1. India has recently contributed $500,000 to the UN Peace building Fund (PBF) to boost efforts of United Nations for building and sustaining peace across the world. India has been a Member of the UN Peace Building Commission (PBC) since its inception in December 2005 and has so far contributed $5 million to the Peacebuilding Fund. The fresh contribution of $5 Lakh to the fund will be effected over the coming days. The UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is an intergovernmental advisory body that supports peace efforts in conflict affected countries and is a key addition to the capacity of the International Community in the broad peace agenda.
2. Kottayan Katankot Venugopal (86), a noted constitutional expert and senior advocate, has been appointed as the new Attorney General of India with effect from June 30, 2017 and shall have a tenure of 3 years. He succeeded Mukul Rohatgi. Venugopal has become a law officer for the 2nd time after being an Additional Solicitor General during the Morarji Desai government during the seventies. He is the recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. The Attorney General for India is the Indian government's chief legal advisor and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. He is appointed by the President of India under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President.
3. Two Indian-Americans, Adobe Chief Shantanu Narayen and former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will be honoured with the prestigious 2017 Great Immigrants: The Pride of America" award on US's Independence Day on July 4, 2017. They are among 38 immigrants to be honoured this year for their role in helping advance the country's society, culture and economy. Among other honorees include Canadian-origin social entrepreneur Jeff Skoll, who has been awarded the 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, PayPal cofounder of Ukrainian origin Max Levchin, Iranian-origin philanthropist and entrepreneur Hushang Ansary.
4. Vijay Gokhale, a 1981 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed as the new Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Currently, he is Indian Ambassador to China. Beside this, Gokhale has served as Ambassador of India to Germany and also in Indian missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York.
5. RK Pachnanda, the 1983 batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has taken charge as the new Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and will have tenure with ITBP till October 31, 2018. He succeeded ITBP DG Krishna Chaudhary, who retired from service on June 30, 2017. Prior to this appointment, Pachnanda was serving as Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
6. Minaketan Das (56), the noted Odia actor, has passed away in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The actor was well-known in the state's film and television industry for his negative roles. Das was known for his acting in a number of Odia films including Balunga Toka, Jianta Bhuta and Most Wanted.
7. Simone Veil (89), the iconic European feminist politician, has passed away on June 30, 2017 in Paris, France. Veil played a leading role in legalizing contraception and abortion in France. She was the first female President of the European parliament since the Parliament was created in 1952.
8. The Hyderabad-based astrologer and numerologist TS Vineeth Bhatt has been conferred with the 'Best astrologer of the world' award at the Russian-Indian economic dialogue round-table meet held in Moscow. The event was organized by Peacemakers International, a charity that works for advancement of conflict resolution through mediation services and training.
9. Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveries have been awarded the 2017 Global Leadership Awards of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) at the USIBC 42nd Anniversary Leadership Summit in Washington DC for their role in integrating India in the global supply chain. Both were honoured for creating inclusive business environments, integrating India into the global supply chain and advancing core values such as manufacturing, innovation and scale in tough market conditions. Beside this, USIBC has also presented its first-ever "Artistic Achievement Award" to Yashwant Shirwadkar, a visionary and master in impressionistic landscape painting inspired by scenic cities in India.
10. The United Nations (UN)' International Co-operative Day (IDC) is observed every year on the first Saturday of to recognize and reaffirms the role of cooperatives in economic, social and cultural development and in the achievement of social policy objectives. This year, in 2017, the day is observed on July 1 under the theme 'Co-operatives ensure no one is left behind'. The 2017 IDC theme complements the priority theme of the 2017 High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development: 'Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world'.
11. The 41st session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee has started in Krakow, Poland from July 2 to 12, 2017. During the session, the Committee will notably consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List and examine the state of conservation of sites already inscribed on the List as well as many other issues concerning the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, elected by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention.
12. Sabita Chowdhury (72), the well-known singer, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on June 29, 2017. She was wife of legendary composer Salil Chowdhury. Some of her famous songs are Oi jhilmil jhauer boney, Jaare jaa jaa mono paakhi, Jhilmil jhilmil opaarero monjil and Du chokhey aashaar nodi chhalachhal.
13. Germany has won the 10th edition of FIFA Confederation Cup Football-2017 title by defeating Copa America Champion Chile by 1-0 goals in the final at St Petersburg, Russia. With this, Germany has won the title for the first time after Lars Stindl scored the only goal in the 20th minute when Chile midfielder Marcelo Diaz gave the ball away on the edge of his own area.
14. Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat, an IPS officer from Telangana, has been bestowed with the 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Heroes Award by the Unites States Department of State for his vital role in elevating human trafficking as a government priority and his innovative approach to investigating cases and dismantling trafficking operations. Currently, he is serving as the first Commissioner of Police of Rachakonda.
15. The National Doctors' Day (NDD) is celebrated every year in India on July 1 to honour the legendary physician and the second Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. The day is an attempt to emphasize on the value of doctors in our lives and to offer them our respects by commemorating one of their greatest representatives.
16. Shivraj Singh Chouhan (the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh) and Rajeev Pratap Rudy (the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) has laid the foundation stone of the India's biggest Global Skill Park in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on July 3, 2017. As per reports, 37 acre land has been allotted in Narela Shankari area of Bhopal for the Global Skill Park. The park will be constructed at a cost of Rs 645 crore. Training will be imparted to 1000 students every year by trainers of international standard. Trained students will be given placement in India and outside India at international level. The park will function on the spirit of 'With Industry -For Industry'.
17. Carrie Lam has become the first woman chief executive of Hong Kong on July 1, 2017 after winning the 2017 Chief Executive election. She is known as a tough and effective enforcer. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) is the highest office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Hong Kong is a special administration region of China, which rules it under the "one country, two systems" principle. Under the system, Hong Kong enjoys a degree of autonomy and rights not seen in the mainland.
18. India's tallest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower has installed at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi. The new 101.9m ATC tower has built at a cost of Rs 350 and is likely to start operations by December 2017. Once ready, it will be the 7th tallest ATC tower in the world. The new ATC tower will have 21 controller positions with a 360 degree view at the visual control room and 12 ground controllers at the operational level. Also, this is for the first time in the country that Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) technology will be used to increase the comfort of occupants and reduce building sway.
19. According to RBI's Financial Stability Report (FSR) June 2017, India's economic growth rate has forecasted at 7.3% in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the current fiscal year FY 2017-18. The report projected CPI inflation to be in the range of 2-3.5% in the first half of the year and 3.5-4.5% in the second half. It stated that Retail inflation, excluding food and fuel that remained sticky during H2 of FY17 at around 4.9%, dipped to 4.3% in April and 4.2% in May 2017, largely reflecting the impact of decline in global crude oil prices on transport and communication and moderate price pressures in services. The FSR reflects the overall assessment on the stability of India's financial system and its resilience to risks emanating from global and domestic factors.
20. The World Sports Journalists Day (WSJD) is observed every year on July 2 to mark the services of sports journalists for the promotion of sports. The purpose of the day is to encouraged sports journalists to strive for excellence in their work and to set an example to the world – not only to the world of sport, but to the world at large.
21. The Government of India (GoI) has signed a $220 million loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for improving road connectivity as well as transport efficiency and safety on state highways of Rajasthan. The loan is the first tranche of the 500 million dollar Rajasthan State Highways Investment Program, approved by ADB Board in May 2017. The first tranche loan will improve about 1,000km of State Highways and major district roads. It will have a 25-year term, including a grace period of 8 years, and carry an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB's London interbank offered rate-based (LIBOR) lending facility. The total cost of the project is $1.415 billion, with the government contributing $465 million and $450 million coming from the private sector and other concessionaries.
22. The International Plastic Bag Free Day (IPBFD) is observed every year on July 3 to highlight the need to phase-out plastic bags and to promote organic reusable bags. The day signifies the ability for the world to come together and create an environment that is plastic free and educating individuals about current alternatives to plastics and other wastes.
23. Ana Brnabic, an independent politician, has become the first openly gay person and the first female Prime Minister of Serbia. She succeeded Ivica Dacic on June 29, 2017. The role of the Prime Minister in Serbia is to direct the work of the Government, and to submit to the National Assembly the Government's Program, including a list of proposed ministers. The resignation of the Prime Minister will cause the fall of the Government.
24. Jehan Daruvala of Sahara Force India Academy has become the first Indian driver to win in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Race 3 at the Nuremberg circuit on July 2, 2017. Jehan's victory in race 3 comes 18 years after Narain Karthikeyan won in the British F3 Championship. The 2.3-km Norisring is an extremely fast and flowing layout for a street circuit and mistakes are punished by the concrete walls instead of tyre barriers. FIA Formula 3 is the toughest junior racing category in the world.
25. India has ranked 88th with 676 million Swiss francs (about Rs 4,500 crore) in terms of money parked by its citizens with Swiss banks, according to an analysis by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) for 2016-end. As per latest figures, the money officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland now accounts for a meagre 0.04% of the total funds kept by all foreign clients in the Swiss banking system. The SNB's official figures haven't include the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries. The United Kingdom (UK) has topped the list, followef by United States (US), West Indies, France, Bahamas, Germany, Guernsey, ect.
26. The National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) will merge with Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) to create India's third largest commodities exchange. The merger, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by December 2017. ICEX's shareholders will hold a 62.8% stake in the merged entity while the balance will be held by shareholders of NMCE. The proposed merger will offer a range of contracts including bullion, oil, rubber and other agri-commodities. The exchange will also offer the world's first diamond futures contract, which has already received "in-principle" approval from the regulator. The NMCE is the India's first demutualised online national multi-commodities exchange.
27. Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, has launched G-Ride, a digital ride sharing app for techies. The app is specially designed and deployed for the IT industry by the Group of Technology Companies (Gtech), the industry body of IT companies in the state. The G-Ride app automatically matches co-workers and neighbours and help them travel together to work. It is available in Android and iOS versions.
28. Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), a Pune-based NGO, has won the 2017 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s Equator Prize for its women led climate resilient agro-ecological farming model and innovative solutions in climate resilient farming in the Marathwada region of India. The SSP is one of the 15 winners of Equator Prize 2017 by UNDP. The SSP has empowered 72,000 women in the drought-prone state of Maharashtra to act as agricultural decision-makers, improving their health, food security, and economic well-being.
29. The 9th edition of Delhi Dialogue has started with theme "ASEAN-India Relations: Charting the Course for the Next 25 Years" in New Delhi on July 4, 2017. It has inaugurated and addressed by the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. In the two day dialogue, political leaders, policy makers, senior officials, diplomats, business leaders, think tanks and academicians from India and ASEAN countries will participate in the discussions. It is a premier event to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between ASEAN and India. This Dialogue has been held annually since 2009.
30. The Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is located at the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state. It is notable as Maharashtra's oldest and largest national park. The reserve is home to Bengal Tiger, Indian leopards, sloth bears, gaur, nilgai, orange-headed thrush, Indian pitta, crested treeswift, etc. The TATR is one of India's 50 "Project Tiger" – tiger reserves.
31. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the union minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has launched a month-long plantation drive to mark Van Mahotsav on July 5, 2017. Van Mahotsav is an annual tree-planting movement in India, which began in 1950. It is usually observed in the first week of July every year and is celebrated on different days in different parts of India. The purpose of the festival is to raise the awareness of trees among people and to highlight the need for planting and tending of trees as one of the best ways to prevent global warming and reduce pollution.
32. Sanjay Gupta, the CEO of Jagran Prakashan Ltd, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the society and Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Amritsar for a period of five years w.e.f. June 23, 2017. He is the Editor in Chief of Dainik Jagran since 2014 and has been associated with the Jagran Group for more than two decades. Earlier, he also served as a member on the board of governors of IIM Lucknow and of Motilal Nehru Institute of Technology, Allahabad. He is also a member of the Shri Piran Chand Gupta Samarak Trust which runs several colleges and schools across the country.
33. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has recently approved $329 million loan to build access roads to 4,000 villages in all 33 districts of Gujarat. This project will construct and upgrade district and farm-to-market roads for the villagers and provide approaches to educational institutions, schools and hospitals. The upgraded road access is expected to have a positive impact on women and girls by improving school attendance rates as the latter drop out due to lack of access to all weather roads. The project will also better integrate rural population, tribal villages, business and industries with the national and state economy through better transport connectivity. This is a standalone project by AIIB and part of phase one of the multi-phase Gujarat's 'Chief Minister's Rural Roads Programme' that complements the Centre's 'Prime Minister's Rural Roads Programme'. To monitor the project's progress, the AIIB will pilot a software tool specifically developed for this. The AIIB is a multilateral development bank, headquartered in Beijing, which commenced its operation in January 2016 and has now grown to 80 approved members from around the world.
34. The first-ever Save Public Sector Banks Day (SPSBD) will be celebrated by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on July 19, 2017, the 48th anniversary of nationalization of major banks in India. All members will wear a commemorative badge on the day, display posters in front of all branches, distribute leaflets and hold rallies/demonstrations at all centers across the country. The Government of India (GoI) issued an ordinance and nationalized the 14 largest commercial banks with effect from the midnight of July 19, 1969.
35. The Karnataka Government has recently launched the 'Elevate 100' scheme to identify and nurture innovative start-ups. The purpose of the scheme is to identify 100 most innovative start-ups in the state to elevate them to the next level of success. The Elevate scheme is the brainchild of the start-up cell, Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS), to help start-ups across the state succeed by providing them with access to mentors, networking opportunities, and in-depth sessions for start-ups on accounting, and emerging technologies.
36. Sanjay Kumar, the 1985-batch IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the new Director General (DG) of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). He will succeed R K Pachnanda, who was has taken charge as DG the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Prior to this appointment, he was director general of police (DGP) in Himachal Pradesh. The NDRF has 12 battalions with a strength of over 13,000 personnel. It is mandated to undertake special disaster response and combat roles independently and also assist local authorities in launching a quick rescue and response operation to save life and property.
37. The 15-day long annual joint military training exercise "Ex-Maitree-2017" between the Indian and Thai army has started from July 3, 2017 at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh. The aim of the joint military exercise is to build and promote bilateral Army-to-Army relations and enhance inter-operability between the two armies. Exercise Maitree 2017 is a continuation of a series of joint exercises between the Indian Army and the Royal Thailand Army. The previous edition of the exercise was held at Krabi in Thailand in 2016.
38. Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, has launched the Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency (MERIT) app and e-bidding portal for providing e-Bidding solution to States to select Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for procurement of power by transferring their domestic coal under the scheme of flexibility in utilization of domestic coal. This system will bring transparency in states' power distribution and sales and save Rs 20 thousand crore in next 5 to 7 years.
39. In Arunachal Pradesh, the most popular Dree festival of Apatani community has celebrated across the State with traditional pomp and gaiety on July 5, 2017. Through this festival, the Apatanis pray their traditional Gods to bring in a bountiful harvest season along with defeat of destructive forces in the society. The festival is marked by grand ritual and community feasts. Traditional songs and dances are part of main attraction of the Dree.
40. The Wilpattu National Park (WNP) is the largest and one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (Natural lakes) – Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. The park is 1,317 square kilometers (131, 693 hectares) and ranges from 0 to 152 meters above sea level. It is home to elephant, sloth bear, leopard, water buffalo, etc. The most common reptiles found in the park are the monitor lizard, mugger crocodile, common cobra, rat snake, Indian python, pond turtle, etc. The best time to visit Wilpattu is during the months of February and October.
41. The 3rd edition of International conference on sports "CII ScoreCard 2017" has started at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi on July 6-7, 2017, which is organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Sports. The CII SCORECARD 2017 offers a unique platform for corporates and entrepreneurs to come together to network and form collaborations with management organizations, educational institutes, infrastructure companies, marketing, advertising, brand managers and manufacturers in sports domain. The focus areas of the conference are sports education, channeling CSR funds, building robust sports ecosystem, enhancing business opportunities and career & livelihood opportunities in sports.
42. The 22nd edition of Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) has started at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on July 6, 2017 and will continue till July 9, 2017. Athlete Tintu Luka was the flag bearer for the Indian contingent which received a rousing welcome from the crowd. Odia athlete Srabani Nanda had the honour of taking the oath on behalf of athletes at the inaugural ceremony. Over 1,200 athletes and officials from 43 countries in Asia witnessed the largest sporting event. The official mascot of the Championship is "Olly Turtle" that represents the famous Olive Ridley sea turtle.
43. The Odisha government has signed an Expression of Intent (EOI) with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to establish a High Performance Academy in Bhubaneswar on July 6, 2017. The EOI was signed by Sports Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev and AFI president Adille Sumariwala and IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. As per the agreement, the Union Sports Ministry will provide coaching, integrated support services and education to athletes. The State Sports and Youth Services Department will provide funds and make sure availability of necessary infrastructure and support services, including an outdoor stadium. Besides, the IAAF will assist in educating elite coaches and provide specialists.
44. India's leading cueist Pankaj Advani teamed up with Laxman Rawat to demolish Pakistan in the final of the Asian Team Snooker Championship by 3-0 in Bishskek, Kyrgyszstan on July 5, 2017. With the title and the win in the final, Advani remained the only player not to lose a single individual match in the team event. This title brings up Advani's second Asian title this season and 8th overall while it was a first major first international title for Rawat.
45. Achal Kumar Jyoti (64), a retired 1975 IAS Officer batch of Gujarat Cadre, is the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who took over as the head of the Election Commission in New Delhi on today. He succeeded Dr Nasim Zaidi. Jyoti will continue as the Chief Election Commissioner till January 17, 2018. Prior to this appointment, he was Election Commissioner of India. A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
46. The 12th edition of G20 summit will be held at Hamburg in Germany on July 7, 2017 with theme "Shaping an interconnected world". In the 2-day summit, from India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Indian Delegation at the G20 meet with a firm message on the global menace of terrorism. The G20 countries account for more than four-fifths of Gross world product and three-quarters of global trade. They are home to almost two-thirds of the world's population. In that context expectations are always high from a G20 summit. The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies with the aim of studying, reviewing and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
47. Pradeep Kumar Rawat, the IFS officer of 1990 batch, has been appointed as the new Ambassador of India to Indonesia. Presently, he is the joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will succeed Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhaya.
48. The 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Health Ministers Meeting has started in Tianjin, China on July 6, 2017 with focus on international cooperation on the development of traditional medicine. From India, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, has highlighted the achievements of India in the health sector and spoke on the theme – 'Strengthen Health System and Achieve Health-Related SDGs in the meeting. In the 2-day meet, About 300 delegates, including health ministers of BRICS nations, international organizations, etc., are participating.
49. The Guindy National Park (GNP) is the 8th smallest National Park of India, located at Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park has a role in both ex-situ and in-situ conservation and is home to 400 blackbucks, 2,000 spotted deers, 24 jackals, a wide variety of snakes, geckos, tortoises and over 130 species of birds, 14 species of mammals, over 60 species of butterflies and spiders each, a wealth of different invertebrates—grasshoppers, ants, termites, crabs, snails, slugs, scorpions, mites, earthworms, millipedes, and the like. These are free-ranging fauna and live with the minimal of interference from human beings.
50. The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) has been ranked 2nd among best climate think tank in the world. The rankings were released by the International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG), which focuses on the design of climate policy and related governance issues. The New Delhi-based think tank "TERI" was ranked under the category '2016 Top Climate Think Tanks in the Rest of the World – Absolute Global Rankings' during ICCG's 23rd annual conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) in Athens in Greece. TERI conducts research for the sustainable development of India. The ICCG ranking helps highlight the scale and magnitude of work done by the think tanks working in the field of climate change.
51. India has been ranked 23rd out of 165 nations in the 2017 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), which is released by the UN telecommunications agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The index measures the commitment of nations across the globe to ensuring cybersecurity to their digital systems. India is ranked 23rd on the index with a score of 0.683 and has been listed in the maturing category, which refers to 77 countries that have developed complex commitments to cybersecurity and engage in cybersecurity programmes and initiatives. The index has been topped by Singapore with a 0.925 score. The top 10 most committed countries to cybersecurity are Singapore, United States, Malaysia, Oman, Estonia, Mauritius, Australia, Georgia, France and Canada. Russia is ranked 11th.
52. The host nation India bagged 7 medals including two gold to sit atop the medal tally on the day one of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on July 6, 2017. Long distance runner Govindan Laxman has won gold in men's 5000m race, while Manpreet Kaur won gold medal with a career second best throw of 18.28m in the women's shotput event. V Neena and Nayan James bagged a silver and bronze in women's long jump while Vikas Gowda, Sanjivini Yadav, Annu Rani added a bronze each in the men's discus throw, women's 5000m race and javelin throw respectively. The Asian Championships winner gets automatic berth for the World Championships to be held in London in August 2017.
53. Sanjiv Goenka, the Chairman of RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, has been selected as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT-Kharagpur. He will be Chairman for three years. The Board of Governors is the highest administrative body comprising eminent panel of external representatives that include Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India; Sudha N Murty, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation; N Balakrishnan, IISc Bangalore and Jai Pal Mittal, M N Saha Distinguished Professor (NASI).
54. The Union Government has officially launched a student- scientist connect programme "Jigyasa" in New Delhi to develop interest among students to pursue science. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has joined hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to implement this programme. The programme is expected to connect 1151 Kendriya Vidyalayas with 38 National Laboratories of CSIR targeting 100,000 students and nearly 1000 teachers annually. It will also enable the students and teachers to practically live the theoretical concepts taught in science by visiting CSIR laboratories and by participating in mini-science projects. The model of engagement includes student residential programmes, scientists as teachers and teachers as scientists, popular lecture series/demonstration programme at Schools and student apprenticeship programmes among others.
55. India's first university only for Dalit students will come up in Hyderabad by 2018 as part of the Telangana government's policy of free education to students from weaker sections from kindergarten to post-graduation (KG to PG) level. The proposal was mooted by a government arm, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), which runs nearly 268 residential institutions for Dalit students from class 5 to under-graduate level. The purpose of establishing an exclusive university for Dalit students is to provide them a comprehensive education, so that they would come out as complete and knowledgeable citizens.
56. According to the latest report of BMI Research, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to grow at 6.9% for FY 18 (2017-18). As per report, India's growth is expected to pick up following the negative ramifications from the demonetisation drive in November 2016, but weak public banks will likely cap the recovery. The Fitch Group company noted that the negative effects from the demonetisation measure is already wearing off, and the Indian economy will likely benefit from positive demographic trends, greater external stability (due to improved terms of trade from lower oil prices), and continued reforms that should help to improve the country's admittedly poor business environment. However, the report noted that the public banking sector is still weak and plagued with mounting non-performing assets and it is likely to weigh on India's growth potential.
57. Indus OS, the domestic android-based mobile operating system, has partnered with YES Bank to launch an OS-integrated UPI payment platform in India. Through this partnership, Indian users with Indus OS will be able to use this UPI payment platform on SMS/ messaging, dialler interface and on third party apps like WhatsApp. The platform is expected to launch in this quarter.
58. The 2017 Malabar trilateral naval exercise has started between India, United States and Japan in the Bay of Bengal from July 7-17, 2017 to address the variety of shared threats to maritime security in the Indo-Asia Pacific. The exercise will feature both ashore and at-sea training. The at-sea portions will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal and are designed to advance participating nations' military-to-military coordination and capacity to plan and execute tactical operations in a multinational environment. The Ashore training will include exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations in Chennai.
59. The 5th edition of BRICS Education Ministers' Meeting-2017 was held on July 5, 2017 at Beijing, China. The Indian delegation was led by Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD). Minister Javadekar specifically spoke about the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), SWAYAM platform which has already hosted over 480 courses online, research initiative IMPRINT and Smart India Hackathon. The delegation of all the five BRICS countries participated in the two-day deliberations.
60. The Karian Shola National Park (KSNP) is is located at the southern end of the Western Ghats, in the Anaimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu. The park consists of areas of stunted, mossy rainforests known as shola forests interspersed with rolling montane grassland with towering rocky cliffs, making it a biologically unique ecosystem. It is home to about 560 to 680 species of animal such as Nilgiri tahr, Asian elephant, deer, wild boar, tiger, leopard , etc.
61. The Ahmedabad city has been declared as a World Heritage City (WHC) at the 41st session of UNESCO's world heritage committee at Krakow in Poland. With this, the 606-year-old walled city of Ahmedabad, which was founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah, has become India's first World Heritage City. The city was also the center for India's non-violent freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. The walled city has 26 ASI-protected structures, hundreds of 'pols' that capture the essence of community living and numerous sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi who lived here from 1915 to 1930. The Ahmedabad city has also stood for unity with its elegant carvings in its Hindu and Jain temples as well as standing as one of the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture and Hindu Muslim art. Now, Ahmedabad will join the world heritage cities like Paris, Cairo and Edinburgh. Out of total 287 world heritage cities across the globe, there were only two cities in the Indian subcontinent- Bhaktpur in Nepal and Galle in Sri Lanka. The UNESCO tag will add immense value to Ahmedabad city which will also boost tourism.
62. A.R.Rahman, the Oscar winning Indian music composer, has been shortlisted for the 2017 World Soundtrack Awards – a public choice award for his music in the film "Viceroy's House". Gurinder Chadha, a British filmmaker of Sikh origin has directed Viceroy's House. The film features Huma Qureshi, Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson and late actor Om Puri. It will release in India on August 18, 2018. For this award, all soundtrack and film music fans globally can cast their vote for what they find the finest soundtrack in the past one year. The soundtrack that gets the highest number of votes will be given the World Soundtrack Public Choice Award 2017.
63. Guruswamy Jayraman, a 69-year-old Indian-origin Glenwood resident, has been honoured with the highest civilian award "Order of Australia" in Australia for community work, the highest civilian award in Australia. He works as a senior accountant with Woollahra Municipal Council for a living and has been devoting most of his spare time in community work for the last 25 years. He has represented various community organisations like Auburn Diversity Services, Hindu Council of Australia, Sri Om Adi Sakhi Ashram, Sewa International Australia, etc. Jayraman migrated from Delhi to Australia in 1991.
64. The First edition of WINGS 2017 – "Sab Uden, Sab Juden"- Expanding Regional Connectivity was hosted in New Delhi on July 7, 2017 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The event saw participation from 28 States and Union Territories and out of this 19 states and Union Territory made presentation emphasizing the incentives or special packages to the airlines other than the support offered by Government of India under RCS- UDAN. This event brought together the key stakeholders of the Aviation Sector such as States, Tourism Departments and Tour Operators as a Group representing airline consumers to facilitate interaction with various airlines, airport operators, cargo operators and other ecosystem players at a common forum.
65. The global food fair "World Food India 2017" will be organised by the Union Food Processing ministry in New Delhi on November 3-5, 2017 to boost food sector. For the global food fair, the Union ministry of Food Processing has organised a roadshow in Chandigarh to provide a platform to Indian farmers and manufacturers to showcase their products and explore partnerships with foreign companies. More than 10 states and all leading giants from India and abroad in food processing, food technology, technology and equipment players, cold chains, food retailers will be present at World Food India.
66. Saima Wazed Hossain, a globally renowned Bangladeshi champion for the cause of autism spectrum disorder, has been appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Autism in South-East Asia Region for two-years. As a WHO Goodwill Ambassador, she will create awareness and generating action to address and elevate sufferings of people affected by autism in the region. Ms Saima is the daughter of Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She is a member of World Health Organization's 25-member Expert Advisory Panel on mental health. Globally, autism prevalence rates are estimated to be 160 cases in a population of 10 000. In low-and middle-income countries, children with autism do not get the medical attention and care they need. Their life is a struggle, marred by stigma and discrimination.
67. The 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) International Conference will takes place in Istanbul, Turkey from July 10 – 12, 2017. Dharmendra Pradhan Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will represent India in the conference. The tri-annual WPC Conference is widely recognized as the `Olympics` of the oil and gas industry. It attracts Ministers, CEOs of Oil and Gas MNCs, experts and academics from the hydrocarbon sectors and provides an ideal forum to showcase potential of India's hydrocarbon sector, highlight the recent policy reforms to international investors and interact with policy makers, technologists, scientists, planners and management experts, entrepreneurs, service providers and vendors in order to attract foreign investments into India's growing oil and gas sector.
68. Harinder Pal Sandhu from India has won the South Australian Open squash title by defeating Rhys Dowling in the final by 11-8, 12-10, 11-4 at Adelaide, Australia. It is Sandhu's eighth career title at the PSA level.
69. Indian athletes, Mohammad Anas and Nirmala Sheoran have won the gold medal in the men's and women's 400 metres athletics event on the second day of the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In the 1500 m race, it was Chitra PU and Ajay Kumar Saroj who bagged the other two gold medals for India. The other medal winners on the second day included Rajiv Arokia (silver), Jisna Mathew (bronze), Tejinder Pal Singh Toor (silver) and Dutee Chand (bronze).
70. The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched an app – GST Rates Finder in New Delhi to verify the accurate tax rate on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. Through this app, user can determine GST rate by entering the name of the commodity or service. The search result will list all the Goods and Services containing the name which was typed in the search box. A taxpayer can search for applicable CGST, SGST, UTGST rate and Compensation Cess on a supply. This mobile app can be downloaded on any smart phone and can work in offline mode, once downloaded. The application has been launched on Android platform, and will soon be available on iOS platform. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has also provided a GST rate finder on its portal – cbec-gst.gov.in to help taxpayers know applicable GST rate on their supplies
71. The day-long National Conference of Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories organised by NITI Aayog has started in New Delhi on July 10, 2017 to further the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism. The focus of the conference is on best practices in social and economic sectors across states. Various developmental indicators developed by NITI Aayog, in areas like health, education, water management and digital transformation are being discussed. The idea is to measure performance and progress of states and rank them appropriately to instill healthy competition among them. In addition several interactive sessions on issues including agriculture and health are also on the agenda.
72. Lt Col Srinivas Gokulnath has the first Indian to complete the 4,900 kilometre Race Across America (RAAM) in solo category, which is the toughest cycle race in the world. He completed the race in eleven days, 18 hours and 45 minutes, which begin from California. Lt Gokulnath stated that his postings at Siachen Base Camp and at 15,000 feet on the Uri mountains helped him achieve the feat of finishing the race. A solo rider has 12 days to finish the race and has to ride over 400 kilometres a day to finish it in given time. Sleep is for under 3-hours a day.
73. Sandeep Chakravorty, the 1976-batch IFS officer, has been appointed as the head of the Indian consulate in New York. He will succeed Riva Ganguly Das as Consul General in one of the busiest Indian diplomatic missions overseas. Currently, he is Ambassador to Peru and Bolivia.
74. Khaltmaagiin Battulga, the leader of Democratic Party (DP), has won the 2017 Mongolian presidential election by 50.6% votes & has taken office on July 10, 2017. Mongolia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, where the President is directly elected. The government is run by a prime minister, but the president has powers to veto legislation and make judicial appointments. The President of Mongolia is elected using the two-round system. Here, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
75. Sumita Sanyal (71), the veteran Bengali actress, has passed away at her residence in Kolkata, West Bengal. She has worked in around 50 Bengali films and was also part of Hindi films like Guddi, Mili, Aashirwad and Mere Apne. Apart from her brilliant contribution to Bengali cinema, she is best known for co-starring with with Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna in 1970 movie Anand. She also worked with Dilip Kumar in Sagina Mahato (Bengali film) and with Biswajit and Sandhya Roy in Kuheli (Bengali film).
76. Tata Steel Ltd. (TISCO) has won the Prime Minister's trophy for 'Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant' in India during 2014-2015 and 2015- 16. This makes it the third consecutive-year for the firm to be honoured with this coveted award. Tata Steel has been recognised as the best integrated steel plant for 12 times and has won the PM's Trophy 10 times. The Tata Steel Group is among the top 10 global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2017. It is the world's second-most geographically diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries.
77. Debi Prasad Dash, a 1985-batch Indian Revenue Service (customs) officer, has taken over as director-general of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the premier agency that tackles smuggling and black money. Dash was the acting DRI chief for the past 5-months. Earlier, he has worked in the UN Security Council, Commonwealth Secretariat and the CBI. The DRI is the major intelligence agency that works to secure India's national and economic security by preventing the outright smuggling of contraband such as firearms, gold, narcotics, Fake Indian Currency notes, antiques, wildlife and environmental products. Furthermore, it also works to prevent the proliferation of black money, commercial frauds and trade based money laundering. The headquarters of DRI is located in New Delhi.
78. The 2017 International Conference on Financial Markets and Corporate Finance was held at Vinod Gupta School of Management in IIT Kharagpur on July 7, 2017. The 2-day was Conference was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman. The purpose of the annual conference is to provide a forum to showcase cutting edge research in the areas of financial markets and corporate finance. This conference saw submission of some 75 research papers and brought together researchers from academia, industry and regulatory organizations to deliberate on theoretical work, empirical findings and policy implications related to financial market microstructure and challenges in corporate finance.
79. Sudha Singh has won gold in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase with a time of 9 minutes and 59.47 seconds at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Apart from her, Purnima Hembram from Odisha won gold in the women's Heptathlon shot put, while world junior record holder javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra clinched the gold with a final throw of 85.23 metres. On the final day of competitions, India clinched five gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze. With that, India ended the championships on top with a haul of 29 medals which included 12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze. Therefore, India topped medal tally for first time in Asian Athletics Championships history. Earlier, India's best came way back in the 1985 Jakarta edition where they had won 22 medals which included 10 gold, 5 silver, seven bronze.
80. Raninder Singh, an active trap shooter, has been re-elected as president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for a four-year term in Mohali. He is the son of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. The NRAI is associated with International Shooting Sports Federation, Asian Shooting Confederation, Commonwealth Shooting Federation, South Asian Shooting Confederation and Indian Olympic Association.
81. The 8th edition of the SAARC Ministers of Law and Order (Interior/ Home Affairs) has started in Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 11, 2017. The 3-day meeting will focus on the issue of tackling terrorism apart from discussing liberalization of visa, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and small arms. Indian side is being led by a senior official in Ministry of Home affairs (MHA).
82. Arun Jaitley, the Union Finance Minister, has launched a new tax payer service module 'Aaykar Setu' in New Delhi on July 10, 2017 that compiles various tax tools, live chat facility, dynamic updates and important links to various processes within the Income Tax Department in a single module. This e-initiative would not only provide better taxpayer services but would also help in reducing the direct physical interface between assesses and tax assessing authorities.
83. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of West Bengal to formalize its support to set up a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine, also known as Metro Blood Bank, at Kolkata. The Centre has approved an outlay of about Rs 200 crores for this venture towards equipment, manpower and running costs. The land for this initiative will be provided free of cost by the State government. The move intends to strengthen the blood transfusion services in the State and the surrounding region. The Metro Blood Bank Project is conceived to be a Central Sector Scheme of the Health Ministry to set up state-of-the-art Centres of Excellence in transfusion medicine in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. These centres are high volume blood collection centres where there is state-of-the-art technology in transfusion medicine for component separation, processing of blood and quality systems. Under the first phase, these facilities would come up in Chennai and Kolkata and the Centre has given its approval.
84. Mangesh Tendulkar (82), the renowned cartoonist, has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra. His cartoons especially about government offices and on traffic rules were famous. He often used satire in his cartoons to give social messages and even called himself a satirist (vyang chitrakar). He was conferred with the president's medal in 1980, Marathi Natya Parishad Award in 1993 and Pulotsav award in 2003 among several other honours.
85. The World Population Day (WPD) is observed every year on July 11 to increase the awareness of the people towards the worldwide population issues. The 2017 theme is "Family Planning- Empowering People, Developing Nations". Family planning allows people to attain their desired number of children and determine the spacing of pregnancies. The world population has grown tremendously over the past years. It should be noted that China has the highest population in the world and India stood at second.
86. Danfoss India, the Climate and energy efficiency solutions company, has been conferred with the 'Golden Peacock Award' for Environment Management at the 19th World Congress on Environment Management' in Hyderabad. The company has been recognized for its LEED Platinum rated constructed manufacturing facility in Chennai. Recently, the Danfoss manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai was conferred with a LEED Platinum rated certification for its green and sustainable setup, which includes a 1 MW solar power plant, a bio-gas plant, Zero Liquid Discharge Waste Water Treatment plant, Rain Water Harvesting Pond, energy efficient fixtures, carbon foot print reduction initiatives, extensive green cover at Campus among others.
87. The 2017 Family Planning Summit (FPS) has started in London, United Kingdom (UK) on July 11, 2017 to discuss efforts to reach Family Planning 2020 goals and ensure that more women and girls around the world are able to plan their families and their futures. The summit has been organized by the UNFPA, the United Kingdom and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is taking place on 11 July, which is World Population Day (WPD), a day to focus attention on population issues, including family planning. The event will focus on four key issues: innovative financing models for procuring and delivering high-quality contraceptives; strengthening supply chains and expanding the range of contraceptives available to women; empowering young people with access to family planning information and care; and reaching the hardest to reach, such as women in humanitarian crises or facing cultural barriers.
88. Dr John Joseph, a 1983 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), has been appointed Director General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DG GSTI). He is at present posted in Mumbai and expected to take the new charge soon. The post of chief of central excise intelligence (now GST intelligence) was lying vacant for over a month after R K Mahajan took charge as Member, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Mahajan has been given the additional charge of the DG GSTI till the joining of the new chief.
89. The Karnataka government will organize the 2017 International conference "Reclaiming Social Justice, Revisiting Ambedkar" from July 21 at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bengaluru to mark the 126th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. The 3-day event will see delegates deliberate on universal principles of democracy and importance of social justice in the current global environment. The conference will come out with a 'Bengaluru declaration outlining a new deal for India – who are & who we can be'. This conference is an invitation to substantially re-think current social, political and economic paradigms motivated by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's imaginative and creative work. Approx, 2000 delegates from across the globe are expected to participate.
90. Valtteri Bottas, a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes, has won the 2017 Formula One Austrian Grand Prix tournament at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
91. Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to provide women an injectable contraceptive for free. The state's public health department launched a programme "Antara" on July 10, 2017 to cover Pune, Mumbai, Raigad, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, and Beed. The programme will be launched in 23 district hospitals, 20 medical colleges and 12 women's hospitals. The new method under government-funded contraceptives, called Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA), will add to existing contraception options for women, such as intrauterine devices, pills, and permanent sterilisation procedure— tubectomy. The contraceptive injections will deter pregnancy for three months and allow conception seven months after the injection is stopped. The injection will be given intramuscularly to women in age bracket of 18-45 years.
92. Axis Bank has tied up with Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) to facilitate trade with Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the first Indian bank to participate in the Trade Finance Facilitation Programme as a confirming bank. IIC, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, is a multilateral development bank committed to supporting the private sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.
93. Subhash C. Garg, a 1983 batch lAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, has taken charge as the new secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the finance ministry. The post fell vacant after Shaktikanta Das retired on May 31, 2017. As the secretary in the DEA, Garg will oversee capital markets, Budget preparation as well as infrastructure financing and decide on borrowing, along with RBI. He will also decide on funding by multilateral institutions. Prior to this post, Garg was Executive Director at World Bank for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka.
94. Dr Mukul Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, has recently launched a flagship programme 'Livelihood Intervention and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship' (LIFE) at Songsak in East Garo Hills for the state on July 11, 2017. LIFE is a programme of the State Rural Livelihood Society, an agency of the Community and Rural Development Department, which is implementing the Centre's flagship programme – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). NRLM promotes livelihood through women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their Federations. The programme offers thrust on improving the livelihood of rural poor in a sustainable manner through the process of SHGs, Village organisation and Producers Groups.
95. The 22nd edition of World Petroleum Congress (WPC) International Conference has started in Istanbul, Turkey from July 10 – 12, 2017 under the theme "Bridges to Our Energy Future". The WPC's 65 member countries represent over 96% of the world's oil and gas consumption and production. The purpose of the conference is to promote the management and sustainable use of oil, gas and other energy resources worldwide for the benefit of all. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, is representing India in the conference. The tri-annual WPC Conference is widely recognized as the `Olympics` of the oil and gas industry.
96. Rajasthan has become the India's first State to lay down the minimum educational qualifications for contesting elections to village cooperative societies and various other cooperative bodies. For this purpose, the State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2003, were amended and notified. The new rules would benefit about 10,000 cooperative and agricultural credit societies. The educational qualifications will range from Class V to Class VIII for election as members of governing boards of dairy societies, farming societies, consumer societies, weavers' societies, housing construction societies, urban banks, primary land development banks, credit societies, salary earners' societies and cooperative union.
97. The Karnataka Government has constituted a 9-member committee to study and submit a report to the government on the possibility of designing a separate flag for Karnataka and providing it a statutory standing. The committee will be headed by Principal Secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture. It must be noted that there is no prohibition in the Constitution for the State to have its own flag. As per S.R. Bommai v/s Union of India (Supreme Court 1994) case, the Supreme Court has declared that federalism is a basic feature of the Constitution and States are supreme in their sphere. This being the Constitutional position, however, the manner in which the State flag is hoisted should not dishonour the national flag. It has to be always below the national flag. The national flag code specifically authorises use of other flags subject to the regulation by the court. So, State flag is not unauthorized.
98. Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, has been honoured with the 2017 Maruti Suzuki Living Legend of the Year award at the 6th edition of 'Maruti Suzuki Sportsperson of the Year' Charity Gala Awards on July 6, 2017 at ITC Grand Central in, Mumbai, Maharashtra. However, Milkha could not attend the function. Beside this, Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu was bestowed with the Sportsperson of the Year award while Indian cricketer KL Rahul was presented with Gamechanger of the year award. The 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed to Abhinav Bindra. The Coach of the Year award 2017 was given to Pullela Gopichand for mentoring a host of shuttlers like Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy, and many others to do well on the international circuit over the last few years.
99. The Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary is located at Uttara Kannada District in Karnataka. The sanctuary is a birdwatchers paradise, housing nearly 200 species of birds, most famous for the great Indian hornbill and the Malabar pied hornbill. It is also the only known tiger reserve in India to report frequent sightings of the elusive black panther. It is also known to house the Indian sloth bear, the Indian pangolin, the giant Malabar squirrel, dhole, the Indian jackal and the muntjac (barking deer). The king cobra and the mugger crocodile (Indian crocodile) are the prime reptilians in the sanctuary.
100. Rcently, the Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) has won the 2017 Golden Peacock Award for Eco-Innovation for introducing eco-friendly and cost-saving Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) based Dual Fuel 1400 HP Diesel engines on Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains. This innovation will reduce emissions considerably by bringing down NOx by 16%, CO2 by 6% and Particulate Matter by 18% besides achieving economy in fuel cost by 8%. So far, 19 Engines of DEMUs have been successfully converted into CNG based dual fuel engines with this technology. The IROAF is a unique organization in the Government space which was established by Ministry of Railways to explore new environment friendly fuels/ renewable energy and eco- friendly technologies like substitution of diesel with CNG/LNG in train sets, etc.
101. According to latest report by the UN and OECD, India will become the world's largest milk producer by 2026 and will account for the biggest increase in wheat production globally. As per report title "OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026", the world's population will increase from 7.3 to 8.2 billion over the course of the next decade with India and Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 56% of total population growth. India's population will grow from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion, an increase of almost 150 million. India will overtake China and is projected to be the most populous country in the world by 2026.
102. The world's first centre for breeding Saola, a critically endangered hoofed mammal, will be constructed at Bach Ma National Park in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. The centre is scheduled to be inaugurated in 2018 as a joint effort by the Saola World Working Group (SWWG) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which will help tackle the ungulate endemic. Saola is recognised by two parallel horns with sharp ends, which can reach 51cm in length and are found on both males and females.
103. India's first Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) will be set up at Patent Information Centre in Punjab under the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) TISC program. For this, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has signed an institutional agreement with the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology in New Delhi. The objective of the TISC is to stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system in India to foster creativity and innovation, thereby promoting entrepreneurship and enhancing social, economic and cultural development by establishing a network of TISCs in India.
104. The National conference on crowd management has successfully held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on July 12, 2017 by setting the stage for adoption of best practices and use of technology to reduce risks at mass gathering events across the country. The conference was organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) jointly with the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA).
105. Indian skipper Mithali Raj has become the first player in the history of women's ODI cricket to have crossed 6000 career runs. She reached the milestone in India's ICC Women's World Cup 2017 match against Australia on July 12, 2017. So far, Mithali has scored 6028 runs with the help of five centuries and 49 half-centuries. Now, she is the all-time highest run-scorer in women's cricket, surpassing the record previously held by England's Charlotte Edwards (5992).
106. Raymond Chikapa Enock Phiri (70), the legendary South African jazz musician, has passed away in Nelspruit, South Africa on July 12, 2017. Internationally, Phiri was known primarily for his contributions to Paul Simon's Graceland album and ensuing tours.
107. The National Gandhi Museum (NGM) is located in New Delhi i.e. showcasing the life and principles of Mahatma Gandhi. The museum first opened in Mumbai, shortly after Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. The museum relocated several times before moving to Rajghat, New Delhi in 1961, next to the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi. The museum is in news because Dr. Y P Anand, the former Director of National Gandhi Museum (NGM), has authored the book 'Historical Background to the Imposition of Salt Tax under the British Rule in India (1757-1947) and Mahatma Gandhi s Salt Satyagraha (1930-31) against the British Rule Background'. The book is recently launched by the Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism, at Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi on July 13, 2017. This book is extremely important for India, especially in the present times, wherein there is a need for humanity in the world.
108. The 8th edition of Theatre Olympics 'The Biggest Theatre Celebration of the World' will be hosted by India from February 17 –April 08, 2018, which is being organised by National School of Drama, under the aegis of Ministry of Culture. The Theatre Olympics 2018 will feature maximum number of Indian & International theatre groups, invitee eminent theatre personalities along with their performances. In addition, there will be ambience performances with allied activities like exhibitions, seminars, symposia, interactive discussions and workshops with well-known academicians, authors, actors, designers and directors. It's first time that the Theatre Olympics will be held in India. In 2016, the 7th Theatre Olympics were held in Wroclaw, Poland.
109. The Indian Railways has recently launched a virtual server "RailCloud" with an inbuilt security system to optimise server usage and faster connectivity. The technology is developed by rail PSU RailTel at an estimated cost of approx Rs 53 crore. The RailCloud technology enables maximising the usage of available server and storage resulting in accommodation of bigger data and more applications within same server space. It will cover all management related to various services like human resources, health and hospital, signal assets, freight and logistics and energy among others. Beside this, the first IT application on RailCloud "Nivaran-Grievance Portal" was also launched. Nivaran is a platform for resolution of service-related grievances of serving and former railway employees.
110. The Murlen National Park is located at Champhai district in Mizoram and covern an area of 200 km2. It is home to tiger, leopard, sambar, barking deer, Malayan giant squirrel, Himalayan black bear, serow, hoolock gibbon, etc. About 15 species of mammals, 150 species of birds, 35 species of Medicinal plants, 2 species of bamboos, and 4 species of orchids so far have been recorded in this Park. At present, 36 people are involved in conservation work of Murlen National Park.
111. India has been ranked 116th out of 157 nations with a score of 58.1 at the 2017 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) index and Dashboards Report that assesses the performance of countries towards achieving the ambitious SDGs. Sweden has topped the list, followed by Denmark and Finland. The 2017 SDG Index and Dashboards Report, released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, shows that world leaders need to strengthen their joint efforts to realize the 17 global goals. The SDG Index ranks countries based on their performance across the 17 SDGs, including economic development, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, underpinned by good governance. The index collected available data for 157 countries to assess where each country stands in 2017 with regard to achieving the SDGs. It helps countries identify priorities for early actions and shows that every country faces major challenges in achieving these ambitious goals.
112. India's first high-speed rail training centre will set up in Gandhinagar, Gujarat at a cost of Rs 600 crore, and is expected to start operating by 2020. The center will provide advanced training modules on cutting edge technologies. The construction will begin shortly after the foundation-laying ceremony is held in September 2017. It also has a sample bullet train track for testing. Over 4,000 rail engineers are expected to be trained by 2020.
113. Justice Vikramajit Sen, the former Supreme Court Judge, has been appointed as the new Chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) for three years. Justice Sen succeeded Justice Mukul Mudgal. The BCCC is an independent self-regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) in June 2011 to look into complaints pertaining to all non-news general entertainment channels in India.
114. Liu Xiaobo (61), the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy campaigner, has died of multiple organ failure while under guard at a hospital in Shenyang, China on July 13, 2017. Liu had been serving an 11-year jail sentence for demanding an end to one-party rule and for introduction of multi-party democracy. He was the most prominent human rights and democracy advocate of China. Now, Xiaobo became the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since Carl von Ossietzky, the German pacifist and foe of Nazism who won the prize in 1935 and died under guard in 1938 after years of maltreatment.
115. Dr. Kishore Sansi, the managing director and CEO of Vijaya Bank, has been conferred the 2017 Personality of the Year award by Skoch Consultancy Services (SCS). The award is part of the 'Skoch Banking and Financial Leadership' series. Past recipients of the award include C Rangarajan, Dilip Parekh and Nandan Nilekani.
116. Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to make social boycott a crime after President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the legislation. The Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention Prohibition and Redressal) Act prescribes a maximum punishment of 3 year in jail and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. It aims to prevent atrocities carried out by extra-judicial courts and caste panchayats. The Act also provides for compensation to victims. The fines imposed on violators will be used to compensate them. The Act also has a provision to withdraw cases with the consent of victims and permission from a court. In case of a withdrawal, the accused will have to perform community service.
117. The Haryana government has decided to set up a hi-tech and ultra-modern ornamental fish hatchery that would be the first-of-its-kind project in India. The fish hatchery would be set up in district Jhajjar at a cost of Rs.13.68 crore. At present, Haryana is at second position in the country with fish production of 7,200 per kilogram per hectare per year in the year 2016-17. The fish production is aimed to be increased to 10,000 per kilogram per hectare per year in 2017-18.
118. The fourth edition of Everest International Model United Nations (EIMUN) Regional Conference was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from July 10-14, 2017. The event is organised by the US Embassy in partnership with the Youth Thinker's Society (YTS). Youths from 12 South and Central Asian countries including India participated in 5-day conference. The basic aim of the EIMUN was to provide a platform to young minds to channelize energy and resources for a more prosperous and peaceful world. The conference simulate four UN committees-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN), United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
119. The book "Narendra Modi: The Making of a Legend" has been authored by Bindeshwar Pathak, the Sulabh International founder and a Padma Bhushan recipient. The book is recently launched by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat in New Delhi. The coffee table book is all about PM Modi and the inspiring journey of his life. It has images and text depicting Modi's journey, his struggles and several initiatives taken by him since he took oath as country's prime minister in 2014.
120. The Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary (PWS) is located in the East Sikkim district of the state of Sikkim. The total notified area of the park is around 124 square kilometres while inside the wildlife sanctuary there are a few hamlets: Aritar, Lingtam, Phadamchen, Zuluk, Gnathang valley and Kupup. This wildlife sanctuary is linked to the forests of Bhutan and Neora Valley National Park of West Bengal. It is home many birds such as kalij pheasant, Oriental honey buzzard, blood pheasant, white-crested laughingthrush, striated laughingthrush, etc. It is also home for some rarities like the speckled wood pigeon and bay woodpecker.
121. Indonesia has renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea on July 14, 2017. It is the latest act of resistance by Southeast Asian nations to China's territorial ambitions in the maritime region. The part of the renamed sea is claimed by China under its contentious maritime boundary, known as the "nine-dash line", that encompasses most of the resource-rich sea. It should be noted that the South China Sea is a crucial shipping route and believed to be rich in natural resources, such as oil and gas.
122. Indian Railways has launched an integrated mobile app "Rail Saarthi" to cater to all kinds of passenger requirements, which includes ticket booking, inquiry, onboard cleaning and ordering a meal on a single platform. The acronym of Rail "Saarthi" stands for "Synergised Advanced Application Rail Travel Help and Information". The app has various features such as women safety feature, compliant facility and suggestion for improvement. One can also book unreserved seat tickets and platform tickets besides reserved seat tickets.
123. Bilal Dar (18), an 18-year-old ragpicker of Laharwarpora in Bandipora district, has been appointed the new brand ambassador of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). He has been earning his livelihood by cleaning the Wular Lake and removing garbage, used bottles and shoes among other things for almost 5 years now and is an inspiration for everybody. Dar will get a special uniform and vehicle to go and meet people and sensitize them about environmental issues, cleanliness and garbage disposal.
124. Lilly Singh, an Indian-origin Canadian YouTube star, has been appointed as the new UNICEF's Global Goodwill Ambassador at a special event in New Delhi. As the UNICEF ambassador Lilly will use her channel to showcase the organisation's work and urge millions of her followers to work for children's rights.
125. India's first solar-powered 1600 HP Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) broad gauge train has launched from Safdarjung railway station to promote clean and renewable energy. The train will run from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in Haryana. The solar power DEMU train has six trailer coaches and is expected to save about 21,000 litres of diesel and ensure a cost saving of Rs 12 lakh per year. The coaches are equipped with a battery bank which will optimize solar energy to full load and provide power at night. There will also be a reduction of 1350 tons of carbon dioxide per train over the same time period.
126. The World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) is observed every year on July 15 to raise awareness about the importance of investing in youth skills development. The 2017 theme is "Skills for the Future of Work".
127. Sundar Singh Gurjar from India has won gold in the men's javelin throw with a personal best of 60.36 metre at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, United Kingdom (UK). Sri Lanka's Dinesh Priyantha Herath came second with 57.93 metre, while defending champion Guo Chunliang of China was third with a season's best 56.14 metre.
128. Garbine Muguruza Blanco, a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player, has won the 2017 women's singles Wimbledon Tennis tournament by defeating Venus Williams in the final by 7-5, 6-0 at All England Club in London, United Kingdom (UK). This was Muguruza's second Grand Slam singles title and she became the second Spanish woman to win Wimbledon after Conchita Martínez in 1994. Muguruza also became the first player to defeat both Williams sisters in Grand Slams singles finals.
129. The book "President's Lady" (Pranaber Preyosi) has been authored by Sangeeta Ghosh, which is recently released at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The book is on Late Suvra Mukherjee, the wife of honourable President of India Pranab Mukherjee. Ms. Mukherjee was essentially a private person with a strong interest in music (particularly Tagore music) and paintings. She restricted herself to music, painting and writing and she tried to take Tagore music to a non-Bengali audience.
130. The Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS) is located in north Tripura district and covers an area of only 0.86 square km. It is home to 150 species of birds, wild beasts and primates. It is the most ideal destination for the tourists, who are more inclined towards eco-tourism. The forest is rich with a large number of economic plants such as medicinal & aromatic, treat fodders, fruit producing trees, oil-seed producing trees, spices & orchids and other ornamental plants.
131. Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of Nepal on July 17, 2017 and will head the judiciary till April 28, 2018. Prior to this post, Justice Parajuli was the acting Chief Justice after the retirement of Chief Justice Sushila Karki on June 6, 2017.The Chief Justice is the highest judicial officer in the country and acts as a chief administrative officer for all the judicial system.
132. The second edition of United Nations Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP-02) has started at Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi from July 17 and will continue till Aug 04, 2017. The purpose of the course is to build and enhance the capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN and to further train the trainers from these countries. The course is one of the many steps that India has initiated towards active contribution to peace support activities. The course is being attended by officers from 19 countries including India. The students include officers who are currently employed in their respective peacekeeping training centres in African peacekeeping training institutions. The Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping (CUNPK) is conducting the UNPCAP-02 jointly with the United States.
133. Maryam Mirzakhani (40), an Iranian- born mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University, has died of cancer in a US hospital on July 14, 2017. Mirzakhani was the first woman and the first Iranian to win the coveted Fields Medal in 2014, the most prestigious award in mathematics. The award recognized her sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems, particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces such as spheres. Her research topics include Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry.
134. Roger Federer, a Swiss professional tennis player , has won the 2017 men's singles Wimbledon Tennis tournament by defeating Marin Cilic in the final by 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 at All England Club in London, United Kingdom (UK). With this win, Federer has won a record 8th Wimbledon title and became the Wimbledon's oldest men's winner of the modern era, succeeding Arthur Ashe, who was almost 32 when he won in 1976. This was Swiss superstar's 11th Wimbledon final and 29th title at the majors. With this victory, Federer also became the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to win Wimbledon without dropping a set in the entire tournament.
135. Lewis Hamilton, a British Formula One racing driver, has won the 2017 Formula One British Grand Prix tournament at Silverstone, United Kingdom. The result also marked Hamilton's fifth career Grand Slam. Additionally, he equalled the record for most British Grand Prix wins jointly held by Alain Prost and Jim Clark.
136. Damneet Singh from India has won silver in the boy's hammer throw at the 2017 IAFF World U-18 Athletics Championship in Nairobi, Kenya. Damneet sent the 5kg chain and iron ball to a best distance of 74.20m, which he came up in his first attempt. This was his personal best effort. Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine won the gold with a best throw of 82.31m while Raphael Winkelvoss of Germany took the bronze by clearing a distance of 71.78m.
137. Nar Bahadur Bhandari (76), the former Chief Minister of Sikkim, has passed away in New Delhi on July 16, 2017. He was the founder leader of Sikkim Sangram Parishad, who governed Sikkim from 1979 to 1994.
138. Harinder Pal Sandhu from India has won the 2017 Victorian Open Squash tournament by defeating top-seed Rex Hedrick of Australia in the final by 12-14, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 in Melbourne on July 16, 2017.
139. I H Manudev has won the first National Masters snooker tournament title by defeating Alok Kumar, a former national men's champion, in the final by 68-42, 60-22, 65-59, 17-66, 63-33 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
140. The Kalesar National Park (KNP) is located in the eastern district of Haryana and covers 13,000 acres. It is home to the red jungle fowl among other birds and a popular destination for Leopard and bird-watching. It is home to wild boars, sambhars, hares, red junglefowl, porcupine, monkeys, chitals, red jungle fowl, etc. Whereas khair, sal, shisham, sain, jhingan, chhal are the trees found in the forest. It is probably the only forest in Haryana with a natural Sal tree belt.
141. Textile minister Smriti Zubin Irani has been given the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, while Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been given additional charge of Urban Development Ministry. Both the posts fell vacant after Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu resigned to contest Vice presidential election as NDA candidate. Naidu was holding the portfolio since July 2016 in addition to urban development, housing and poverty alleviation ministry.
142. Ananya Dabke from India has won the under-15 girl title at the Dutch Open Junior Squash Championship by defeating Serena Daniel of the US in the final by 11-7, 11-4, 12-10 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Apart from this, the top seeded Neel Joshi bagged the under-15 boys title in the tournament by defeating 5/8 seed Khalil Alhassan of England in the final by 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6.
143. The World Day for International Justice (WDIJ) is observed every year on July 17 to promote international criminal justice and focus on human rights. This is a day to reflect upon the victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and to celebrate the international community's continued efforts to create a more just and peaceful world. The day is also referred as the International Criminal Justice Day (ICJD) or International Justice Day (IJD). This year, in 2017, also marked the 15th anniversary of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the only permanent international court for the prosecution of individuals accused of mass atrocity crimes.
144. The Matunga railway station has become the India's first station to be run by all women staff. It is a railway station on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. A total of 30 women staffers, including 11 booking clerks, 5 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel and seven ticket checkers are working under station manager Mamta Kulkarni, who was the first female station master in Central Railway's Mumbai division. With this, Matunga station has become the first such ladies special station.
145. Tapsee Pannu has won the 2017 IIFA Woman Of The Year for her role in Pink at the 18th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in New York City, United States. Beside this, Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt won the Best Actors award for their remarkable work in Udta Punjab. The best director award goes to Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury for his movie 'Pink'. The best film award went to Neerja movie that is based on the real life incident in which the air hostess Neerja Bhanot lost her life while saving others on a hijacked flight at Karachi. While Anupam Kher has got the best performance in a Supporting Role-Male category award for the movie M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and the actress Disha Patani got the best debutant – Female award for the same movie.
146. The Nelson Mandela International Day (NMID) is observed every year on July 18 to mark birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela, the former South African President & Nobel Peace Prize winner, for his tireless struggle against apartheid. The day is an opportunity to reflect on the life and work of a legend who embodied the highest values of the United Nations. Mandela was South Africa's first black president, who spent 27 years in three different prisons and was an anti-Apartheid icon who led a memorable life. His negotiations in the early 1990s with South African President F.W. de Klerk led to the end of the country's apartheid system of racial segregation. For their efforts, both of them jointly received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993.
147. The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a dedicated portal 'SBI Realty' that will help home buyers to choose flats from its 3,000 approved projects across the country. The portal will help customers to choose their dream home from 3,000 SBI approved projects, which are spread across 13 states and Union Territories covering 30 cities. At present, there are 9.5 lakh home units available on the website. Customers can compare current and past trends of prices for the properties in various localities in the city. The portal will assist customers in calculating appropriate loan amount a customer should borrow based on income and credit profile. The SBI Realty website "www.sbirealty.in" has been developed by SBICAP Securities in association with PropEquity in terms of data support, project information, etc.
148. Tata Motors Ltd. has manufactured India's first bio—CNG (bio—methane) bus, which was unveiled recently at a bio-energy programme 'Urja Utsav' in Pune, Maharashtra. The event was organized by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The auto-firm has designed and developed bio-methane engines (5.7 SGI & 3.8 SGI) for Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), Intermediate Commercial Vehicles (ICV) and Medium Commercial Vehicles (MCV) buses. The company displayed three models, including the lead model Tata LPO 1613 with 5.7 SGI NA BS—IV IOBD—II compliant bus. Bio-methane is produced out of biodegradable materials like kitchen waste. The gas, which gets produced by way of natural degradation process, escapes into the atmosphere unused.
149. India has bagged three medals at the recently concluded 2017 Asian Cadet Judo Championship (ACJC) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In it, Thangjam Tababi Devi of Manipur won gold for India in the girl's below 44kg weight category, while Haryana's Simran clinched a bronze in the girl's below 40kg division and Paramjeet of Haryana bagged bronze medal in the boy's below 90kg category.
150. The Dachigam National Park (DNP) is located at Umaria district in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and covers an area of 141 km2. The main animal species that Dachigam is known for is the hangul (or the Kashmir stag). Other species include Musk deer, Leopard, Himalayan serow, Himalayan grey langur, Leopard cat, Himalayan black bear, etc.
151. The 9-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar will determine whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not under the Constitution. The nine-judge bench also comprises Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer. The bench is dealing with the limited issue of right to privacy and matters challenging the Aadhaar scheme would be referred back to a smaller bench. The hearing is in progress.
152. TR Zeliang, a leader of the Nagaland People's Front, has been sworn-in as the new chief minister of Nagaland by the Governor PB Acharya on July 19, 2017. With this, the Naga Peoples' Front led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Government in the State will have the fourth Chief Minister within its five years term of ruling the State. Zeliang has to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before July 22, 2017. He succeeded Shurhozelie Liezietsu, who did not turn up to face a floor test with his MLAs at a special session of the state assembly on July 19, 2017.
153. The Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) has launched a low-cost indigenous newborn hearing screening device "Sohum" in New Delhi to detect a congenital hearing loss in newborns. The device has been developed by School of International Biodesign (SIB) startup M/s Sohum Innovation Labs India Pvt. Ltd. The portable Sohum hearing screening device measures auditory brain waves via three electrodes placed on the baby's head. When stimulated, they detect electrical responses generated by the brain's auditory system. If there is no response, the child cannot hear. The battery-operated device is non-invasive, which means babies do not need to be sedated, which is the current and risky, testing in process at present. It must be noted that 800,000 hearing impaired babies are born annually across the world, of which nearly 100,000 are in India.
154. Amit Saroha of India has won silver in the club throw event in the F-51 category (below waist paraplegic category) at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, United Kingdom (UK). The event is the equivalent of the hammer throw, only para athletes throw a wooden club. Saroha is the former national-level hockey player, who has been wheelchair-bound, after a horrific a road accident in 2007.
155. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has recently selected the Russian city of Kazan and Budapest (the capital of Hungary) to host the 2022 and 2024 World Short Course Swimming Championships, respectively. The 25-meter pool championships are staged every two years in December and include hosting the FINA World Aquatics Convention. Apart from this Hangzhou in China in 2018 and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2020 are due to host the World Short Course Championships and Convention.
156. Internationally-acclaimed senior kathak dancer Dr. Pandit Nandakishore Kapote has recently conferred with a fellowship by the Department of Culture, Government of India (GoI). Kapote is the only male senior kathak dancer in the country to receive the honour. Through this fellowship, Kapote will carry out a detailed study on 'Hand Gestures and Kathak Dance in Abhinaydarpan'. Earlier, Kapote was awarded with scholarships by the central government, cultural department of Maharashtra, Dr Ambedkar Dalit Mitra Award, Balgandharva Award by PMC, Nehru Award, among others.
157. Recently, Indian junior judokas won a gold and three bronze medals in the ongoing 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games being held in Nassau, Bahamas. Antim Yadav of Madhya Pradesh won a bronze in the below 48Kg weight category, surpassing Russelll Jasmine of Bahamas in Repechage bout. Soni from Haryana won the gold medal in the below 73Kg Weight Category, after beating Nikolic Uros of Australia in the final bout, while Ashish won a bronze in the below 60Kg weight category, defeating Zain Prosser Harry of England in bronze medal bout. Manipur's Rebina Devi Chanam also won a bronze medal in the below 57Kg Weight category after getting the better of Saskia of Australia. The Organising Committee of the Games that would conclude on July 24, 2017 had allowed the participation of only four weight categories Judo players (2 Boys & 2 Girls) from each country, and all the Indians won medals.
158. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently launched mAadhaar app for mobile users that will allow users to carry unique identification profile on mobile. A user can download Aadhaar number profile through their smartphones and will therefore not require hard copies of the card, wherever applicable. It allow users to carry their Aadhaar demographic information, i.e. name, date of birth, gender, address and the photograph linked with their Aadhaar number, on their smartphones. Currently, the app is available for Android users and will soon be available for iOS users. A user can not only carry Aadhaar data on their mobiles as an identification proof, but one can also lock/ unlock their biometric details linked to Aadhaar to secure their personal data. Besides this, mAadhaar app users can also update their profile via QR code and share eKYC details with service providers such as telecommunications companies.
159. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE Minister of State for Tolerance, has topped a poll of the most powerful Arab women in government 2017, according to latest Forbes Middle East report. Ms Qasimi was followed by Sahar Nasr, Ghada Wali, Hind Subaih Barrak Al-Subaih, Iman Houda Feraoun and Iman Houda Feraoun. Forbes has also released a list of the top 100 most powerful Arab businesswomen for 2017, and the UAE represents the highest number of women, with 18, followed by Egypt, with 16. As per the report, women in the Arab world were pioneering in the banking sector and women in this industry represents 28% of the 2017 businesswoman list. The rankings were compiled by taking into account scope of the role or ministry, years of experience and company revenues, or GDP in the case of government.
160. The Nahar Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) is located at Rewari district in Haryana State and spread over an area of 211.35 hectares. It is home to neelgai, geedar, langur, blue peafowl (mor), rufous treepie, greater coucal, Indian grey hornbill, coppersmith barbet, etc.
161. The Union Cabinet has recently given ex-post facto approval for insurance regulator IRDAI's admission as a signatory to IAIS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) due to increasing integration of financial markets. The MMoU is a statement of its signatories' intent to cooperate in the field of information exchange as well as procedure for handling information requests. The MMoU provides a formal basis for cooperation and information exchange between the signatory authorities regarding the supervision of insurance companies where cross- border aspects arise. The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is a global framework of cooperation and information exchange between insurance supervisors. The MoU provides a formal basis for cooperation and information exchange between the signatory authorities regarding the supervision of insurance companies where cross- border aspects arise.
162. Veteran BJP leader LK Advani has received the Lifetime Achievement (LTA) award for his contributions as a parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha (LS). JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav got the Lifetime Achievement Award as a Rajya Sabha MP. The award was given by the Vice President Hamid Ansari at a function organised by the Lokmat Media Group. The other awardees from the Lok Sabha included Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N.K. Premachandran (Best Parliamentarian), Congress leader Kumari Sushmita Dev (Best Woman Parliamentarian) and BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi (Best Debut Woman Parliamentarian). The awardees from the Rajya Sabha included CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury (Best Parliamentarian), Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan (Best Woman Parliamentarian) and Congress MP Rajni Patil (Best Debut Woman Parliamentarian). The awardees were selected by a jury, headed by former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil.
163. The Telangana government has launched an innovative programme "Janahitha" to receive complaints from public through a special portal. The programme has kick started in Suryapet district on pilot basis and will be implemented across the state in a phased manner. The aim of the programme is to facilitate the public to submit their complaints on line and get speedy redressal. Besides submitting their grievances, the public can also apply for various welfare schemes through this facility. The public, instead of visiting offices, can lodge their grievance through different means like portal, e-mail, WhatsApp or dialling the call centre from their homes. In addition, they can also track the status of their complaints. Officials at the district headquarters and Secretariat in Hyderabad will monitor the redressal of complaints and send SMS to the citizens on their status. Negative marks will be given to the officials if they fail to redress the grievances in stipulated time.
164. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has recently approved the proposals for climate adaptation projects submitted by Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim. The three projects approved by the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC), under the Chairmanship of Secretary MoEF&CCm Ajay Narayan Jha, will receive funds under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC). The current projects address a range of climate change vulnerabilities in the states, which are not addressed under the ongoing schemes of the Central and State governments. The projects in Rajasthan and Sikkim are targeted at water security, while in Gujarat, the project will focus on increasing the adaptive capacity of communities dependent on natural resources in the Kachchh district. The NAFCC is a flagship Scheme of Government of India, which provides 100% grant to the State Governments for implementing climate change adaptation projects
165. According to the supplement of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Outlook 2017, India is expected to achieve the projected growth rate of 7.4% in 2017 and 7.6% in 2018 on strong consumption demand. According to the report, South Asia will be the fastest growing of all sub-regions in Asia and the Pacific, with growth on track to meet original projections of 7% in 2017 and 7.2% in 2018. In the supplement, ADB has upgraded its growth outlook in the Asian region to 5.9% in 2017 from 5.7% and to 5.8% for 2018 from 5.7%.
166. Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has recently dedicated the state's longest road bridge "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Setu" to the nation. The 2.88 km bridge is built on river Kathajodi (a tributary of Mahanadi) at an approximate cost Rs 114 crore. The Netaji Setu will not only lessen the distance between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack by 12 km, it will also help divert traffic and ease commute.
167. Fanaceso Totti, the legendary Italian footballer, has finally confirmed his retirement from professional football on July 17, 2017 and announced that he had accepted an offer from his former team Roma to become a club director. Totti is regarded as one of the most talented Italian players of all time for his vision, technique, and goalscoring ability. He is the second-highest scorer of all time in Italian league history with 250 goals; he also holds the record for the most goals scored in Serie A while playing for a single club.
168. The global food fair "World Food India 2017" will be held in New Delhi on November 3-5, 2017 to boost food sector. The fair will be organized by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI). In it, West Bengal will be the focus state and will showcase its innovative food processing methods in the food fair. The WFI will also provide global businesses with a platform to explore Indian market across the value chain in food processing and allied industries as well as in food retail.
169. The 1817 Paika rebellion (Paika Bidroh) was an armed rebellion against the British East India Company's rule in Odisha under the leadership of Bakshi Jagabandhu. The rebellion quickly spread across most of Odisha before being ruthlessly put down by the company's forces. It is in news because President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated a function in New Delhi to commemorate 200th year celebration of heroic Paika Rebellion of Odisha on July 20, 2017 to pay tribute to the martyrs. The President is scheduled to felicitate 150 Paika descendants at the function to be held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The function was organized by the Union Ministry of Culture.
170. The Nameri National Park (NNP) is located in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the Sonitpur District of Assam that covers an area of 200km2. The forest has over 600 species. Some notable species are Gmelina arborea, Michelia champaca, Amari, Chukrasia tabularis, etc. It is an ideal habitat for a host of Indian elephant including the tiger, leopard, sambar, dhole, pygmy hog, Indian wild bison, etc. The park is also a birdwatcher's paradise with over 300 species such as white winged wood duck, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, etc.
171. The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched a new pension scheme Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) for the senior citizens in New Delhi on July 21, 2017. The scheme can be purchased offline as well as online through LIC and is exempted from Service Tax or GST. The PMVVY scheme will be available till 3rd of May next year and will provide an assured return of 8% per annum payable monthly for 10 years. Loan upto 75% of purchase price will be allowed after 3 policy years to meet the liquidity needs. The scheme also allows for premature exit for the treatment of any critical or terminal illness of self or spouse. On such premature exit, 98% of the Purchase Price shall be refunded. On death of the pensioner during the policy term of 10 years, the purchase price will be paid to the beneficiary.
172. The Arunachal Pradesh State Civil Secretariat has become the India's first secretariat to be fully under wireless coverage enabling end-to-end wireless connectivity. Chief Minister Pema Khandu has recently inaugurated the Wi-Fi Local Area Network (LAN) at the State Civil Secretariat in Itanagar.
173. The 5th North East Connectivity Summit- 2018 will be held in Arunachal Pradesh. This was informed by Ranjit Barthakur, the Chairman of North East Advisory Council (NEAC) of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The summit organised by the FICCI is one of the most important forums for action oriented deliberations on sub-regional economic integration and connectivity between North East India and South East Asia. The 4th North East Connectivity Summit will be held in Nagaland in the month of September 2017.
174. The 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) will be held in New Delhi from November 23-24, 2017. The GCCS is one of the world's Largest conference on Cyber Space and related issues. The theme of the conference will be "Cyber for all: An Inclusive, Sustainable, Developmental, Safe and Secure Cyberspace". The GCCS is a prestigious international conference that aims at encouraging dialogue among stakeholders of cyberspace, which has been taking place since 2011. India is the 2nd Asian country, after South Korea, who will be organizing such conference.
175. Sanjay Kothari, a 1978 batch IAS of Haryana cadre, has been appointed as Secretary to President elect Ram Nath Kovind. Currently, he is the Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Beside this, Bharat Lal, a forest service officer, has been appointed as Joint Secretary to the President. Ashok Malik, the senior journalist and distinguished fellow at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), will be Press Secretary to the President.
176. Brenda Marjorie Hale, the senior-most judge of United Kngdom (UK) has been appointed as the first female President of the Supreme Court (SC). She will take charge as the head of Britain's top judging panel in September following the retirement of current President, Lord Neuberger. She has served as Neuberger's deputy since 2013. Three new justices have also been appointed to the Supreme Court – Lady Justice Black, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Brigg – who will take up the role when Lady Hale is sworn in officially as President on 2nd October. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for civil cases in the UK, and criminal cases from England, Northern Ireland and Wales – which means it considers cases where an order had already been made in a lower court and is being challenged.
177. The 5th edition of South India Writers Ensemble (SIWE) will be held at Chengannur in coastal Alappuza district, Kerala from July 24, 2017 with 'Tolerance' as the core theme. The 3-day annual literary will be organised by People for Performing Arts and More, an art-cum-cultural outfit. The purpose of the SIWE is to bring about an enriching interaction between writers from different languages and regions. This year, Hindi has been selected as the main language and related creative writers, journalists, theatre and film personalities and other personalities would take part in it.
178. Karamjyoti Dalal from India has won bronze in the women's F55 category of discus-throw at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships. She won the medal in the F55 category, with her best throw of 19.02m outscoring Baharain's Alomari Roba, who managed a throw of 19.01m. Dalal belongs to Haryana and was an active member of Indian national kabaddi team before she was forced to leave the sport due to a mishap when she fell from her terrace.
179. In a first of its kind, Telangana State will have eco-friendly bridges over a canal cutting across the tiger corridor linking the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra with the forests in Telangana's Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. It requires the laying of fertile soil to grow grass and plants over the structure, so that fragmentation of the reserve forest is camouflaged. The 'eco-bridges' will be constructed at key spots along the 72 km-long, and at some places over a kilometre wide, right flank canal of the Pranahita barrage in the Bejjur and Dahegaon mandals.
180. The Mouling National Park (MNP) is a national park spread over the Upper Siang district and parts of the West Siang and East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh and covers an area of about 483 km². It is home to takin, goral, Indian leopard, Bengal tiger, barking deer, serow and red panda.
181. Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, has launched an online complaint system " Sexual Harassment e-box (SHe-Box)" for registering sexual harassment complaints at workplace in New Delhi on July 24, 2017. Initially, this online portal is open for central government women employees only and later on, complaints from private sector will be entertained effectively. The complaint management system has been developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SH Act). This portal will provide a platform to women working or visiting any office of Central Government to file complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace under the SH Act. Beside this, the Ministry will soon conduct a national level survey to examine the magnitude of sexual harassment at workplace.
182. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Petroleum Minister, has launched the India's first petroleum Research & Development (R&D) facility for testing high-end BS-VI quality fuel emissions in Faridabad in the National Capital Region (NCR). The R & D facility will be operated by state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and is designed to test all types of fuel including petrol, diesel, ethanol-blended petrol, bio-diesel, CNG, LNG, hydrogen-CNG and 2G-ethanol blends to ensure they meet the superior BS-VI norms that are to be implemented across the country by April 2020. In addition to generating emission data, the facility will also evaluate the fuel blends for energy-efficiency and engine durability.
183. India and Bangladesh have signed a pact to connect both the countries by waterways. The waterways will facilitate movement of passengers and goods between India's northeast and West Bengal with Bangladesh. Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya has stated that infrastructure for the services would be set up along the major rivers in Bangladesh, West Bengal and Brahmaputra in Assam. The services are expected to start by the end of year 2017.
184. The 2017 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships have started at the Nepal Army Sports Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 23, 2017. The delegates from 38 countries including India are taking part in the weeklong event. More than 300 weightlifters will compete for total 96 medals, 48 each in men's and women's categories. In the championship, players from 13 to 17 years of age group taking part in youth category and 15 to 20 years in junior category. All four categories have eight weight divisions. The competitions have started from July 24 and will continue till July 29.
185. Indian Shuttler H S Prannoy has won the 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament title by defeating his compatriot Parupalli Kashyap at Anaheim, California. He beat Kashyap in the final by 21-15, 20-22, 21-12. Prannoy had found place in the final defeating Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen while Kashyap overcame Korean Kwang Hee Heo in the semi-finals. In the women's singles of the tournament, Japanese Aya Ohori won the final beating Michelle Li of Canada.
186. The National Broadcasting Day (NBD) is celebrated every year on July 23 because on this day, in 1927, the radio broadcasting was started in India. The first ever radio broadcast in India went on air from the Bombay Station on July 23, 1927 under a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC). It was by the British Viceroy of India Lord Irwin. On June 8, 1936, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio (AIR). Today, in 2017, the radio broadcast has completed 90 years in country. The All India Radio (AIR), now under Prasar Bharati, has the distinction of being one of the major broadcasting organizations in the world. The News Services Division of All India Radio disseminates news and comments to listeners in India and abroad. Today, AIR's home service comprises 420 stations located across the country, reaching nearly 92%t of the country's area and 99.19% of the total population. AIR originates programming in 23 languages and 146 dialects.
187. Dr. Udupi Ramachandra Rao (85), the internationally acclaimed space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on July 24, 2017. He is credited for contributions to the development of space technology in India and its extensive application to communications and remote sensing of natural resources. Prof. Rao served as the Chairman of ISRO for ten years from 1984-1994. He was the first Indian to be inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington and in International Astronautics Federation (IAF). In his career, he published over 350 scientific and technical papers covering wide range of topics including cosmic rays, interplanetary physics, high energy astronomy, space applications and satellite and rocket technology. He also wrote several books on subjects related to space research.
188. Raveesh Kumar, a 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed as the new spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Currently, he is posted in Frankfurt as Consul General of India and will succeed Gopal Baglay, who has been appointed as the joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The MEA which is also known as the Foreign Ministry is the responsible for the conduct of foreign relations of India. The Ministry comes under Government of India (GoI) and is responsible for the country's representation in the United Nations. It also advises other Ministries and State Governments when the latter have dealings with foreign governments or institutions.
189. India bagged two medals in the high jump at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London on July 22, 2017. In it, Varun Bhati bagged bronze medal in the T42 event by successfully jumping in the final at 1.77 metre. While Sharad Kumar won a silver medal by recording his career-best performance with a jump of 1.84 metre. Earlier, Sundar Singh Gurjar from India clinched gold in the men's javelin throw event, Amit Saroha won silver medal in the club throw event in the F-51 category. And, India's discus thrower Karamjyoti Dalal claimed a bronze medal in the Women's F55 category. With that, India have increased their medal tally to five in the Championships.
190. Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, has inaugurated the Research Institution of World Ancient, Traditional, Culture & Heritage (RIWATCH) Museum at Roing in Arunachal Pradesh on July 22, 2017. The museum will serve as a place of exchange of cultural values of various tribes of the state and the North East. The MoS also pressed for documentation and research to preserve age-old culture and traditions of the state and exhorted people to shoulder the responsibility to pass on traditional and cultural values to the next generation. According to UNESCO report, there are 32 languages in Arunachal Pradesh that are on the verge of extinction and the state government is initiating programmes and policies to find out and to revive those minor and major tribal languages. Beside this, Rijiju also inaugurated the 235-meter long Chimari Bridge, which would serve as a life line between the National Highway 52 of Roing-Tezu. The bridge has been constructed by BRO.
191. India will host the men's World Boxing Championship for the first time in 2021 besides women's World Boxing Championship in 2018. It is recently announced by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) in the executive committee meeting in Moscow, Russia. India has never conducted the men's World Championship but has played host to the 2006 women's mega-event. The major men's boxing events hosted by India have been the 1990 World Cup in Mumbai and the 2010 Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi. Beside this, the AIBA Executive Committee has unanimously awarded the 2019 women's World Championships to Trabzon, Turkey and the AIBA Men's World Championships 2019 to Sochi, Russia. The AIBA 2018 Congress was awarded to the Russian capital city of Moscow.
192. India has been ranked 132nd among 152 nations in a new global Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) index, which was prepared by international NGO Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI). The new global ranking of governments is based on what they are doing to tackle the gap between rich and poor. The report highlights India's less-than adequate spending on welfare measures on account of its low tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio compared to that of some other nations as well as the disparity between wages of men and women for the same work. India collects just 16.7% of GDP as taxes, while South Africa manages to collect over 27%, pointed out the report. The CRI index ranks nations on the basis of their welfare spending, the progressive nature of their tax system and prevailing wage inequality in the labour market. The list is topped by Sweden, followed by Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Finland.
193. Mervyn Rose (87), an Australian tennis player, has passed away in Australia on July 23, 2017. He won 7 Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles) in his tennis career and represented Australia in the Davis Cup from 1951 to 1957. He coached numerous female and male players, including Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Ernie Ewart, Michael Fancutt, Brett Prentice and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Rose is remembered for his unique character and for great coaching and mentoring to both amateur and professional players.
194. The Union Government has launched the mobile phone app "Aarambh" to simplify the maintenance management of rural roads. The purpose of the app is to use of Geographic Information System (GIS) based mapping for making road inventories, condition surveys and producing cost estimates and other relevant data for preparation and monitoring of annual road maintenance plans. Its usage would greatly enhance the service delivery of the state level institutions in planning and implementing performance based rural roads maintenance contracts. The app was launched jointly by the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Drinking Water & Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar and ILO Deputy Director General (Policy) Ms. Deborah Greenfield on July 24, 2017. Apart from this, the Ministry has also launched a concept note and guidance note "Mobilizing Funds for Maintenance of Rural Road" to outline innovative ways which can be adopted by the state Governments for mobilizing additional funds for road maintenance and presents some international best practices worldwide.
195. The Lucknow Metro will become the India's first metro to have its own FM radio station along with a collaboration with private radio station to provide information regarding metro safety as well as on and off board entertainment. This service aims for infotainment and monetary purpose. It will offer free WiFi service for all the 'Go Smart' Card holders, which holds various other benefits as well. Beside this, Lucknow metro will also become the first metro in India to provide Commuters with free purified and chilled drinking water along with free toilet services at all of its stations.
196. India finished at 7th position in the 6th edition of Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG-2017) at Nassau in Bahamas after winning 11 medals. India won four gold, one silver and six bronze medals in the six-day multi-sporting event which concluded on July 24, 2017. In boxing, India bagged four medals with World Youth champion Sachin Siwach clinched the gold in light flyweight in 49kg category and Muhammed Etash Khan won a bronze in boys bantamweight (56kg) division. Among the girls boxers, Jony clinched a silver medal in lightweight in 60kg category where as Ekta took a bronze medal in the flyweight 51kg category. In tennis, Zeel Desai and Siddhant Banthia claimed three medals across all three categories in singles and mixed doubles. Desai won her girls singles final against Eliza Omirou of Cyprus 6-3 7-6, while Banthia clinched the bronze with a win over Cypriot Eleftherios Neos 6-2, 6-0. The duo of Banthia and Desai took India to a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the mixed doubles finals against Neos and Omirou of Cyprus. The Indian contingent had comprised 28 participants across six disciplines that are athletics, cycling, swimming, judo, boxing and tennis.
197. India skipper Mithali Raj has been chosen as the captain of the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 team by the International Cricket Council (ICC). She was selected as captain after she led India to the final in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup, which was won by England Women Team. Mithali led by example, scoring 409 runs during the 30- day tournament. There are four members of the England women's team in the Women's World Cup XI, including Tamsin Beaumont, who was declared Player of the Tournament, and seamer Anya Shrubsole, who captured six wickets in the final to shatter Indian hopes of claiming a maiden title. South Africa also has three members that included opener Laura Wolvaardt and bowlers Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk.
198. Prof Yash Pal (90), the internationally acclaimed physicist and higher education reformer, has passed away in Noida in Uttar Pradesh on July 25, 2017. He was born in 1926 in Jhang district of British India that is now in Pakistan. He gained recognition due to his contribution in the study of cosmic rays. Professor Yash Pal was lappointed as the Chief Consultant of the Planning Commission. He acted as the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology from 1984 to 1986. He was appointed as the Chairman of University Grants Commission where he served a full single-term of five years and also served as the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University. He served as a member of UN Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for Development. He is also known for his appearances on the science programme, Turning Point on Doordarshan and explaining scientific concepts in layman's language. Pal was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1976 and Padma Vibhushan in 2013 for his contribution to Science.
199. Indian weightlifter Konsam Ormila Devi has bagged a gold medal at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Kathmandu, Nepal. According to the Indian Weightlifting Federation, the weightlifter from Manipur lifted 56kg in snatch and 70kg in clean & jerk for a total effort of 126kg in the 44kg weight category to finish on the top of the podium.
200. The Sri Venkateshwara National Park (SVNP) is a national park and biosphere reserve located in Andhra Pradesh, India and covers an area of 353 km2. The park is known for its many waterfalls including the Talakona, Gundalakona and Gunjana. It is home to hyena, golden jackal, Indian fox, small Indian civet, jungle cat, etc. The key threats that national park is facing are construction and quarrying.
201. The 18th anniversary of 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' has celebrated across the country on July 26, 2017 to commemorates India's emphatic victory against Pakistan and honours the war heroes. On the occasion, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and three Chiefs of Services laid floral tribute at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate. On this day in 1999, the Indian Army successfully took control of posts at a treacherous high altitude and glaciated terrain across the Himalayas in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, after fighting for 60 days. More than 500 soldiers from Indian Armed Forces sacrificed their lives during the war. Four Param Vir Chakras, nine Maha Vir Chakras, 53 Vir Chakras and other medals had been awarded to felicitate the Kargil War heroes.
202. The 2017 BRICS Youth Forum (BYF) has started in Beijing, China on July 25, 2017 to discuss the development of the youth in the countries of the grouping. The theme of 3-day forum is 'Enhance BRICS Partnership, Promote Youth Development'. The forum gathered 50 youth representatives working as civil servants, scholars, entrepreneurs, artists and journalists from BRICS countries. The representatives will hold discussions on issues concerning youth policies and entrepreneurship, as well as the roles of BRICS youth in global governance, before formulating an action plan for the forum. The five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – first came up with the idea of establishing a dialogue mechanism for BRICS youth in 2014 during a meeting between BRICS leaders in South Africa.
203. Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, has recently declared his government's full independence from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, after announcing last year that Bolivia will no longer respond to their demands. Most of the protests in Bolivia have targeted the policies of the international money lending organizations that have focused on privatisation and austerity measures to combat corruption in the country
204. The United Nations (UN) has selected Dubai as the data hub for the Middle East North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region for the city's integrated initiatives to mine and manage its data. The designation will be part of a portfolio of local and regional data portals, analytics and reports to engage stakeholders and help accelerate progress. It will also serve as a dedicated platform for city-to-city learning and solutions transfer across metropolitan, national and global contexts.
205. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has signed MoU with Govt. of Uttarakhand for development for aviation sector in the state. The scope of the MoU is to identify relevant factors influencing the development of civil aviation infrastructure in Uttarakhand, assessing commercial potential of various airports of the state, identifying technical considerations for airport operations in the state, evaluating site related technical and engineering parameters for development of projects, making estimate of the capital outlay for the future projects and development of master plan for existing and future civil aviation infrastructure in the state. AAI will also assist UCADA in obtaining necessary clearances for airport operations starting with the upgraded airport at Pithoragarh and later at Chiniyalisaur.
206. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the first meeting of the newly constituted Islands Development Agency (IDA) on July 24, 2017. After detailed consultations, ten islands namely Smith, Ross, Aves, Long and Little Andaman in Andaman & Nicobar and Minicoy, Bangaram, Suheli, Cherium and Tinnakara in Lakshadweep have been identified for holistic development in the first phase. The IDA was set up on June 1, 2017 following the Prime Minister's review meeting for the development of islands.
207. Subhash Chandra Garg, the secretary of Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), has been appointed as India's Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines with effect from July 12, 2017. He succeeded Shaktikanta Das, the former secretary of DEA.
208. Kylie Masse, a Canadian swimmer, has won gold in the women's 100-metre backstroke with a world-record time of 58.10 seconds at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. With this achievement, she became the first Canadian woman to become a world champion and first Canadian to win a title since Brent Hayden.
209. The veteran actress Shakuntala Barua has been honoured with the 2017 Mahanayak Samman at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata for her contribution to the world of cinema. Awards were also presented to Prosenjit Chatterjee, Nusrat Jahan, Arindam Sil, Bickram Ghosh, Soumik Halder and Padmanabha Dasgupta in various categories. Suparnokanti Karati for Bisarjan and Shiboprasad Mukhopadhyay of Windows Productions for Praktan were among awardees for the Best Film and Best Producer categories. The Mahanayak Samman is the highest film award given by the West Bengal government. The awards were instituted in the year 2012 in the memory of the legendary actor 'Mahanayak' Uttam Kumar.
210. The Fakim wildlife sanctuary is located in the eastern part of Nagaland under Kipheri district bordering Myanmar. The sanctuary lies in the Pungro circle headquarters and is spread over an area of 642 hectares. It receives high rainfall and is home to rare species. The area is covered with hills, high ridges, deep gorges and narrow valleys. Because of this variation in altitude, vegetation is equally varied. It is home to tiger, hoolock gibbon, panther, jungle cat, Himalayan bear, bison, sambar, barking deer, etc.
211. The BRICS NSAs meeting has started in Beijing, China on July 27, 2017, which will be attended by Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor (NSA) of India. The visit comes in the backdrop of ongoing standoff between India and China in the Doklam region. Doval is expected to hold separate talks with China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi on the standoff issue on the sidelines of the meeting. Mr Doval and Mr Yang are Special Representatives of the India-China border mechanism. Besides Doval and Yang, Minister of State Security David Mahlobo of South Africa, Minister Sergio Etchegoyen of the Office of Institutional Security of the Presidency of Brazil, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev of the Russian Federation will also attend the NSAs meeting.
212. The Madras High Court has ruled that the national song 'Vande Mataram' be made compulsory in all educational institutions and government or private organisations in Tamil Nadu. As per ruling, the national song be played and sung in all schools, colleges and universities at least once a week, preferably on Monday or Friday and in government offices, private companies, factories and industries at least once a month. The issue pertains to a case filed by K Veeramani who lost the state recruitment board exam by a mark as he answered Bengali for the question on the language of 'Vande Mataram' while the answer key said that it was written in Sanskrit. Opposing his submission, Veeramani approached the Madras High Court and sought clarity on whether 'Vande Mataram' was written in Sanskrit or Bengali. As per ruling, it is the duty of every citizen to abide by the ideals ingrained in the Constitution and as such show respect to the National Anthem and the National Flag.
213. N. Dharam Singh (80), the former Karnataka Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader, has recently passed away in Bengaluru 80. He was the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka and was continuously elected as MLA for 7 times from the Jevargi constituency. Mr Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bidar constituency in 2009 general election.
214. The Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI) is a Miniratna Indian public sector unit engaged in the business of dredging. DCI is headquartered at Visakhapatnam and it reports to the Ministry of Shipping. Recently, it is in news because a proposal for disinvestment of DCI is under consideration of the Government of India (GoI). The proposal is aimed at upgrading technology, improving capability, infusing capital to buy necessary dredgers and equipments and instilling experienced professional management to optimize the operations of DCI. This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping and Road Transport and Highways Pon. Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 27, 2017.
215. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently inaugurated the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu on July 27, 2017. The event coincides with the second death anniversary of Dr Kalam. The memorial has been designed and established by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and has been built at a cost of about 20 crore rupees. The memorial will reflect India's diversity and various cultures and will pay homage to Kalam's life, displaying replicas of rockets and missiles that the late ace scientist worked on. On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi has flagged off the mobile science exhibition bus "Kalam Sandesh Vahini" which shall travel across various States of the country and reach Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on October 15, which marks the birth anniversary of the former President.
216. Nitish Kumar, the President of Janata Dal(United), has been sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Bihar for the sixth time and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered him the oath of office and secrecy at Raj Bhavan in Patna on July 27, 2017. Earlier, on July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar had resigned as the Chief Minister citing irreconcilable differences with RJD on corruption charges against Lalu Prasad's son and former Deputy CM Tejaswi Prasad Yadav. Then, the JDU President joined hands with the BJP to form a new government in the state.
217. Indian delegation led by Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour & Employment, participated in the BRICS Labour & Employment Ministers' Meet, held on July 26-27, 2017 at Chonqging, China. China is the chair for the BRICS Labour & Employment Ministers' Meet for the year 2017. The meeting concluded with the adoption of the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministerial Declaration by the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers. The declaration covered a variety of areas that are of critical importance to all BRICS countries including India and called upon strengthening collaboration and cooperation on these through appropriate institutionalisation . These areas consisted of : "Governance in the Future of Work", "Skills for development in BRICS", "Universal and sustainable social security systems", "BRICS Network of Labour Research Institutions", "BRICS Social Security Cooperation Framework" and "BRICS entrepreneurship research".
218. The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council has formed a selection committee under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha to identify and recommend eligible persons for appointment as the chairman and members of the National Anti-profiteering Authority under GST. The standing committee is empowered to refer cases requiring detailed enquiry to the Director General of Safeguards, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for consideration of the NAPA. The National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAPA) is tasked with ensuring the full benefits of a reduction in tax on the supply of goods or services flow to the consumers. As per provisions of law, the Authority will be headed by a senior officer of the level of a secretary to the Government of India and shall have four technical members from the Centre and/or the states. The NAPA will have the power to cancel registration of any entity or business if it fails to pass on to consumers the benefit of lower taxes under the GST regime.
219. Professor K. Gopalan has been honoured with the Life Time Excellence Award at the 2017 National Earth System Sciences (NESS) awards for his significant contribution in the field of isotope geo-science. The awards are presented on the Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) i.e. July 27, 2017. The National Awards for Ocean Science & technology, Atmospheric Science & technology and Geoscience & technology has been presented to Prof. P. N. Vinayachandran, Dr. K. Krishnamoorthy and Professsor K. S. Krishna respectively. The Young Researcher Awards have been bestowed to Dr. Dhanya C. T. and Dr. Vikram Vishal for their outstanding work in Earth Science & Technology. The Life Time Excellence Award carry an award money of Rs.5,00,000/-; National Awards carry an award money of Rs.1,00,000/- each and Young Researcher Award carry an award of Rs.50,000/- each.
220. The Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) is a protected area and a Project Tiger, tiger reserve located 38 km northwest of Chikkamagaluru town in Karnataka. It has a wide range of flora and fauna and is a popular place for day outings. The 1,875 m above MSL Hebbe Giri is the highest peak in the sanctuary. It is home to tiger, elephant, gaur, sloth bear, wild boar, black leopard, jungle cat, jackal, wild dog, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, etc.
221. India's first bullet train project "Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor" will be launched during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September 12-14, 2017. Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will jointly inaugurate the bullet train project with the laying of foundation stone and a ground breaking ceremony. This is expected to take place in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar (Gujarat). This is Rs 1 lakh crore project which involves construction of a 505-km line using Japanese 'Shinkansen' technology. For this, Japan will provide a soft loan worth $12 billion, at a cost of 0.1%, for a 50-year period including a 15-year moratorium. The Japanese government will be bearing 80% of the total project cost and the increase in cost estimate has to be borne by both India and Japan.
222. Mumbai Metro One will launch the India's first Mobile Ticketing System 'OnGo' which will help commuters pass the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) gates using their mobile phones. The system is in the final advanced stage of testing and will be implemented by mid-August. The commuters will be able to buy tickets or monthly passes using the Mumbai Metro app on their smartphone. Once they make the payment using their mobile wallet or e-wallet, a QR code will be generated. The gate's sensor will then scan this code and let them access the platform. The 'OnGo' will be particularly convenient for those commuters wanting to book their journey through tokens or passes at their own convenience even from outside the Metro stations and avoid queues before ticketing windows.
223. Axis bank has acquired Snapdeal-owned mobile wallet FreeCharge in an all-cash deal worth Rs 385 crore to strengthen its position in the payments space. This acquisition is expected to help the bank take a significant step towards digital distribution of financial products. The platform provides access to agile customer-facing technology, which will help the bank to serve its existing customers better and approach new digitally native customers in an efficient manner.
224. Ajay Singh from India has won bronze medal in 77 kgs men's junior category at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships at Kathmandu, Nepal. With this, India medals tally goes to three. Apart from him, S. Nirpupama Devi had won bronze in 69 kgs women youth category and Konsam Ormila Devi had won gold in 44kg weight category.
225. Microsoft India has officially launched 'Kaizala' a Made for India app for businesses and organizations, which is powered by Azure Cloud platform. It is designed for large group communications and work management, and works even on 2G networks. The app would help organisations communicate, collaborate and complete tasks and bring together desktop users and mobile-only users who may be within or outside their organisations.
226. Recently, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has started a full-fledged merchant banking operations to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) utilise capital markets for their funding requirements. The purpose of the initiative is to enhance the access of MSMEs to the capital markets, including the SME Trading Platform and Institutional Trading Platform. This move will prove beneficial to the SME exchange as well as investors seeking liquidity or exit from their investment. The bank has supported over 125 venture capital funds and thus can provide help for listing the investee companies on SME exchanges via its merchant banking operations. The headquarters of SIDBI is located at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
227. According to 2017 Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) index, Bengaluru (40th) and Delhi (49th) are the only Indian cities among the top 50 global cities that foster high-potential women entrepreneurs. The list is topped by New York, followed by Bay Area, London, Boston, Stockholm and Los Angeles. The index ranks cities in terms of its ability to attract and foster growth of women-owned firms. It provides a diagnostic tool to advise entrepreneurs and policy-makers on how to improve conditions to enable businesses founded by women to thrive. The index also ranked cities based on the impact of local policies, programmes and characteristics in addition to national laws and customs.
228. The World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is observed every year on July 28 to raise awareness of the global burden of viral hepatitis and to influence real change. The 2017 theme is "Eliminate Hepatitis". Hepatitis is a viral infection which causes inflammation in the liver. It is a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. The ' 2017 WHO Global hepatitis' report indicates that a large majority of these people lack access to life-saving testing and treatment. As a result, millions face risk of chronic liver disease, cancer, and death. As per estimates of World Health Organisation (WHO), 4 crore people in India live with chronic Hepatitis B and an additional six lakh with Hepatitis C, which accounts for 40% and 20% of Hepatitis B and C infections in south-east Asia. Thus, hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.4 million people every year.
229. The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched two Mobile apps – India Quake and Sagar Vani to send alerts on earthquake parameters and oceanic disturbances. The 'India Quake' will automatically disseminate earthquake parameters like location, time and magnitude, after the occurrence of earthquakes. The app will make information dissemination faster with no restrictions on the number of recipients. Any citizen can download this App and get the real time earthquake location information on his/her mobile. While, the 'Sagar Vani' will disseminate ocean related information and alerts like high waves and Tsunami early warnings, to the user community in timely manner for their safety. The apps are developed by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS). The NCS is an office of the MoES and is tasked with providing earthquake monitoring and hazard reports to governmental agencies.
230. The Rajaji National Park (RNP) is an Indian national park and tiger reserve located in the three districts of Uttarakhand: Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal and covers an area of over 820 km2. It is home to Asian elephant, Bengal tiger, Leopard, Jungle cat, Striped hyena, Goral, Indian hare, Sloth bear, etc. The park was named after C. Rajagopalachari, a prominent leader of the Freedom Struggle, the second and last Governor-General of independent India and one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (in 1954).
231. The Punjab government has launched its flagship health scheme "Care Companion Programme (CCP)" to educate family members of patient about taking better care of patients. The CCP scheme is targeted to improve patients outcome by implementing better family engagement. For this, the state department of health and family welfare has signed a MOU with Noora Health India Trust for implementation of the CCP. The purpose of the programme is to reduce the number of baby deaths after discharge from hospitals due to infections or any other reason. The innovative programme includes teaching the family of patient's high-impact medical skills to take care of the patients in the hospital and at home.
232. The Telangana prisons department has come up with first of its kind offer to rent out its jails to other states to lodge their convicts from 2018. The department has proposed to accommodate prisoners from overcrowded prisons in India at a monthly rent of Rs 10,000 per person that includes food, accommodation, security, mulakhat (meeting family members of visitors) and also skill development trainings. Currently, accommodation is available for 800 prisoners. However, the prisons will lodge convicts in non-grievous and non-serious offences but not under trials and hardcore criminals. Once the Telangana prisons department's proposal gets the state government nod; Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh which have overcrowded jails, are expected to be its potential client. Presently, Norway is the only country that is shutting down its jails or leasing them out to other countries to lodge their prisoners.
233. The 7th edition of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Artists Camp and Exhibition of Paintings has started at Kathmandu, Nepal on July 28, 2017. Around 40 artists from SAARC member countries except Afghanistan taking part in the 4 day camp. The purpose of the event is to bring art and culture of member countries together. The event is organised by Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal and SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
234. Lovepreet Singh from India has won bronze medal in 105 kg men junior category at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships at Kathmandu, Nepal. Lovepreet lifted 151 kgs in snatch and 180 kgs in clean and jerk to get the bronze. He lifted total 331 kgs. This is India's fourth medal in the championships. Apart from him, Konsam Ormila Devi won gold in the 44kg weight category. While, Ajay Singh and S. Nirpupama Devi have won bronze medal in 77 kgs men's junior category and in 69 kgs women youth category, respectively.
235. The Canara Bank has launched its first digital banking branch "CANDI" at Spencer Towers in MG Road, Bengaluru to provide an end-to-end digital experience to customers. As a part of its digital campaign, the bank has introduced customer-friendly mobile apps which help customers get most of the information related to their accounts from the app without the need to visit the branch. The most attractive feature of the Digital Branch is a humanoid robot that addresses basic queries of customers on banking products and services. This is a first-of-its kind initiative by a public sector bank in the country.
236. The 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 championship will be hosted by Indonesia, which is scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 4, 2018. It is officially awarded by the AFC Competition Committee. A total of 16 teams will play in the tournament. The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup as the AFC representatives.
237. The Delhi Metro has become the world's first completely 'green' Metro system for adhering to green building norms for its residential colonies. Delhi Metro has secured the platinum rating for adherence to green building norms for its 10 residential colonies from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).
238. The International Tiger Day (ITD) is observed every year on July 29 to raise awareness for tiger conservation. The day is also known as Global Tiger Day (GTD). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has stated that only 3,890 tigers are left in the world. Of them, India has the highest number. Till July 2016, there were 2,500 tigers in the country.
239. Iran has successfully launched an advanced satellite-carrying rocket 'Simorgh' into space from the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan on July 27, 2017. The rocket is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds).
240. The Mrugavani National Park (MNP) is located in Hyderabad, Telangana and covers an area of 3.6Km2. It is home to a 600 different types of plant life. The animals include: Indian hare, forest cat, civet, Indian rat snake, Russell's viper, cheetal and the flower pecker.
241. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Minority Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs, has launched "Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-2" in Mumbai, Maharashtra under the Jiyo Parsi scheme. The main purpose of the "Jiyo Parsi" scheme (or Central Sector Scheme) is to reverse the declining trend of Parsi population by adopting a scientific protocol and structured interventions, stabilize their population and increase the population of Parsis in India.
242. Ravi Mittal, additional secretary in the Ministry of Finance, has been appointed as the part-time member of the board of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA). He succeeded N S Rao at IRDAI, who is a joint secretary level officer. Former finance secretary Sushma Nath is another part-time member on the IRDAI board. Besides, Maruthi Prasad Tangirala, a 1990-batch IP&TA&FS officer, has been appointed as Executive Director (ED) at IRDAI and his position will be equivalent to a joint secretary. Tangirala has replaced Sriram Taranikanti, who is a 1992 -batch IAS officer.
243. Aditya Patil and Suhaani Lohia have clinched bronze medals at the 13th edition of Asian Schools Chess Championship (ASCC) 2017 in Panjin, China. Aditya won bronze in the Under-7 rapid championship, while Suhaani Lohia won the bronze in the Under-9 girls blitz championships. Both these prodigious talents are products of the South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA).
244. According to the recently released OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report, Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef, followed by Australia and India. As per report, India exported 1.56 million tonnes of beef in 2016. It is expected to maintain its position as the third-largest exporter of the meat till 2026 by exporting 1.93 tonnes that year. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD database, India imported 363,000 tonnes of beef in 2016 and the amount was projected to stay the same over the decade. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the total world beef exports in 2016 was 10.95 million tonnes and was expected to increase to 12.43 million tonnes by 2026. The type of beef exported was not specified, but the exported meat appears to be mostly from buffaloes as the report has specified the animal for imports by Myanmar from India.
245. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently developed India's first unmanned tank "Muntra" that can remotely operate. The agency has developed the tank in three different variants to tackle any kind of situation – 'Muntra S' for surveillance missons, 'Muntra M' for mine detection and a third variant 'Muntra N' for reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and bio threats. The Muntra variants have surveillance radar, an integrated camera along with laser range finder which can be used to spy on ground target 15km away – may be a crawling men or heavy vehicles.
246. K. E. Mammen (96), the noted Gandhian and freedom fighter, has recently passed away in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and is often referred to as the Kerala Gandhi. He became active in the freedom movement as a college student. He was first jailed for taking an open stand against C.P Ramaswamy Iyer, the then Dewan of the erstwhile Travancore state. After being denied an opportunity at continued studies here, he shifted to Madras Christian College in 1940. He was ousted from there too, following his participation in the Quit India Movement. He was also actively involved in anti-liquour campaigns across the state of Kerala till his death.
247. The Haryana government has officially prohibited flushing/mixing of liquid nitrogen with any drink or food article. The ban has been issued under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (Central Act 34 of 2006). As per officials, the state food department will now conduct surprise checks in restaurants and bars, especially those in Gurgaon, to check whether the ban was being flouted. According to expert medical opinion, any drink or food article whose preparation involves flushing/mixing of liquid nitrogen is harmful for humans. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless liquid having a boiling point of -195.79 °C and is used to instantly freeze food and drinks. It is used in bars to quickly chill glasses, freeze ingredients, and provide a smoky effect to drinks and in molecular gastronomy. It releases a large volume of gas as it evaporates, which can burst the stomach if consumed in a sufficiently large quantity. It is also used to cool computers and in cryogenic medical procedures like removing warts and cancerous tissues by freezing them.
248. Recently, Indian boxers has won five gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 48th Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic, clinching five gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the event in the Czech Republic. Shiva Thapa (60 kg), Manoj Kumar (69 kg), Amit Phangal (52 kg), Gaurav Bidhuri (56 kg) and Satish Kumar (+91 kg) category has recently claimed gold medals after winning their respective summit clashes on July 30, 2017. Kavinder Bisht in 52 kg and Manish Panwar in 81 kg settled for silver medals. Earlier, Sumit Sangwan had claimed a bronze in 91 kg category after going down in the semifinals.
249. The United Nations (UN) World Day against Trafficking in Persons is observed every year on July 30 to raise awareness of the plight of human trafficking victims, and promote and protect their rights. The 2017 theme "Act to Protect and Assist Trafficked Persons" highlights the large mixed migration movements of refugees and migrants. The theme puts the spotlight on the significant impact of conflict and natural disasters, as well as the resultant, multiple risks of human trafficking that many people face. It addresses the key issue concerning trafficking responses: that most people are never identified as trafficking victims and therefore cannot access most of the assistance or protection provided.
250. The Indravati National Park (INP) is located in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh and covers an area of approximately 2799.08 km2. It is home to one of the last populations of rare wild buffalo. The flora in the Indravati National Park is mainly comprises tropical moist and dry deciduous type with predominance of the sal, teak and bamboo trees. It is also home to tigers, leopards, Indian bison, nilgai, blackbuck, chausingha , sambar, chital, Indian muntjac, Indian spotted chevrotain, etc.
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