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01.07.2016

Famous Writer Vishwanath Tripathi chosen for 28th Moorti Devi Award

 Noted Hindi writer Vishwanath Tripathi has been selected for the 28th Moorti Devi

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Award for the year 2014 for his book Vyomkesh Darvesh.

'Vyomkesh Darvesh' is a fictional biography of noted Hindi critic Hazariprasad

Dwivedi,who is considered doyen of Hindi language.

Vishwanath Tripathi :-

 Born on February 16, 1931 in Bishkohar village of district Basti in Uttar Pradesh

 Vishwanath Tripathi was a student of the Banaras Hindu University and Punjab

University

His other works :-

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"Lokwadi Tulsidas"

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"Meera Ka Kavya"

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"Desh ke is Daur Main"

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"Kuch Kahaniyan Kuch Vichar"

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"Ped Ka Hath"

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"Jaisa Kaha Saka"

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"Nagatlai Ka Gaon."

Moorti Devi Award :-

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The Moortidevi Award constituted by the Bhartiya Jnanpith is presented annually for a

"contemplative and perceptive work which expresses, underlines and illumines human values rooted in the broad vision of Indian philosophy and cultural heritage."

Books written in English and all Indian languages are considered for the Prize, which comprises a cash award of Rs four lakhs, a statue and a citation plaque

Pollution monitoring devices to be installed till September in all major Polluting Industrial

Units

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Industrial units in three critically polluting sectors petrochemicals, oil refining and thermal power have been given time till September, to install 24x7 real time pollution monitoring devices at their effluent and emission discharge points

To put a check on pollution caused by industry, the ministry had identified 2,800 units spread across 17 heavily polluting sectors and had given them time till June 30 to install the pollution monitoring devices. The sectors include aluminium, caustic soda, fertiliser, paper pulp, copper, pesticides, textile, tannery, dyes, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemical, thermal plants and oil refineries

Nearly half of the 2,800 units that had got directions from the ministry to install the devices have moved towards compliance and ministery is confident of achieving full coverage in the next few months, hopefully by September


 920 units have installed the monitoring devices and another 400 units have move towards Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which is monitoring effluents from these units, has already started receiving online data of status of compliance with respect to effluents and emissions.

Afghan prez Ghani nominates first female judge to Supreme Court

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has nominated a leading lawyer to become the country's first ever female Supreme Court judge although this move has angered some

Islamic conservatives.

Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan Women Judges Association and a former juvenile court judge, was the only female nominated to the nine-member bench after the announcement was delayed due to opposition by a group of Islamic conservatives

Ashraf Ghani made the announcement during a June 30 gathering of diplomats and women's rights activists should. Anisa Rasouli also gain the approval of parliament before assuming the post in the Supreme Court.

 Under the constitution, Supreme Court judges have fixed ten-year terms. In April lawmakers approved Ghani’s nominees for a number of cabinet positions, including

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 four women

The former academic and World Bank economist has already appointed two female governors for the provinces of Ghor and Daikundi, moves hailed by rights campaigners

Under the 1996-2001 fundamentalist Taliban regime, women were banned from leaving their homes without a male chaperone and often denied basic rights such as an education but recently, Afghan women have made giant strides and taking pat acively in very spheres

9th National Statistics Day observed with theme "Social Development"

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The Union Minister of State for Statistics & Programme Implementation (Independent

Charge), Minister of State for External Affairs & Minister of State for Overseas Indian

Affairs General (Dr.) Vijay Kumar Singh, has said that theme of social development chosen for the Statistics day is relevant and is related to various themes of development set by the Prime Minister

He called upon Statisticians to use technology to analyze the data to make it relevant for interventions to be made in specific areas for the development of the society. He said the

Government is looking for a focused interventions the areas like education, health, sanitation etc.

The Chairman of the National Statistical Commission Dr. Pronab Sen has said that most of the larger problems have been addressed as a part of the development agenda and now the data collection and analysis needs to be different to address specific problems in identified and focused areas.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has been celebrating the

Statistics Day every year since 2007 to create public awareness, especially among the younger generation for drawing inspiration from Late Professor Prasanta Chandra


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Mahalanobis about the role and importance of statistics in socio-economic planning, policy formulation and good governance.

In recognition of the notable contributions made by him in the fields of statistics and economic planning, Government of India has designated 29th June every year as the

Statistics Day in the category of Special Days for celebration at the national level to mark his birth anniversary

National Awards in Statistics, constituted in the Honour of Prof. C.R. Rao were conferred by General (Dr.) Vijay Kumar Singh to Dr. Hukum Chandra, Scientist, IASRI and Dr. Pulak Ghosh, Professor IIM, Bangalore.

Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis :-

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Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was an Indian Bengali scientist and applied statistician.

He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure.

He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India. He founded the Indian

Statistical Institute, and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.

Indian Railways, Army Among world's biggest employers

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Two Indian organisations - Army and Railways - are among the world's biggest employers, together employing a whopping 2.7 million people

Although it is often said that Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, but it seems it is not. The organisation is ranked at the eighth place in the list of world’s biggest employers

Immediately after Indian Railways with 1.4 million staff is the Indian Armed Forces with 1.3

According to a research published by the World Economic Forum, the US Department of

Defense is the world's biggest employer which claims over 3.2 million employees on its roster

Second is People's Liberation Army (the Chinese military) with 2.3 million, and in third is the US supermarket giant Walmart with 2.1 million workers

UK's National Health Service was ranked at the 5th place, with 1.7 million employees, followed by state-run China National Petroleum Corporation with 1.6 million.

Odisha’s Nabakalebar Festival to be promoted through Incredible India campaign

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Union Tourism Ministry will promote the Nabakalebar festival under the Incredible

India Campaign for its international branding.

The Government of India will release Rs 50 crore for providing infrastructure and facilities for the Nabakalebar festival.

The Union Culture Ministry will release a postal stamp & coin to mark the festival. The

Nabakalebar Festival will be celebrated on July 10, 2015 after a gap of 19 years.

Centre is making all efforts to start the first international flight from the Bhubaneswar

International Airport on this occasion ,this first flight is likely to be for Abu Dhabi.

Odisha has been demanding an international flight from the Bhubaneswar International

Airport.


What is Nabakalebar Festival:-

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Nabakalebar is basically the periodical renewal of the wooden images of Lord,

Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan. After the year 1996, next Nabakalebar festival is going to happen in 2015.It is all about transformation of Puri temple, Odisha lords into the new body. The new wooden idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra,

Goddess Subhadra and Sudarshan are welcoming to the temple with great celebration and it is a great occasion for Odisha people. The new idols are carved and old ones are cremated with rituals mentioned in the century old Odia scriptures.

The temple management and priest have to identify the holy tree with a group of search team as prescribed in the temple records. They trace the trees with support of divine dream, then next they start their stopover at Kakatpur, the abode of Goddess Mangala.

After that carving of the idols, transfer of Bramha from old to new idol and finally sacred burial of old bodies of Lords are the major rituals which are combinely named as the process of Nabakalebar

Why is it so special ?

The timing for the celebration of Nabakalebar Festival is very special it is celebrated in a year with an extra (Adhika masa) Ashadha masa/month as per Hindu Calendar.This usually occurs every twelve to nineteen years.The Deities are made from a special type of Neem wood known as Daru Bramha. Preparations for the ceremony start in the month of Chaitra. The previous

Nabakalebars were taken place in the years like 1969, 1978 and 1996.More than 3 million devotees are expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalevara of 2015

IDFC appoints former CAG Vinod Rai as independent director

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Infrastructure financing firm IDFC appointed former comptroller and auditor general

Vinod Rai as an independent director

Vinod Rai also worked as Financial Services Secretary.He was director on several boards including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and Life Insurance Corporation of India and instrumental in setting up the India Infrastructure Finance Company

Limited and was also on the board of that company.

Vinod Rai was the 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India.He assumed office on

7 January 2008 till 22 May 2013He is the current chairman of UN Panel of External

Auditors. He is currently Honorary Advisor to the Railways and a member of the

Railway Kaya Kalp Council

Airtel becomes world's 3rd largest mobile operator

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Bharati Airtel has moved up a position in global rankings as it has became the third largest mobile operator in the world, in terms of subscribers

Bharati Airtel has now has 303 million customers across 20 countries it is present in

India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa

China Mobile, according to WCIS, is the top mobile operator in the world with 626.27 million subscribers.


 Vodafone Group of UK ranks second with 403.08 million subscribers. China Unicom is ranked fourth with 299.09 million subscribers, followed by America Movil with 274.14 million users.

About Airtel :-

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Airtel began operations in November 1995 in New Delhi (India) and in less than two decades it has emerged as one of the top brands in the emerging markets with an unmatched scale and diversity of operations

Its mobile networks cover over 1.85 billion people across its operations in 20 countries and carried over 1.23 trillion minutes of calls and over 333 petabytes of data in FY 2014-

15

Its distribution channel is spread across 1.5 million outlets, with network presence in

5,121 census and 464,045 non-census towns and villages covering approximately 86.8 percent of the country's population.

In Africa, Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile operator in terms of geographical footprint.

It offers 2G, 3G services and Airtel Money across all 17 countries in Africa.

In Bangladesh, it is the fastest growing mobile operator, with a distribution network comprising over 146,000 retailers across the country.

In Sri Lanka, its offers includes voice, data and enterprise solutions.

Adelaide Oval to host cricket's first ever day-night Test

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Australia and New Zealand will play cricket's first day-night Test in Adelaide from late

November.

The Test, running November 27-December 1, will feature pink balls that Cricket

Australia chief James Sutherland believes will hold up to Test match play.

The Test is one of six at home for the Australians - three each against New Zealand and

West Indies - from November 5 until January 7

National Level Sikh museum to be constructed in Lakhnaur Sahib Village of Punjab

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Ratan Lal Kataria, MP from Ambala announced that a national level museum of Sikh heritage will be setup in Lakhnaur Sahib village close to Ambala City, Punjab.

Around 17 acres of land belonging to Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been lying vacant in the village now this land will be utilized for the museum. Some articles belonging to Guru

Gobind Singh and his mother Mata Gujari will also be kept in the museum and it would be developed on the lines of Anandpur Sahib Museum.

Kataria announced a contribution of 11 lakh rupees for the gurudwara from Member of

Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds.

Gurudwara Lakhnaur Sahib

 It is associated with the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Lakhnaur was the ancestral home of Mata Gujri Ji, the mother of Guru Gobind Singh and wife of Guru Tegh

Bahadur. After his Father's Martyredom at Chandini Chauk Guru ji came to this place with his mother and uncles from Patna and spent some time


 Mata Gujri's well, sarovar and Baoli are remnants of the visit of Guru Gobind Singh Ji to this village. Among the other articles associated with the Guru and his family on display here include are the Guru's bed, Mata Gujri's bed, weapons and utensils used in the langar

HDFC Bank launches '30-min auto', '15-min 2-wheeler' loans

 Country's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank has launched '30-min auto' and '15-min 2-wheeler' loan schemes, for which customers have to provide only their biometric details.

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The 30-minute auto loan is available for HDFC Bank customers, as well as others. With this technology-enabled solution, loans for two-wheelers can also be approved within 15 minutes.

If a customer walks in to an auto dealership, they can walk out with the vehicle the same day itself, which was not the case earlier

 The 30-minute auto loan and 15-minute two-wheeler loan is the latest initiative in HDFC

Bank’s digital banking offering which is termed as "Go Digital" this campaign

 With the launch of its ‘Go Digital - Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’ offering, HDFC literally converts the mobile phone into a bank branch

How will loan be approved ?

Any person wishing to take a loan can walk into an auto dealership or any other touch points of the bank and provide the Aadhaar card number and fingerprint. The biometric technology available at the point of customer contact will match these details against consolidated information accessed from several databases to authenticate customer profile. “If eligible, based on the profile, the loan will then be approved with minimal documentation required from the customer within record time.”

Death toll rises to 141 in Indonesia plane crash

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The Hercules C130B an air force transport plane crashed in Indonesia and bursted into flames, creating a huge fireball.There were no survivors among the 113 people on board currently death toll to more than 140

So far, 141 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a residential area in Medan city. The air force says 122 people were on board, including military personnel and their families. Officials don't expect any survivors from the plane

Hitching rides on military planes to reach remote destinations is common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that spans three time zones. It is also common practice for

 government officials and relatives of military servicemen to take military flights, with permission from the base commander.

The plane had traveled from the capital, Jakarta, and stopped at two locations before arriving at Medan on Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands

 In September 2005, a Boeing 737 came down in a crowded residential area shortly after take-off from Medan's Polonia airport, killing 143 people including 30 on the ground


02.07.2015

Greece became first developed nation to default on IMF debt

 Greece became the first advanced economy to default on an International Monetary

Fund (IMF) repayment with its failure to repay the roughly $1.8bn to the IMF the largest, single missed repayment in the IMF’s history.The last country to do so was

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Zimbabwe in 2001 others are Somalia and Sudan.

The deadline for debt payment was missed by Greece after Eurozone Finance Ministers refused to extend its bailout. They had refused the bailout after Greece rejected the proposal given by International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB)

 and the European Commission (EC).

Greece made a last-ditch effort to extend its bailout but Eurozone Finance Ministers

 refused to extend its bailout to Greece because Greece has rejected the proposal of International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC) and European

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Central Bank (ECB)

The proposal had asked Greece to raise its primary surplus within two years in order to avail the 15.5 billion Euros of funding, which in turn required pension and tax reforms which will be a problem for the common public of Greece.

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Greece has debt worth nearly 180 percent of its GDP after receiving two bailouts worth

$266bn since 2010.

Unemployment has more than doubled since 2009 to 25.6 percent and pensions and benefits have roughly halved between 2010 and 2014.

Impacts of being a defaulter :-

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Greece, which is now in arrears, is at a risk of leaving Euro and shifting back to its old currency Drachma. Euro replaced Drachma as a currency of Greece in 2001

Drachma the currency of Greece has lower value than Euro this will lead to increase in the cost of imports which will bring inflation in the Greece economy which the country

 is already facing

Failure to repay the IMF could push the European Central Bank on Wednesday to ask

Greek banks for more assets if they want more money. The ECB has been keeping Greek banks alive with 89bn euros of emergency funding

Impact on Indian economy:-

Europe is India’s largest trading partner with 129 billion US dollars of merchandise trade registered in 2014-15. Of this the European Union accounted for 97 billion US dollars with the

UK, Germany, France and Italy being the leading partners.India will face loss on its exports especially engineering goods for which is the Europe is the largest destination

Sudan’s largest power plant commissioned by BHEL

 State-owned power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) has commissioned Sudan's largest power plant.


 It has designed, manufactured, supplied and installed the complete power project with four units of 125 MW each including associated civil works. Bhel has executed this project on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.

 Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has added another feather in its cap by successfully commissioning the 500 MW Kosti Thermal Power Station (TPS) (4x125 MW) in Sudan

 which is Sudan’s largest power plant.

The project uses crude oil from South Sudan as fuel, for which Bhel has designed special boilers. All the major equipment for the project -- boilers, steam-turbines, generators,

Controls & Instrumentation (C&I), transformers -- have been manufactured in-house.

 The company has also constructed a canal from the White Nile River to supply water for the project. The project is funded by the India's Line of Credit of USD 350 million

 The company has also constructed a canal from the White Nile River to supply water for the project. The project is funded by the India's Line of Credit of USD 350 million

Projects that BHEL is executing outside India:-

 64 MW Grand Katende hydro project in Congo

 18 MW power plant in Comoros

 8x183 MW Keban hydro rehabilitation project in Turkey

 3 hydro projects in Bhutan with a combined capacity of 2,940 MW.

Madhya Pradesh government starts e-registration of property

 Madhya Pradesh government has started the facility of e-registration of property documents in all the districts of state.

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The e-registration of property documentation will be done through software named

Sampada. Under this facility, people can obtain e-stamp through internet banking or service provider.

They can also obtain information about market value of their property and registration

 fees to be payable on its purchase or sale through internet.

Earlier in December 2014, state government had started this facility of e-registration of property documents in 5 districts on pilot basis. These five districts were Ujjain, Sehore,

Tikamgarh, Balaghat and Anuppur.

15-Year-Old Byron Wake becomes Britain’s Youngest ‘Cyborg’

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A 15-year-old boy in the UK have become Britain's youngest 'cyborg' - part-human, part machine as he has used a hypodermic syringe to insert a microchip under the skin. The chip is the size of a grain of rice and is encased in 'bio-safe' glass

Byron Wake who is from Martock in Somerset has inserted a microchip under his hand by the help of which he can now unlock his mobile phone and operate some Bluetooth devices with a wave of his hand

The xNT chip emits a low-power radio signal that can perform simple functions such as unlocking a mobile or opening a door

It is estimated that around 10,000 people worldwide have implanted the chip in their body. It should be noted that Kevin Warwick from UK was the world’s first cyborg when he had a chip implanted in his body in 1998.


Pollution monitoring devices to be installed till September in all major Polluting Industrial

Units

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Industrial units in three critically polluting sectors petrochemicals, oil refining and thermal power have been given time till September, to install 24x7 real time pollution monitoring devices at their effluent and emission discharge points

To put a check on pollution caused by industry, the ministry had identified 2,800 units spread across 17 heavily polluting sectors and had given them time till June 30 to install the pollution monitoring devices. The sectors include aluminium, caustic soda, fertiliser, paper pulp, copper, pesticides, textile, tannery, dyes, pharmaceuticals, chemicals,

 petrochemical, thermal plants and oil refineries

Nearly half of the 2,800 units that had got directions from the ministry to install the devices have moved towards compliance and ministery is confident of achieving full coverage in the next few months, hopefully by September

 920 units have installed the monitoring devices and another 400 units have move towards Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which is monitoring effluents from these units, has already started receiving online data of status of compliance with respect to effluents and emissions.

Abhijeet Gupta bagged gold in Commonwealth Chess Championship

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Former world junior champion and Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won the 19th

Commonwealth Chess Championship

Abhijeet Gupta bagged the gold medal after settling for a quick draw with his opponent

Arghyadip Das in the ninth and final round played at Mumbai, Maharashtra

Gupta regained the crown with a very impressive eight points out of a possible nine, winning the first seven games in the championship and drawing the last two very easily

Arghyadip Das came second winning the silver medal by beating M R Lalith Babu who won the bronze medal

In the women's section, Padmini Rout, S Vijayalakshmi and S Meenakshi all won their games to win medals.

Rout won the gold, Vijayalakshmi won silver while Meenakshi bagged the bronze. Both

Vijayalakshmi and Meenakshi won the last six games in the championship.

Shimla Rs 643 Cr water scheme cleared for World Bank fund

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Rs 643 crore project for augmenting the water supply to the growing hill city of Shimla had been approved by the union government.

The project got the union finance ministry nod and it would be placed before World

Bank for funding purposes.The loan component would be Rs 514 crore and the state government would be contributing Rs 129 crore for funding the project.

The project involves lifting water from Kol Dam reservoir on River Satluj and it would meet the water needs of Shimla municipal corporation as well suburban areas under the special planning area.The project would ensure uninterrupted water supply to Shimla town.

SBI partners with MakeMyTrip for travel biz


 In its series of digital initiatives and tie-ups, State Bank of India, country’s largest bank, partnered with online travel company MakeMyTrip.com to capitalise on the business opportunities of the booming e-commerce and m-commerce ecosystem.

 The alliance includes partnership with personal banking unit for consumer facing propositions – including EMIs on purchase of holidays & international travel,

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 customized travel products like Forex cards and travel products that inspire SBI customers to travel.

SBI aims at becoming a “One Stop” solution provider for the entire range of financial needs of e-Commerce players as well as our customers in the market.

Deep Kalra, Chairman & Group CEO – MakeMyTrip, elaborated, MakeMyTrip constitutes about 46% of the bookings in the online space and a lot of product work is being done in the $22-23 billion travel industry ecosystem.

World Bank approves $650 mn loan for Eastern Freight Corridor

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The World Bank has cleared a $650 million loan for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor to facilitate faster and more efficient movement of goods between northern and eastern parts of India.The Eastern Corridor is 1,840 km long and extends from Ludhiana to

Kolkata.

The Indian Railways urgently needs to add freight routes to meet the growing freight traffic in India, which is projected to increase more than 7 percent annually

The World Bank is supporting the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) as a

 series of projects in which the three sections with a total route length of 1,146 km will be delivered sequentially, but with considerable overlap in their construction schedules.

The first loan of $975 million for the 343 km Khurja-Kanpur section in the EDFC program was approved by the World Bank Board in May 2011

 The second loan of $1.1 billion for EDFC2 which covers 402 km from Kanpur to Mughal

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Sarai was approved by the World Bank in April 2014.

The loan is the third from the World Bank to help fund the freight corridor.

 EDFC 3, approved today, will build the 401 km Ludhiana-Khurja section in Uttar

Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The Project will help increase the capacity of these freight-only lines by raising the axle-load limit from 22.9 to 25 tons and enable speeds of

 up to 100 km/hr. It will also help develop the institutional capacity of the Dedicated

Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) to build and maintain the DFC infrastructure network.

India's railways, built mostly by the British before independence in 1947, are among the most extensive in the world but have struggled to expand to keep up with demand.

03.07.2015

Cuba becomes the first country to officially eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission

 World Health Organisation has announced that Cuba has become the first country to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to baby

 Approximately 14,100 individuals (0.2 percent of the population) in Cuba are living with

HIV/AIDS the virus is transmitted via commercial sex work, and it's linked to cultural and behavioral patterns and a lack of access to protective measures.


 The act of eliminating mother-to-child transmissions of HIV and syphilis means more than improved outcomes for the children of infected parties, but it means hope for a cure.

 In 2013, only two babies were born with HIV in Cuba, and only five born with congenital syphilis.

 Scientists have said eradicating Aids is feasible if HIV prevention continues to grow, even if there is no cure.The reduction in infection rates in Cuba is seen as a major breakthrough in the campaign to rid the world of the virus.

 The number children born annually with HIV was 400,000 in 2009.By 2013, the number was down to 240,000 in 2013.But intense effort is needed to meet the global target of less than 40,000 new child infections per year by 2015

 Globally, more than 35 million adults and children are living with HIV but the infection rate has slowed significantly, with 2.1 million becoming HIV positive in 2013, down from 2.9 million in

2005

 "It shows that ending the AIDS epidemic is possible and we expect Cuba to be the first of many countries coming forward to seek validation that they have ended their epidemics among children" said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the United Nations AIDS agency.

According to World Bank report India is now a $2-trillion economy

 According to a World Bank report, India's GDP crossed the $2-trillion mark in 2014. In 2013, it was a $1.88 trillion economy

 After taking 60 years to reach the $1-trillion mark, India added the next trillion in just seven years.

 The World Bank data also show that India’s gross national income per person rose to $1,610

(around Rs. 1 lakh) a year during 2014 from $1,560 the previous year

 An International Monetary Fund study said India's GDP would cross the milestone of $3 trillion after five years in 2019. Going by the IMF report, United States would remain the world's largest economy with a size of $17.42 trillion, followed by China at $10.35 trillion.

 India’s growth rate, at 7.4 per cent in 2014, makes it the fastest growing major economy along with China’s, which has a economy of $10.4 trillion in size

However, while Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar, and Tajikistan have moved up from 'low income' to

'‘middle income' nations, India continues to be in the 'lower middle income' group.It would take India a little more than a decade to rise from its current ‘lower middle income’ category to the ‘upper middle income’ level.

Union Government hiked national floor-level minimum wage to 160 rupees per day

 The Union Government in June 2015 increased the national floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW) to 160 rupees per day from 137 rupees per day. The new rate will be effective from 1 July 2015.

 If states revise their minimum wages as per the new NFLMW, the decision is expected to benefit millions of workers in the scheduled employments in the respective state jurisdictions.

 It was implemented for the first time in 1996 on the basis of the recommendations of the National

Commission on Rural Labour (NCRL) under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

 It is a non-statutory measure and after every revision, the State Governments are persuaded to fix minimum wages such that in none of the scheduled employments, the minimum wage is less than NFLMW.

Indian-American teacher receives US Presidential Award


 The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is awarded annually to outstanding K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grades) science and mathematics teachers from across the country.108 teachers across the country have been named for this prestigious

Presidential Award

 Darshan Jain, an Indian-American teacher from Illinois, has been named by US President Barack

Obama for prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

 Darshan Jain teaches mathematics at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois for eight years, he currently serves as the director of mathematics there

 winners will receive a $10,000 award each from the National Science Foundation.The educators will receive their awards at a Washington, DC, event later this summer.

 Obama is strengthening education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields in order to fully harness the promise to American students.

 President Obama launched the 'Educate to Innovate' campaign, which has garnered more than

USD 1 billion in financial and in-kind support for STEM programs.

Dr Anup K Pujari joins as Secretary, MSME

 Dr Anup K Pujari IAS (KN 80) joined as Secretary Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises

(MSME) . He succeeds Shri Madhav Lal who superannuated on June, 30 2015. Before joining the

Ministry of MSME, Dr. Pujari was holding the charge of Secretary, Mines.

 Born in 1956, Pujari is a post-graduate from the University of Boston, and a Doctorate in

Economics. Shri Pujari has served the Central and Karnataka Govt. in various capacities.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) :- ( Source : Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium

Enterprises )

 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) contribute nearly 8 percent of the country’s GDP,

45 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of the exports. They provide the largest share of employment after agriculture. They are the nurseries for entrepreneurship and innovation. They are widely dispersed across the country and produce a diverse range of products and services to meet the needs of the local markets, the global market and the national and international value chains.

 The Ministry has a number of programmes to help and assist entrepreneurs and small businesses.

If you are planning to set up business, you may contact National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD ), National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises (NI-MSME), Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) or the Development

Commissioner (DCMSME) for details about their programmes.

Fazle Hasan Abed wins 2015 World Food prize for reducing poverty

 Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of Brac, the largest non-governmental organisation in the world by the number of employees and the number of people it has helped has been awarded the

2015 World Food prize for his incredible work on reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries.

 BRAC that was originally known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee was started as a temporary relief organisation to help the country recover from the 1970 typhoon that killed about

500,000 people and the subsequent war fought in 1971 to win independence from Pakistan.

 In the later phase organisation’s focused switched to finding new ways to tackle poverty and empower women socially and economically and grew into one of the world's largest

CURRENT AFFAIRS-JULY nongovernmental organisations which is estimated to have helped more than 150 million people out of poverty in Africa and Asia and is expanding efforts to 10 additional countries

 Today, it has a staff of 110,000 and works in 11 countries: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the

Philippines, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Haiti. Fazle

Hasan Abed was knighted in London in February 2010

 The World Food Prize was created by Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food. The foundation that awards the $250,000 prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Cost of Printing A One Rupee Note is Rs 1.14

 Do you know how much the government spends on printing a one-rupee note? The cost of printing one rupee note, which was recently re-introduced after a gap of 20 years, is Rs 1.14, more than its value

 The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL), under the central government, said in the RTI response that the cost is subject to audit, which is in progress, for financial year

2014-15.

 An application was filed by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal fore which The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL), under the central government,replied that "The cost of one rupee note is Rs 1.14 (provisionally and unaudited) as determined in accordance with the principle of costing and costing module"

 The printing of one-rupee notes was discontinued in 1994 because of high printing cost as compared to their lives the notes of two-rupee and five-rupee denominations were subsequently discontinued for the same reason these denominations have been coinised.

Union Government launches App to know gram panchayats assets

 An App to know gram panchayats has been launched by the government. The app was launched by Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Ch Birender Singh

 This mobile App can be used by citizens to capture photographs and geographical coordinates

(latitude, longitude) of various assets available at Gram Panchayat level, so that these can be seen on a map and will be useful for planning by the Panchayats and the Government

 The app is not only helpful in providing information to the general public but the App will also be useful for planning by the Panchayat and State government

 The App launch is part of the Digital India Week, which has been inaugurated by the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi. Digital India week seeks to inform, educate and engage citizens about the ongoing initiatives of the government in the area of e-governance.

Prof. Sanjeev Galande selected for G D Birla Award for Scientific Research 2014

 Prof. Sanjeev Galande has been selected for the prestigious G D Birla award for Scientific

Research 2014. He has been selected for his significant contribution and his pioneering research in the field of Epigenetics and Molecular Cell Biology.

 Presently, he is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),

Pune and also leading a team of scientists in studying various aspects of gene

 Galande had obtained doctorate in biochemistry from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore in 1996. He is also a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US.

He is pioneer for establishing the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics at IISER.

04.07.2014


Army Launches Software to Digitise Data on Soldiers

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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar launched a software to digitise records of over 12 lakh soldiers of the Indian Army.

The new automation software ARPAN 3.0. will provide easy access to pay, leave, transfer and posting details of the personnel and could be accessed both by the units as well as individuals.

ARPAN 3.0 – stands for Army Record Office Process Automation 3.0 was launched as a part of Digital India Week.

The Indian Army is targeting digitisation of its 45 Record Offices (ROs) across the country in a 1 year. It has already been test-bedded at seven ROs covering around 32 percent of the total soldiers

In one year a website will be launched which would be accessible on the intranet connecting army stations using an assigned login ID and password. The service records of all Army officers have already been digitised.

Apart from digitising the 45 ROs, the software will also seamlessly integrate it with the

Human Resources Management (HRM 2.0) system.

ARPAN 3.0 was developed jointly by the Army Software Development Centre and Tech

Mahindra, using state-of-the-art web-based technology.

Parkash Singh Badal Launched (Electronic Projects Management System) ePMS

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As a part of nationwide ‘Digital India’ week, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr.Parkash

Singh Badal launched the state Portal ePMS(Electronic Projects Management System

This portal was developed and managed by the Cabinet Secretariat Informatics Division of National Informatics Centre (NIC),Rashtrapati Bhawan,New Delhi.

To fast track infrastructure investment stalled projects,both in the public and private sectors, involving investment between Rs.100crores and Rs 1,000 crores

This project was started to enhance efficiency, bring transparency, boost the investor confidence, revive the investment cycle, eliminate the human interaction and improve the communication between industries to Government (B2G),State to Centre (G2G)or vice versa (G2B).

UNHRC adopts resolution on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims

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The UN rights body UNHRC adopteed a resolution on addressing the human rights situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar

This came after a regional crisis erupted with hundreds of migrants from the nation found adrift in the Bay of Bengal

 UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted theresolution with 41 votes in favour, five abstentions and one vote against the resolution.

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India abstained on voting along with Ethiopia, Kenya, Macedonia and Paraguay

In recent years, tens of thousands of persecuted Rohingya Muslims have fled on boats across the Bay of Bengal in search of better life

Airbus, Mahindra Joint Venture to Make Helicopters in India


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Anand Mahindra-led $17 billion Mahindra Group had made tie-up with European major Airbus for manufacturing helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces.

The joint venture between Airbus Helicopters and Mahindra Defence aims to become the "first private Indian helicopter manufacturer under the 'Make in India' initiative

To be set up in the coming months, the venture would produce helicopters to meet the country's military requirements

1.

Anand Mahindra - Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra.

2.

Airbus Helicopters President & CEO – Guillaume Faury

3.

Mahindra Defence Systems Chairman – S P Shukla

Balaji appointed chief of ADA

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Cmde C D Balaji (Retd), Project Director, Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) has been appointed as the Director of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADA) and

Programme Director of LCA.

He succeeded P S Subramanyam who superannuated on June 30. Balaji was commissioned into the Indian Navy in September 1978 in the Engineering Branch, has specialised in the Naval Aviation Arm

SBI launches initiative to speed up home loan applications

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Country’s largest lender State Bank of India has launched an initiative ‘Project Tatkal’ to provide doorstep services and speed up home loans application process

'Project Tatkal', will help get the loan within 10 days after receipt of the application form and relevant supporting documents

It will bring down the average time taken for delivery of home loan to within 10 days from the date of receipt of completed home loan application form and relevant supporting documents from the customer

 The bank has also recently introduced an online customer acquisition solution (OCAS)

 for instant e-approval of home loan applications.

The bank has over three million home loan customers with a portfolio of over Rs

16,60,000 crore

Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approves Kotak Mahindra Bank's proposal to

increase FDI to 55%

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Kotak Mahindra Bank has got a go-ahead from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board

(FIPB) for its proposal to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the bank to 55 per cent.

The FIPB, which takes up FDI proposals where approval is not automatic, gave a green signal to Kotak Mahindra’s proposal in its meeting on Friday, following approval from the Department of Financial Services and the Department of Industrial Policy &

Promotion. The proposal was deferred four times before.

India’s FDI policy allows 100 per cent foreign investment in banks. But Kotak

Mahindra’s plan of launching a general insurance venture had made the matter complicated.


 The Insurance Amendment Act passed in March 2015, which increased the FDI cap in the sector to 49 per cent, stated that an Indian insurance company must be ‘Indian owned and controlled

President Of India receives first copy of book‘UNIKI’

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The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received the first copy of the book ‘Uniki’ in Hyderabad

The book has been written by Shri Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra.

The President received the book from ShriK Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of

Telangana who formally released it.

‘Uniki’, which means Existence, evokes a philosophical view of the issues and events that have been written about in this book.

Helsinki Olympics swimmer Adi Bharucha passes away

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Adi Bharucha, a man who devoted almost his entire life to swimming and took part in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games passed away

Bharucha had the distinction of representing Maharashtra state for nearly three decades

 at the Senior Nationals and won several medals and championships during his time

He served aquatics as as a competitor, technical official and administrator and was the

 first recipient of the GMAAA's Lifetime Achievement Award

He devoted his entire life to the cause of competitive aquatics. He loved mentoring through coaching or as a technical official

Keltron founding chairman K P P Nambiar passes away

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Kunnathu Puthiyaveettil Padmanabhan Nambiar aka K.P.P. Nambiar, founding chairman of Keltron,passed away on July 1st ,2015

Nambiar set up India's first Electronic Technology Park (Techno Park) in Trivandrum to provide infrastractural support required to set up high technology electronic units in the

State.

He served as Secretary to the Department of Electronics during late Prime Minister Rajiv

Gandhi’s tenure

He started his career at Bharat Electronics, Nambiar worked with Texas Instruments in

England and Tata in Mumbai.

He was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India for his contributions to the field of technology in 2006.

06.07.2015

Nationwide Mobile Number Portability becomes operational

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Nationwide Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has became operational from 3rd July

2015.

Mobile Number Portability allows customers to keep their existing mobile phone numbers while shifting between states and circles


 Prior to the introduction of Nationwide Mobile Number Portability (MNP) customers could change their operator while retaining the same number only in the same state or telecom circle.

 In order to avail the new facility of mobile number portability (MNP) the subscribers will have to visit a store of their telecom operator or call the customer care number

 concerned.

Bharti Airtel becomes the first Indian telecom operator to offer nationwide mobile number portability (MNP) after the government ordered all operators to introduce full

MNP.

FDI Prohibited in manufacturing of tobacco : RBI

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As per Reserve Bank Of India Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in manufacturing of tobacoo products is prohibited.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is prohibited in manufacturing of products from tobacco or from tobacco substitutes such as cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes

 Foreign direct investment in other activities relating to these tobacco products shall be governed by the sectoral restrictions laid down in the FDI policy

 The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, under the Commerce Ministry has framed these guidelines on sectoral restriction

BSNL launches mobile wallet service ‘Speed Pay’

BSNL has launched a pre-paid card linked mobile wallet service which would allow its customers :-

1.

Transfer money

2.

Pay for services

3.

Withdraw cash of up to Rs. 1 lakh

What are the features of BSNL ‘Speed Pay’ :-

1.

The wallet service, Speed Pay, allows a customer to load money even if he does not have a bank account

2.

Through BSNL Speed pay even customers who don't have bank accounts can also load money at any BSNL retail outlet and ask the retailer to recharge their mobile wallet account and pay for various services

3.

The money loaded in the mobile wallet can be transferred to a bank account and even withdrawn at bank branches or at BSNL outlets

4.

BSNL Speed Pay card service will be available in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu by the end of September

BSNL Buzz :-

1.

BSNL also launched entertainment service BSNL Buzz in partnership with Celltick

2.

BSNL customer using the feature on smartphone can subscribe to various contents like news, jokes, contest etc for Rs. 10 per month.


3.

BSNL Buzz also deliver location based information services in seven languages- Hindi,

English, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.

U.S. wins Women's FIFA World Cup 2015 beating Japan by 5-2

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U.S. defeated Japan, 5-2, to win women's fifa world cup 2015 for the first time since

1999, FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 final was played between U.S and Japan at

Vancouver, British Columbia.

The USA is the only country to ever win three Women's fifa World Cup titles, prior to this United States was also winner in 1991 and 1999

Women's Fifa World Cup 2015 awards list :-

1.

Golden Ball Award:- Aya Miyama (Japan), Amandine Henry (France), Carli Lloyd (US)

2.

Golden Boot Award:-Celia Sasic (Germany), Carli Lloyd (US), Anja Mittag (Germany)

3.

Golden Glove Award:- Hope Solo (US)

4.

Young Player Award:-Kadeisha Buchanan (Canada)

5.

Fair Play Award:-France.

Madhya Pradesh creates world Records in Washing Hands

 The Guinness Book of World Records has recognised a record created in Madhya

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Pradesh on 'World Hand washing Day' on October 15, 2014.

On October 15, 2014 i.e on World Hand Washing Day 12,76,425 students created a new

 world record by washing their hands simultaneously at programmes held by panchayats and rural development departments at 13,196 different locations across 51 districts in Madhya Pradesh.

Prior to this record was held jointly by Argentina, Peru and Mexico earlier after 7,40,870

 people washed their hands simultaneously at different locations on October 14, 2011

Madhya Pradesh is the only state, which has surpassed the joint record of these three countries on October 15, 2014

07.07.2015

Microsoft to develop cyber-security centre, digital villages, 'smart MIDC' in Maharashtra

 Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Microsoft's office in Seattle and met Microsoft

CEO Satya Nadella

 Software giant Microsoft has agreed to support 'digital villages' in Maharashtra and develop smart Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC )

 They discussed cloud services, technological help for MSMEs and technological solutions for implementing Right to Service Act

 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella agreed to provide advanced technology for improving healthcare services in remote and malnourished tribal belts. Maleghat in Amravati will be the focus.

 Microsoft is also looking to develop 'Safe Maharashtra' mobile application which would track vulnerable people so as to provide security.


Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also met the CEO of Boeing, Raymond Conner, Joe Minarik,

GM (Strategic) of Amazon Web Services and assured all the help if the company decided to begin operations in Maharashtra

China nominates Jin Liqun for the president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

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China has nominated Jin Liqun as the Chinese candidate for the president of the Asian

Infrastructure Investment Bank

Jin Liqun as is the former deputy finance minister of china and currently secretary general of AIIB's interim secretariat.

Prior to this Jin Liqun has also held positions at the World Bank and was the first

Chinese national to serve as a vice president at the Asia Development Bank

Other countries had until July 31 to nominate candidates for the position of president and a final candidate will be confirmed in late August.

 Jin Liqun during his 5-year-long tenure at Asian Development Bank, headed its programmes for South, Central and West Asia and private sector operations.

 Jin Liqun holds degree in English Literature from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in Boston University's economics graduate programme.

The China-led infrastructure bank was formally launched late last month with representatives from 57 countries, including Australia, gathering in Beijing, where the bank will be headquartered.Australia will contribute about $930 million as upfront capital to the bank over the five years and will be the sixth-largest shareholder.

MoU inked between ICRISAT and Telangana government to promote digital agriculture

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International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics [ ICRISAT ] and

Telangana government have joined hands to implement Information and

Communication Technology-based knowledge sharing platforms for farmers.

The MoU aims at promoting agricultural innovation initiatives to improve productivity and profitability of small-holder farmers.

The partnership will explore areas of collaboration in the field of digital agriculture which will give Information that would be precisely targeted towards individual farmers .This will help farmers to access agricultural-related and market-related information, which gives them an opportunity to sell their produce at fair prices

The MoU will enable the government to create new economic opportunities for rural populations through digital agriculture and enable consumers to create direct linkages to farmers

BSNL launches Wi-Fi service at Hampi

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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched its wi-fi service Hampi, which is on the international tourist map.

Tourists at Hampi will find it easier to upload pictures to social networking websites or transfer them via WhatsApp.


 The service was inagurated at Sri Virupaksha temple for the benefit of tourists, both domestic and international coming across the globe

How will tourist get access to the wi-fi ?

 The 512 kbps internet service will be available around 150-m radius of the temple. The

 facility is free for the first 30 minutes.

On getting signals and opting for the service, the tourist will have to give his name,

 mobile number to get a password.

The service could be used free for 30 minutes. Thereafter, one had to pay Rs. 30 for 30 minutes, Rs. 50 for 60 minutes, Rs. 90 for 120 minutes and Rs. 150 for the entire day as usage charges.

Meiji sites in Japan get world heritage status

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Japan's Meiji period or Meji era (1868-1912) that includes 20 old industrial sites in Japan coalmines and shipyards that contributed to Japan's transformation from feudalism into a successful modern economy has been granted World Cultural Heritage status from

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

An estimated 60,000 labourers from South Korea were forced to work at seven of the sites, including the island coalmine Gunkanjima, during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

For the first time Japan mentioned the historical fact that Koreans were drafted against their will and forced into labour under harsh conditions in the 1940s. Now with this inclusion the total number of sites with World Heritage Status in Japan have increased to 15 along with 4 natural sites.

Facts about Meiji period or Meji era :-

1.

Meiji period timeline :- 1868-1912

2.

Meiji period location :- Southwest of Japan

3.

Meiji period economy :- The Industrial Revolution in Japan occurred during the Meiji period it transformed Japan from feudalism into a successful modern economy

Indian conservation biologist Kamal Bawa elected as Fellow to Royal Society

Renowned Indian conservation biologist Kamal Bawa will be formally admitted to the prestigious Royal

Society as a fellow on July 10 for his “pioneering contributions to understanding the population biology

of tropical forest trees”

About Kamal Bawa :-

 Kamal Bawa is an internationally recognised evolutionary ecologist and a distinguished professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was elected a fellow of the London-based society in April


 By this prestigious Royal Society fellowship Kamal Bawa joins former and current fellows such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and about 80 Nobel laureates

About Royal Society of London :-

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 Royal Society of London was founded in 1660. The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to the British government

There are currently about 1,450 Fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS

Existing fellows of Royal Society proposes about 700 candidates for election out of which 52 fellows are elected from England and 10 foreign nationals

India, Uzbekistan ink pacts to boost cooperation

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his first visit to five Central Asian countries

(Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and Russia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov on key bilateral and regional issues and inked pacts to boost cooperation between their foreign offices and in the field of culture and tourism.

Issues that have been discussed between India and Uzbekistan :-

Strategic, economic ties:-

 Enhance strategic, economic and energy ties apart from reviewing key regional issues including the situation in Afghanistan was discussed between Mr. Modi and Mr.

Karimov

Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism:-

 Intensify security cooperation and exchanges. The bilateral Joint Working Group on

Counter Terrorism will meet later this year both the countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence and cyber security.

The International North-South Transport Corridor :-

 The International North-South Transport Corridor is a ship, rail and road route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia which is very similar to Ashgabat Agreement which is a transit pact established in 2011 between

Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Oman.

Strengthening cooperation :-

 Both the countries agreed to strengthen ongoing cooperation in the areas of agriculture, information technology and energy.

Aadhar card holders exempted from filing physical ITR-V


 The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) he apex policy making body of the I-T department, has announced the commencement of the electronic filing of income tax returns for 2015-16.

 Taxpayers with Aadhaar cards will be exempted from submitting their ITR-V by post after filing their returns online which will make the online filing procedure truly



 paperless even for those who don't have digital signatures

The income tax department intends to link the electronic verification code or EVC system-endorsed Aadhaar card to the ITR (income tax return) form submitted by a taxpayer and the authentication of the return will take place electronically.

Prior to this online filing was paperless only if the person had a digital signature.

Taxpayers who did not have a digital signature had to post a physical copy of the ITR-V to the Central Processing Centre in Bengaluru within 120 days of filing tax returns online.

 Earlier ITR-V had to be signed and printed properly so that the bar code was clearly

 visible. ITR-Vs that did not conform these specifications got rejected. There have been complaints of postal delays and losses in transit as well

The new measure will ease the process of quick generation of refunds of taxpayers.

Champagne vineyards of France granted with World Heritage status by UNESCO

 Champagne vineyards of France where the world’s famous sparkling wine is produced has been granted with the World Heritage Status on 5 July 2015 by United Nations



Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

France’s Champagne vineyards encompasses sites where the method of producing sparkling wines was developed on the principle of secondary fermentation in the bottle since the early 17th century to its early industrialisation in the 19th century

 The decision to grant Champagne vineyards the status of World Heritage site came during the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Bonn, Germany. The

Committee was chaired by Maria Bohmer, Minister of State at Germany’s Federal

Foreign Office

They were among 11 sites given World Heritage status by UNESCO at a meeting Among the other sites to be listed were :-

 Singapore’s Botanic Gardens

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Diyarbakir Fortress in Turkey

Susa and Maymand cave dwellings in Iran

Tusi Sites in China,

 Baekje Historic Areas in Korea

 Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape in Mongolia.

Lewis Hamilton wins 2015 Birtish Grand Prix of F1

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won 2015 Birtish Grand Prix of Formula One (F1). This was his fourth victory of the season and his second of Birtish Grand Prix.With this victory Hamilton became

second British F1 driver to win Birtish Grand Prix two times after David Coulthard.


Other winners of 2015 Birtish Grand Prix :-

1.

Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes.

2.

Nico Rosberg (Germany) of Mercedes.

3.

Sebastian Vettel (Germany) of Ferrari.

4.

Felipe Massa (Brazil) of Williams

C-DOT launches solar powered Wi-Fi hotspots

As part of ‘Digital India Week’ the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) on Monday launched four indigenously created new products

These products include :-

1.

Long Distance Wi-Fi system

2.

Solar-powered Wi-Fi system

3.

100Gbps OFC (optic fibre cable) Link

4.

C-DOT Next Generation Network for MTNL network

Solar powered Wi-Fi hotspots can be used for smart cities, rural schools or panchayats, extending broadband connectivity to remote/ unconnected places. It can also be used in shipto-ship communications on the deep seas. The product has been made through indigenous technologies which is suited for the Indian market.

Solar Wi-Fi operates in license exempt bands of 2.4 and 5.8GHz and can be used for backhaul link for Wi-Fi hotspots, cellular base stations and base station controllers

C-DOT has developed a 100 Gbps optical fibre cable that can transmit data up to a distance of

50 km without a booster or an amplifier.

Corporation Bank launched first MUDRA card under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana

 On the basis of RuPay platform Corporation Bank launched MUDRA (Micro Units

Development and Refinance Agency) Card for small enterprises

 The MUDRA card has been launched under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana

(PMMY) which aims to fund the unfunded and formalise the informal under non-farm

Micro Units in manufacturing, trading and services with affordable credit up to Rs 10 lakh.

 Corporation Bank is the first bank to launch the MUDRA Card based on the RuPay platform

Three loan schemes are offered to the entrepreneurs based on their capacity to repay:-

1.

“Shishu” scheme provides loan up to Rs.50,000

2.

“Kishore” scheme provides loan amount up to Rs. 5 lakh

3.

“Tarun” scheme provides loan up to Rs. 10 lakh


As a part of the Digital India programme, the bank also launched a high-tech paperless Point Of Sales

(PoS) terminal and the Remit to India portal for inward remittance by NRIs.

World's oldest man passes away at he age of 112

 The world’s oldest man, Sakari Momoi who credited healthy eating and a good night’s

 sleep as the secrets to a very long life, has died aged 112,

Momoi was born in Fukushima in February 1903, the year when teddy bear was

 introduced and Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a windswept beach in North Carolina

Now the title of world’s oldest man passes to Japan’s Yasutaro Koide, also 112 years old and just over a month younger than Momoi.

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Momoi was a former high school principal who spent his days practising calligraphy and taking part in recreational activities at the hospital where he lived

Sakari Momoi received the Guinness World Records certificate for being the world's oldest man on August 20, 2014 at the age of 111

08.07.2015

Indian Skipper Mithali Raj creates history

 Indian Skipper Mithali Raj created history as she became the first woman to cross the

5000 runs in One-Day Internationals

 Playing against New Zealand in Bengaluru, Mithali Raj's unbeaten knock of 81 runs took



 her run tally to 5029 runs comprising of 5 centuries and 37 half centuries at an average of

48.82 in 157 matches

Chasing down the target of 221, the hosts got home with 34 balls to spare. Mithali shared a 124-run stand with opener Smriti Mandhana (66) for the second wicket

Mithali also became the second highest scorer of all time in women's cricket. Before her,

English player Charlotte Edwards had completed 5000 runs in ODIs.

China nominates Jin Liqun for the president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank











China has nominated Jin Liqun as the Chinese candidate for the president of the Asian

Infrastructure Investment Bank

Jin Liqun as is the former deputy finance minister of china and currently secretary general of AIIB's interim secretariat.

Prior to this Jin Liqun has also held positions at the World Bank and was the first

Chinese national to serve as a vice president at the Asia Development Bank

Other countries had until July 31 to nominate candidates for the position of president and a final candidate will be confirmed in late August.

Jin Liqun during his 5-year-long tenure at Asian Development Bank, headed its programmes for South, Central and West Asia and private sector operations.


 Jin Liqun holds degree in English Literature from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in Boston University's economics graduate programme.

The China-led infrastructure bank was formally launched late last month with representatives from 57 countries, including Australia, gathering in Beijing, where the bank will be headquartered.Australia will contribute about $930 million as upfront capital to the bank over the five years and will be the sixth-largest shareholder.

MoU inked between ICRISAT and Telangana government to promote digital agriculture

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





International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics [ ICRISAT ] and

Telangana government have joined hands to implement Information and

Communication Technology-based knowledge sharing platforms for farmers.

The MoU aims at promoting agricultural innovation initiatives to improve productivity and profitability of small-holder farmers.

The partnership will explore areas of collaboration in the field of digital agriculture which will give Information that would be precisely targeted towards individual farmers .This will help farmers to access agricultural-related and market-related information, which gives them an opportunity to sell their produce at fair prices

The MoU will enable the government to create new economic opportunities for rural populations through digital agriculture and enable consumers to create direct linkages to farmers

SC issues notice to Centre, pol parties on a plea to bring political parties under RTI







The apex court of the country i.e, Supreme court has issued notices to the Central

Government, Election Commission of India and the six National Political Parties - BJP,

Cong, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) and NCP, on a plea to bring all political parties under the law of

Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

The petition was filed by an NGO Association for Democratic Reforms seeking court direction to bring political parties under the RTI Act

Notice was issued by a bench headed by chief justice of India HL Dattu, Justice Arun

Kumar Mishra and Justice Amitava Roy. The bench ordered all the eight respondents to submit their responses within six weeks.

Petitioners had asked :-

1.

Political Parties be more transparent in their working and accountable towards citizen

2.

Political parties would have to deposit 35 per cent of donation received by them since they are exempted from filing income tax returns.

Rajasthan may follow Maharashtra's 'Jal Yukt Shivar Abhiyan'

 Impressed with the progress of 'Jal Yukt Shivar Abhiyan,' the ambitious program of

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Rajashtan may also adopt the state's flagship water conservation and Integrated water management scheme


 To learn more about the state's water conservation programme, a delegation from

Rajasthan, comprising a minister and senior bureaucrats are on Maharashtra tour and will visit a few sites where the project is currently underway.

Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan :-







Maharashtra government launched "Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan" which aims at making

Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019.

The programme aims to make 5000 villages free of water scarcity every year by ainwater harvesting thereby increasing ground water levels

Under the programme, micro-irrigation systems would be encouraged for proficient use of water, hence increasing the irrigated area.

Maharashtra is a drought prone area, especially its region of Vidarbha and Marathwada. In 2014,

Vidarbha was deficit by 14 per cent, while Marathwada was deficit by 42 per cent, putting both the

regions in the category of drought.

Meiji sites in Japan get world heritage status







Japan's Meiji period or Meji era (1868-1912) that includes 20 old industrial sites in Japan coalmines and shipyards that contributed to Japan's transformation from feudalism into a successful modern economy has been granted World Cultural Heritage status from

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

An estimated 60,000 labourers from South Korea were forced to work at seven of the sites, including the island coalmine Gunkanjima, during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

For the first time Japan mentioned the historical fact that Koreans were drafted against their will and forced into labour under harsh conditions in the 1940s. Now with this inclusion the total number of sites with World Heritage Status in Japan have increased to 15 along with 4 natural sites.

Facts about Meiji period or Meji era :-

1.

Meiji period timeline :- 1868-1912

2.

Meiji period location :- Southwest of Japan

3.

Meiji period economy :- The Industrial Revolution in Japan occurred during the Meiji period it transformed Japan from feudalism into a successful modern economy

India, Uzbekistan ink pacts to boost cooperation

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his first visit to five Central Asian countries

(Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and Russia.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov on key bilateral and regional issues and inked pacts to boost cooperation between their foreign offices and in the field of culture and tourism.

Issues that have been discussed between India and Uzbekistan :-


Strategic, economic ties:-

 Enhance strategic, economic and energy ties apart from reviewing key regional issues including the situation in Afghanistan was discussed between Mr. Modi and Mr.

Karimov

Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism:-

 Intensify security cooperation and exchanges. The bilateral Joint Working Group on

Counter Terrorism will meet later this year both the countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence and cyber security.

The International North-South Transport Corridor :-

 The International North-South Transport Corridor is a ship, rail and road route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia which is very similar to Ashgabat Agreement which is a transit pact established in 2011 between

Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Oman.

Strengthening cooperation :-

 Both the countries agreed to strengthen ongoing cooperation in the areas of agriculture, information technology and energy.

IPV Rani Durgavati Commissioned to Indian Coast Guard

 Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) Rani Durgavati, the 3rd Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) of its kind has been commissioned in to Indian Coast Guard

 Inshore Patrol Vessel Rani Durgavati, has been designed and built by Hindustan

Shipyard Limited ,It is equipped with the most-advanced and sophisticated navigational communication sensors and equipment.





Rani Durgavati has a maximum speed of 34 knots and at an economical 14 knots has an endurance of 150 nautical miles

The ship was commissioned by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval

Command, Vice-Admiral Satish Soni.

Indian Coast Guard is fourth largest Coast Guard in the world with 118 ships, 63 aircraft, and over

10,000 officers and men besides, 84 ships and craft are under construction at eight different yards which

are expected to join the Coast Guard by 2019 and they would be evenly distributed across the 42 stations

Indian conservation biologist Kamal Bawa elected as Fellow to Royal Society

Renowned Indian conservation biologist Kamal Bawa will be formally admitted to the prestigious Royal

Society as a fellow on July 10 for his “pioneering contributions to understanding the population biology

of tropical forest trees”

About Kamal Bawa :-


 Kamal Bawa is an internationally recognised evolutionary ecologist and a distinguished professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was elected a fellow of the London-based society in April

 By this prestigious Royal Society fellowship Kamal Bawa joins former and current fellows such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and about 80 Nobel laureates

About Royal Society of London :-





 Royal Society of London was founded in 1660. The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to the British government

There are currently about 1,450 Fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS

Existing fellows of Royal Society proposes about 700 candidates for election out of which 52 fellows are elected from England and 10 foreign nationals

Environment and forest ministers of six states to discuss conservation of Western Ghats

 Environment and forest ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and

Tamil Nadu held a meeting to discuss conservation of biodiversity of the Western Ghats

 and ways to provide adequate livelihood security to the local residents.

The environment ministry had published a draft notification last year for declaring an

 ecologically sensitive area in the Western Ghats in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,

Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

The environment ministry had published a draft notification last year for declaring an ecologically sensitive area in the Western Ghats in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,



Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Western Ghats is regarded as a global biodiversity hotspot harbouring many endemic species of flowering plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and invertebrates. It supports population of about 50 million people.

Fergusson College of Pune wins heritage status of UGC









Fergusson College of pune which was founded in 1885 ,has been accorded the special heritage status by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

St Xaviers College in Mumbai, Fergusson College in Pune and Hislop College in Nagpur are among 19 institutes in India which have bagged special heritage status from the

University Grants Commission

With the status comes financial assistance for its upkeep, the UGC has approved grants worth Rs23 crore for these institutes under the special heritage scheme , St Xaviers

College has got 1.67 crore, Hislop and Fergusson have been granted Rs79 lakh and

Rs20lakh respectively.

The grants can be used for conservation work of the campus and for specialised courses related to heritage. Cotton College of Guwahati has received maximum grants of Rs435 crore.


09.07.2015

eMudhra launches first eSign services

 eMudhra Limited a leading certifying firm in the country for digital signatures, has

 launched eSign services. eMudhra which claims to be the first to start eSign services has also launched eMlocker - eMudhra's Digital Locker

What is eSign ?

 eSign is an online electronic signature service which can facilitate an Aadhaar holder to

 digitally sign a document within seconds

The signatures generated by eSign are legally valid and secure under the Information

Technology Act, 2000,

 As part of the Digital India Vision, Prime Minister launched eSign services in the country on July 1.

Advantages of eSign ?

 ESign can "revolutionise" the way business and governance is conducted in the country and pave the way for a digital transformation into a paperless environment

 By using eMlocker along with eSign, one can store documents such as PAN cards,

Aadhaar cards, electricity bills or any other documents electronically. One can also sign and attest them using eSign and send to anybody

Just get eMlocker





The eMlocker can be accessed at www.Emlocker.Com

Initially, its service are free for the users for unlimited number of document downloads and uploads with free eSign.

Sriram Kalyanaraman appointed as MD and CEO of National Housing Bank (NHB)

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





Sriram Kalyanaraman who is currently director-business development Equifax Credit

Information Services has been appointed as the CEO of National Housing Bank for a period of five years.

The appointment of Kalyanraman to the housing finance sector regulator is unique as he is the first person form the private sector to head a public sector financial institution

Prior to joining Equifax, Sriram Kalyanaraman was director, business clients and asset products at Deutsche Bank India.

Sriram Kalyanaraman had also earlier worked as Head of Mortgage business and Sales

Director at Standard Chartered Bank in India.

Whole of Nagaland declared as 'disturbed area'










The Centre has declared entire Nagaland as a "disturbed area" for a period of one year with effect from June 30, 2015 as it finds that a "dangerous condition" prevails in the state and armed forces should assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order.

The decision came almost a month after NSCN-K, the dominant Naga rebel group, attacked an army convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district and killed 18 soldiers.

Subsequently, army commandos carried out an attack in the camps of militants inside

Myanmar.

Although declaration of 'disturbed area' in Nagaland was nothing new as the government had to extend it as it was about to lapse.

MoU inked between Vadodara and China’s Xinjinag province to develop twin cities







Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Vadodara and China's

Xinjinag province for the development of twin cities.

The MoU,was signed in Mumbai between Vadodara Municipal Corporation and

Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjinag Uygur Autonomous Region

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims at enhancing infrastructure growth and development between the two regions and for mutual cooperation in economic, scientific, technological and cultural strengths

Government decides to develop villages within 10 km of international border on priority

 Villages that are located within 10 km of the international border will be developed on a priority basis with special emphasis on promotion of sports activities and rural tourism





Home Ministry has decided that all villages located within 10 km of the international border will be developed on a priority basis with special emphasis on promotion of sports activities and rural tourism

It was decided by Home Ministry in consultation with Union Ministries like Rural





Development, Sports, Health and Family Welfare and HRD.

The funds under BADP are provided to the states as a 100 per cent non-lapsable special central assistance.

The programme is supplemental in nature and the budget allocation for the financial year 2015-16 is Rs.990 crore.

The list of schemes permissible under BADP has been expanded to include :-

1.

Schemes and activities relating to swatchhta aabhiyan

2.

Skill development programmes

3.

Promotion of sports activities in border areas

4.

Promotion of rural tourism/ border tourism

5.

Protection of heritage sites

6.

Construction of helipads in remote and inaccessible hilly areas which do not have road connectivity

7.

skill development training to farmers for use of modern or scientific technique in farming, organic farming


Border Area Development Programme (BADP):-







BADP was started in 1986-87 for balanced development of border areas in Jammu and

Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan and subsequently it was extended to all the land borders.

The main objective of BADP is to meet special developmental needs and well-being of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border

and to develop the border areas with the entire essential infrastructure through convergence of central/state/ BADP/ local schemes and participatory approach.

Border Area Development Programme (BADP) has been implemented in 367 border blocks of 104 border districts in 17 states.

Indian Railway’s Launches Mobile Ticketing App for Suburban Commuters











Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched a paperless mobile ticket system on suburban Western Railway that will facilitate hassle free travel for 7.5 million suburban railway commuters using the Western Railway.

Mobile application based paperless ticket system is a part of 'Digital India' programme of the Centre and will be available on the Western Railway's suburban system between

Churchgate and Dahanu Road

The ticket can be purchased using debit or credit or R-wallet. The R-wallet can be loaded from any UTS counter online

After downloading the Mobile Ticketing app, commuter will have to choose city

'Mumbai' and he will have to recharge his debit or credit card (R-Wallet) with railway counter with minimum 100 or maximum 5,000 rupees

After downloading the UTS app will not have to stand in the queue or visit automated ticket vending machine (ATVM) kiosk at stations to get the ticket

Lord Kamlesh Patel became first British-Asian appointee to England and Wales Cricket Board

(ECB)













Professor Lord Kamlesh Patel of Bradford, an OBE and a leading voice on health, social care and community cohesion in the UK, has become the first British Asian to join the

England and Wales Cricket Board.

Lord Patel, who currently sits in the House of Lords as a Labour Peer, formerly worked for the Yorkshire Cricket Academy as a part-time coach.

Last year, patel served on the judging panel of the inaugural Asian Cricket Awards supported by ECB. Lord Patel is a former ambulance-man, special constable and social worker.

Kamlesh Patel succeeds Lord Morris of Handsworth, who is stepping down after 11 years as an ECB Director.

Kamlesh Patel is a Professor at the University of East London and Chair of the Bradford

Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust, Lord Patel is a former Chairman of the

Mental Health Act Commission

Lord Kamlesh Patel has served as a government minister in the House of Lords from

2008-2009 and on the shadow front-bench in the upper house from 2010-2012.


10.07.2015

For the first time earthquake early warning system installed in India

Now evacuating people from earthquake prone area and moving them to safe place before earthquake would be possible to some extent because for the first time in India, a system to detect earthquakes and

disseminate warnings has been installed in Uttarakhand.







This earthquake warning system has been made by "Space Dynamics" which is an Italian firm, the system has already been installed in Japan, Italy and the U.S.

The system that has been installed in Uttarakhand has the earliest detection among those currently in use worldwide. It will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 occur

The first system has been installed in Dehradun, and the second will be established at

Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region

How does earthquake warning system works ?

All sensors [systems] that warn of earthquakes are based on the detection of P and S waves generated during an earthquake. The P wave, which is harmless and travels faster than the S wave, is detected by the sensors for advance warning.

Uttarakhand falls under seismic zone. Apart from it, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,

Rann of Kutch (Gujarat), Northern Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also fall under this seismic zone.

Renowned Urdu poet Bashar Navaaz passes away

Popular Urdu poet Bashar Nawaz,critic and orator Bashar Nawaz who penned the popular song 'Karoge yaad to har baat yaad aayegi' in the Hindi film Bazaar passed away. Apart from Bazaar, he also wrote

songs for the films Lori, Janewafa and Tere Shahar Mei.

About Bashar Nawaz :-











Nawaz was Born on August 18, 1935 at Aurangabad, writings were regularly published in various Urdu literary journals.

Initially he was influenced by the Leftist movement which reflected in his poems. He also wrote radio dramas and scripted the television serial 'Amir Khusrau'.

Mohammad Rafi, Talat Aziz, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Gulam Ali and Bhupendra, among others, had lent voice to his lyrics

He had also been a municipal councillor in Aurangabad in the 1950s.

He was honoured with prestigious “Pulotsav Samman” for his contribution to Urdu literature.

ISRO makes history by launching five British satellites


 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made history by launching five British satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.It was the heaviest commercial launch since its inception.

 Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C28) launched five satellites,weighing 1,440 kg for a United Kingdom-based company

 PSLV C-28 launched three identical mini satellites of the Disaster Monitoring

Constellation (DMC), besides two technology demonstrators — CBNT-1 and De-





OrbitSail for Surrey Space Technology Limited into the intended orbits

The three DMC3 satellites, each weighing 447 kg, were launched into a Sun-

Synchronous Orbit (SSO) using the high-end version of PSLV-XL.

The satellites were launched as part of an arrangement to between DMC International

Imaging (DMCii), a wholly owned subsidiary of SSTL, UK and Antrix Corporation

Limited.The PSLV had earlier launched 40 satellites for 19 countries.

Facts about DMC3 satellites:-

 The DMC3 constellation Comprises of three advanced mini satellites DMC3-1, DMC3-2 and DMC3-3 which is designed to address the need for simultaneous highspatial

 resolution and high temporal resolution optical Earth Observation. These satellites will be positioned with a separation of 120 degree between them

They are aimed at capturing any target on the Earth’s surface every day and are expected to help in surveying resources, environment and urban infrastructure, besides its primary aim of monitoring disasters.

Pakistan and India have became permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO)









Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a political, economic and military organisation dominated by Russia and China which also includes former Soviet republics in Central

Asia.

The Beijing-based SCO currently has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as members and Now India and Pakistan.

India, was having an observer status for the past 10 years currently Afghanistan, Iran and Mongolia has observer status.

Membership in the group potentially offers Pakistan and India greater access to the energy resources of Central Asia.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka sets record for spending longest time in space

 Russian cosmonaut "Gennady Padalka" the current commander of the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) which has been orbiting the Earth has set a record

 for spending longest time in space with a total of 804 days as on July 2015.

Gennady Padalka broke the old record of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes set by

 fellow cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (now retired) across six missions from 1998 to 2005.

When Padalka returns to Earth in September with fellow ISS crew members Mikhail

Kornienko and Scott Kelly, he will have spent a total of 877 days, or roughly 2.5 years, in

CURRENT AFFAIRS-JULY space. Till now Gennady Padalka has participated in nine space walks till date and aims to set a record of 1000 days in space.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita William holds the world records for most spacewalk time for a woman

astronaut (50 hours, 40 minutes) and most spacewalks by a woman astronaut (seven times).

Practo acquires tech start-up Genii

Practo, that provides an app and web service for scheduling appointments with doctors is one of the

biggest successes in healthcare IT space from India. Practo has announced acquisition of Genii.







Genii, a technology services start-up focused on product design and development is based in Mumbai. It was founded in 2009 by Varun Vohra and Aditya Anand an alumni of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Dubai

With this acquisition Varun Vohra and Aditya Anand and their 11 member team will move to Bengaluru to join Practo.

Practo already lists over 8,000 hospitals on its platform and will expand this to over

20,000 by end of this year.

Practo’s two main offering in the market include:-

1.

Practo Search – doctor search engine for patients

2.

Practo Ray – practice management solution for doctors managing patients and digital healthcare records

Rahul Bhatnagar named as new MD of Bharti Enterprises





Rahul Bhatnagar has been appointed as MD and chief financial officer of Bharti

Enterprises. He will report to Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises

Bhatnaga took over the charge from Manoj Kohli, who has assumed the role of the executive chairman, SBG Cleantech, a joint venture between SoftBank, Bharti and



Foxconn for renewable energy

Prior to this Bhatnagar was with PepsiCo, where he worked for 19 years in various senior-level positions, now Bhatnagar in his new role will build strategic business value proposition for Bharti’s non-telecom businesses

About Rahul Bhatnagar :-

1.

Rahul Bhatnagar is a chartered accountant, he also has an MBA degree from Wharton.

2.

He has over 35 years of global experience across diverse industries, his skillsincludses expertise in business strategy and execution, financial management, M&A, taxation, treasury, marketing intelligence and IT

Three new services launched by Karnataka Postal Circle


Karnataka Postal Circle has launched three new services which will pave path for offering cashless services, pick-up services for mail and delivering cash at the doorsteps of senior citizens.The three services

that have been launched are :-

 CADDS: Cash Delivery at the Doorstep





Turant seva

Pick post

CADDS: Cash Delivery at the Doorstep

 This scheme has been exclusively launched for senior citizens through this scheme senior citizens who are account holders will able to get the postal staff to deliver the cash

 drawn from their accounts to their home.

They just have to call the post office, inform the postal staff the account number and the amount to be withdrawn and follow it up with en email.

 All the calls will be recorded. The maximum amount that can be drawn is Rs. 20,000,

 while the transaction fee will be Rs. 20.

Customers who wish to avail the service will have to register by paying one-time fee of

Rs. 100

Turant seva :-

Through this scheme the payment for for 26 different kinds of counter service, such as sale of postage stamps, postal stationery, booking of registered, speed post, money orders etc., can be made through debit/ credit cards of any bank.

Pick post :-

Citizens can send an email to the post office or call the designated telephone number with a request for mail to be picked up from their office/ home. The nearest post office will be notified for the pickup.

India and United States ink inter-governmental agreement to implement Foreign Account Tax

Compliance Act FATCA







India and the U.S. signed an inter-governmental agreement to implement the Foreign

Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) which would curb overseas tax evasion and black money.Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary of India and Mr. Richard Verma,

U.S. Ambassador to India signed the agreement.

As per this inter-governmental agreement under a new US law, Indian financial institutions would have to reveal information about US tax payers to the revenue department which would be passed on to the US tax authorities.In turn, the US will also share financial information with India

FATCA requires all financial institutions outside of the US to periodically transmit information on financial accounts held by Americans to the US Internal Revenue Service, or face a 30 percent withholding tax on payments made from the US


 It is hoped that the exchange of information on automatic basis regarding offshore accounts under FATCA would deter tax offenders, would enhance tax transparency and eventually bring in higher equity into the direct tax regime

11.07.2015

ISRO makes history by launching five British satellites











Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made history by launching five British satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.It was the heaviest commercial launch since its inception.

Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C28) launched five satellites,weighing 1,440 kg for a United Kingdom-based company

PSLV C-28 launched three identical mini satellites of the Disaster Monitoring

Constellation (DMC), besides two technology demonstrators — CBNT-1 and De-

OrbitSail for Surrey Space Technology Limited into the intended orbits

The three DMC3 satellites, each weighing 447 kg, were launched into a Sun-

Synchronous Orbit (SSO) using the high-end version of PSLV-XL.

The satellites were launched as part of an arrangement to between DMC International

Imaging (DMCii), a wholly owned subsidiary of SSTL, UK and Antrix Corporation

Limited.The PSLV had earlier launched 40 satellites for 19 countries.

Facts about DMC3 satellites:-





The DMC3 constellation Comprises of three advanced mini satellites DMC3-1, DMC3-2 and DMC3-3 which is designed to address the need for simultaneous highspatial resolution and high temporal resolution optical Earth Observation. These satellites will be positioned with a separation of 120 degree between them

They are aimed at capturing any target on the Earth’s surface every day and are expected to help in surveying resources, environment and urban infrastructure, besides its primary aim of monitoring disasters.

IIT Roorkee expells 73 students for poor grades

Yes, it takes a real hard effort to get in to IIT's but getting in to IIT doesnot gurantee that one is safe for 4 years and has a bright future waiting for him

so he can enjoy at full notch keeping his books aside.

 IIT Roorkee has expelled 73 students for faring badly in the first year B Tech programme, scoring less than 5 in the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)





The expulsion was carried out after taking into account their mercy plea which was rejected by the institute's apex academic body

During the admission, the parents had signed declaration that the poor performance could lead to expulsion of the students

 The institute had warned the students in May to pull up their socks, after the second semester exams, and they were given time to file a mercy appeal






IITs are autonomous bodies, governed by their own rules so HRD Ministry officials maintained silence over the episode

Students have been expelled from IITs but taken back, except in one instance each in IIT,

Kharagpur and IIT, Kanpur.

Pakistan and India have became permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO)

 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a political, economic and military organisation dominated by Russia and China which also includes former Soviet republics in Central

Asia.





The Beijing-based SCO currently has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as members and Now India and Pakistan.

India, was having an observer status for the past 10 years currently Afghanistan, Iran and Mongolia has observer status.

 Membership in the group potentially offers Pakistan and India greater access to the energy resources of Central Asia.

List of Agreements/ MOUs signed during the Visit of Prime Minister to Turkmenistan

1.

MoU on Supply of Chemical Products between the Indian PSU ‘Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited’ and the Turkmen State concern ‘Turkmenhimiya’

2.

MoU between the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs of the

Republic of India and the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs of Turkmenistan

3.

Agreement Between The Ministry Of Youth Affairs And Sports Of The Republic Of

India And The State Committee For Sport Of Turkmenistan On Cooperation In The Field

Of Sports

4.

Programme Of Cooperation In Science And Technology Between The Government Of

The Republic Of India And The Government Of Turkmenistan For The Period Of 2015-

2017

5.

MoU between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of

Turkmenistan on Cooperation in Yoga and Traditional Medicine

6.

MoU Between The Government Of The Republic Of India And The Government Of

Turkmenistan On Cooperation In The Field Of Tourism

7.

Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the

Republic of Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Defence

Akash Missile Inducted into IAF

Indigenously-developed supersonic surface-to-air missile Akash has been inducted in Indian Air Force

(IAF). Akash missile already has been included in Indian Army. It was inducted in Army in May

2015. In a function held here at the Maharajpur Air Force Station, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar

handed over "Aakash" to IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha

Facts about Akash Missile :-


1.

The Akash system has been developed by the Defence Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO)and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL)

2.

The surface-to-air missile, has been prepared using 92 per cent of indigenous machinery, can be transported anywhere via road, water or air transport

3.

The missile system can target aircraft upto 30 km away, at altitudes upto 18,000 metres.

It has the capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-tosurface missiles

4.

The advanced ECCM (Electronic Counter Counter Measures) features provide secure communication links with other Air Defence Command and Control networks to handle the counter electronic warfare scenario

5.

Indigenous development of Akash system has given impetus to the defence industrial base of the country and generated business of more than Rs 20,000 crore

6.

The missile, have a speed three times faster than that of sound, can hit eight targets at a time

Three new services launched by Karnataka Postal Circle

Karnataka Postal Circle has launched three new services which will pave path for offering cashless services, pick-up services for mail and delivering cash at the doorsteps of senior citizens.The three services

that have been launched are :-

 CADDS: Cash Delivery at the Doorstep





Turant seva

Pick post

CADDS: Cash Delivery at the Doorstep

 This scheme has been exclusively launched for senior citizens through this scheme senior citizens who are account holders will able to get the postal staff to deliver the cash drawn from their accounts to their home.

 They just have to call the post office, inform the postal staff the account number and the

 amount to be withdrawn and follow it up with en email.

All the calls will be recorded. The maximum amount that can be drawn is Rs. 20,000,

 while the transaction fee will be Rs. 20.

Customers who wish to avail the service will have to register by paying one-time fee of

Rs. 100

Turant seva :-

Through this scheme the payment for for 26 different kinds of counter service, such as sale of postage stamps, postal stationery, booking of registered, speed post, money orders etc., can be made through debit/ credit cards of any bank.

Pick post :-


Citizens can send an email to the post office or call the designated telephone number with a request for mail to be picked up from their office/ home. The nearest post office will be notified for the pickup.

Omar Sharif of Lawrence of Arabia dies at 83





Noted Egyptian actor Omar Sharif passed away due to a heart attack in Cairo. He was

83

He had given many international stardom as "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor

Zhivago"

Facts about Omar Sharif:-







Omar Sharif was born as Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt on 10 April 1932

Omar Sharif studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

He made his screen debut in the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) and rapidly became a star in his own country

 He won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in

David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia





He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.

In 2015, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Prince Saud Al Faisal world's longest serving foreign minister, passes away







Saudi Arabia's former foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, the world's longest serving foreign minister passed away in United States. He was 75.

Prince Saud Al Faisal was the Saudi kingdom’s foreign minister for 4 decades (from 1975 to 2015). He had retired in April 2015 and was succeeded by Adel al-Jubeir.

Prince Saud worked closely with three Saudi kings – Khalid, Fahd, Abdullah and

Salman and well regarded among the diplomatic community and a man with a good sense of humour,

About Prince Saud Al Faisal :-

 He was Born on January 2, 1940, in Taif, Al-Faisal and was the second son of King Faisal

 and Iffat Al-Thunayan.

He attended the Hun School of Princeton and graduated from Princeton University in

 the US in 1963 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics

Prince Saud spoke seven languages, including Arabic, English, French, Italian, German,

Spanish and Hebrew

In his 40 years tenure as foreign minister he has seen various extreme events in Middle-East

such as:-

1.

Invasion of Lebanon by Israel (1978, 1982 and 2006).

2.

Eruption of Palestinian intifadas (1987 and 2000).

3.

Invasion of Iran by Iraq (1980).


4.

Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq (1990).

5.

Occupation of Iraq by a US-led coalition (2003)

13.07.2015

NABARD provides Rs 30,000 crore as credit to farmers for irrigation

 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has set an target of providing Rs 30,000 crore as credit to farmers for irrigation over the next three years. NABARD has already sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore so far this year .





It was announced by Bank’s Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Harsh Kumar

Bhanwala in Mumbai on the occasion of 34th Foundation Day of NABARD.

This funding will be in addition to the government’s recent announcement of providing

Rs 50,000 crore of loans to farmers over the next five years under the Pradhan Mantri

Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).

About NABARD :-

 NABARD is an apex development bank in India having headquartered in Mumbai and

 have branches all over the country.

It was established on 12 July 1982 by a special act by the parliament to uplift rural India

 by increasing the credit flow for elevation of agriculture & rural non farm sector

NABARD is only the banking entity from South Asia to be shortlisted for the purpose by Global Environment Facility (GEF) . The World Bank and Asian Development Bank among others are the 20 such entities which have already been shortlisted.

Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ wins best original screenplay award at the Madrid Film Festival

 Vivek Agnihotri's "Buddha In A Traffic Jam", starring Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi,

Arunoday Singh, and Mahi Gill has won the best original screenplay award at the



Madrid International Film Festival.

The film is a political satire produced by Friday Night Productions (a venture of ISB

 alumni) and co-produced by Phoenix Multidimensions and Vivek Agnihotri

The film was also bestowed awards and was the opening film in the 7th Global Film

Festival besides participation in The Jaipur International Film Festival in February 2015.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dies at 55

 Satoru Iwata, the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Japanese video game maker Nintendo died of cancer at the age of 55.

 He is a renowned figure in the Japanese gaming industry and considered the leading figure behind Nintendo's successful turnaround after he joined the company in the year



2000.

In 2014, Nintendo announced that Iwata would not be present at E3 2014 due to medical related reasons, he underwent surgery last year and had resumed his duties after a brief period of recovery


Facts about Satoru Iwata :-













He joined the Tokyo-based developer HAL Laboratory fresh out of college in the early

80s, and immediately began working as a programmer and developed many games as

Balloon Fight, EarthBound, Kirby games.

Iwata assisted in the development of Pokémon Gold and Silver, which were released for the Game Boy Color in November 1999.

He also aided in the development of Pokémon Stadium for the Nintendo 64 by reading the original coding in Pokémon Red and Green and reworking it for the new game

Mr Iwata started out as a programmer in a Nintendo subsidiary in the 1980s and became president of Nintendo in 2002

Under his leadership, the company launched its hugely successful Wii and Nintendo DS consoles and Iwata is considered the crucial driver behind the focus on easy-to-use consoles

Nintendo DS quickly became the world's best-selling handheld game console when it was released in 2004

List of Agreements/ MOUs signed during the Visit of Prime Minister to Turkmenistan

1.

MoU on Supply of Chemical Products between the Indian PSU ‘Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited’ and the Turkmen State concern ‘Turkmenhimiya’

2.

MoU between the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs of the

Republic of India and the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs of Turkmenistan

3.

Agreement Between The Ministry Of Youth Affairs And Sports Of The Republic Of

India And The State Committee For Sport Of Turkmenistan On Cooperation In The Field

Of Sports

4.

Programme Of Cooperation In Science And Technology Between The Government Of

The Republic Of India And The Government Of Turkmenistan For The Period Of 2015-

2017

5.

MoU between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of

Turkmenistan on Cooperation in Yoga and Traditional Medicine

6.

MoU Between The Government Of The Republic Of India And The Government Of

Turkmenistan On Cooperation In The Field Of Tourism

7.

Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the

Republic of Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Defence

8.

Indo-Turkmen Joint Statements

14.07.2015

GAGAN" a Satellite-based navigation system launched

GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system which is a satellite-based navigation system was launched by civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.The Indian Space


Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) developed the

GAGAN system, at a cost of Rs. 774 crore, over 15 years





India is the fourth country after US, Japan and Europe, to offer space-based satellite navigation services to the aviation sector.

The launch of GAGAN system has bridged the gap in the coverage areas of the

European Union’s European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and

Japan’s Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS).

Facts about "GAGAN" system:-





It provides very accurate information on the location of an aircraft in terms of latitude, longitude and height, along with velocity and time

GAGAN provides efficient navigation system and provide shorter routes so it will improve efficiency and increase fuel savings.

 GAGAN will also help in vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings due to withdrawal of ground aids and reduced workload of flight crew and Air Traffic



Controllers

Currently Air Traffic Controllers read aircraft movement from GPS signals, they leave more than 50 meters as a margin of error while GAGAN reduces the error margin to 3.5 metres.

Pluto starts revealing secrets as New Horizon draws closer

As NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is approaching near to pluto and as it zoomz past Pluto new things are coming up, the dwarf planet isn't quite as dwarfish as the scientist thought in fact, it's the largest

known solar system object beyond Neptune.

Facts that have came up :-









Based on New Horizons imagery, its diameter is 2,370 kilometers (1,473 miles), plus or minus 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) which makes it almost 30 miles wider than Eris, the dwarf planet whose discovery led to Pluto's downfall as the "ninth planet" back in 2006 and it was considered no more as a planet

Eris' diameter has been measured to be 2,326 kilometers (1,445 miles), plus or minus 12 kilometers (7.5 miles )

The New Horizon probe will investigate not only Pluto but also its five moons: Charon,

Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra.

New Horizons' measurements confirmed that Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is 751 miles

(1,208 kilometers) across and that the smaller icy moons Nix and Hydra are 20 and 30 miles (35 and 45 kilometers) wide, respectively.

What is New Horizon ?

 New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched on January 19, 2006, as part of NASA's New Frontiers program.






It was Built by the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research

Institute, with a team led by S. Alan Stern

The spacecraft was launched to study Pluto, its moons and the Kuiper Belt, performing flybys of the Pluto system and one or more Kuiper Belt Objects

Facts about New Horizon :-

The New Horizon probe weigh around one thousand pounds and traveling at 31,000 m.p.h. from New

Horizon’s position more than 4.88 billion km from Earth, radio signals that travel at the speed of light take nearly four and a half hours to reach the ground.Data will be radioed back to Earth over the next 16

months.New Horizons' flyby of 2,370 km-wide Pluto is a key moment in the history of space exploration.

Flipkart offers Rs 50,000 allowance to employees for adopting kids e-commerce major Flipkart has already relaxed maternity and paternity policies now it has moved one

step ahead and decided an allowance of Rs 50,000 to employees looking to adopt children.





The "adoption allowance" which is effective from July 10 can be used towards legal, agency, regulatory costs or any other expenses that may arise during the adoption process although according to government guidelines, the cost of the entire adoption process is Rs 46,000.

Flipkart has, however, made it clear that the allowance and leaves would not be valid for women wanting to sponsor a child in any institutional care programme

New maternity leave policies of Flipkart :-

 Flipkart will allow its female employees adopting a child below the age of 12 months the same benefits as under maternity leave policy, i.e., six months paid leave along with

 four months of flexible working hours

For children aged over a year, the employee can avail three months paid leave and four

 months of flexible working hours

The male employees can avail up to six months of paid adoption leave (can be availed

 within the first six months) and four months of flexible working hours.

If the employee is looking at extending their adoption leaves, but they don't have enough leaves left, they can take unpaid leave for up to three months and continuity on the same job is assured

Renowned music composer M.S. Viswanathan passes away at 87 one of the most popular music composers of south Indian cinema M.S. Viswanathan passed away at a Chennai hospital. M.S.Viswanathan had composed music for over 1,700 films in

Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada and worked with four Chief Ministers N.T. Rama Rao, M.G.

Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa.





His first film was Jenova and the hero was M.G. Ramachandaran.

MSV is popular for his collaboration with fellow composer T.K. Ramamoorthy . The duo composed music for 86 Tamil films during their association of over a decade


 such as “Sonnathu Needhana” (Nenjil Oru Alayam), “Viswanathan Velai Vendum”

(Kadalikka Neram Illai), “Kettavarellam Padalam” (Thangai) that are still popular in

Tamil

 He is a recipient of Kalaimamani and several other music awards.

MSV's career in the film world started with the Jupiter Studios in Tirupur. An office boy, his regular work involved cleaning the harmonium of the S.M. Subbiah Naidu, the music director of the studio. Later he joined C.V. Subbaraman, another music director. Both Ilayaraja and A.R. Rahman have worked with

MSV.

Lt Gen Man Mohan Singh Rai appointed as Vice-Chief of the Indian Army

Lt Gen Man Mohan Singh Rai has been appointed as the next Vice-Chief of the Indian Army. He is presently the Eastern Army Commander and will succeed Lt Gen Philip Campose who superannuates on 31 July 2015

1.

Mohan Singh Rai is from the Corps of Engineers and is an alumnus of National Defence

Academy, Khadakwasla.

2.

He was commissioned from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on

December 15, 1976.

3.

Lt General Praveen Bakshi, currently serving as Chief of Staff, Northern Command, will be elevated as Army commander and moved to Eastern Command.

4.

Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag too was the Eastern Army Commander before taking over the top post.

World's largest cancer registry system set up in China









World's largest cancer registry system has been set up in China it will cover over 300 million people in a bid to fight the deadly disease with evidence-based and moretargeted intervention programmes.

A cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and tumor diseases.

Cancer registry records complete summary of patient history, diagnosis, treatment and status of every cancer patient. To date, medical costs have not been included in the registry

It is to be noted that in China at least three million people develop cancer each year in and the registry is expected to expand to include 40 per cent of the nation's population of 1.36 billion by 2020

Registry system will help experts and health authorities come up with evidence-based and more-targeted intervention programs.

Anti-tank missile Nag tested from helicopter platform

India has test-fired its indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile Nag, which can hit a target upto 7

km, from a helicopter at a firing range in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

 Three-round trial of helicopter-launched Nag (HeliNa) missile were conducted at the

Chandhan firing range.






The two of the trials successfully had hit the target while one had reportedly missed the target.

The trials were against both moving and static targets for different ranges of 2.8 km and

3.2 km to evaluate the performance of an improved version of Imaging Infrared (IIR) seeker.

What is HeliNa ?

HeliNa is a helicopter-launched version of Nag and has been developed by the Defence

Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile

Development Programme (IGMDP). It's Operational range is 500m to 4km (Land version), 7-

10km (Air-launched).

Once inducted in the Armed Forces, the HeliNa missile will be integrated with the weaponised version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, the light combat helicopter produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

India, Tajikistan signed 2 pacts to strengthen bilateral relations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his last leg of strategic tour to 5 Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan,

Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and Russia signed 2 pacts with Tajikistan to

strengthen bilateral relations

The pacts that have been signed are :-





Exchange of Note Verbale (NV) on setting up of Computer Labs: Through this pact

India intends to set up computer labs in 37 schools in Tajikistan through this initiative

India seeks to support Tajikistan in human resource and skill development efforts.

Programme of Cooperation (POC) in the field of Culture: This pact paves the path for cooperation in the field of culture between both nations through exchange of expertise for protection, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. It also seeks the exchange of information and organization of cultural days for greater cultural understanding between the countries.

India, Georgia ink MoU on electoral cooperation

India and Georgia signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of election management and administration.The MoU was signed by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr.

Nasim Zaidi, and Ms. Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson, Central Election Commission, Georgia

The major aims of MoU are:-













Promotion of exchanges of knowledge and experience in electoral processes

Exchange of information, materials, expertise and training of personnel

Production and distribution of materials pertaining to electoral systems

Voting technology

Voters' education and awareness

Participation of women and minorities in electoral process


The Election Commission of India has so far signed twenty MOUs with election management bodies and international organizations across the world. Some of the MoUs signed recently are with the Kyrgyz Republic, Yemen, Mauritius, Egypt, Venezuela and Republic of Korea,

15.07.2015

Rakesh Sahni appointed as chairman of NVDA

 Madhya Pradesh government has appointed former Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni as the



Chairman of Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA)

Rakesh Sahni is an 1972 batch IAS officer and retired from the post of chief secretary he has also served as the Chairman of MP Electricity Regulatory Commission

About Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) :-

 Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) was formed by the government of

MP in 9 August 1985. NVDA oversees all major development projects in the Narmada

Basin.Narmada River is the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh.

 With 87% of its catchment area lying in Madhya Pradesh so it becomes important for the state to exploit this enormous water resource

Ajay Kumar Pandey appointed as MD and group CEO of GIFT City





Ajay Kumar Pandey has been appointed as the new MD & Group CEO of Gujarat

International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd (GIFT)

Pandey will take over the charge from Ramakant Jha who was associated with GIFT

City project since November 2009. Jha will move to Mumbai as CEO of IL&FS's Smart



City initiative

Ajay Kumar Pandey has three decades of global and domestic experience in the field of telecommunications and has worked in senior management positions in Tata

Telecommunications

Facts about GIFT City :-









It is an under-construction central business district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Which will be built on 886 acres (3.59 km2) of land.

GIFT is Joint Venture Company of Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited

(GUDCOL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

The main purpose of GIFT is to provide high quality physical infrastructure (electricity, water, gas, district cooling, roads, telecoms and broadband) so that finance and tech firms can relocate their operations there from Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurgaon etc. where infrastructure is either inadequate or very expensive

GIFT will have a special economic zone (SEZ), international education zone, integrated townships, an entertainment zone, hotels, a convention center, an international techno

CURRENT AFFAIRS-JULY park, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) units, shopping malls, stock exchanges and service units.

Krishnapatnam Port bags Golden Peacock award for environment management

Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh has received the Golden Peacock environment management award for its initiatives and achievements in the field of environment.The award was presented by Union

Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to C Sasidhar, Managing Director (Krishnapatnam

Port) on Saturday at the17th World Congress on Environment Management

Initiatives taken by the Krishnapatnam Port:-











Krishnapatnam Port planted over 20 lakhs trees within the port and more than 50,000 trees in the surrounding villages

Installation of solar lights in the port and solar water heaters in the employee colony

It also established gas connections for villagers so as to discourage them from cutting of mangroves

Krishnapatnam Port adopted Nellore town traffic islands and public buildings for maintaining greenery around the areas etc

The port has adopted Environment Health and Security program that encourages continuous improvement in environment protection and includes - waste management, pollution control, resource conservation, use of renewable resources e.t.c

Maharashtra assembly clears right to services bill

Maharashtra legislative assembly has unanimously passed Maharashtra Guarantee of Public Services

Act, popularly known as Right to Services, to improve transparency and delivery of services to citizens

from the government machinery.

Key points of the Bill :-





Right to Services, grant its citizens the right to sue government officials for failing to meet deadlines set for delivering a slew of services.

The Act includes a penalty for default on part of the government employee, which ranges between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000.

 About 10 government departments have notified a total of 110 services that would be

 provided under the Maharashtra Guarantee of Public Services bill

It provides for three-tier Appellate Authorities with first two being Government

Officials or Designated Officers and third will be a Right to Service Commission

Iran reaches historic nuclear deal

Finally after an arduous talks that spanned 20 months Iran, the United States, and five other world powers clinched a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear

weapon

Background of the deal :-


In 2006, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1696 and imposed sanctions after Iran refused to suspend its uranium enrichment program the sanction had slashed the oil exports of

OPEC’s fifth-largest producer by a quarter and choked its economy completely, Over the years, sanctions have taken a serious toll on Iran's economy and people but now the deal could give

Iran access to billions in frozen assets and oil revenue, stave off more U.S. military action in the

Middle East and reshape the tumultuous region.

 The deal involves limiting Iran's nuclear production for 10 years and Tehran's access to nuclear fuel and equipment for 15 years in return for hundreds of millions of dollars in sanctions relief

 However, the sanctions would not be lifted until Iran proves to the International Atomic

Energy Agency that it has met its obligations under the deal.

 The agreement includes the provision of a "snap back" mechanism that could lead to the

 re-enforcemnet of sanctions within 65 days if Iran violates the deal

Tehran will slash by around two-thirds the number of centrifuges from around 19,000 to

6,104,

16.07.2015

Government clears Transit Oriented Development plan (TOD ) for Delhi

1.

Union Government approved the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy for Delhi to address the issues of pollution, congestion and lack of housing for the poor and middle class

2.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy is expected to recast Delhi's landscape as part of review of Master Plan for Delhi - 2021

3.

TOD is a key policy initiative for low-carbon, high-density and compact living spaces.

The TOD zone would comprise approximately 20 percent of Delhi’s overall area

Key features of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Policy :-









Under the TOD policy, the Floor Area Ratio (FAR ) for constructions around mass rapid transit systems (MRTs) like the Metro has been doubled which will help to address the issues of traffic congestion and shortage of housing in Delhi and allow more vertical constructions.

Earlier the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) was up to 250 per cent while now the Floor Area

Ratio (FAR) would be 400 which will allow more floors in a building that is required to address lack of land availability.

The TOD policy shall be adopted for development within the Influence Zone (extending up to 500 metres on both sides of mass rapid transit system (MRTS corridors)so that the maximum number of people can live, work and find means of recreation within walking/ cycling distance of the MRTS corridors/ stations.

TOD will not be applicable in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone, Civil Lines Bungalows Area,

Monument Regulated Zone, Zone 'O' (around the Yamuna river) and Low Density

Residential Area.


Govt grants security clearance to Huawei to set up unit in Tamil Nadu









Ministry has given the green signal to Chinese telecom solutions provider Huawei’s proposal of setting up a manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu but the clearance has been granted on certain condition as the appointment of Indian nationals at key positions of the company

Huawei had submitted a proposal in December 2013 that it wants to set up a unit for electronics and telecom hardware and support services, including trading and logistics activities, at the Special Economic Zone, Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 25 crore

Ministry had recommended that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion

(DIPP) or the Department of Telecommunications may consider reserving critical positions in the firm from national security point of view.

The clearance to Huawei will pave the way for further Chinese investment in the country as it would send a positive signal to possible investors

RBI sets up Deepak Mohanty Committee to frame action plan on financial inclusion







The Reserve Bank has set up a committee to prepare five-year action plan to spread the reach of financial services to unbanked population.

The committee will be a 14-member panel which will be headed by RBI executive director Deepak Mohanty the committee will review the existing policy of financial inclusion including supportive payment system and customer protection

It will also take into account the recommendations made by various committees set up earlier

Objectives of the committee :-

 Articulating the underlying policy and institutional framework





Covering consumer protection and financial literacy

The committee will encompass both households and small businesses, with more emphasis on rural inclusion including group-based credit delivery mechanisms

Champions League T20 of Cricket scrapped with immediate effect

 The Governing Council of the Champions League T20 has decided to scrap the

 tournament with immediate effect .

The decision was made unanimously by the Governing Council of Champions League

Twenty20 (CLT20 ) which comprises of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),

Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA).





The 2015 CLT20 scheduled for September and October will not go ahead as planned

CLT20 was scrapped as there was poor response from fans and recently Justice Lodha

Committee had suspended IPL teams CSK and Rajasthan Royals for two years.

17.07.2015

INS Astravahini decommissioned






Indigenously built Torpedo launch and recovery vessel (TLRV) 'INS Astravahini' has been decommissioned after almost 31 years in service to the nation.

'INS Astravahini' was decommissioned at a ceremony presided over by Commodore K A

Bopanna, Naval Officer-in-Charge ( Andhra Pradesh Division) at the Ship Building

Centre.

 The vessel was developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL)

 Astravahini was auxiliary vessel of TLRV class, the ship was commissioned on

November 5, 1984 at Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command

 The only one of its class the ship was extensively used by NSTL as a test platform to launch and recover experimental torpedoes prior to their induction into the Navy.

Indian-American woman Sunita Viswanath honoured with 'Champion of Change' award

 Indian-American woman Sunita Viswanath is one of the tewlve eminent persons who has been honoured with 'Champions of Change' award by the White House for her effort in protecting environment and communities from the effect of climate change.

 Sunita Viswanath was the only Indian American to figure in the list, and was selected for her work in encouraging Hindus to take care of the environment

 Viswanath, has worked in women's and human rights organisations for almost three





 decades she is the co-founder and active board member of the 14-year-old front-line women's human rights organisation, Women for Afghan Women.She is also the cofounder and board member of 'Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus'.

Sunita Viswanath was born in Chennai , currently she lives in Brooklyn in New York with her husband Stephan Shaw and their three sons Gautama, Akash and Satya.

Viswanath was a 2011 recipient of the "Feminist Majority Foundation's Global Women's

Rights Award" for her work with WAW.

One of the project of Sadhana is Project Prithvi, a grassroots green project as part of

Project Prithvi, Sadhana is involved with cleaning up a beach in Jamaica Bay, Queens which is a place of worship for Hindus.

Govt approves the proposal to redevelop 400 railway stations





Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a proposal to redevelop 400 railway stations using a contract method called the “Swiss challenge”.

Under this model, interested parties coming through open bids would develop the stations with their designs and business ideas while commercial development of real estate would be allowed by the Zonal Railways

 These 400 stations are to be developed by leveraging real estate development of land and

 air space in and around the stations

These categories of stations are generally located in metros, major cities, pilgrimage centres and important tourist destinations across the country

What is Swiss Challenge ?

Any person with credentials can submit a development proposal to the government for the development of classified railway stations. That proposal will be put on the Internet and a second

CURRENT AFFAIRS-JULY person can give suggestions to improve or beat that proposal. An expert committee will accept the best proposal and the original proposer will get a chance to accept it if it is an improvement on his own proposal.The Swiss method, however, is already in use in states such as Karnataka,

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat for road and housing projects.

How are A-1 and A category railway stations categorised ?

Indian Railway categorises as A-1 and A category based their earning. A-1 category railway stations are those non-suburban stations that have earning of 50 crore rupees and above annually while A category railway stations comprises non-suburban stations with 6 crore to 50 crore rupees annual passenger earnings.

Govt approves composite foreign investment cap

 Union Cabinet has cleared the policy for composite foreign investment limits by including foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign institutional investors (FII) and other routes like NRI investments.

 Under the existing policy, there are different caps for separate investment categories like

FDI, FII and NRI but from now onwards under the new policy, FDI, foreign portfolio investment and investments by non-resident Indians would be clubbed together under a composite cap

 The proposal is aimed at simplification of FDI policy with a view to attract foreign investments and also improving ease of doing business in India.

 The composite foreign investment cap have been suggested for agriculture,

 manufacturing, airports, real estate, telecom and other sectors

In 2014-15, investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) grew over seven times to

$40.92 billion. FDI grew 27 percent to $30.93 billion in the previous fiscal.

Cabinet approves intra-state transmission system

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister

Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the creation of an intra state transmission system in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,

Maharashtra and Rajasthan

The estimated cost of intra state transmission system project is Rs 8548.68 crore with

Government of India contribution from National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) of Rs

3419.47 crore (40 percent of the total estimated cost of project).

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

Under the project, 48 new grid sub-stations with total transformation capacity of around

17100 MVA will be established and over 7800 ckt-kms of transmission lines will be installed. The project is proposed to be completed within a period of three to five years.

The cost on creating intra-state transmission system is proposed to be met through KfW loan (40 percent of the total cost), NCEF grant (40 percent of the total cost) and the remaining 20 percent as State contribution.

 These 7 States are rich in renewable resource potential and large capacity renewable power projects are planned there. Creation of an intra state transmission system will facilitate evacuation of renewable power from generation stations to load centres.


18.07.2015

Mindtree acquires 2 Companies from UK and US

Bengaluru-based Mid-size IT services firm Mindtree Ltd has acquired UK based SAP HANA consultancy Bluefin Solutionsforabout £42.3 million ($66 million) and US based analytics provider

Relational Solutions (RSI) for $76 million (Rs 482 crore) in staggered transactions.

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The consideration includes an upfront payment of £34 million (Rs.337 crore) and earn out of £8.3 million (Rs.82 crore) payable over the next three years.

Mindtree's acquisition of Bluefin is part of its latest strategy to strengthen presence in the European market and will help Mindtree shore up its digital business acquisition of

Bluefin Solutions would also help Mindtree's customers digitise their operations

Net profit of Mindtree jumped 6.8 per cent from the year-ago period to Rs 138.2 crore, while revenue rose 16.4 per cent to Rs 981.6 crore.

Mindtree currently has 218 active clients and two customers that contribute about $50 million of annual revenue.

Bluefin delivers business consulting, technology strategy, implementation in SAP, analytics, digital, mobile, web, cloud and SAP HANA.

It has currently has over 60 clients, including liquor giant Diageo, globally

US-based Relational Solutions, an IT solutions company Founded in 1996, North Olmsted,

Ohio-headquartered Relational Solutions provides analytics with solutions for supply chain optimisation and trade promotions analytics. The deal will make Mindtree's offering strong for

CPG companies

Govt approves bill to scrap 295 obsolete laws

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Taking forward the exercise of repealing nearly 3,000 irrelevant laws clogging the statute books, the government on Thursday approved a Bill seeking to scrap a set of 295 obsolete Acts.The Repealing and Amending (Fourth) Bill, 2015, will be introduced in the

Lok Sabha

Several of the laws were over 30 years old and declared as redundant by the Central

Ministries concerned. While one dealt with amendments in marriage laws, another was aimed at checking hoarding and blackmarketing of cement.

With the passage of two similar bills in Parliament, 125 archaic laws have already been

 repealed. Another two bills are pending parliamentary approval.

Once these bills are cleared, another 945 laws including 758 Appropriation Acts will be repealed. Over and above the 945 laws, the Law Ministry has identified 1,871 more laws which have lost relevance today.

RBI inks pact with Central Bank of Sri Lanka

 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a currency swap agreement with the Central

Bank of Sri Lanka.


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Currency swap agreement will allow Central Bank of Sri Lanka to draw up to USD 1.1 billion

This special arrangement was signed in addition to the existing Framework on Currency

Swap Arrangement for the SAARC member countries

Earlier in March 2015, RBI had signed similar Currency Swap Agreement with Sri Lankan bank for 400 million dollars under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework within the overall limit of

2 billion dollars.

Currency swap agreement:-

The swap arrangements are intended to provide a backstop line of funding for the Saarc member countries to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises till longer term arrangements are made or if there is need for short-term liquidity due to stressed market conditions.

46th Session of Indian Labour Conference on July 20-21, 2015 in New Delhi

46th Session of Indian Labour Conference on July 20-21, 2015 in New Delhi. The 46th Session of the Indian labour Conference is being held on July 20-21, 2015 in New Delhi. The Prime

Minister will inaugurate the Conference, dedicate National Career Service (NCS) Portal and will launch ESIC 2.0:Reform Initiatives of ESIC.The shortlisted agenda for this labour Conference include:-

Implementation of the conclusions/ recommendations of the 43rd, 44th and 45th Indian Labour

Conference, particularly on Contract Labour, Minimum Wages and Scheme Workers and

Tripartite Mechanism,

1.

Social Security for the workers both in organized and unorganized sector

2.

Amendment of Bonus Act – Removal of conditions on payment ceiling, eligibility limits, decisions to pay minimum bonus without linking to loss when the performance indicator satisfy grant of bonus,

3.

Labour Laws amendments proposed/done either by the Central or State Governments and

4.

Employment and Employment Generation

The ESIC 2.0:Reform Initiatives of ESIC too will be dedicated.The Health Reform Initiative is a comprehensive package meant to transform the Public Service Delivery System in ESIC through effective use of Information and Communication Technology.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing the National Career Service (NCS)

Project by transforming Employment Exchange processes to Career Centers. A portal developed with key functionalities associated with the employment exchange processes

(including online registration, career counseling, job matching etc.) will also be launched


Department of Telecom releases net neutrality report upholds key principles

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 services on internet, with no discrimination on the basis of tariffs or speed.

There’s also good news for OTT (Over the top) messaging application users. The report says OTT messaging services “should be actively encouraged and any impediments in expansion and growth of OTT application services should be removed”.

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Much-awaited report on net neutrality in India has been released by Department of

Telecom. The panel has emphasised on the user’s right to Net Neutrality hence guarantees consumers equal and non-discriminatory access to all data, apps and

However the users may no longer be able to make free domestic calls by appliactions like WhatsApp, Skype and Viber because voice calls made using the internet do not adhere to regulation, leaving telecom service providers at a disadvantage but it favours a “liberal approach” to international calls through these apps

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When we make voice call using our mobile phone according to the Telecom Regulatory

Authority of India, costs the customer 50 paise but the same call whem made through internet it cost's 4p calls made through the internet , are nearly six times cheaper than those made through a conventional mobile network and even quality may be compromised due to fluctuating net connectivity

The document also leaves some issues unresolved mainly the most controversial "zerorating model" according to the report zero-rating platforms would be treated on a caseby-case basis and clearance sought from telecom regulator TRAI so finally it is upto

TRAI to decide on services like Airtel Zero, which makes certain websites free to access on its internet service. Those websites pay Airtel for it.

Union Government approved signing of India-Canada Civil Aviation Pact

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The government has approved the signing of a pact between India and Canada to enhance technical knowledge in the field of civil aviation and deepen bilateral cooperation between them.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also seeks to foster greater commercial and economic cooperation between the two countries.

National carrier Air India is planning to resume direct flight services to Toronto from the coming winter schedule and Air Canada, which had earlier pulled out its services from India, has announcedto resume direct air connectivity between the two countries from November this year.

The Toronto-New Delhi-Toronto service would operate four times each week and Air

India is likely to operate its services thrice a week.

Both the nations will also have a cooperation programme in the areas of safety of aircraft operations and related issues that will provide more up-to-date knowledge

Apart from these features, Indian firms could benefit from the exchange of technical knowhow with Canadian companies as aviation industry is far more developed in

Canada

Kerala Tourism honoured with PATA Award 2015 for it's Muziris Heritage Project


 Kerala Tourism has been awarded prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)

Gold Award 2015 for its Muziris Heritage Project this award was won by Kerala

Tourism in the 'Heritage & Culture' category.

 This award is in recognition of the Muziris project, aimed at restoring the historical and cultural significance of the ancient town that stretches across North Paravoor in

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Ernakulam to Kodungallur in Thrissur

There were 269 entries from 83 organisations and individuals worldwide for this year's award, the highest since 2007

Muziris Heritage Project is the flagship project of the government of Kerala and one of the biggest heritage conservation projects of modern India.

About Muziris :-

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Muziris was an ancient seaport and urban center that dates back to 1st century BC and located at the mouth of the Periyar River in present south Indian state of Kerala.

Muziris has found historic importance in the bardic Sangam literature and a number of classical European historical sources

It was a key centre for trade in ancient times between southern India on one side and

Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Roman Empire on the other side

About Muziris Heritage Project:-

It is an ambitious project of the Kerala Government to reinstate the historical and cultural significance of the legendary port of Muziris the entire project is designed to involve and integrate the local community in all intended developmental initiatives.

Key points of the Muziris project :-

1.

The largest heritage conservation project in India

2.

The first Green Project of the Government of Kerala

3.

More than 25 museums to appreciate the Muziris Heritage

4.

A research and academic institution to support the project

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) award :-

 It is awarded to Travel and tourism industry organisations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions in successfully promoting the travel industry in the

Asia Pacific region. The award is sponsored by the Macau Government Tourism Office



(MGTO)

Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region.

Indian-origin doctor Shiv Pande receives honorary fellowship in UK


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Shiv Pande an Indian-origin doctor has received the honorary fellowship by of the

University of Central Lancashire which is one of the leading British Universities

Shiv Pande has been awarded the fellowship of the University for his contribution to the community as a general practitioner and medical educator.

Born and educated in India, Pande obtained his MBBS and Ms (General Surgery) degrees in India before moving to the UK in 1971

In UK he worked in cardio-thoracic surgery at London Chest Hospital, Broad Green

Hospital and Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool until 1974.

Earlier, he was honoured with the award at Preston Guildhall by The University of

Central Lancashire (UCLan) for his contribution to medical services

For his community work Shiv Pande was presented with a Member of the Order of the

British Empire (MBE) by the Queen Elizabeth II.

17 new police battalions to be raised for Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-hit states

Home Ministry has approved to raise Seventeen new police battalions, comprising 18,700 personnel in

Jammu and Kashmir and the Naxal-hit states

 Of these 17 police battalions, 5 battalions will be for Jammu and Kashmir and 12 for the



Maoist-affected states

Each of the battalions will comprise 1,100 recruits and these battalions will be raised by

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 recruiting local youths.

In case of Naxal-hit states, 75 per cent vacancies will be filled up by youths from the 27 worst-affected districts.

In case of Jammu and Kashmir, the recruitment process will concentrate on insurgency prone areas.

The cost of raising each of the battalion will be around Rs 61 crore and 75 per cent of it will be provided by the central government although this cost is much lower than raising of a paramilitary battalion which costs around Rs 160 crore

Currently there are 144 India Reserve Battalions in various states. In addition, the Centre has recently approved raising eight additional IR Battalions four each for Andhra Pradesh and

Telangana.

Personnel of India Reserve Battalion are normally deployed in their respective states but they can be deployed in other states too if there is a requirement.

Japan pledges 26% emissions cut by 2030

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Japan which is world's sixth biggest greenhouse gas polluter, has pledged to cut emissions 26 percent from 2013 levels by 2030 in a move to fight calamitous global warming.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led government submitted its ambitious target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)


 Japan became the 19th party, including the 28-member EU bloc, to submit a carboncutting pledge to the United Nations ahead of a November 30-December 11 conference in Paris.

 Tokyo's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 amounted to some 1.4 billion tonnes.

 The total global greenhouse gas emissions is now about 50 billion tonnes per year, of which China, the United States and Europe account for about half

Japan's network of nuclear reactors which once provided a quarter of the country's power, was switched off after the Fukushima accident when reactors went into meltdown after their cooling systems were flooded so currently Japan is relied much more heavily on coal-fired power stations which is among the

worst emitters of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

How does Japan plans to achieve it's target ?

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Renewable electricity production, including hydro power, would be expanded to 22-24 percent of the total from 11 percent for the year to March 2014

Nuclear energy which has became deeply unpopular and offline since the 2011 tsunamiinduced Fukushima disaster, must provide about 20-22 percent of electricity production by 2030

Union Agriculture Minister launches PGS-India, Soil Health Card and FQCS Web Portals

 Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh has launched 3 web portals which are Soil Health Card portal (SHC) Fertiliser Quality Control System portal (FQCS ) and



Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)

These portals seek to make the process of fertilisers’ quality checking, organic farming certification and issuance of soil health cards more friendly for farmers and it will also bring transparency and accountability

Soil Health Card portal (SHC)

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Soil Health Card portal has been developed for registration of soil samples, recording test results of soil samples and generation of Soil Health Card (SHC) along with

Fertilizer Recommendations.

The system has sample tracking feature and will provide alerts to farmers about sample registration and generation of Soil Health Card through SMS and Email.

Soil Health Card portal aims to generate and issue Soil Health Cards based on either Soil

Test-Crop Response (STCR) formulae developed by ICAR or General Fertilizer

Recommendations provided by State Governments.

 Based on test results, these recommendations will be calculated automatically by the system. Micronutrients suggestions will also be provided by the system.

Fertilizer Quality Control System Portal (FQCS )

 Fertilizer Quality Control System (FQCS) is a web based and configurable workflow application developed by NIC for processing of sample collection, testing and generation of analysis reports


 India imports large quantity of various fertilizers to meet the demands. About 25-30% of the requirement of Urea, 90% of the requirement of DAP and 100% of the requirement of

MOP are met by imports. The CFQC&TI and its three RFCLs are assigned the responsibility to check the quality of imported fertilizers.

Participatory Guarantee System ( PGS )

 Participatory Guarantee System is a process of certifying organic products which ensures agriculture production process in accordance with the standards laid down for organic products and that desired quality has been maintained

 Participatory Guarantee System has been implemented by the Department of

Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India to promote domestic organic market growth and also to enable small and marginal farmer to have easy access to organic certification

Israel offers help to clean up river Ganges

 Israel which is India’s biggest defence partner is also known for it's water purification and waste water treatment expertise has expressed interest in sharing its expertise to help the government with its ambitious Ganga cleaning project.

 Israel’s water management, desalination and recycling techniques, which helped it

 overcome a water crisis following years of drought is exemplary.

Israel has proper well set module for reusing wastewater for irrigation. It treats 80 per



 cent of its domestic wastewater, which is recycled for agricultural use. Israel uses nearly

50 per cent of the total water used for agriculture.

Israel has also offered to streamline the water management and distribution services to help India save water and improve water utilities systems,

The Centre had set a target of three years to rejuvenate the polluted holy river Ganga and has formed an integrated plan 'Namaami Gange' in this regard.

Israeli officials have met their counterparts in the Union Ministry for Water Resources, River

Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, headed by Uma Bharti, to offer help in water conservation and the Ganga cleaning programme for which a delegation of experts from Israel will be in India in August to

assess the areas of Ganga cleaning

21.07.2015

Bhanu Pratap Sharma appointed as Chairperson of FSSAI

 Health and Family Welfare Secretary Bhanu Pratap Sharma has been given additional charge of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Chairperson, for three

 months.

Bhanu Pratap Sharma, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, will hold the additional charge for three months beyond July 3 or till the appointment of a regular incumbent


 It is also to be noted that in another order, IFoS officer S S Negi has been appointed as

Director General (Forests) and Special Secretary in Ministry of Environment, Forests and

Climate Change

 S S Negi is a 1980 batch Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre and will replace S S Garbyal who retires on July 31, the order said.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food

Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and operates under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,

Government of India

Function of FSSAI

It has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Administrative Structure

The FSSAI is led by a non-executive Chairperson, appointed by the Central Government from amongst the persons of eminence in the field of food science or from amongst the persons from the administration who have been associated with the subject and is either holding or has held the position of not below the rank of Secretary to the Government of India

Headquarters

The FSSAI has its headquarters at New Delhi. The agency also has 8 regional offices located in

Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin and Chennai. 4 referral laboratories and 72 local laboratories located throughout India.

France's Amelie Mauresmo inducted in International Tennis Hall of Fame

Renowned tennis player of France Amelie Mauresmo was inducted into the International

Tennis Hall of Fame by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

About Amelie Mauresmo

 Amelie Mauresmo is a two-time Grand Slam winner which i.e, Australian Open (2006) and Wimbledon (2006).

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Amelie Mauresmo is a former world number one and had spent a total of 39 weeks atop in the rankings in 2004 and 2006.

Mauresmo has won 25 singles titles and was a silver medalist at the 2004 Athens

Olympics.

 Mauresmo is one of three French women to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era, along with Mary Pierce and Marion Bartoli.

 She was the fifteenth World No. 1 in women's tennis since the computer rankings began

 She officially retired from professional tennis on 3 December 2009 , ending a career of fifteen years. Mauresmo has coached Andy Murray since June 2014.


The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor

tennis facility, and a court tennis (or real tennis) facility

A new cyprinid fish named Puntius Dolichopterus has been discovered in Kerala’s

Kayamkulam city

The new fish species has been discovered, named and described by Mathews Plamoottil who is the head of

Baby John Memorial Government College, near Kollam city

About Puntius Dolichopterus

 The name of the new fish “dolichopterus” has been coined from two Greek words

‘dolikhos’ meaning elongated and ‘pteron’ meaning wing or fin, as refers to elongated

 pectoral fin

Puntius Dolichopterus has longer pectoral fin, shorter dorsal fin, unusually elongated

 dorsal spine, longer head, lesser number of lateral line scales and pre-dorsal scales.

The spine of dorsal fin in this fish is rigid, strong and long. They have a pair of small

 barbels. They are between 7.3 and 8.7 cm in length.

The fish, found in small and shallow water channels, is edible and can be utilised as ornamental fish.

Swati Maliwal took charge as the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief

 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Swati Maliwal took charge as the Delhi Commission for

Women (DCW) chief.

 Maliwal, who is an RTI Activist, and also the youngest member of India Against

Corruption succeeded Barkha Shukla whose tenure ended in July 2015

 Swati Maliwal, the wife of AAP leader Navin Jaihind, before this assignment, she was

Advisor (Public Grievances) to the Chief Minister of Delhi

Milind Soman just completed the world's toughest triathlon - Ironman!

 Milind Soman who is Bollywood actor, model and a national level swimmer for India

just made the country proud by successfully completing the Ironman Triathlon held in

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Zurich, Switzerland on 19 July,

The triathlon is considered one of the world's toughest races and had 2,000 participants which included seven Indians.

The triathlon includes a 3.8-km swim, a 180.2-km cycle ride and 42.2-km run raced in that order without a break which the participants are required to complete within 16

 hours to win the title of 'Ironman'.

Milind Soman, who took part in the race for the first time, took 15 hours and 19 minutes

 to finish it very few Indians have achieved this feat.

Milind has been preparing for this competition from last few months. He has been keeping his fans updated about the same on social media by posting the pictures of his training sessions.


Stephen Hawking launches $100m search project for alien life

A new $100 million, 10-year search for aliens project has been announced by famed physicist

Stephen Hawking and Russian tycoon Yuri Milner

This 10-year alien search project which has been named as "Breakthrough Listen" will be the most powerful search ever taken for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.

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The project will survey the 1 million stars in the Milky Way closest to Earth, as well as the 100 closest galaxies.

Some of the world's largest radio telescopes will be used to scan for distinctive radio signals that could indicate the existence of intelligent life. In addition to checking for radio signals, Breakthrough Listen will hunt for light signals using a telescope at the

Lick Observatory in California.

Astronomers will listen to signals from the million star systems nearest to Earth and the

100 closest galaxies, although they do not yet plan to send messages back into space.

Mr. Hawking said some form of simple life on other worlds seemed very likely, but the existence of intelligence was another matter, and humankind needed to think hard about making contact.

"A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead. If so, they will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria" Mr.

Hawking said

22.07.2015

Anil Ambani's Pipavav inks pact with Russian firm to build ships under 'Make in India'

initiative

Anil Ambani-led Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company (PDOC) signed an agreement with JSC Ship Repairing Centre Zvyozdochka, Russia,for Medium Refits and Life

Certification of 877 EKM Submarines in India. The agreement was signed under Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative. The programme will be executed under a joint venture (JV) with 51 per cent stake, which is consistent with the Defence Ministry regulations.

 The agreement marks the first instance of the refit of submarines being considered for the private sector in India, the estimated budget of the joint venture is around Rs.11,000 crore.

 Under the agreement, Zvyozdochka will provide complete technical assistance and support to the JV, including for the enhancement of infrastructure at the PDOC facilities,

 training of engineers.

PDOC will undertake similar work for large submarine forces of similar class deployed by countries such as Algeria, Vietnam and Iran


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Zvyozdochka is the premier ship repairing centre in Russia. It has undertaken upgradation/refurbishment of more than 120 submarines and 90 warships

The idea behind this joint venture is to have a 198-ship naval force by 2027, up from the current 137 vessels. Already, 48 warships are under construction at Indian shipyards, including aircraft carriers, frigates, destroyers, submarines, corvettes and fast-attack craft.

India has been stressing on domestic defence production under the "Make in India" programme, an important aspect of which is to get technology transfers and inviting foreign firms to manufacture in

India

American Book Awards 2015 announced

 36th annual American Book Awards has been announced in which Carlos Santana,

Marlon James and Naomi Klein are among the dozen of recipients of the award.

 Naomi Klein has been honoured with American Book Award 2015 for her revered 2014

 title "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate"

Santana and co-authors Ashley Kahn and Hal Miller were honoured for the memoir



"The Universal Tone" while James won the award for his nearly 700-page novel, "A

Brief History of Seven Killings"

Poet Anne Waldman, whose books include The Iovis Trilogy, was honoured for lifetime achievement.

About " American Book Awards "

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American Book Award are presented by the Before Columbus Foundation, a non-profit educational and service organisation founded in 1976 by author-playwright Ishmael

Reed.

American Book Award is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "there are no categories, no nominees, and therefore no losers

The Award honors excellence in American literature without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre

BRICS New Development Bank starts its operations from Shanghai, China

The New Development Bank (NDB) backed by BRICS members Brazil, Russia, India, China

and South Africa collectively formally started its operations from its headquarters in

Shanghai, China.

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The bank is to start out with a capital of $50bn (£32bn) though the amount is to be doubled in the coming years.The banks is expected to issue its first loans early next year

The bank is seen as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary



Fund and will lend money to BRICS nation to help finance infrastructure projects.

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong and the bank’s first



President K V Kamath from India attended the opening ceremony.

The New Development Bank (NDB) will be headed by a rotating leadership with the first president, Mr Kamath, from India.


The biggest contributor of New Development Bank (NDB) will be China which is world's second largest economy . It should be noted that China has also led the establishment of another new international bank which is Beijing based Asian Infrastructure Development Bank

UN Security Council adopts resolution endorsing Iran nuclear deal

 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) backed Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers and thus unanimously adopted a resolution establishing a monitoring system

 for Iran’s nuclear programme and "eventual removal” of all nuclear-related sanctions against the country.

The resolution was supported by all 15 representatives of countries on the Security

Council and opened path to lift nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran.

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UNSC’s passed resolution marks the endorsement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of

Action (JCPOA) which concluded in the form of historic deal on 14 july 2015 in Vienna between Iran and the six powers and Iran reaffirmed “that it will under no circumstances ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons" .

The resolution provides for the eventual removal of all nuclear-related sanctions against

Iran and guarantees that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will continue to verify Iran’s compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA

Government proposes direct transfer of fertiliser subsidy to farmers

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Government has proposed to transfer fertiliser subsidy directly into farmers' accounts and is and is making a road map for the pilot project.

However, a major challenge in operationalising this scheme lies in identification of beneficiary farmers as in many states the land records are neither accurate nor updated

The Department of Fertilizers is planning to have a phased approach and prepare a road map for pilot project in select districts to capture the details and identity proof of farmers like aadhaar number and land details

All information in this regard would be collected at retail fertiliser stores in order to build a comprehensive database of beneficiary farmers over a period of time

Govt extends interest subvention on crop loans to farmers

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The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the continuation of interest subvention by public sector banks, private sector commercial banks, regional rural banks, cooperative banks and NABARD to enable them to provide short-term crop loans of up to Rs. 3 lakh to farmers at 7 per cent a year during 2015-16

The government extended the interest subvention scheme to make banks advance crop loans to farmers the loan will be up to Rs. 3 lakh at the rate of 7 per cent

The Cabinet decided to provide relief to farmers affected by natural calamities, where the interest subvention of 2 per cent will continue to be available to banks for the first year on the restructured amount

KFC partners IRCTC, to serve meals on trains


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KFC has entered into a partnership with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

Corporation ( IRCTC) to launch a delivery system for consumers on trains.

Now a person travelling on train can order KFC meal, while booking ticket through

IRCTC from July 20 onwards, under e-catering service initiatives. Presently, this facility is available only on 12 trains passing through New Delhi railway station.

 The facility will be expanded to Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bengaluru stations over the next 10 days.

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The service will initially be limited to trains which do not have pantry cars and subsequently would be expanded to trains like Rajdhani and Duronto

Consumers will have to visit the IRCTC website or call on 18001034139 (Toll Free) to place their order. A password will then be sent by KFC to the consumer's mobile phone which will have to be mentioned at the time of delivery

E.L. Doctorow author of Ragtime and Billy Bathgate passes away

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Renowned historical fiction author E. L. Doctorow died at 84-years-old after suffering complications from lung cancer. E.L. Doctorow was one of America’s greatest novelists and he wielded a writing style that was bold and unusual.

EL Doctorow is most famously known for his award-winning novels Ragtime and and

Billy Bathgate. Several of Doctorow's novels including Ragtime and Billy Bathgate were turned into movies. Ragtime was so popular that it was also made into a Broadway musical in 1998

 In a 50-year career, Doctorow published 10 novels, a stage drama, two books of short fiction and numerous essays

 After studying at Kenyon College, Ohio, and Columbia University, New York,

Doctorow served for the US army in Germany during the 1950s.

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

He was a book editor before he was an author but he left the world of publishing in

1969 to write himself . Doctorow’s first book came in 1960’s “Welcome to Hard Times” than 1966’s “Big as Life,” which was inspired by science fiction.

Doctorow was bestowed with a National Humanities Medal, a National Book Award, three National Book Critics Circle Awards and two PEN/Faulkner Awards. Last year,

Doctorow won the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

Sangram Singh becomes the first Indian to win WWP Heavyweight Championship

 Sangram Singh became the first Indian in history to win the World Wrestling

Professionals (WWP) Commonwealth Wrestling Heavyweight Championship

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

Sangram Singh made the country proud by defeating Canada's Joe Legend to win the

WWP Commonwealth Championship held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in South

Africa.

He had signed the death contract that clearly stated no owning up by organizers if either



 of the two fighters are fatally hurt in the process.

During fight with Joe Legend, (Canadian wrestler) Sangram Singh was nearly died as his opponent was on top of him for over 10 minutes and Sangram nearly suffocated to death

Sangram Singh is the brand ambassador of People for Animal and Sanjay Gandhi

Animal Care Centre


 Sangram Singh was awarded the World's Best Wrester of 2012 by WWP. He was selected for the award among the other 118 wrestlers

23.07.2015

Puducherry city emerges first to get Smart city nomination

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Puducherry has emerged as the first nomination for Smart City Mission to be received by the Ministry of Urban Development

The Government of Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital city for inclusion in the 100 Smart Cities Mission launched on the 25th of last month.

Government of Puducherry has forwarded the nomination along with all the forms and documents

Stage-1 of ‘City Challenge’ competition required details of evaluation of all the five urban local bodies in the Union Territory which include Puducherry, Oulgaret,

Kariakal, Mahe and Yanam

The High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted as per the Mission

Guidelines and headed by Chief Secretary has overseen the process of first stage intrastate competition and sent its recommendations to the Urban Development Ministry of the Government of India.

Puducherry which has a population of 6,57,209 has done well in respect of several Stage-

1 evaluation criteria and scored 75 of the possible 100 marks

Achievements of Puducherry as per the evaluation :-

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Achieved 18% improvement in provision of Household sanitary latrines since 2011.

Increased internal revenue generation continuously over the three year period 2012-13 –

2014-15 marking an improvement of 14%.

Paid Salaries of staff till last month.

Has got Accounts audited up to 2012-13.

Had 63% of budgeted receipts from tax revenue, fees, user charges, rents and other internal resources during 2014-15.

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Met 23% of its capital expenditure from internal resources.

Met about 80% O&M costs of water supply through user charges.

Has an operational online grievance redressal system and published monthly e-news letter; and

 Posted details of municipal budget expenditure for the last two financial years on its website.

1993 Mumbai Serial Blasts Convict Yakub Memon gets no relief from SC, to be hanged July

30

 Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub

Memon who is on the death row, he is set to be hanged on July 30. President Pranab

Mukherjee too had rejected his mercy petition.


 A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice H L Dattu dismissed Memon’s curative petition, which had urged the court to reconsider his capital punishment on various grounds.

 Yakub Memon was sentenced to death eight years ago in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case under Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act

 Memon had applied for curative petition after his review petition was rejected earlier by the SC upholding the death sentence to him. This will be the first execution related to the

1993 serial blasts, in which over 250 people were killed.

What is curative petition ?

A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict and is meant to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice. After a review petition against the judgment of conviction is dismissed, a curative petition is filed. It is decided by judges in chamber unless a specific plea for an open-court hearing is allowed.

Union Government launches Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan

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Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas on launched a countrywide campaign 'Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan', to create mass awareness and capacity building for safe and hygienic food.

The initiative complements the widely popular multi-media campaign of his Ministry under the brand name of 'Jago Grahak Jago' which empowers the consumers of its rights and demands.

This campaign, planned by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Consumer

Organization VOICE, and National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), is an effort towards building a culture of food safety in the country.

Under the campaign, nationwide sensitisation sessions on cleaning, hygiene and sanitation for safe food, walkathons and media dissemination programmes for consumers, street food industries will be organized across the country.

Union Minister also launched a website and a logo of the campaign along with signing a pledge for adopting safe food practices

NDRI scientists developed Low-Cholesterol Ghee

 A team of researchers at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), a deemed university and a premier institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (IARI) have

 developed a technique to decrease cholesterol level in Ghee (clear butter).

The new ghee that is scientifically tested contains 85% less cholesterol than natural desi ghee prepared from cow or buffalo milk cream.

 The best part of the technique is it is simple technology that does not add any extra cost in the production and the ghee produced using this technique has been found up to the

 prescribed standards.

(NDRI) has decided to encourage milk cooperative societies in Haryana and Punjab to

 launch similar product to meet the demand of health-conscious section of the society.

NDRI signed a memorandum of understanding with Vaishal Patliputra Dugdh Utpadak

Sahkari Sangh Ltd Patna, popularly known as Patna Dairy Project. Bihar dairy officials


 have planned to launch the product within two months and it is a major dairy brand in

Bihar.

The technology is patented under the names of Dr Darshan Lal, Dr Vivek Sharma and

Dr Raman Seth from the NDRI's dairy chemistry division. It should be noted that

Cholesterol from ghee is reduced by processing and no chemical is used in its preparation

Supreme Court rejects Centre’s review plea seeking OBC status for Jats

Supreme Court dismissed the Centre’s petition and Jat applicants asking it to reconsider its verdict that had scrapped the March 2014 notification to include Jats in the central list of the

Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in nine states

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justice Rohinton F Nariman dismissed the plea and declared Union Government decision to grant OBC status to JAT community as unconstitutional.

The bench also rejected a separate plea by some Jat applicants, who cleared various stages of

Probationary Officers recruitment exam under the reserved OBC category but were not given letters of appointment

Earlier also, the court had dismissed a plea of Jat students seeking benefits of reservation under

OBC in the ongoing process of admission in post-graduate (PG) medical and dental course

CCEA extends CCTNS deadline to March 2017

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, has approved a Home Ministry proposal to extend the deadline for implementation of Crime and Criminals Tracking network and Systems

(CCTNS) project till March 2017

CCEA also approved additional five years phase for operation and maintenance of the CCTNS up to March 2022.

The total outlay of the project will be Rs 2,000 crore out of which Rs 878 crore has already been released to implementing agencies and the balance will be released during the project implementation period

About Criminals Tracking network and Systems (CCTNS)

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

Criminals Tracking network and Systems (CCTNS) is an ambitious online system will help to provide number of citizen friendly services including police verification for passport verification, reporting a crime including cyber offences, linkage with UIDAI,

National Population register and transport database

A list of proclaimed offenders, sex offenders and most wanted criminals will also be published on this citizen portal which will help law enforcing agencies as well as citizens.


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The portal will speed up service delivery, bring more transparency and increase convenience to citizens

The project will also streamline the criminal justice system by computerising the functioning of police stations, prisons, prosecution directorates, forensic laboratories and also ensuring smooth data exchange among these system as well as e-court systems that is already functional throughout the country

National-level crime analytics can be done in real time basis which will help policy makers as well as law makers in taking appropriate and timely action

The project would lead access to crime and criminal related database by investigating officers throughout the country. All police stations in the country will get networked with each other and can exchange information on a need basis

Higgs Boson Theorist Peter Higgs receives world’s oldest scientific prize

 Nobel prize winner Peter Higgs has won the world's oldest scientific prize the Royal

Society's Copley Medal for his pioneering work on the theory of the Higgs boson with

 this he has joined the ranks of Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein who were also the recipent of the prize during their time.

86 year old Peter Higgs received the Copley Medal for his fundamental contribution to particle physics with his theory explaining the origin of mass in elementary particles

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

 which was confirmed by the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.

In 1964, Professor Higgs proposed his theory about the existence of a particle that explains why other particles have mass.At the same time, yet separately, Francois

Englert and Robert Brout proposed the same theory. The existence of the Higgs boson was confirmed by two experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded jointly to Higgs and Englert.

It should be noted that the Copley medal was first awarded by the Royal Society in 1731,

170 years before the first Nobel Prize.

Copley Medal is awarded for outstanding achievements in scientific research and has most recently been awarded to eminent scientists such as theoretical physicist Stephen

Hawking, DNA fingerprinting pioneer Alec Jeffreys and Andre Geim, for his discovery of graphene.

Maruti Suzuki launches NEXA brand outlets for premium products

 Based on the vision to sell two million vehicles annually by 2020 and with its eye on the growing premium car market country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki launched a

 new dealership network, Nexa.

Under Nexa brand the company intends to sell premium products as the company looks to further consolidate its position in the domestic market.Nearly 100 Nexa showrooms will come up across the country over the next six-eight months

 The company's upcoming S-Cross model would be the first product to be sold from

Nexa outlets which will be launched in the first week of August and is expected to be

 priced around Rs. 10 lakh. It will have two engine options, 1.6 litre and 1.3 litre diesel, which the company is sourcing from Fiat, under a licence agreement.

The company recently overtook its parent company Suzuki in market value and it saw its stock price touch a new high of Rs 4,243.90


 Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) that has vast sales network with 1,650 dealerships across the country, plans to hire around 2,500 relationship managers, by the end of the fiscal for

Nexa outlets.

 The company plans to have around 30 Nexa outlets operational in the initial stage and for that over 1,000 relationship managers have already been hired

24.07.2015

7 Indian firms in world's 500 largest companies as per Fortune Magazine

According to a list compiled by Fortune Global Magazine seven Indian companies, including

Reliance Industries and Tata Motors, are among the world’s 500 largest companies.In the

Fortune Global Magazine companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal year ended on or before March 31, 2015.Revenue figures include consolidated subsidiaries and reported revenues from discontinued operations, but exclude excise taxes. The seven indian

companies as per Fortune Magazine are :-

 Indian Oil ranked 119 on the list, with revenues of about USD 74 billion

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Reliance Industries ranked 158 with revenues of USD 62 billion

Tata Motors ranked 254 with revenues of USD 42 billion

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State Bank of India ranked 260 with revenues of USD 42 billion

Bharat Petroleum ranked 280 with revenues of USD 40 billion

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Hindustan Petroleum ranked 327 with revenues of USD 35 billion

Oil and Natural Gas ranked 449 with revenues of USD 26 billion

Top 5 companies of the world as per Fortune Magazine :-

1.

Walmart on the first spot

2.

China based Sinopec Group

3.

Netherlands- based Royal Dutch Shell

4.

China National Petroleum

5.

Exxon Mobil

India earns USD 100 million (Rs 637.35 Crore) by launching 45 foreign commercial satellites

 India has earned nearly USD 100 million (Rs 637.35 Crore) in revenue by launching 45 foreign commercial satellites from 19 countries.

 It should be noted that India's commercial space missions is poised to grow with another



28 foreign satellites planned to be put into orbit between 2015 and 2017.

Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh provided the revenue details

 earned by Antrix - the commercial arm of ISRO - from launching foreign satellites into orbit.

According to Mr. Singh Antrix has signed agreements for launching 28 satellites of six countries — Algeria, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and the US during 2015-

17.


 Till date 45 satellites from 19 countries have been launched by the ISRO and the income generated through this amounts to around 17 million USD and 78.5 million Euros(85 million USD)

 According to Mr. Singh government has sanctioned 15 smaller PSLV launchers worth Rs

3,090 crore which would be built during 2017-2020.

Conakry named as World Book Capital for 2017 by UNESCO

Conakry, the Capital city of the Republic of Guinea has been named as the World Book Capital for 2017 by United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).

This makes Conakry the 17th city in the World to be designated as World Book Capital. In the year 2003 New Delhi was selected as the World Book Capital

World Book Capital

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The title of " World Book Capital " is bestowed by UNESCO in an annual event to any city of the world in recognition of the quality of its programs to promote books and reading and the dedication of all players in the book industry.

The designation of " World Book Capital" runs for 1 year starting from UNESCO’s

World Book and Copyright Day (April 23) till April 22 of the following year.

Madrid which is the dcapital of spain was the first city to be recognised as World Book

Capital in 2001

India ranks at 12th position in terms of power generation from nuclear source

 According to the data published in May 2015, by Power Reactor Information System

(PRIS) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), India ranked at 12th position in terms of power generation.However, it stood at 6th position in terms of number of

 reactors in operation country- wise, globally.

It should noted that there are thirty one countries including India in the world which generate electricity from nuclear source.

Nuclear Power in India

 The current installed nuclear power capacity of India is 5780 MW, which is expected to increase to 10080 MW on progressive completion of various projects that are under construction.

 Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) Units – 1&2 (2X700 MW) and

Kudankulam Units- 3&4 (2X1000 MW) with a total capacity of 3400 MW have been

 accorded financial sanction and administrative approval

One Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor of 500 MW capacity at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu is at advanced stage of commissioning. Construction of two more Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR

1&2) of 600 MW capacity each at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu is also planned

Nuclear agreements


 India has signed Nuclear agreements with USA, France, Russia, Namibia, Mongolia,

Republic of Korea, Argentine Republic, United Kingdom, Republic of Kazakhstan,

Canada, Sri Lanka and Australia

 India is open to negotiation with other friendly countries who seem to have potential to make contribution to India’s nuclear energy programme

National Broadcasting Day observed across the country

 National Broadcasting Day was observed on 23 July 2015 across the country. It is on this day in 1927, the Indian Broadcasting Company started radio broadcasting from Bombay

 station.

To mark the day, All India Radio (AIR) organized a symposium on the subject Creation of New India and Broadcasting Medium in New Delhi.

 Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Minister of State for Information and

Broadcasting, speaking at the symposium, highlighted the role of Prasar Bharati in taking news of public interest to the length and breadth of the country and said that government is committed to the autonomy of Prasar Bharati.

 Broadcasting in India began in July 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of

Mumbai. According to an agreement of 23 July 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting

Company LTD (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Mumbai station began on 23 July 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August 1927.

World's first Malaria vaccine gets go-ahead from EU regulators

 The world's first malaria vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline, has been approved by the

European Medicines Agency for use in Africa from October after final trial data showed

 it offered partial protection for up to four years.

European drugs regulators recommended that the drug should be licensed for use in

 babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

The vaccination, named Mosquirix, has been developed by British drugmaker

GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and it would be first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease

 In January 2001, GlaxoSmithKline and PATH entered into a public-private partnership to develop a vaccine against malaria with grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates



Foundation to PATH.

Malaria killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-



Saharan Africa. More than 80 per cent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five.

Mosquirix has been designed specifically to combat malaria infection in children in

Africa and will not be licensed for travellers

NASA discovers Earth-like planet

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NASA's powerful Kepler telescope have found a planet beyond the solar system that is very similar to Earth it can be said as "Earth's bigger, older cousin"

This planet has been named as Kepler-452b is about 60 per cent bigger than Earth, is located about 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus


 Kepler-452b is located in its star's habitable zone the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of Earth's

 Kepler-452b, orbits a parent star which belongs to the same class as the Sun but it is just

4% more massive and 10% brighter tha Sun

 Kepler-452b takes 385 days to complete a full circuit of this star, so its orbital period is

5% longer than Earth's.

 In 2017, NASA plans to launch a planet-hunting satellite called TESS that will be able to provide scientists with more detail on the size, mass and atmospheres of planets circling distant stars.

25.07.2015

Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Scheme approved by Maharashtra cabinet

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Maharashtra Cabinet approved Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Scheme. The scheme was proposed by Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in the state’s annual budget it aims at creation of comprehensive development of villages in and around the buffer zones of tiger reserves. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Scheme will be launched on project basis from 2015-16 to 2019-2020

The main objective of the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Scheme is to reduce the reduce the dependence of villagers on the forest by boosting the supplementary businesses to farming activities and create alternative employment possibilities to the villagers in these areas.The scheme also aims to reduce man-animal conflict.

Facts related to Tigers in India:-

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India is home to 70 percent of tigers in the world

In 2006, there were 1,411 tigers which increased to 1,706 in 2011 and 2,226 in 2014

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There are 48 Tiger reserves in India which are governed by Project Tiger

Karnataka has the highest tiger population in the country while Uttarakhand comes at second

Two members of Anglo-Indian Community nominated to Lok Sabha

 President Pranab Mukherjee has nominated two members of Anglo-Indian Community

 to Lok Sabha using his authority provided by Article 331 in the Constitution Of India.

Prof. Richard Hay and Mr. George Baker are the two members of Anglo-Indian

Community who has been nominated to Lok Sabha

Prof. Richard Hay

Professor Hay is from Kerala and he teaches economics in various academic institutes in India as well as abroad

Mr. George Baker


Mr Baker had joined BJP in 2014 and unsuccessfully contested on a party ticket from Howrah in West Bengal. Mr Baker, has acted in several Assamese and Bengali movies since 1970s.

Baker's most notable film was 'Chameli Memsaab' (Assamese and Bengali) which won national film award in 1975.

Article 331 Representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of the People

Article 331 Representation of the Anglo Indian community in the House of the People says that

President may, if he is of opinion that the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in the House of the People, nominate not more than two members of that community to the Lok Sabha notwithstanding anything in article 81 which depicts composition of the Lok Sabha

Article 81 "Composition of the House of the People"

Article 81"Composition of the House of the People" says that 530 members are chosen by direct election from States while 20 members are directly elected representatives from Union

Territories and 2 members from Anglo-Indian Community which makes the total number of members of Loka Sabha to 552.

Indian American Amitoj Chhabra wins junior title at US Powerlifting Championships

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A 20-year old Indian-American Amitoj Chhabra won the junior title at the latest United

States Powerlifting Association National Championships 2015 in Las Vegas

Amitoj Chhabra lifted a total of 1,383 pounds at the US Powerlifting Association

National Championships which was held at the Golden Nugget Casino in in Las Vegas

Chhabra squatted 485 pounds, bench pressed 325 and deadlifted 573 at United States

Powerlifting Association National Championshipship

Amitoj Chhabra began powerlifting in December 2013 and began competing in May

2014 he is training with Adam Lauritzen of Silverback Strength and Conditioning in

Reno.

Amitoj Chhabra is the son of a Punjabi father and a Nepali mother, holds seven Nevada state powerlifting records, three in the 18-19 age division and his goal is to lift 2,000 pounds total, and to compete with international elite powerlifters.

Ajay Mathur takes over the charge of TERI as it's new chief

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Ajay Mathur who is currently serving as director-general of the bureau of energy efficiency, has been appointed as the new DG of TERI .

Ajay Mathur has a vast experience since he has served in leadership positions at the

World Bank as director, interim secretariat, Green Climate Fund in Bonn, and in the

 private sector in India.

The decision to appoint Ajay Mathur as the Director General of TERI was taken by



Governing Council (GC) of TERI at its meeting held in Bangalore .

Ajay Mathur will succeed Eminent scientist RK Pachauri who was removed from the top most position over sexual harassment charges


The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

TERI is a research institute based in New Delhi that conducts research work in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development

TERI was established in 1974 with a focus on formulating local- and national-level strategies for shaping global solutions to critical issues.In 2013, the institute was ranked as the topmost global think-tank by the International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG)

Story behind the birth of "The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)"

The origins of TERI lie in Mithapur, a remote town in Gujarat, where a TATA engineer, Darbari

Seth, was concerned about the enormous quantities of energy his factory spent on desalination.

He proposed the idea of a research institute to tackle the depletion of natural resources and energy scarcity. J. R. D. Tata, chairman of the TATA Group, liked the idea and accepted the proposal. TERI was set up with a modest corpus of 35 million rupees.

Lupin acquires US pharmaceutical firm Gavis

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Indian pharmaceuticals company had it's fifth foreign acquisition within 18 months as it agreed to buy US-based Gavis Pharmaceuticals LLC for $880 million (over Rs 5,600 crore)

This is the largest acquisition by any Indian pharmaceuticals company after Dr Reddy's purchase of Germany's betapharm for $572 million in 2006.

The deal, finalised through a competitive bidding process would increase its presence in the world’s largest pharma market as Lupin may get its first US plant through Gavis.

 New Jersey based GAVIS is a privately held company specialising in formulation development, manufacturing, packaging, sales, marketing, and distribution of

 pharmaceuticals products.

Gavis recorded sales of $96 million in FY 2014 and has over 250 New Jersey based employees. Last year the Lupin had acquired Laboratories Grin SA in Mexico, the fourth largest drugmaker in the country.

27.07.2015

Sebastian Vettel wins Hungarian Grand Prix 2015

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Ferrari’s driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix of

Formula One (F1).

Sebastian Vettel is a four-time world champion it was his 41st career win and first since the Malaysian GP in the second race of this season.

Vettel dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi, the French driver who died last week at the age of 25 from injuries sustained in a head-on crash at the Japanese GP last October.

A minute’s silence was held in honor of Bianchi before the race, with drivers forming a ring and placing their race helmets on the ground.

Top ten drivers of Hungarian Grand Prix 2015


1.

Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari

2.

Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull - Renault

3.

Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault

4.

Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault

5.

Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren

6.

Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes

7.

Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Mercedes

8.

Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes

9.

Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren

10.

Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari

Top five teams of Hungarian Grand Prix 2015

1.

Ferrari

2.

Red Bull

3.

Toro Rosso

4.

McLaren

5.

Mercedes

Nestle India’s MD Etienne Benet steps down

 Nestle India Managing Director Etienne Benet stepped down from his post amidst the ongoing controversy regarding safety of instant noodles Maggi in India.

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

Suresh Narayan, who is currently the Chairman and CEO of Nestle Philippines will replace Etienne Benet while Benet will be relocated to Nestle's head office in

Switzerland

Suresh Narayanan is a graduate of the Delhi School of Economics, and has been

 associated with Nestle since 1999 between 2005 and 2008, he headed Nestle's South Asia sales department and was market head for Nestle's North-East Africa Region.

Maggi noodles were banned by India's food regulator on June 5 after an allegedly high amount of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) were found in a sample but it should be noted that a host of other countries, including Britain, Singapore and Canada, found

Maggi noodles that were imported there from India to be safe.

China launches two satellites for it's domestic satellite navigation system named "Beidou"

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China launched two new satellites into space as it builds a domestic satellite navigation system named "Beidou, or Compass" rivalling US's Global Positioning System

The satellites, designated BDS (short for BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) M1-S and

M2-S were put into a medium-Earth orbit (MEO) about 13,700 miles (22,048 km) above

Earth

The two satellites launched Saturday are the 18th and 19th of the BeiDou system and the

2nd and 3rd for the third phase (BeiDou-3) of the network.

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System


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

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BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is a Chinese satellite navigation system. Beidou has been named after the Chinese term for the plough or Big Dipper constellation

It consists of two separate satellite constellations of total 35 satellites which are limited test system (operational since 2000) and a full-scale global navigation system which is currently under construction.

 With Beidou Navigation Satellite System China joins the league of elite nation having their own Navigational system that are US's GPS, Russia's GLONASS and European

Union's Galileo.

BeiDou provides global coverage with positioning, navigation, and timing services, including two kinds of service modes: an open service and an authorized service.

Cyient acquires Singapore based Global Services Engineering from Pratt & Whitney

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Hyderabad based Cyient Limited which provides engineering, data analytics, networks and operations solutions has acquired Singapore-based Global Services Engineering

Asia from Pratt & Whitney Services Pte Ltd.

Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies company has a global network of engine service facilities and broad portfolio of service solutions it has 20 maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) locations worldwide. The Singapore site provides repairs, development and validation for aero gas turbine engine components in support of Pratt

& Whitney throughout the region.

Through the acquisition Cyient Limited intends to expand its aerospace service in Asia-

Pacific region as Cyient has built a strong presence over the years in mechanical and manufacturing engineering, specifically in aerospace engineering, as well as software, systems and electronics

Cyient Asia Pacific is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia

Anand Krishnamurthy appointed CEO & MD of CSB bank

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Anand Krishnamurthy has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) of Catholic Syrian Bank Limited

Krishnamurthy has about 22 years of experience in the field of banking as previously he was working with HSBC

Krishnamurthy has been associated with Catholic Syrian Bank Limited (CSB) for the past one year prior to this he was responsible for corporate banking, SME business and the integrated treasury operations of the Bank as its Head of Wholesale Banking and

Treasury.

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Anand Krishnamurthy replaced Rakesh Bhatia who had quit earlier this year for some personal reason after which the board of directors had sent a list of three names to

Reserve Bank of India out of which Krishnamurthy was the first choice.

The Catholic Syrian Bank Limited (CSB) is one of the oldest private sector banks in

India with a history of over 94 years, and a strong base in Kerala along with significant presence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

 Anand Krishnamurthy holds a bachelor's degree in technology (mechanical engineering) from IIT, Chennai and a post graduate diploma in management from IIM, Kolkata.

Former Union Minister Bijoy Handique passes away


 Former Union Minister and a six-time Lok Sabha member from Assam, Bijoy Krishna

Handique passed away at the age of 82. He was the veteran leader of Indian National

Congress from the Northeast state of Assam.

 Handique was first elected to Lok Sabha from Jorhat in 1991 and continued winning in six successive elections.

 Handique has earlier served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1980 to 1986 and as minister of state for defence and parliamentary affairs (2004-2007), chemicals and fertilizers



(2006-2009).

Handique has also served as minister of state first for mines and later for development of Northeastern region from 2009 to 2011 in the UPA governments under Manmohan

Singh.

Indian Women Wrestling Team Bags Silver In Kazakhstan Presidential Cup

The Indian women’s wrestling team finished second in the fifth Senior International Wrestling

Tournament which is also known as Cup of the President of Republic of Kazakhstan in Astana.

Eight-member team of Indian women’s wrestling team bagged silver medal in the event that was held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.Vinesh (48kg), Lalita Sehrawat (55kg) and Anita (63kg) of the team performed splendidly in their respective categories

The team received a prize money of USD 10,000 along with a trophy and medals for its effort while host country Kazakhstan bagged the top spot, by defeating Mangolia which settled for the third position

BEL wins Dun and Bradstreet award

Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has bagged the Dun & Bradstreet’s ‘India’s

Top PSUs Awards 2015 in the electrical and electronic equipment sector.

Dun & Bradstreet award was received by Chairman and Managing Director of BEL Mr. S K

Sharma along with Anandi Ramalingam the General Manager-National Marketing for BEL.

The Dun & Bradstreet ‘India’s Top PSUs Awards are an acknowledgement for the critical role that the PSUs play in the development of the Indian economy.

BEL has been at the forefront in providing critical communication, night vision, electronic warfare and radar systems to the Indian Defence services ever since its inception post

Independence in 1954.

28.07.2015

28 July observed as World Hepatitis Day

 July 28 is observed as World Hepatitis Day around the globe on this day World Health

Organisation (WHO) highlightens the urgent need for countries to enhance action to






 prevent viral hepatitis infection and to ensure that people who have been infected are diagnosed and offered proper treatment

Worldwide 400 million people are living with hepatitis B or C. Every year 1.4 million people die from viral hepatitis and yet all of these deaths could be prevented. With better awareness and understanding of how we can prevent hepatitis we can eliminate this disease and save 4,000 lives a day.

World Health Organisation is focusing particularly on hepatitis B and C, which together causes approximately 80% of all liver cancer deaths and kills close to 1.4 million people every year.

The theme for this year’s World Hepatitis Day is “Prevent hepatitis. Act now”

What is Hepatitis ?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. It can affect any individual of any age including children.Hepatitis may occur with limited or no symptoms, but often leads to jaundice.

Hepatitis is acute when it lasts less than six months and chronic when it persists longer.

What are the types of Hepatitis?

There are mainly 5 types of hepatitis that are A, B, C, D and E which are cause by five different types of viruses. Viral hepatitis is most commonly caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis

B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) but in the case of hepatitis D and E viruses also exist.

What are the causes of Hepatitis?

Hepatitis is mainly caused due to Hepatitis Virus which are of various types. Hepatitis A is usually caused due to fecal-oral contact or fecal-infected food and water. A baby could get hepatitis A by consuming food/water contaminated with HAV-infected stool.The hepatitis B virus is spread by contact with blood and other body fluids of an infected person in adults it can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an HBV-infected person. Hepatitis C is transmitted through direct contact with human blood and other body fluids

Eminent Physicist Dr P.Hariharan passes away

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Renowned physicist P. Hariharan died on Sunday in Berkeley, California. He was 89.

Dr. Hariharan's research contributions include the design of a new three-beam interferometer, the double-passed Fabry-Perot interferometer, and the first practical

 radial-shear interferometer.

Dr. Hariharan was the first physicist to apply digital phase-shifting techniques to

 holographic interferometry for measurements of vector displacements and strains.

Dr. Hariharan has published more than 200 papers and has authored four books.

 He has worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi from 1949 to 1951 and then at the National Research Council, Ottawa from 1951- 1954 and was holding key posts at several scientific institutes and organisations and was also an honorary visiting professor at the University of Sydney.


Awards and honours

Dr. Hariharan was a recipient of several awards, including the Joseph Fraunhofer Medal of the

Optical Society of America, the Thomas Young Medal of the Institute of Physics, London and the Walter Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics.

IT Secretary R S Sharma appointed as the chairman of TRAI

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

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

IT secretary Ram Sevak Sharma has been appointed as the chairman of the Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)

RS Sharma is an IAS officer of 1978 Jharkhand batch and he will replaces Rahul Khullar, who had retired in May

Sharma holds a Master’s degree in mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology,

Kanpur, and a Master’s in computer science from the University of California, USA

Sharma's appointment for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest. Sharma’s appointment assumes importance in the wake of debate over net neutrality in recent time.

It should be noted that RS Sharma played a key role in implementation of the Unique

Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as he had worked closely with Nandan

Nilekani on the Aadhaar card project. He was the director general and mission director of the scheme

Prior to this, Sharma was chief secretary to the Jharkhand government. He has also worked in the department of economic affairs and dealt with bilateral and multilateral development agencies like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank

He was also in-charge of financing of infrastructure projects in the highways, ports, airports and telecom sectors.

FKCCI completed 100 years of service

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Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) completed its hundred years of service on 27 July 2015. The Centenary Year Celebrations of FKCCI will be inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

The other key annual events of FKCCI include Founders Day Celebration, MANTHAN

2016, Members Day Celebration, Export Excellence Award 2016, FKCCI Innovation

Excellence Award 2016 and International Women’s Day.

To mark the centenary year celebrations events which include Conference on banking and finance, seminar on Agricultural Produce and Marketing and Food Processing, seminar on Skill Development, networking with District Chambers for development of tier-2 and -3 cities, Business Women Conference, Investors Conference Karnataka government, Awareness campaign on “Make in India” programme, Pacific Asia Travel

Association Exhibition and other special events were held

About FKCCI

The chamber was started in 1915 by Bharath Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya to industrialise the then

Mysore State. He was ably supported by then ruler of Mysore State Nalwadi Krishnaraja


Wodeyars. The federation’s main aim is to resolve the impediments and create harmony leading to economic development of the State.

Jorge Sampaio, Helena Ndume awarded with inaugural Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize

Dr. Helena Ndume of Namibia and H.E. Mr. Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio of Portugal have been awarded with the inaugural Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize

Dr. Helena Ndume (Namibia)

Dr. Helena Ndume is an ophthalmologist whose life’s work has been the treatment of blindness and eye-related illnesses, both in Namibia and throughout the developing world. she lived in exile in Zambia, Gambia and Angola before studying medicine in Germany at the University of

Leipzig, where she received her PhD in 1989.

Mr. Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio (Portugal)

Fernando Branco Sampaio was Born in 1939, Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio graduated in Law from Lisbon University in 1961.As elected head of the Students’ Union of the Lisbon Law

Faculty, he became a leader in the struggle for the restoration of democracy in Portugal, which was eventually achieved through the Carnation Revolution (1974) and the establishment of a liberal democratic constitutional regime in 1976.

About Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize

The United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize is an honorary award presented once every five years as a tribute to the outstanding achievements and contributions of two individuals (one female and one male). There will be one female and one male laureate, who shall not be selected from the same geographic region

The Prize was originally established by General Assembly resolution 68/275 of 6 June 2014 and its Statute was approved by General Assembly resolution 69/269 of 2 April 2015.

Rajesh Exports buys world's largest gold refining company Valcambi for Rs 2,560 cr

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

Indian jewellery firm Rajesh Exports has bought Valcambi, the world’s largest gold refining company, in an all-cash deal worth $400 million ( Rs 2560 crore).

Rajesh Exports, the world's largest gold jewellery maker, will next year raise the capacity of its Indian refinery to 200 tonnes per year from 80 tonnes now with the help of



Valcambi's technology

India is the world's biggest consumer of gold, with annual demand hovering around 900 tonnes per year. Valcambi has the capacity to refine as much as 1,600 tonnes of gold a year, nearly double India's annual consumption

 The acquisition of Valcambi was carried out through REL’s subsidiary REL Singapore

PTE Ltd, which set up a European arm Global Gold Refinery for the purpose


The company plans to convert its refinery in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, into a subsidiary of

Valcambi, after modernising the plant and machinery at the unit. To cater to the Asian market in general and the Indian market in particular, REL plans to produce LBMA-accredited gold and silver from Indian facilities in one-two years.

Rajesh Export Ltd (REL)

 REL is headquartered in Bangalore, it was incorporated in 1990 REL began operations as

 a gold jewellery manufacturing and export company. Since inception it has emphasized on Research and Development.

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REL has introduced several new designs and concepts of jewellery to the international market.It has evolved as a powerhouse in design, development and distribution of gold jewellery.REL has one of the world's largest jewellery design database of 29000 designs.

REL is currently the largest manufacturer of gold jewellery in the world.REL is the lowest cost gold jewellery producer in the world.REL has developed several innovative technologies and processes in the manufacture of Jewellery.

Valcambi Gold Refinery

Valcambi is world’s largest gold refinery based at Switzerland and was incorporated in 1965. It specially deals in refining of precious metals that have capacity of over 2,000 tons per year.

Maharashtra govt to develop six solar cities targeting solar capacity of 7,500 MW

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Maharashtra government has placed a comprehensive plan to develop six solar cities in order to add solar capacity of 7,500 MW in the state.

To enhance solar capacity in country Centre has planned to develop 55 solar cities across the country among them six are from Maharashtra these are – Nagpur, Thane,



Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Shirdi and Nanded.

The selection of these cities was done on basis of the population and other criteria and

 would be developed through the joint funding from Centre and State Government.

To meet the increasing demand for power Maharashtra government has targeted to add

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14,400 MW through renewable energy source. Out of this target nearly 7,500 MW will be added through solar energy projects, over 5,000 MW will be added through wind and rest from other sources like industrial and domestic waste.

Development of 7,500 solar capacity will be conducted in two parts 5,000 MW will be developed through build operate transfer (BOT) under private players through competitive bidding.

Remaining 2,500 MW on public private participation (PPP) basis or will be developed on

Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) basis by the state undertakings

MahaGenco or by MahaVitaran with private developers.

CSC and HCL forms joint venture to provide technology services, solutions to banks

 Computer Science Corporation (CSC) and Hindustan Computer Limited (HCL) to big IT companies have signed an agreement to form a new company to provide technology services and solutions to the banking industry


 In the joint statement the partners said that their main focus will be on platform modernisation, product functionality enhancement and to capitalise their capabilities in addressing global core banking software market.

 According to the agreement CSC that serves in 15 countries with 100 premier banking and financial services clients, will provide its core banking expertise for software and

 product development.

Whereas, HCL will provide funds, it’s banking sales and client engagement expertise and also its experience in product engineering and application implementation services in order to modernise the banking industries.

29.07.2015

Suniti Solomon, a pioneer of HIV treatment in India passes away

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Pioneer of HIV research in India Dr. Suniti Solomon whose team was the first to document evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986 died at her residence in Chennai

Dr. Solomon is known for her immense contribution to Indian medicine in the field of

HIV AIDS. She took initiative for the research and treatment of this deadly disease

 during 1980s when most doctors were reluctant to get near it.

Dr. Suniti Solomon was 76 and had been under treatment for two months for liver

 cancer,

Dr. Solomon founded the first voluntary HIV testing and counselling centre, Y R



Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE), a premier HIV/AIDS care and support centre, in Chennai.

She served and held prestigious positions in various organisations working in the areas of HIV research studies including US National Institute of Mental Health's multicountry HIV/STD prevention trial.

How did Dr Suniti Solomon discovered the first HIV infection case in India ?

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It was during 1986 the time when Dr Suniti Solomon was a professor of microbiology at the Madras Medical College that one of her PhD students brought six blood samples from female sex workers who were currently staying at the government remand home on Kutchery Road in the Mylapore area of the city contained the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.

When she realized that the samples from her laboratory contained the HIV virus she was galvanized into action. She and Dr Jacob John of CMC Vellore then went to Delhi to talk about their findings

During those days only a few places did ELISA (enzyme-linked immuno assay) testing and the samples were first sent to Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore and then to the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, US, for confirmation

Educational career of Dr Suniti Solomon :-

 MD in microbiology from Madras University, she was renowned name in Tamil Nadu in the area of HIV prevention and care and among people living with HIV/AIDS.


 Dr. Solomon was trained in pathology in the United Kingdom and US, her experience covers a wide range of aspects linked to HIV infection, biomedical parameters to socioeconomics.

 She has published many papers extensively on HIV epidemiology, prevention, care, support and related gender issues.

Awards and honours :-

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

Dr Suniti Solomon was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Service on

HIV/AIDS by the state-run Dr MGR Medical University in Chennai in 2012

She was given "National Women Bio-scientist Award" In 2009 by ministry of science and technology

Sri Lanka signs agreement with Google to launch Project Loon by 2016

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Government of Sri Lanka had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Google to launch the Google Loon project in the country to provide affordable high-speed internet services to the entire country

The service will be provided with the aid of Google loon, a technology which provides

Internet to large areas using high-altitude balloons under this agreement Google will launch the helium-filled, high-tech balloons above the Indian Ocean island in coming months.

The entire Sri Lankan island - every village from (southern) Dondra to (northern) Point

Pedro - will be covered with affordable high speed Internet using Google Loon's balloon technology

Successful implementation of this project will make Sri Lanka the first country in the region with complete coverage.

There are 2.8 million mobile Internet connections and 606,000 fixed line Internet subscribers among Sri Lanka's more than 20 million population.

Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.

What is Project Loon

 Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses highaltitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32 km (20 mi) to

 create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speed

These balloons have transceivers which can connect to cell phone networks filling gaps

 in their networks especially in remote areas such as mountains and deserts

Service providers will be able to access higher speeds and improve the quality of their

 existing service once the balloon project is up and running,the prices will also come down

The balloons, once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye


 Google plans to keep the balloons aloft in the stratosphere for 100 days, transmitting

Internet signals to the ground, and with their movements guided by an algorithmic formula , testing of the project have already been done in New Zealand

Kazakhstan became 162th member of WTO

 Kazakhstan the largest former Soviet republic in Central Asia is rich in natural resources and a key transit country for goods between Asia and Europe has been officially

 accepted as member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and with this it becomes the 162th member of WTO

The agreement of accession was signed between the WTO Director General Robert

Azevedo and Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev at Geneva on July 27, 2015 and the final accession will be signed when the membership agreement is ratified by

Kazakhstan Parliament on 31 October 2015.

Advantages of membership for Kazakhstan

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

A large share of Kazakhstan’s exports are oil and gas which is 59% of Kazakhstan’s exports but now the second largest exports sector ferrous metals may enjoy more benefit and Kazakhstan may also enjoy cheaper imports in the long-term.

Being the WTO member Kazakhstan economy will become stronger and more liberal; as its trade was more prominent with post-Soviet states in mid 1990s.

106 Royal Bengal Tigers left in Sundarbans

The population of Royal Bengal Tiger in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, has sharply declined to 106 from 440 in 2004 according to recently released new Tiger census 2015 of Bangladesh.

The new tiger census project was carried out under ‘Strengthening Regional Cooperation for

Wildlife Protection in Asia Project’ with financial support from the World Bank

There are near about 74 tigers on the Indian side of the Sundarbans, the mangrove forest that stretches for nearly 4,000 miles across both countries.

Methodology of the survey : -

The year-long survey was conducted using precise scientific method in which hidden cameras were used. Methodology applied in the new tiger census is better rather than pug marks used in the past.The Bangladesh-India Joint Tiger Census Project conducted the tiger census examining some 1,500 images and footprints of tigers taken from the Sundarbans through camera trapping and found very low count figure of tigers. cause of decline in tiger population

 Tiger population has declined in the Sundarbans in recent years due to rampant poaching of the big cats and for lack of proper forest management.


 The loss of habitat, unchecked wildlife poaching, animal-human conflict in the forest and lack of management of forest are the main reasons behind the rapid fall in the tiger population

E-tourist visa to Chinese nationals from July 30, 2015

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As promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi e-tourist visa facility will be rolled out to Chinese nationals from July 30, 2015

Along with the citizens of China, the e-tourist visa facility will also be offered to nationals of Hong Kong and Macao

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the announcement notwithstanding frequent issuance of stapled visa by China to people from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and

Kashmir.

About e-tourist visa facility :-

 India had last year launched e-tourist visa facility (which was earlier called 'tourist visa on arrival enabled by electronic travel authorisation') for more than 40 countries, including the US. The scheme was later extended to 36 more countries with effect from



May

Under the e-visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him or her to travel to India after it is approved and he or she can travel with a print-out of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country.

Ashish Bahuguna appointed as Chairman of FSSAI

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Former agriculture secretary Ashish Bahuguna has been appointed as the chairman of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

The tenure of the chairman is for three years. Until now, Health Secretary Bhanu Pratap



Sharma was temporarily in-charge of the post.

It should be noted that the position of the chairman at the food authority was lying

 vacant since January this year after the tenure of K Chandramouli had come to an end

Until now Bhanu Pratap Sharma, secretary health and family welfare, was temporarily

 in charge of the position.

Mr Bahuguna, a 1978-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre,

 retired in February this year.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was recently in the news after it banned

Nestle's instant noodle brand Maggi for having lead beyond permissible limits.

Renowned Sri Lankan historian Santasilan Kadirgamar passes away

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Veteran Sri Lankan historian Santasilan Kadirgamar passed away following a brief illness. Mr. Kadirgamar was born in Chavakachcheri of Jaffna in April 1934

Santasilan Kadirgamar did his schooling from Jaffna College and pursued higher studies in history at the University of Peradeniya and the International Christian University in

Tokyo, Japan.


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As a student Kadirgamar was involved with Left movement of Sri Lanka as a sympathiser of the Lanka Sama Samaj Party.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was among those who were instrumental in setting up the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE - Jaffna) and the Jaffna

Citizens’ Committee.

 He was author of several books some of his works included “The Tamils of Lanka: Their

Struggle for Justice and Equality with Dignity” and “The Left Tradition in Lankan Tamil

Politics.

Mr. Kadirgamar is remembered for his work in 1980 on the history and impact of the short-lived Jaffna Youth Congress, which stood for egalitarian and democratic principles.

Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan may be renamed as APJ Abdul Kalam Rashtriya Avishkar

Abhiyan

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HRD Minister Smriti Irani announced that government may rename the Rashtriya

Avishkar Abhiyan as APJ Abdul Kalam Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan in memory of the former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan is a unique scheme launched by the Ministry of Human

Resource Development which aims to develop a spirit of inquiry, creativity and love for

Science and Mathematics among school children.

Under Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, government schools will be mentored by institutes like IITs, IIMs, IISERs, central universities and reputed organisations through innovative programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations, student visits, etc., to develop a natural sense of passion towards learning of science and maths.

Irani had proposed to set up 'model science labs' across the country, beginning with the

North East region under the mission during its launch.

K Vijayraghavan to hold additional charge of Secretary, DSIR

Renowned scientist K Vijayraghavan as been given additional charge of Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) for three months as the The post has been lying vacant for over one year.

K Vijayraghavan is presently Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and will hold the additional charge for three months beyond July 31, 2015 or until the appointment of a regular incumbent as per the order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)

The DSIR comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is mandated to promote industrial research for indigenous technology promotion, its development, utilisation and transfer.

About Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan

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Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan born on 3 February 1954 is a Professor and former

Director of The National Centre for Biological Sciences

He is Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, India.


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He was conferred the Padma Shri by the Govt. of India on 26 January 2013.

He was also a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009.

He was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society.

 In April 2014 he was elected as a Foreign Associate of US National Academy of Sciences

.

 VijayRaghavan graduated with Bachelor of Technology degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1975 and Masters in 1977.

 He completed his doctoral research in 1983 in the field of Molecular Biology and holds a

Ph.D from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and then, from 1986 to 1988, a

Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

30.07.2015

 Microsoft rolls out Windows 10 Software giant Microsoft has launched globally its first new operating system in almost three years which is designed to work across laptops, desktop and smartphones.

 Windows 10 is basically a amalgamation of the goodness of Windows 7 and Windows 8 because it retains the desktop of Windows 7 and fuses the live tiles of Windows 10 onto

 the Start Screen

Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade for users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and

Windows Phone 8.1 but companies will have to pay for their version, as will PC-makers to pre-install it.

New features of Windows 10 includes :-

1.

New user interface :- Windows 10 works equally well on both touch devices and mouseand-keyboard PCs, Fullscreen apps can now be easily windowed on the desktop

2.

New start menu : Window 10 start menu is a blend of the traditional Start menu from

Windows 7 and earlier with the Live Tiles of Windows 8 and Windows Phone

3.

Cortana : Microsoft's Cortana has never offered in a desktop operating system before but in Windows 10, Cortana is built into the system’s native search function

4.

New mail, calendar, photos and maps : The Mail and Calendar apps have been completely overhauled with new interfaces and features and borrow a lot of ideas and design from Microsoft’s very highly rated Outlook app on iOS, and support a variety of email and calendar services

5.

Continuum : It lets devices that can be both tablets and PCs seamlessly switch between the two modes.

6.

Xbox: Windows 10 is coming with Xbox app that lets you stream games from your console to a PC or laptop

7.

Windows Hello : New Hello feature will let you log in without ever typing in a password. Just sit in front of your computer, and Windows 10 will recognize you and log in

8.

Microsoft Edge: New web browser which has replaced Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, it has high speed and many more advanced features, Edge is its first new browser in 20 years

Specifications needed to run Windows 10


1.

Processor: 1GHz or faster processor or SoC

2.

RAM: 1GB for 32-bit or 2GB for 64-bit

3.

Hard disk space: 16GB for 32-bit OS and 20GB for 64-bit OS

4.

Graphics Card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

5.

Display: Minimum resolution of 800 x 600

Kalyani Group-Rafael Joint Venture to make Spike missiles

 In a move to deepen India-Israel strategic cooperation Rafael of Israel and India’s

Kalyani Group have formed a Joint Venture (JV) to produce Spike Anti-Tank Guided



Missiles (ATGM) in India and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) will be the system integrator.

Spike is a third generation, fire-and-forget, man-portable, anti-tank missile. In all, about

40,000 missiles are required to equip the Army’s 382 infantry battalions and 44



 mechanised regiments.

The Joint Venture will be as per Foreign Direct Investment guidelines with 51% ownership held by the Kalyani Group. It should be noted that in October last year the

Defence Acquisition Council chaired by then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had cleared the Spike ATGM deal worth Rs. 3,200 crore deal for 8,000 plus missiles, 300 plus launchers and requisite transfer of technology to an Indian firm

The companies are talking with the Telangana government to procure land to set up a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad as BDL’s missile unit is located there

What is Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) ?

Rafael, based in Haifa, Israel, manufactures the Spike family of anti-armour weapons. The weapons are lightweight fire-and-forget anti-tank missiles and use electro-optical and fibreoptic technologies. The systems are used by infantry soldiers, special rapid reaction forces, ground forces and helicopter aircrew.

Debjani Ghosh appointed as the new President of MAIT

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Debjani Ghosh, who is the vice-president sales and marketing group and managing director of Intel Corporation, South Asia, has been appointed as the new President of

Information technology hardware industry body, MAIT (the Manufacturers'

Association for Information Technology)

Debjani Ghosh, is the first woman President of MAIT in its 32 years of history. she will succeed Amar Babu the chief operation officer at Lenovo for Asia Pacific and chairman of Lenovo India.

Debjani Ghosh has been working with Intel for more than 19 years, was ranked among the 25 Most Powerful Women by Fortune India in 2013. It should be noted that Ghosh played a key role in setting up Intel’s education programme for the Asia Pacific region.

Debjani Ghosh also chairs the IT Committee at the Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

About MAIT


MAIT, the apex body representing India’s IT hardware, training and R&D service sectors, was established in 1982 for purposes of scientific, educational and IT Industry promotion.MAIT has emerged as an effective, influential and dynamic organization. Representing Hardware,

Training, R&D & Hardware Design and other associated service segments of the Indian IT

Industry.MAIT is recognized by both Govt. and the Industry for its role in the growth & development of the IT Hardware industry in India and has emerged as a strong & effective mouthpiece of the industry in the government corridors.

Working Group Constituted for Re-drafting of the National Sports Development Code of India

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Sports Ministry has constituted a nine-member Working Group to prepare a revised draft of the National Sports Development Code (NSDC).

The Working Group will be headed by Retired Delhi High Court Judge CK Mahajan and has former hockey skipper Ajitpal Singh and former national TT champion Indu Puri as its members.

The Sports Code came into force in 2011 but Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and several other National Sports Federations (NSFs) refused to follow Age and Tenure

Guidelines

 Since then a lot of developments have taken place in sports sector necessitating more accountability and transparency in the functioning of the sports bodies. Hence, further amendments to the various provisions of NSDCI need to be re-examined and bring about suitable amendments to relevant provisions of the NSDCI.

 The Working Group will examine the existing NSDC from both legal and sports governance angles and facilitate holding of consultations and prepare a revised draft of the NSDCI

2G-friendly Facebook Lite launched in India

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



Travelling to a remote location with poor network is no more a cause of worry as

Facebook has launched a new version of its app for users, who are on 2G and have slow data connection .

Facebook Lite has been specially developed for 2G networks and in situations with inconsistent connectivity

There are a large number of users, who are on 2G, in those areas the app does not load fast on some devices. This lighter version has been developed so that the app works well across all network conditions and on all types of phones, all devices running Android

2.2 and higher are supported.

The two important aspects of the new app were:-

1.

Small size (430 KB)

2.

Low data usage

 The lighter version supports all core functions of the social network, such as news feed, status updates, photos, messenger, notifications, and others. However, it does not support videos and there is no in-built browser






The interface is quite similar to the original Facebook Android app only few changes have been made in icons along with a larger font size used, Images take a few seconds to load, the app takes just a little while to start up but once you are logged in, there is problems.

Many people who are on low-end phones are forced to delete some apps so that they can keep the Facebook app. With this lighter version, they won’t have to do that. Also, this is quick to install and load,





Though the new app was primarily aimed at low-end phone users, it would come handy for high-end phone users as well, especially when they are on poor connections; for example, while travelling

India is a country of youngesters with most of them having smart phones which has helped Fcaebook to expand its user base in India to 112 million, which is the largest after the US.

 About 45 million users in India are using their mobile phones every day for social connectivity with their friends on Facebook.Globally, the company has 1.35 billion users, while the daily active users are 864 million

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to sell private banking business to Sanctum Wealth

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Britain's largest state-owned bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has decided to sell its private banking business in India to Sanctum Wealth Management, a start up firm set by

Shiv Gupta

Shiv Gupta, is also currently managing director of RBS' private banking operations in

India. RBS has four private banking offices in India located in New Delhi, Mumbai,

Bengaluru and Chennai.

The bank had started reducing its footprint in India since 2013 when it sold off its retail and commercial banking business.The reason behind this decision is to make RBS a stronger, simpler, more sustainable business, more aligned with the needs of our customers in the UK and Western Europe

However it should be noted that the bank has, decided to retain its back-office operations in India. Earlier this year, it had moved 60 back-office roles from the UK to

India and it is believed to employ a total of 12,000 people

Asian Development Bank, Centre ink $300 million loan pact for National Urban Health

Mission (NUHM)

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

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India ink loan agreement of $300 million with Asian Development Bank for National

Urban Health Mission

India has inked loan agreement of $300 million with Manila-headquartered Asian

Development Bank (ADB) to support the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).

National Urban Health Mission will be ADB's first health project in India so the bank will support ongoing government efforts under the National Urban Health Mission

(NUHM) to develop health systems in urban areas that can deliver quality health services that reach the urban poor and vulnerable,

The loan has been granted from the ADB's Ordinary Capital Resources. It has a 20-year, term including a grace period of five years, and an interest rate to be determined in accordance with ADB's LIBOR-based lending facility.


Asian Development Bank :-





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

 Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 22

August 1966

Headquartered:- Metro Manila, Philippines

The bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific AND and non-regional developed countries

ADB has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.

Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15.67%. The United States holds 15.56%,

China holds 6.47%, India holds 6.36%, and Australia holds 5.81%

China becomes world's Largest Producer & Consumer of Potatoes













China has become the world's largest potato producer accounting for nearly a quarter of the global production.

Recently, the World Potato Congress was held in Beijing's Yanqing county where it was revealed that China plants more than 13.59 million acres of potatoes every year

More than 1,000 delegates, from developing and developed countries, including growers, researchers, producers, traders, processors and manufacturers attended the conference

China grew 5.6 million hectares of potato in 2014, yielding in excess of 95 million tonnes making potato the fourth staple after rice, wheat and corn.

During 2014 China enjoyed the 11th consecutive year of bumper grain harvests even than China imported 71.4 million tonnes of soybean and 19.5 million tonnes of rice, wheat and corn, up 12.7 percent and 33.8 percent respectively.

Due to huge population there is shortage of farmland in China so it is difficult to improve the yield of wheat and rice but easier with potatoes but it should be noted that

With increased potato production and domestic consumption, China is also the biggest potato consumer in the world

31.07.2015

India to surpass China’s population by 2022: UN Report

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According to United Nation’s report India is going to become the most populous nation in the world by surpassing China in 2022.

It should be noted that China and India are the two largest countries in the world, each with more than 1 billion people, representing 19 and 18 percent of the world's

 population.

The report said that half of the world’s population growth during the period will be

 concentrated in just nine countries, including India

Although the populaton of China will be stable untill 2030, while India's Population will be growing for several decades and at a pace.


 In 2030, India would be home to 1.5 billion and a staggering 1.7 billion in 2050. The current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100

 By 2050, six countries are expected to exceed 300 million: China, India, Indonesia,

Nigeria, Pakistan, and the USA

Impact of population growth :-







It will become more difficult to eradicate poverty and inequality

It will become more difficult to combat hunger and malnutrition

It will become more difficult to expand educational enrolment and health

David Taylor appointed as new ceo of Procter & Gamble (P&G)

 The world’s largest household products maker Procter & Gamble (P&G) has appointed its company veteran David Taylor as it's new President and Chief Executive Officer on



29 July 2015.

A.G. Lafley will become Procter & Gamble’s Executive Chairman. In this role, Mr. Lafley will lead the Board of Directors, and provide advice and counsel to the CEO and P&G leadership on Company and business strategies, portfolio choices, and organization decision

 This decision came in wake of sluggish sales in developed countries it shouldbenoted that recently it has also announced to sell off its 40 brands to the perfume maker Coty

Inc for USD 12.5 billion.

Procter & Gamble (P&G)





Procter & Gamble Co., also known as P&G, is an American multinational consumer goods company headquartered in U.S.A founded by William Procter and James Gamble, both from the United Kingdom

Its products include pet food, cleaning agents, and personal care products. Prior to the sale of Pringles to the Kellogg Company, its product line included foods and beverages

Kotak bank launches ‘Kotak Bharat’ mobile banking app for ‘un-banked’ regions

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Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) launched a mobile banking app ‘Kotak Bharat’ aiming to provide mobile banking services to customers in the remotest regions of India.'Kotak

Bharat'requires no internet connectivity.

The Android-based app is specifically designed to provide banking service to customers in the under-banked and un-banked regions with provision to use service in their preferred language.

Initially the service will be provided in Hindi and English language and would also be available in Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada in few months

Customers can manage their savings/current accounts and credit cards through this app. Initially will be launch in prominent Hindi belt centre starting from Lucknow and will spread its service in other state in few month


 The app is compatible on SMS banking keyword process platform where customers could download the app on their registered mobile number without any separate registration process.

Tata brand retained its number 1 position in India

 Tata brand retained its number 1 position and most valuable brand at more than $15 billion according to year’s annual study conducted by the U.K. based Brand Finance, a

 leading brand valuation consultancy.

It should be noted that with growth of emerging sectors like e-commerce, tele communications, technology companies, banking services the competition for places in the Top 100

The top 10 Indian brands include:-

1.

Tata Group (brand value $15378 million)

2.

State Bank of India ($6,563 million)

3.

LIC ($4,927 m)

4.

Airtel ($4,524 m)

5.

Reliance ($3,663 m)

6.

Indian Oil ($3,493 m)

7.

Infosys ($3,414 m)

8.

L&T ($3,235 m)

9.

HCL ($3,148 m)

10.

ONGC ($2,899 m)

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Twenty per cent of the brands in this year’s Brand Finance India 100 list are new entries.They are from e-commerce, pharma, auto, telecom, heavy engineering and banking sectors

The new entrants in the top 100 list include Essar (11th rank with brand value of $2,747 m), United Spirits (22nd rank $1,337 m), Marico (36 rank $725 m), and Future Retail (43 rank $493 m)

The other brands include Berger Paints, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Micromax, Nerolac,

Shree Cement, Aircel, IndusInd Bank, Voltas, TVS Motor, Royal Enfield,

Pidilite, Flipkart, Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Sun Pharma, Sun TV and Piramal Enterprises.

To stay in the premier league of brands will require a world beating product or service, differentiation and a strong vision and mission, including a strong ethical stance


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downloading - Hindusthan IAS Academy

INS Astravahini decommissioned

Indian-American woman Sunita Viswanath honoured with 'Champion of Change' award

Govt approves the proposal to redevelop 400 railway stations

What is Swiss Challenge ?

How are A-1 and A category railway stations categorised ?

Govt approves composite foreign investment cap

Cabinet approves intra-state transmission system

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