feld. Accompanying animation was created by Professor John E. Swanson.

Why in News ?

• UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food & Agriculture Organisation of UN (FAO) launched ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’ report for 2021-2030 and called on nations to meet commitments

About:

• As per the report, world is facing triple threat of climate change, loss of nature and pollution. So, world must deliver on its commitment to restore at least one billion degraded hectares of land (equal to size of China) in next decade.
• Report highlights, countries also need to meet similar commitments for oceans.
• Humanity is using 1.6 times the number of services that nature can provide sustainably.
• Thus, conservation efforts alone are insufficient to prevent ecosystem collapse and biodiversity loss on larger scale.
• Communities living across two billion of degraded hectares and include world’s poorest and marginalized people.

Why in News ?

• India launched a global Initiative ‘Mission Innovation CleanTech Exchange’ with the aim of creating a network of incubators in member countries to boost clean energy innovation.
  • About:
• Mission was launched virtually at “Innovating to Net Zero Summit, 2021″ organised by Chile.
• It will provide access to expertise and market insights that are required to support new technologies in order to access new markets across the world.
• A total of 23 governments participated, out of which India launched new plans to prompt action and spearheaded decade of innovation so that it could navigate worldwide investment in clean energy research, development and demonstration.

Aim of the Mission

Mission was launched with the aim of making clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for decades and to escalate action towards Paris Agreement & net-zero emissions.

Why in News ?

• US House of Representatives has reintroduced bipartisan legislation to eliminate per country cap on employment-based green card. This legislation is called as “EAGLE Act” and was introduced to benefit Indian IT professionals who are waiting over decades for green card.

What is EAGLE Act, 2021 ?

• EAGLE Act is called as “Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act”. It proposes to phase out limit of seven per cent per-country on employment-based immigrant visas. It also seeks to raise seven per cent per-country limit to 15 percent on family-sponsored visas.

How will it help Indians ?

• Due to existing cap, a person from a large-population country like India with extraordinary qualifications, who could contribute to US economy & create jobs, waits behind person with lesser qualifications from small country. Thus, new legislation will reduce waiting time for Indian professionals.