INDIA SINCE
1961
• Goa is liberated from Portuguese rule (19 December). This follows an
arms build-up in Goa by the Portuguese and mass arrests of those
demanding its merger with India. The last provocation is an attack by
Portuguese soldiers on an Indian village. Major General J.P. Candeth
is appointed Military Governor of Goa after the takeover. Daman and
Diu also surrender the same night.
• Goa Operations end thirty-six hours after the troops of the 17th
Indian Division begin moving into Goa. At 6 a.m. the Portuguese
garrison in Panjim, the capital of Goa, surrenders and the garrisons
at Daman and Diu follow suit a few hours later. Major General Kenneth
Candeth, commander of the Indian troops takes charge as military
Governor. Indian armed forces lose eight men in the Goa Operations.
Four of these are sailors who landed on Anjadev island to find that
the white flag shown by the Portuguese was a ruse.
• India participates in the first Non-Aligned summit at Belgrade
chaired by President Tito of Yugoslavia. Twenty-five nations
participate.
• Queen Elizabeth of the united Kingdom visits India (21 January).
• The Constitution (10th Amendment) Act incorporates the Portuguese
enclave of Dadra and Nagar Haveli as a Union territory.
• The Dowry Prohibition Act or the Anti-Dowry Act is passed. (It is
amended in 1984 and 1986).
• Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier, INS vikrant, in commissioned
in Belfast (4 March).
• The Indian Air Force participates in the United Nation action in
Congo, the such operation supported by the Air Force.
• Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, Gorkha Rifles, is awarded the Param
Vir Chakra (posthumous) for gallantry in Congo (December).
• The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, is established by the
Government of India in collaboration with the British government under
the name College of Engineering and Technology. (See 1963)
• R.K. Narayan's The Guide becomes the first work of fiction in
English to win the Sahity Akademi Award. His The Man Eater of Malgudi
is also published this year.
• Thakurbadi, Tagore's ancestral house at jorasanko, is made into an
art museum, founded by Rabindra Bharati University.
1962
• Prime Minister Neharu contested Lok Sabha elections from the Phulpur
constituency in both 1962 and 1957. In 1952 he had contested from
Allahabad. In 1962, Nehru defeated the socialist leader Dr Ram Manohar
Lohia by 80,000 votes.
• Violet Alva becomes deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, The first
woman presiding officer in any chamber of Parliament.
• Chinese troops violate the MacMahon line (8 September) and launch an
attack on Indian territory (20 October). They acquire Towang (25
October), Walong in the Lohit division, Jang in NEFA (16 November) and
Bomdila (18 November), before declaring a unilateral ceasefire on 22
November. The President declares a state of Emergency in the country
(26 October) and Prime Minister Krishna Menon resigns (7 November).
Y.C. Chavan is later sworn in as Union defence minister (21 November).
• The Constitution (12th Amendment) Act incorporates Goa, Daman and
Diu as part of the Indian Union.
• The Birla Planetarium, Calcutta, the second largest planetarium in
the world, is built.
• Hindustan Antibiotics Limited becomes the first company in the
country to manufacture streptomycin.
• American architect Louis Kahn is invited to design the Indian
Institute of Management building at Ahmedabad.
• Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charity of Calcutta gets the
1962 Ramon Magsaysay award for the promotion of international
understanding (5 August).
1963
• Kamraj Plan: The Congress Working Committee unanimously approved of
a proposal by the chief minister of Madras, K. Kammraj, stating that
'Senior congressmen who are in government should voluntarily
relinquish their ministerial posts and offer themselves for full-time
organizational work.' (10 August). The resolution resulted in many
chief ministers and Central ministers spontaneously giving in their
resignations and offering themselves to shoulder responsibilities of
the regarding these offers of resignations. The 'party before post'
idea resulted in the approval of resignations of six chief ministers
and six Central Cabinet ministers. These were Morarji Desai, Jagjivan
Ram, Lal Bahadur Shastre, S. K. Patil, B. Gopala Reddi and D. L.
Shrimali from the Cabinet, The chief ministers who vacated posts were
K. Kamraj (Madras), B. Patnaik (Orissa), Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed (Jammu
and kashmir), Binodanand jha (Bihar), C.B. Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) and
B.R. Mandloi (Madhya Pradesh).
1964
• Communist Party of India splits into CPI and CPI (M) (11 April).
• The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is set up.
• The finance minister inaugurates the Unit Trust of India (1 July),
hailing it as one of the important devices that will usher socialism
in the country.
• India wins the hockey gold at Tokyo Olympics (23 October). The
legendary Udham Singh plays in his fourth Olympic games and claims his
fourth Olympic medal―the highest by any Indian. Gurbachan Singh
Randhawa qualifies for the 110m hurdles and sets a timing which is
stll an Indian record. He finishes fifth.
1965
• Balwantrai Mehta, chief minister of Gujarat, dies in a plane mishap
(19 September). It is reported y the prime minister that the plane is
shot down by Pakistani forces. Hitendra Desai is sworn in as caretaker
chief minister (20 September).
• General Thimayya dies in Cyprus while commanding the UN Peace
Keeping Force (18 December).
• Kandla port is inaugurated as a free trade zone (7 March).
1966
• A three-man commission, headed by Justice. J.C. Shah of the Supreme
Court, is appointed to demarcate the boundaries of the new states in
the Punjab region (April). The Boundary Commission submits its report
on 31 May. Punjab is divided into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal
Pradesh. Chandigarh is both a Union territory and the joint capital of
Punjab and Haryana.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayub Khan sing Tashkent Accord between India
and Pakistan for the peaceful settlement of relations between the two
nations after the 1965 war (10 January).
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares open the 10,004-feet-long son
Bridge (Asia's longest), named Jawahar Setu (5 February).
• H. J. Bhabha, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, dies in an
Air-India plane crash on Mont Blanc, near Geneva (24 January).
• Reita Faria of Bombay is crowned Miss World (18 November).
1967
• The Constitution (21st Amendment) Act includes Sindhi language in
the Eighth Schedule of the constitution.
1968
• Indian-born Dr Hargobind Khorana shares the Nobel Prize for
physiology and medicine for his work on interpreting the genetic code
and its function in protein synthesis (16 October).
1969
• Madras state is officially renamed Tamil Nadu (14 January) to
coincide with Pongal, the harvest festival.
• The first superfast train, the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani, averaging
130 kilometres an hour, is introduced.
• The first Rajdhani Express between Delhi and Howrah is introduced.
Monday, September 28, 2015
August Current Affair’s
August Current Affair's
• India's first Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance
System (IUHDSS) has been commissioned in Kochi, Kerala. The system
will enable operators to foresee and respond to surface and
sub-surface threats to vital assets along the harbour and warships in
the dock. Points to remember regarding IUHDSS:- a) Designed by Israel
Aerospace Industries (IAI). b) Consists of advance sensors, coastal
surveillance radars and Sound Navigation and Ranging Systems (SONAR).
c) Capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and generating warning
for all types of underwater and surface threats to harbour security.
• Master Ranveer Singh Saini (14 year old) became the first Indian
golfer to win a gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games in Los
Angeles.
• The United Nations (UN) released the report title "World Population
Prospects: The 2015 ". As per the report, India will overtake China to
become the most populous nation in the world by 2022.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Beijing to host
the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the first Olympic Winter
Games ever to be held in China. The games will be held from February 4
to February 20, 2022. It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games
held in Asia, after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.
• The state government of Tamil Nadu instituted a youth award in the
name of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and also declared that
his birthday October 15 would be celebrated as Youth Awakening Day. On
every Independence Day from 2015 onwards, the annual "Dr.APJ Abdul
Kalam Award" would be given to a person from the state who works with
exceptional merit in students welfare, humanities and science. The
award carries Rs. 5 lakh, certificate of appreciation and a gold medal
weighing 8 grams.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue 10 rupee denomination coins
to commemorate the International Day of Yoga (June 21). The coin bears
the logo of the International Day of Yoga, with the inscription
''Saamanjasya evam shanthi ke liye yog'' in Devnagri script and "yoga
for harmony and peace" in English. At the bottom of the logo the date
June 21 will be inscribed. The coins will be legal tender.
• Institutional deliveries in the country increased from 38.7% in
2005-06 (NFHS-3) to 72.9% in 2009 (Unicef's Coverage Evaluation
Survey, or CES), according to health minister J P Nadda.[Lok Sabha]
• The Union Cabinet has recently cleared the National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This proposed Rs. 20,000 fund will be
working as a sovereign wealth fund (similar to Temasek of Singapore
and the Green Investment Bank in the UK) and focus on capital infusion
in infrastructure projects. Rs. 20,000 crore represents Government of
India's equity worth 49%. Additional funds will be provided by
investors.
• India will deploy its first world-class river information system
(RIS) in Sagar-Farakka section of National Waterway (NW) 1. This RIS
will work like air traffic control to ensure smooth flow of vessels
and cargo on the waterway. This waterway runs from Haldia (Sagar) to
Allahabad across Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river system. Several
companies including thermal power plants, cement and fertiliser
companies, and Food Corporation of India have expressed interest in
using NW 1 as a cheap and clean form of transport.
• TPP is a giant free trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and 10
countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Brunei,
Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam
as well as Japan and potentially South Korea also. The talks have
failed to conclude so far.
• HDFC Bank Ltd. Launched 'Dhanchayat' an educational film to raise
awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from unorganised sources.
As part of Swachch Banking, Dhanchayat video vans will cover 5000
villages in phase I and encourage the local public to join the
organized banking sector in line with the government's vision for
financial inclusion. The vans will stop at assembly points viz. Haats,
bazaars, melas and village panchayats and will also have micro-ATMs
with biometric facility fitted in them to enable instant e-KYC and
Re-KYC using Aadhar.
• The Aadiperukku festival has been organised in Tamil Nadu with
traditional gaiety on August 3, 2015. This Hindu Tamil festival
celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (mid-July to
mid-August) in gratitude to water bodies especially Cauvery River.
• Pakistan became the first Asian country to get European Organisation
for Nuclear Research (CERN) membership. Now, Pakistan can participate
in the governance of CERN, by attending meetings of its council. It
will also allow the Pakistani industry to bid for CERN contracts.
Presently, India has observer status in CERN.
• Recently, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit of
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been
successful in protecting its traditional knowledge by preventing an
attempt made by British firm Pangaea Laboratories Ltd., to take patent
on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green
tea for treating hair loss. Till date, CSIR-TKDL has prevented approx
200 firms from acquiring patent rights on products grown and nurtured
in India.
• After the approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
African country, South Sudan became the 206th member of the Olympic
family. Now, South Sudan will compete at 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer
Olympics under its own flag.
• Ireland, which benefit from the presence of transnationals, is the
leading exporter of computer and information services, followed by
India.
• Apollo Munich Health Insurance has introduced Dengue Care, the first
exclusive over-the-counter health policy to cover dengue related
expenses. It is available at an one-time premium of Rs. 444 and
provides Rs. 50,000 in-patient and Rs. 10,000 OPD coverage.
• The Union Minister of Rural Development, Mr. Birender Singh
Chaudhary launched the web portal 'SAMANVAY' to monitor progress and
implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for development
of Gram Panchayats.The purpose of this portal is to help Member of
Parliament's (MPs) to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and
implementation of SAGY. Beside, the web portal, 'Panchayat Darpan'
magazine also launched to monitor the progress of the SAGY. It will
act as a mirror of all the development activities in the village
panchayats.
• The notable Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh has been chosen for
the Uttar Pradesh's highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year
2014. The award is given by UP Hindi Sansthan every year, carries a
cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh. His famous novel 'Kashi ka Assi' has been
adapted into upcoming movie 'Mohalla Assi'.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially recognized
' Frisbee' as an Olympic sport.
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special
Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical
Information System. This institute was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien
in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. He was the chief architect who made India
the largest milk producer in the world and is best known as the
"Father of the White Revolution" in India.
• India's leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki launched its first
premium crossover "S-Cross" in India. The vechile will be available in
two diesel engines viz. DDiS 200 and DDiS 320 and sold from the
company's newly-launched Nexa showrooms.
• Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to
commercially launch its 4G high-speed data services in 296 towns
across India. The service will be made available to customers through
Wi-Fi routers, internet dongles and 4G-enabled mobile phones. The
company has also launched an automated platform "Flexpage" that allows
customers to track their data usage and get real-time usage alerts.
With it, customers can also upgrade their mobile plan on the go, as
and when they exhaust their monthly data quota.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI signed the
Phase II of MoU for cooperation in establishing a 'National
Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible
Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India'. The purpose of this
pact is to provide training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) so that they become competitive and boost the productivity of
the sector.
• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement
with UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage
Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a category-2
centre of the UN body. Presently, there are nine category-II centres
related to cultural heritage and the centre at Wildlife Institute of
India (WII), Dehradun will be the first institute to get natural
heritage recognition by UNESCO.
• IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of
loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will
offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a
competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and
Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible
sanctioned loan cases. The refinance scheme will be implemented
through all the branches of the lender.
• India's oldest organized retailer, Shoppers Stop has tied up with
Snapdeal (online shopping portal) to retail their products online.
This partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise
on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores. This
facility will be launched first in North India and will later be
extended to other regions over the next 12 months.
• As per the Forbes's ranking of the 'World's Highest-Paid Actors'
2015, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the
world's top ten highest-paid actors. In the list, Bollywood stars Shah
Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor ranked 18 and 30 with estimated earning of
$26 Million and $15 Million. The list has been topped by actor Robert
Downey Jr with earnings of $ 80 million.
• To strengthen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector, a
Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Mozambique
during the official 5-day visit of President of Mozambique Mr. Filipe
Nyusi to India.
• The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) at
IIT Kharagpur has signed an MoU with the Law School of George
Washington University (GWU) of USA for students and faculty exchange.
• The Kannada poet and freedom fighter Mr. Kayyara Kinhanna Rai (101)
passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district, Kerala. The excerpts
of his works are Shreemukha, Aikyagana, Punarnava, Chethana, Malayala
Sahitya Charithre, Sahithya Drusht, etc.
• The global electronics manufacturing giant, Taiwan-based Foxconn
Technology Group signed an MoU with the state government of
Maharashtra, to set up its manufacturing facility in the state.The
company will invest $5 billion in the next five years. At present,
Foxconn makes devices for Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Black Berry, Kindle
e-reader and Motorola.
• The Maharashtra government has declared the northern part of Thane
Creek as a flamingo sanctuary under Section 18 of the Wildlife
(Protection Act), 1972. This will be the state's second marine
sanctuary after Malvan. The 'Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit' under
the Mangrove Cell will be responsible for the management of the
Sanctuary. The area spreads around 1,690 hectares will includes 896
hectares of mangroves and 794 hectares of adjacent water body and is
located on the western bank, between the Airoli and Vashi bridges that
connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai.
• India has decided to boycott 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPU) to be held in Islamabad next month in protest against
Pakistan not inviting the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
• Singrauli district Recently, the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(BHEL) commissioned the 500 MW Unit-13 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal
Power Station (STPS), Stage-V of National Thermal Power Corporation
(NTPC) in Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.
• The Union Minority Affairs Minister Dr. Najma Heptullah has launched
an ambitious scheme "Nai Manzil" for minorities. The scheme seeks to
bridge the academic and skill development gaps between madrassas
passouts and their mainstream counterparts. The scheme will be
beneficial for minority dominated areas specially, Bihar and UP where
most of the minority concentrated blocks are in these two states. As
per Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992,
Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains
are notified as minority communities in India.
• The Swachh Bharat Ranking of 476 cities has released by the Ministry
of Urban Development. As per the performance, the top 3 ranked cities
of India are Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), and Navi Mumbai
(Maharashtra). Among state capitals, Bengaluru comes first (number 7
in the list of all cities) and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala was on
second position (number 8 among all cities) while Patna scored the
least at rank 429. The survey was conducted during 2014-15 in all the
476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each with a
population of above one lakh. It was based on assessing total
sanitation practices covering a set of parameters viz. the extent of
open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste
water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of
water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases, etc. The survey
was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required
under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has
developed a poly-herbal medicine "Lukoskin" for the treatment of
leucoderma (white patches on skin). The ointment has seven ingredients
of plants having properties viz. skin photo sensitizer, anti-blister,
anti- irritation, anti-septic, wound healing and copper supplementing
properties. The oral dose has been formulated to check the emergence
of new spots. Leucoderma is also known as Vitiligo.
• The Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has become the first Indian private firm
to get license from Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) to manufacture Lakshya, a pilotless target aircraft. L & T will
get the technology for its digital version that to be sold to the
armed forces. The digital version of Lakshya is advanced version of
Lakshya-1 whose flight path can be pre-programmed. Lakshya is a
pilotless target aircraft, developed by DRDO.
• As per section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the death penalty
is given by courts. On this issue, the Tripura Legislative Assembly
passed resolution on abolishing death penalty and they send a proposal
to the Government of India (GoI) to bring necessary amendments in this
Act and provide life imprisonment up to death in case of heinous
crimes.
• Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of
Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council.
The WTCF is a non-profit, non-governmental international organisation
formed to create a global platform for cooperation and development of
tourism by tourism cities and organisations from various countries and
regions. (Chairman of the WTCF Council: Mr. Wang Anshun)
• On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the scheme "Suraksha Bandhan" has
been launched by Union Government. Under it, people can gift social
security schemes viz. gift cheques and special deposits to their loved
ones. In it, Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques will be available to
purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branches. The payment of Rs. 351 for Gift
cheques will cover one year payment of the premium of Pradhan Mantri
Suraksha Bima Yojana ( PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana ( PMJJBY). The other facilities under Suraksha Bandhan are
Suraksha Deposit Scheme (Rs. 201) and Jeevan Suraksha deposit scheme
(Rs. 5001). The last date for the enrollment for PMSBY and PMJJBY has
been extended till September 30, 2015.
• Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He
succeeded Governor of West Bengal Mr. Keshri Nath Tripathi, who was
holding an additional charge of Bihar.
• To aid digital literacy in Bihar, the Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi
Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app " Disha" in Bihar. The mobile
app is prepared to spread digital literacy through self-learning
modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. The Disha
handbook is framed by the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the
purpose of digital literacy. The book has been composed to ensure that
anyone with little or no digital literacy can also learn using this
book.
• As per section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code,
the Rajasthan high court banned "Santhara" or a religious fast to
death practised by followers of Jainism, declaring it
unconstitutional. The judgement came after the Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) was filed by Nikhil Soni in 2006 against the practice
of Santhara. According to the Press Trust of India, on average 240
Jains practice santhara (also known Sallekhana Vruta) until death each
year in India.
• As per recently released data by US Department of Agriculture (DoA),
India is the world's largest exporter of beef in FY-2015. In FY-2015,
India exported 2.4 million tonnes of veal and beef, while Brazil
exported 2 million tonnes and Australia exported 1.5 million tonnes.
• The Indian socio-biologist Mr.Raghavendra Gadagkar bestowed with
Germany's highest civilian honour "the Cross of Order of the Merit"
for contribution in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology
and also for works in strengthening research corporation between India
and Germany.
• Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, it is
announced by Google co-founder, Mr. Larry Page. In other words,
Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity
and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same
number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. After
create a new organizational structure, "Alphabet Inc.", Mr. Larry Page
will become the CEO of Alphabet , Mr.Sergey Brin will be President and
Mr.Sundar Pichai will take over the CEO role at Google.
• The Tourism Minister of Goa, Mr. Dilip Parulekar won the Pacific
Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) – Safari India South Asia
Travel Award in the category for 'Best Innovated Tourism Minister' for
the year 2015. He is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this
prestigious award.
• India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, launched '
Saral-Rural Housing Loan' at base rate of 9.70 % for borrowers from
the rural areas. The loan amount will be between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 15
lakh, while the tenure can be anywhere from 3 years to 20 years.
Interest rate will keep changing as the bank changes its base rate.
• The Government of India (GoI) has approved the setting up of All
India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) for imparting MD and Ph.D level
education in the traditional medicine at Sarita Vihar in New Delhi.
The Institute has been conceived as an apex institute of ayurveda with
200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of
Ayurveda at MD and Ph.D level.
• An International Climate Variability and Predictability project
office will be set up in Pune for implementation of intra-seasonal,
seasonal and inter-annual variability and predictability of monsoon
systems. In this regard, an agreement has been signed between Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM) and World Climate
Research Programme, Geneva
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has
been accredited by UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) as National
Implementing Entity (NIE) for undertaking climate change related
projects from India. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up under the
framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) in 2010 to help developing countries finance clean energy,
other mitigation efforts and adaptation to climate change.
• Ms. Suhasini Haidar, the diplomatic and strategic affairs editor at
The Hindu, won the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for the Best Political
Reporting-2015. The award, instituted by the Prem Bhatia Memorial
Trust, carries a cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000 and a citation.
• Former Indian Cricketer Saurav Ganguly appointed as the social
ambassador of Beverage Maker Coca Cola India and signed a 3-year
contract uptil 2017. Under his contract's stipulations, in addition to
cricket association, Ganguly will lead Coca-Cola's football
programmers and run various football activities. He replaced Sachin
Tendulkar who's contract ended in 2014. Coca Cola is the official
partner of FIFA Under 17 World Cup football in 2017.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL) or Pahal Scheme has been
acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the
largest cash transfer program (households).Till date, 13.9 crore LPG
consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme. The consumers who joined the
PAHAL scheme will get the LPG cylinders at market price and receive
LPG subsidy (as per their entitlement) directly into their bank
accounts. The Pahal Scheme was launched in 54 districts on November
15, 2014 and in remaining districts of the country from January 1,
2015.
• The Government of India (GoI) and the World Bank signed the
financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk
Mitigation Project- I & II (NCRMP- I & II) for $ 104.00 Million and $
308.40 Million. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Home
Affairs through National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). At the
State level, it is executed by the State Disaster Management
Authorities.
• The Delhi government banned on the sale of all blood-thinning
medicines viz. aspirin and ibuprofen without prescription in the
national capital, as these pills causes harm to dengue patients.
• To regain world supremacy in hockey, the Balbir Singh Senior Hockey
Foundation has been launched in Mohali. Balbir Singh, hockey legend
and triple Olympic gold medallist, has donated Rs. 30 lakh to the
foundation, which he received as part of the life time achievement
award from Hockey India in 2015.
• The Netravali wildlife sanctuary is located in South Eastern
Goa.Recently, here the new frog species "Netravali Leaping Frog
(Indirana salelkari)" has been discovered. It is the 12th species in
the Indirana genus. This particular species is distinct from the
others in the genus on the basis of the mouth structure. Molecular
studies and DNA analysis have also established the Netravali Leaping
Frog as a distinct species.
• The Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh has become the first district
in India to have highest number of e-toilets (461) in its schools. The
Kerala-based Eram Scientific Solutions, the sole manufacturers of
e-toilets (electronic toilets) in India, has deployed these automated
and self-cleaning e-toilets in the district as part of the corporate
social responsibility initiatives of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The school model e-toilet "e-Lite14″ has automatic floor wash system,
automatic ceiling light, exhaust fan, in-built sensors to conserve
electricity and water and an overhead water tank. It works on both
solar and electric grid and is priced at Rs.1 lakh. It also has a
one-year warranty and insurance coverage.
• On 69th Independence Day, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced
a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" to encourage
entrepreneurship among the youth of India. The campaign will also
promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost
entrepreneurship and job creation.
• The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has signed two pacts
with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development training in
Eastern states and Bihar. As per the a) First pact: NTPC will provide
skill training to 5000 youth and women across 22 locations with
special focus on the eastern states with in two years and the cost of
the project is Rs 6.5 Crore. b) Second pact: NTPC will will train over
25000 candidates in services and manufacturing sectors across
under-served locations in Bihar. The pact is for 5 years with a
project cost of Rs. 30 crore.
• India and Slovak Republic have signed MoU on technical cooperation
in railway Sector. The tenure of this MoU is 2 years and it will be
automatically renewed for further successive period of two years at a
time. The Key factors of MoU are- a) Infrastructure building and
management station development and workshop modernisation. b)
Information & communication technologies especially for passenger
amenities. c) Modernization of rolling stock. d) Modernization of
Signaling & Telecom.
• To improve credit and minimising the political interference in the
functioning of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the Union Finance Minister
Mr. Arun Jaitley has launched a seven pronged plan called Indradhanush
Mission. The seven shades of Indradhanush mission viz. appointments,
de-stressing PSBs, capitalisation, empowerment, framework of
accountability and governance reforms in PSBs. The plan includes a
capital infusion of Rs 20,000-crore and also hiring private sector
executives for the first time to run public sector lenders.
• Axis bank has launched contactless debit, credit and multi-currency
forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company.
Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency contactless
cards or 'tap and pay' cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies viz.
Saudi Riyal, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Euro, British
Pound, etc. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s guidelines, banks
can process contactless transactions below Rs 2,000 without a personal
identification number.
• Mr. Om Prakash Munjal was the founder and the current chairman of
Hero Cycles, who died in Ludhiana recently.
• Mr. Om Prakash Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, has
been appointed as the new Election Commissioner of India. Mr. Nasim
Zaidi is the current Chief Election Commissioner and Election
Commissioner other than Mr. Om Prakash Rawa is Mr. Achal Kumar Jyoti.
• For the first time, Chief Minister of Gujarat Ms. Anandiben Patel
ban on the use of plastic in the State.
• Taj Mahal, the symbol of true love and architectural brilliance, has
become the first historical monument in the world to have its own
Twitter account. The Twitter Account was lauched by Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav.
• India has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty for period of 5 years
on Potassium Carbonate imports from Taiwan and South Korea. The duty
was imposed by Union Finance Ministry based on the recommendations of
the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD) that works under
the aegis of Union Commerce Ministry.
• Prof. Mustansir Barma won the 2015 Gujar Mal Modi Award for his
commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
• The ISRO scientist, Ms. N. Valarmathi has conferred with the first
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2015. The award is instituted by the
Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam in 2015. It carries Rs. 5 lakh, a gold medal and a
certificate of appreciation. The annual award is for a person from
Tamil Nadu striving for scientific advancement, humanities or students
welfare. Ms. Valarmathi is the project director of India's first
indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-1.
• To make India Disabled-Friendly, the Accessible India Campaign (or
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan) will soon launched by the Union Government.
The joint venture of Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (DEPWD) and the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment is set to launch Accessible India Campaign in 7 Cities
viz. New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Maharashtra and Haryana.
The programme will focus on grievances of people with disabilities
and the problems they face in mobility.
• The union government has decided to set up Bank Board Bureau (BBB)
for Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Where each band would be monitored on
the basis of key performance indicators. The Bank Board Bureau will
recommend appointment of directors in PSBS and advise on ways for
raising funds and mergers and Acquisitions to the lenders.
• Mr. Ajit Kumar Seth has been appointed as the Chairman of the Public
Enterprises Slection Board (PESB).
• The Online property search portal, Housing.com has acquired
Bengaluru-based HomeBuy 360 (HB360), a customer relationship
management software company, for $2 million or Rs 13 crore. The HB360
is a cloud-based sales lifecycle management platform that connects
developers, agents and buyers. With this acquisition, Housing. Com
became the only online rear estate listing platform to won a developer
CRM company In it, developers and agents can streamline the entire
sales lifecycle, by tracking inventory, managing customer relations
and in effect drives efficiencies in their sale operations.
• Saina Nehwal has became the first Indian to win silver medal in the
2015 world Badminton Championship.
• To empower gram panchayats, the Telangana Chief Minister Mr. K.
charndrasekhar Rao launched a flagship programme "Gram Jyathi" at
Gangadevipally, a village in Warangal district. The purpose of the
scheme is to strengthen villages in areas viz. water and sanitation.
Health and nutrition, education, social security and povery
eradication, natural resources management, agriculture and
infrastructure. It will ensure inclusive and holistic development of
villages through people's Participation in planning and collective
cecision-making. Each village will be allocated Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 6
crore dipending on their population.
• The country's largest lender, the State bank of India (SBI)
lanunched a mobile wallet app "SBI Buddy" in collaboration with
Accenture and MasterCard. The 'SBI Buddy' application will be
available for all customers irrespective of the bank the customer is
banking with or card customer is using. The application will be
available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It sha many
viz. can be used to send money to registered and new users, recharge
and pay bills instantly also book for movie tickets and flights.
• To provide soft loan for establishment of a Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has
launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI). The Union Government will invest Rs 2,000-crore in India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) and Rs. 10,000 in SIDBI Make In India Loan For
Enterprises (SMILE) scheme.
• The Odisha government launched "State level Facilitation Cell
(SLFC)" in order to clear investment proposals in 15-30 days. The SLFC
has categorised companies in two categories viz. green and non-green.
It will provide clearances to green category projects viz. agri-based
industries, food-processing, cottage industries etc. within 15 days.
All other industrial projects placed under the non-green category
would receive approvals within 30 days.
• The Government of India (GoI) has imposed anti-dumping duty on
'flax' (or linen) fabric imports from China and Hong Kong for a period
of 5 years. This duty would be applicable only on those flax fabrics
with flax content of over 50 %. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of
Finance has imposed anti-dumping duty of $ 0.75 per metre on 'flax'
fabric imported from China and $ 0.65 per meter fabric imported from
Hong Kong.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has inked a
pact with IIT-Kharagpur to undertake collaborative research to meet
the futuristic defence technological needs of the country. The purpose
of this Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) is to facilitate the ongoing
research programmes of the DRDO and to initiate a collaborative
research and academic programme in select areas of relevance to
national defence.
• The ICICI Bank launched the 'Smart Vault', a fully automated
state-of-the-art locker available 24×7, including weekends and post
banking hours. The 'Smart Vault' uses robotic technology to access the
lockers from the safe vault and enables customers to conveniently
access their lockers at any time of their preference, in the comfort
of a secure lounge where the locker automatically comes up to the
customer. Customers can access the lockers in total privacy without
any intervention of the branch staff.
• The Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully
solar-powered airport. It is situated in the city of Kochi, Kerala.
The airport's solar power plant, which is comprised of more than
46,000 solar panels arrayed across 45 acres of land, will produce
48,000 units of energy per day.
• The Malayalam actor Mr. Paravoor Bharathan (86) passed away due to
prolonged illness at Kochi, Kerala. Some of the remarkable films that
he did were In Harihara Nagar, Aniathipravu, Meleparambil Aanveedu,
Mazhavil Kavadi, etc.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to 11
entities viz. Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone,
Airtel, Department of Posts (DoP), Cholamandalam Distribution
Services, Tech Mahindra, National Securities Depository Limited
(NSDL), FinoPayTech, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi and PayTM'
to set up Payments Banks. The key features of Payments banks are as
follows: a) the bank licence will allow companies to collect deposits
(initially up to Rs. 1 lakh per individual). b) offer Internet
banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual
funds. c) can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards. d) can also
distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products viz. mutual
funds and insurance products. e) will not be allowed to undertake
lending services and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) will not be allowed
to open accounts.
• The Kerala government inked pact with Adani groups for the
construction of proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport project for
Rs. 7,525 crore.
• The Indian international goalkeeper, Ms. Aditi Chauhan has become
the India's first woman to play in West Ham United Ladies Football
Club. The club is an English women's football club affiliated with
West Ham United FC.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an Indian government
agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined
by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is part of the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), Government of India. (Headquartered: New Delhi).
• To provide single window access for students to apply for education
loans and government scholarships, a web-based portal "Vidya Lakshmi
(www.vidyalakshmi.co.in)" has been launched by the Union Government.
The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of
banks, common educational loan application form for students, facility
to apply to multiple banks for educational loans and facility for
banks to download students' loan applications.The portal also has
facility for banks to upload loan processing status, facility for
students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans,
dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan
applications for government scholarships. The Vidya Lakshmi Portal is
developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited
(NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development and Indian Banks' Association (IBA).
• The 'Desi Hoppers' became the first Indian crew to won the 'World of
Dance' championship in Los Angeles, California. The group of seven
young dancers led by Shantanu Maheshwari, Macedon Dmello and Nimit
Kotian. The Indian crew defeated 14 countries across 34 performances
in the finals and also won "Crowd Favourite" title.
• The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley launched India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) as a fund of funds under the Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in order to boost the startup
ecosystem. It will invest Rs 2,000-crore in this fund and India's
largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
will be the partner and co-investor in the IAF.
• As per the NCRB Report, Madhya Pradesh has highest crime rate among
the states. The state has recorded a total of 2,72,423 cognisable
crimes in 2014 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The NASA's spacecraft, Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer (LADEE) founded the presence of glowing neon gas on the
moon's atmosphere. Neon gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth
because of its intense glow.
• Bangladesh became the first country to receive funds from the United
Nations (UN) for its fast growing solar home systems. The UNFCCC (UN
Framework Convention for Climate Change) has issued carbon credits
worth $ 3.56 million to two Bangladeshi organisations viz. Grameen
Shakti and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL).
• The 1984-batch IPS officer, Mr. Karnal Singh has given an additional
charge as the chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a period of 3
months or until further orders for a regular appointment. Currently,
Mr. Singh is an ED Special Director. The Directorate of Enforcement
(ED) is a specialized financial investigation agency under the
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It is mandated to
investigate cases of money laundering and foreign exchange rule
violations.
• To curb black money generation, India approved pact with the
Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes. The agreement will
stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for
tax purposes, which will help curb tax evasion and avoidance.
• The Bangladesh Novelist Zia Haider Rahman won the UK's oldest
literary award, James Tait Black Award 2015, for his debut novel "In
the Light of What We Know". The novel is based on a disillusioned
banker who is reunited with an old friend before embarking on an epic
journey.
• Ace Indian golfer Aditi Ashok (17) became the first woman and
youngest player from India to won the prestigious Ladies British
amateur stroke-play Championship 2015 at Leeds, United Kingdom.
• Per the recently released Red List of International Union For
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Asiatic Wild Ass has been classified as
an endangered animal. The IUCN has moved the Asiatic wild ass from the
'vulnerable' to 'endangered' category and indicates the need for
heightened protection measures. The Asiatic Wild Ass is locally known
as ghudkhar and found only in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. (
Scientific name of Asiatic Wild Ass : Equus hemionus).
• The Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile-based
application system " R-Mitra" to ensure women's safety. The basic
functionality of R-Mitra (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response and
Assistance) is to alert the nearest RPF inspector and divisional
security control room in case of any emergency with the press of a
button only. The app works both online and offline in SMS mode by
using the helpline number 56161. It is introduced by Eastern Railway
in Kolkata.
• The state government of Himachal Pradesh launched RISHTA project, an
efficient smart LED based street lighting project. The RISHTA project
stands for Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement.
It is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS)
and will be implemented by collaboration of state Urban Development
Department and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL). This project
will replace approx 63,484 street lights with LEDs in all the Urban
Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 % energy savings.
• To boost the trade and commerce in seafood sector, the Government of
India (GoI) will organise the 'India International Seafood' show in
Chennai on January, 2016.
• The US-based online taxi aggregator, Uber cabs tied up with Airtel
to set up WiFi hotspots in each of its cabs. As part of partnership,
consumers using Uber cabs can pay through Airtel's mobile wallet
service "Airtel Money" and would also get to use free 4G speed, Wifi
in the cabs. Mumbai will be the first city in India to enjoy free
high-speed internet from Uber, powered by Airtel 4G and will be rolled
out in other cities soon.
• The IT services company, Infosys launched the three new-age IT
services viz. design thinking, platforms and knowledge-based IT,
through an umbrella offering called Aikido. Aikido is a combination of
three words viz. Ai, Ki and Do, which in Japanese mean combining,
spirit and path/way. To simplify the complexity of technologies and to
create innovative solutions, these new IT services are are as follows:
a) 'Ki' stands for knowledge-based management and evolution of
landscapes which captures the knowledge within an organisation. b) Do'
refers to services offering on design thinking and design-led
initiatives that would help in understanding and defining a client's
problems. c) 'Ai' refers to platforms and platforms-as-a-service to
build intelligent solutions.
• Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (19) became the the first teenager to won the
2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. He is an
Eritrean long distance runner who specialises in the marathon.
• The Chengalikodan banana variety from Thrissur district of Kerala
has been accorded Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Chennai
based Central GI registry. This banana variant is uniquely grown in
Chowannur, Pazhayannur, Wadakkanchery, Puzhakkal and Ollukkara block
panchayats in Thrissur district of Kerala. It is known for its unique
shape, size, colour and taste.
• To boost telemedicine in rural parts of India, "SEHAT", a health
care initiative has been launched by the Union Minister for
Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad at the
India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. As part of the inititive, people in
rural areas can consult doctors online and also order generic
drugs.This Social Endeavour for Health And Telemedicine (SEHAT)
venture with the Apollo Hospitals is expected to connect 60,000 Common
Service Centres (CSCs) across the country to a common network and
provide healthcare access to millions of citizens irrespective of
geographical location or connectivity.
• India will host the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal on
September 10-12, 2015. The theme of this year's conference is 'Hindi
Jagat: Vistar avm sambhavnai (the world of Hindi: expansion and
possibilities)'. The 1st World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur in
1975. Afterwards, the nine other conferences have been held in various
parts of the world. The last conference was held in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 2012.
• The veteran actor-director Mr. Amol Palekar has been appointed as
the chairman of India's Oscar jury by Mumbai based Film Federation of
Indiaof India (FFI). Mr. Palekar will head the 17-member jury panel,
which will select the country's official entry in the Best Foreign
Language Film at the Oscar awards 2016.
• The Justice AP Shah Committee has recommended that the Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs) must be granted relief on Minimum
Alternate Tax (MAT) for the period before April 1, 2015. As per the
Finance Act, 2015 proposed in the union budget, the 20 % MAT on
capital gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year
2015-16. Though, the issue of imposing MAT for past years till 2014-15
has become controversial. If this recommendation is accepted, it would
mean a significant relief for FIIs facing several years of levies on
capital gains made by them.
• The Temple of Baalshamin was an ancient temple in the city of
Palmyra, Syria, dedicated to the Canaanite deity Baalshamin. On August
2015, the temple was demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) after the capture of Palmyra during the Syrian Civil
War.
• India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games,
Dhyan Chand Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India. The award is named after the legendary
Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand. It carries a cash prize of
Rs.500,000, a plaque and a scroll of honour. It is given to honour
those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their
performance and continue to contribute to the promotion of sports even
after their retirement from active sporting career. The 2015 Dhyan
Chand Award winners are Romeo James (Hockey), Shiv Prakash Mishra
(Tennis) and T.P.P. Nair (Volleyball).
• The Union Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad released a Rs.5
postal stamp in honour of Ashoka, the Great, the great Indian emperor
of Mauryan dynasty.
• Dr. Girish Sahni has assumed charge as the next Director General of
the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary,
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR). Previously, he
was the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology
(CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
• To ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear
proliferation, the world's first International Controlled Bank of
low-enriched Uranium will be hosted by the ex-Soviet nation,
Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully
launched India's communication satellite GSAT-6 using its heavy rocket
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D6) from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, Sriharikota. The ekey points about GSAT-6 are as
follows- a) It will provide communication through five spot beams in
S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. b) The
S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of six metre diameter is one of the advanced
features of GSAT-6 satellite. c) Spot beams exploit the frequency
reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. d)
Satellite's life expectancy : 9 years.
• The 8th International Conference on "Indian Civil Aviation and
Tourism" was held in New Delhi. The event was organized by Ministry of
Civil Aviation and ASSOCHAM. The purpose of this conference is to hold
deliberations on various issues affecting the aviation sector and
invite suggestions from the stakeholders to meet these challenges.
• The Indian Army released Amar Chitra Katha and Aan Comics on
inspirational stories of war heroes. India's favorite storyteller,
Amar Chitra Katha has presented a book on inspirational stories of 21
Param Vir Chakra Awardees, as a tribute to the recipients of the
highest gallantry award in India. Four Aan Comics were also released
based on the heroics of four war heroes who fought in 1965 Indo Pak
war and were awarded Maha Vir Chakra. They were Maj Asaram Tyagi, Maj
Bhaskar Roy, Sub Ajit Singh and Sub Tika Bahadur Thapa.
• The Government of India (GoI) launched e-payment module to deposit
compensatory levies into CAMPA Funds. The module was launched by
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar. This e-payment module will cut
delays and bring transparency in the system. The payment through the
e-payment module has to be made to the designated account, depending
on the State in which the forest land, proposed to be diverted, is
located. The CAMPA stands for Compensatory Afforestation Fund
Management and Planning Authority.
• The 6th Joint Military Training Exercise "EXERCISE EKUVERIN – VI"
will be conducted between the Indian Army and the Maldives National
Defence Forces at Pangode Military Station, Trivandrum, Kerala from
August 31 to September 13, 2015.
• The 10-day-long Hindu festival, Onam is celebrated with a great
enthusiasm throughout Kerala between August and September. It is
celebrated to honour King Mahabali, who according to legend ruled the
state once, under whom the people were equal, prosperous and happy. As
per the mythology, people believe that it was on this particular day
of Thiruvonam in the Malayalam calender month of Chingam when Lord
Mahavishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom
of King Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld. So, as per the
legends, on this day, the spirit of King Mahabali visits the people of
Kerala and to welcome him, people decorate their homes with flowers,
etc.
• The World Health Oraganistion (WHO) has officially declared India as
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free country, i.e. mothers and newborns
are free from tetanus at the time of birth. Before that, India was
declared polio free country in 2014.
• Mr. Raghav Chandra has been appointed as the Chairman of National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Mr. Chandra is a 1982 batch IAS
officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre.
• The public sector bank, Indian Bank launched a mobile application
service " IndPay" that enables its customers to operate their bank
accounts at any point of time.This mobile application can be operated
through smartphones compatible with Android, Windows and iOS mobile
operating systems. The customers can use the transactions viz.
transfer of cash, checking for balance, getting mini statements and
also transactions to other accounts.
• India has gifted its former Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Varaha to
Sri Lanka. The patrol ship was in the service of the island nation
since 2006 and it was rechristened 'Sagara' by Sri Lanka. Now, it will
help Sri Lanka to maintain maritime security in the region. ICG Varaha
is 75 m in length and 11 m in width.
• The second version of an open source web based tool, India Energy
Security Scenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047) has been launched by
the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. It's
purpose is to explore wide range of potential future energy scenarios
for India including for its diverse energy supply and demand sectors
leading up to 2047. In this project, United Kingdom's Department for
Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is the initiative partner with NITI
Aayog.
• The first Sunhak Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to President of
Kiribati Islands Mr. Anote Tong and noted Indian agricultural
scientist Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta with a certificate, a medal and
shared $ 1 million prize money. This award is given to eminent
individuals from around the world for their contribution to peace and
development of the world.
• The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2014-15 has been
conferred by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to the following
recipients viz. ITBP officer Mr. Jot Singh (Mountaineering), Ms.
Arunima Sinha (Mountaineering), Wg. Cdr. Paramveer Singh (Aqua Sport),
Lt. Col Satyendra Verma (Sky diving) and Col. Satish Chander Sharma
(Mountaineering) at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi .
The award is given to sportspersons for his or her outstanding
achievement within the field of adventure activities.
• Tennis ace Ms. Sania Mirza has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna award 2015. She became the second tennis player to receive the
country's highest sporting honour after Leander Paes.
• The renowned scholar and Kannada researcher, Dr. Malleshappa M.
Kalburgi (77) was shot dead by 2 gunmen at his residence in Dharwad
district of Karnataka on August 30, 2015. Dr. Kalburgi was a
controversial writer and scholar, who had spoken openly against
idolatry tradition in Hinduism. He was scholar of Vachana sahitya
(Vachana literature), Kannada epigraphist and academician who served
as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He has written
over 20 publications viz. Neeru Neeradisittu, Sarangarshi, Kachhittu
Kalyan, etc.
• The Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the digital version of
epic "Ramcharitmanas", as a set of digital CDs prepared by All India
Radio (AIR). The great epic poem, Ramcharitmanas was composed by the
16th-century Indian bhakti poet Goswami Tulsidas ji in Awadhi
language. The poem literally means "Lake of the deeds of Rama, its' a
retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the story of
Lord Rama, with very intense devotion.
• The Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan
has launched SAHAJ scheme for online release of new LPG connections
for the consumers as parts of its consumer friendly initiative in New
Delhi. As per the scheme, people can apply online for new LPG
connection and they need not visit to the LPG distributors for it. The
facility will enable the customers to post online request for a new
connection by filing Know Your Customer (KYC) form by uploading bank
account details and photographs. Initially, the scheme has been
launched in 12 cities viz. Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal,
Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai and
Pune.
• The 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair 2015 has been launched at
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It has been organised jointy by India Trade
Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) and subsidised entry tickets priced at Rs. 20 for the 9-day fair
till Sepetember 6, 2015. It is based on the theme of 'Skill
Development', to offer people an idea about skill development and how
it can change the life of the youth.
• On August 31, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago celebrate
their Independence Day. On August 31, 1991 Kyrgyzstan became an
independent nation after the break up of Soviet Union. Trinidad and
Tobago got independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1962 and
Malaysia got independence from the United Kingdom on August 31,1957.
• The 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi has
been appointed as Union ome Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs
for a period of two years. He succeeded Mr. L C Goyal. Previously, Mr.
Mehrishi was serving as Secretary in the Department of Economic
Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
• Himadri Station, established in 2008, is India's first Arctic
research station. It is located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. It's
research goals include analysis of the surface water, and atmospheric
research near Arctic region, apart from aerosol radiation, space
weather, microbial communities, glaciers, sedimentology, and carbon
recycling.
• India's first Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance
System (IUHDSS) has been commissioned in Kochi, Kerala. The system
will enable operators to foresee and respond to surface and
sub-surface threats to vital assets along the harbour and warships in
the dock. Points to remember regarding IUHDSS:- a) Designed by Israel
Aerospace Industries (IAI). b) Consists of advance sensors, coastal
surveillance radars and Sound Navigation and Ranging Systems (SONAR).
c) Capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and generating warning
for all types of underwater and surface threats to harbour security.
• Master Ranveer Singh Saini (14 year old) became the first Indian
golfer to win a gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games in Los
Angeles.
• The United Nations (UN) released the report title "World Population
Prospects: The 2015 ". As per the report, India will overtake China to
become the most populous nation in the world by 2022.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Beijing to host
the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the first Olympic Winter
Games ever to be held in China. The games will be held from February 4
to February 20, 2022. It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games
held in Asia, after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.
• The state government of Tamil Nadu instituted a youth award in the
name of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and also declared that
his birthday October 15 would be celebrated as Youth Awakening Day. On
every Independence Day from 2015 onwards, the annual "Dr.APJ Abdul
Kalam Award" would be given to a person from the state who works with
exceptional merit in students welfare, humanities and science. The
award carries Rs. 5 lakh, certificate of appreciation and a gold medal
weighing 8 grams.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue 10 rupee denomination coins
to commemorate the International Day of Yoga (June 21). The coin bears
the logo of the International Day of Yoga, with the inscription
''Saamanjasya evam shanthi ke liye yog'' in Devnagri script and "yoga
for harmony and peace" in English. At the bottom of the logo the date
June 21 will be inscribed. The coins will be legal tender.
• Institutional deliveries in the country increased from 38.7% in
2005-06 (NFHS-3) to 72.9% in 2009 (Unicef's Coverage Evaluation
Survey, or CES), according to health minister J P Nadda.[Lok Sabha]
• The Union Cabinet has recently cleared the National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This proposed Rs. 20,000 fund will be
working as a sovereign wealth fund (similar to Temasek of Singapore
and the Green Investment Bank in the UK) and focus on capital infusion
in infrastructure projects. Rs. 20,000 crore represents Government of
India's equity worth 49%. Additional funds will be provided by
investors.
• India will deploy its first world-class river information system
(RIS) in Sagar-Farakka section of National Waterway (NW) 1. This RIS
will work like air traffic control to ensure smooth flow of vessels
and cargo on the waterway. This waterway runs from Haldia (Sagar) to
Allahabad across Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river system. Several
companies including thermal power plants, cement and fertiliser
companies, and Food Corporation of India have expressed interest in
using NW 1 as a cheap and clean form of transport.
• TPP is a giant free trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and 10
countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Brunei,
Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam
as well as Japan and potentially South Korea also. The talks have
failed to conclude so far.
• HDFC Bank Ltd. Launched 'Dhanchayat' an educational film to raise
awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from unorganised sources.
As part of Swachch Banking, Dhanchayat video vans will cover 5000
villages in phase I and encourage the local public to join the
organized banking sector in line with the government's vision for
financial inclusion. The vans will stop at assembly points viz. Haats,
bazaars, melas and village panchayats and will also have micro-ATMs
with biometric facility fitted in them to enable instant e-KYC and
Re-KYC using Aadhar.
• The Aadiperukku festival has been organised in Tamil Nadu with
traditional gaiety on August 3, 2015. This Hindu Tamil festival
celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (mid-July to
mid-August) in gratitude to water bodies especially Cauvery River.
• Pakistan became the first Asian country to get European Organisation
for Nuclear Research (CERN) membership. Now, Pakistan can participate
in the governance of CERN, by attending meetings of its council. It
will also allow the Pakistani industry to bid for CERN contracts.
Presently, India has observer status in CERN.
• Recently, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit of
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been
successful in protecting its traditional knowledge by preventing an
attempt made by British firm Pangaea Laboratories Ltd., to take patent
on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green
tea for treating hair loss. Till date, CSIR-TKDL has prevented approx
200 firms from acquiring patent rights on products grown and nurtured
in India.
• After the approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
African country, South Sudan became the 206th member of the Olympic
family. Now, South Sudan will compete at 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer
Olympics under its own flag.
• Ireland, which benefit from the presence of transnationals, is the
leading exporter of computer and information services, followed by
India.
• Apollo Munich Health Insurance has introduced Dengue Care, the first
exclusive over-the-counter health policy to cover dengue related
expenses. It is available at an one-time premium of Rs. 444 and
provides Rs. 50,000 in-patient and Rs. 10,000 OPD coverage.
• The Union Minister of Rural Development, Mr. Birender Singh
Chaudhary launched the web portal 'SAMANVAY' to monitor progress and
implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for development
of Gram Panchayats.The purpose of this portal is to help Member of
Parliament's (MPs) to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and
implementation of SAGY. Beside, the web portal, 'Panchayat Darpan'
magazine also launched to monitor the progress of the SAGY. It will
act as a mirror of all the development activities in the village
panchayats.
• The notable Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh has been chosen for
the Uttar Pradesh's highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year
2014. The award is given by UP Hindi Sansthan every year, carries a
cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh. His famous novel 'Kashi ka Assi' has been
adapted into upcoming movie 'Mohalla Assi'.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially recognized
' Frisbee' as an Olympic sport.
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special
Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical
Information System. This institute was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien
in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. He was the chief architect who made India
the largest milk producer in the world and is best known as the
"Father of the White Revolution" in India.
• India's leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki launched its first
premium crossover "S-Cross" in India. The vechile will be available in
two diesel engines viz. DDiS 200 and DDiS 320 and sold from the
company's newly-launched Nexa showrooms.
• Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to
commercially launch its 4G high-speed data services in 296 towns
across India. The service will be made available to customers through
Wi-Fi routers, internet dongles and 4G-enabled mobile phones. The
company has also launched an automated platform "Flexpage" that allows
customers to track their data usage and get real-time usage alerts.
With it, customers can also upgrade their mobile plan on the go, as
and when they exhaust their monthly data quota.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI signed the
Phase II of MoU for cooperation in establishing a 'National
Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible
Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India'. The purpose of this
pact is to provide training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) so that they become competitive and boost the productivity of
the sector.
• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement
with UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage
Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a category-2
centre of the UN body. Presently, there are nine category-II centres
related to cultural heritage and the centre at Wildlife Institute of
India (WII), Dehradun will be the first institute to get natural
heritage recognition by UNESCO.
• IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of
loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will
offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a
competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and
Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible
sanctioned loan cases. The refinance scheme will be implemented
through all the branches of the lender.
• India's oldest organized retailer, Shoppers Stop has tied up with
Snapdeal (online shopping portal) to retail their products online.
This partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise
on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores. This
facility will be launched first in North India and will later be
extended to other regions over the next 12 months.
• As per the Forbes's ranking of the 'World's Highest-Paid Actors'
2015, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the
world's top ten highest-paid actors. In the list, Bollywood stars Shah
Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor ranked 18 and 30 with estimated earning of
$26 Million and $15 Million. The list has been topped by actor Robert
Downey Jr with earnings of $ 80 million.
• To strengthen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector, a
Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Mozambique
during the official 5-day visit of President of Mozambique Mr. Filipe
Nyusi to India.
• The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) at
IIT Kharagpur has signed an MoU with the Law School of George
Washington University (GWU) of USA for students and faculty exchange.
• The Kannada poet and freedom fighter Mr. Kayyara Kinhanna Rai (101)
passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district, Kerala. The excerpts
of his works are Shreemukha, Aikyagana, Punarnava, Chethana, Malayala
Sahitya Charithre, Sahithya Drusht, etc.
• The global electronics manufacturing giant, Taiwan-based Foxconn
Technology Group signed an MoU with the state government of
Maharashtra, to set up its manufacturing facility in the state.The
company will invest $5 billion in the next five years. At present,
Foxconn makes devices for Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Black Berry, Kindle
e-reader and Motorola.
• The Maharashtra government has declared the northern part of Thane
Creek as a flamingo sanctuary under Section 18 of the Wildlife
(Protection Act), 1972. This will be the state's second marine
sanctuary after Malvan. The 'Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit' under
the Mangrove Cell will be responsible for the management of the
Sanctuary. The area spreads around 1,690 hectares will includes 896
hectares of mangroves and 794 hectares of adjacent water body and is
located on the western bank, between the Airoli and Vashi bridges that
connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai.
• India has decided to boycott 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPU) to be held in Islamabad next month in protest against
Pakistan not inviting the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
• Singrauli district Recently, the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(BHEL) commissioned the 500 MW Unit-13 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal
Power Station (STPS), Stage-V of National Thermal Power Corporation
(NTPC) in Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.
• The Union Minority Affairs Minister Dr. Najma Heptullah has launched
an ambitious scheme "Nai Manzil" for minorities. The scheme seeks to
bridge the academic and skill development gaps between madrassas
passouts and their mainstream counterparts. The scheme will be
beneficial for minority dominated areas specially, Bihar and UP where
most of the minority concentrated blocks are in these two states. As
per Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992,
Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains
are notified as minority communities in India.
• The Swachh Bharat Ranking of 476 cities has released by the Ministry
of Urban Development. As per the performance, the top 3 ranked cities
of India are Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), and Navi Mumbai
(Maharashtra). Among state capitals, Bengaluru comes first (number 7
in the list of all cities) and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala was on
second position (number 8 among all cities) while Patna scored the
least at rank 429. The survey was conducted during 2014-15 in all the
476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each with a
population of above one lakh. It was based on assessing total
sanitation practices covering a set of parameters viz. the extent of
open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste
water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of
water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases, etc. The survey
was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required
under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has
developed a poly-herbal medicine "Lukoskin" for the treatment of
leucoderma (white patches on skin). The ointment has seven ingredients
of plants having properties viz. skin photo sensitizer, anti-blister,
anti- irritation, anti-septic, wound healing and copper supplementing
properties. The oral dose has been formulated to check the emergence
of new spots. Leucoderma is also known as Vitiligo.
• The Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has become the first Indian private firm
to get license from Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) to manufacture Lakshya, a pilotless target aircraft. L & T will
get the technology for its digital version that to be sold to the
armed forces. The digital version of Lakshya is advanced version of
Lakshya-1 whose flight path can be pre-programmed. Lakshya is a
pilotless target aircraft, developed by DRDO.
• As per section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the death penalty
is given by courts. On this issue, the Tripura Legislative Assembly
passed resolution on abolishing death penalty and they send a proposal
to the Government of India (GoI) to bring necessary amendments in this
Act and provide life imprisonment up to death in case of heinous
crimes.
• Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of
Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council.
The WTCF is a non-profit, non-governmental international organisation
formed to create a global platform for cooperation and development of
tourism by tourism cities and organisations from various countries and
regions. (Chairman of the WTCF Council: Mr. Wang Anshun)
• On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the scheme "Suraksha Bandhan" has
been launched by Union Government. Under it, people can gift social
security schemes viz. gift cheques and special deposits to their loved
ones. In it, Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques will be available to
purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branches. The payment of Rs. 351 for Gift
cheques will cover one year payment of the premium of Pradhan Mantri
Suraksha Bima Yojana ( PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana ( PMJJBY). The other facilities under Suraksha Bandhan are
Suraksha Deposit Scheme (Rs. 201) and Jeevan Suraksha deposit scheme
(Rs. 5001). The last date for the enrollment for PMSBY and PMJJBY has
been extended till September 30, 2015.
• Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He
succeeded Governor of West Bengal Mr. Keshri Nath Tripathi, who was
holding an additional charge of Bihar.
• To aid digital literacy in Bihar, the Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi
Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app " Disha" in Bihar. The mobile
app is prepared to spread digital literacy through self-learning
modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. The Disha
handbook is framed by the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the
purpose of digital literacy. The book has been composed to ensure that
anyone with little or no digital literacy can also learn using this
book.
• As per section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code,
the Rajasthan high court banned "Santhara" or a religious fast to
death practised by followers of Jainism, declaring it
unconstitutional. The judgement came after the Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) was filed by Nikhil Soni in 2006 against the practice
of Santhara. According to the Press Trust of India, on average 240
Jains practice santhara (also known Sallekhana Vruta) until death each
year in India.
• As per recently released data by US Department of Agriculture (DoA),
India is the world's largest exporter of beef in FY-2015. In FY-2015,
India exported 2.4 million tonnes of veal and beef, while Brazil
exported 2 million tonnes and Australia exported 1.5 million tonnes.
• The Indian socio-biologist Mr.Raghavendra Gadagkar bestowed with
Germany's highest civilian honour "the Cross of Order of the Merit"
for contribution in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology
and also for works in strengthening research corporation between India
and Germany.
• Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, it is
announced by Google co-founder, Mr. Larry Page. In other words,
Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity
and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same
number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. After
create a new organizational structure, "Alphabet Inc.", Mr. Larry Page
will become the CEO of Alphabet , Mr.Sergey Brin will be President and
Mr.Sundar Pichai will take over the CEO role at Google.
• The Tourism Minister of Goa, Mr. Dilip Parulekar won the Pacific
Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) – Safari India South Asia
Travel Award in the category for 'Best Innovated Tourism Minister' for
the year 2015. He is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this
prestigious award.
• India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, launched '
Saral-Rural Housing Loan' at base rate of 9.70 % for borrowers from
the rural areas. The loan amount will be between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 15
lakh, while the tenure can be anywhere from 3 years to 20 years.
Interest rate will keep changing as the bank changes its base rate.
• The Government of India (GoI) has approved the setting up of All
India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) for imparting MD and Ph.D level
education in the traditional medicine at Sarita Vihar in New Delhi.
The Institute has been conceived as an apex institute of ayurveda with
200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of
Ayurveda at MD and Ph.D level.
• An International Climate Variability and Predictability project
office will be set up in Pune for implementation of intra-seasonal,
seasonal and inter-annual variability and predictability of monsoon
systems. In this regard, an agreement has been signed between Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM) and World Climate
Research Programme, Geneva
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has
been accredited by UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) as National
Implementing Entity (NIE) for undertaking climate change related
projects from India. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up under the
framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) in 2010 to help developing countries finance clean energy,
other mitigation efforts and adaptation to climate change.
• Ms. Suhasini Haidar, the diplomatic and strategic affairs editor at
The Hindu, won the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for the Best Political
Reporting-2015. The award, instituted by the Prem Bhatia Memorial
Trust, carries a cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000 and a citation.
• Former Indian Cricketer Saurav Ganguly appointed as the social
ambassador of Beverage Maker Coca Cola India and signed a 3-year
contract uptil 2017. Under his contract's stipulations, in addition to
cricket association, Ganguly will lead Coca-Cola's football
programmers and run various football activities. He replaced Sachin
Tendulkar who's contract ended in 2014. Coca Cola is the official
partner of FIFA Under 17 World Cup football in 2017.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL) or Pahal Scheme has been
acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the
largest cash transfer program (households).Till date, 13.9 crore LPG
consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme. The consumers who joined the
PAHAL scheme will get the LPG cylinders at market price and receive
LPG subsidy (as per their entitlement) directly into their bank
accounts. The Pahal Scheme was launched in 54 districts on November
15, 2014 and in remaining districts of the country from January 1,
2015.
• The Government of India (GoI) and the World Bank signed the
financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk
Mitigation Project- I & II (NCRMP- I & II) for $ 104.00 Million and $
308.40 Million. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Home
Affairs through National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). At the
State level, it is executed by the State Disaster Management
Authorities.
• The Delhi government banned on the sale of all blood-thinning
medicines viz. aspirin and ibuprofen without prescription in the
national capital, as these pills causes harm to dengue patients.
• To regain world supremacy in hockey, the Balbir Singh Senior Hockey
Foundation has been launched in Mohali. Balbir Singh, hockey legend
and triple Olympic gold medallist, has donated Rs. 30 lakh to the
foundation, which he received as part of the life time achievement
award from Hockey India in 2015.
• The Netravali wildlife sanctuary is located in South Eastern
Goa.Recently, here the new frog species "Netravali Leaping Frog
(Indirana salelkari)" has been discovered. It is the 12th species in
the Indirana genus. This particular species is distinct from the
others in the genus on the basis of the mouth structure. Molecular
studies and DNA analysis have also established the Netravali Leaping
Frog as a distinct species.
• The Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh has become the first district
in India to have highest number of e-toilets (461) in its schools. The
Kerala-based Eram Scientific Solutions, the sole manufacturers of
e-toilets (electronic toilets) in India, has deployed these automated
and self-cleaning e-toilets in the district as part of the corporate
social responsibility initiatives of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The school model e-toilet "e-Lite14″ has automatic floor wash system,
automatic ceiling light, exhaust fan, in-built sensors to conserve
electricity and water and an overhead water tank. It works on both
solar and electric grid and is priced at Rs.1 lakh. It also has a
one-year warranty and insurance coverage.
• On 69th Independence Day, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced
a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" to encourage
entrepreneurship among the youth of India. The campaign will also
promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost
entrepreneurship and job creation.
• The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has signed two pacts
with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development training in
Eastern states and Bihar. As per the a) First pact: NTPC will provide
skill training to 5000 youth and women across 22 locations with
special focus on the eastern states with in two years and the cost of
the project is Rs 6.5 Crore. b) Second pact: NTPC will will train over
25000 candidates in services and manufacturing sectors across
under-served locations in Bihar. The pact is for 5 years with a
project cost of Rs. 30 crore.
• India and Slovak Republic have signed MoU on technical cooperation
in railway Sector. The tenure of this MoU is 2 years and it will be
automatically renewed for further successive period of two years at a
time. The Key factors of MoU are- a) Infrastructure building and
management station development and workshop modernisation. b)
Information & communication technologies especially for passenger
amenities. c) Modernization of rolling stock. d) Modernization of
Signaling & Telecom.
• To improve credit and minimising the political interference in the
functioning of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the Union Finance Minister
Mr. Arun Jaitley has launched a seven pronged plan called Indradhanush
Mission. The seven shades of Indradhanush mission viz. appointments,
de-stressing PSBs, capitalisation, empowerment, framework of
accountability and governance reforms in PSBs. The plan includes a
capital infusion of Rs 20,000-crore and also hiring private sector
executives for the first time to run public sector lenders.
• Axis bank has launched contactless debit, credit and multi-currency
forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company.
Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency contactless
cards or 'tap and pay' cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies viz.
Saudi Riyal, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Euro, British
Pound, etc. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s guidelines, banks
can process contactless transactions below Rs 2,000 without a personal
identification number.
• Mr. Om Prakash Munjal was the founder and the current chairman of
Hero Cycles, who died in Ludhiana recently.
• Mr. Om Prakash Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, has
been appointed as the new Election Commissioner of India. Mr. Nasim
Zaidi is the current Chief Election Commissioner and Election
Commissioner other than Mr. Om Prakash Rawa is Mr. Achal Kumar Jyoti.
• For the first time, Chief Minister of Gujarat Ms. Anandiben Patel
ban on the use of plastic in the State.
• Taj Mahal, the symbol of true love and architectural brilliance, has
become the first historical monument in the world to have its own
Twitter account. The Twitter Account was lauched by Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav.
• India has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty for period of 5 years
on Potassium Carbonate imports from Taiwan and South Korea. The duty
was imposed by Union Finance Ministry based on the recommendations of
the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD) that works under
the aegis of Union Commerce Ministry.
• Prof. Mustansir Barma won the 2015 Gujar Mal Modi Award for his
commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
• The ISRO scientist, Ms. N. Valarmathi has conferred with the first
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2015. The award is instituted by the
Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam in 2015. It carries Rs. 5 lakh, a gold medal and a
certificate of appreciation. The annual award is for a person from
Tamil Nadu striving for scientific advancement, humanities or students
welfare. Ms. Valarmathi is the project director of India's first
indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-1.
• To make India Disabled-Friendly, the Accessible India Campaign (or
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan) will soon launched by the Union Government.
The joint venture of Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (DEPWD) and the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment is set to launch Accessible India Campaign in 7 Cities
viz. New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Maharashtra and Haryana.
The programme will focus on grievances of people with disabilities
and the problems they face in mobility.
• The union government has decided to set up Bank Board Bureau (BBB)
for Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Where each band would be monitored on
the basis of key performance indicators. The Bank Board Bureau will
recommend appointment of directors in PSBS and advise on ways for
raising funds and mergers and Acquisitions to the lenders.
• Mr. Ajit Kumar Seth has been appointed as the Chairman of the Public
Enterprises Slection Board (PESB).
• The Online property search portal, Housing.com has acquired
Bengaluru-based HomeBuy 360 (HB360), a customer relationship
management software company, for $2 million or Rs 13 crore. The HB360
is a cloud-based sales lifecycle management platform that connects
developers, agents and buyers. With this acquisition, Housing. Com
became the only online rear estate listing platform to won a developer
CRM company In it, developers and agents can streamline the entire
sales lifecycle, by tracking inventory, managing customer relations
and in effect drives efficiencies in their sale operations.
• Saina Nehwal has became the first Indian to win silver medal in the
2015 world Badminton Championship.
• To empower gram panchayats, the Telangana Chief Minister Mr. K.
charndrasekhar Rao launched a flagship programme "Gram Jyathi" at
Gangadevipally, a village in Warangal district. The purpose of the
scheme is to strengthen villages in areas viz. water and sanitation.
Health and nutrition, education, social security and povery
eradication, natural resources management, agriculture and
infrastructure. It will ensure inclusive and holistic development of
villages through people's Participation in planning and collective
cecision-making. Each village will be allocated Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 6
crore dipending on their population.
• The country's largest lender, the State bank of India (SBI)
lanunched a mobile wallet app "SBI Buddy" in collaboration with
Accenture and MasterCard. The 'SBI Buddy' application will be
available for all customers irrespective of the bank the customer is
banking with or card customer is using. The application will be
available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It sha many
viz. can be used to send money to registered and new users, recharge
and pay bills instantly also book for movie tickets and flights.
• To provide soft loan for establishment of a Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has
launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI). The Union Government will invest Rs 2,000-crore in India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) and Rs. 10,000 in SIDBI Make In India Loan For
Enterprises (SMILE) scheme.
• The Odisha government launched "State level Facilitation Cell
(SLFC)" in order to clear investment proposals in 15-30 days. The SLFC
has categorised companies in two categories viz. green and non-green.
It will provide clearances to green category projects viz. agri-based
industries, food-processing, cottage industries etc. within 15 days.
All other industrial projects placed under the non-green category
would receive approvals within 30 days.
• The Government of India (GoI) has imposed anti-dumping duty on
'flax' (or linen) fabric imports from China and Hong Kong for a period
of 5 years. This duty would be applicable only on those flax fabrics
with flax content of over 50 %. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of
Finance has imposed anti-dumping duty of $ 0.75 per metre on 'flax'
fabric imported from China and $ 0.65 per meter fabric imported from
Hong Kong.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has inked a
pact with IIT-Kharagpur to undertake collaborative research to meet
the futuristic defence technological needs of the country. The purpose
of this Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) is to facilitate the ongoing
research programmes of the DRDO and to initiate a collaborative
research and academic programme in select areas of relevance to
national defence.
• The ICICI Bank launched the 'Smart Vault', a fully automated
state-of-the-art locker available 24×7, including weekends and post
banking hours. The 'Smart Vault' uses robotic technology to access the
lockers from the safe vault and enables customers to conveniently
access their lockers at any time of their preference, in the comfort
of a secure lounge where the locker automatically comes up to the
customer. Customers can access the lockers in total privacy without
any intervention of the branch staff.
• The Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully
solar-powered airport. It is situated in the city of Kochi, Kerala.
The airport's solar power plant, which is comprised of more than
46,000 solar panels arrayed across 45 acres of land, will produce
48,000 units of energy per day.
• The Malayalam actor Mr. Paravoor Bharathan (86) passed away due to
prolonged illness at Kochi, Kerala. Some of the remarkable films that
he did were In Harihara Nagar, Aniathipravu, Meleparambil Aanveedu,
Mazhavil Kavadi, etc.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to 11
entities viz. Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone,
Airtel, Department of Posts (DoP), Cholamandalam Distribution
Services, Tech Mahindra, National Securities Depository Limited
(NSDL), FinoPayTech, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi and PayTM'
to set up Payments Banks. The key features of Payments banks are as
follows: a) the bank licence will allow companies to collect deposits
(initially up to Rs. 1 lakh per individual). b) offer Internet
banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual
funds. c) can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards. d) can also
distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products viz. mutual
funds and insurance products. e) will not be allowed to undertake
lending services and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) will not be allowed
to open accounts.
• The Kerala government inked pact with Adani groups for the
construction of proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport project for
Rs. 7,525 crore.
• The Indian international goalkeeper, Ms. Aditi Chauhan has become
the India's first woman to play in West Ham United Ladies Football
Club. The club is an English women's football club affiliated with
West Ham United FC.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an Indian government
agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined
by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is part of the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), Government of India. (Headquartered: New Delhi).
• To provide single window access for students to apply for education
loans and government scholarships, a web-based portal "Vidya Lakshmi
(www.vidyalakshmi.co.in)" has been launched by the Union Government.
The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of
banks, common educational loan application form for students, facility
to apply to multiple banks for educational loans and facility for
banks to download students' loan applications.The portal also has
facility for banks to upload loan processing status, facility for
students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans,
dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan
applications for government scholarships. The Vidya Lakshmi Portal is
developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited
(NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development and Indian Banks' Association (IBA).
• The 'Desi Hoppers' became the first Indian crew to won the 'World of
Dance' championship in Los Angeles, California. The group of seven
young dancers led by Shantanu Maheshwari, Macedon Dmello and Nimit
Kotian. The Indian crew defeated 14 countries across 34 performances
in the finals and also won "Crowd Favourite" title.
• The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley launched India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) as a fund of funds under the Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in order to boost the startup
ecosystem. It will invest Rs 2,000-crore in this fund and India's
largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
will be the partner and co-investor in the IAF.
• As per the NCRB Report, Madhya Pradesh has highest crime rate among
the states. The state has recorded a total of 2,72,423 cognisable
crimes in 2014 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The NASA's spacecraft, Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer (LADEE) founded the presence of glowing neon gas on the
moon's atmosphere. Neon gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth
because of its intense glow.
• Bangladesh became the first country to receive funds from the United
Nations (UN) for its fast growing solar home systems. The UNFCCC (UN
Framework Convention for Climate Change) has issued carbon credits
worth $ 3.56 million to two Bangladeshi organisations viz. Grameen
Shakti and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL).
• The 1984-batch IPS officer, Mr. Karnal Singh has given an additional
charge as the chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a period of 3
months or until further orders for a regular appointment. Currently,
Mr. Singh is an ED Special Director. The Directorate of Enforcement
(ED) is a specialized financial investigation agency under the
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It is mandated to
investigate cases of money laundering and foreign exchange rule
violations.
• To curb black money generation, India approved pact with the
Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes. The agreement will
stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for
tax purposes, which will help curb tax evasion and avoidance.
• The Bangladesh Novelist Zia Haider Rahman won the UK's oldest
literary award, James Tait Black Award 2015, for his debut novel "In
the Light of What We Know". The novel is based on a disillusioned
banker who is reunited with an old friend before embarking on an epic
journey.
• Ace Indian golfer Aditi Ashok (17) became the first woman and
youngest player from India to won the prestigious Ladies British
amateur stroke-play Championship 2015 at Leeds, United Kingdom.
• Per the recently released Red List of International Union For
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Asiatic Wild Ass has been classified as
an endangered animal. The IUCN has moved the Asiatic wild ass from the
'vulnerable' to 'endangered' category and indicates the need for
heightened protection measures. The Asiatic Wild Ass is locally known
as ghudkhar and found only in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. (
Scientific name of Asiatic Wild Ass : Equus hemionus).
• The Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile-based
application system " R-Mitra" to ensure women's safety. The basic
functionality of R-Mitra (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response and
Assistance) is to alert the nearest RPF inspector and divisional
security control room in case of any emergency with the press of a
button only. The app works both online and offline in SMS mode by
using the helpline number 56161. It is introduced by Eastern Railway
in Kolkata.
• The state government of Himachal Pradesh launched RISHTA project, an
efficient smart LED based street lighting project. The RISHTA project
stands for Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement.
It is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS)
and will be implemented by collaboration of state Urban Development
Department and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL). This project
will replace approx 63,484 street lights with LEDs in all the Urban
Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 % energy savings.
• To boost the trade and commerce in seafood sector, the Government of
India (GoI) will organise the 'India International Seafood' show in
Chennai on January, 2016.
• The US-based online taxi aggregator, Uber cabs tied up with Airtel
to set up WiFi hotspots in each of its cabs. As part of partnership,
consumers using Uber cabs can pay through Airtel's mobile wallet
service "Airtel Money" and would also get to use free 4G speed, Wifi
in the cabs. Mumbai will be the first city in India to enjoy free
high-speed internet from Uber, powered by Airtel 4G and will be rolled
out in other cities soon.
• The IT services company, Infosys launched the three new-age IT
services viz. design thinking, platforms and knowledge-based IT,
through an umbrella offering called Aikido. Aikido is a combination of
three words viz. Ai, Ki and Do, which in Japanese mean combining,
spirit and path/way. To simplify the complexity of technologies and to
create innovative solutions, these new IT services are are as follows:
a) 'Ki' stands for knowledge-based management and evolution of
landscapes which captures the knowledge within an organisation. b) Do'
refers to services offering on design thinking and design-led
initiatives that would help in understanding and defining a client's
problems. c) 'Ai' refers to platforms and platforms-as-a-service to
build intelligent solutions.
• Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (19) became the the first teenager to won the
2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. He is an
Eritrean long distance runner who specialises in the marathon.
• The Chengalikodan banana variety from Thrissur district of Kerala
has been accorded Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Chennai
based Central GI registry. This banana variant is uniquely grown in
Chowannur, Pazhayannur, Wadakkanchery, Puzhakkal and Ollukkara block
panchayats in Thrissur district of Kerala. It is known for its unique
shape, size, colour and taste.
• To boost telemedicine in rural parts of India, "SEHAT", a health
care initiative has been launched by the Union Minister for
Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad at the
India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. As part of the inititive, people in
rural areas can consult doctors online and also order generic
drugs.This Social Endeavour for Health And Telemedicine (SEHAT)
venture with the Apollo Hospitals is expected to connect 60,000 Common
Service Centres (CSCs) across the country to a common network and
provide healthcare access to millions of citizens irrespective of
geographical location or connectivity.
• India will host the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal on
September 10-12, 2015. The theme of this year's conference is 'Hindi
Jagat: Vistar avm sambhavnai (the world of Hindi: expansion and
possibilities)'. The 1st World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur in
1975. Afterwards, the nine other conferences have been held in various
parts of the world. The last conference was held in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 2012.
• The veteran actor-director Mr. Amol Palekar has been appointed as
the chairman of India's Oscar jury by Mumbai based Film Federation of
Indiaof India (FFI). Mr. Palekar will head the 17-member jury panel,
which will select the country's official entry in the Best Foreign
Language Film at the Oscar awards 2016.
• The Justice AP Shah Committee has recommended that the Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs) must be granted relief on Minimum
Alternate Tax (MAT) for the period before April 1, 2015. As per the
Finance Act, 2015 proposed in the union budget, the 20 % MAT on
capital gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year
2015-16. Though, the issue of imposing MAT for past years till 2014-15
has become controversial. If this recommendation is accepted, it would
mean a significant relief for FIIs facing several years of levies on
capital gains made by them.
• The Temple of Baalshamin was an ancient temple in the city of
Palmyra, Syria, dedicated to the Canaanite deity Baalshamin. On August
2015, the temple was demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) after the capture of Palmyra during the Syrian Civil
War.
• India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games,
Dhyan Chand Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India. The award is named after the legendary
Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand. It carries a cash prize of
Rs.500,000, a plaque and a scroll of honour. It is given to honour
those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their
performance and continue to contribute to the promotion of sports even
after their retirement from active sporting career. The 2015 Dhyan
Chand Award winners are Romeo James (Hockey), Shiv Prakash Mishra
(Tennis) and T.P.P. Nair (Volleyball).
• The Union Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad released a Rs.5
postal stamp in honour of Ashoka, the Great, the great Indian emperor
of Mauryan dynasty.
• Dr. Girish Sahni has assumed charge as the next Director General of
the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary,
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR). Previously, he
was the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology
(CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
• To ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear
proliferation, the world's first International Controlled Bank of
low-enriched Uranium will be hosted by the ex-Soviet nation,
Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully
launched India's communication satellite GSAT-6 using its heavy rocket
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D6) from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, Sriharikota. The ekey points about GSAT-6 are as
follows- a) It will provide communication through five spot beams in
S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. b) The
S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of six metre diameter is one of the advanced
features of GSAT-6 satellite. c) Spot beams exploit the frequency
reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. d)
Satellite's life expectancy : 9 years.
• The 8th International Conference on "Indian Civil Aviation and
Tourism" was held in New Delhi. The event was organized by Ministry of
Civil Aviation and ASSOCHAM. The purpose of this conference is to hold
deliberations on various issues affecting the aviation sector and
invite suggestions from the stakeholders to meet these challenges.
• The Indian Army released Amar Chitra Katha and Aan Comics on
inspirational stories of war heroes. India's favorite storyteller,
Amar Chitra Katha has presented a book on inspirational stories of 21
Param Vir Chakra Awardees, as a tribute to the recipients of the
highest gallantry award in India. Four Aan Comics were also released
based on the heroics of four war heroes who fought in 1965 Indo Pak
war and were awarded Maha Vir Chakra. They were Maj Asaram Tyagi, Maj
Bhaskar Roy, Sub Ajit Singh and Sub Tika Bahadur Thapa.
• The Government of India (GoI) launched e-payment module to deposit
compensatory levies into CAMPA Funds. The module was launched by
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar. This e-payment module will cut
delays and bring transparency in the system. The payment through the
e-payment module has to be made to the designated account, depending
on the State in which the forest land, proposed to be diverted, is
located. The CAMPA stands for Compensatory Afforestation Fund
Management and Planning Authority.
• The 6th Joint Military Training Exercise "EXERCISE EKUVERIN – VI"
will be conducted between the Indian Army and the Maldives National
Defence Forces at Pangode Military Station, Trivandrum, Kerala from
August 31 to September 13, 2015.
• The 10-day-long Hindu festival, Onam is celebrated with a great
enthusiasm throughout Kerala between August and September. It is
celebrated to honour King Mahabali, who according to legend ruled the
state once, under whom the people were equal, prosperous and happy. As
per the mythology, people believe that it was on this particular day
of Thiruvonam in the Malayalam calender month of Chingam when Lord
Mahavishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom
of King Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld. So, as per the
legends, on this day, the spirit of King Mahabali visits the people of
Kerala and to welcome him, people decorate their homes with flowers,
etc.
• The World Health Oraganistion (WHO) has officially declared India as
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free country, i.e. mothers and newborns
are free from tetanus at the time of birth. Before that, India was
declared polio free country in 2014.
• Mr. Raghav Chandra has been appointed as the Chairman of National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Mr. Chandra is a 1982 batch IAS
officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre.
• The public sector bank, Indian Bank launched a mobile application
service " IndPay" that enables its customers to operate their bank
accounts at any point of time.This mobile application can be operated
through smartphones compatible with Android, Windows and iOS mobile
operating systems. The customers can use the transactions viz.
transfer of cash, checking for balance, getting mini statements and
also transactions to other accounts.
• India has gifted its former Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Varaha to
Sri Lanka. The patrol ship was in the service of the island nation
since 2006 and it was rechristened 'Sagara' by Sri Lanka. Now, it will
help Sri Lanka to maintain maritime security in the region. ICG Varaha
is 75 m in length and 11 m in width.
• The second version of an open source web based tool, India Energy
Security Scenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047) has been launched by
the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. It's
purpose is to explore wide range of potential future energy scenarios
for India including for its diverse energy supply and demand sectors
leading up to 2047. In this project, United Kingdom's Department for
Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is the initiative partner with NITI
Aayog.
• The first Sunhak Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to President of
Kiribati Islands Mr. Anote Tong and noted Indian agricultural
scientist Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta with a certificate, a medal and
shared $ 1 million prize money. This award is given to eminent
individuals from around the world for their contribution to peace and
development of the world.
• The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2014-15 has been
conferred by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to the following
recipients viz. ITBP officer Mr. Jot Singh (Mountaineering), Ms.
Arunima Sinha (Mountaineering), Wg. Cdr. Paramveer Singh (Aqua Sport),
Lt. Col Satyendra Verma (Sky diving) and Col. Satish Chander Sharma
(Mountaineering) at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi .
The award is given to sportspersons for his or her outstanding
achievement within the field of adventure activities.
• Tennis ace Ms. Sania Mirza has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna award 2015. She became the second tennis player to receive the
country's highest sporting honour after Leander Paes.
• The renowned scholar and Kannada researcher, Dr. Malleshappa M.
Kalburgi (77) was shot dead by 2 gunmen at his residence in Dharwad
district of Karnataka on August 30, 2015. Dr. Kalburgi was a
controversial writer and scholar, who had spoken openly against
idolatry tradition in Hinduism. He was scholar of Vachana sahitya
(Vachana literature), Kannada epigraphist and academician who served
as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He has written
over 20 publications viz. Neeru Neeradisittu, Sarangarshi, Kachhittu
Kalyan, etc.
• The Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the digital version of
epic "Ramcharitmanas", as a set of digital CDs prepared by All India
Radio (AIR). The great epic poem, Ramcharitmanas was composed by the
16th-century Indian bhakti poet Goswami Tulsidas ji in Awadhi
language. The poem literally means "Lake of the deeds of Rama, its' a
retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the story of
Lord Rama, with very intense devotion.
• The Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan
has launched SAHAJ scheme for online release of new LPG connections
for the consumers as parts of its consumer friendly initiative in New
Delhi. As per the scheme, people can apply online for new LPG
connection and they need not visit to the LPG distributors for it. The
facility will enable the customers to post online request for a new
connection by filing Know Your Customer (KYC) form by uploading bank
account details and photographs. Initially, the scheme has been
launched in 12 cities viz. Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal,
Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai and
Pune.
• The 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair 2015 has been launched at
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It has been organised jointy by India Trade
Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) and subsidised entry tickets priced at Rs. 20 for the 9-day fair
till Sepetember 6, 2015. It is based on the theme of 'Skill
Development', to offer people an idea about skill development and how
it can change the life of the youth.
• On August 31, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago celebrate
their Independence Day. On August 31, 1991 Kyrgyzstan became an
independent nation after the break up of Soviet Union. Trinidad and
Tobago got independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1962 and
Malaysia got independence from the United Kingdom on August 31,1957.
• The 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi has
been appointed as Union ome Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs
for a period of two years. He succeeded Mr. L C Goyal. Previously, Mr.
Mehrishi was serving as Secretary in the Department of Economic
Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
• Himadri Station, established in 2008, is India's first Arctic
research station. It is located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. It's
research goals include analysis of the surface water, and atmospheric
research near Arctic region, apart from aerosol radiation, space
weather, microbial communities, glaciers, sedimentology, and carbon
recycling.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
July Current Affair’s
July Current Affair's
• Former Research and Analysis Wing chief AS Dulat is the author of
Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years.
• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international
financial institution proposed by the government of China. China will
be the largest shareholder (at 30.34 per cent), followed by India
(8.52 per cent) and Russia (6.66 per cent).
• In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics and economic
planning, Government of India has designated 29th June every year as
the "Statistics Day". The theme selected for 9th Statistics Day was
'Social Development' in view of the contribution and importance of
this sector to Indian economy.
• Kalyan Jewellers' chairman and managing director T S Kalayanaraman,
is the wealthiest jeweller in India with a personal fortune of USD 1.3
billion, as per the Wealth-X report. Kalayanaraman opened his first
jewellery shop in Thrissur City in 1993 with only USD 100,000 capital,
and his business has now expanded to 32 showrooms across South India.
Nirav Modi was ranked second on the list with an estimated net worth
of USD 1.1 billion. The third on the list is M P Ahammed, with a
personal fortune of USD 1 billion. Bima Jewellers' B Govindan with a
personal wealth of USD 620 million, Kiran Gems' Vallabhbhai S Patel
(USD 590 million), Laxmi Diamond's Vasant Gajera (USD 580 million),
Dharmanandan Diamonds' Laljibhai Patel (USD 480 million), Kiran Gems'
Babubhai Lakhani (USD 470 million), Kiran Gems' Mavji Bhai Patel (USD
410 million) and Rajesh Exports' Rajesh Mehta (USD 310 million) are in
the top ten.
• Abhijeet Gupta, the former world junior champion has won the
Commonwealth Chess Championship title-2015. Gupta won the title of
Commonwealth Chess Championship by defeating his opponent Arghyadip
Das in the final round. Arghyadip Das, an International master with 4
GM norms, drew the last game and won Silver in the finals. While the
bronze medal is won by M.R.Lalith Babu. In the women's section,
Padmini Rout won the gold medal while Vijayalakshmi has won silver
medal and finally Meenakshi bagged the bronze medal.
• The world's first office building constructed using 3-D printer is
set to come up in Dubai, UAE. The Office will be approximately 2,000
square feet in size and will be printed layer-by-layer using a 20-foot
tall 3-D printer, then assembled on site in Dubai. The idea of 3-D
printing technology can reduce the production time of buildings by 50
to 70 per cent, reduce labour costs by 50 to 80 per cent, and can save
between 30 and 60 per cent of construction waste.
• Matti Makkonen was a Finnish engineer in the field of mobile
communications. He was known as the father of SMS after developing the
idea of sending messages via mobile networks.
• Madhya Pradesh government has launched a programme for
e-registration of property documents. Samapada is name of the software
used for e-registration of property documents of Madhya Pradesh. Under
this facility, people can obtain e-stamp through internet banking or
service provider. They may also obtain information about market value
of their property and registration fees to be payable on its purchase
or sale through internet.
• Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a Saudi business magnate and investor.
In 2005 he was worth $10 billion and earned the nickname "Buffett of
Arabia" after American business magnate Warren Buffett.
• Darshan Jain, an Indian American teacher was chosen for prestigious
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
He is one of the 108 teachers named by President Barack Obama as
recipients of the prestigious award. Jain, who has taught mathematics
at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois for eight
years where he currently serves as the director of mathematics, and
other winners will receive a $10,000 award each from the National
Science Foundation. The president award for Excellence in Mathematics
and Science Teaching is awarded annually to outstanding K-12
(kindergarten through 12th grades) science and mathematics teachers
from across the country.
• Noted scientist Sanjeev Galande has been selected for the
prestigious G D Birla award for 2014. He was selected for his
pioneering research in the field of epigenetics and molecular cell
biology. Galande is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science
Education and Research (IISER) in Pune and is widely respected for his
works in genomics and related areas. G D Birla award for scientific
research was instituted by the K K Birla Foundation in 1991. It is
given annually to an original and outstanding work undertaken by
Indian scientists living and working in India. The award, which is
given to those below the age of 50, carries a cash prize of Rs 2.5
lakh.
• Mahendra Bhalla was a noted playwright and Hindi writer. He has
written some memorable plays, including 'Dimaag-e-hasti, Dil Ki Basti
Hai Kahan, Hai Kahan'. He was conferred with Hindi Akademi Award,
among several other honours.
• Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founding chairman of Brac, a leading rural
development and anti-poverty organisation, based in Bangladesh, has
won the 2015 World Food Prize. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed established Brac
in 1972, which has since helped nearly 150 million people out of
poverty. The US$ 250,000 World Food Prize has been awarded annually
since 1987 to outstanding individuals who have made breakthrough
achievements contributing to improving the quality, quantity or
availability of food throughout the world.
• Haryana government has launched Mhara Gaon-Jagmag Gaon, a new
electricity scheme. "Mhara gaon- jagmag gaon" which is an inclusive
voluntary scheme aimed at providing 24-hour power supply to rural
domestic consumers in a phased manner.
• Akademi Ratna Sadasyata Award is the highest award given by the
Sangeet Nataka Academy. The award was constituted in 1950. The
recipients of Akademi Ratna Sadasyata for 2014 are Pandit Vijay
Kichlu, renowned musicologist S.R. Janakiraman, filmmaker M.S. Sathyu
and harmonium wizard Tulsidas Borekar.
• Indian-American professor R. Paul Singh has been named as the 2015
Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture
and Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize laureate. Singh is known for
his research in areas such as energy conservation, freezing
preservation, post-harvest technology and mass transfer in food
processing. The Prize was proposed by Nanjing Agricultural University
(NAU) on 20 October 2012 on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of
Nanjing Agricultural University and was established by the GCHERA
Board on 28 October 2012. The Prize aims to encourage the global
development of the mission of higher education institutions in
education, research and innovation in the agricultural and life
sciences by recognizing the distinguished contribution of an
individual to this mission.
• July 2 is celebrated as World Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) day
with an objective to raise awareness, encouraging the government to
reveal their files on UFO sightings and related information.
• Uttar Pradesh has highest number of households with a mobile phone
(86.63 per cent). In other hand Odisha (33.56 per cent) has the least
number of households with a mobile phone as per the Socio Economic and
Caste Census 2011. For instance, while 80 per cent of households in
north India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana)
have mobile phones, the number for east India is 62 per cent; 63 per
cent for west India; 75 per cent for south India, 70 per cent for
central India; and 63 per cent for north-east India.
• The prestigious Arabian Indian Czar Award is given by Times Group.
Recently, the second edition of Arabian Indian Czars Award was given
to 15 successful Indians in the Middle East.
• United States is the largest market for Indian seafood products with
a share of 26.46 per cent followed by South East Asia
• Doctor's Day in India was established by the Government of India in
1991 to be recognized and celebrated every year on 1st of July as
National Doctors day. It is celebrated on 1st of July on the birth and
death anniversary of the most famous physician of India Dr. Bidhan
Chandra Roy (Dr. B C Roy) to pay lots of honor and tribute. He was
honored with the great Indian civilian award called Bharat Ratna on
4th of February in 1961.
• The world's first exchange for physically-settled diamonds is slated
to begin trading in September in Singapore. The Singapore Diamond
Investment Exchange (SDiX), as it is known, aims to create a new
marketplace for the global diamond trade. The exchange will provide
investors an opportunity to invest in diamonds with transparent
pricing. SDiX will be a first-of-its-kind business-to-consumer (B2C)
platform for physically settled diamonds. The exchange is capable of
handling 500,000 transactions per second. Its rules are based on the
practices and regulations of the securities and commodities market.
• The union government has launched an online mobile application
"m-asset" for better planning of Panchayat assets. The application was
launched on coinciding with the ongoing 'Digital India Week'. The
mobile app "m-asset" can be used by citizens to capture photographs
and geographical coordinates of various assets available at Gram
Panchayat level. The mobile app will enable these assets to be seen on
a map and will be useful for planning by the Panchayats and the
government.
• India's per capita income rose 9.7 per cent to $1,631 in 2014 from
$1,487 in the previous year as per World Bank report. India was 169th
in terms of per capita income in the world. It was for the first time
in three years that the per capita income increased beyond the level
of 2011, when it was $1,503.
• The country's first Metrino project is coming up in New Delhi. The
project, on the pattern of a ropeway, will cover a 70-km stretch from
the Dhaula Kuan intersection in Delhi to Manesar, near Gurgaon, in
Haryana. Under the project, fully automatic and driverless vehicles
known as pods will travel suspended from an overhead cable network.
Work on the project will start in six months. [Live Mint]
• Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) long
international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world. West
Bengal with 2,217 km share longest border with Bangladesh. Other
states include 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram,
443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal.
• Google India and Tata Trust has launched a special programme called
Internet Saathi to bring more women online. The objective of the
programme is to empower rural women and their communities by enabling
them to use Internet in their daily lives. The programme aims to
provide basic training on the usage of Internet and its benefits by
use of specially designed Internet cycle carts. These cycle carts will
visit villages to provide access.
• HDFC Bank has become the first bank in India to launch Watch Banking
for Apple Watch. It aims to provide banking services through all
wearable devices across platforms like iOS and Android. HDFC Bank will
provide a total of 10 banking transactions in the current launch
phase. Some of them being: view account information, bill payments,
recharges, hot listing facilities, locate nearest branch/ATM/offer,
request statement and cheque book.
• The Burkhan Khaldun is a mountain of the Khentii Mountains in the
Khentii Province of Mongolia. It is inscribed as the UNESCO World
Heritage Site at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee, on
July 4, 2015.
• Mahindra Defence Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra Group and
Airbus Helicopter have inked pact to form a joint venture (JV) company
to produce helicopters in India. In this regard, both entities have
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture.
The proposed joint venture aims to become the first private Indian
helicopter manufacturer under the 'Make in India' initiative.
• The United States defeated Japan 5-2 to win a third World Cup title.
The United States, winners in 1991 and 1999, became the first nation
to win the crown three times.
• Justice Kalyan Shrestha is the new chief justice of the Nepal. Nepal
President Ram Baran Yadav appointed Shrestha, 64, as the new chief
justice on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council.
• Tej kadam is a joint statement issued between India and Kazakhstan
during Prime Minister Modi visit to the country.
• Carli Lloyd became the first woman to score a hat-trick in FIFA
women's world cup. During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final, Lloyd
scored a hat trick to lead the U.S. To a 5–2 win over Japan and the
World Cup title. Lloyd received the Golden Ball Trophy as best player
of the tournament and earned the Silver Boot for her six goals and one
assist during the tournament.
• Union home ministry has declared entire Nagaland state as a
'disturbed area' for one year period with an immediate effect from
June 30, 2015. The state was declared as "disturbed" area under
Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. With this
declaration the armed forces get powers to search, raid and arrest
anyone without a warrant. This decision was taken after Naga rebel
outfit, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland- Khaplang (NSCN-K)
had ambushed on Indian Army convoy killing 18 Army personnel in
Chandel district of Manipur in June 2015.
• Ashwini Nachappa is the chairman of the eight-member committee
formed by sports ministry to study the status of the Sports Authority
of India training centres around the country and recommend measures
for their smooth running. (SAI). The committee comprises Ashwini
Nachappa (chairperson), Gopi Chand, Jaspal Sandhu, Malav Shroff,
Bhogeshwar Barua, K.P. Mohan, Baldev Singh and Neena P. Nayak.
Committee has been asked to visit at least a couple of centres in each
region, study the issues involved and give their recommendations. The
committee has to submit its report to the government within three
months.
• Bangalore is the only Indian city to be listed on World's top 20
tech-rich countries. Bangalore figures at No. 12 in the Top 20
technology-rich cities globally, according to a survey conducted by
global property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Good economic
growth, investments in infrastructure, presence of startups and
significant supply of prime office space are some of the factors that
contributed in Bangalore's strong performance in the survey.
• According to Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) Madhya Pradesh
has largest number of manual scavangers in the country. The top five
states with manual scavengers, are Madhya Pradesh (23,093), Uttar
Pradesh (17,619), Tripura (17,332) and Karnataka (15,375) and Punjab.
• Inderjeet Singh scripted history as he became the first Indian to
clinch a gold in athletics in the World University Games by winning
the men's shot put event in Gwangju, Korea. He won the event with his
final throw of 20.27m at the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium to open
India's gold medal account in the Games. Singh has had a phenomenal
year with five gold medals in all five international events he has
participated thus far in 2015. He had won Asian Championships in China
with 20.41m before bagging a gold in each of the three legs of the
Asian Grand Prix in Thailand last month. He won a bronze in the Asian
Games last year with 19.63m.
• Inderjeet Singh scripted history as he became the first Indian to
clinch a gold in athletics in the World University Games by winning
the men's shot put event in Gwangju, Korea. He won the event with his
final throw of 20.27m at the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium to open
India's gold medal account in the Games. Singh has had a phenomenal
year with five gold medals in all five international events he has
participated thus far in 2015. He had won Asian Championships in China
with 20.41m before bagging a gold in each of the three legs of the
Asian Grand Prix in Thailand last month. He won a bronze in the Asian
Games last year with 19.63m.
• The Central banks of BRICS countries have signed an operating
agreement on the $100 billion currency reserve pool to protect BRICS
member states from currency volatility shocks. China will make the
biggest contribution to the pool: $41 billion. Russia, Brazil and
India will donate $18 billion each, while South Africa's investment
will be $5 billion. The goal of the pool is to give BRICS member
states opportunity to provide each other financial assistance in case
of problems with their balance of payments.
• Gennady Padalka, a Russian cosmonaut on board the International
Space Station has broken the record for total time in space by
spending more than two years in orbit during his career. He broke his
countryman Sergei Krikalev's record of 803 days, nine hours and 41
minutes.
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)
would organise a massive financial literacy and awareness drive on
July 12 coinciding with the bank's 34th Foundation Day. The awareness
drive to be conducted across 27 districts of Odisha, is aimed at
making people at grassroots level aware of the latest schemes launched
by Government of India on financial inclusion and social security.The
awareness would centre on schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
(PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Bima Suraksha Yojana (PMBSY), Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (PMJJY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
• A system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings has been
installed in Uttarkhand. Thus Uttarkhand has become the first state in
the country to install such system in the country. It will issue
warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 occur. The
first system has been installed in Dehradun, and the second will be
established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region.
• The Collective Security Treaty Organization was formed under the
framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It serves as a
mutual defense alliance among Russia, Belarus, Armenia and the four
Central Asian states except Turkmenistan. CSTO members are Russia,
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
• Prince Saud Al Faisal was a Saudi diplomat and statesman who served
as Saudi Arabia's foreign minister from 1975 to 2015. By the time of
his retirement, he was the world's longest-serving foreign minister.
He was a member of the Saudi royal family.
• India will chair the BRICS Summit from February 2016 to December 2016.
• India's rural employment guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), has been ranked
as the world's largest public works one, a World Bank report said.
MGNREGA is providing social security net to almost 15 per cent of the
country's population. India's mid-day meal scheme has been classified
as biggest school feeding programme, benefitting 105 million
beneficiaries. The World Bank ranked the Janani Suraksha Yojna with 78
million beneficiaries as the top-most social security programme with
conditional cash transfers. Also, it ranked the Indira Gandhi National
Old Age Pension Scheme as the second-largest unconditional cash
transfer social security progamme in the world.
• The union ministry of human resource development has launched
Rashtriya Aviskar Abhiyan. It is a unique concept aims to inculcate a
spirit of inquiry, creativity and love for Science and Mathematics in
school children. Under Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, government schools
will be mentored by Institutes like IITs/ IIMs/ IISERs and other
Central Universities and reputed organisations through innovative
programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations, student visits, etc to
develop a natural sense of passion towards learning of Science and
Maths.
• The SAARC Festival of Literature is organised annually by the
Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), an organisation
that works in areas of literature and culture to build up relations
among the countries. Renowned scholars, intellectuals, laureates,
media persons, film makers and social activists from all the SAARC
countries and from Myanmar will be attending the festival. Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh is the site for the 2016 SAARC Literature Festival.
• Serena Williams won the 2015 Wimbledon champion after defeating
Garbine Muguruza in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Williams, 33, wins her
21st Grand Slam title and becomes the oldest female winner of a major
in the Open Era. Williams has now won the Australian Open, French Open
and Wimbledon in 2015. Williams has now won the Australian Open,
French Open and Wimbledon in 2015.
• Malabar River Festival, touted as Asia's biggest white water
competition is an initiative of Department of Tourism under the aegis
of Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society (KATPS) in association
with District Tourism Promotion Council and Madras Fun Tools. The
festival aim is to promote the sport of whitewater Kayaking in South
India and display the incredible, unexplored rivers that Kerala has to
offer the international paddling community. The first edition of the
Malabar River Festival, held in August 2013 was a smashing success.
The third edition of the 2015 Malabar River Festival scheduled to
start on July 23 at Thusharagiri in Kerala.
• Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native
country in the 1950s, but is best known for his appearances in both
British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of
Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Funny Girl (1968). He was
nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a
César Award.
• Tsinghua University is a research university located in Beijing,
China. Tsinghua University was ranked top in the Britain's leading
education and research institutions QS "2015 BRICS University",
followed by Beijing University, Fudan University and moved up to
third. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru ranked fifth in the
list.
• Khanjar 2015 is a joint special exercise between India and
Kyrgyzstan. The second edition of exercise was held in Kyrgyzstan in
March. India hosted the first edition in 2011. Recently, both the
countries decided to hold joint exercises on an annual basis.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisaiton (SCO) granted full membership
status to Pakistan and India during its Ufa summit.
• Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza pair won the Wimbledon Woman's double
title. The pair defeated Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
to clinch the title. For Mirza, it was her first Grand Slam women's
doubles crown; for Hingis, it was her third at Wimbledon, but first in
an astonishing 17 years. By this success Sania Mirza created history
by becoming the first female player from the country to win a women's
doubles Grand Slam trophy.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is a measure of population growth. The
TFR of a population is the average number of children that a woman
bears over her lifetime. India's TFR today is 2.6 children per woman.
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being
negotiated amongst the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
trading bloc – Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos,
Cambodia, Brunei, Myanmar, Bangkok and Philippines with six of its
partner countries – China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and
South Korea. RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012
at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.
• India successfully put into orbit five British satellites with its
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle's XL variant (PSLV-XL). This was the
first commercial mission for Isro in 2015. It was the heaviest
commercial mission for the PSLV rocket till date though its total
carrying capacity for such a mission is around 1,750 kg. Of the five
British satellites, three are identical DMC3 optical earth observation
satellites weighing 447 kg. Of the other two satellites, CBNT-1 weighs
91 kg and also is an optical earth observation technology
demonstration microsatellite, while the De-OrbitSail weighs 7 kg. This
is an experimental nano satellite for demonstration of large thin
membrane sail and drag deorbiting.
• Sumit Nagal is an Indian tennis player. Sumit Nagal won the
Wimbledon junior men's doubles title with partner Nam Hoang Ly
becoming only the sixth tennis player from the country to win a junior
title at All England Club.
• Jammu and Kashmir India's longest road tunnel is ready to open in
Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel will cut the distance between
Jammu and Srinagar by 30 kilometers. The tunnel is 9.2- kilometer-long
and is part of the ambitious 286 km-long four-laning of the
Jammu-Srinagar national highway. The road is likely to be opened to
traffic in July 2016.
• The site of an ancient Buddhist garden dating back more than 1,200
years has been discovered in downtown Chengdu, capital of southwest
China's Sichuan Province. Excavation of the garden, which dates back
to China's Tang Dynasty (618 A.D.- 907 A.D.), was completed earlier
this month near a construction site in downtown Chengdu.
Archaeologist's uncovered 2,500 square meters of garden relics,
including a 90-meter-long canal and a pond.
• Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh has won the Golden Peacock
environment management award for its initiatives and achievements in
the field of environment. The Golden Peacock awards, instituted by the
Institute of Directors, are presented annually under various
categories. Krishnapatnam Port has chosen for the award for its
innovative ideas which include plantation of over 20 lakhs trees
within the port and more than 50,000 trees in the surrounding
villages, installation of solar lights in the port and solar water
heaters in the employee colony, establishing gas connections for
villagers so as to discourage them from cutting of mangroves, adoption
of Nellore town traffic islands and public buildings for maintaining
greenery around the areas etc.
• First Life Insurance India First Insurance was first to launch the
first digitised policy in September 2013.
• The Meitei people live in Manipur. A unique feature of the Meitei is
that their community is made of one language, but two religions. A
majority of them are Hindus and have Mongoloid features, while a
minority of them is Muslims and have Bengali features. In spite of
this, there exists good harmony between them and they are proud of the
common heritage of their mother tongue.
• The Potala Palace is in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the primary residence
of the Dalai Lama until 1959. Today the Potala Palace is a state
museum, a popular tourist attraction, and a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. It was also recently named one of the "New Seven Wonders of the
World" by the television show Good Morning America and the newspaper
USA Today.
• The mutual fund industry in India began in 1963 with the formation
of the Unit Trust of India (UTI) as an initiative of the Government of
India and the Reserve Bank of India. Much later, in 1987, SBI Mutual
Fund became the first non-UTI mutual fund in India.
• Modern Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza, has been conferred with the
highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur
(the Legion of Honour) for his peerless achievements. Sayed Haider
Raza was conferred in acknowledgment of his "peerless achievements
transcending all boundaries, the lasting ties he has forged between
France and India, and his continuing artistic quest straddling
nations, cultures, religions and philosophies. Created in 1802 by
Napoleon Bonaparte, the award is given for outstanding service to
France, regardless of recipients' nationality.
• Tamil Nadu has retained the top position among all states in getting
domestic tourists during 2014 followed by Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and
Maharashtra. During 2014, the number of domestic tourist visits to the
states was 1,282 million, an increase from 1,145 million in 2013 and
1,045 million in 2012. This signified a growth of 11.93 per cent over
2013 as compared to 9.59 per cent in 2013 over 2012. In terms of
numbers, the top 10 performing states for domestic tourists in 2014
were Tamil Nadu (327.6 million), Uttar Pradesh (182.8 m), Karnataka
(118.3m), Maharashtra (94.1m), Andhra Pradesh (93.3m), Telengana
(72.4m), Madhya Pradesh (63.6m), West Bengal (49 m) Jharkhand (33.4 m)
and Rajasthan (33.1 m).
• New Delhi will host the eight Asian Airgun Shooting Championship.
Championship will be held here from September 25 to October 1 at the
Karni Singh Shooting Range. There are 12 men and women events over
four days of competition in the senior, youth and junior categories.
Airgun competitions are restricted to the Air Rifle and Air Pistol
segments.
• Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan was an Indian music director and
composer. He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The
King of Light Music"). He composed songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu,
Kannada, and Hindi for over 1200 films. MS Viswanathan received many
awards and titles including Paramacharya Award. In 2012, Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa presented him with the 'Thirai Isai
Chakravarthy' (The Emperor of Cine Music) title.
• Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist
environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium (known as
geoponics). Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional
hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-vitro (plant tissue culture) growing.
Unlike hydroponics, which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing
medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth; or aquaponics
which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is conducted without a
growing medium.
• China has set up the world's largest cancer registry system that
will cover over 300 million people. The move is to fight the deadly
disease with evidence-based and more-targeted intervention programmes.
Cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and
tumor diseases. Cancer registry records complete summary of patient
history, diagnosis, treatment and status of every cancer patient.
• GAGAN or GPS based Geo Augmented Navigation System is an indigenous
navigational guide system developed by Isro on the lines of GPS system
of the US. It was jointly developed by the Isro and Airports Authority
of India (AAI) with a view to assist aircraft in accurate landing.
• Haryana became the first state in the country to initiate state-wide
birth defect surveillance. The initiative was launched in
collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centre for
Disease Control (CDC). As per the report there were 1.7 million
children born in India with congenital birth defect (CBD) and it
accounted for 6% of total births.
• Deepak Mohanty, RBI executive director is the chairman of the
committee constituted by RBI on financial inclusion. The objective is
to working out a medium-term (five-year) measurable action plan for
financial inclusion. The terms of reference will include reviewing the
existing policy of financial inclusion, including supportive payment
system and customer protection framework, taking into account the
recommendations made by various committees set up earlier. It will
also study the cross-country experience in financial inclusion to
identify key learnings, particularly in the area of technology-based
delivery models, that could inform policies and practices. The
committee will also suggest a monitorable medium-term plan for
financial inclusion in terms of its various components like payments,
deposit, credit, social security transfers, pension and insurance.
• Justice Loda panel appointed by Supreme Court has suspended two top
Indian Premier League teams for two years over a corruption
scandal.Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have been found
guilty in an illegal betting and match-fixing probe. The panel also
suspended Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of Super
Kings from all cricket-related activities for life.
• State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) won the Leading Oil & Gas
Corporate of the Year award at the annual Petrofed Awards for the
fourth time in eight years. IOC also bagged the Oil & Gas Marketing
Company of the Year and the Human Resources Management Company of the
Year awards. The Innovator of the Year – Team award was won by the
eight- member team of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) for their
indigenous development and commercial application of cost effective
gasoline sulphur reduction catalyst additive for Fluid Catalytic
Cracking using spent FCC catalyst in refineries. Oil and Natural Gas
Corp (ONGC) won the awards for Exploration & Production Company of the
Year and Project Management (Rs. 500-2,000 crore) for their Cluster-7
project involving construction and installation of five new well
platforms at Mumbai High Offshore and laying of 19 segments of rigid
sub-sea pipelines of about 198 km with associated modification at
existing platforms and a new Pipeline End Manifold. The Oil & Gas
Pipeline Transportation Company of the Year award was bagged by
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) while BPCL was chosen to be the
Environmental Sustainability Company of the Year.
• Rakesh Sahni, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh government
was appointed former as the Chairman of Narmada Valley Development
Authority (NVDA).
• Rakesh Sahni, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh government
was appointed former as the Chairman of Narmada Valley Development
Authority (NVDA).
• Urban Development Ministry approved the Transit Oriented Development
(TOD) Policy for Delhi. The policy aims to address the growing
problems of pollution, congestion and shortage of homes for the poor
and middle class in the state. The influence zone in the TOD policy
will be 500 metre on both side of metro corridor. The policy will
allow mix land use, which will have a blend of residential, commercial
and institutional developments.
• Microsoft has been developing White-fi technology. White-fi is a
term being used to describe the use of a Wi-Fi technology within the
TV unused spectrum, or TV white space.
• Varanasi has been chosen as a part of the 'Cities of Music' under
UNESCO's cultural division, the Creative Cities Network. It has been
chosen in the music category under UNESCO's "field of excellence"
plan. The fields of excellence are classified into categories of
literature, film, music, craft and folk art, design, media arts and
gastronomy. UNESCO had added Music as its fifth cultural category in
2006 under the Creative Cities Network. The Italian city of Bologna
and Spain's Seville were the first to join the list. As a part of this
list, all music cities are expected to promote musical creation and
activities along with organizing concerts for the same, both at the
local level as well at the international level.
• The broad-gauge railway-line between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port
in Gujarat is India's first railway-line built with private sector
participation under Non-Government Railway (NGR) Policy 2012 of Indian
Railways. The rail line has been built at a cost of approx 185 crore
rupees for M/s Kandla Port Trust (KPT) to bring about better and
faster rail connectivity to Port of Tuna & Tekra.
• years The Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, which started on July 14, occurs
once in 144 years. The next such event will take place in 2159. Maha
Pushkaralu is also known as Maha Kumbh of the South.
• Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world.
Brazil is followed by Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau,
East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Portuguese speaking countries / people are collectively called
Lusophone.
• On 14th July, Apple introduced "Apple Pay" a mobile payments system
in Britain, which is set to offer service in 250,000 sites. However it
was launched for the first time in United States nine month ago. It
facilitates costumers to make contactless payments to their purchase.
• Pipavav Shipyard was established in 1997 at west coast of
Saurashtra, Gujarat and one of the largest and leading shipbuilding
company in India that is spread over 500 acres. It was the first
corporate shipyard to be granted clearance to build 5 warships per
year and currently it is executing a naval offshore patrol vessel.
Pipavav Shipyard Limited and now Pipavav Defence and Offshore
Engineering Company Limited after the acquisition by Reliance Infra
Ltd on 5th March 2015 in a US$ 130 million deal.
• On April 4, 1949, the United States Canada and 10 Western European
countries had signed the Washington Treaty that led to creation of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Its original members were Belgium,
Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Article 5
of Washington Treaty is the very heart of it, which mentions that "the
members agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in
Europe or North America would be considered an attack against all of
them".This idea of collective defense is the basis of NATO.
• According to the recent land swap deal between India and Bangladesh,
India will transfer 111 enclaves to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh will
transfer 51 enclaves to India. As per the 2011 census listed the
population in the 111 enclaves as 37,369, and 14,215 in the 51
enclaves.
• The data from the first urban Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC)
is yet to be released. As per news published in Indian Express, the
data tabulated as per erstwhile Planning Commission's SR Hashim
Committee report; roughly 35 per cent of urban Indian households live
below poverty line (BPL). The highest fraction of Urban Poors are in
Manipur (54.95% of its total population), Mizoram (52.35% of its total
population and Bihar (49.82 per cent). On the other hand, least
proportion of Urban poor in India are in Goa (16%) and UTs of D&NH and
Delhi (8% each of their population).
• On July 16, 2015, the Union Cabinet has approved simplification of
the foreign direct investment policy which proposes to scrapthe
distinctions among different types of overseas investmentby shifting
to a single composite limit. In this, the distinction between
different types of foreign investment is being done away with and
there will be sector limits on FDI, FII, Venture Capital, Depository
receipts, NRI, and FPI. The new policy will not count FCCBs and
depository receipts with debt as underlying instrument as foreign
investment.
• India's largest E-commerce company is mJunction which is run by its
CEO & MD Viresh Oberoi. It is also largest online steel marketplace in
the world. Mjunction is a joint venture(JV) formed by SAIL and Tata
Steel. In 2013-14, the Kolkata based company'stransaction value was
more than Rs. 43,000 crores compared to Rs. 6,000 crore (as announced)
gross merchandise volume of Flipkart in the same year.
• P.V. Sindhu, K. Srikanth and Sameer Verma are Badminton players, who
recently participated in $200,000 Chinese TaipeiGrand Prix Gold
badminton tournament. But Indian challenge ended soon. Yuki Bhambri is
a Tennis player.
• UNMOGIP refers to United Nations Military Observers Group in India
and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). It was established in January 1949 and still
exists today. However, it has lost its relevance after conversion of
ceasefire line to Line of Control (LoC) in 1972.
• The central government has recently proposed to amend 6th schedule
of the constitution to create village councils and 33% reservation for
women in the autonomous council in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and
Mizoram.
• The 'Inner Line Permit' (ILP) is currently in force only in
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. This is a British era
regulation which was designed to segregate the 'Hill People' of the
northeast from British economic interests in tea, oil and gaming in
the Brahmaputra Valley. It came into existence from Bengal Eastern
Frontier Regulations of 1873, and after independence, has been kept in
force by Indian governments to protect tribal society and culture from
getting swamped by the mainland.
• The key mandates of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission include: 1. Enhance
milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines 39 elite desi
breeds such as Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni and Red Sindhi will be the
focus. The scheme will cover 13 indigenous buffalo breeds too. 3.
Genetic upgradation of nondescript cows by cross-breeding with Indian
elite breeds will also be done 4. Rs. 105 crore disbursed since
September 2014
• SECC was meant to record caste, urban poverty & rural poverty.
Recently, only the last these three has been released. The SECC 2011
has approach of defining poverty through deprivation and not
consumption.
• Recently, Amélie Mauresmo (former World No. 1 tennis player of
France) is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In her
career, she won two Grand Slam singles titles viz. Australian Open and
at Wimbledon. At present, she is the coach of Tennis player, Andy
Murray.
• The Agriculture Ministry has launched three agri-portals viz. Soil
Health Card (SHC) portal, Fertiliser Quality Control System (FQCS)
portal and Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). The purpose to launch
these portals is to make the process of organic farming certification,
fertilisers' quality checking and issuance of soil health cards, more
transparent and accountable. These are available only in English. In
the next phase, these portals will also be available in regional
languages.
• To promote rice bran oil and its value added products, the second
Global Rice Bran Oil Conference 2015 will be held in Mumbai on August
7-8, 2015. The conference is being organised by the International
Association of Rice Bran Oil and hosted by The Solvent Extractors'
Association of India. The theme of the conference is "Position,
promotion and prospect of rice bran oil as a health oil in the
world''.
• Both the countries, the United States of America (USA) and Cuba
re-established diplomatic relations after 54 years and opened their
embassies in Havana and Washington, D.C.
• Professor Stephen Hawking launched a $100-million project (also
known as Breakthrough Listen) to search for Aliens at the Royal
Society in London. The project is funded by Silicon Valley technology
investor and physicist Yuri Milner.
• The BCCI's domestic programme will start with the Ranji Trophy from
October 1, 2015. In all 900 matches will be played and the 2015-16
season will end with the Irani Cup match scheduled to be held from
March 6, 2016. But, the inter-zonal cricket tournament, Duleep Trophy
dropped for 2015-16 season due to packed schedule.
• As per Anil Kumble-led technical committee recommendations, BCCI
changed the format of the Deodhar Trophy, an inter- zonal one day
tournament. Deodhar Trophy will have four 50-overs matches across five
days between January 24-28, 2016. It will be played on a 3-team format
that consists of the champion team of the Vijay Hazare tournament and
2 other teams which will be selected by the Senior National selectors.
• The Kerala Tourism bagged 2015 Pacific Asia Travel Association
(PATA) award for its Muziris Heritage Project in the 'Heritage &
Culture' category. The award, sponsored by the Macau Government
Tourism Office (MGTO), was conferred on the Muziris Heritage Project
for its conservational aspect, uniqueness and impact on local
community.
• The US actor, Alex Rocco was best known for his role in crime drama
"The Godfather" was recently died due to cancer. He won an Emmy for
his role in 1990s sitcom 'The Famous Teddy Z' and also voiced the
studio boss behind Itchy and Scratchy in The Simpsons.
• India already has one nuclear fuel complex at Hyderabad. Another
nuclear fuel complex is coming up in Kota in Rajasthan.
• The South-Korean car maker, Hyundai launched its Sports Utility
Vehicle (SUV) Creta in India in both diesel and petrol variants. The
1.6 litre petrol versions of the SUV are priced between Rs.8.59 lakh
and Rs.11.19 lakh. The vehicle would be offered with two diesel engine
options viz.1.4 litre costing between Rs.9.46 lakh and Rs.11.45 lakh
and 1.6 litre diesel engine priced between Rs.11.59 lakh and Rs.13.6
lakh.
• The New Development Bank (NDB) is a multilateral development bank
operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa) started its operations from its headquarters in Shanghai,
China. The eminent banker, K V Kamath from India appointed as the
first President of NDB for five years till 2020. The NDB will have an
initial capital of $50 billion, which will be raised to $100 billion
within the next couples of years. China will contribute $41 bn while
India, Brazil and Russia will each pump in $18 bn while South Africa's
contribution would stand at $ 5 billion. The purpose of the bank is to
mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development
projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing
countries in the world.
• As per the 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2014
report, released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), total of
5,650 farmers committed suicide in 2014. Due to bankruptcy (or
Indebtedness) caused by crop loan, the maximum suicides were reported
in Maharashtra followed by Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.
• Mr. Bhupender Yadav is the chairman of the Rajya Sabha committee on
the constitutional amendment Bill regarding National Goods and
Services Tax (GST).
• Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital city for
inclusion in the 100 Smart Cities Mission launched on June 25. With
this, it is first city to send its nomination.
• The SOFTEX is an RBI form available online. It requires companies
to submit contracts and statements- of-work with every invoice. This
form helps RBI to monitor inward and outward remittances in the
software business.
• The 2016 ICC World T20 tournament is scheduled to be held in India
from March 11 to April 3, 2016. It will be hosted in eight
citiesacross India viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamshala, Kolkata,
Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. Kolkata's Eden Gardens,
theoldest cricketing venue of India, will host the final of this
tournament.
• The maximum retail price (MRP) printed on all packaged commodities
that consumers purchase was introduced in 1990 by the Ministry of
Civil Supplies, Department of Legal Metrology, by making an amendment
to the Standards of Weights and Measures Act (Packaged Commodities'
Rules) (1976).
• Nuclear power generation in India is currently at 5,780 MW from 21
operational reactors. This capacity is expected to increase to 10,080
MW on progressive completion of projects under commissioning/
construction by 2019, according to the government.
• The proposed Gold Monetisation Scheme proposes to offer tax-free
interest to individual on depositing the yellow metal with banks.
Government recently circulated a cabinet note on this scheme.
• Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, has been named as
the World Book Capital for 2017 by United Nations Organization for
Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Paris. Conakry is the 17th
city to be designated as World Book Capital. At present, Incheon is
the World Book Capital for 2015 and Wroclaw for 2016.
• Murugappa Gold Cup tournament associated with Hockey.
• Young Indian golf player, Shubham Jaglan (10-year old) clinched his
second successive title at the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf event
in Las Vegas. He is the son of a milkman from rural Haryana and is
coached by former Indian golfer Nonita Lall Qureshi.
• The Indian pharmaceutical firm, Lupin acquired New Jersey-based
generic drugs firm Gavis for $880 million to boost its presence in the
market of United States of America (USA).
• According to the data provided by Women and Child Development
Ministry, US adopts most number of Indian children from various
orphanages across the country. USA adopted 108, 156, 133 and 36
children in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. Within
the country, Maharashtra topped the chart with 1,043, 1,068, 947 and
160 adoptions done during the past four years while Delhi with an
average adoption rate among other metro cities provided home to 187,
156, 126 and 27 orphan kids. [Lok Sabha]
• As of July 2015, No President of India has visited Israel. President
Pranab Mukherjee may be the first Indian President to visit Israel in
October 2015.
• There are only two Arab countries viz. Jordan and Egypt, which
maintain full diplomatic relations with Israel.
• Vatican City, UAE, American Samoa
• Below is the list of Most Marketable Sportspersons around the world:
1. Roger Federer →Tennis
2. Tiger Woods →Golf
3. P Mickelson →Golf
4. L James →Basketball
5. K Durant →Basketball
6. R McIlroy →Golf
7. N Djokovic →Tennis
8. R Nadal →Tennis
9. MS Dhoni →Cricket
10. C Ronaldo →Football
11. K Bryant →Basketball
12. M Sharapova →Tennis
13. Lionel Messi →Football
14. Usain Bolt →Athletics
15.Neymar→Football
• Bi-cameral Legislature means a Legislature which consists of two
Houses, the Upper House and the Lower House. The Lower House is also
called a popular house as its members are elected directly by the
people. In modern times, most of the Legislatures are Bi-cameral
Legislatures. The concept of Bi-cameral Legislature originated and
developed in the Great Britain.
• Maharashtra Cabinet has approved Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Jan Van
Vikas Scheme for development of villages around tiger reserves. Aim of
this scheme is comprehensive development of villages in and around the
buffer zones of tiger reserves.
• Ms. Nalini Sengupta, a veteran mountaineer, will have the honour of
a Himalayan peak 5260 named after her. This was announced by the
trekkers of the Giripremi Mountaineering Institute after they
conquered Peak 5260 in the Hamta Pass region of the Himalayas and
decided to name it "Mount Nalini" to salute her efforts to inculcate
the thrill of mountaineering in youngsters since 1970.
• The Indian historian, Ramachandra Guha has been chosen for Fukuoka
Asian Culture Prize 2015 in the academic category. The prize will be
conferred upon him on September 17, 2015 in Fukuoka International
Congress Center, Japan. He is best known for his book 'India after
Gandhi: The history of the world's largest democracy" , a history of
India after it gained independence from the British Empire on August
15, 1947.
• Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the 2015 Hungarian
Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) in Budapest.
• Every year 7th August will be celebrated as National Handloom Day.
It was announced by Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in
both the Houses of Parliament. Observance of this day aims at
development of handloom weavers in the country. It also seeks to
promote genuine, global quality handloom in international market.
August 7 was chosen to mark launch day Swadeshi Movement which was
officially proclaimed on 7 August, 1905.
• ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-28 successfully put
five satellites of United Kingdom into designated orbits. For this
mission, ISRO had used high-end XL version of PSLV as it was its
biggest and heaviest commercial launch with overall lift-off mass of
all 5 satellites was 1,440 kg.
• Union Government has launched GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation
(GAGAN) system, for aviation navigation. It is jointly developed by
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Airports Authority of
India (AAI). It will provide augmentation service for GPS over the
India, Bay of Bengal, South-east Asia and Middle East along with
expansion up to Africa.
• Jin Liqun, Former finance Minister of China has been appointed as
President of $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
(AIIB).Presently, Jin is Secretary General of AIIB's interim
secretariat. Prior to this he was chairman of China International
Capital Corporation (CICC), one of the mainland's largest investment
banks.
• Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has set a Guinness World Record
for spending longest time in space with a total of 804 days as on July
2015. With this he broke the previous record of 803 days, nine hours
and 41 minutes set by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (now retired)
across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
• Kazakhstan, a member of the Russia-led economic blocks became 162th
member of World Trade Organization (WTO). Kazakhstan's entry has ended
its long wait of 20 years to become a member of WTO as its accession
talks were initiated in 1996.
• Government of India is planning to develop two immersed tunnels
between Kakdwip and Sagar Island in West Bengal, and Chatham and
Bamboo Flat in the Andaman Nicobar Islands. This Rs. 3000 crore
project is under Detail Project Report (DPR) stage only and will be
finalized soon if these tunnels are found viable.
• The deadline to ratify the TFA is December 2015, after which it will
come into force. According to WTO norms, for the TFA to come into
force, two-thirds of the entire WTO membership must ratify the
agreement. So far nine countries have ratified the deal. India has not
ratified the TFA because India first wants a permanent solution to the
issue of food security for public stockholding.
• Government of India has inked USD 300 million loan pact with Asian
Development Bank (ADB) [Headquarters: Manila] to support the National
Urban Health Mission (NUHM). This mission is aimed at improving health
status of the country's urban population. This loan is ADB's first
health project in India.
• The Finance Ministry is moving towards launching its flagship
project called "Project Insight" to widen the tax base by nabbing tax
evaders using modern technology. It is based on data analytics and
data mining. Recently, tenders to by software was floated.
• Every year July 23 is observed as National Broadcasting day. On this
day in 1927, Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) began organized radio
broadcasting from Bombay station. In India, radio broadcasting began
during the British rule in 1923 under the imitative of the Radio Club
of Bombay.
• The Indian basket represents the average price of Oman and Dubai
sour grade crude and the sweet Brent crude oil processed in Indian
refineries in the ratio of 72:28.
• India's urban female work-force participation rate (WPR) is one of
the world's lowest at 15%, ranking eleventh from the bottom among 131
countries, according to a 2012 report on global employment trends by
the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This, however, might be
changing, with the participation rate growing 5.6% annually since
1991, in comparison with 2% for rural females and 3% for urban males.
[Business Standard]
• India is the world's biggest consumer of edible oils. Edible oil is
India's third-biggest import item after crude oil and gold. India
imports most of its edible oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
• India's first Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance
System (IUHDSS) has been commissioned in Kochi, Kerala. The system
will enable operators to foresee and respond to surface and
sub-surface threats to vital assets along the harbour and warships in
the dock. Points to remember regarding IUHDSS:- a) Designed by Israel
Aerospace Industries (IAI). b) Consists of advance sensors, coastal
surveillance radars and Sound Navigation and Ranging Systems (SONAR).
c) Capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and generating warning
for all types of underwater and surface threats to harbour security.
• Master Ranveer Singh Saini (14 year old) became the first Indian
golfer to win a gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games in Los
Angeles.
• The United Nations (UN) released the report title "World Population
Prospects: The 2015 ". As per the report, India will overtake China to
become the most populous nation in the world by 2022.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Beijing to host
the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the first Olympic Winter
Games ever to be held in China. The games will be held from February 4
to February 20, 2022. It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games
held in Asia, after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.
• The state government of Tamil Nadu instituted a youth award in the
name of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and also declared that
his birthday October 15 would be celebrated as Youth Awakening Day. On
every Independence Day from 2015 onwards, the annual "Dr.APJ Abdul
Kalam Award" would be given to a person from the state who works with
exceptional merit in students welfare, humanities and science. The
award carries Rs. 5 lakh, certificate of appreciation and a gold medal
weighing 8 grams.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue 10 rupee denomination coins
to commemorate the International Day of Yoga (June 21). The coin bears
the logo of the International Day of Yoga, with the inscription
''Saamanjasya evam shanthi ke liye yog'' in Devnagri script and "yoga
for harmony and peace" in English. At the bottom of the logo the date
June 21 will be inscribed. The coins will be legal tender.
• Institutional deliveries in the country increased from 38.7% in
2005-06 (NFHS-3) to 72.9% in 2009 (Unicef's Coverage Evaluation
Survey, or CES), according to health minister J P Nadda.[Lok Sabha]
• The Union Cabinet has recently cleared the National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This proposed Rs. 20,000 fund will be
working as a sovereign wealth fund (similar to Temasek of Singapore
and the Green Investment Bank in the UK) and focus on capital infusion
in infrastructure projects. Rs. 20,000 crore represents Government of
India's equity worth 49%. Additional funds will be provided by
investors.
• India will deploy its first world-class river information system
(RIS) in Sagar-Farakka section of National Waterway (NW) 1. This RIS
will work like air traffic control to ensure smooth flow of vessels
and cargo on the waterway. This waterway runs from Haldia (Sagar) to
Allahabad across Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river system. Several
companies including thermal power plants, cement and fertiliser
companies, and Food Corporation of India have expressed interest in
using NW 1 as a cheap and clean form of transport.
• TPP is a giant free trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and 10
countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Brunei,
Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam
as well as Japan and potentially South Korea also. The talks have
failed to conclude so far.
• HDFC Bank Ltd. Launched 'Dhanchayat' an educational film to raise
awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from unorganised sources.
As part of Swachch Banking, Dhanchayat video vans will cover 5000
villages in phase I and encourage the local public to join the
organized banking sector in line with the government's vision for
financial inclusion. The vans will stop at assembly points viz. Haats,
bazaars, melas and village panchayats and will also have micro-ATMs
with biometric facility fitted in them to enable instant e-KYC and
Re-KYC using Aadhar.
• The Aadiperukku festival has been organised in Tamil Nadu with
traditional gaiety on August 3, 2015. This Hindu Tamil festival
celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (mid-July to
mid-August) in gratitude to water bodies especially Cauvery River.
• Pakistan became the first Asian country to get European Organisation
for Nuclear Research (CERN) membership. Now, Pakistan can participate
in the governance of CERN, by attending meetings of its council. It
will also allow the Pakistani industry to bid for CERN contracts.
Presently, India has observer status in CERN.
• Recently, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit of
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been
successful in protecting its traditional knowledge by preventing an
attempt made by British firm Pangaea Laboratories Ltd., to take patent
on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green
tea for treating hair loss. Till date, CSIR-TKDL has prevented approx
200 firms from acquiring patent rights on products grown and nurtured
in India.
• After the approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
African country, South Sudan became the 206th member of the Olympic
family. Now, South Sudan will compete at 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer
Olympics under its own flag.
• Ireland, which benefit from the presence of transnationals, is the
leading exporter of computer and information services, followed by
India.
• Apollo Munich Health Insurance has introduced Dengue Care, the first
exclusive over-the-counter health policy to cover dengue related
expenses. It is available at an one-time premium of Rs. 444 and
provides Rs. 50,000 in-patient and Rs. 10,000 OPD coverage.
• The Union Minister of Rural Development, Mr. Birender Singh
Chaudhary launched the web portal 'SAMANVAY' to monitor progress and
implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for development
of Gram Panchayats.The purpose of this portal is to help Member of
Parliament's (MPs) to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and
implementation of SAGY. Beside, the web portal, 'Panchayat Darpan'
magazine also launched to monitor the progress of the SAGY. It will
act as a mirror of all the development activities in the village
panchayats.
• The notable Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh has been chosen for
the Uttar Pradesh's highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year
2014. The award is given by UP Hindi Sansthan every year, carries a
cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh. His famous novel 'Kashi ka Assi' has been
adapted into upcoming movie 'Mohalla Assi'.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially recognized
' Frisbee' as an Olympic sport.
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special
Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical
Information System. This institute was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien
in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. He was the chief architect who made India
the largest milk producer in the world and is best known as the
"Father of the White Revolution" in India.
• India's leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki launched its first
premium crossover "S-Cross" in India. The vechile will be available in
two diesel engines viz. DDiS 200 and DDiS 320 and sold from the
company's newly-launched Nexa showrooms.
• Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to
commercially launch its 4G high-speed data services in 296 towns
across India. The service will be made available to customers through
Wi-Fi routers, internet dongles and 4G-enabled mobile phones. The
company has also launched an automated platform "Flexpage" that allows
customers to track their data usage and get real-time usage alerts.
With it, customers can also upgrade their mobile plan on the go, as
and when they exhaust their monthly data quota.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI signed the
Phase II of MoU for cooperation in establishing a 'National
Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible
Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India'. The purpose of this
pact is to provide training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) so that they become competitive and boost the productivity of
the sector.
• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement
with UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage
Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a category-2
centre of the UN body. Presently, there are nine category-II centres
related to cultural heritage and the centre at Wildlife Institute of
India (WII), Dehradun will be the first institute to get natural
heritage recognition by UNESCO.
• IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of
loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will
offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a
competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and
Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible
sanctioned loan cases. The refinance scheme will be implemented
through all the branches of the lender.
• India's oldest organized retailer, Shoppers Stop has tied up with
Snapdeal (online shopping portal) to retail their products online.
This partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise
on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores. This
facility will be launched first in North India and will later be
extended to other regions over the next 12 months.
• As per the Forbes's ranking of the 'World's Highest-Paid Actors'
2015, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the
world's top ten highest-paid actors. In the list, Bollywood stars Shah
Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor ranked 18 and 30 with estimated earning of
$26 Million and $15 Million. The list has been topped by actor Robert
Downey Jr with earnings of $ 80 million.
• To strengthen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector, a
Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Mozambique
during the official 5-day visit of President of Mozambique Mr. Filipe
Nyusi to India.
• The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) at
IIT Kharagpur has signed an MoU with the Law School of George
Washington University (GWU) of USA for students and faculty exchange.
• The Kannada poet and freedom fighter Mr. Kayyara Kinhanna Rai (101)
passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district, Kerala. The excerpts
of his works are Shreemukha, Aikyagana, Punarnava, Chethana, Malayala
Sahitya Charithre, Sahithya Drusht, etc.
• The global electronics manufacturing giant, Taiwan-based Foxconn
Technology Group signed an MoU with the state government of
Maharashtra, to set up its manufacturing facility in the state.The
company will invest $5 billion in the next five years. At present,
Foxconn makes devices for Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Black Berry, Kindle
e-reader and Motorola.
• The Maharashtra government has declared the northern part of Thane
Creek as a flamingo sanctuary under Section 18 of the Wildlife
(Protection Act), 1972. This will be the state's second marine
sanctuary after Malvan. The 'Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit' under
the Mangrove Cell will be responsible for the management of the
Sanctuary. The area spreads around 1,690 hectares will includes 896
hectares of mangroves and 794 hectares of adjacent water body and is
located on the western bank, between the Airoli and Vashi bridges that
connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai.
• India has decided to boycott 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPU) to be held in Islamabad next month in protest against
Pakistan not inviting the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
• district Recently, the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
commissioned the 500 MW Unit-13 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power
Station (STPS), Stage-V of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
in Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.
• The Union Minority Affairs Minister Dr. Najma Heptullah has launched
an ambitious scheme "Nai Manzil" for minorities. The scheme seeks to
bridge the academic and skill development gaps between madrassas
passouts and their mainstream counterparts. The scheme will be
beneficial for minority dominated areas specially, Bihar and UP where
most of the minority concentrated blocks are in these two states. As
per Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992,
Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains
are notified as minority communities in India.
• The Swachh Bharat Ranking of 476 cities has released by the Ministry
of Urban Development. As per the performance, the top 3 ranked cities
of India are Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), and Navi Mumbai
(Maharashtra). Among state capitals, Bengaluru comes first (number 7
in the list of all cities) and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala was on
second position (number 8 among all cities) while Patna scored the
least at rank 429. The survey was conducted during 2014-15 in all the
476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each with a
population of above one lakh. It was based on assessing total
sanitation practices covering a set of parameters viz. the extent of
open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste
water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of
water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases, etc. The survey
was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required
under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has
developed a poly-herbal medicine "Lukoskin" for the treatment of
leucoderma (white patches on skin). The ointment has seven ingredients
of plants having properties viz. skin photo sensitizer, anti-blister,
anti- irritation, anti-septic, wound healing and copper supplementing
properties. The oral dose has been formulated to check the emergence
of new spots. Leucoderma is also known as Vitiligo.
• The Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has become the first Indian private firm
to get license from Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) to manufacture Lakshya, a pilotless target aircraft. L & T will
get the technology for its digital version that to be sold to the
armed forces. The digital version of Lakshya is advanced version of
Lakshya-1 whose flight path can be pre-programmed. Lakshya is a
pilotless target aircraft, developed by DRDO.
• As per section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the death penalty
is given by courts. On this issue, the Tripura Legislative Assembly
passed resolution on abolishing death penalty and they send a proposal
to the Government of India (GoI) to bring necessary amendments in this
Act and provide life imprisonment up to death in case of heinous
crimes.
• Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of
Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council.
The WTCF is a non-profit, non-governmental international organisation
formed to create a global platform for cooperation and development of
tourism by tourism cities and organisations from various countries and
regions. (Chairman of the WTCF Council: Mr. Wang Anshun)
• On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the scheme "Suraksha Bandhan" has
been launched by Union Government. Under it, people can gift social
security schemes viz. gift cheques and special deposits to their loved
ones. In it, Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques will be available to
purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branches. The payment of Rs. 351 for Gift
cheques will cover one year payment of the premium of Pradhan Mantri
Suraksha Bima Yojana ( PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana ( PMJJBY). The other facilities under Suraksha Bandhan are
Suraksha Deposit Scheme (Rs. 201) and Jeevan Suraksha deposit scheme
(Rs. 5001). The last date for the enrollment for PMSBY and PMJJBY has
been extended till September 30, 2015.
• Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He
succeeded Governor of West Bengal Mr. Keshri Nath Tripathi, who was
holding an additional charge of Bihar.
• To aid digital literacy in Bihar, the Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi
Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app " Disha" in Bihar. The mobile
app is prepared to spread digital literacy through self-learning
modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. The Disha
handbook is framed by the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the
purpose of digital literacy. The book has been composed to ensure that
anyone with little or no digital literacy can also learn using this
book.
• As per section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code,
the Rajasthan high court banned "Santhara" or a religious fast to
death practised by followers of Jainism, declaring it
unconstitutional. The judgement came after the Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) was filed by Nikhil Soni in 2006 against the practice
of Santhara. According to the Press Trust of India, on average 240
Jains practice santhara (also known Sallekhana Vruta) until death each
year in India.
• As per recently released data by US Department of Agriculture (DoA),
India is the world's largest exporter of beef in FY-2015. In FY-2015,
India exported 2.4 million tonnes of veal and beef, while Brazil
exported 2 million tonnes and Australia exported 1.5 million tonnes..
• The Indian socio-biologist Mr.Raghavendra Gadagkar bestowed with
Germany's highest civilian honour "the Cross of Order of the Merit"
for contribution in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology
and also for works in strengthening research corporation between India
and Germany.
• Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, it is
announced by Google co-founder, Mr. Larry Page. In other words,
Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity
and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same
number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. After
create a new organizational structure, "Alphabet Inc.", Mr. Larry Page
will become the CEO of Alphabet , Mr.Sergey Brin will be President and
Mr.Sundar Pichai will take over the CEO role at Google.
• The Tourism Minister of Goa, Mr. Dilip Parulekar won the Pacific
Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) – Safari India South Asia
Travel Award in the category for 'Best Innovated Tourism Minister' for
the year 2015. He is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this
prestigious award.
• India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, launched '
Saral-Rural Housing Loan' at base rate of 9.70 % for borrowers from
the rural areas. The loan amount will be between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 15
lakh, while the tenure can be anywhere from 3 years to 20 years.
Interest rate will keep changing as the bank changes its base rate.
• The Government of India (GoI) has approved the setting up of All
India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) for imparting MD and Ph.D level
education in the traditional medicine at Sarita Vihar in New Delhi.
The Institute has been conceived as an apex institute of ayurveda with
200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of
Ayurveda at MD and Ph.D level.
• An International Climate Variability and Predictability project
office will be set up in Pune for implementation of intra-seasonal,
seasonal and inter-annual variability and predictability of monsoon
systems. In this regard, an agreement has been signed between Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM) and World Climate
Research Programme, Geneva
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has
been accredited by UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) as National
Implementing Entity (NIE) for undertaking climate change related
projects from India. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up under the
framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) in 2010 to help developing countries finance clean energy,
other mitigation efforts and adaptation to climate change.
• Ms. Suhasini Haidar, the diplomatic and strategic affairs editor at
The Hindu, won the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for the Best Political
Reporting-2015. The award, instituted by the Prem Bhatia Memorial
Trust, carries a cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000 and a citation.
• Former Indian Cricketer Saurav Ganguly appointed as the social
ambassador of Beverage Maker Coca Cola India and signed a 3-year
contract uptil 2017. Under his contract's stipulations, in addition to
cricket association, Ganguly will lead Coca-Cola's football
programmers and run various football activities. He replaced Sachin
Tendulkar who's contract ended in 2014. Coca Cola is the official
partner of FIFA Under 17 World Cup football in 2017.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL) or Pahal Scheme has been
acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the
largest cash transfer program (households).Till date, 13.9 crore LPG
consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme. The consumers who joined the
PAHAL scheme will get the LPG cylinders at market price and receive
LPG subsidy (as per their entitlement) directly into their bank
accounts. The Pahal Scheme was launched in 54 districts on November
15, 2014 and in remaining districts of the country from January 1,
2015.
• The Government of India (GoI) and the World Bank signed the
financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk
Mitigation Project- I & II (NCRMP- I & II) for $ 104.00 Million and $
308.40 Million. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Home
Affairs through National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). At the
State level, it is executed by the State Disaster Management
Authorities.
• The Delhi government banned on the sale of all blood-thinning
medicines viz. aspirin and ibuprofen without prescription in the
national capital, as these pills causes harm to dengue patients.
• To regain world supremacy in hockey, the Balbir Singh Senior Hockey
Foundation has been launched in Mohali. Balbir Singh, hockey legend
and triple Olympic gold medallist, has donated Rs. 30 lakh to the
foundation, which he received as part of the life time achievement
award from Hockey India in 2015.
• The Netravali wildlife sanctuary is located in South Eastern
Goa.Recently, here the new frog species "Netravali Leaping Frog
(Indirana salelkari)" has been discovered. It is the 12th species in
the Indirana genus. This particular species is distinct from the
others in the genus on the basis of the mouth structure. Molecular
studies and DNA analysis have also established the Netravali Leaping
Frog as a distinct species.
• The Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh has become the first district
in India to have highest number of e-toilets (461) in its schools. The
Kerala-based Eram Scientific Solutions, the sole manufacturers of
e-toilets (electronic toilets) in India, has deployed these automated
and self-cleaning e-toilets in the district as part of the corporate
social responsibility initiatives of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The school model e-toilet "e-Lite14″ has automatic floor wash system,
automatic ceiling light, exhaust fan, in-built sensors to conserve
electricity and water and an overhead water tank. It works on both
solar and electric grid and is priced at Rs.1 lakh. It also has a
one-year warranty and insurance coverage.
• On 69th Independence Day, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced
a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" to encourage
entrepreneurship among the youth of India. The campaign will also
promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost
entrepreneurship and job creation.
• The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has signed two pacts
with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development training in
Eastern states and Bihar. As per the a) First pact: NTPC will provide
skill training to 5000 youth and women across 22 locations with
special focus on the eastern states with in two years and the cost of
the project is Rs 6.5 Crore. b) Second pact: NTPC will will train over
25000 candidates in services and manufacturing sectors across
under-served locations in Bihar. The pact is for 5 years with a
project cost of Rs. 30 crore.
• India and Slovak Republic have signed MoU on technical cooperation
in railway Sector. The tenure of this MoU is 2 years and it will be
automatically renewed for further successive period of two years at a
time. The Key factors of MoU are- a) Infrastructure building and
management station development and workshop modernisation. b)
Information & communication technologies especially for passenger
amenities. c) Modernization of rolling stock. d) Modernization of
Signaling & Telecom.
• To improve credit and minimising the political interference in the
functioning of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the Union Finance Minister
Mr. Arun Jaitley has launched a seven pronged plan called Indradhanush
Mission. The seven shades of Indradhanush mission viz. appointments,
de-stressing PSBs, capitalisation, empowerment, framework of
accountability and governance reforms in PSBs. The plan includes a
capital infusion of Rs 20,000-crore and also hiring private sector
executives for the first time to run public sector lenders.
• Axis bank has launched contactless debit, credit and multi-currency
forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company.
Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency contactless
cards or 'tap and pay' cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies viz.
Saudi Riyal, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Euro, British
Pound, etc. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s guidelines, banks
can process contactless transactions below Rs 2,000 without a personal
identification number.
• Mr. Om Prakash Munjal was the founder and the current chairman of
Hero Cycles, who died in Ludhiana recently.
• Mr. Om Prakash Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, has
been appointed as the new Election Commissioner of India. Mr. Nasim
Zaidi is the current Chief Election Commissioner and Election
Commissioner other than Mr. Om Prakash Rawa is Mr. Achal Kumar Jyoti.
• For the first time, Chief Minister of Gujarat Ms. Anandiben Patel
ban on the use of plastic in the State.
• Taj Mahal, the symbol of true love and architectural brilliance, has
become the first historical monument in the world to have its own
Twitter account. The Twitter Account was lauched by Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav.
• India has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty for period of 5 years
on Potassium Carbonate imports from Taiwan and South Korea. The duty
was imposed by Union Finance Ministry based on the recommendations of
the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD) that works under
the aegis of Union Commerce Ministry.
• Prof. Mustansir Barma won the 2015 Gujar Mal Modi Award for his
commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
• The ISRO scientist, Ms. N. Valarmathi has conferred with the first
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2015. The award is instituted by the
Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam in 2015. It carries Rs. 5 lakh, a gold medal and a
certificate of appreciation. The annual award is for a person from
Tamil Nadu striving for scientific advancement, humanities or students
welfare. Ms. Valarmathi is the project director of India's first
indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-1.
• To make India Disabled-Friendly, the Accessible India Campaign (or
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan) will soon launched by the Union Government.
The joint venture of Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (DEPWD) and the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment is set to launch Accessible India Campaign in 7 Cities
viz. New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Maharashtra and Haryana.
The programme will focus on grievances of people with disabilities
and the problems they face in mobility.
• The union government has decided to set up Bank Board Bureau (BBB)
for Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Where each band would be monitored on
the basis of key performance indicators. The Bank Board Bureau will
recommend appointment of directors in PSBS and advise on ways for
raising funds and mergers and Acquisitions to the lenders.
• Mr. Ajit Kumar Seth has been appointed as the Chairman of the Public
Enterprises Slection Board (PESB).
• The Online property search portal, Housing.com has acquired
Bengaluru-based HomeBuy 360 (HB360), a customer relationship
management software company, for $2 million or Rs 13 crore. The HB360
is a cloud-based sales lifecycle management platform that connects
developers, agents and buyers. With this acquisition, Housing. Com
became the only online rear estate listing platform to won a developer
CRM company In it, developers and agents can streamline the entire
sales lifecycle, by tracking inventory, managing customer relations
and in effect drives efficiencies in their sale operations.
• Saina Nehwal has became the first Indian to win silver medal in the
2015 world Badminton Championship.
• To empower gram panchayats, the Telangana Chief Minister Mr. K.
charndrasekhar Rao launched a flagship programme "Gram Jyathi" at
Gangadevipally, a village in Warangal district. The purpose of the
scheme is to strengthen villages in areas viz. water and sanitation.
Health and nutrition, education, social security and povery
eradication, natural resources management, agriculture and
infrastructure. It will ensure inclusive and holistic development of
villages through people's Participation in planning and collective
cecision-making. Each village will be allocated Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 6
crore dipending on their population.
• The country's largest lender, the State bank of India (SBI)
lanunched a mobile wallet app "SBI Buddy" in collaboration with
Accenture and MasterCard. The 'SBI Buddy' application will be
available for all customers irrespective of the bank the customer is
banking with or card customer is using. The application will be
available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It sha many
viz. can be used to send money to registered and new users, recharge
and pay bills instantly also book for movie tickets and flights.
• To provide soft loan for establishment of a Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has
launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI). The Union Government will invest Rs 2,000-crore in India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) and Rs. 10,000 in SIDBI Make In India Loan For
Enterprises (SMILE) scheme.
• The Odisha government launched "State level Facilitation Cell
(SLFC)" in order to clear investment proposals in 15-30 days. The SLFC
has categorised companies in two categories viz. green and non-green.
It will provide clearances to green category projects viz. agri-based
industries, food-processing, cottage industries etc. within 15 days.
All other industrial projects placed under the non-green category
would receive approvals within 30 days.
• The Government of India (GoI) has imposed anti-dumping duty on
'flax' (or linen) fabric imports from China and Hong Kong for a period
of 5 years. This duty would be applicable only on those flax fabrics
with flax content of over 50 %. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of
Finance has imposed anti-dumping duty of $ 0.75 per metre on 'flax'
fabric imported from China and $ 0.65 per meter fabric imported from
Hong Kong.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has inked a
pact with IIT-Kharagpur to undertake collaborative research to meet
the futuristic defence technological needs of the country. The purpose
of this Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) is to facilitate the ongoing
research programmes of the DRDO and to initiate a collaborative
research and academic programme in select areas of relevance to
national defence.
• The ICICI Bank launched the 'Smart Vault', a fully automated
state-of-the-art locker available 24×7, including weekends and post
banking hours. The 'Smart Vault' uses robotic technology to access the
lockers from the safe vault and enables customers to conveniently
access their lockers at any time of their preference, in the comfort
of a secure lounge where the locker automatically comes up to the
customer. Customers can access the lockers in total privacy without
any intervention of the branch staff.
• The Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully
solar-powered airport. It is situated in the city of Kochi, Kerala.
The airport's solar power plant, which is comprised of more than
46,000 solar panels arrayed across 45 acres of land, will produce
48,000 units of energy per day.
• The Malayalam actor Mr. Paravoor Bharathan (86) passed away due to
prolonged illness at Kochi, Kerala. Some of the remarkable films that
he did were In Harihara Nagar, Aniathipravu, Meleparambil Aanveedu,
Mazhavil Kavadi, etc.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to 11
entities viz. Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone,
Airtel, Department of Posts (DoP), Cholamandalam Distribution
Services, Tech Mahindra, National Securities Depository Limited
(NSDL), FinoPayTech, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi and PayTM'
to set up Payments Banks. The key features of Payments banks are as
follows: a) the bank licence will allow companies to collect deposits
(initially up to Rs. 1 lakh per individual). b) offer Internet
banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual
funds. c) can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards. d) can also
distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products viz. mutual
funds and insurance products. e) will not be allowed to undertake
lending services and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) will not be allowed
to open accounts.
• The Kerala government inked pact with Adani groups for the
construction of proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport project for
Rs. 7,525 crore.
• The Indian international goalkeeper, Ms. Aditi Chauhan has become
the India's first woman to play in West Ham United Ladies Football
Club. The club is an English women's football club affiliated with
West Ham United FC.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an Indian government
agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined
by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is part of the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), Government of India. (Headquartered: New Delhi).
• To provide single window access for students to apply for education
loans and government scholarships, a web-based portal "Vidya Lakshmi
(www.vidyalakshmi.co.in)" has been launched by the Union Government.
The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of
banks, common educational loan application form for students, facility
to apply to multiple banks for educational loans and facility for
banks to download students' loan applications.The portal also has
facility for banks to upload loan processing status, facility for
students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans,
dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan
applications for government scholarships. The Vidya Lakshmi Portal is
developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited
(NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development and Indian Banks' Association (IBA).
• The 'Desi Hoppers' became the first Indian crew to won the 'World of
Dance' championship in Los Angeles, California. The group of seven
young dancers led by Shantanu Maheshwari, Macedon Dmello and Nimit
Kotian. The Indian crew defeated 14 countries across 34 performances
in the finals and also won "Crowd Favourite" title.
• The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley launched India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) as a fund of funds under the Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in order to boost the startup
ecosystem. It will invest Rs 2,000-crore in this fund and India's
largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
will be the partner and co-investor in the IAF.
• As per the NCRB Report, Madhya Pradesh has highest crime rate among
the states. The state has recorded a total of 2,72,423 cognisable
crimes in 2014 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The NASA's spacecraft, Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer (LADEE) founded the presence of glowing neon gas on the
moon's atmosphere. Neon gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth
because of its intense glow.
• Bangladesh became the first country to receive funds from the United
Nations (UN) for its fast growing solar home systems. The UNFCCC (UN
Framework Convention for Climate Change) has issued carbon credits
worth $ 3.56 million to two Bangladeshi organisations viz. Grameen
Shakti and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL).
• The 1984-batch IPS officer, Mr. Karnal Singh has given an additional
charge as the chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a period of 3
months or until further orders for a regular appointment. Currently,
Mr. Singh is an ED Special Director. The Directorate of Enforcement
(ED) is a specialized financial investigation agency under the
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It is mandated to
investigate cases of money laundering and foreign exchange rule
violations.
• To curb black money generation, India approved pact with the
Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes. The agreement will
stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for
tax purposes, which will help curb tax evasion and avoidance.
• The Bangladesh Novelist Zia Haider Rahman won the UK's oldest
literary award, James Tait Black Award 2015, for his debut novel "In
the Light of What We Know". The novel is based on a disillusioned
banker who is reunited with an old friend before embarking on an epic
journey.
• Ace Indian golfer Aditi Ashok (17) became the first woman and
youngest player from India to won the prestigious Ladies British
amateur stroke-play Championship 2015 at Leeds, United Kingdom.
• Per the recently released Red List of International Union For
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Asiatic Wild Ass has been classified as
an endangered animal. The IUCN has moved the Asiatic wild ass from the
'vulnerable' to 'endangered' category and indicates the need for
heightened protection measures. The Asiatic Wild Ass is locally known
as ghudkhar and found only in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. (
Scientific name of Asiatic Wild Ass : Equus hemionus).
• The Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile-based
application system " R-Mitra" to ensure women's safety. The basic
functionality of R-Mitra (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response and
Assistance) is to alert the nearest RPF inspector and divisional
security control room in case of any emergency with the press of a
button only. The app works both online and offline in SMS mode by
using the helpline number 56161. It is introduced by Eastern Railway
in Kolkata.
• The state government of Himachal Pradesh launched RISHTA project, an
efficient smart LED based street lighting project. The RISHTA project
stands for Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement.
It is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS)
and will be implemented by collaboration of state Urban Development
Department and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL). This project
will replace approx 63,484 street lights with LEDs in all the Urban
Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 % energy savings.
• To boost the trade and commerce in seafood sector, the Government of
India (GoI) will organise the 'India International Seafood' show in
Chennai on January, 2016.
• The US-based online taxi aggregator, Uber cabs tied up with Airtel
to set up WiFi hotspots in each of its cabs. As part of partnership,
consumers using Uber cabs can pay through Airtel's mobile wallet
service "Airtel Money" and would also get to use free 4G speed, Wifi
in the cabs. Mumbai will be the first city in India to enjoy free
high-speed internet from Uber, powered by Airtel 4G and will be rolled
out in other cities soon.
• The IT services company, Infosys launched the three new-age IT
services viz. design thinking, platforms and knowledge-based IT,
through an umbrella offering called Aikido. Aikido is a combination of
three words viz. Ai, Ki and Do, which in Japanese mean combining,
spirit and path/way. To simplify the complexity of technologies and to
create innovative solutions, these new IT services are are as follows:
a) 'Ki' stands for knowledge-based management and evolution of
landscapes which captures the knowledge within an organisation. b) Do'
refers to services offering on design thinking and design-led
initiatives that would help in understanding and defining a client's
problems. c) 'Ai' refers to platforms and platforms-as-a-service to
build intelligent solutions.
• Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (19) became the the first teenager to won the
2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. He is an
Eritrean long distance runner who specialises in the marathon.
• The Chengalikodan banana variety from Thrissur district of Kerala
has been accorded Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Chennai
based Central GI registry. This banana variant is uniquely grown in
Chowannur, Pazhayannur, Wadakkanchery, Puzhakkal and Ollukkara block
panchayats in Thrissur district of Kerala. It is known for its unique
shape, size, colour and taste.
• To boost telemedicine in rural parts of India, "SEHAT", a health
care initiative has been launched by the Union Minister for
Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad at the
India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. As part of the inititive, people in
rural areas can consult doctors online and also order generic
drugs.This Social Endeavour for Health And Telemedicine (SEHAT)
venture with the Apollo Hospitals is expected to connect 60,000 Common
Service Centres (CSCs) across the country to a common network and
provide healthcare access to millions of citizens irrespective of
geographical location or connectivity.
• India will host the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal on
September 10-12, 2015. The theme of this year's conference is 'Hindi
Jagat: Vistar avm sambhavnai (the world of Hindi: expansion and
possibilities)'. The 1st World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur in
1975. Afterwards, the nine other conferences have been held in various
parts of the world. The last conference was held in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 2012.
• The veteran actor-director Mr. Amol Palekar has been appointed as
the chairman of India's Oscar jury by Mumbai based Film Federation of
Indiaof India (FFI). Mr. Palekar will head the 17-member jury panel,
which will select the country's official entry in the Best Foreign
Language Film at the Oscar awards 2016.
• The Justice AP Shah Committee has recommended that the Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs) must be granted relief on Minimum
Alternate Tax (MAT) for the period before April 1, 2015. As per the
Finance Act, 2015 proposed in the union budget, the 20 % MAT on
capital gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year
2015-16. Though, the issue of imposing MAT for past years till 2014-15
has become controversial. If this recommendation is accepted, it would
mean a significant relief for FIIs facing several years of levies on
capital gains made by them.
• The Temple of Baalshamin was an ancient temple in the city of
Palmyra, Syria, dedicated to the Canaanite deity Baalshamin. On August
2015, the temple was demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) after the capture of Palmyra during the Syrian Civil
War.
• India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games,
Dhyan Chand Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India. The award is named after the legendary
Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand. It carries a cash prize of
Rs.500,000, a plaque and a scroll of honour. It is given to honour
those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their
performance and continue to contribute to the promotion of sports even
after their retirement from active sporting career. The 2015 Dhyan
Chand Award winners are Romeo James (Hockey), Shiv Prakash Mishra
(Tennis) and T.P.P. Nair (Volleyball).
• The Union Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad released a Rs.5
postal stamp in honour of Ashoka, the Great, the great Indian emperor
of Mauryan dynasty.
• Dr. Girish Sahni has assumed charge as the next Director General of
the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary,
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR). Previously, he
was the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology
(CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
• To ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear
proliferation, the world's first International Controlled Bank of
low-enriched Uranium will be hosted by the ex-Soviet nation,
Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully
launched India's communication satellite GSAT-6 using its heavy rocket
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D6) from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, Sriharikota. The ekey points about GSAT-6 are as
follows- a) It will provide communication through five spot beams in
S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. b) The
S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of six metre diameter is one of the advanced
features of GSAT-6 satellite. c) Spot beams exploit the frequency
reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. d)
Satellite's life expectancy : 9 years.
• The 8th International Conference on "Indian Civil Aviation and
Tourism" was held in New Delhi. The event was organized by Ministry of
Civil Aviation and ASSOCHAM. The purpose of this conference is to hold
deliberations on various issues affecting the aviation sector and
invite suggestions from the stakeholders to meet these challenges.
• The Indian Army released Amar Chitra Katha and Aan Comics on
inspirational stories of war heroes. India's favorite storyteller,
Amar Chitra Katha has presented a book on inspirational stories of 21
Param Vir Chakra Awardees, as a tribute to the recipients of the
highest gallantry award in India. Four Aan Comics were also released
based on the heroics of four war heroes who fought in 1965 Indo Pak
war and were awarded Maha Vir Chakra. They were Maj Asaram Tyagi, Maj
Bhaskar Roy, Sub Ajit Singh and Sub Tika Bahadur Thapa.
• The Government of India (GoI) launched e-payment module to deposit
compensatory levies into CAMPA Funds. The module was launched by
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar. This e-payment module will cut
delays and bring transparency in the system. The payment through the
e-payment module has to be made to the designated account, depending
on the State in which the forest land, proposed to be diverted, is
located. The CAMPA stands for Compensatory Afforestation Fund
Management and Planning Authority.
• The 6th Joint Military Training Exercise "EXERCISE EKUVERIN – VI"
will be conducted between the Indian Army and the Maldives National
Defence Forces at Pangode Military Station, Trivandrum, Kerala from
August 31 to September 13, 2015.
• The 10-day-long Hindu festival, Onam is celebrated with a great
enthusiasm throughout Kerala between August and September. It is
celebrated to honour King Mahabali, who according to legend ruled the
state once, under whom the people were equal, prosperous and happy. As
per the mythology, people believe that it was on this particular day
of Thiruvonam in the Malayalam calender month of Chingam when Lord
Mahavishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom
of King Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld. So, as per the
legends, on this day, the spirit of King Mahabali visits the people of
Kerala and to welcome him, people decorate their homes with flowers,
etc.
• The World Health Oraganistion (WHO) has officially declared India as
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free country, i.e. mothers and newborns
are free from tetanus at the time of birth. Before that, India was
declared polio free country in 2014.
• Mr. Raghav Chandra has been appointed as the Chairman of National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Mr. Chandra is a 1982 batch IAS
officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre.
• The public sector bank, Indian Bank launched a mobile application
service " IndPay" that enables its customers to operate their bank
accounts at any point of time.This mobile application can be operated
through smartphones compatible with Android, Windows and iOS mobile
operating systems. The customers can use the transactions viz.
transfer of cash, checking for balance, getting mini statements and
also transactions to other accounts.
• India has gifted its former Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Varaha to
Sri Lanka. The patrol ship was in the service of the island nation
since 2006 and it was rechristened 'Sagara' by Sri Lanka. Now, it will
help Sri Lanka to maintain maritime security in the region. ICG Varaha
is 75 m in length and 11 m in width.
• The second version of an open source web based tool, India Energy
Security Scenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047) has been launched by
the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. It's
purpose is to explore wide range of potential future energy scenarios
for India including for its diverse energy supply and demand sectors
leading up to 2047. In this project, United Kingdom's Department for
Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is the initiative partner with NITI
Aayog.
• The first Sunhak Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to President of
Kiribati Islands Mr. Anote Tong and noted Indian agricultural
scientist Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta with a certificate, a medal and
shared $ 1 million prize money. This award is given to eminent
individuals from around the world for their contribution to peace and
development of the world.
• The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2014-15 has been
conferred by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to the following
recipients viz. ITBP officer Mr. Jot Singh (Mountaineering), Ms.
Arunima Sinha (Mountaineering), Wg. Cdr. Paramveer Singh (Aqua Sport),
Lt. Col Satyendra Verma (Sky diving) and Col. Satish Chander Sharma
(Mountaineering) at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi .
The award is given to sportspersons for his or her outstanding
achievement within the field of adventure activities.
• Tennis ace Ms. Sania Mirza has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna award 2015. She became the second tennis player to receive the
country's highest sporting honour after Leander Paes.
• The renowned scholar and Kannada researcher, Dr. Malleshappa M.
Kalburgi (77) was shot dead by 2 gunmen at his residence in Dharwad
district of Karnataka on August 30, 2015. Dr. Kalburgi was a
controversial writer and scholar, who had spoken openly against
idolatry tradition in Hinduism. He was scholar of Vachana sahitya
(Vachana literature), Kannada epigraphist and academician who served
as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He has written
over 20 publications viz. Neeru Neeradisittu, Sarangarshi, Kachhittu
Kalyan, etc.
• The Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the digital version of
epic "Ramcharitmanas", as a set of digital CDs prepared by All India
Radio (AIR). The great epic poem, Ramcharitmanas was composed by the
16th-century Indian bhakti poet Goswami Tulsidas ji in Awadhi
language. The poem literally means "Lake of the deeds of Rama, its' a
retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the story of
Lord Rama, with very intense devotion.
• The Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan
has launched SAHAJ scheme for online release of new LPG connections
for the consumers as parts of its consumer friendly initiative in New
Delhi. As per the scheme, people can apply online for new LPG
connection and they need not visit to the LPG distributors for it. The
facility will enable the customers to post online request for a new
connection by filing Know Your Customer (KYC) form by uploading bank
account details and photographs. Initially, the scheme has been
launched in 12 cities viz. Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal,
Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai and
Pune.
• The 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair 2015 has been launched at
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It has been organised jointy by India Trade
Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) and subsidised entry tickets priced at Rs. 20 for the 9-day fair
till Sepetember 6, 2015. It is based on the theme of 'Skill
Development', to offer people an idea about skill development and how
it can change the life of the youth.
• On August 31, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago
celebrate their Independence Day. On August 31, 1991 Kyrgyzstan became
an independent nation after the break up of Soviet Union. Trinidad and
Tobago got independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1962 and
Malaysia got independence from the United Kingdom on August 31,1957.
• The 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi has
been appointed as Union ome Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs
for a period of two years. He succeeded Mr. L C Goyal. Previously, Mr.
Mehrishi was serving as Secretary in the Department of Economic
Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
• Himadri Station, established in 2008, is India's first Arctic
research station. It is located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. It's
research goals include analysis of the surface water, and atmospheric
research near Arctic region, apart from aerosol radiation, space
weather, microbial communities, glaciers, sedimentology, and carbon
recycling.
• Former Research and Analysis Wing chief AS Dulat is the author of
Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years.
• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international
financial institution proposed by the government of China. China will
be the largest shareholder (at 30.34 per cent), followed by India
(8.52 per cent) and Russia (6.66 per cent).
• In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics and economic
planning, Government of India has designated 29th June every year as
the "Statistics Day". The theme selected for 9th Statistics Day was
'Social Development' in view of the contribution and importance of
this sector to Indian economy.
• Kalyan Jewellers' chairman and managing director T S Kalayanaraman,
is the wealthiest jeweller in India with a personal fortune of USD 1.3
billion, as per the Wealth-X report. Kalayanaraman opened his first
jewellery shop in Thrissur City in 1993 with only USD 100,000 capital,
and his business has now expanded to 32 showrooms across South India.
Nirav Modi was ranked second on the list with an estimated net worth
of USD 1.1 billion. The third on the list is M P Ahammed, with a
personal fortune of USD 1 billion. Bima Jewellers' B Govindan with a
personal wealth of USD 620 million, Kiran Gems' Vallabhbhai S Patel
(USD 590 million), Laxmi Diamond's Vasant Gajera (USD 580 million),
Dharmanandan Diamonds' Laljibhai Patel (USD 480 million), Kiran Gems'
Babubhai Lakhani (USD 470 million), Kiran Gems' Mavji Bhai Patel (USD
410 million) and Rajesh Exports' Rajesh Mehta (USD 310 million) are in
the top ten.
• Abhijeet Gupta, the former world junior champion has won the
Commonwealth Chess Championship title-2015. Gupta won the title of
Commonwealth Chess Championship by defeating his opponent Arghyadip
Das in the final round. Arghyadip Das, an International master with 4
GM norms, drew the last game and won Silver in the finals. While the
bronze medal is won by M.R.Lalith Babu. In the women's section,
Padmini Rout won the gold medal while Vijayalakshmi has won silver
medal and finally Meenakshi bagged the bronze medal.
• The world's first office building constructed using 3-D printer is
set to come up in Dubai, UAE. The Office will be approximately 2,000
square feet in size and will be printed layer-by-layer using a 20-foot
tall 3-D printer, then assembled on site in Dubai. The idea of 3-D
printing technology can reduce the production time of buildings by 50
to 70 per cent, reduce labour costs by 50 to 80 per cent, and can save
between 30 and 60 per cent of construction waste.
• Matti Makkonen was a Finnish engineer in the field of mobile
communications. He was known as the father of SMS after developing the
idea of sending messages via mobile networks.
• Madhya Pradesh government has launched a programme for
e-registration of property documents. Samapada is name of the software
used for e-registration of property documents of Madhya Pradesh. Under
this facility, people can obtain e-stamp through internet banking or
service provider. They may also obtain information about market value
of their property and registration fees to be payable on its purchase
or sale through internet.
• Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a Saudi business magnate and investor.
In 2005 he was worth $10 billion and earned the nickname "Buffett of
Arabia" after American business magnate Warren Buffett.
• Darshan Jain, an Indian American teacher was chosen for prestigious
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
He is one of the 108 teachers named by President Barack Obama as
recipients of the prestigious award. Jain, who has taught mathematics
at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois for eight
years where he currently serves as the director of mathematics, and
other winners will receive a $10,000 award each from the National
Science Foundation. The president award for Excellence in Mathematics
and Science Teaching is awarded annually to outstanding K-12
(kindergarten through 12th grades) science and mathematics teachers
from across the country.
• Noted scientist Sanjeev Galande has been selected for the
prestigious G D Birla award for 2014. He was selected for his
pioneering research in the field of epigenetics and molecular cell
biology. Galande is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science
Education and Research (IISER) in Pune and is widely respected for his
works in genomics and related areas. G D Birla award for scientific
research was instituted by the K K Birla Foundation in 1991. It is
given annually to an original and outstanding work undertaken by
Indian scientists living and working in India. The award, which is
given to those below the age of 50, carries a cash prize of Rs 2.5
lakh.
• Mahendra Bhalla was a noted playwright and Hindi writer. He has
written some memorable plays, including 'Dimaag-e-hasti, Dil Ki Basti
Hai Kahan, Hai Kahan'. He was conferred with Hindi Akademi Award,
among several other honours.
• Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founding chairman of Brac, a leading rural
development and anti-poverty organisation, based in Bangladesh, has
won the 2015 World Food Prize. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed established Brac
in 1972, which has since helped nearly 150 million people out of
poverty. The US$ 250,000 World Food Prize has been awarded annually
since 1987 to outstanding individuals who have made breakthrough
achievements contributing to improving the quality, quantity or
availability of food throughout the world.
• Haryana government has launched Mhara Gaon-Jagmag Gaon, a new
electricity scheme. "Mhara gaon- jagmag gaon" which is an inclusive
voluntary scheme aimed at providing 24-hour power supply to rural
domestic consumers in a phased manner.
• Akademi Ratna Sadasyata Award is the highest award given by the
Sangeet Nataka Academy. The award was constituted in 1950. The
recipients of Akademi Ratna Sadasyata for 2014 are Pandit Vijay
Kichlu, renowned musicologist S.R. Janakiraman, filmmaker M.S. Sathyu
and harmonium wizard Tulsidas Borekar.
• Indian-American professor R. Paul Singh has been named as the 2015
Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture
and Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize laureate. Singh is known for
his research in areas such as energy conservation, freezing
preservation, post-harvest technology and mass transfer in food
processing. The Prize was proposed by Nanjing Agricultural University
(NAU) on 20 October 2012 on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of
Nanjing Agricultural University and was established by the GCHERA
Board on 28 October 2012. The Prize aims to encourage the global
development of the mission of higher education institutions in
education, research and innovation in the agricultural and life
sciences by recognizing the distinguished contribution of an
individual to this mission.
• July 2 is celebrated as World Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) day
with an objective to raise awareness, encouraging the government to
reveal their files on UFO sightings and related information.
• Uttar Pradesh has highest number of households with a mobile phone
(86.63 per cent). In other hand Odisha (33.56 per cent) has the least
number of households with a mobile phone as per the Socio Economic and
Caste Census 2011. For instance, while 80 per cent of households in
north India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana)
have mobile phones, the number for east India is 62 per cent; 63 per
cent for west India; 75 per cent for south India, 70 per cent for
central India; and 63 per cent for north-east India.
• The prestigious Arabian Indian Czar Award is given by Times Group.
Recently, the second edition of Arabian Indian Czars Award was given
to 15 successful Indians in the Middle East.
• United States is the largest market for Indian seafood products with
a share of 26.46 per cent followed by South East Asia
• Doctor's Day in India was established by the Government of India in
1991 to be recognized and celebrated every year on 1st of July as
National Doctors day. It is celebrated on 1st of July on the birth and
death anniversary of the most famous physician of India Dr. Bidhan
Chandra Roy (Dr. B C Roy) to pay lots of honor and tribute. He was
honored with the great Indian civilian award called Bharat Ratna on
4th of February in 1961.
• The world's first exchange for physically-settled diamonds is slated
to begin trading in September in Singapore. The Singapore Diamond
Investment Exchange (SDiX), as it is known, aims to create a new
marketplace for the global diamond trade. The exchange will provide
investors an opportunity to invest in diamonds with transparent
pricing. SDiX will be a first-of-its-kind business-to-consumer (B2C)
platform for physically settled diamonds. The exchange is capable of
handling 500,000 transactions per second. Its rules are based on the
practices and regulations of the securities and commodities market.
• The union government has launched an online mobile application
"m-asset" for better planning of Panchayat assets. The application was
launched on coinciding with the ongoing 'Digital India Week'. The
mobile app "m-asset" can be used by citizens to capture photographs
and geographical coordinates of various assets available at Gram
Panchayat level. The mobile app will enable these assets to be seen on
a map and will be useful for planning by the Panchayats and the
government.
• India's per capita income rose 9.7 per cent to $1,631 in 2014 from
$1,487 in the previous year as per World Bank report. India was 169th
in terms of per capita income in the world. It was for the first time
in three years that the per capita income increased beyond the level
of 2011, when it was $1,503.
• The country's first Metrino project is coming up in New Delhi. The
project, on the pattern of a ropeway, will cover a 70-km stretch from
the Dhaula Kuan intersection in Delhi to Manesar, near Gurgaon, in
Haryana. Under the project, fully automatic and driverless vehicles
known as pods will travel suspended from an overhead cable network.
Work on the project will start in six months. [Live Mint]
• Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) long
international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world. West
Bengal with 2,217 km share longest border with Bangladesh. Other
states include 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram,
443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal.
• Google India and Tata Trust has launched a special programme called
Internet Saathi to bring more women online. The objective of the
programme is to empower rural women and their communities by enabling
them to use Internet in their daily lives. The programme aims to
provide basic training on the usage of Internet and its benefits by
use of specially designed Internet cycle carts. These cycle carts will
visit villages to provide access.
• HDFC Bank has become the first bank in India to launch Watch Banking
for Apple Watch. It aims to provide banking services through all
wearable devices across platforms like iOS and Android. HDFC Bank will
provide a total of 10 banking transactions in the current launch
phase. Some of them being: view account information, bill payments,
recharges, hot listing facilities, locate nearest branch/ATM/offer,
request statement and cheque book.
• The Burkhan Khaldun is a mountain of the Khentii Mountains in the
Khentii Province of Mongolia. It is inscribed as the UNESCO World
Heritage Site at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee, on
July 4, 2015.
• Mahindra Defence Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra Group and
Airbus Helicopter have inked pact to form a joint venture (JV) company
to produce helicopters in India. In this regard, both entities have
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture.
The proposed joint venture aims to become the first private Indian
helicopter manufacturer under the 'Make in India' initiative.
• The United States defeated Japan 5-2 to win a third World Cup title.
The United States, winners in 1991 and 1999, became the first nation
to win the crown three times.
• Justice Kalyan Shrestha is the new chief justice of the Nepal. Nepal
President Ram Baran Yadav appointed Shrestha, 64, as the new chief
justice on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council.
• Tej kadam is a joint statement issued between India and Kazakhstan
during Prime Minister Modi visit to the country.
• Carli Lloyd became the first woman to score a hat-trick in FIFA
women's world cup. During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final, Lloyd
scored a hat trick to lead the U.S. To a 5–2 win over Japan and the
World Cup title. Lloyd received the Golden Ball Trophy as best player
of the tournament and earned the Silver Boot for her six goals and one
assist during the tournament.
• Union home ministry has declared entire Nagaland state as a
'disturbed area' for one year period with an immediate effect from
June 30, 2015. The state was declared as "disturbed" area under
Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. With this
declaration the armed forces get powers to search, raid and arrest
anyone without a warrant. This decision was taken after Naga rebel
outfit, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland- Khaplang (NSCN-K)
had ambushed on Indian Army convoy killing 18 Army personnel in
Chandel district of Manipur in June 2015.
• Ashwini Nachappa is the chairman of the eight-member committee
formed by sports ministry to study the status of the Sports Authority
of India training centres around the country and recommend measures
for their smooth running. (SAI). The committee comprises Ashwini
Nachappa (chairperson), Gopi Chand, Jaspal Sandhu, Malav Shroff,
Bhogeshwar Barua, K.P. Mohan, Baldev Singh and Neena P. Nayak.
Committee has been asked to visit at least a couple of centres in each
region, study the issues involved and give their recommendations. The
committee has to submit its report to the government within three
months.
• Bangalore is the only Indian city to be listed on World's top 20
tech-rich countries. Bangalore figures at No. 12 in the Top 20
technology-rich cities globally, according to a survey conducted by
global property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Good economic
growth, investments in infrastructure, presence of startups and
significant supply of prime office space are some of the factors that
contributed in Bangalore's strong performance in the survey.
• According to Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) Madhya Pradesh
has largest number of manual scavangers in the country. The top five
states with manual scavengers, are Madhya Pradesh (23,093), Uttar
Pradesh (17,619), Tripura (17,332) and Karnataka (15,375) and Punjab.
• Inderjeet Singh scripted history as he became the first Indian to
clinch a gold in athletics in the World University Games by winning
the men's shot put event in Gwangju, Korea. He won the event with his
final throw of 20.27m at the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium to open
India's gold medal account in the Games. Singh has had a phenomenal
year with five gold medals in all five international events he has
participated thus far in 2015. He had won Asian Championships in China
with 20.41m before bagging a gold in each of the three legs of the
Asian Grand Prix in Thailand last month. He won a bronze in the Asian
Games last year with 19.63m.
• Inderjeet Singh scripted history as he became the first Indian to
clinch a gold in athletics in the World University Games by winning
the men's shot put event in Gwangju, Korea. He won the event with his
final throw of 20.27m at the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium to open
India's gold medal account in the Games. Singh has had a phenomenal
year with five gold medals in all five international events he has
participated thus far in 2015. He had won Asian Championships in China
with 20.41m before bagging a gold in each of the three legs of the
Asian Grand Prix in Thailand last month. He won a bronze in the Asian
Games last year with 19.63m.
• The Central banks of BRICS countries have signed an operating
agreement on the $100 billion currency reserve pool to protect BRICS
member states from currency volatility shocks. China will make the
biggest contribution to the pool: $41 billion. Russia, Brazil and
India will donate $18 billion each, while South Africa's investment
will be $5 billion. The goal of the pool is to give BRICS member
states opportunity to provide each other financial assistance in case
of problems with their balance of payments.
• Gennady Padalka, a Russian cosmonaut on board the International
Space Station has broken the record for total time in space by
spending more than two years in orbit during his career. He broke his
countryman Sergei Krikalev's record of 803 days, nine hours and 41
minutes.
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)
would organise a massive financial literacy and awareness drive on
July 12 coinciding with the bank's 34th Foundation Day. The awareness
drive to be conducted across 27 districts of Odisha, is aimed at
making people at grassroots level aware of the latest schemes launched
by Government of India on financial inclusion and social security.The
awareness would centre on schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
(PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Bima Suraksha Yojana (PMBSY), Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (PMJJY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
• A system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings has been
installed in Uttarkhand. Thus Uttarkhand has become the first state in
the country to install such system in the country. It will issue
warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 occur. The
first system has been installed in Dehradun, and the second will be
established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region.
• The Collective Security Treaty Organization was formed under the
framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It serves as a
mutual defense alliance among Russia, Belarus, Armenia and the four
Central Asian states except Turkmenistan. CSTO members are Russia,
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
• Prince Saud Al Faisal was a Saudi diplomat and statesman who served
as Saudi Arabia's foreign minister from 1975 to 2015. By the time of
his retirement, he was the world's longest-serving foreign minister.
He was a member of the Saudi royal family.
• India will chair the BRICS Summit from February 2016 to December 2016.
• India's rural employment guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), has been ranked
as the world's largest public works one, a World Bank report said.
MGNREGA is providing social security net to almost 15 per cent of the
country's population. India's mid-day meal scheme has been classified
as biggest school feeding programme, benefitting 105 million
beneficiaries. The World Bank ranked the Janani Suraksha Yojna with 78
million beneficiaries as the top-most social security programme with
conditional cash transfers. Also, it ranked the Indira Gandhi National
Old Age Pension Scheme as the second-largest unconditional cash
transfer social security progamme in the world.
• The union ministry of human resource development has launched
Rashtriya Aviskar Abhiyan. It is a unique concept aims to inculcate a
spirit of inquiry, creativity and love for Science and Mathematics in
school children. Under Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, government schools
will be mentored by Institutes like IITs/ IIMs/ IISERs and other
Central Universities and reputed organisations through innovative
programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations, student visits, etc to
develop a natural sense of passion towards learning of Science and
Maths.
• The SAARC Festival of Literature is organised annually by the
Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), an organisation
that works in areas of literature and culture to build up relations
among the countries. Renowned scholars, intellectuals, laureates,
media persons, film makers and social activists from all the SAARC
countries and from Myanmar will be attending the festival. Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh is the site for the 2016 SAARC Literature Festival.
• Serena Williams won the 2015 Wimbledon champion after defeating
Garbine Muguruza in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Williams, 33, wins her
21st Grand Slam title and becomes the oldest female winner of a major
in the Open Era. Williams has now won the Australian Open, French Open
and Wimbledon in 2015. Williams has now won the Australian Open,
French Open and Wimbledon in 2015.
• Malabar River Festival, touted as Asia's biggest white water
competition is an initiative of Department of Tourism under the aegis
of Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society (KATPS) in association
with District Tourism Promotion Council and Madras Fun Tools. The
festival aim is to promote the sport of whitewater Kayaking in South
India and display the incredible, unexplored rivers that Kerala has to
offer the international paddling community. The first edition of the
Malabar River Festival, held in August 2013 was a smashing success.
The third edition of the 2015 Malabar River Festival scheduled to
start on July 23 at Thusharagiri in Kerala.
• Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native
country in the 1950s, but is best known for his appearances in both
British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of
Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Funny Girl (1968). He was
nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a
César Award.
• Tsinghua University is a research university located in Beijing,
China. Tsinghua University was ranked top in the Britain's leading
education and research institutions QS "2015 BRICS University",
followed by Beijing University, Fudan University and moved up to
third. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru ranked fifth in the
list.
• Khanjar 2015 is a joint special exercise between India and
Kyrgyzstan. The second edition of exercise was held in Kyrgyzstan in
March. India hosted the first edition in 2011. Recently, both the
countries decided to hold joint exercises on an annual basis.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisaiton (SCO) granted full membership
status to Pakistan and India during its Ufa summit.
• Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza pair won the Wimbledon Woman's double
title. The pair defeated Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
to clinch the title. For Mirza, it was her first Grand Slam women's
doubles crown; for Hingis, it was her third at Wimbledon, but first in
an astonishing 17 years. By this success Sania Mirza created history
by becoming the first female player from the country to win a women's
doubles Grand Slam trophy.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is a measure of population growth. The
TFR of a population is the average number of children that a woman
bears over her lifetime. India's TFR today is 2.6 children per woman.
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being
negotiated amongst the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
trading bloc – Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos,
Cambodia, Brunei, Myanmar, Bangkok and Philippines with six of its
partner countries – China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and
South Korea. RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012
at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.
• India successfully put into orbit five British satellites with its
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle's XL variant (PSLV-XL). This was the
first commercial mission for Isro in 2015. It was the heaviest
commercial mission for the PSLV rocket till date though its total
carrying capacity for such a mission is around 1,750 kg. Of the five
British satellites, three are identical DMC3 optical earth observation
satellites weighing 447 kg. Of the other two satellites, CBNT-1 weighs
91 kg and also is an optical earth observation technology
demonstration microsatellite, while the De-OrbitSail weighs 7 kg. This
is an experimental nano satellite for demonstration of large thin
membrane sail and drag deorbiting.
• Sumit Nagal is an Indian tennis player. Sumit Nagal won the
Wimbledon junior men's doubles title with partner Nam Hoang Ly
becoming only the sixth tennis player from the country to win a junior
title at All England Club.
• Jammu and Kashmir India's longest road tunnel is ready to open in
Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel will cut the distance between
Jammu and Srinagar by 30 kilometers. The tunnel is 9.2- kilometer-long
and is part of the ambitious 286 km-long four-laning of the
Jammu-Srinagar national highway. The road is likely to be opened to
traffic in July 2016.
• The site of an ancient Buddhist garden dating back more than 1,200
years has been discovered in downtown Chengdu, capital of southwest
China's Sichuan Province. Excavation of the garden, which dates back
to China's Tang Dynasty (618 A.D.- 907 A.D.), was completed earlier
this month near a construction site in downtown Chengdu.
Archaeologist's uncovered 2,500 square meters of garden relics,
including a 90-meter-long canal and a pond.
• Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh has won the Golden Peacock
environment management award for its initiatives and achievements in
the field of environment. The Golden Peacock awards, instituted by the
Institute of Directors, are presented annually under various
categories. Krishnapatnam Port has chosen for the award for its
innovative ideas which include plantation of over 20 lakhs trees
within the port and more than 50,000 trees in the surrounding
villages, installation of solar lights in the port and solar water
heaters in the employee colony, establishing gas connections for
villagers so as to discourage them from cutting of mangroves, adoption
of Nellore town traffic islands and public buildings for maintaining
greenery around the areas etc.
• First Life Insurance India First Insurance was first to launch the
first digitised policy in September 2013.
• The Meitei people live in Manipur. A unique feature of the Meitei is
that their community is made of one language, but two religions. A
majority of them are Hindus and have Mongoloid features, while a
minority of them is Muslims and have Bengali features. In spite of
this, there exists good harmony between them and they are proud of the
common heritage of their mother tongue.
• The Potala Palace is in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the primary residence
of the Dalai Lama until 1959. Today the Potala Palace is a state
museum, a popular tourist attraction, and a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. It was also recently named one of the "New Seven Wonders of the
World" by the television show Good Morning America and the newspaper
USA Today.
• The mutual fund industry in India began in 1963 with the formation
of the Unit Trust of India (UTI) as an initiative of the Government of
India and the Reserve Bank of India. Much later, in 1987, SBI Mutual
Fund became the first non-UTI mutual fund in India.
• Modern Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza, has been conferred with the
highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur
(the Legion of Honour) for his peerless achievements. Sayed Haider
Raza was conferred in acknowledgment of his "peerless achievements
transcending all boundaries, the lasting ties he has forged between
France and India, and his continuing artistic quest straddling
nations, cultures, religions and philosophies. Created in 1802 by
Napoleon Bonaparte, the award is given for outstanding service to
France, regardless of recipients' nationality.
• Tamil Nadu has retained the top position among all states in getting
domestic tourists during 2014 followed by Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and
Maharashtra. During 2014, the number of domestic tourist visits to the
states was 1,282 million, an increase from 1,145 million in 2013 and
1,045 million in 2012. This signified a growth of 11.93 per cent over
2013 as compared to 9.59 per cent in 2013 over 2012. In terms of
numbers, the top 10 performing states for domestic tourists in 2014
were Tamil Nadu (327.6 million), Uttar Pradesh (182.8 m), Karnataka
(118.3m), Maharashtra (94.1m), Andhra Pradesh (93.3m), Telengana
(72.4m), Madhya Pradesh (63.6m), West Bengal (49 m) Jharkhand (33.4 m)
and Rajasthan (33.1 m).
• New Delhi will host the eight Asian Airgun Shooting Championship.
Championship will be held here from September 25 to October 1 at the
Karni Singh Shooting Range. There are 12 men and women events over
four days of competition in the senior, youth and junior categories.
Airgun competitions are restricted to the Air Rifle and Air Pistol
segments.
• Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan was an Indian music director and
composer. He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The
King of Light Music"). He composed songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu,
Kannada, and Hindi for over 1200 films. MS Viswanathan received many
awards and titles including Paramacharya Award. In 2012, Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa presented him with the 'Thirai Isai
Chakravarthy' (The Emperor of Cine Music) title.
• Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist
environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium (known as
geoponics). Aeroponic culture differs from both conventional
hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-vitro (plant tissue culture) growing.
Unlike hydroponics, which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing
medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth; or aquaponics
which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is conducted without a
growing medium.
• China has set up the world's largest cancer registry system that
will cover over 300 million people. The move is to fight the deadly
disease with evidence-based and more-targeted intervention programmes.
Cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and
tumor diseases. Cancer registry records complete summary of patient
history, diagnosis, treatment and status of every cancer patient.
• GAGAN or GPS based Geo Augmented Navigation System is an indigenous
navigational guide system developed by Isro on the lines of GPS system
of the US. It was jointly developed by the Isro and Airports Authority
of India (AAI) with a view to assist aircraft in accurate landing.
• Haryana became the first state in the country to initiate state-wide
birth defect surveillance. The initiative was launched in
collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centre for
Disease Control (CDC). As per the report there were 1.7 million
children born in India with congenital birth defect (CBD) and it
accounted for 6% of total births.
• Deepak Mohanty, RBI executive director is the chairman of the
committee constituted by RBI on financial inclusion. The objective is
to working out a medium-term (five-year) measurable action plan for
financial inclusion. The terms of reference will include reviewing the
existing policy of financial inclusion, including supportive payment
system and customer protection framework, taking into account the
recommendations made by various committees set up earlier. It will
also study the cross-country experience in financial inclusion to
identify key learnings, particularly in the area of technology-based
delivery models, that could inform policies and practices. The
committee will also suggest a monitorable medium-term plan for
financial inclusion in terms of its various components like payments,
deposit, credit, social security transfers, pension and insurance.
• Justice Loda panel appointed by Supreme Court has suspended two top
Indian Premier League teams for two years over a corruption
scandal.Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have been found
guilty in an illegal betting and match-fixing probe. The panel also
suspended Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of Super
Kings from all cricket-related activities for life.
• State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) won the Leading Oil & Gas
Corporate of the Year award at the annual Petrofed Awards for the
fourth time in eight years. IOC also bagged the Oil & Gas Marketing
Company of the Year and the Human Resources Management Company of the
Year awards. The Innovator of the Year – Team award was won by the
eight- member team of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) for their
indigenous development and commercial application of cost effective
gasoline sulphur reduction catalyst additive for Fluid Catalytic
Cracking using spent FCC catalyst in refineries. Oil and Natural Gas
Corp (ONGC) won the awards for Exploration & Production Company of the
Year and Project Management (Rs. 500-2,000 crore) for their Cluster-7
project involving construction and installation of five new well
platforms at Mumbai High Offshore and laying of 19 segments of rigid
sub-sea pipelines of about 198 km with associated modification at
existing platforms and a new Pipeline End Manifold. The Oil & Gas
Pipeline Transportation Company of the Year award was bagged by
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) while BPCL was chosen to be the
Environmental Sustainability Company of the Year.
• Rakesh Sahni, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh government
was appointed former as the Chairman of Narmada Valley Development
Authority (NVDA).
• Rakesh Sahni, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh government
was appointed former as the Chairman of Narmada Valley Development
Authority (NVDA).
• Urban Development Ministry approved the Transit Oriented Development
(TOD) Policy for Delhi. The policy aims to address the growing
problems of pollution, congestion and shortage of homes for the poor
and middle class in the state. The influence zone in the TOD policy
will be 500 metre on both side of metro corridor. The policy will
allow mix land use, which will have a blend of residential, commercial
and institutional developments.
• Microsoft has been developing White-fi technology. White-fi is a
term being used to describe the use of a Wi-Fi technology within the
TV unused spectrum, or TV white space.
• Varanasi has been chosen as a part of the 'Cities of Music' under
UNESCO's cultural division, the Creative Cities Network. It has been
chosen in the music category under UNESCO's "field of excellence"
plan. The fields of excellence are classified into categories of
literature, film, music, craft and folk art, design, media arts and
gastronomy. UNESCO had added Music as its fifth cultural category in
2006 under the Creative Cities Network. The Italian city of Bologna
and Spain's Seville were the first to join the list. As a part of this
list, all music cities are expected to promote musical creation and
activities along with organizing concerts for the same, both at the
local level as well at the international level.
• The broad-gauge railway-line between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port
in Gujarat is India's first railway-line built with private sector
participation under Non-Government Railway (NGR) Policy 2012 of Indian
Railways. The rail line has been built at a cost of approx 185 crore
rupees for M/s Kandla Port Trust (KPT) to bring about better and
faster rail connectivity to Port of Tuna & Tekra.
• years The Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, which started on July 14, occurs
once in 144 years. The next such event will take place in 2159. Maha
Pushkaralu is also known as Maha Kumbh of the South.
• Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world.
Brazil is followed by Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau,
East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Portuguese speaking countries / people are collectively called
Lusophone.
• On 14th July, Apple introduced "Apple Pay" a mobile payments system
in Britain, which is set to offer service in 250,000 sites. However it
was launched for the first time in United States nine month ago. It
facilitates costumers to make contactless payments to their purchase.
• Pipavav Shipyard was established in 1997 at west coast of
Saurashtra, Gujarat and one of the largest and leading shipbuilding
company in India that is spread over 500 acres. It was the first
corporate shipyard to be granted clearance to build 5 warships per
year and currently it is executing a naval offshore patrol vessel.
Pipavav Shipyard Limited and now Pipavav Defence and Offshore
Engineering Company Limited after the acquisition by Reliance Infra
Ltd on 5th March 2015 in a US$ 130 million deal.
• On April 4, 1949, the United States Canada and 10 Western European
countries had signed the Washington Treaty that led to creation of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Its original members were Belgium,
Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Article 5
of Washington Treaty is the very heart of it, which mentions that "the
members agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in
Europe or North America would be considered an attack against all of
them".This idea of collective defense is the basis of NATO.
• According to the recent land swap deal between India and Bangladesh,
India will transfer 111 enclaves to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh will
transfer 51 enclaves to India. As per the 2011 census listed the
population in the 111 enclaves as 37,369, and 14,215 in the 51
enclaves.
• The data from the first urban Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC)
is yet to be released. As per news published in Indian Express, the
data tabulated as per erstwhile Planning Commission's SR Hashim
Committee report; roughly 35 per cent of urban Indian households live
below poverty line (BPL). The highest fraction of Urban Poors are in
Manipur (54.95% of its total population), Mizoram (52.35% of its total
population and Bihar (49.82 per cent). On the other hand, least
proportion of Urban poor in India are in Goa (16%) and UTs of D&NH and
Delhi (8% each of their population).
• On July 16, 2015, the Union Cabinet has approved simplification of
the foreign direct investment policy which proposes to scrapthe
distinctions among different types of overseas investmentby shifting
to a single composite limit. In this, the distinction between
different types of foreign investment is being done away with and
there will be sector limits on FDI, FII, Venture Capital, Depository
receipts, NRI, and FPI. The new policy will not count FCCBs and
depository receipts with debt as underlying instrument as foreign
investment.
• India's largest E-commerce company is mJunction which is run by its
CEO & MD Viresh Oberoi. It is also largest online steel marketplace in
the world. Mjunction is a joint venture(JV) formed by SAIL and Tata
Steel. In 2013-14, the Kolkata based company'stransaction value was
more than Rs. 43,000 crores compared to Rs. 6,000 crore (as announced)
gross merchandise volume of Flipkart in the same year.
• P.V. Sindhu, K. Srikanth and Sameer Verma are Badminton players, who
recently participated in $200,000 Chinese TaipeiGrand Prix Gold
badminton tournament. But Indian challenge ended soon. Yuki Bhambri is
a Tennis player.
• UNMOGIP refers to United Nations Military Observers Group in India
and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). It was established in January 1949 and still
exists today. However, it has lost its relevance after conversion of
ceasefire line to Line of Control (LoC) in 1972.
• The central government has recently proposed to amend 6th schedule
of the constitution to create village councils and 33% reservation for
women in the autonomous council in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and
Mizoram.
• The 'Inner Line Permit' (ILP) is currently in force only in
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. This is a British era
regulation which was designed to segregate the 'Hill People' of the
northeast from British economic interests in tea, oil and gaming in
the Brahmaputra Valley. It came into existence from Bengal Eastern
Frontier Regulations of 1873, and after independence, has been kept in
force by Indian governments to protect tribal society and culture from
getting swamped by the mainland.
• The key mandates of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission include: 1. Enhance
milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines 39 elite desi
breeds such as Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni and Red Sindhi will be the
focus. The scheme will cover 13 indigenous buffalo breeds too. 3.
Genetic upgradation of nondescript cows by cross-breeding with Indian
elite breeds will also be done 4. Rs. 105 crore disbursed since
September 2014
• SECC was meant to record caste, urban poverty & rural poverty.
Recently, only the last these three has been released. The SECC 2011
has approach of defining poverty through deprivation and not
consumption.
• Recently, Amélie Mauresmo (former World No. 1 tennis player of
France) is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In her
career, she won two Grand Slam singles titles viz. Australian Open and
at Wimbledon. At present, she is the coach of Tennis player, Andy
Murray.
• The Agriculture Ministry has launched three agri-portals viz. Soil
Health Card (SHC) portal, Fertiliser Quality Control System (FQCS)
portal and Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). The purpose to launch
these portals is to make the process of organic farming certification,
fertilisers' quality checking and issuance of soil health cards, more
transparent and accountable. These are available only in English. In
the next phase, these portals will also be available in regional
languages.
• To promote rice bran oil and its value added products, the second
Global Rice Bran Oil Conference 2015 will be held in Mumbai on August
7-8, 2015. The conference is being organised by the International
Association of Rice Bran Oil and hosted by The Solvent Extractors'
Association of India. The theme of the conference is "Position,
promotion and prospect of rice bran oil as a health oil in the
world''.
• Both the countries, the United States of America (USA) and Cuba
re-established diplomatic relations after 54 years and opened their
embassies in Havana and Washington, D.C.
• Professor Stephen Hawking launched a $100-million project (also
known as Breakthrough Listen) to search for Aliens at the Royal
Society in London. The project is funded by Silicon Valley technology
investor and physicist Yuri Milner.
• The BCCI's domestic programme will start with the Ranji Trophy from
October 1, 2015. In all 900 matches will be played and the 2015-16
season will end with the Irani Cup match scheduled to be held from
March 6, 2016. But, the inter-zonal cricket tournament, Duleep Trophy
dropped for 2015-16 season due to packed schedule.
• As per Anil Kumble-led technical committee recommendations, BCCI
changed the format of the Deodhar Trophy, an inter- zonal one day
tournament. Deodhar Trophy will have four 50-overs matches across five
days between January 24-28, 2016. It will be played on a 3-team format
that consists of the champion team of the Vijay Hazare tournament and
2 other teams which will be selected by the Senior National selectors.
• The Kerala Tourism bagged 2015 Pacific Asia Travel Association
(PATA) award for its Muziris Heritage Project in the 'Heritage &
Culture' category. The award, sponsored by the Macau Government
Tourism Office (MGTO), was conferred on the Muziris Heritage Project
for its conservational aspect, uniqueness and impact on local
community.
• The US actor, Alex Rocco was best known for his role in crime drama
"The Godfather" was recently died due to cancer. He won an Emmy for
his role in 1990s sitcom 'The Famous Teddy Z' and also voiced the
studio boss behind Itchy and Scratchy in The Simpsons.
• India already has one nuclear fuel complex at Hyderabad. Another
nuclear fuel complex is coming up in Kota in Rajasthan.
• The South-Korean car maker, Hyundai launched its Sports Utility
Vehicle (SUV) Creta in India in both diesel and petrol variants. The
1.6 litre petrol versions of the SUV are priced between Rs.8.59 lakh
and Rs.11.19 lakh. The vehicle would be offered with two diesel engine
options viz.1.4 litre costing between Rs.9.46 lakh and Rs.11.45 lakh
and 1.6 litre diesel engine priced between Rs.11.59 lakh and Rs.13.6
lakh.
• The New Development Bank (NDB) is a multilateral development bank
operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa) started its operations from its headquarters in Shanghai,
China. The eminent banker, K V Kamath from India appointed as the
first President of NDB for five years till 2020. The NDB will have an
initial capital of $50 billion, which will be raised to $100 billion
within the next couples of years. China will contribute $41 bn while
India, Brazil and Russia will each pump in $18 bn while South Africa's
contribution would stand at $ 5 billion. The purpose of the bank is to
mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development
projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing
countries in the world.
• As per the 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2014
report, released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), total of
5,650 farmers committed suicide in 2014. Due to bankruptcy (or
Indebtedness) caused by crop loan, the maximum suicides were reported
in Maharashtra followed by Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.
• Mr. Bhupender Yadav is the chairman of the Rajya Sabha committee on
the constitutional amendment Bill regarding National Goods and
Services Tax (GST).
• Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital city for
inclusion in the 100 Smart Cities Mission launched on June 25. With
this, it is first city to send its nomination.
• The SOFTEX is an RBI form available online. It requires companies
to submit contracts and statements- of-work with every invoice. This
form helps RBI to monitor inward and outward remittances in the
software business.
• The 2016 ICC World T20 tournament is scheduled to be held in India
from March 11 to April 3, 2016. It will be hosted in eight
citiesacross India viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamshala, Kolkata,
Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. Kolkata's Eden Gardens,
theoldest cricketing venue of India, will host the final of this
tournament.
• The maximum retail price (MRP) printed on all packaged commodities
that consumers purchase was introduced in 1990 by the Ministry of
Civil Supplies, Department of Legal Metrology, by making an amendment
to the Standards of Weights and Measures Act (Packaged Commodities'
Rules) (1976).
• Nuclear power generation in India is currently at 5,780 MW from 21
operational reactors. This capacity is expected to increase to 10,080
MW on progressive completion of projects under commissioning/
construction by 2019, according to the government.
• The proposed Gold Monetisation Scheme proposes to offer tax-free
interest to individual on depositing the yellow metal with banks.
Government recently circulated a cabinet note on this scheme.
• Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, has been named as
the World Book Capital for 2017 by United Nations Organization for
Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Paris. Conakry is the 17th
city to be designated as World Book Capital. At present, Incheon is
the World Book Capital for 2015 and Wroclaw for 2016.
• Murugappa Gold Cup tournament associated with Hockey.
• Young Indian golf player, Shubham Jaglan (10-year old) clinched his
second successive title at the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf event
in Las Vegas. He is the son of a milkman from rural Haryana and is
coached by former Indian golfer Nonita Lall Qureshi.
• The Indian pharmaceutical firm, Lupin acquired New Jersey-based
generic drugs firm Gavis for $880 million to boost its presence in the
market of United States of America (USA).
• According to the data provided by Women and Child Development
Ministry, US adopts most number of Indian children from various
orphanages across the country. USA adopted 108, 156, 133 and 36
children in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. Within
the country, Maharashtra topped the chart with 1,043, 1,068, 947 and
160 adoptions done during the past four years while Delhi with an
average adoption rate among other metro cities provided home to 187,
156, 126 and 27 orphan kids. [Lok Sabha]
• As of July 2015, No President of India has visited Israel. President
Pranab Mukherjee may be the first Indian President to visit Israel in
October 2015.
• There are only two Arab countries viz. Jordan and Egypt, which
maintain full diplomatic relations with Israel.
• Vatican City, UAE, American Samoa
• Below is the list of Most Marketable Sportspersons around the world:
1. Roger Federer →Tennis
2. Tiger Woods →Golf
3. P Mickelson →Golf
4. L James →Basketball
5. K Durant →Basketball
6. R McIlroy →Golf
7. N Djokovic →Tennis
8. R Nadal →Tennis
9. MS Dhoni →Cricket
10. C Ronaldo →Football
11. K Bryant →Basketball
12. M Sharapova →Tennis
13. Lionel Messi →Football
14. Usain Bolt →Athletics
15.Neymar→Football
• Bi-cameral Legislature means a Legislature which consists of two
Houses, the Upper House and the Lower House. The Lower House is also
called a popular house as its members are elected directly by the
people. In modern times, most of the Legislatures are Bi-cameral
Legislatures. The concept of Bi-cameral Legislature originated and
developed in the Great Britain.
• Maharashtra Cabinet has approved Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Jan Van
Vikas Scheme for development of villages around tiger reserves. Aim of
this scheme is comprehensive development of villages in and around the
buffer zones of tiger reserves.
• Ms. Nalini Sengupta, a veteran mountaineer, will have the honour of
a Himalayan peak 5260 named after her. This was announced by the
trekkers of the Giripremi Mountaineering Institute after they
conquered Peak 5260 in the Hamta Pass region of the Himalayas and
decided to name it "Mount Nalini" to salute her efforts to inculcate
the thrill of mountaineering in youngsters since 1970.
• The Indian historian, Ramachandra Guha has been chosen for Fukuoka
Asian Culture Prize 2015 in the academic category. The prize will be
conferred upon him on September 17, 2015 in Fukuoka International
Congress Center, Japan. He is best known for his book 'India after
Gandhi: The history of the world's largest democracy" , a history of
India after it gained independence from the British Empire on August
15, 1947.
• Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the 2015 Hungarian
Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) in Budapest.
• Every year 7th August will be celebrated as National Handloom Day.
It was announced by Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in
both the Houses of Parliament. Observance of this day aims at
development of handloom weavers in the country. It also seeks to
promote genuine, global quality handloom in international market.
August 7 was chosen to mark launch day Swadeshi Movement which was
officially proclaimed on 7 August, 1905.
• ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-28 successfully put
five satellites of United Kingdom into designated orbits. For this
mission, ISRO had used high-end XL version of PSLV as it was its
biggest and heaviest commercial launch with overall lift-off mass of
all 5 satellites was 1,440 kg.
• Union Government has launched GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation
(GAGAN) system, for aviation navigation. It is jointly developed by
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Airports Authority of
India (AAI). It will provide augmentation service for GPS over the
India, Bay of Bengal, South-east Asia and Middle East along with
expansion up to Africa.
• Jin Liqun, Former finance Minister of China has been appointed as
President of $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
(AIIB).Presently, Jin is Secretary General of AIIB's interim
secretariat. Prior to this he was chairman of China International
Capital Corporation (CICC), one of the mainland's largest investment
banks.
• Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has set a Guinness World Record
for spending longest time in space with a total of 804 days as on July
2015. With this he broke the previous record of 803 days, nine hours
and 41 minutes set by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (now retired)
across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
• Kazakhstan, a member of the Russia-led economic blocks became 162th
member of World Trade Organization (WTO). Kazakhstan's entry has ended
its long wait of 20 years to become a member of WTO as its accession
talks were initiated in 1996.
• Government of India is planning to develop two immersed tunnels
between Kakdwip and Sagar Island in West Bengal, and Chatham and
Bamboo Flat in the Andaman Nicobar Islands. This Rs. 3000 crore
project is under Detail Project Report (DPR) stage only and will be
finalized soon if these tunnels are found viable.
• The deadline to ratify the TFA is December 2015, after which it will
come into force. According to WTO norms, for the TFA to come into
force, two-thirds of the entire WTO membership must ratify the
agreement. So far nine countries have ratified the deal. India has not
ratified the TFA because India first wants a permanent solution to the
issue of food security for public stockholding.
• Government of India has inked USD 300 million loan pact with Asian
Development Bank (ADB) [Headquarters: Manila] to support the National
Urban Health Mission (NUHM). This mission is aimed at improving health
status of the country's urban population. This loan is ADB's first
health project in India.
• The Finance Ministry is moving towards launching its flagship
project called "Project Insight" to widen the tax base by nabbing tax
evaders using modern technology. It is based on data analytics and
data mining. Recently, tenders to by software was floated.
• Every year July 23 is observed as National Broadcasting day. On this
day in 1927, Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) began organized radio
broadcasting from Bombay station. In India, radio broadcasting began
during the British rule in 1923 under the imitative of the Radio Club
of Bombay.
• The Indian basket represents the average price of Oman and Dubai
sour grade crude and the sweet Brent crude oil processed in Indian
refineries in the ratio of 72:28.
• India's urban female work-force participation rate (WPR) is one of
the world's lowest at 15%, ranking eleventh from the bottom among 131
countries, according to a 2012 report on global employment trends by
the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This, however, might be
changing, with the participation rate growing 5.6% annually since
1991, in comparison with 2% for rural females and 3% for urban males.
[Business Standard]
• India is the world's biggest consumer of edible oils. Edible oil is
India's third-biggest import item after crude oil and gold. India
imports most of its edible oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
• India's first Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance
System (IUHDSS) has been commissioned in Kochi, Kerala. The system
will enable operators to foresee and respond to surface and
sub-surface threats to vital assets along the harbour and warships in
the dock. Points to remember regarding IUHDSS:- a) Designed by Israel
Aerospace Industries (IAI). b) Consists of advance sensors, coastal
surveillance radars and Sound Navigation and Ranging Systems (SONAR).
c) Capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and generating warning
for all types of underwater and surface threats to harbour security.
• Master Ranveer Singh Saini (14 year old) became the first Indian
golfer to win a gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games in Los
Angeles.
• The United Nations (UN) released the report title "World Population
Prospects: The 2015 ". As per the report, India will overtake China to
become the most populous nation in the world by 2022.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Beijing to host
the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the first Olympic Winter
Games ever to be held in China. The games will be held from February 4
to February 20, 2022. It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games
held in Asia, after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.
• The state government of Tamil Nadu instituted a youth award in the
name of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and also declared that
his birthday October 15 would be celebrated as Youth Awakening Day. On
every Independence Day from 2015 onwards, the annual "Dr.APJ Abdul
Kalam Award" would be given to a person from the state who works with
exceptional merit in students welfare, humanities and science. The
award carries Rs. 5 lakh, certificate of appreciation and a gold medal
weighing 8 grams.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue 10 rupee denomination coins
to commemorate the International Day of Yoga (June 21). The coin bears
the logo of the International Day of Yoga, with the inscription
''Saamanjasya evam shanthi ke liye yog'' in Devnagri script and "yoga
for harmony and peace" in English. At the bottom of the logo the date
June 21 will be inscribed. The coins will be legal tender.
• Institutional deliveries in the country increased from 38.7% in
2005-06 (NFHS-3) to 72.9% in 2009 (Unicef's Coverage Evaluation
Survey, or CES), according to health minister J P Nadda.[Lok Sabha]
• The Union Cabinet has recently cleared the National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This proposed Rs. 20,000 fund will be
working as a sovereign wealth fund (similar to Temasek of Singapore
and the Green Investment Bank in the UK) and focus on capital infusion
in infrastructure projects. Rs. 20,000 crore represents Government of
India's equity worth 49%. Additional funds will be provided by
investors.
• India will deploy its first world-class river information system
(RIS) in Sagar-Farakka section of National Waterway (NW) 1. This RIS
will work like air traffic control to ensure smooth flow of vessels
and cargo on the waterway. This waterway runs from Haldia (Sagar) to
Allahabad across Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river system. Several
companies including thermal power plants, cement and fertiliser
companies, and Food Corporation of India have expressed interest in
using NW 1 as a cheap and clean form of transport.
• TPP is a giant free trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and 10
countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Brunei,
Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam
as well as Japan and potentially South Korea also. The talks have
failed to conclude so far.
• HDFC Bank Ltd. Launched 'Dhanchayat' an educational film to raise
awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from unorganised sources.
As part of Swachch Banking, Dhanchayat video vans will cover 5000
villages in phase I and encourage the local public to join the
organized banking sector in line with the government's vision for
financial inclusion. The vans will stop at assembly points viz. Haats,
bazaars, melas and village panchayats and will also have micro-ATMs
with biometric facility fitted in them to enable instant e-KYC and
Re-KYC using Aadhar.
• The Aadiperukku festival has been organised in Tamil Nadu with
traditional gaiety on August 3, 2015. This Hindu Tamil festival
celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (mid-July to
mid-August) in gratitude to water bodies especially Cauvery River.
• Pakistan became the first Asian country to get European Organisation
for Nuclear Research (CERN) membership. Now, Pakistan can participate
in the governance of CERN, by attending meetings of its council. It
will also allow the Pakistani industry to bid for CERN contracts.
Presently, India has observer status in CERN.
• Recently, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a unit of
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been
successful in protecting its traditional knowledge by preventing an
attempt made by British firm Pangaea Laboratories Ltd., to take patent
on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green
tea for treating hair loss. Till date, CSIR-TKDL has prevented approx
200 firms from acquiring patent rights on products grown and nurtured
in India.
• After the approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
African country, South Sudan became the 206th member of the Olympic
family. Now, South Sudan will compete at 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer
Olympics under its own flag.
• Ireland, which benefit from the presence of transnationals, is the
leading exporter of computer and information services, followed by
India.
• Apollo Munich Health Insurance has introduced Dengue Care, the first
exclusive over-the-counter health policy to cover dengue related
expenses. It is available at an one-time premium of Rs. 444 and
provides Rs. 50,000 in-patient and Rs. 10,000 OPD coverage.
• The Union Minister of Rural Development, Mr. Birender Singh
Chaudhary launched the web portal 'SAMANVAY' to monitor progress and
implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for development
of Gram Panchayats.The purpose of this portal is to help Member of
Parliament's (MPs) to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and
implementation of SAGY. Beside, the web portal, 'Panchayat Darpan'
magazine also launched to monitor the progress of the SAGY. It will
act as a mirror of all the development activities in the village
panchayats.
• The notable Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh has been chosen for
the Uttar Pradesh's highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year
2014. The award is given by UP Hindi Sansthan every year, carries a
cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh. His famous novel 'Kashi ka Assi' has been
adapted into upcoming movie 'Mohalla Assi'.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially recognized
' Frisbee' as an Olympic sport.
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special
Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical
Information System. This institute was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien
in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. He was the chief architect who made India
the largest milk producer in the world and is best known as the
"Father of the White Revolution" in India.
• India's leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki launched its first
premium crossover "S-Cross" in India. The vechile will be available in
two diesel engines viz. DDiS 200 and DDiS 320 and sold from the
company's newly-launched Nexa showrooms.
• Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to
commercially launch its 4G high-speed data services in 296 towns
across India. The service will be made available to customers through
Wi-Fi routers, internet dongles and 4G-enabled mobile phones. The
company has also launched an automated platform "Flexpage" that allows
customers to track their data usage and get real-time usage alerts.
With it, customers can also upgrade their mobile plan on the go, as
and when they exhaust their monthly data quota.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI signed the
Phase II of MoU for cooperation in establishing a 'National
Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible
Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India'. The purpose of this
pact is to provide training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) so that they become competitive and boost the productivity of
the sector.
• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement
with UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage
Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a category-2
centre of the UN body. Presently, there are nine category-II centres
related to cultural heritage and the centre at Wildlife Institute of
India (WII), Dehradun will be the first institute to get natural
heritage recognition by UNESCO.
• IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of
loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will
offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a
competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and
Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible
sanctioned loan cases. The refinance scheme will be implemented
through all the branches of the lender.
• India's oldest organized retailer, Shoppers Stop has tied up with
Snapdeal (online shopping portal) to retail their products online.
This partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise
on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores. This
facility will be launched first in North India and will later be
extended to other regions over the next 12 months.
• As per the Forbes's ranking of the 'World's Highest-Paid Actors'
2015, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the
world's top ten highest-paid actors. In the list, Bollywood stars Shah
Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor ranked 18 and 30 with estimated earning of
$26 Million and $15 Million. The list has been topped by actor Robert
Downey Jr with earnings of $ 80 million.
• To strengthen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector, a
Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Mozambique
during the official 5-day visit of President of Mozambique Mr. Filipe
Nyusi to India.
• The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) at
IIT Kharagpur has signed an MoU with the Law School of George
Washington University (GWU) of USA for students and faculty exchange.
• The Kannada poet and freedom fighter Mr. Kayyara Kinhanna Rai (101)
passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district, Kerala. The excerpts
of his works are Shreemukha, Aikyagana, Punarnava, Chethana, Malayala
Sahitya Charithre, Sahithya Drusht, etc.
• The global electronics manufacturing giant, Taiwan-based Foxconn
Technology Group signed an MoU with the state government of
Maharashtra, to set up its manufacturing facility in the state.The
company will invest $5 billion in the next five years. At present,
Foxconn makes devices for Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Black Berry, Kindle
e-reader and Motorola.
• The Maharashtra government has declared the northern part of Thane
Creek as a flamingo sanctuary under Section 18 of the Wildlife
(Protection Act), 1972. This will be the state's second marine
sanctuary after Malvan. The 'Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit' under
the Mangrove Cell will be responsible for the management of the
Sanctuary. The area spreads around 1,690 hectares will includes 896
hectares of mangroves and 794 hectares of adjacent water body and is
located on the western bank, between the Airoli and Vashi bridges that
connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai.
• India has decided to boycott 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference (CPU) to be held in Islamabad next month in protest against
Pakistan not inviting the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
• district Recently, the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
commissioned the 500 MW Unit-13 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power
Station (STPS), Stage-V of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
in Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.
• The Union Minority Affairs Minister Dr. Najma Heptullah has launched
an ambitious scheme "Nai Manzil" for minorities. The scheme seeks to
bridge the academic and skill development gaps between madrassas
passouts and their mainstream counterparts. The scheme will be
beneficial for minority dominated areas specially, Bihar and UP where
most of the minority concentrated blocks are in these two states. As
per Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992,
Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains
are notified as minority communities in India.
• The Swachh Bharat Ranking of 476 cities has released by the Ministry
of Urban Development. As per the performance, the top 3 ranked cities
of India are Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), and Navi Mumbai
(Maharashtra). Among state capitals, Bengaluru comes first (number 7
in the list of all cities) and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala was on
second position (number 8 among all cities) while Patna scored the
least at rank 429. The survey was conducted during 2014-15 in all the
476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each with a
population of above one lakh. It was based on assessing total
sanitation practices covering a set of parameters viz. the extent of
open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste
water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of
water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases, etc. The survey
was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required
under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has
developed a poly-herbal medicine "Lukoskin" for the treatment of
leucoderma (white patches on skin). The ointment has seven ingredients
of plants having properties viz. skin photo sensitizer, anti-blister,
anti- irritation, anti-septic, wound healing and copper supplementing
properties. The oral dose has been formulated to check the emergence
of new spots. Leucoderma is also known as Vitiligo.
• The Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has become the first Indian private firm
to get license from Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) to manufacture Lakshya, a pilotless target aircraft. L & T will
get the technology for its digital version that to be sold to the
armed forces. The digital version of Lakshya is advanced version of
Lakshya-1 whose flight path can be pre-programmed. Lakshya is a
pilotless target aircraft, developed by DRDO.
• As per section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the death penalty
is given by courts. On this issue, the Tripura Legislative Assembly
passed resolution on abolishing death penalty and they send a proposal
to the Government of India (GoI) to bring necessary amendments in this
Act and provide life imprisonment up to death in case of heinous
crimes.
• Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of
Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council.
The WTCF is a non-profit, non-governmental international organisation
formed to create a global platform for cooperation and development of
tourism by tourism cities and organisations from various countries and
regions. (Chairman of the WTCF Council: Mr. Wang Anshun)
• On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the scheme "Suraksha Bandhan" has
been launched by Union Government. Under it, people can gift social
security schemes viz. gift cheques and special deposits to their loved
ones. In it, Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques will be available to
purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branches. The payment of Rs. 351 for Gift
cheques will cover one year payment of the premium of Pradhan Mantri
Suraksha Bima Yojana ( PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana ( PMJJBY). The other facilities under Suraksha Bandhan are
Suraksha Deposit Scheme (Rs. 201) and Jeevan Suraksha deposit scheme
(Rs. 5001). The last date for the enrollment for PMSBY and PMJJBY has
been extended till September 30, 2015.
• Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He
succeeded Governor of West Bengal Mr. Keshri Nath Tripathi, who was
holding an additional charge of Bihar.
• To aid digital literacy in Bihar, the Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi
Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app " Disha" in Bihar. The mobile
app is prepared to spread digital literacy through self-learning
modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. The Disha
handbook is framed by the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the
purpose of digital literacy. The book has been composed to ensure that
anyone with little or no digital literacy can also learn using this
book.
• As per section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code,
the Rajasthan high court banned "Santhara" or a religious fast to
death practised by followers of Jainism, declaring it
unconstitutional. The judgement came after the Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) was filed by Nikhil Soni in 2006 against the practice
of Santhara. According to the Press Trust of India, on average 240
Jains practice santhara (also known Sallekhana Vruta) until death each
year in India.
• As per recently released data by US Department of Agriculture (DoA),
India is the world's largest exporter of beef in FY-2015. In FY-2015,
India exported 2.4 million tonnes of veal and beef, while Brazil
exported 2 million tonnes and Australia exported 1.5 million tonnes..
• The Indian socio-biologist Mr.Raghavendra Gadagkar bestowed with
Germany's highest civilian honour "the Cross of Order of the Merit"
for contribution in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology
and also for works in strengthening research corporation between India
and Germany.
• Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, it is
announced by Google co-founder, Mr. Larry Page. In other words,
Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity
and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same
number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. After
create a new organizational structure, "Alphabet Inc.", Mr. Larry Page
will become the CEO of Alphabet , Mr.Sergey Brin will be President and
Mr.Sundar Pichai will take over the CEO role at Google.
• The Tourism Minister of Goa, Mr. Dilip Parulekar won the Pacific
Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) – Safari India South Asia
Travel Award in the category for 'Best Innovated Tourism Minister' for
the year 2015. He is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this
prestigious award.
• India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, launched '
Saral-Rural Housing Loan' at base rate of 9.70 % for borrowers from
the rural areas. The loan amount will be between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 15
lakh, while the tenure can be anywhere from 3 years to 20 years.
Interest rate will keep changing as the bank changes its base rate.
• The Government of India (GoI) has approved the setting up of All
India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) for imparting MD and Ph.D level
education in the traditional medicine at Sarita Vihar in New Delhi.
The Institute has been conceived as an apex institute of ayurveda with
200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of
Ayurveda at MD and Ph.D level.
• An International Climate Variability and Predictability project
office will be set up in Pune for implementation of intra-seasonal,
seasonal and inter-annual variability and predictability of monsoon
systems. In this regard, an agreement has been signed between Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM) and World Climate
Research Programme, Geneva
• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has
been accredited by UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) as National
Implementing Entity (NIE) for undertaking climate change related
projects from India. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up under the
framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) in 2010 to help developing countries finance clean energy,
other mitigation efforts and adaptation to climate change.
• Ms. Suhasini Haidar, the diplomatic and strategic affairs editor at
The Hindu, won the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for the Best Political
Reporting-2015. The award, instituted by the Prem Bhatia Memorial
Trust, carries a cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000 and a citation.
• Former Indian Cricketer Saurav Ganguly appointed as the social
ambassador of Beverage Maker Coca Cola India and signed a 3-year
contract uptil 2017. Under his contract's stipulations, in addition to
cricket association, Ganguly will lead Coca-Cola's football
programmers and run various football activities. He replaced Sachin
Tendulkar who's contract ended in 2014. Coca Cola is the official
partner of FIFA Under 17 World Cup football in 2017.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL) or Pahal Scheme has been
acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the
largest cash transfer program (households).Till date, 13.9 crore LPG
consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme. The consumers who joined the
PAHAL scheme will get the LPG cylinders at market price and receive
LPG subsidy (as per their entitlement) directly into their bank
accounts. The Pahal Scheme was launched in 54 districts on November
15, 2014 and in remaining districts of the country from January 1,
2015.
• The Government of India (GoI) and the World Bank signed the
financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk
Mitigation Project- I & II (NCRMP- I & II) for $ 104.00 Million and $
308.40 Million. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Home
Affairs through National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). At the
State level, it is executed by the State Disaster Management
Authorities.
• The Delhi government banned on the sale of all blood-thinning
medicines viz. aspirin and ibuprofen without prescription in the
national capital, as these pills causes harm to dengue patients.
• To regain world supremacy in hockey, the Balbir Singh Senior Hockey
Foundation has been launched in Mohali. Balbir Singh, hockey legend
and triple Olympic gold medallist, has donated Rs. 30 lakh to the
foundation, which he received as part of the life time achievement
award from Hockey India in 2015.
• The Netravali wildlife sanctuary is located in South Eastern
Goa.Recently, here the new frog species "Netravali Leaping Frog
(Indirana salelkari)" has been discovered. It is the 12th species in
the Indirana genus. This particular species is distinct from the
others in the genus on the basis of the mouth structure. Molecular
studies and DNA analysis have also established the Netravali Leaping
Frog as a distinct species.
• The Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh has become the first district
in India to have highest number of e-toilets (461) in its schools. The
Kerala-based Eram Scientific Solutions, the sole manufacturers of
e-toilets (electronic toilets) in India, has deployed these automated
and self-cleaning e-toilets in the district as part of the corporate
social responsibility initiatives of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The school model e-toilet "e-Lite14″ has automatic floor wash system,
automatic ceiling light, exhaust fan, in-built sensors to conserve
electricity and water and an overhead water tank. It works on both
solar and electric grid and is priced at Rs.1 lakh. It also has a
one-year warranty and insurance coverage.
• On 69th Independence Day, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced
a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" to encourage
entrepreneurship among the youth of India. The campaign will also
promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost
entrepreneurship and job creation.
• The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has signed two pacts
with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development training in
Eastern states and Bihar. As per the a) First pact: NTPC will provide
skill training to 5000 youth and women across 22 locations with
special focus on the eastern states with in two years and the cost of
the project is Rs 6.5 Crore. b) Second pact: NTPC will will train over
25000 candidates in services and manufacturing sectors across
under-served locations in Bihar. The pact is for 5 years with a
project cost of Rs. 30 crore.
• India and Slovak Republic have signed MoU on technical cooperation
in railway Sector. The tenure of this MoU is 2 years and it will be
automatically renewed for further successive period of two years at a
time. The Key factors of MoU are- a) Infrastructure building and
management station development and workshop modernisation. b)
Information & communication technologies especially for passenger
amenities. c) Modernization of rolling stock. d) Modernization of
Signaling & Telecom.
• To improve credit and minimising the political interference in the
functioning of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the Union Finance Minister
Mr. Arun Jaitley has launched a seven pronged plan called Indradhanush
Mission. The seven shades of Indradhanush mission viz. appointments,
de-stressing PSBs, capitalisation, empowerment, framework of
accountability and governance reforms in PSBs. The plan includes a
capital infusion of Rs 20,000-crore and also hiring private sector
executives for the first time to run public sector lenders.
• Axis bank has launched contactless debit, credit and multi-currency
forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company.
Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency contactless
cards or 'tap and pay' cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies viz.
Saudi Riyal, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Euro, British
Pound, etc. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s guidelines, banks
can process contactless transactions below Rs 2,000 without a personal
identification number.
• Mr. Om Prakash Munjal was the founder and the current chairman of
Hero Cycles, who died in Ludhiana recently.
• Mr. Om Prakash Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, has
been appointed as the new Election Commissioner of India. Mr. Nasim
Zaidi is the current Chief Election Commissioner and Election
Commissioner other than Mr. Om Prakash Rawa is Mr. Achal Kumar Jyoti.
• For the first time, Chief Minister of Gujarat Ms. Anandiben Patel
ban on the use of plastic in the State.
• Taj Mahal, the symbol of true love and architectural brilliance, has
become the first historical monument in the world to have its own
Twitter account. The Twitter Account was lauched by Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav.
• India has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty for period of 5 years
on Potassium Carbonate imports from Taiwan and South Korea. The duty
was imposed by Union Finance Ministry based on the recommendations of
the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD) that works under
the aegis of Union Commerce Ministry.
• Prof. Mustansir Barma won the 2015 Gujar Mal Modi Award for his
commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
• The ISRO scientist, Ms. N. Valarmathi has conferred with the first
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2015. The award is instituted by the
Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam in 2015. It carries Rs. 5 lakh, a gold medal and a
certificate of appreciation. The annual award is for a person from
Tamil Nadu striving for scientific advancement, humanities or students
welfare. Ms. Valarmathi is the project director of India's first
indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-1.
• To make India Disabled-Friendly, the Accessible India Campaign (or
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan) will soon launched by the Union Government.
The joint venture of Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (DEPWD) and the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment is set to launch Accessible India Campaign in 7 Cities
viz. New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Maharashtra and Haryana.
The programme will focus on grievances of people with disabilities
and the problems they face in mobility.
• The union government has decided to set up Bank Board Bureau (BBB)
for Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Where each band would be monitored on
the basis of key performance indicators. The Bank Board Bureau will
recommend appointment of directors in PSBS and advise on ways for
raising funds and mergers and Acquisitions to the lenders.
• Mr. Ajit Kumar Seth has been appointed as the Chairman of the Public
Enterprises Slection Board (PESB).
• The Online property search portal, Housing.com has acquired
Bengaluru-based HomeBuy 360 (HB360), a customer relationship
management software company, for $2 million or Rs 13 crore. The HB360
is a cloud-based sales lifecycle management platform that connects
developers, agents and buyers. With this acquisition, Housing. Com
became the only online rear estate listing platform to won a developer
CRM company In it, developers and agents can streamline the entire
sales lifecycle, by tracking inventory, managing customer relations
and in effect drives efficiencies in their sale operations.
• Saina Nehwal has became the first Indian to win silver medal in the
2015 world Badminton Championship.
• To empower gram panchayats, the Telangana Chief Minister Mr. K.
charndrasekhar Rao launched a flagship programme "Gram Jyathi" at
Gangadevipally, a village in Warangal district. The purpose of the
scheme is to strengthen villages in areas viz. water and sanitation.
Health and nutrition, education, social security and povery
eradication, natural resources management, agriculture and
infrastructure. It will ensure inclusive and holistic development of
villages through people's Participation in planning and collective
cecision-making. Each village will be allocated Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 6
crore dipending on their population.
• The country's largest lender, the State bank of India (SBI)
lanunched a mobile wallet app "SBI Buddy" in collaboration with
Accenture and MasterCard. The 'SBI Buddy' application will be
available for all customers irrespective of the bank the customer is
banking with or card customer is using. The application will be
available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It sha many
viz. can be used to send money to registered and new users, recharge
and pay bills instantly also book for movie tickets and flights.
• To provide soft loan for establishment of a Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has
launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI). The Union Government will invest Rs 2,000-crore in India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) and Rs. 10,000 in SIDBI Make In India Loan For
Enterprises (SMILE) scheme.
• The Odisha government launched "State level Facilitation Cell
(SLFC)" in order to clear investment proposals in 15-30 days. The SLFC
has categorised companies in two categories viz. green and non-green.
It will provide clearances to green category projects viz. agri-based
industries, food-processing, cottage industries etc. within 15 days.
All other industrial projects placed under the non-green category
would receive approvals within 30 days.
• The Government of India (GoI) has imposed anti-dumping duty on
'flax' (or linen) fabric imports from China and Hong Kong for a period
of 5 years. This duty would be applicable only on those flax fabrics
with flax content of over 50 %. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of
Finance has imposed anti-dumping duty of $ 0.75 per metre on 'flax'
fabric imported from China and $ 0.65 per meter fabric imported from
Hong Kong.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has inked a
pact with IIT-Kharagpur to undertake collaborative research to meet
the futuristic defence technological needs of the country. The purpose
of this Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) is to facilitate the ongoing
research programmes of the DRDO and to initiate a collaborative
research and academic programme in select areas of relevance to
national defence.
• The ICICI Bank launched the 'Smart Vault', a fully automated
state-of-the-art locker available 24×7, including weekends and post
banking hours. The 'Smart Vault' uses robotic technology to access the
lockers from the safe vault and enables customers to conveniently
access their lockers at any time of their preference, in the comfort
of a secure lounge where the locker automatically comes up to the
customer. Customers can access the lockers in total privacy without
any intervention of the branch staff.
• The Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully
solar-powered airport. It is situated in the city of Kochi, Kerala.
The airport's solar power plant, which is comprised of more than
46,000 solar panels arrayed across 45 acres of land, will produce
48,000 units of energy per day.
• The Malayalam actor Mr. Paravoor Bharathan (86) passed away due to
prolonged illness at Kochi, Kerala. Some of the remarkable films that
he did were In Harihara Nagar, Aniathipravu, Meleparambil Aanveedu,
Mazhavil Kavadi, etc.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to 11
entities viz. Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone,
Airtel, Department of Posts (DoP), Cholamandalam Distribution
Services, Tech Mahindra, National Securities Depository Limited
(NSDL), FinoPayTech, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi and PayTM'
to set up Payments Banks. The key features of Payments banks are as
follows: a) the bank licence will allow companies to collect deposits
(initially up to Rs. 1 lakh per individual). b) offer Internet
banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual
funds. c) can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards. d) can also
distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products viz. mutual
funds and insurance products. e) will not be allowed to undertake
lending services and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) will not be allowed
to open accounts.
• The Kerala government inked pact with Adani groups for the
construction of proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport project for
Rs. 7,525 crore.
• The Indian international goalkeeper, Ms. Aditi Chauhan has become
the India's first woman to play in West Ham United Ladies Football
Club. The club is an English women's football club affiliated with
West Ham United FC.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an Indian government
agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined
by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is part of the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), Government of India. (Headquartered: New Delhi).
• To provide single window access for students to apply for education
loans and government scholarships, a web-based portal "Vidya Lakshmi
(www.vidyalakshmi.co.in)" has been launched by the Union Government.
The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of
banks, common educational loan application form for students, facility
to apply to multiple banks for educational loans and facility for
banks to download students' loan applications.The portal also has
facility for banks to upload loan processing status, facility for
students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans,
dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan
applications for government scholarships. The Vidya Lakshmi Portal is
developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited
(NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development and Indian Banks' Association (IBA).
• The 'Desi Hoppers' became the first Indian crew to won the 'World of
Dance' championship in Los Angeles, California. The group of seven
young dancers led by Shantanu Maheshwari, Macedon Dmello and Nimit
Kotian. The Indian crew defeated 14 countries across 34 performances
in the finals and also won "Crowd Favourite" title.
• The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley launched India
Aspiration Fund (IAF) as a fund of funds under the Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in order to boost the startup
ecosystem. It will invest Rs 2,000-crore in this fund and India's
largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
will be the partner and co-investor in the IAF.
• As per the NCRB Report, Madhya Pradesh has highest crime rate among
the states. The state has recorded a total of 2,72,423 cognisable
crimes in 2014 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The NASA's spacecraft, Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer (LADEE) founded the presence of glowing neon gas on the
moon's atmosphere. Neon gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth
because of its intense glow.
• Bangladesh became the first country to receive funds from the United
Nations (UN) for its fast growing solar home systems. The UNFCCC (UN
Framework Convention for Climate Change) has issued carbon credits
worth $ 3.56 million to two Bangladeshi organisations viz. Grameen
Shakti and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL).
• The 1984-batch IPS officer, Mr. Karnal Singh has given an additional
charge as the chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a period of 3
months or until further orders for a regular appointment. Currently,
Mr. Singh is an ED Special Director. The Directorate of Enforcement
(ED) is a specialized financial investigation agency under the
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It is mandated to
investigate cases of money laundering and foreign exchange rule
violations.
• To curb black money generation, India approved pact with the
Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes. The agreement will
stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for
tax purposes, which will help curb tax evasion and avoidance.
• The Bangladesh Novelist Zia Haider Rahman won the UK's oldest
literary award, James Tait Black Award 2015, for his debut novel "In
the Light of What We Know". The novel is based on a disillusioned
banker who is reunited with an old friend before embarking on an epic
journey.
• Ace Indian golfer Aditi Ashok (17) became the first woman and
youngest player from India to won the prestigious Ladies British
amateur stroke-play Championship 2015 at Leeds, United Kingdom.
• Per the recently released Red List of International Union For
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Asiatic Wild Ass has been classified as
an endangered animal. The IUCN has moved the Asiatic wild ass from the
'vulnerable' to 'endangered' category and indicates the need for
heightened protection measures. The Asiatic Wild Ass is locally known
as ghudkhar and found only in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. (
Scientific name of Asiatic Wild Ass : Equus hemionus).
• The Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile-based
application system " R-Mitra" to ensure women's safety. The basic
functionality of R-Mitra (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response and
Assistance) is to alert the nearest RPF inspector and divisional
security control room in case of any emergency with the press of a
button only. The app works both online and offline in SMS mode by
using the helpline number 56161. It is introduced by Eastern Railway
in Kolkata.
• The state government of Himachal Pradesh launched RISHTA project, an
efficient smart LED based street lighting project. The RISHTA project
stands for Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement.
It is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS)
and will be implemented by collaboration of state Urban Development
Department and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL). This project
will replace approx 63,484 street lights with LEDs in all the Urban
Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 % energy savings.
• To boost the trade and commerce in seafood sector, the Government of
India (GoI) will organise the 'India International Seafood' show in
Chennai on January, 2016.
• The US-based online taxi aggregator, Uber cabs tied up with Airtel
to set up WiFi hotspots in each of its cabs. As part of partnership,
consumers using Uber cabs can pay through Airtel's mobile wallet
service "Airtel Money" and would also get to use free 4G speed, Wifi
in the cabs. Mumbai will be the first city in India to enjoy free
high-speed internet from Uber, powered by Airtel 4G and will be rolled
out in other cities soon.
• The IT services company, Infosys launched the three new-age IT
services viz. design thinking, platforms and knowledge-based IT,
through an umbrella offering called Aikido. Aikido is a combination of
three words viz. Ai, Ki and Do, which in Japanese mean combining,
spirit and path/way. To simplify the complexity of technologies and to
create innovative solutions, these new IT services are are as follows:
a) 'Ki' stands for knowledge-based management and evolution of
landscapes which captures the knowledge within an organisation. b) Do'
refers to services offering on design thinking and design-led
initiatives that would help in understanding and defining a client's
problems. c) 'Ai' refers to platforms and platforms-as-a-service to
build intelligent solutions.
• Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (19) became the the first teenager to won the
2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. He is an
Eritrean long distance runner who specialises in the marathon.
• The Chengalikodan banana variety from Thrissur district of Kerala
has been accorded Geographical Indication (GI) status by the Chennai
based Central GI registry. This banana variant is uniquely grown in
Chowannur, Pazhayannur, Wadakkanchery, Puzhakkal and Ollukkara block
panchayats in Thrissur district of Kerala. It is known for its unique
shape, size, colour and taste.
• To boost telemedicine in rural parts of India, "SEHAT", a health
care initiative has been launched by the Union Minister for
Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad at the
India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. As part of the inititive, people in
rural areas can consult doctors online and also order generic
drugs.This Social Endeavour for Health And Telemedicine (SEHAT)
venture with the Apollo Hospitals is expected to connect 60,000 Common
Service Centres (CSCs) across the country to a common network and
provide healthcare access to millions of citizens irrespective of
geographical location or connectivity.
• India will host the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal on
September 10-12, 2015. The theme of this year's conference is 'Hindi
Jagat: Vistar avm sambhavnai (the world of Hindi: expansion and
possibilities)'. The 1st World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur in
1975. Afterwards, the nine other conferences have been held in various
parts of the world. The last conference was held in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 2012.
• The veteran actor-director Mr. Amol Palekar has been appointed as
the chairman of India's Oscar jury by Mumbai based Film Federation of
Indiaof India (FFI). Mr. Palekar will head the 17-member jury panel,
which will select the country's official entry in the Best Foreign
Language Film at the Oscar awards 2016.
• The Justice AP Shah Committee has recommended that the Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs) must be granted relief on Minimum
Alternate Tax (MAT) for the period before April 1, 2015. As per the
Finance Act, 2015 proposed in the union budget, the 20 % MAT on
capital gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year
2015-16. Though, the issue of imposing MAT for past years till 2014-15
has become controversial. If this recommendation is accepted, it would
mean a significant relief for FIIs facing several years of levies on
capital gains made by them.
• The Temple of Baalshamin was an ancient temple in the city of
Palmyra, Syria, dedicated to the Canaanite deity Baalshamin. On August
2015, the temple was demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) after the capture of Palmyra during the Syrian Civil
War.
• India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games,
Dhyan Chand Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India. The award is named after the legendary
Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand. It carries a cash prize of
Rs.500,000, a plaque and a scroll of honour. It is given to honour
those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their
performance and continue to contribute to the promotion of sports even
after their retirement from active sporting career. The 2015 Dhyan
Chand Award winners are Romeo James (Hockey), Shiv Prakash Mishra
(Tennis) and T.P.P. Nair (Volleyball).
• The Union Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad released a Rs.5
postal stamp in honour of Ashoka, the Great, the great Indian emperor
of Mauryan dynasty.
• Dr. Girish Sahni has assumed charge as the next Director General of
the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary,
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR). Previously, he
was the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology
(CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
• To ensure fuel supplies for power stations and prevent nuclear
proliferation, the world's first International Controlled Bank of
low-enriched Uranium will be hosted by the ex-Soviet nation,
Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully
launched India's communication satellite GSAT-6 using its heavy rocket
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D6) from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, Sriharikota. The ekey points about GSAT-6 are as
follows- a) It will provide communication through five spot beams in
S-band and a national beam in C-band for strategic users. b) The
S-Band Unfurlable Antenna of six metre diameter is one of the advanced
features of GSAT-6 satellite. c) Spot beams exploit the frequency
reuse scheme to increase frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. d)
Satellite's life expectancy : 9 years.
• The 8th International Conference on "Indian Civil Aviation and
Tourism" was held in New Delhi. The event was organized by Ministry of
Civil Aviation and ASSOCHAM. The purpose of this conference is to hold
deliberations on various issues affecting the aviation sector and
invite suggestions from the stakeholders to meet these challenges.
• The Indian Army released Amar Chitra Katha and Aan Comics on
inspirational stories of war heroes. India's favorite storyteller,
Amar Chitra Katha has presented a book on inspirational stories of 21
Param Vir Chakra Awardees, as a tribute to the recipients of the
highest gallantry award in India. Four Aan Comics were also released
based on the heroics of four war heroes who fought in 1965 Indo Pak
war and were awarded Maha Vir Chakra. They were Maj Asaram Tyagi, Maj
Bhaskar Roy, Sub Ajit Singh and Sub Tika Bahadur Thapa.
• The Government of India (GoI) launched e-payment module to deposit
compensatory levies into CAMPA Funds. The module was launched by
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar. This e-payment module will cut
delays and bring transparency in the system. The payment through the
e-payment module has to be made to the designated account, depending
on the State in which the forest land, proposed to be diverted, is
located. The CAMPA stands for Compensatory Afforestation Fund
Management and Planning Authority.
• The 6th Joint Military Training Exercise "EXERCISE EKUVERIN – VI"
will be conducted between the Indian Army and the Maldives National
Defence Forces at Pangode Military Station, Trivandrum, Kerala from
August 31 to September 13, 2015.
• The 10-day-long Hindu festival, Onam is celebrated with a great
enthusiasm throughout Kerala between August and September. It is
celebrated to honour King Mahabali, who according to legend ruled the
state once, under whom the people were equal, prosperous and happy. As
per the mythology, people believe that it was on this particular day
of Thiruvonam in the Malayalam calender month of Chingam when Lord
Mahavishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom
of King Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld. So, as per the
legends, on this day, the spirit of King Mahabali visits the people of
Kerala and to welcome him, people decorate their homes with flowers,
etc.
• The World Health Oraganistion (WHO) has officially declared India as
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free country, i.e. mothers and newborns
are free from tetanus at the time of birth. Before that, India was
declared polio free country in 2014.
• Mr. Raghav Chandra has been appointed as the Chairman of National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Mr. Chandra is a 1982 batch IAS
officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre.
• The public sector bank, Indian Bank launched a mobile application
service " IndPay" that enables its customers to operate their bank
accounts at any point of time.This mobile application can be operated
through smartphones compatible with Android, Windows and iOS mobile
operating systems. The customers can use the transactions viz.
transfer of cash, checking for balance, getting mini statements and
also transactions to other accounts.
• India has gifted its former Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Varaha to
Sri Lanka. The patrol ship was in the service of the island nation
since 2006 and it was rechristened 'Sagara' by Sri Lanka. Now, it will
help Sri Lanka to maintain maritime security in the region. ICG Varaha
is 75 m in length and 11 m in width.
• The second version of an open source web based tool, India Energy
Security Scenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047) has been launched by
the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. It's
purpose is to explore wide range of potential future energy scenarios
for India including for its diverse energy supply and demand sectors
leading up to 2047. In this project, United Kingdom's Department for
Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is the initiative partner with NITI
Aayog.
• The first Sunhak Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to President of
Kiribati Islands Mr. Anote Tong and noted Indian agricultural
scientist Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta with a certificate, a medal and
shared $ 1 million prize money. This award is given to eminent
individuals from around the world for their contribution to peace and
development of the world.
• The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2014-15 has been
conferred by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to the following
recipients viz. ITBP officer Mr. Jot Singh (Mountaineering), Ms.
Arunima Sinha (Mountaineering), Wg. Cdr. Paramveer Singh (Aqua Sport),
Lt. Col Satyendra Verma (Sky diving) and Col. Satish Chander Sharma
(Mountaineering) at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi .
The award is given to sportspersons for his or her outstanding
achievement within the field of adventure activities.
• Tennis ace Ms. Sania Mirza has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna award 2015. She became the second tennis player to receive the
country's highest sporting honour after Leander Paes.
• The renowned scholar and Kannada researcher, Dr. Malleshappa M.
Kalburgi (77) was shot dead by 2 gunmen at his residence in Dharwad
district of Karnataka on August 30, 2015. Dr. Kalburgi was a
controversial writer and scholar, who had spoken openly against
idolatry tradition in Hinduism. He was scholar of Vachana sahitya
(Vachana literature), Kannada epigraphist and academician who served
as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He has written
over 20 publications viz. Neeru Neeradisittu, Sarangarshi, Kachhittu
Kalyan, etc.
• The Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the digital version of
epic "Ramcharitmanas", as a set of digital CDs prepared by All India
Radio (AIR). The great epic poem, Ramcharitmanas was composed by the
16th-century Indian bhakti poet Goswami Tulsidas ji in Awadhi
language. The poem literally means "Lake of the deeds of Rama, its' a
retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the story of
Lord Rama, with very intense devotion.
• The Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan
has launched SAHAJ scheme for online release of new LPG connections
for the consumers as parts of its consumer friendly initiative in New
Delhi. As per the scheme, people can apply online for new LPG
connection and they need not visit to the LPG distributors for it. The
facility will enable the customers to post online request for a new
connection by filing Know Your Customer (KYC) form by uploading bank
account details and photographs. Initially, the scheme has been
launched in 12 cities viz. Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal,
Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai and
Pune.
• The 21st edition of the Delhi Book Fair 2015 has been launched at
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It has been organised jointy by India Trade
Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) and subsidised entry tickets priced at Rs. 20 for the 9-day fair
till Sepetember 6, 2015. It is based on the theme of 'Skill
Development', to offer people an idea about skill development and how
it can change the life of the youth.
• On August 31, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago
celebrate their Independence Day. On August 31, 1991 Kyrgyzstan became
an independent nation after the break up of Soviet Union. Trinidad and
Tobago got independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1962 and
Malaysia got independence from the United Kingdom on August 31,1957.
• The 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi has
been appointed as Union ome Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs
for a period of two years. He succeeded Mr. L C Goyal. Previously, Mr.
Mehrishi was serving as Secretary in the Department of Economic
Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
• Himadri Station, established in 2008, is India's first Arctic
research station. It is located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. It's
research goals include analysis of the surface water, and atmospheric
research near Arctic region, apart from aerosol radiation, space
weather, microbial communities, glaciers, sedimentology, and carbon
recycling.
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