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A2Z Current Affairs PDF for upcoming exams
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Contents
Topic Page Number MOU/Agreement Countries 3 MOU Industry/States/Others 4-6 Appointments and Resignations 6-10 Awards and Recognitions 10-16 Conference and Summits 16-21 International News 21-26 National News 26-46 State News 46-59 Finance and Banking News 59-66 Business News 66-68 Economy News 68-70 Apps Launches/ Portal/Helpline 70 Projects 70-72 Defence News 72-74 Science & Technology 74-77 Sports News 77-87 Schemes and Policy 87-88 Committees 88-89 Rankings of Countries 89-91 Loans from Banks 91-92 Rankings (Persons and Organisations) 92-94 Books and Authors 95 Obituaries 95-98 Important Days 98-99
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MOU/Agreement Countries
Country Country Purpose India Sri Lanka Cooperation on exchange of information and other aspects to tackle smuggling of drugs in both countries. India Guatemala Cooperation in education sector, counter-terrorism & diplomatic training India Panama Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and exemption of Visas for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports India Myanmar Signed 7 MoUs Land border crossing, restoration and preservation of earthquake-damaged Pagodas in Bagan, assistance to the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, training of Myanmar foreign service officers, setting up an Industrial Training Centre (ITC) at Monywa, and ITC at Thaton and exchange of letters on extending a maintenance contract for ITC Myingyan. India France Cooperation in the field of Railways between Indian Railways and SNCF Mobilites (a company owned by the French State) India Morocco Cooperation in the legal field, share experience and expertise in the field of law and legislation as well as mining and geology
India Swaziland Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine India Suriname Cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration India Equatorial Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Medicinal Plants Guinea India Colombia Cooperation on Traditional Systems of Medicine of India
India Brunei Exchange of Information and Assistance in Collection with respect to Taxes
India Nepal Joint operation to control wildlife poaching and trafficking of animal parts in Shuklaphanta National Park in Kanchanpur district on Nepal s side and Krishnapur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. India Nepal Loan of Rs 33.10 crore from India towards cost of two road packages of Birgunj-Thori Road India Indonesia 15 Agreements in various fields including defence, science and technological cooperation, railways and health. India Singapore Total 8 Agreemnts signed including: Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) in Nursing, Naval cooperation, Economic co- operation, Fintech, Cybersecurity, Combating Narcotics smuggling & Human Trafficking, Personnel Management and Public Administration and MoU between the NITI Aayog and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) on Cooperation in the Field of Planning
India Norway Cooperation in area of health sector through the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) for a period of three years starting from 2018 to 2020 India China Share Brahmaputra water data during flood season and exporting non-basmati rice to China.
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MOU Industry/States/Others
Industry/State/Organisation Industry/State/Organisation Purpose Power Grid Corporation of Ministry of Power To incur capital expenditure of Rs.25,000 crore India (PGCIL) for the current fiscal.
IBM NITI Aayog To develop a crop yield prediction model using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Google NITI Aayog To foster growth in India s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning ecosystem World Bank NITI Aayog To provide expertise on fraud detection and prevent funds theft in Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) IIT-Gandhinagar Indian Navy To promote academic cooperation, enhance scientific understanding of technologies related to defence and undertake research in mutually beneficial areas. Aravali Power Company Pvt Artificial Limbs To Distribute Aids and Assistive Devices to Ltd (APCPL),Jhajjar Manufacturing Corporation of Persons with Disabilities at Charkhi Dadri India(ALIMCO) District of Haryana under the CSR initiative of APCPL. SAP BSNL To jointly offer innovative GST (goods and services tax) solutions to enterprises across rural India to boost GST compliance. Bihar NTPC MoU envisages transfer of Barauni Thermal Power Station (720 MW) to NTPC. In addition to this, Bihar State Power Generation Company s (BSPGCL) equities in Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUN) & Nabinagar Power Generating Company (Pvt.) Limited (NPGC) will also be transferred to NTPC to improve the performance of power sector in Bihar. National Aluminium Company Ministry of Mines Setting highest ever target of Rs 9350 crore Limited (NALCO) revenue from operations for FY 2018-19 which is 15% higher than last year. UN Environment Board of Control for Cricket in To promote green cricket in India. India (BCCI) Uttar Pradesh Department of Ministry of Women and Child Management of Home of Widows at Women and Child and Development SunrakhBangar, Vrindavan. Development Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited India Meteorological Warn the general public about the extreme (BSNL) Department (IMD) weather condition using BSNL̓s technoloy UNICEF Odisha For state wide campaign titled, Paree Pain Katha Tiye (A word for the little angel) to
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prevent child sexual abuse Yes Bank Small Industries Development Yes Bank will become preferred financial Bank of India (SIDBI) institution to extend banking facilities to small and medium enterprising (SME) customers of SIDBI. Ministry of Environment, The Energy and Resources To set up a resource efficiency cell in the Forest and Climate Institute (TERI) Ministry Change (MoEFCC) Kerala Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) To construct 3 marine ambulance for the state fisheries department Central Electro Chemical RAASI Solar Power Pvt Ltd Transfer of technology for India s first Lithium Research Institute (CECRI), Ion (Li-ion) Battery project. Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu (under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) ) Odisha Pullela Gopichand Badminton To establish P Gopichand Badminton Foundation (PGBF), Academy in Odisha. Hyderabad Maharashtra Canada s Quebec province Cooperation in areas of information technology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and welfare of the tribal community PhonePe Ola To offer a hassle-free cab and auto booking experience to the users. Arunachal Pradesh Smart Village Movement To develop smart village initiative in selected (SVM), Andhra Pradesh villages of the north eastern state Odisha Earth Network (US based To install lightening detection and warning Lightning analysing firm) system in the state to reduce number of casualties due to lightning strike incidents ICICI Bank Marg ERP limited ( Enterprise To offer an integrated payments platform to Resource Planning (ERP) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) company) customers, using Marg s accounting software. Greece Macedonia To change Macedonia s name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Central Water Commission Google To seek help in effective flood forecasting using (CWC) Google Maps. Bharat Bill payment operating True Balance To facilitate quick and easy bill payments. Unit (BBPOU) Core Energy Systems Pvt NIKIRET (subsidiary of Russian To promote the technical security equipment Ltd (Indian engineering state atomic energy of NIKIRET in India. services firm) corporation Rosatom) Nepal China To develop a cross-border railway line that will connect the Tibetan town of Kerung with Kathmandu. Payworld Reliance Mutual Fund For financial inclusion of low-income households by investing in the mutual fund for an amount as low as Rs 500. India Seychelles Signed 6 MoUs including naval cooperation,
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cybersecurity, culture, development projects etc. India has announced US $100-million credit to Seychelles for augmenting its defence capabilities. Saudi Aramco Abu Dhabi National Oil To jointly develop an integrated refinery and Company (ADNOC) petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Ministry of Health and Family Indira Gandhi National Open To train 14 lakh youth in healthcare sector over Welfare University (IGNOU) the next four years to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals Andhra Pradesh Singapore To speed up the construction work of Andhra Pradesh̓s new capital, Amaravati. Multi Commodity Exchange of Maharashtra To launch Cotton Mission for India (MCX) empowering cotton farmers in the Vidarbha region. NITI Aayog Gujarat Narmada Valley To work together towards implementing a Fertilizers & Chemicals Proof-of-Concept ( PoC ) application using Limited (GNFC) Blockchain Technology for fertiliser subsidy management Bharat Heavy Electricals South Korean firm NANO Co To design and manufacture of emission Limited (BHEL) Ltd controlling devices (SCR Catalysts) for De-NOx application (emission control systems ) SJVN Limited Ministry of Power To achieve 9200 Million Units power generation during the 2018-19 under ‘Excellent’ category. Adani Foundation Room to Read (Non-profit For Project Utthan to develop the habit of organization) reading among children of classes 1 to 5. PHD Chamber of Commerce Indian Yoga Association (IYA) To promote yoga, health and spiritual tourism and Industry (PHDCCI) in the Krishna Circuit in Uttar Pradesh.
Premier stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has entered into an agreement with the Bombay Metal Exchange (BME) for the growth and systematic development of commodity derivatives markets in the non-ferrous metals complex. In a bid to build a unique bond with youth of Jammu and Kashmir, Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has joined hands with the Indian Army to provide acting courses to the youth of Baramulla district. Appointments and Resignations
Name Post Institution Mr Sitanshu Ranjan Kar Director General Press Information Bureau (PIB) Subhash Chandra Khuntia Chairman Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Harindra Singh Head Coach Indian Men s Hockey Team Sjoerd Marijne Head Coach Indian Women s Hockey Team Justin Langer Head Coach Australian National Cricket Team Manish Raniga Chief Commercial Officer GoAir
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Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal Acting Chief Justice Punjab and Haryana High Court Shabana Azmi Global Leadership Ambassador Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) Vladimir Putin President Russia Dmitry Medvedev Prime Minister Russia Nitin Bawankule President Google Cloud India Carlos Alvarado President Costa Rica Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister Malaysia Shashank Manohar Chairman International Cricket Council (ICC) Shri Uttam Pacharne Chairman Lalit Kala Akademi Himanta Biswa Sarma Vice-President Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC)
Amit Khare Secretary Information and Broadcasting Ministry Anup Wadhawan Secretary Commerce Ministry MM Kutty Secretary Petroleum Ministry Binoy Kumar Secretary Steel Ministry Heera Lal Samariya Secretary Labour & Employment Ministry Deepak Khandekar Secretary Tribal Affairs Ministry Pushpa Subramanyam Secretary Food Processing Industries Ministry Viktor Orban Prime Minister Hungary Ambika Sharma Managing Director U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) India Operations Susheela Jayapal Member of Board of Commissioners Multnomah County in Oregon Om Prakash Kohli Additional Charge of Governor Madhya Pradesh Gina Haspel Director Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Rajinder Singh President Hockey India (HI) Deepti Umashankar Chairperson Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) Nicolas Maduro President Venezuela Stacey Cunningham President New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) H.D. Kumaraswamy Chief Minister Karnataka G Parameshwara Deputy Chief Minister Karnataka Dmitry Rogozin Chief Roscosmos Anubrata Biswas Managing Director and Chief Airtel Payments Bank Executive Officer Sushil Chandra Chairman CBDT Justice C K Prasad Chairman Press Council of India (PCI) Ganeshi Lal Governor Odisha Kummanam Rajasekharan Governor Mizoram Mia Mottley Prime Minister Caribbean island of Barbados Saad Hariri Prime Minister Lebanon Sudha Balakrishnan Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Reserve Bank of India Sanjay Mitra (Defence Secretary (Additional charge) Defence Research and Development Secretary of India) Organisation (DRDO) Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk Interim Prime Minister Pakistan Justice R K Agrawal President National Consumer Disputes Redressal
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Commission (NCDRC) Alicia Pucheta President Paraguay Lt Gen Ranbir Singh Commander Northern Command (Indian Army) Pankaj Saran Deputy National Security Adviser of India Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Minister of State (Independent Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Sports Minister) Charge) Piyush Goyal Cabinet Minister Ministry of Finance & Corporate (Additional Charge) S S Ahluwalia Minister of State Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology Lt General Devraj Anbu Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) Indian Army Pedro Sanchez Prime Minister Spain Abdel Fattah al-Sisi President Egypt Giuseppe Conte Prime Minister Italy Mahesh Kumar Jain Deputy Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tommy Thomas Attorney General Malaysia Maria Fernanda Espinosa President 73rd Session of United Nations (UN) General Garces Assembly Omar al-Razzaz Prime Minister Jordan Keshari Nath Tripathi (West Governor (Additional Charge) Tripura Bengal Governor) Harun Rasid Khan Non Executive, Part Time Chairman Bandhan Bank Shri Sharad Kumar Vigilance Commissioner Central Vigilance Commission S Ramesh Chairman Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Rana Kapoor Managing Director & Chief Executive Yes Bank Office Dr. Inder Jit Singh Secretary Ministry of Coal Dhivya Suryadevara Chief Finance Officer (CFO) US based General Motors Sunil Chhetri Brand Ambassador Online fantasy sports platform ͆StarPick͇ Ivan Duque President Colombia Sandeep Bakhshi Wholetime Director and Chief ICICI Bank Operating Officer (COO) N.S. Kannan MD & CEO ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Rama Subramaniam Gandhi Advisor Paytm A.R. Rahman Brand Ambassador Sikkim BVR Subrahmanyam Chief Secretary Jammu & Kashmir Paul Polman Chairman International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Ajay Banga, First Vice-Chair International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) B Sriram MD & CEO IDBI Bank Abhay V. Udeshi President International Castor Oil Association (ICOA) Arijit Basu Managing Director State Bank of India Recep Tayyip Erdogan President Turkey
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Ajay Chitkara Director and Chief Executive Officer Airtel Business Pankaj Miglani Chief Executive Officer Airtel Global Business Janardan Singh Gehlot President International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) Dedar Singh Gill Judicial Commissioner Supreme Court of Singapore GC Chaturvedi Non-Executive part-time Chairman ICICI Bank RishadPremji Chairman Nasscom DebjaniGhosh President Nasscom B. Sriram MD and CEO IDBI Bank T Latha MD and CEO Dhanlaxmi Bank Limited Saraswati Prasad Chairman and Managing Director Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Adarsh Kumar Goel Chairman National Green Tribunal (NGT) K B Vijay Srinivas Director and General Manager United India Insurance Company Vishwas Patel Chairman Payments Council of India Janardan Singh Gehlot President International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) Rajat Sharma ( Aap Ki Adalat President Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) anchor and senior journalist) Mukesh Ambani Managing Director Reliance Industries (RIL) Actor Akshay Kumar Ambassador Revital H Medicine of Sun Pharma Consumer Healthcare Company Dr. Sandeep Sanchet President Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi Rajan Kohli President Wipro Ltd HimantaSarma President Badminton Association of India RakeshBharti Mittal President Industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Former DoPT Secretary Chairman Banks Board Bureau (BBB) BhanuPratap Sharma Lieutenant General PP Director General National Cadet Corps (NCC) Malhotra Prakash Apte part-time Chairman Kotak Mahindra Bank Lt Gen Bipin Puri Senior Colonel Commandant Army Medical Corps (AMC) Rahul Bhatia Interim Chief Executive Officer IndiGo Mario Abdo Benitez President Paraguay Mukhammedkaliy Prime Minister Kyrgyzstan Abulgaziyev Prince Charles President Commonwealth Nations Viktor Orban Prime Minister Hungary Carlos Alvarado Quesada President Costa Rica Recep Tayyip Erdogan President Republic of Turkey López Obrador President Mexico Former IRDAI member Radhakrishnan Nair has been appointed to ICICI Bank s board as an Additional (Independent) Director for a period of five years. Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has been given one year extension on the post till 12th of June 2019. In May 2015, Mr Sinha was appointed as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term.
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Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has been appointed as an eminent jurist in the selection committee for appointment of the Lokpal. Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki has been given the additional charge of Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Governor Acharya Devvrat is on leave. Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was elected chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is currently underway in China s Hainan province. Ban replaced Japan s Yasuo Fukuda. The UN World Tourism Organization has appointed FC Barcelona s Argentine star Lionel Messi as an ambassador to promote responsible tourism. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has appointed its first ever woman firefighter. Taniya Sanyal from Kolkata is currently training in the capital and will be joining her team in a month. Senior advocate Indu Malhotra has become the first woman lawyer to be elevated directly from the Bar as the Supreme Court Judge. Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been sworn in as the 70th US secretary of state after the Senate voted to confirm him, 57-42. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, stepped down as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on June 21. He will now function as the Honorary Chairman of the ICC commencing July 1. State Bank of India (SBI) Managing Director B Sriram has resigned from the country s largest lender after his appointment as chief executive of IDBI Bank. WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum has decided to quit Facebook amid reports that he had a difference of opinion with parent company Facebook over data privacy, encryption and other issues. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Major General Jose Eladio Alcain of Uruguay as head of mission and chief military observer for the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). Award-winning Italian singer Laura Pausini has been named Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), WFP announced, calling her a role model both on and off stage .
Awards and Recognitions
Award Name Person/Institution Extra Knowledge Swara Mauli Lata Mangeshkar ONV Literary Prize M T Vasudevan Nair Contributions to Malayalam literature Annual WEF 2018 Awards Nisha Bhalla Under 'Excellent Woman of Excellence' category for her spiritual service National Technology Award 2018 Bharat Biotech For its Rotavac vaccine TITAN Reginald F. Lewis Film Icon Sridevi (posthumously) Presented at 71st Cannes Film Festival, Award Cannes 2018 TITAN Reginald F. Lewis Film Icon Award celebrates women of the film industry all over the world Shri Jayadev Rastriya Yuva Pratibha Anindita Anaam Contribution in the field of arts Puraskar 2018 Asha Bhosle Banga Bibhushan Highest Civilian award of West Bengal Government 5th European Golden Shoe Lionel Messi
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BRICS Business Forum Leadership Sridevi (posthumously) Lifetime Achievement Award Palme d Or Hirokazu Kore-eda Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. Kore-eda won the Palme d Or for Manbiki Kazoku (Shoplifters) Man Booker International Prize 2018 Polish novel Flights Polish Author:Olga Tokarczuk English Translator: Jennifer Croft Prize Mo ey: £ , € , , $ , Digital Leader of the Year award Nara Lokesh He is Andhra Pradesh Minister for IT, 2018 Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Council of Scientific & CSIR received the award in Government Award 2018 Industrial Research (CSIR) Research Organizations Category Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017 INSV Tarini team Six-member team comprises of Lt Commander Vartika Joshi,Lt Commander Pratibha Jamwal, Lt Commander Swathi Patarpalli ,Lt Aishwarya Bodapatti, Lt SH Vijaya Devi and Lt Payal Gupta 2018 Mark Twain Prize for American Julia Louis-Dreyfus The award is given to the world s greatest Humor humorists. Santokba Humanitarian Award Kailash Satyarthi Received award money of Rs 1 crore. 2018 Award is given by Sri Ramakrishna Foundation to people who have worked extensively for the betterment of society. Pulitzer Prize for Music Kendrick Lamar First hip-hop artist to win the prestigious award 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction Kamila Shamsie She as a arded the € , 00 pound ($40,000) prize for her 7t novel Home Fire World Food Prize 2018 Lawrence Haddad and Dr. For their work in improving the nutrition of David Nabarro mothers and children from pregnancy to a child s second birthday Japan̓s Nikkei Asia Prize for Bindeshwar Pathak Founder of Sulabh International Culture and Community̓ Femina Miss India 2018 Miss Anukreethy Miss Meenakshi Chaudhary (Haryana)- First Vas (Tamil Nadu) Runner Up Miss Shreya Rao (Andhra Pradesh)- Second Runner Up 2018 Prime Minister s Award Vishwas Mandlik (Nashik) Individual – National category for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of yoga. 2018 Prime Minister s Award The Yoga Institute, Organisation – National category for Mumbai outstanding contribution to promotion and development of yoga. 52nd Skoch Award for Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Rajasthan Chief Minister of the Year 52nd Skoch Award for Best Ministry of Women and
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Performing Social Sector Ministry Child Development 52nd Skoch Award for Order-of-Merit Delhi Delhi bnagged 4 Skoch Order of Merit. SKOCH Order-of-Merit for Jan Suvidha (Toilet) Complex Monitoring SKOCH Order-of-Merit Night Shelter Management System SKOCH Order-of-Merit for GIS Mapping of DUSIB Vacant Land and SKOCH Order-of-Merit Award for Aam Admi Mohalla Clinic Project (Health) . 52nd Skoch Gold Award in Sagarmala Project The Sagarmala Programme also received infrastructure sector the Order of Merit at the Summit. Living Legend Prize at 25th annual Prem Chopra Raza Murad- Achievrs Award Bharat Nirman awards, Kolkata 2017 Saraswati Samman Sitanshu Yashaschandra India Talent Management Award Rana Kapoor MD & CEO Yes Bank 2018 Fortune World s Greatest The Students of Marjory Leaders Stoneman Douglas and other schools of US that witnessed gun violence. BCCI s CK Nayudu Lifetime Diana Edulji and Achievement Award Pankaj Roy (posthumously) Golden Man Booker Prize The English Patient It is the wartime love story by Michael Ondaatje who is Sri Lanka-born Canadian poet Special Lifetime Achievement Award T.H. Vinayakram (ghatam Music Academy announced the award. maestro) National Kalidas Samman Anjolie Ela Menon (one of She received award for visual arts from the India's leading Madhya Pradesh government contemporary artists)
RECOGNITIONS India s Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project has won the World Bank s internal award for exceptional performance in achieving many development goals. Dr. T.K Chand received Knowledge Excellence Award from Secretary, Mines, Govt. of India for Outstanding Contribution in Aluminium Knowledge domain at the 22nd International Conference on Non-Ferrous Minerals and Metals 2018 at Ranchi, Jharkhand. Major General VD Dogra became the first serving Indian Army officer to complete an Ironman triathlon. Satyarup Siddhanta has become the second Indian mountaineer after Malli Mastan Babu to climb Mt Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in the world. Veteran actor Dharmendra and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be conferred with the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards, respectively. Experienced midfielder Dharamvir Singh, Manpreet Singh and Indian women s team ace goalkeeper Savita Punia have been recommended for the Arjuna Award 2018 by Hockey India. Sanggai Ibemhal Chanu and former India
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men s captain Bharat Chetri have been recommended for the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement while coach BS Chauhan for the Dronacharya Award. Sanitation pioneer and founder of Sulabh International Dr Bindeshwar Pathak has been selected for Japan s most prestigious Nikkel Asia Prize under Culture and Community section. Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has received a lifetime achievement award for his contributions towards promoting brand India in the United Kingdom. An Indian charity named Jagriti Yatra, that organises 15-day train journeys around India to understand and build the India of smaller towns and villages through enterprise has won UK s Charity Clarity Award for Outstanding Impact 2018 in London. Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the Padma Shri award, India s fourth highest civilian awards, to former Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh. Kerala cartoonist Thomas Antony won the World Press Cartoon Awards in the best caricature category at the 13th edition of the World Press Cartoon awards. He is the lone cartoonist selected from Asia selected for the prize. Pallavi Durua, who belongs to Odisha s Koraput district, was crowned as the first Tribal Queen at the Adi Rani Kalinga Tribal Queen competition held at Utkal Mandap in Bhubaneswar. Panchami Majhi of Titlagarh and Rashmirekha Hansdah of Mayurbhanj were declared as the first and second runners-up of the beauty pageant respectively. The Government of Singapore has named an Orchid after Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Dendrobrium Narendra Modi, to commemorate his visit to the National Orchid Garden of Singapore. An all women Naval mountaineering team led by Lt Cdr Kokila Sajwan summited Mount Deotibba. Mt Deotibba is the second highest peak (6001M) in the Pir-Panjal range in Himachal Pradesh and is considered to be a difficult peak to summit.Around 800 differently-abled people from across India attempted to set a Guinness World Record for Largest Silent Yoga Class in Ahmedabad on the occasion of 4th International Yoga Day. Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin has been conferred with the French distinction of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) for her contribution in enhancing Indo-French ties in cinema. Kolkata based Jiya Das is the first transgender Operation Theatre (OT) technician in India. President Ram Nath Kovind was conferred with the Condecoracion, the highest honour accorded to a non-citizen by the government of Equatorial Guinea while his visit there. Poet, litterateur, author, lyricist and activist Javed Akhtar has been awarded the Shanti Doot award by one of the most revered temples in India — the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Actress Tamannaah Bhatia, who has worked in both the Hindi film industry and southern cinema, was felicitated with Sridevi Award at the Zee Apsara Awards. Electronic dance music artiste and music producer Anish Sood became the first Indian artiste to win the Best Electronica/Dance Single at the 16th Annual Independent Music Awards (IMA) in London. Mahir Pandhi, an aspiring model from New Delhi, has won Top Model India , which showcases diverse talent and breaks stereotypes. The show gave a chance to 12 aspiring models to transform into supermodels. Google paid tribute to India s first superstar K.L. Saigal with a special Doodle to mark his 114th birth anniversary. Born on April 11, 1904 in Jammu, Kundanlal Saigal was considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry. He sang 200 film and non-film songs that continue to enthrall generations of music lovers even today. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, human rights lawyer Indira Jaising and architect Balkrishna Doshi have been named by Fortune magazine as the World s Greatest Leaders of 2018 at the 24th, 20th and 43rd places respectively.
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Pakistani actress Mahira Khan has created history by becoming the first actor of Pakistani origin to make debut at Cannes Film Festival 2018. Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the first-ever Friendship Medal (the highest state honor to foreigners) of the People's Republic of China.
IIFA 2018 Awards
The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2018 held at Bangkok s Siam Niramit theatre on June 24 and was hosted by director Karan Johar and actor Riteish Deshmukh.
Complete List of Winner
Best Picture: Tumhari Sulu Best Actor Male: Irfan Khan for (Hindi Medium) Best Actor Female: Sridevi (posthumously) (Mom) Best Director: Saket Chowdhary (Hindi Medium) Best Supporting Actor Female: Meher Vij (Secret Superstar) Best Supporting Actor Male: Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Mom) Best Story: Amit V Masurkar (Newton) Best Debut Director: Konkona Sen Sharma (A death in the Gunj) Best Playback Singer (Male): Arijit Singh (Hawayein from Jab Harry Met Sejal) Best Playback Singer (Female): Meghna Mishra (Main Kaun Hoon from Secret Superstar ) Best Music Direction: Amaal Mallik, Tanishk Bagchi and Akhil Sachdeva (Badrinath Ki Dulhania) Best Lyrics: Manoj Muntashir (Mere Rashke Qamar – Baadshaho) Style Icon Award: Kriti Sanon Outstanding Achievement Award: Anupam Kher Next IIFA give away winner: Arjun Kapoor
India Smart Cities Award 2018
The India Smart Cities Awards were announced in 3 categories with total 9 awards. The categories includes: City Award, Innovative Idea Award and Project Award.
City Award – Surat Innovative Idea Award – Bhopal and Ahmedabad for Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and Safe and Secure Ahmedabad (SASA) Project respectively. The Project awards were given in seven categories namely: o Social Aspects category – NDMC, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Visakhapatnam, Pune o Urban environment category – Bhopal, Pune and Coimbatore and Jabalpur o Culture and Economy category – Bhopal and Jaipur o Transport and Mobility category – Ahmedabad and Surat o Water and Sanitation category – Ahmedabad o Governance category – Pune
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o Built Environment category – Pune Swachh Survekshan 2018 Awards
The Swachh Survekshan 2018 assessed 4203 Urban Local Bodies and was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
Top 3 Winning Cities are:
Indore Bhopal Chandigarh
Dada Saheb Phalke Awards 2018 Winners List
Best Actor(Male): Akshay Kumar for Padman (Jury) and for Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Best Actor(Female): Bhumi Pednekar for Toilet Ek Prem Katha Most versatile actress: Manisha Koirala Lifetime achievement award: Rakesh Roshan Saraswatibai Dadasaheb Phalke Best actress (Lifetime) award: Farida Jalal Best actress in a leading role (Padman) – Sonam Kapoor Best actor in a character role – Rajesh Sharma Best Playback singer (Female) – Neeti Mohan Best TV anchor- Aditya Narayan Jha Best entertainer (TV) – Manish Paul Best playback singer (Jury)- Bhumi Trivedi Best Stage Anchor- Siddharth Kannan Best producer (short films)- Sandip Marwah Most Entertaining Film (Sonu ki Titu ki Sweety) – Luv Ranjan
65th National Film Awards for 2017
The 65th National Film Awards 2017 were announced on April 13, 2018 by the jury panel headed by eminent filmmaker Shri Shekhar Kapur.
List of Awards
Best Feature Film: Village Rockstars (Assamese) Best Actress: Sridevi for MOM Best Actor: Ridhhi Sen for Nagar Kirtan Best Director: Jayaraj for Bhayanakam Best Supporting Actress: Divya Dutta for Irada Best Supporting Actor: Fahad Fazil for Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum Best Child Artiste: Bhanita Das for Village Rockstars Best Popular Film:Baahubali: The Conclusion
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Dada Saheb Phalke Award: Vinod Khanna
Conference and Summits
Summit Place . Extra Knowledge 9th India Japan Energy Dialogue New Delhi Development of Electric Vehicles (EVs) by collaborating with Policy dialogue on next generation/Zero emission vehicles .
15th Asia Media Summit (AMS) 2018 New Delhi Theme- Telling Our Stories – Asia and More 3rd United Nations Peacekeeping Course New Delhi for African Partners (UNPCAP) Venture Capital Symposium 2018 New Delhi Organised by NITI Aayog in association with Vision India Foundation to deepen the economic relationships between France and India Workshop on Ganga and its Biodiversity: New Delhi Organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Developing a Road Map for Habitat and Species Conservation ASEAN India Film Festival 2018 New Delhi Workshop on Mission Raftaar New Delhi Organized by Ministry of Railways for raising the average speed of freight trains and passenger trains 174th meeting of ESI Corporation New Delhi 3rd Home Affairs Dialogue between New Delhi India and U.K. 1st biannual IAF Commanders New Delhi Conference of 2018 4th Regional Conference on Futuristic, Bengaluru Resilient and Digital Infrastructure 9th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2018 Tehri, Uttarakhand Orgainsed under Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. The paired state for Uttarakhand is Karnataka for the event. Tehri Lake Festival orgainsed annually by Uttarakhand will be subsumed in Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 6th US-India Aviation Summi Mumbai 2nd Reverse Buyers Sellers Meet (RBSM) Mumbai To promote export of mangos and other tropical fruits and products. 4th Global Exhibition on Services-2018 Mumbai Also launched a portal on 12 Champion Sectors in Services 3rd Conclave of North East Democratic Guwahati Alliance (NEDA) 5th Regional Conference on Physical and Guwahati Social Infrastructure for Regional Development
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6th Regional Conference on New and Bhopal Renewable Energy 7th Regional Conference on Water and Pune Sanitation International Rail Coach Expo (IRCE) 2018 Chennai, Tamil Hosted by Integral Coach Factory in Nadu coordination with CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) and RITES Ltd Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Sanya, China Cultural Ministers Meeting 2018 World Robot Conference Beijing, China August 15-19 12th informal meeting of SAARC Finance Manila, Philippines Ministers 71st World Health Assembly Geneva Theme: Health for All: Commit To Universal Health Coverage 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Durban, Environment Ministers South Africa India- South Africa Business Summit Johannesburg, South Africa 5th India-CLMV Business Conclave Phnom Penh, The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is Cambodia the institutional partner of the event. 3rd Mission Innovation (MI-3) Ministerial Malmo-Sweden 1st Global Wind Summit Hamburg, Will be held on September 25-28, 2018 Germany 2018 Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi- Nepal Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit First ever gathering of Indian-Americans US Capitol To build political power in the Indian-American community International Conference on TRIPS- CBD Geneva Linkage 49th Conference of Governors and Rashtrapati Presided by President Ram Nath Kovind Lieutenant Governors Bhavan 3rd National Health Editors Conference Morarji Desai Orgainsed by Ministry of AYUSH in on Yoga National Institute collaboration with the PIB and MDNIY. of Yoga (MDNIY), Theme : Evidence Based Recent Innovative New Delhi Research on Yoga – A Review of Yoga Research 13th National Convention of the Global Bengaluru Theme: Sustainable Development Goals Compact Network India (GCNI) (SDGs): A Blueprint for Action. 2018 Asia-Pacific Regional Early Kathmandu, Nepal Childhood Development (ECD) Conference and 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) 11th Geo-Intelligence Asia 2018 New Delhi Theme: GeoSpatial : A Force Multiplier for Defence and Industrial Security .
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Workshop on Skill Development in Port New Delhi Organised by Ministry of Shipping in and Maritime Sector association with Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana under the Ministry of Rural Development to highlight skill development initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Shipping 18th Summit of the Shanghai Qingdao, China Cooperation Organization (SCO) 44th G7 summit La Malbaie, 45th G7 summit will be held in Summer 2019 Quebec, Canada in Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. 11th World Hindi Conference (WHC) Mauritius Will be held from August 18-20. Theme: Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti . Thematic Seminar on Private Sector Mumbai Organised by Ministry of Finance in Participation and Innovation in Resource collaboration with Research and Information Mobilisation System for Developing Countries (RIS) as knowledge partner in partnership with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI). 2nd India-US colloquium on Earth Goa Co-organized by Ministry of Earth Sciences, Observations and Sciences for Society CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR- and Economy NIO) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. International Conference on Information Kathmandu, Nepal Theme: Sustainable Development Goals for and Communication Technology (ICT) Smart Society 1st military exercise of BIMSTEC (Bay of Pune To be held in September 2018. Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Theme: Counter-terrorism in semi-urban Technical and Economic Cooperation) terrain and cordon and search. 10th Global Alliance to Eliminate New Delhi Theme: Celebrating progress towards Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF) elimination: Voices from the field on overcoming programme challenges. 106th edition of the Indian Science Lovely Professional To be held from January 3 to 7, 2019. Congress University Theme: Future India: Science & Technology .
International Conference on Nepal Theme: Sustainable Development Goals for Information and Smart Society Communication Technology (ICT) 2018 Conference on International Decade for Republic of India was represented by Union Minister for Action: Water for Sustainable Tajikistan Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Development, 2018-2028 Rejuvenation and Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari 7th OPEC International Seminar Vienna, Austria Theme: Petroleum – cooperation for a sustainable future 7th India Minerals and Metals forum New Delhi 3rd Annual Meeting of Mumbai Theme: Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Innovation and Collaboration (AIIB) Photo Exhibition on Beti Bachao, Beti Chandigarh Padhao campaign, Swachh Bharat
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Abhiyan and Khelo India Khelo 19th All India Conference of Directors of Hyderabad Finger Print Bureaux East India Climate Change conclave Patna Attended by Ministers from six eastern states namely Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Assam 4th Annual Meeting of Luxembourg Will take place in July 2019 the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) 15th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Canberra, Co-chaired by Minister of Commerce & Commission (JMC) Australia Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo. 4th National Review and Consultation on Hyderabad Swachh Iconic Places Seminar on Technology Partnerships for New Delhi Organised by Ministry of Women and Child Steering POSHAN Abhiyaan called TECH- Development THON Special session of the Conference of the Hague India voted against the use of Chemical States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Weapons Convention 9th meeting of Eminent Persons Group Kathmandu, Nepal (EPG) on India-Nepal relations 42nd session of the UNESCO's World Manama in Heritage Committee Bahrain 1st Meeting of National Council on New Delhi . India s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan 16th International Energy Forum New Delhi . Ministerial Meeting Global Logistics Summit New Delhi Scientific Convention on World New Delhi . Homeopathy Day 1st International SME Convention New Delhi Taiwan Expo New Delhi Organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 New Delhi Theme: Securing Global Supply Chains through Government-Industry Partnerships towards Effective Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540 . Global IT Challenge for Youth with New Delhi 8th-11th November, 2018. Disabilities (GITC), 2018 3rd 5G India Congress 2018 New Delhi India Mobile Congress Aerocity, New To be held in October 2018. Delhi Theme: NEW DIGITAL HORIZONS: Connect. Create. Innovate. 1st International SME Convention 2018 New Delhi Theme: Business Beyond Borders Secure India Conclave New Delhi
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3rd Island Development Agency (IDA) New Delhi Meeting 15th World Rural Health Conference New Delhi Theme: Healing the Heart of Healthcare: Leaving No One Behind . Home Expo India 2018 Greater Noida, UP Happy Cities Summit 2018 Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh First Meeting of the NITI Forum for Agartala, Tripura North East DefExpo India- 2018 Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu Commonwealth Heads of Government London, United Meeting (CHOGM) Kingdom First Regional Conference of Eastern Kolkata States on Water Resources Regional Conference on Urban Ahmedabad, Development: Technological Solutions Gujarat and Governance Challenges 23rd Western Zonal Council Meeting Gandhinagar, Gujarat 10th Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) Jaipur, Rajasthan First India-Nordic summit Stockholm, Sweden International conference on human Nepal Theme: Identifying challenges and assessing rights progress: addressing impunity and human rights in South Asia First international conference on Water, Kathmandu, Nepal Environment and Climate Change: Knowledge Sharing and Partnership India-Nepal Inter Governmental Kathmandu, Nepal Indian side led by Commerce Secretary Rita Committee (IGC) Meeting Teaotia. 6th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Tehran, Iran Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba attended the and Conclave of Chiefs conclave to deepen engagement between navies of the two countries. 15th SCO Defence Ministers Meeting Beijing, China. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2019 Varanasi, Uttar Theme: Role of Indian Diaspora in building a Pradesh New India International Round Table Conference on New Delhi Data for New India First ever India Tourism Mart (ITM) New Delhi To be held in September 2018 MOVE: Global Mobility Summit New Delhi NITI Aayog, in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners will organize summit in September, 2018 Exhibition titled Arth: Art for Earth New Delhi 4th National Conclave on Mines & Indore, Madhya Minerals Pradesh 2nd National Tourism Conclave Jaipur, Rajasthan First-ever metal craft exhibition Chilling village in
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Leh, Jammu and Kashmir International Union of Food Science and India To be held in Navi Mumbai in October 2018. Technology (IUFoST) 17th World Sanskrit Conference Vancouver, . Canada. India Japan AI and Fintech Forum Tokyo, Japan . Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Ulaanbaatar, Theme of the meet -- Preventing Disaster Risk Reduction Mongolia Risk: Protecting Sustainable Development . 5th Regional Comprehensive Economic Tokyo, Japan . Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional ministerial meeting World Cities Summit (WCS) Singapore UNCTAD meeting of a third inter- Geneva . governmental group of experts on consumer protection Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Kathmandu, Nepal To be held in Nepal from August 31, 2018 Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit
The 29th International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting between India and Sri Lanka was held onboard Indian Naval Ship Sumithra at the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line off Kankasanthurai Pakistan hosted the three-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) meeting in Islamabad. This is the first time that Pakistan hosted the meeting ever since the country became a member of SCO in June 2017. The 1st regional workshop on star rating of garbage- free cities, organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was inaugurated in New Delhi. Morocco will host the 2021 annual meetings of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
International News
The Nobel Prize in Literature, the world s most prestigious accolade for writing, will not be awarded in 2018, for the first time since 1949, in the wake of a sexual and financial misconduct scandal. North Korea moved its clock forward 30 minutes, aligning its time zone with South Korea, a move aimed at promoting the two countries reconciliation. President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of a landmark Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed its economic sanctions against the country. Commonwealth Heads of Government has launched an online platform named Commonwealth Digital Education Leadership Training in Action (C-DELTA) to boost digital education skills among students and teachers. A state-run Chinese bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has launched the country s first India- dedicated publicly offered investment fund named ICBC Credit Suisse India Market Fund to offer best opportunity for Chinese investors to invest in India.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a comprehensive initiative called REPLACE to eliminate industrially-produced artificial trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023. REPLACE stands for review dietary sources, promote use of healthier fats, legislate, assess changes, create awareness and enforce. Guatemala has opened its embassy in Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of the United States, which inaugurated its embassy in the city two days prior. Russia has unveiled world s first floating nuclear power station Academik Lomonosov in the port of the far northern city of Murmansk, where it will be loaded with nuclear fuel before heading to eastern Siberia. China is soon to develop a prototype middle-to-low-speed magnetic-levitation train (maglev train) with a speed of 200 km/hour by 2021. A sample carriage will be built in 2019, and test runs are expected to be completed by 2021. Columbia has formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and thus become the first Latin America nation to attain global partner status privilege. The Netherlands has become the 64th signatory member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) based in Gurugram, India. Ireland has voted by a landslide to legalise abortion in a stunning outcome that marks a dramatic defeat for the Catholic Church s one-time domination of the Republic. Google is set to host it s first-ever Demo Day for Asian startups in Shanghai, China on September 20. Singapore Airlines has announced to launch the world s longest non-stop commercial flight service from Singapore to New York from October. The proposed route from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, using the long-range Airbus A350-900ULR, will fly approximately 16,700km (10,300 miles) and take about 18 hours 45 minutes. Nepal observed its 11th Republic Day on May 29, 2018 at Army Pavilion in Kathmandu. On May 28, 2008, the Constituent Assembly of the Himalayan nation declared Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic, abolishing the 240 year-old monarchy. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia region to eliminate trachoma, world s leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin. Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived in New Delhi on two days visit to India. The Dutch leader s visit comes within a year of Modi s visit to the Netherlands last June. Queen of Netherland, Maxima arrived in New Delhi as part of her four-day long visit to India. Iran s Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to embark on his one-day visit to the country. The United States has renamed its strategically important Pacific Command (PACOM) to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in a move to signal India s importance to the US military. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced a new alliance of joint economic, development and military strategy through 44 projects to further push strong ties between the two countries. o The two countries named the new cooperation Ala Azm , which means determination. The strategy focuses on three aspects: economy, human and knowledge, and politics, security and military. NASA has extended the Juno spacecraft mission for 41 more months until July 2021. The probe took off in 2011 and reached Jupiter in 2016 to complete the 14 days mission in February 2018. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the valves in its fuel system (and those are necessary for main engine burns), so it got stuck doing 53-day orbits instead of 14-day. Longer orbits mean it needs more time to collect the amount of data NASA wanted to get
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— this extension will give the agency the chance to learn everything it can about the biggest planet in our solar system. Japan s Cabinet has adopted an economic plan that would allow more foreign workers to join Japanese companies as the country seeks to make up for its declining workforce. Under the plan, Japan would relax visa requirements in sectors facing severe labor shortages. The workers would be allowed to stay in the country for only up to five years as visitors, not as immigrants. They would not be allowed to be accompanied by family members. NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has spent more time in space than any other American, retired from NASA on June 15. The 58-year-old NASA astronaut holds the US record for most cumulative time in space spending a record- breaking 665 days in space. She also claimed the title for most spacewalks by a woman – 10 spacewalks totalling 60 hours and 21 minutes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has included gaming disorder as a mental health condition in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The ICD, a diagnostic manual published by the WHO, was last updated in 1990 and its new edition, ICD-11, has included gaming disorder to the section on addictive disorders in ICD-11. The world s oldest known Sumatran orangutan named Puan has died at Perth Zoo, Australia aged 62, leaving behind 54 descendants. Described as the grand old lady by Zoo authorities, she had been at the zoo since 1968, and was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest of her species in 2016. The United Kingdom government has excluded Indian students from a new list of low risk countries eligible for easier visa application to the UK on account of India s refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the return of illegal Indian immigrants in the UK to India and vice-versa. Canadian Parliament has passed a historic bill legalizing the recreational use of marijuana nationwide, becoming the second country in the world to do so. The Bill C-45, otherwise known as the Cannabis Act, controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed and sold. Uruguay became the first country to legalize the sale of cannabis for recreational use in December 2013. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has removed Nepal from its Significant Safety Concern (SSC) list. In 2013, the ICAO had enlisted Nepal in SSC category as Nepal s compliance to the ICAO s standard at that time stood only at 55 percent out of the standard 60 percent. Nepal s removal from SSC list is regarding the significant progress that it has made to acquire a 66.08 percent as per the ICAO standards. The United Arab of Emirates (UAE) has announced to host a two-day World Tolerance Summit in November 2018 that will coincide with the International Day of Tolerance (Nov 16). The Summit to take place on November 15-16 will be based on the theme Prospering From Pluralism: Embracing Diversity through Innovation and Collaboration . The Government of Pakistan is set to launch its indigenously developed observatory satellite, PakTES-1A, in July 2018. The 285 kg satellite is fitted with sensors and cameras and will remain stationary 610 km in space. The navigation technology for the satellite was acquired from China in 2012. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based carrier Emirates Airline has launched a joint project with US Crop One Holdingsto build the world s largest vertical farming facility near Dubai s Al Maktoum International Airport at an investment of $40 million. The global anti-terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has placed Pakistan on the grey list (International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG)) for failing to curb anti-terror financing and money laundering on its soil.
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According to a report from organization European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), Norway observes the lowest rate of traffic accidents in the world, leaving behind other European countries. Norway accounts for 20 deaths per one million inhabitants which is the lowest death rate in traffic since cars became common way of transportation in the post-war era. Asia s first Arbitration Centre specialised in intellectual property is slated to open in Tokyo in September to resolve the growing number of disputes in the region. The Australian Senate has passed two new Foreign Interference Laws to criminalize interference in Australia s democratic processes by foreign nations as well as providing intelligence to foreign nations and penalties for espionage has also been increased. The two laws passed are: Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill and Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill . According to a report released by Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) and Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI), China is expected to become the world s largest 5G market by the year 2025. India will be the partner country for International Frankfurt Trade Fair, Ambiente 2019 to be held during February 8-12, 2019 in Germany. India will take over the partner country globe from the Netherlands. The Russian military has successfully tested its latest intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat . Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world s heaviest ICBM known as Satan in the West. Bangladesh Prime Minister Minister Sheikh Hasina announced she will be abolishing the quota system for government jobs. The decision is being viewed as a victory for tens of thousands of students and job-seekers who came out in protest against the reservation policy for special groups. O Connell Tower of Ireland has reopened to the public here after 47 years following a bomb attack. It is the tallest tower of Ireland. China has aimed at making the free trade port system and operational mode of Hainan more mature by 2035. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has inaugurated the first unit of 969- MW Neelum Jehlum Hydropower Project built with the financial and technical support of China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Nepal observed the famous Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur and other parts of Kathmandu valley. The nine day annual festival marks beginning of Nepali New Year. According to the annual State of Global Air Report, published the Health Effects Institute(HEI), more than 95% of the world s population is breathing unhealthy air. India has largest numbers of people (560 million) exposed to household air pollution in 2016 followed by 416 million in China. Three-time Oscar winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg has created history by becoming the first director whose films have globally taken in over $10 billion. NASA has launched its newest planet-hunting spacecraft, Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral in Florida to find thousands of new worlds beyond our Solar System. Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, 14, has become the youngest person to be named as one of the world s 100 most influential people by TIME. Singapore Airlines is set to launch the world s first non-stop flight, Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long-Range), with almost 20 hours in the air, by the end of this year connecting Singapore to New York. Argentina s central bank (Central Bank of Argentina) has raised interest rates by 300 bps from 27.25 per cent to 30.25 per cent to fight inflationary pressures. Two women, Jayshree Ullal and Neerja Sethi, who belong to an Indian background, have secured a place on Forbes list of Americas 60 richest self- made women, ranking on the 18th and 21st spot, respectively.
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Asia s first arbitration centre specialized (International Arbitration Centre in Tokyo (IACT)) in intellectual property is slated to open in Tokyo, Japan in September to resolve the growing number of disputes in the region. According to the study titled The start of a new poverty narrative , Nigeria has already overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in early 2018, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon take over the number 2 spot. The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) would be operated as a Sri Lanka-India joint venture. The $210 million facility, 241km south-east of Colombo, is dubbed the world s emptiest airport due to a lack of flights. India would operate the airport as a Sri Lanka-India joint venture. Nepal and India will Jointly Promote Tourism Nepali and Indian officials agreed to an early finalization of an MoU for Preliminary Engineering cum Traffic Survey of the Raxaul-Kathmandu rail line. Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated a library in Kathmandu built by the Indian Government in the presence of Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the world s largest state-of-the-art visa centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh with modern facilities, promising shorter waiting times for applicants. India s latest frontline warship INS Trikand has reached Sri Lanka on a goodwill visit. The Sri Lanka Navy ceremonially welcomed the state-of-the-art warship in accordance with naval traditions. Indian naval ship INS Sumitra became the first-ever warship to enter port of Sabang in Indonesia. The warship was deployed in Malacca Straits. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution 2427, aimed at a framework for mainstreaming protection, rights, well-being and empowerment of children throughout the conflict cycle. Not educating girls or creating barriers in their school education globally costs between USD 15 trillion to USD 30 trillion, the World Bank said as the UN marks Malala Day on July 12. Iceland was elected to take up the seat left vacant at the United Nations Human Rights Council after the United States quit the body. The UN has cut its peacekeeping budget by $610 million for the current year while the monthly payment to each peacekeeper will increase by $96 per month. The UN member states have approved a 6.69 billion US Dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations for the year 2018-19. Disney has launched a campaign titled Dream Big Princess with an aim to inspire and support aspiring women filmmakers. The world s first digital art museum opened its doors to the public in Tokyo, Japan allowing patrons to step all the way into the artworks. The 42nd World Heritage Committee meeting held in Bahrain s capital Manama, with 19 new sites inscribed to the World Heritage List. The World Heritage List now contains 1,092 sites in 167 countries. The next session of the World Heritage Committee will be held in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. Mount Fanjingshan, situated in China s southwestern province of Guizhou, was inscribed to the World Heritage List at the 42nd World Heritage Committee meeting in Bahrain. One of Colombia s last remaining national environmental treasures, and the country s largest national park (Chiribiquete National Park), has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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China, UAE, Cyprus and significantly, Mauritius, along with 21 other countries have been tagged as high-risk jurisdictions by global banks acting as custodians for foreign funds which comprise the largest group of investors in the Indian stock market. Video sharing platform YouTube has announced the investment of $25 million to counter the spread of fake news on its platform. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), world sugar production is likely to hit a record 187.6 million tonnes (mt) this year on account of increase in output in India, the EU, Thailand and China. Google has rolled out caller ID and spam protection on its Phone app with which the app itself would be able to filter out calls that it detects to be spams, eliminating all notifications and alerts for those calls as well. The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group has launched a new mechanism, Global Preparedness Monitoring Board , to strengthen global health security through monitoring and regular reporting of preparedness to tackle outbreaks, pandemics, and other emergencies with health consequences. The board will have headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and co-chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former WHO Director-General, and Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. National News
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for extending the investment limit from Rs 7.5 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs under the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana (PMVVY). The time limit for subscription under PMVVY has also been extended from 4th May 2018 to 31st March, 2020. It will enable upto Rs.10000 Pension per month for Senior Citizens. The government has approved the continuation of the Umbrella Scheme, Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana in agriculture sector beyond 12th Five Year Plan for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an expenditure of Rs.33,269.976 crore from central government for three financial years ending March 2020. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal for renaming and restructuring of Multi- sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) as Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) during the remaining period of the 14th Finance Commission. The Cabinet has given its nod to continuation of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana beyond 12th Five Year Plan for a period 2017-18 to 2019-20. The financial outlay for this purpose is Rs 14,832 crore. Under this 20 new AIIMS and upgradation of 73 medical colleges will be undertaken. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, chaired the first meeting of the National Committee for the Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 2, 2018. The Committee has a total of 125 members, including 116 from India and 9 international members. 14 Indian cities have been figured in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, according to the data released by the WHO (May 2, 2018). The Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Delhi, Varanasi, Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur. For the first time in the country, the renewable energy sector( solar, wind and bio-fuel) has added more capacity (11,788 MW) than the conventional power (thermal, gas and nuclear) which stood at 9,505 MW in 2017-18 according to the data provided by Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
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The Union Government has announced to develop the country s biggest airport, after only to Mumbai, in Mopa district of Goa which will benefit four coastal states in the western part of the country, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has released draft of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018, named the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018. The policy would create 40 lakh new jobs by 2022; attract $100 billion in investments into the sector in the next four years and ensure broadband speeds of 50 mbps for every citizen by 2022. The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that a North Eastern Cultural and Information Centre will come up in Delhi soon. Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has recently set up National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) in New Delhi as a repository of nation-wide water resources data and would be headed by a Joint Secretary level officer. The GST Council under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has approved a simpler tax return filing system in the 27th GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council meeting that would require a taxpayer to file only one return every month compared to three a month under the earlier process. The new monthly return filing system will come into force within six months. The GST Council also decided to convert GSTN into a government-owned company. The 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2019 will be held during 21-23 Janury 2019 at Varanasi. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will now be celebrated every alternate year. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced sanctioning of Rs 5,500 crore for laying regional ring road around Hyderabad (363 km). The minister also announced Rs 1,700 crore for Telangana under Central Road Fund (CRF). Human Resource Development Ministry has launched a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM. In Assam, 97.3 meter tall national flag, the tallest in the country – will be installed in Guwahati under Smart City Mission. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a leader in infrastructure development in the border areas of the country, celebrated its 58th Raising Day on 07 May 2018. India marked the 157th birth anniversary of country s first Nobel Award winner Rabindranath Tagore on May 7, 2018. He was born in 1861 in Calcutta. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was on three-nation visit to the Latin American countries of Guatemala, Panama and Peru. The Centre has approved setting up of 100 additional One Stop Centres in 9 states namely Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh to help violence affected women. India accounted for 74.2 percent of the total number of H-1B visas issued by the US to technology professionals in 2016 and the next year the figure increased to 75.6 percent according to the report of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Central government has issued orders for extending financial assistance of 5.50 rupees per quintal of cane crushed in sugar season 2017-18 to sugar mills to help them in clearing the dues of sugarcane farmers. 71 Ministries/Departments of Government of India has earmarked nearly Rs 16.5 thousand crores to take up Swachhata activities within their own spheres during the FY 2018-19.
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The Indian Pavilion was inaugurated at the 71st Cannes International Film Festival in France by noted television actor Sharad Kelkar. To promote electric vehicles in India, the government has approved green license plates bearing numbers in white fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis. World’s largest Indian Flag was unfurled in Hyderabad, Telangana by actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan to commemorate the first war of the country s independence in 1857. The flag is 122 feet in length and 183 feet in width. India s longest road and Railway Bridge Bogibeel Bridge connecting Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh is likely to be inaugurated by end of 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to set up the India s first national sports University in Manipur. According to the report RemitSCOPE – Remittance markets and opportunities – Asia and the Pacific , India has become the largest remittance-receiving country in the world, with migrant workers from the country sending home 69 billion US dollars in 2017 of the total remittances to the Asia-Pacific region amounting to 256 billion dollars last year. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, paid homage to Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former President of India on his Birth Anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 13, 2018. Ahmed was the fifth President of the country and also the second President to die in office. A High Level Committee (HLC) under Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved total Central Assistance of Rs 1,161.17 crores to the States of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan and Lakshadweep affected by cyclones/floods/drought during 2017-18. In a major reshuffle of Cabinet Ministry by PM Modi, Smriti Irani has been removed from the in charge of information and broadcasting ministry and is now only in charge of textiles ministry. Alphons Kannanthanam has been relieved as Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He continues as Minister of State for Tourism. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttarakhand along with the Union Territory of Chandigarh agreed to implement the ambitious national health protection mission-Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission- which aims to provide an annual coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family. India has released grant of NRs. (Nepalese Rupees) 18.07 crore for river training and construction of embankments along three major rivers of the Himalayan nation namely Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers in Nepal. In an effort to boost clean energy generation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled a National Wind-solar Hybrid Policy to promote new projects as well as hybridisation of the existing ones with a target of achieving 175 gigawatt (gw) of installed capacity from renewable energy sources by 2022. The last date for registration for Swachh Bharat Summer Internship has been extended. Students of Higher Education institutions and members of NYKS can now register for the internship till 15th June 2018. Earlier the last date for registration was till 15th May 2018. The Union Environment Ministry has launched its full fledged Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) to train over 5.5 lakh workers in environment and forest sectors in the country through 30 courses by 2021. Ministry has also unveiled a related mobile app (GSDP-ENVIS) to help boost employability and entrepreneurship of the youth in the country. The grand finale of the Queen of Mashups , a unique global female Disc Jockeys (DJs) Championship is scheduled to be held on August 15, 2018 at the J W Marriott, Sahar Mumbai.
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A meeting of stakeholders on Samarth – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector under the Skill India Mission was held in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Smt Smriti Zubin Irani to familiarize the stakeholders about the scheme and its guidelines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 330-MW Kishenganga hydel power project in Kashmir s Bandipora district at a cost of Rs 5200 crore. Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini (INSV Tarini), India s first 6 membered all-women crew circumnavigating the globe for eight months under the Navika Sagar Parikrama project, successfully completed its mission and returned to Goa. Civil Aviation Ministry has notified the draft of the Passenger Charter for ensuring safety and security of passengers. It includes refund of the entire ticket fare if flight gets canceled due to airline s fault and no charges on cancellation of tickets within 24 hours of booking. Aadhar not compulsory for booking tickets, ID shown by the passenger will be added to the database. Wi-Fi connectivity will be available to passengers after the take off. The Finance Ministry has tied up with 40 entities including Flipkart, Swiggy, Patanjali and Amul, which are big job creators, for extending loans to small entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has announced that the family of a paramilitary jawan who dies in action will be given a minimum compensation of one crore rupees so that the families of martyrs does not face any difficulty. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school education from pre-school to senior secondary levels which is integration of three components namely Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education into one whole. The India-Bangladesh border in Assam will be completely sealed by December 2018 to stop infiltration and other illegal cross border activities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan at Vishwa Bharti University, Santiniketan, West Bengal which has built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores India is the global host of World Environment Day(WED) 2018. This year s theme is Beat Plastic Pollution: If you can t reuse it, refuse it . Prime Minister of Netherlands Mr. Mark Rutte inaugurated the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum in New Delhi. National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up a new state-of-the-art cloud enabled National Data Centre at Bhubaneswar The government has reconstituted the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). The reconstituted FSDC will now include Minister of State for Finance (who is in-charge of the Department of Economic Affairs); Secretary, Department of Revenue; and Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as members of the FSDC. The Central Government has approved setting up of an exclusive Brahmaputra Study Centre at Gauhati University, Guwahati to offer an opportunity for research in different aspects of river Brahmaputra with a fund of about 28 crore to be provided by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Indian Railway s Online Travel Portal, www.irctc.co.in has launched beta version of its new User Interface for easy and fast booking of tickets without login. It new feature also includes Waitlist prediction to know the probability of a Waitlisted or RAC ticket getting confirmed as well as the facility to find out the availability up to the entire Advance Reservation Period i.e. 120 days at present, except few trains.
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The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the Sadhu Vaswani International School in Pune and also unveiled the statue of Matoshree Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar at the Matoshree Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar Garden in Pune. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced sanctioning of Rs 5,500 crore for laying regional ring road around Hyderabad (363 km). The minister also announced Rs 1,700 crore for Telangana under Central Road Fund (CRF). Union Minister for Road Transport and Water Resourceas Nitin Gadkari has announced that the Central government will sanction Rs 2,000 crore for inland waterway on Godavari River. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 135 km Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway, also known as the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) at the District Sports stadium in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. It is India s first smart and green highway and built at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore. PM Modi inaugurated the 14-lane Delhi-Meerut expressway stretching from Nizamuddin Bridge in Delhi to Delhi- UP Border built at a cost of Rs 841 crore. The expressway will reduce the travel time between the two cities to only 45 minutes from the present four to five hours. University Grants Commission has approved UGC (Online Courses) Regulations, 2018 to enable the Universities and higher educational institutions to offer graduate, postgraduate and diploma programmes online from this academic session. The Mass Yoga Demonstration (Main Event) of 4th International Yoga Day celebrations (IDY-2018) will be held on 21st June 2018 at Dehradun in Uttrakhand . Following the proposal from the Ministry of AYUSH, the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology has decided to adopt the word AYUSH in Hindi and English languages for scientific and technical purposes. Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has launched an Online Analytical Tool to facilitate closer monitoring of the flow and utilisation of foreign contributions received by various organisations registered or permitted under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi laid the foundation stone of an Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory Sakhi Suraksha at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory campus in Chandigarh. o The state-of-the-art lab, built at a cost of Rs 99.76 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund is India s first such lab dedicated to investigate crimes against women and children with speedy redressel. The National Sports University Ordinance, 2018 has come into force which provides for setting up India s first National Sports University in Imphal, Manipur. The Ordinance will be on the lines of the National Sports University Bill, 2017. The Centre has further approved construction of 1.5 lakh houses for urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at an investment of Rs. 7,227 crore with central assistance of Rs. 2,209 crore. With the latest approval, the cumulative figure under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has reached 47.52 lakh houses. Ahead of the World Environment Day 2018, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with Yes Bank organised a cleanliness drive at Kalindi Kunj ghat on river Yamuna in New Delhi. The Union Government has set up an executive committee, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spread Mahatma Gandhi s legacy among the people at the national and international level. The Government of India has constituted the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CMA) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee to address the dispute over sharing of river water among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The authority would comprise a chairman appointed by the Central government
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for tenure of five years. The Government will initially contribute a sum of Rs 2 crore for the functioning of the authority. NTPC Ltd has adopted the iconic Charminar in Hyderabad under the Swachh Iconic Places Projects of India as a part of a special drive under the Centre s Swachh Bharat Mission. The Ministry of Culture has introduced a new scheme namely Seva Bhoj Yojna with a total outlay of Rs. 325.00 Crores for Financial Years 2018-19 and 2019-20 to reimburse the Central Government share of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) so as to lessen the financial burden of such Charitable Religious Institutions who runs Community Kitchen free of cost. The Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla announced that the North East region has witnessed 18.3 percent growth in direct tax collections in 2017-18 over the previous year with the net tax collection of Rs 7,097 crore. Deccan Queen, the legendary Express train, also known as Dakkhan ki Rani completed 88 years of service on June 1. India s first deluxe train was launched by the Indian Railways in 1930 to connect two of Maharashtra s most prominent cities- Mumbai and Pune. It is named after Pune, the city popularly known as the Queen of Deccan. The Ministry of Tourism along with the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) has launched a set of guidelines on Safety and Quality Norms for Adventure Tourism in India that lists the basic minimum standards for adventure tourism activities to help adventure tour operators understand and execute safety guidelines in a better manner. Following a suggestion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian PSUs would organise Board meetings and conference at lesser known tourist destinations identified to be developed as iconic sites to help promote tourism in the country. The 5 suggested destinations include Ajanta-Ellora (Aurangabad), Bodhgaya, Hampi, Khajuraho and Mahabalipuram. The Ministry of Culture held a high level stakeholders workshop on the Taj Mahal in Agra under the chairmanship of Dr. Mahesh Sharma to discuss the issues of pollution around Taj Mahal. The workshop was followed by the Taj Declaration to Beat Plastic Pollution pledging to make the 500 metres area in and around the Taj Mahal litter free. 13 Indian beaches have been identified to get the Blue Flag certification. These beaches will be the first in not just India, but in Asia, to get the Blue Flag certification. o To get Blue Flag standards, a beach has to strictly comply with 33 environment and tourism related conditions. o The Indian beaches are being developed according to the Blue Flag certification standards by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an environment ministry s body working for the management of coastal areas. India received its first supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo, LNG KANO, from Russia s Gazprom at the Petronet LNG terminal in Dahej, Gujarat on June 4, 2018. State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd and Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS) of Russia has entered long term contract as per which GAIL will purchase about 2.5 million tonne of LNG from Gazprom on annual basis. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is soon to create Agro-Processing Financial Institution, a new financial institution that will cater exclusively to the credit and lending needs of the food processing sector. It will be a non- banking financial institution with proposed corpus of Rs 2,000 crore having 20% government equity investments amounting to Rs 400 crore. The Government of India has launched the JANAUSHADHI SUVIDHA , a Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). The affordable sanitary napkins will be available
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at Rs. 2.50 per pad over 3600 Janaushadhi Kendras functional in 33 States/UTs across India to ensure Affordable and Quality Healthcare for All. Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan unveiled the first non-plastic bound copy of the National Geographic magazine inline with 2018 World Environment Day s theme Beat Plastic Pollution . The plastic wrapping of the magazine in India, UK and the US editions has been eliminated from June onwards to save more than 2.5 million single-use plastic bags every month. The Krishi Kalyan Abhiyaan is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare from June 1, 2018 till July 31, 2018 to assist and advice farmers on ways to improve their farming techniques and raise their incomes by 2022. o The Krishi Kalyan Abhiyaan will be undertaken in 25 Villages with more than 1000 population each in 111 Aspirational Districts identified in consultation with Ministry of Rural Development as per directions of NITI Ayog. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched the trial run of the environment- friendly bagasse-based food packaging on eight select Shatabdis and Rajdhanis originating from the New Delhi with the initiative to go green in addition to promoting the nation s sugarcane industry. Bagasse are the fibrous remains left behind after extracting sugarcane juice. The government has announced a bailout package of Rs 8,000 crore to sugar industry to ensure the cash-starved mills clear cane dues of Rs 22,000 crore. India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world after Brazil and is also the largest consumer. The General Insurance Corp of India (GIC) will assist Myanmar authorities in amending laws related to insurance and reinsurance and in expanding insurance services in the country. India has registered a significant decline of 22 percent in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) since 2013, according to the recently released Sample Registration System (SRS) 2016. As per the report, the MMR has declined from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016. MMR is defined as the proportion of maternal deaths per 1, 00,000 live births. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit as a full member after it became a member in 2017, together with Pakistan, during its summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. The 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Qingdao in China on June 9th and 10th. The UN India Business Forum and the Women Entrepreneurial Platform of NITI Aayog has formed a consortium ͆ UN India-NITI Aayog Investor Consortium for Women Entrepreneurs͇ to reduce gender disparities in start-up investments and provide equal opportunity to women entrepreneurs. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has launched a National Media Campaign titled What Damage Will This Cigarette/Bidi Do to encourage smoking cessation. The campaign will achieve pan-India reach by being broadcast in 17 languages on all major national government and private TV and radio channels. In addition, the campaign will be supported by a comprehensive social media campaign and will run on major digital platforms. The Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi will soon become India s first airport to have an automated smart facial recognition system being developed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi s ambitious DigiYatra scheme. Varanasi is among three airports – the others being Visakhapatnam and Kolkata – selected under the programme for availing of this facility.
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The central government has decided to set up India first national police museum in Lutyens Delhi and is expected to be inaugurated on October 21 (Police Commemoration Day). It will come up as an underground facility in the premises of the national police memorial in Chanakyapuri area of the national capital. The Northern Railways will now monitor cleanliness of its trains using WhatsApp groups supervised by senior officials. Every department will have separate WhatsApp groups, in which status report of cleanliness will be uploaded on a daily basis including photographs. The Ministry of Railways has launched a new App Rail Madad to expedite & streamline passenger grievance redressal. Rail MADAD (Mobile Application for Desired Assistance During travel) will register the complaint with minimum inputs from passenger(option of photo also available), issues unique ID instantly and forward the complaint online to relevant field officials for immediate action. Railway Ministry has launched a new App Menu on Rails , a Mobile Application developed by IRCTC for creating awareness to the Railway Passengers for the items served to them on their Rail Journey. East coast Railways, Waltair Division launched SUBHADRA VAHINI programme for the security and protection of Women at Visakhapatnam Railway Station. Under the programme, a 32 member- women team consisting of RPF police and TC women employees will monitor the security of the women passengers in Trains and Railway stations in the division. Women can complain on 24 hours toll-free helpline 182 for the grievance related to security of women. Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched 5000 Wi-Fi Choupals in villages in partnership with CSC to transform rural Internet connectivity through BharatNet and deliver Railway tickets through CSCs. NITI Aayog s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), has selected 3,000 additional schools for the establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs, ATLs. The selected schools will receive a grant of Rs 20 lakh spread over the next five years to establish labs for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children across India. The Union Cabinet has approved reconstitution of North Eastern Council (NEC) to bring the Council under the direct control of the Home Ministry. The reconstituted NEC will have Home Minister as the ex-officio chairperson of the Council and the DoNER Minister will be the Vice Chairman. The council, which is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern region, was till now chaired by the Development Of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister. The government has added 10 more Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) under phase III of its flagship programme, Swachh Bharat Mission taking the total places under the project to 30. The Central government has given nod to raise two women battalions in the Jammu and Kashmir Police to enhance the representation of women in the State Police. One Battalion each would be raised in the Jammu region and Kashmir region respectively. Besides, 60 percent of the posts would be kept reserved for women of 10 border districts– Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara, Kargil and Leh. The Union Cabinet has extended the tenure of the Commission constituted to examine sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the Central list. It has been extended till July 31, 2018. The tenure of the panel was ending on June 20. The government has approved a 33 percent increase in carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under its affordable housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) to attract more beneficiaries. The carpet area of a house has been enhanced to 160 square metres from 120 square metres for Middle Income Group-1, while it has been increased to 200 square metres from 150 square metres in case of Middle Income Group-2. The new rules will be effective from 1st of January, 2017, the date on which the scheme became operational.
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Government think-tank Niti Aayog has prepared the Composite Water Management Index as a useful tool to assess and improve the performance in efficient management of water resources. The index is an attempt to inspire states and UTs towards efficient and optimal utilisation of water and recycling thereof with a sense of urgency. Raksha Mantri, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the first Representative Office of Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Integrated Command and Control Centre at Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh. The ICCC, Naya Raipur becomes the 10th Smart City Centre to be operational in the country. Under the ambitious Smart City Mission, ICCC in 9 cities are already operational including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Bhopal and Kakinada. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a mock exercise on flood preparedness in Uttar Pradesh in a move to improve flood preparedness ahead of the monsoon season. The exercise was held in collaboration with State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA). Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari released a book titled Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops published by NABARD. The book is based on study of 10 important crops by a team under the leadership of leading agricultural economist Dr. Ashok Gulati. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has proposed to set up a National Tribal Museum along with a National Level Tribal Research Institute at Delhi. The State Health Ministers of 20 States have exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare marking their commitment towards the launch of the Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM). India will host the 23rd European Union Film Festival (EUFF). The festival will traverse through 11 cities in India including New Delhi, Chennai, Port Blair, Pune, Puducherry, Kolkata, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Thrissur, Hyderabad and Goa from 18th June till 31st August featuring 24 latest European films from 23 EU Member States. Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated three 100 MW Solar Power Projects of Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLCIL) for commercial operation. The Solar Power projects is situated at Thoppalaakkarai and Sethupuram in Virudhunagar District and Sellaiya Sezhiyanallur in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. Each project has an installed capacity of 100 MW and have been erected at a cost of Rs.1300 crores, which includes Operation & Maintenance cost for 15 Years. Centrally-sponsored drinking water scheme, Swajal, has been launched in 115 aspirational districts of the country at an outlay of Rs 700 crores through flexi-funds under the existing National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) budget. These schemes will aim to provide villages with piped water supply powered by solar energy. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva in Washington DC to seek assistance for a Multimodal Transport Corridor and the Rural Livelihood Project which aims to provide sustainable livelihood enhancements in 10,000 villages in the state. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for Septage Management System and Storm Water Drainage System for Itanagar City under AMRUT Scheme at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The project cost estimated at Rs 16.59 crore and Rs 14.53 crore respectively is aimed at improving the urban infrastructure related to drainage system and improving the urban landscape. A committee set up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to inspect the lakes in Bengaluru found Bellandur, the biggest lake of Bengaluru, to have become the largest septic tank of the city just because of lack of interest and
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negligence towards duty by the authorities. The committee also found Varthur lake far worse than Bellandur lake in almost every aspect, from sewage to stink and from fire to froth . India is likely to introduce retaliatory tariffs worth $240 million in coming week on a revised list of 30 items imported from the US to counter the American move to unilaterally hike duties on Indian steel and aluminium. Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State, (I/C), Ministry of AYUSH, inaugurated the 10 days long Yoga Ambassador Tour on June 14, 2018 at Leela Convention Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The tour is a part of government s tourism promotion programme to propagate Kerala as a global destination for yoga where Yoga professionals from around the world participated. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi and Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir jointly launched a handbook titled Legal Processes for the Police in Respect of Crime Against Children on ways to prevent crimes against children. The handbook has been brought out by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. The government has formed a seven-member committee of the Chief Ministers headed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to examine the feasibility of linking Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) with the agriculture sector both pre-harvest and post-harvest and way to implement the same. o Other members in the committee include: Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Vijay Rupani (Gujarat), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Pawan Chamling (Sikkim). According to the 11th Common Review Mission (CRM) report of the National Health Mission, India registered a record 22% reduction in MMR since 2013, which is the highest percentage decline so far when compared to all the previous reductions in Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). The MMR of India has declined from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016. The Indian Railways will become a net zero carbon emitter by 2030 through the current action plans on anvil for 100 percent electrification of its network, coupled with renewable strategies. Union Human Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched the National Digital Library, a repository of millions of academic texts from around the world. The digital library at present hosts 17 million-plus items (books, audiobooks, images, etc) in 200-plus languages from more than 170 institutions. It has been built by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a 10 member panel to review norms related to insurance marketing firm (IMF) with an aim to increase insurance penetration in the country. The committee is headed by Suresh Mathur, Executive Director (insurance marketing firms), IRDAI, with nine more members. Mehbooba Mufti resigned as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended its the alliance with the People s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. With her resignation, Governor s rule has been imposed in the state. This will be the fourth time in the last 10 years that Governor s rule is imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya has been selected as 100th Smart City, to receive funding under the Centre s flagship Smart Cities Mission. The total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs.2, 05,018 crores. The Indian Government has planned to expand its BPO promotion scheme from current 48,000 seats to one lakh seats. The Centre will also set up India s largest National Data Centre in Bhopal with capacity of five lakh virtual
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servers. The National Data Centres, that host Government websites, services and apps, are currently operational at four locations namely Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bhubaneswar. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is all set to launch its multi-species Aquaculture Complex in Kochi with an aim to revolutionize fish production in the country. Union Health Minister JP Nadda has launched the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) — the country s first-ever national healthcare registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare establishments. o NHRR will be the ultimate platform for comprehensive information of both, Private and Public healthcare establishments including Railways, ESIC, Defense and Petroleum healthcare establishments. o The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the project technology partner adhering to paramount Data Security. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had provided 6,000 tonnes steel for Manipur s 111km long Jiribam-Imphal broad gauge railway project. As per reports, once completed, this will be the tallest girder rail bridge in the world. The Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal has received Rs 5 crore central grants for setting up a 'Yoga Gram' in the university campus. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has announced its new medium and long term target for off-shore wind power capacity additions, which are 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030. Globally, UK tops the list of offshore wind markets, followed by Germany, Taiwan, China and the USA. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), under the MSME Ministry, has adopted Jagatpur village in Delhi for its Swachhata Abhiyaan. India will construct an Indian Armed Forces Memorial at Villers Guislain, a town around 200 km from Paris to highlight the contribution of the soldiers of the undivided India to the freedom of France in the World War I. This will be the second such memorial in Europe. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Vanijya Bhawan at Delhi s Akbar road, which upon completion will house the Department of Commerce which is currently housed in Udyog Bhawan. The Rs 226 crore new, green and modern Vanijya Bhawan will be completed before December 2019. The Indian Railways has come up with a new initiative to provide free meals and refreshments through IRCTC to the passengers travelling on reserved tickets if trains get delayed on a Sunday by five-six hours due to planned maintenance works on tracks. The World s first International Centre for Humanitarian Forensics (ICHF) has been inaugurated in Gujarat. It is a joint initiative of the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for India, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has received an award at the X International IT Forum at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia for its support and active participation at the forum consecutively for two years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Essel Group America s YO1 Luxury Nature Cure Centre in the United States via video-conferencing on the occasion of the International Yoga Day. YO1 is the largest nature cure centre of the country unveiled in the Catskills area of New York State of US. YO1 is derived from Youvan meaning youth in Sanskrit. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will soon have a wax replica at the Madame Tussauds museum of London. After Swami Vivekanand, Ramdev will be the second swami to be depicted at the notable wax museum. The Rs 3,866-crore Mohanpura irrigation project has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh.
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Justice Jasti Chelameswar, one of the senior most judges of the Supreme Court ended his tenure and retired on June 22after serving for a period of six years and eight months. Justice Chelameswar shot into the limelight on January 12 by holding a press conference along with three others Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph saying all was not well on the administrative side of the Supreme Court. It was an open critic of the functioning of the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. State-run carrier Air India has introduced Maharaja Direct , a new category of seats for the passengers on long-haul international flights. The Indian government is trying to make the Chabahar Port in Iran to become operational by 2019. Iran and India, in February 2018, signed an agreement worth $85 million to develop Chabahar Port in south-eastern Iran. The lease agreement gives operational control to India of Shahid Beheshti port (phase one of the Chabahar port). The port will open a new strategic transit route between India, Iran and Afghanistan. Former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has suggested renaming the Haj House in Bengaluru after former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. This came two days after Minority Welfare and Wakf Minister of Karnataka, Zameer Ahmad raised the issue of re-naming of the state Haj House as Tipu Sultan Haj Ghar. Home Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for an oil refinery in Mongolia during his three-day visit to Central Asian country in a bid to further enhance India s bilateral relationship with Mongolia and strengthen security cooperation. This refinery project has been financed by the Government of India through a line of credit of USD 1 billion. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 11-km elevated Bahadurgarh-Mundka Metro Line build at a cost of Rs 2,028-crore. Bhadurgarh, also known as the Gateway of Haryana, is the third place in Haryana, after Gurugram and Faridabad to be connected to Delhi via metro line. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a proposal to set up a committee to lay down standards for metro rail systems in the country. The committee will be headed by E Sreedharan, also known as the Metro Man . Union Ministry for Women and Child Development has launched the report titled Women in Prisons to throw light on the condition of women in prisons and their entitlements; issues faced by them and possible methods for resolution of the same. o The report contains a comprehensive list of 134 recommendations for improving the lives of women under incarceration, addresses a wide range of issues pertaining to pregnancy and childbirth in prison, their mental health, legal aid and reintegration in society. United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley was on three-day visit to India from June 26. Nimrata Nikki Haley is currently the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She served as the 116th governor of South Carolina and is a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. The Government of India has pledged USD 5 million assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees to make up for the shortfall in its funding. The Government has proposed to set up 3000 Van Dhan Kendras involving 30,000 SHGs across the country under the Van Dhan Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to provide skill up-gradation and capacity building training for value addition of forest produce. The training and technical support is provided by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, TRIFED. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has organised a two-day training workshop on cybercrime targeting children in collaboration with Police Bureau of Research and Development (PBR&D) and UNESCO in New Delhi to provide professional training to the investigators designated to tackle crime against children.
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India has handed over a second Dornier aircraft to Seychelles for enhancing the country s surveillance capabilities to tackle maritime threats. India had earlier gifted the Seychelles Coast Guard a fast track vessel, a Dornier aircraft, and two helicopters. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched a mobile app Passport Seva App on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas (June 26) to make the process for obtaining passports easier as one can apply for a passport from any part of the country. Swaraj also announced the launch of two new schemes – Passport application from anywhere in India, and Filling passport application forms from mobile phones. The Indian government has announced an increase in the sum of money to be paid to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the next four years. India will now be contributing $15 million instead of $ 12 million to the GEF s new four-year investment cycle, known as GEF-7 to play crucial role to mitigate climate change and other environmental challenges across the globe. The 22nd edition of the three-day annual symbolic festival of Indus River known as Sindhu Darshan Festival was inaugurated in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on the bank of Indus River. It was first started in the October, 1997 and continues to be held every year since then to endorse the Indus River (Sindhu River) as an icon of the communal harmony and unity of India. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved 2 projects for the Kumbh Mela-2019 in Allahabad anemly, setting up of community toilets and procurement of dustbins to ensure that pollutants are not dumped into river Ganga. The estimated cost for community toilets will be Rs 113 crore rupees while procurement of dustbins will cost Rs 3.6 crore. The Central Government has released an assistance of Rs. 340 crore for flood relief work in Assam. Out of the sanctioned amount, Rs. 101 crore has been released by the Ministry of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), while the remaining Rs 239 crore rupees was given by the Home Ministry under the State Disaster Relief Fund. The Government of India has imposed a ban on the manufacture of Oxytocin drug for domestic use with effect from July 1, 2018. It has also banned the import of Oxytocin and its formulations. Only Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL) has been tasked to manufacture this drug for domestic use from that date to be sold to the registered hospitals and clinics in public and private sector directly. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the Udyam Sangam-2018 to celebrate the 2nd United Nations Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day (June 27). He also launched the Solar Charkha and MSME Sampark Portal. o The Solar Charkha Mission will cover 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans. The MSME Ministry will disburse subsidy of Rs 550 crores to the artisans under the Mission. o The Sampark portal will act as a bridge between the talent pool and those enterprises seeking trained human resources. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved contribution of Grant-in-Aid (Corpus) of Rs.1, 040 crore to National Export Insurance Account Trust (NEIA) to be utilised during three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the capital infusion of Rs.2000 crore in the three financial years for strengthening of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC). The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to increase the age of receiving pension of general duty medical officers, specialist grade doctors and teaching medical faculty working in Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) to 65 years.
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As part of the India s first inter-state translocation of tigers project, a male tiger (MB2) about 3 years old was transferred from Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia Tiger Reserve, Odisha. Similarly, a 27 month old female cub was shifted from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia. In all six tigers — three pairs — will be shifted from MP to Satkosia under an ambitious project conceived by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. This is for the first time in the wildlife conservation history in India when big cats are being shifted from one State to another. NITI Aayog s Women Entrepreneurs Platform (WEP) has signed statement of intent (SoI) with 5 financial institutions & social organisations with an aim to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and address the finance related problems faced by them. The SoI s were signed with Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Limited, Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited, SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited, Sreemanta Sankar Mission and the Self Employed Women s Association (SEWA). The Central Government has decided to replace the apex higher education regulator body University Grants Commission (UGC) with Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) to provide more autonomy to higher education institutes to promote excellence and facilitate holistic growth of the education system. The monetary grants would be under the purview of the HRD Ministry. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched NIMHANS Digital Academy to train mental health professionals through virtual classrooms to tackle mental health disorders. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru has an established infrastructure for starting a digital academy. Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha has collaborated with UNESCO to promote a safe and secure cyber environment for youngsters to ensure they are not targeted for bullying, abuse, exploitation and more through the internet. The Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile application ReUnite to trace missing and abandoned children in India. Non-government organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Capgemini has developed this app. Amazon Rekognition, web facial recognition service, is being used to identify missing kids. The Government agency, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), has issued the guidelines to major commercial establishments to implement default temperature setting of air conditioners at 24 degree Celsius to conserve as much as 20 billion units, worth Rs 10,000 crores of energy annually. Google dedicated a Doodle in honour of an Indian scientist and founder of Indian Statistical Institute, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis on June 29 which marks his 125th birth anniversary. Mahalanobis was regarded as the chief architect of Indian statistical system. He set up the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931 along with Pramatha Nath Banerji, Nikhil Ranjan Sen and Sir RN Mukherji. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has proposed to set up a consulate in Hyderabad in a bid to boost the cordial relationship between Telangana and UAE. Countries like Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran also have offices established in Hyderabad. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has prepared a team of lady commandos to deal with the rising number of women participants involved in the incident of stone pelting across Jammu & Kashmir region to target security forces. Dubbed as Super ′, the tea of lady o a dos ha e ee gi e rigorous trai i g hi h i ludes ei g blindfolded to deal with night-time deployment and repairing weapons in under a minute in case of any malfunction. Mumbai s Victorian and Art Deco architecture buildings in the Fort precinct and on Marine drive have been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Collectively it will be known as the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai. This makes Mumbai city the second city in India after Ahmedabad to be inscribed on the
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World Heritage List. India now has overall 37 World Heritage Inscriptions. While India stands second largest in number after China in terms of number of World Heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia and Pacific) region, it is overall sixth in the world. The Government of India will celebrate July 1, 2018, as GST Day to mark the first anniversary of the new indirect tax regime. Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out in the intervening night of June 30 and July 1 in 2017. Union Minister for Railways, Coal , Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Piyush Goyal will preside over as the Chief Guest of the event and Minister of State for Finance, Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla will be the Guest of Honour. The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved the institution of Home Minister s Special Operation Medal . He also instituted three more Medals namely the Antarik Suraksha Medal, Asadharan Aashuchan Padak, and Utkrisht & Ati-Utkrisht Seva Medal. The Medals will be awarded annually to Police Officers of States & Union Territories, Central Police Organisations (CPOs), Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Security Organisation involved in Special Operations.. HM s Special Operation Medal and Asadharan Aashuchan Padak will be awarded on 15th August (Independence Day) while Antarik Suraksha Medal and Utkrisht & Ati-Utkrisht Seva Medal will be announced on 26th January (Republic Day) Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli arrived in India on a three-day State visit. During his visit, he was presented an Honorary degree at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in the capital city of Uttarakhand Dehradun. PM Modi announced that on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti a Gram Swaraj Abhiyan would be organised starting from 14th April to 5th May, 2018. This Abhiyan is being undertaken for reaching out to poor households, spreading awareness about government welfare schemes and other people centric initiatives. The Central government has banned the import of Oxytocin and asked the customs department to prevent any attempt to smuggle it into the country. The government has amended Income Tax rules that will now allow transgenders to be recognised as an independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related transactions. The Centre released Rs 23,443 crore to the states under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as part of the its early spending push. Funds released would be used to undertake priority work under water conservation measures. Union Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu launched digital initiatives by Export Inspection Council (EIC) for ease of export at New Delhi.EIC is the official export certification body of Government of India and has launched this flagship project of Digital India Initiative to keep pace with changing dynamics of the world. The Union Minister for Railways and Coal Shri Piyush Goyal launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring. UTTAM stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal (uttam.coalindia.in). The Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) developed UTTAM,aims to provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries. The Union Home Minister ShriRajnath Singh launched the web-based application e-FRRO (e-Foreigners Regional Registration Office). Ministry of Tourism in close collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) launched Adopt a Heritage Project to provide world class tourist facilities at the various natural/cultural heritage sites, monuments and other tourist sites to make them tourist friendly, enhance their tourist potential and cultural importance in a planned and phased manner across the country.
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched Project Dhoop , an initiative aimed at shifting the school assembly time to noon to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through natural sunlight. All tobacco products and cigarette packs will have a national toll-free number printed on them from September 2018 to assist users to quit addiction. The number is – 1XXX-XX-2356. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched the much-awaited Virtual ID which will be a random 16-digit number mapped to a person s Aadhaar number. The UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) has recently replaced existing QR code on eAadhaar having resident s demographic details now with a secured digitally-signed QR Code which contains demographics along with photograph of the Aadhaar holder. Gobardhan Yojna, a central government scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste into manure and biogas, launched nationally from Haryana s Karnal District on April 30. o Gobar is an acronym for Galvanising Organic Bio Agro Resources. Through the scheme, the government aims to ensure cleanliness in villages and generate energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste into compost and biogas. o The scheme was announced by Finance Minister ArunJaitley in his budget speech this year. The government aims to cover nearly 700 districts under the scheme in this financial year. To provide seamless vehicular movement for enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism between Indian, Myanmar and Thailand, the National Highways Authority of India has signed an agreement for upgradation of Yagyi – Kalewa section of highway (Milepost 40/0 to Milepost 115/5) in Myanmar to two lane with earthen shoulder. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of External Affairs, for preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the first phase for development of the Kalay Airport as a green airport in Myanmar. One-stop bill payment platform Bharat BillPay registered a 75 per cent year-on- year growth in the number of transactions at 31.5 million in March this year. The platform had recorded 18 million transactions in the same month last year. E-way bill requirement for intra-state movement of goods has been rolled out in 5 states i.e. Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. The electronic e-way bill for inter-state movement of goods valued over Rs 50,000 was rolled out on April 1. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in March, took oath for his new term on April 15, 2018. He has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. The Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu launched the FIEO GlobalLinker– a digital platform for MSME exporters to digitise their businesses and join a global community of growing businesses. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). The Bombay High Court has barred Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) from using water from Pavana dam for maintaining Pune ground for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 matches till further orders. Karan Johar has become the first-ever Bollywood filmmaker to get a place at the famous Madame Tussauds. The process has begun in London and it will take about six months for the wax figurine to be ready. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the two-day Civil Services Day event in New Delhi on April 20. The Government has inaugurated the new office of Central Project Monitoring Unit for the e-Vidhan project of the Government at the Parliament House Annexe.
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4 Indians feature on Time s 100 Most Influential People of 2018- Virat Kohli, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal. The Centre Government has approved the ordinance to award death sentence to the rapists of children below the age of 12. The government has cleared the amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar released three books based on Mahatma Gandhi s Champaran movement of 1917 namely - Mister M K Gandhi Ki Champaran Diary, Champaran Andolan 1917 and Pir Muhammad Munis: Kalam Ka Satyagrahi. Diu Smart City has become the first city in India that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green. Diu had been importing 73% of its power from Gujarat until last year. Suresh Prabhu, chairs the first meeting of the think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce. Central government has launched m-Awas Mobile App for allotment of General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) in Delhi. This allotment of government accommodation will be carried out through Automated System of Allotment (ASA). This app is developed by National Informatics Center (NIC). The HRD ministry launched 2nd Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. IIT Delhi has been designated to function as the national coordinating institute for this programme. Under the programe students from 750 higher educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them. Government of India has awarded Letter of Intent (LoI) to 9 agencies for 22 monuments under Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan scheme to protect, preserve and market the heritage of India. The power ministry data shows that all 5,97,464 inhabited villages in the country have been electrified under Modi government. On April 29, 2018, Sikkim Chief Minister and Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) founder Pawan Kumar Chamling surpassed record for former West Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to become the longest serving CM of any Indian state. Chamling has been CM since December 12, 1994 and completed his 24th year. The National Disaster Response Authority (NDMA) conducted its first-ever Mock Exercise on Bio-Disasters at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport in Patna. The aim of the 5 days training programme was enhancing the preparedness of Airport Emergency Handlers (AEHs) to respond to CBRN emergencies at the airports. The Dalmia Bharat Group has adopted the Red Fort for five years under the government s Adopt a Heritage scheme. PM Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh on 14th April, 2018 for socio-enconomic development of the tribals living in forests. Under Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers would be constituted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a summer internship linked to the Swachh Bharat campaign from May 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018. The internship is an initiative of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS). Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the National Media Faculty Development Centre at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in New Delhi.
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Swedish-Swiss multinational giant ABB has commissioned India s first industrial solar microgrid at its Vadodara manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The Vadodara factory is ABB s largest facility in India. Humanoid Robot Sophia, who was in India, says the country is colourful, diverse and beautiful. Developed by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics, Sophia is modeled after actress Audrey Hepburn, and is known for her human-like appearance and behavior compared to other robotic variants. Sophia uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing and facial recognition. South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived on his first state visit to India during which he held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on key issues such as the situation on the Korean peninsula, and ways to boost trade and defence cooperation. Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit during which both the countries held discussions on a host of issues, including economic cooperation and security ties. India will head the Asia Pacific Region of World Customs Organisation (WCO) for two years as its Vice Chair. According to a Finance Ministry release, the position will enable India to take on leadership role of Asia Pacific Region of the organisation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Headquarters building of the Archaeological Survey of India in New Delhi. Indian Railways is all set to establish its footprint in Sri Lanka with the export of six DMU (diesel multiple units) train sets consisting of 78 modern coaches worth Rs 600 crore. All train sets would be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. Nepal plans to operate its first ever broad-gauge passenger railway service from Janakpur town to Indian border town Jayanagar in Bihar starting December. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an Online Guidance System for determining notifiability of merger & acquisitions. The Guidance System has been named as Do It Yourself (DIY): A notifiability check for mergers & acquisitions under the Competition Act, 2002 . Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched its first in-house single umbrella e-marketing system that can be accessed from anywhere in India for sale and purchase of its products. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved proposal for expanding the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by enhancing its capital base to Rs. 10,000 crore and tasking it to mobilise Rs. 1,00,000 crore for Revitalizing Infrastructure and Systems in Education or RISE by 2022. More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues, according to the latest analysis of a census released recently. There are 121 languages which are spoken by 10,000 or more people in India, which has a population of 121 crore, it said. Bringing the best of Google to Indian startups, Google announced Launchpad Accelerator India — a new comprehensive mentorship program, tailored exclusively for startups based in India, deploying Machine Learning/AI to build solutions for India s local needs. Driven by increased focus on digital transformation, the demand for data scientists in India shot up by 417 per cent in the past one year, according to a new study titled Talent Supply Index (TSI) by data-driven hiring solution provider Belong Technologies India Pvt Ltd. The Union Government has granted the Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) status to six institutions including 3 from Public Sector and 3 from Private Sector. Three Public Universities granted the Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) status: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IISc Bangalore.
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Three Private Universities granted the Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) status: Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation, BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. The Cabinet approved India s accession to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty, and WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) extending copyright coverage to the internet and digital spheres. The Union Cabinet approved the transfer of a 5.99 acre Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) plot in Tawang to the Arunachal Pradesh government for constructing a multipurpose ground. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod for the continuation, up to 2020, of eight schemes of the Home Ministry for relief and rehabilitation of migrants under the umbrella scheme Relief and Rehabilitation of Migrants and Repatriates . Highlighting the need to systemise disaster data by setting up a database on a sustainable basis, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju announced that it will be India s endeavour to set up disaster database expeditiously well before the target date of 2020. Government launched Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018 in New Delhi. The month long survey will begin on 1st August. With an aim of eliminating human entry into septic tanks and drains for cleaning, the ministry of housing and urban affairs has launched a technology challenge seeking suitable solutions from individuals and NGOs. To fast track the resolution of area based infrastructure issues, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry launched the Local Area Plan (LAP) and Town Plan Schemes (TPS) for 25 smart cities in the country, under which the ministry will provide Rs 2 crore as central assistance to every city for planned urban expansion. Under the guidance of Piyush Goyal, Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways and Coal, in order to capture the lost traffic through the new delivery model for domestic cargo, Indian Railways has introduced Double Stack Dwarf Container Services. This train was booked from the Reliance Rail Siding at Kanalus to Rewari in the state of Haryana. The Indian Railways is planning to launch a special train on November 14, along the route taken by Lord Ram in the Hindu epic Ramayana. This 800-seater tourist train, named Sri Ramayana Express , will start from Delhi and reach Rameswaram in 16 days. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUA) has launched two programmes India Smart Cities Fellowship (ISCF) and the India Smart Cities Internship (ISCI) to give youth the chance to work In the domain of urban planning and governance. The central government think tank NITI Aayog has unveiled the blueprint of National Health Stack (NHS), a shared digital healthcare infrastructure. The blueprint is in line with the implementation of the Centre s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat and other public healthcare programmes in the country. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has developed a mobile app GST Verify to protect interest of consumers. It is an android app to verify if the person collecting GST from the consumer is eligible to collect it or not. It also provides the details of the person/ company collecting GST. India s first biofortified sorghum (jowar), with significantly higher iron and zinc than regular sorghum, has been formally launched. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu released a commemorative coin of Rs 125 denomination to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of scientist Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and 12th Statistics Day.
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The Aadhaar issuing authority Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has made Virtual ID (VID) system operational with its Authentication User Agencies (AUAs) which have migrated to VID and UID Token. The Virtual ID is a 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number. The Income Tax Department has introduced an instant Aadhaar-based PAN allotment service for individuals seeking to file taxes for the first time. The facility is free of cost and instant allotment of e-PAN is available only for a limited period on a first-come-first-serve basis for valid Aadhaar holders. According to data from National Health Profile 2018, Rabies is the only disease that had a 100% death rate in India in 2017. The Election Commission launched a mobile app, cVIGIL , for citizens to report any violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during elections. Union Minister of Coal, Railways, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Piyush Goyal launched the Coal Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) and Mobile Application Khan Prahari developed by CMPDI, Ranchi in New Delhi. Khan Prahari is a tool for reporting any activity taking place related to illegal coal mining like rat-hole mining, pilferage etc. The Sunil Mehta Committee, set up to look into the faster resolution of stressed assets, has recommended the creation of an asset management company for the resolution of stressed loans worth more than Rs500 crore. Sunil Mehta committee on bad loans resolution has recommended a five-pronged strategy Project SASHAKT to deal with Non-performing Assets in the country s banking system. The five-pronged strategy includes: SME resolution approach, Bank-led resolution approach, AMC/AIF led resolution approach, NCLT/IBC approach, and Asset-trading platform. Despite the fact that technology can today help people to work from anywhere, nearly half the people in India want more mobile-free time to devote to their friends and family, showed results of Live Life survey by American Express and research firm Morning Consult. The National Security Guard will be the first central paramilitary force to opt for e-ticketing instead of the railway warrant under an agreement signed with the IRCTC. Reiterating that the central government was focused on development of sea route and inland waterways to boostcruise tourism in India, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said that under Sagarmala project, the government will give Rs 500 crore to Shipping Corporation of India to lease out cruises to promote cruise tourism. Train 18 – the code name given to the India s ambitious semi high-speed train that is a Made in India initiative will soon roll out by September. The train that is made by Integral Coach Factory (ICF) based in Chennai has the capacity to run at the speed of 160 Kmph. State-owned BSNL launched India s first Internet telephony service Wings . This service would allow customers to make and receive calls over the Internet from anywhere in India or abroad. The Indian Army has joined hands with the State bank of India (SBI) on the Defence Salary Package, which will include free personal accident death and total disability cover. The Archaeological Survey of India has issued an order allowing photography within the premises of all centrally protected monuments or sites, except at Ajanta Caves, Leh Palace and Taj Mahal. In an attempt to engage with the people of India on the important issues of water conservation and water management, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has launched a video contest titled Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puruskar Pao .
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The National Health Agency (NHA) has launched a pilot for the Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) for confirmation of 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families eligible for health coverage under Ayushman Bharat, or Modicare. The Telecom Commission has approved the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India s (TRAI) net neutrality recommendations that bar service providers from discriminating against internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access. UIDAI announced that the estimated savings and gains since the inception of Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) stood at over Rs 90,000 crore as on March 31 this year. Niti Aayog has proposed 15-point action plan for combating air pollution in ten most polluted cities in the country, including Delhi, Kanpur and Varanasi. The draft action plan titled Breathe India includes encouraging electric vehicles, phasing out private diesel vehicle and development of crop residue utilisation policy. The latest census figure of 2011 shows Sanskrit has earned 10,000 new speakers in a span of 10 years, a growth of 71 per cent, though the ancient language may be the least-spoken language in India. According to the 2011 data, released recently, 24,821 people have registered Sanskrit as their mother tongue, in comparison to 14,135 people who had said Sanskrit was their mother tongue in 2001. According to the data, Hindi remains India s most spoken language followed by Bengali. State News
Andhra Pradesh
In order to implement effective governance in the state, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu launched the official NCBN (Nara Chandrababu Naidu) App to notify people in real-time with news updates and also provide a direct platform for the common people to interact with the government. The Andhra Pradesh government has announced to implement a first of its kind Unemployment Scheme worth Rs 1200 crore annually for the unemployed graduate youth of the state. Under the scheme, the unemployed graduate youths would get a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 each with an upper age limit of 35. The Andhra Pradesh has launched Zero Based Natural Farming (ZBNF) scale-out scheme to transition 6 million farms/farmers to 100% chemical-free agriculture by 2024 making Andhra Pradesh India s first 100 per cent natural farming state. Andhra Pradesh and Singapore has signed several pacts for the development of a start-up area (1,691 acres) in the new capital, Amaravati, to transform it into a world-class city. Under the agreement, the land would be handed over in three phases – 660 acres in the first phase – to the Singapore companies for infrastructure development and other promotional activities. Andhra Pradesh became the first large state in the country to be declared as Open Defecation Free as it had achieved its goal of constructing 2.77 lakh individual toilets. The Andhra Pradesh government will soon constitute a Happiness Commission that will take up a series of programmes to promote happiness in the state. AP became the second state in the country to introduce an exclusive ministry for happiness in April 2017. Madhya Pradesh is the first. East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country s first LED street light district . Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures (TLMAL) has inaugurated Indias first metal-to- metal bonding facility at Adibatla, Hyderabad.
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In a first of its kind in India initiative, IT major Tech Mahindra has established Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security Operations Centre (APCSOC) in Vijayawada which is equipped with predictive threat analytics capabilities. Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the top ranked state in the Union government s latest ease of doing business index for states. The index is jointly prepared by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Meghalaya was ranked last at 36th position and appeared as the worst performing state. The commerce ministry has approved a proposal of HCL Technologies to set up a new IT special economic zone (SEZ) in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, with a proposed investment of Rs 408.48 crore. The ministry has recently constituted a group, headed by Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani, to study the SEZ policy. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) entered in an agreement with Andhra Pradesh Government to set up a Design University for gaming in Visakhapatnam. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated Anna Canteen , which will serve food for just Rs. 5. The canteen would serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at the same rate. Four years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana in June, 2014, the government of Residual AP has announced its state symbols to have its own separate identity. State Animal: Blackbuck (antilope cervicapra) or Krishna Jinka State Bird: Rama Chiluka (psittacula krameri) or Rose Ringed Parakeet State Tree: Neem (azadirachta indica) or Vepa Chettu State Flower: Jasmine (jasminum officinale)
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu launched the Arunachal Rising Campaign in the state with the objective to reach out to the people throughout the state targeting remote areas and make them aware of the government initiatives, policies and programmes.
Assam
Guwahati now has India s first railway station run by solar power. Around 2352 solar modules with a capacity of generating 700 kwp has been set up over the roof of the Guwahati railway station. In a bid to empower the senior citizens, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has decided to provide pension of Rs 250 per month to all the 16 lakh senior citizens of the state above the age of 60. 19 cancer care centres named Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF) will be set up across the state in partnership with Tata Trusts at an investment of Rs 1,910 crore. ACCF is a non- profitable entity of Assam government and Tata Trusts with equal partnership to implement the project and manage the centres. These centers will start functioning from mid-2020. The two-day Assam Spring Festival began at the Manas National Park where visitors will get to experience the state s local food, music, handloom and handicrafts. M Venkaiah Naidu launched a health scheme of the Assam government named Atal Amrit Abhiyan that offers free medical care of up to Rs 2 lakh for every individual from Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) families. Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for the scheme in the financial year 2018-19 Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Assam has become the first oil public sector undertaking (PSU) to adopt an online legal compliance system by introducing Legatrix . Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal laid foundation stone for the state s first cultural university at Majuli to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore.
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Bihar
Triggering a controversy, a Pakistani girl featured as the brand ambassador on the cover page of a booklet meant to promote Swachh Jamui Swasth Jamui initiative in Bihar s Jamui district. The Bihar government has launched a new crop insurance scheme Bihar State Crop Assistance Scheme with effect from Kharif (monsoon) 2018 and the new scheme will replace the existing system of crop insurance. As per the new scheme, farmers would be paid a compensation of Rs 7,500 per hectare if less than 20 percent of the standing crop is damaged with maximum support amounting to Rs 15,000. Similarly, Rs 10,000 per hectare would be provided in case damage is more than 20 percent and maximum support of Rs 20,000. Prime Minister NarendraModi launched India s first all-electric high-speed locomotive in Bihar.The electric locomotive, with a 12,000 horsepower (HP) was flagged off from Bihar s Madhepura loco factory. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the Krishi Mahabhiyan-cum-Beej Vikas Vahan Rath on the occasion of Kharif Mahabhiyan-cum-Mahotsav 2018 to create alertness among farmers about government schemes for them during Kharif season. Two raths were flagged off for every districts of which one is Kharif Mahabhiyan-cum-Mahotsav Rath while the other is Beej (Seed)Vahan Vikas Rath which would have Kharif seeds and pesticides for the treatment of kharif seeds. With the launch of cost-effective innovative water project, Bihar will soon provide the cheapest drinking water in the world. The first of such a water project was launched in Bihar s Darbhanga district, by Sulabh International, an organisation that introduced the concept of Sulabh Sauchalya in the country. With the help of this project, the people will easily be able to get pure and clean water only in 50paisa/litre. The Sulabh Jal project converts contaminated pond and river water into safe drinking water.
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh launched the Vikas Yatra from Dantewada to tell people about the development the state has witnessed. During the Yatra free pesticides were distributed to 5.5 lakh labourers and 50 lakh families were given smartphones as part of the Chief Minister s dream project Sanchar Kranti Yojna. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has approved establishment of the first multipurpose Van DhanVikas Kendra on the pilot basis for establishment in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh bagged the State of the Year Award under the business leader category as part of the India Business Leadership for the remarkable increase in business and services activities in various sectors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Chhattisgarh s Bijapur on April 14.
Delhi
Delhi hosted the six-day-long Festival of Bharat at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) as a 21st century tribute to the majesty and depth of India s civilization. The Delhi Cabinet has given in-principle approval to procure 1,000 buses under a cluster scheme due to shortage of buses in the city, subject to a nod from the Supreme Court and the High Court. With an aim to combat the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi-NCR region, petrol pumps in the capital from 1st April 2018 started supplying ultra-clean Bharat Stage VI grade fuel (both petrol and diesel).
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This move makes New Delhi the first city in the country to switch from BS-IV grade fuels to BS-VI (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms). The Delhi government launched the Mission Buniyaad scheme to improve learning levels of children from classes 3 to 9. In what was termed a historic occasion, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the Happiness Curriculum for students of nursery to Class 8 in government schools. The curriculum was launched in the presence of the Dalai Lama. The Delhi government launched the Connect Delhi initiative in a bid to make commuting easy for the residents of national capital. The initiative will carry out a holistic planning exercise covering all public transport to ensure all areas of Delhi are connected. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has joined hands with US-based chip-designer Nvidia Corp to set up a Centre of Excellence in Delhi to offer the industry a complete design and implementation environment for the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based applications. Indo Korea Technology Exchange Centre inaugurated at NSIC campus, Okhla Industrial Estate, New Delhi. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra announced that all private hospitals in Delhi, which were given land on concessional rate, must provide free treatment to certain percentage of poor patients. The Delhi government would send 77,000 senior citizens along with one adult attendant each on all-expenses paid pilgrimages every year, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approving the scheme called Mukhyamantri Tirth yatra Yojana. India s first asymmetrical cable-stayed Signature Bridge connecting the Outer Ring Road with Wazirabad will open by October end.
Gujarat
The Gujarat government has initiated a month-long state-wide water conservation campaign under the name Sujalam Sufalam Water Conservation Campaign , on the occasion of the state s Foundation Day on May 1, aiming to conserve an additional 1,100 million cubic feet of rain water. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has converted a garbage dumping ground located at Vadsar on the outskirts of the city into a museum of trees. This place has been named as Urban forest – museum of trees . The land fill site on the banks of Viswamitri River has 100 different species of trees. Gujarat Government has announced Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy-2018 to promote setting up of wind as well as solar power projects at one location to ensure optimal use of land and transmission infrastructure. The policy will remain in force for five years. Gujarat has launched a solar power scheme for farmers named Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY) to enable them generate electricity for their captive consumption as well as sell the surplus power to the grid and earn an extra income.The project cost is around Rs 870 crore. The scheme duration is 25 years, which is split between 7-year period and 18-year period. The Government of Gujarat has received 100 units of digital farming as gift from Israel based irrigation solutions providing company Netafim. The digital farming units have sensor technique which will help farmers utilise water and fertilizers better. Gujarat govt. approved setting up a 5,000 MW capacity solar park at the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), which would be the largest such entity in the world after its completion.
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Gujarat government has come up with a project named Pocket Cop under which smartphones containing database of people with a criminal background would be distributed to 4900 police personnel in the state to improve crime detection rate. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Industries and Mines Department under the Gujarat government and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). The MoU was signed with an aim to recognize a mutual desire to further enhance and strengthen Korea – Gujarat trade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Statue of Unity on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Kevadiya near Sardar Sarovar Dam in the tribal-dominated Narmada district, about 190 kilometres from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. BJP president Amit Shah unveiled a stainless steel Charkha at the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The charkha, which is 21 feet in length, 11 feet in height,and 6.5 feet in breadth, is made of chromium-nickel stainless steel and is installed on the Sabarmati Riverfront near the Riverfront Park, right across the Sabarmati Ashram. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched Poshan Abhiyan --a statewide mission to eradicate malnutrition among children by providing them nutritious food through Anganwadi centres. The CM also launched Purna project to eliminate malnutrition among girls in the age group of 14 to 18. Purna stands for Prevention of Under Nutrition and Reduction of Nutritional Anaemia among Adolescent Girls. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has given in-principle approval for the 39-crore rupees Seema Darshan project for developing more infrastructure facilities from T-Junction to Zero Point at Nadabet near Suigam in Banaskantha district to instil patriotism through a unique Gujarat initiative for border tourism.
Goa
Goa observed its 31st Goa Statehood Day on May 30, 2018, which is observed annually since 1987. Earlier, Goa was a union territory, namely, Goa, Daman and Diu and was separated in 1987 to become India s 25th state. Goa Revolution Day was celebrated on June 18 in the state to pay tributes to the martyrs of the state s liberation struggle. The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is all set to launch its own mobile application-based taxi service named Goamiles from July 2018 to some key tourist destinations in the state to boost the digital economy, enable ease of travel for tourists and give taxi drivers better income.
Haryana
Haryana Government has decided to start 31 government colleges for girls with effect from ensuing academic session starting in July 2018. Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal Khattar has announced the launch of Chatra Parivahan Suraksha Yojana to ensure safety of girl students under which five or more girl students, will get free travel facility from their home to their educational institutions. The state govt. has constituted a special task force namely Durgashakti Vahini to minimize the crimes against women. The Haryana government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain to end the fortnight-long strike in the state of the sanitation workers in support of their demands. The Haryana government has raised the upper age limit of entry into government service from 40 to 42 years. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar laid the foundation stone of a production unit of the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) at Nawada village of Faridabad district. The Centre at Faridabad
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would reduce the long travel for differently abled people who have to travel to ALIMCO headquarter at Kanpur to avail the facilities. The Haryana state government has approved a scheme to provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 8,000 to female acid victims who would come within the definition of disability under Section 2 (i) of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights of Full Participation) Act, 1995. The women and girl acid attack victims would also be given preference in the allotment of fair price shops by the Haryana Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department. The Haryana government has decided to introduce a scheme under which school children will be given Rs. 50 for planting trees every six months for a period of three years. The scheme will cover students from Classes 6 to 12 of both government and private schools. It will be launched on July 10. The Godikan panchayat in Haryana has become India s first panchayat to pass No Toilet No Bride resolution to marry off girls only to families that have a toilet in their house. The move is inspired by Bollywood movie Toilet- Ek Prem Katha and aims to ensure safety and well-being of the women folk. The Haryana government has made the use of LED bulbs and tube lights mandatory in all offices under the Haryana government to ensure substantial energy savings and also cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Haryana state government has decided to provide special benefits, including nutritional support, to tuberculosis patients in an effort to eliminate the infectious disease by 2025. Haryana government has come up with Water ATM Policy to provide clean drinking water to people at public places in cities. Residents of cities in Haryana can now look forward to having a water ATM every 400 metres. The Haryana government has made international shooter Gauri Sheoran as brand ambassador for its Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign. The Haryana Health Department will launch an intensive diarrhoea control campaign from July 15 to 30 under which ORS and zinc packets would be distributed to about 26.5 lakh children below five years of age across the state. The Haryana Education Department has launched I am not afraid of English initiative to promote English language right from Class 1 in the state s primary schools. Haryana has topped the states in per capita revenue collection under GST and has become fourth highest generator of e-way bills in the country.
Himachal Pradesh
The Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE) in support with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change launched a 20-day Riverfront Cleaning Campaign covering three districts — Mandi, Kullu and Bilaspur. The Himachal Pradesh government will spend Rs 25 crore on renovating and developing the historic British Raj Bantony Castle Estate as a major tourist attraction. The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has given its approval to draft notification of the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana to promote self-employment opportunities for the youth by encouraging entrepreneurship. It also gave approval to the launch of Himachal Grihni Suvidha Yojna for empowering women and conserving environment. The state government has introduced Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisaan Yojana to promote organic farming ensuring production of healthy food grains, free from harmful chemical ingredients.
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Himachal Pradesh has launched a state wide week long Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao campaign to collect plastic waste from both urban and rural areas and use it to produce energy, sensitise people about the harmful effects of plastic waste. The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to discontinue with the semester system in undergraduate coursesand re-establish the annual examination system from the coming session under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). The Himachal government has received a financial assistance of Rs 84.13 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). With an aim to promote breastfeeding, Himachal Pradesh Government launched Mother s Absolute Affection (MAA) programme in the state. The aim of the programme was to make people aware about the importance of breastfeeding. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced that the Suketi Fossil Park in Sirmaur district will be developed through Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance. After Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh Government is all set to ban the use of plastic and thermocol cutlery in the state. The Himachal Pradesh government announced a subsidy of 10 per cent or Rs 4,000 per KW, whichever is less, to all domestic consumers, institutions and those in the social sectors for installation of solar power plants at the rooftop of their buildings.
Jammu Kashmir
The Central Reserve Police Force launched Madadgaar Helpline , a distress helpline for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, with the aim of providing immediate assistance to locals.
Jharkhand Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced that the first Khadi Mall of the country will be opened soon in Ranchi.
Karnataka
Union minister of chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar announced that the country s first e-waste recycling unit will come up in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Indian IT industry apex body Nasscom has opened a Centre of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Kerala
Kerala government has decided to set up a Joint Venture company Kerala Fibre Optic Network Limited to implement the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project to provide free internet connections to 20 lakh poor families in the state and speedy internet connectivity to government offices, educational institutions and general public at an affordable rate. The Kerala Government will inaugurate the world s largest bird sculpture, Jatayu Earth s Centre in Thiruvananthapuram on July 4. The sculpture of replica of the bird Jatayu built at a cost of Rs 100 crore is 200 feet long, 150 feet wide, 65 feet tall and is positioned right at the top of a rock situated 1,000 feet above sea level.
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Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA) has initiated a water literacy campaign with the involvement of 70,000 students to create awareness about the importance of water conservation in the State. o As per the campaign, every student will take classes about water conservation for 15 families in their locality. A special course book containing 16 chapters has been designed for the purpose. Seventy new state-of-the-art day-care centres for senior citizens above 60 will be opened in Kerala. In an effort to boost agricultural production and attract more people to farming, Kerala state government is planning to launch a community radio at Kuttanad, also known as the `rice bowl of Kerala, to keep them abreast of the latest developments in the sector. The Kuttanad Farm Radio will reportedly be the first community radio in the country. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched Pravasi pension scheme. The scheme gives those hailing from Kerala but living outside the state or country, a pension of Rs. 2,000 a month. People over the age of 60 years are eligible for the pension. To avail the scheme, one needs to pay Rs. 100 every month for five years. India s first air-conditioned Bed Space Dormitory- Peter s Inn, was thrown open for public at MG Road Metro Station in Kochi, Kerala.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh government has launched the India s first Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for all seven smart cities of the state viz. Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna, and Sagar are the seven smart cities under SCM in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh will be declared open defecation free (ODF) by Gandhi Jayanti 2018 i.e. one year before the national timeline of October 2nd, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Madhya Pradesh Government has launched My MP Rojgar Portal to provide employment opportunities to youths based on their educational qualification, skills, interest and registering on MP Rozgar Portal at www.mprojgar.gov.in The Madhya Pradesh government has launched an outstanding power bill waiver scheme Bijli Bill Mafi Yojana 2018 (Power Bill Waiver Scheme) for labourers and poor families under which the registered labourers of the unorganised sector and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families would be provided electricity at a cost of Rs 200 per month. The state cabinet also approved Mukhyamantri Jan Kalyan (Sambal) Yojana 2018 (a scheme to provide subsidised power) under which the power connection would be provided free of cost to the beneficiaries. Madhya Pradesh has inaugurated the School Chale Hum Abhiyan 2018 in Bhopal with the motive that no child should be deprived of schooling. Six years after it applied for the Geographical Indications (GI) tag for Kadaknath, a chicken breed whose black meat is in demand in some quarters, Madhya Pradesh has got the coveted label. Madhya Pradesh has bagged the Most Film Friendly State Award by the central government for its efforts to ease filming in the state by creating a well-structured website, film friendly infrastructure and more. Prime Minister NarendraModi launched the Rashtriya Gram SwarajAbhiyan in Mandla in Madhya Pradesh. He unveiled a Road Map for overall development of tribals in the state during the next five years. The Madhya Pradesh State Government launched an outstanding power bill waiver scheme and subsidised power scheme called Sambal for labourers and poor families. Under Sambal Yojana, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families would be provided electricity at a cost of Rs 200 per month.
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In Madhya Pradesh, in a first of its kind initiative, the state govt will appoint girls as a district Brand Ambassador who have recorded significant achievements in any field under the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao scheme.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced the construction of India s largest Metro rail network in Mumbai with the help of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) to avoid traffic congestion. The Maharashtra Government has announced the opening up of a sandbox to boost start-ups, aiming to develop the financial capital into a fintech hub. Maharashtra government has announced to provide financial grant of Rs 1,000 per quintal to those farmers whose tur and gram could not be purchased by the administration before the May 31 deadline. o The government will also give a financial aid of 160 crore rupees to farmers whose crops got damaged due to unseasonal rain or hailstorm. The statewide ban on single-use plastic items in Maharashtra came into effect from June 23 in a bid to fight pollution caused due to its extensive use. The fine for the first-time offenders will be Rs 5,000 and for second-time offenders, it will be Rs 10,000. A third violation will attract a fine of Rs 25,000 and a jail term for three months. India received its first LNG cargo from the US under a long-term supply deal when a ship carrying super-cooled natural gas arrived at Dabhol in Maharashtra. Mumbai, also known as the financial capital of India, has added another feather to its cap, becoming the first city of the country to have as many as eight women police station in-charges. The Centre, Maharashtra Government and World Bank signed a 420 million dollar project to help small and marginals farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the State. Maharashtra state government has introduced free chemotherapy facility in 10 districts from June. The state government will include more districts once the scheme is rolled out in these districts successfully. Maharashtra government has made Aadhaar cards mandatory to avail any state-run free nutrition scheme in a bid to bring in transparency and enable beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient and seamless manner. The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has set up an institution named QUEST in Mumbai to evaluate and quantify special development budget allocations and their impact on tribal development. An exhibition titled Dhvani se Śa d aur Chinh was inaugurated at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai on April 21, 2018 speaking about artists who practiced in Southern states as well as artists who were born there or had family trees and moved up North to become the greatest practitioners and pedagogues. The Maharashtra government signed an MoU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation. The Maharashtra government announced a new scheme called Kanya Van Samruddhi Yojana , wherein farmers families where girl children are born, will be given saplings for plantation. The scheme is aimed at empowering women and promoting tree plantation. In order to reduce electricity losses, the Maharashtra government will on August 15, 2018 launch a new scheme allocating one transformer per farmer. Two lakh farmers will be given electricity connection for high voltage distribution line which will ensure uninterrupted power supply under the scheme one farmer one transformer .
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Manipur
Manipur has become the first state in the Northeast and the third state in India to have solar toilets. Manipur celebrated much-awaited five-day Shirui Lily State Festival in the Ukhrul district headquarters. The festival aims to spread awareness and conserve the endangered state flower Shirui Lily , while also promote the hill district as a potential tourist destination.
Meghalaya
The Behdienkhlam Festival of the Raij Tuber, one of the most colourful and the biggest festivals in the Jaintia Hills region concluded amidst thousands of spectators from across the state and outside.
Mizoram
The northeastern state of Mizoram observed the Green Mizoram Day on June 11 with government employees, students and members of NGOs planting large number of trees. The Green Mizoram Day is being organised every year on June 11 since 1999.
Odisha
Photo journalist Aneel Prasad Mishra has established a museum in Bhubaneswar (Odisha) that will exhibit 288 pictures of former chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik as a mark of tribute. The Odisha Government has launched a Health Insurance Scheme called Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana for working journalists in the state. It will be implemented in phased manner and cover 3,233 working journalists with health insurance coverage up to Rs 2 lakh a year in Phase I. At least five members of the journalists family will be covered under the scheme. The 5th edition of the annual Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) was observed in Odisha. It was launched in 2014 to celebrate the Classical Language Status of Odia language and is observed annually in the month of June. The Odisha government has relaunched an amnesty scheme (Sarbakhyama Yojana) titled Scheme for Regularisatio of U authorized Co stru tio ′ to regularize unauthorized constructions and projects. Under the latest version of the scheme, cleared by the Planning and Building Standards Regulations, unauthorized constructions can be regularized by paying specific fees along with submission of building construction plan and fire clearance certificate. Odisha government has announced a health assurance scheme named Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana under which secondary and tertiary cashless healthcare assistance of upto Rs 5 lakh will be provided per family per annum to meet their healthcare expenditure at all government-run hospitals. Besides, an assistance of Rs 500 would be provided to all pregnant women and infant who visit public health facilities. The scheme will come into effect from August 15 2018 and the entire cost would be borne by the state government. The state government of Odisha has constituted a three-member expert committee, headed by Additional ChiefSecretary Suresh Mohapatra, to recommend measures for streamlining the functioning of the 12th century Jagannath temple at Puri. Inspector General of Police Soumendra Priyadarshi and Sri Jagannath Temple Administration member Mohimohan Tripathy are the other members of the panel. People across Odisha celebrated Utkal Divas on 1st April 2018 to commemorate the formation of the state in 1936. Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship ShriDharmendraPradhan, inaugurated the world-class Interpretation Centre and tourist facilities at Konark Sun Temple at Konark.
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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced a ban on the use of plastic in the state from October 2, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The Odisha government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for effective management of disasters. The Bhitarkanika National Park (Odisha) has become the largest habitat of the endangered estuarine crocodiles in the country with a record number of their nesting sites spotted in it. Altogether 101 nesting sites of estuarine crocodiles were found this time by enumerators. The Odisha government has increased, from the present Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh, the incentive to encourage inter- caste marriage among the Hindu community. The Odisha government has constituted a Heritage Cabinet to preserve the Odia language and the state s culture. The cabinet comprises eight members and will be headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated a multimedia exhibition of the various schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi organised by Regional Outreach Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) at Saradhabali near Bholanath Vidyapith in Puri, Odisha.
Punjab
For the conservation of Indus dolphins – one of the world s rarest mammals – the Punjab government along with WWF-India is conducting the first organised census on their population. The Indus dolphins are found only in India and Pakistan. To promote ease of doing business in the state, the Punjab government has launched a Business First Portal that would facilitate the industrialists for Regulatory Clearances and Fiscal Approvals and real time tracking of applications at common platform. Punjab government has launched i-Hariyali app that lets users order free plant saplings to increase green cover in the state. The i-Hariyali app under Mission Tandarust can be downloaded from the app store for free. The users can book a Sapling of their choice, a maximum of 25 per person, from a nearby government nursery. Punjab Government has launched a campaign encouraging farmers to voluntarily adopt a new scheme named Paani Bachao, Paise Kamao , to check depletion of underground water. The scheme will be rolled out at two clusters/feeders -Bambiwal and Nawajipur – of the district on a pilot basis. 178 farmers from Bambiwal feeder and 231 from Nawajipur would be motivated for adopting the scheme. Under this scheme, farmers will get monetary benefit for less use of tubewell. The Punjab Cabinet has approved the death penalty for males held guilty of the rape of a girl younger than 12 years. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered a mandatory dope test of all government employees, including police personnel, from the time of their recruitment through every stage of their service.
Rajasthan
Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh has discontinued the tradition of giving ceremonial Guard of Honour to the Governor. He is the first Governor of the country who made big changes regarding this type of arrangements. Microsoft has signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government to provide free digital training to 9,500 college students in one year. The initiative was taken for the enhancement of digital learning and capacity building of college students in the state. The government in Rajasthan approved one percent reservation for Gujjars and four other backward castes.
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India s first private sector unit for manufacturing Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) and light bulletproof vehicles (LBPV) will be set up by DCM Shriram Industries Group on the campus of Shriram Rayons in Kota, Rajasthan.
Sikkim
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Ramrao Bhamre inaugurated 578-metre-long Theng Tunnel in Sikkim which is the longest tunnel in the state constructed on Gangtok-Chungthang State Highway by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu has set up a Staff Rationalisation Committee in an attempt to downsize its workforce. The Committee will be headed by S. Audseshiah, a retired Principal Secretary of the state government. In a bid to use technology for farmers benefit, the Tamil Nadu Government has come out with a bi-lingual mobile application Uzhavan (farmer) that will allow ryots to have access to nine types of services, including details about their crop insurance.
Telangana
The Telangana government has launched a new crop investment support scheme titled Rythu Bandhu in which the farmers in the state will get Rs 8,000 per acre each every year as crop investment support. The government plans to spend Rs 12,000 crore every year under this scheme. The financial assistance will be for two crops each year. The Telangana police have launched a mobile-based messenger application named Cop Connect (on the lines of WhatsApp) to provide real time information to over 60,000 police officers across 31 districts in the state to support the police department in improving quality of service delivered to public. The Telangana government has decided to set up a Special Turmeric Cell in the Nizamabad district of the state which would enable the farmers in bringing qualitative changes for cultivating turmeric as a commercial crop. Telangana government has announced 2 percent reservation in state government jobs for sportspersons. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had laid foundation stone for Rs Rs 553.98 crore Gattu irrigation project in Jogulamba Gadwal district to provide water to 33,000 acres in four mandals in the district. State-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) will set up a Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO) at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad aimed at finding indigenous solutions to meet the challenges posed by the growing air traffic. The Telangana government has allotted 200 acres to three different women entrepreneurs associations in the state. Industry body Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) in partnership with the Telangana government launched a digital campaign, ThinkForHealth, calling for ideas to improve access to healthcare in India. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has proposed to introduce a new insurance scheme for the benefit of farmers under which, whatever is the reason, when the farmer dies the family would immediately get Rs 5 lakh as insurance amount. Life Insurance Corporation India will implement the scheme
Tripura
President Ram Nath Kovind has announced to recognise the Queen a variety of Pineapple as Tripura s state fruit. The Tripura government has launched the GPS (Global Positioning System) and wireless based 24×7 mobile policing service to curb crime, especially against women.
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The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, renamed the Agartala airport after Tripura s last ruler Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya. The state government of Tripura has taken Rs 500 crore as loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Hudco (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) to carry out the Rs 1,000 crore smart City project in Agartala by 2021.
Uttar Pradesh
The sugarcane department in Uttar Pradesh is soon to make use of plastic waste for construction of sugarcane roads for cutting costs and promoting green technology. Sugarcane road is the name given to a road constructed by the UP sugarcane department linking cane fields to the nearest mill or highways for faster movement of the cash crop. The Uttar Pradesh government has implemented the e-office system in all the state government departments to encourage digitization in maintaining and movement of files. The Uttar Pradesh Institute of Design (UPID) is soon to launch a mobile application, UPID App, to help weavers in the state to market their products and come up with new designs. In a bid to enhance tourism in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to develop the Garhmukteshwar town in Hapur district of the state as a major tourist destination on the lines of Haridwar in Uttarakhand. The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 500 crore. The much awaited India s longest elevated road was finally inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The 10.3 km long Hindon Elevated Road s primary objectivity was to ease traffic movement from Ghaziabad to New Delhi and vice versa. The Uttar Pradesh Government launched the Ganga Hariteema Yojana, also known as Ganga Greenery scheme, on in the 27 districts of Uttar Pradesh that are located on the bank of river Ganga. Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered all government hospitals and orphanages to establish SHISHU SWAGAT KENDRA- PALNA and put up cradles in front of their buildings so that parents can give up unwanted babies safely. UP CM Yogi Adityanath formed a three member-committee to look after the security arrangements in the prisons across the state. Committee head - Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Sulkhan Singh. With encephalitis claiming the lives of hundreds of children every year in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, the Gorakhpur administration has launched an android based smart phone application - Stop JE/AES - to combat the epidemic. South Korean multinational conglomerate Samsung opened the world s largest mobile phone manufacturing factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. UP CM announced a ban on plastic bags, cups and glasses across the state from July 15. The Uttar Pradesh Police signed an MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for crime mapping analytics and predictive systems. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, laid the Foundation Stone of the Poorvanchal Expressway in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Addressing a large public gathering, he described the occasion as the start of a new chapter in the development journey of the State. PM launched the much awaited Bansagar canal in Mirzapur which is expected to provide a big boost to irrigation.
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Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has imposed a complete ban on the use of Polythene in the state from 31st July 2018. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched a campaign called Devbhoomi dialogue at his official residence calling upon them to look for self-employment opportunities in their chosen fields. In a first, the Uttarakhand High Court accorded the status of legal person or entity to the animals in the state. The HC stated that they have a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.
West Bengal
The government of West Bengal has decided to invest Rs 107 crore to check erosion at vulnerable areas along the banks of the Ganga and the Padma. The work will be completed by March 2019. A stretch of 15 kilometres will be concretised, to prevent erosion. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced an additional 18 percent dearness allowance (DA) to state government employees from January 2019. The state government will have to bear an annual additional expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore. The West Bengal government has rolled out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee s dream project Rupashree which provides one time financial support to the marriages of poor women. West Bengal government has given its approval to State Forest Department to apply for coveted Ramsar Site recognition under Ramsar Convention to Sunderban Reserve Forest. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the British Council and the state government will sign an MoU to promote cultural, educational and skill development exchanges between Britain and Bengal. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee set a one person one car policy for ministers and bureaucrats and mandated economy class for all domestic air travel in a bid to cut costs incurred by the state government. Banerjee also formed a committee, to be headed by chief secretary Malay Kumar De, to supervise progress of government projects. Kolkata Police has unleashed a new weapon against eve-teasers, stalkers and roadside Romeos: an all-woman motorbike squad, The Winners , a special all-women patrolling team to combat and prevent crimes like molestation, eve-teasing etc. to make public places safer for women. Finance and Banking News
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed stock exchanges to extend the trading session for futures and options (F&O) segment from the current 3.30 p.m. to 11.55 in the night beginning October 1, 2018. SEBI has asked listed companies to split the post of Chairman and Managing Director by April 1, 2020 besides making compulsory for them to have six independent directors on board, including a women director. The deadline for independent directors and other rules is April 1, 2019. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDA) has released the list of 16 Cross Border Reinsurers (CBR) for the year 2018-19. CBR refers to those reinsurers who do not have any physical presence in India and do reinsurance business with Indian insurance/reinsurance companies. YES BANK and YES Global Institute announced the launch of Agenda 25×25, which pledges to create a synergetic startup environment for budding women entrepreneurs in India and ensuring that by 2025 at least 25% of all Entrepreneurs in India are Women.
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In a first, a Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) run by an all-woman team has started operations in Punjab s Phagwara. It is 192nd POPSK in the country, but first one to be operated by an all-woman team. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved an initial Corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for setting up of a dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with NABARD under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) during 2018-2020. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has modified some of its terms and conditions for setting up of IFSC (International Financial Services Centres) Banking Units (IBUs) as per which the parent bank will be required to provide a minimum capital of $20 million or equivalent in any foreign currency to its IBU which should be maintained at all times to enable IBUs to start their operations. BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), Asia s oldest stock exchange, has become the first Indian exchange to be recognised as a Designated Offshore Securities Market (DOSM) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The revenue department has made unique identity number Aadhaar and PAN mandatory for persons seeking a customs broker licence. State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched its first integrated SME Loan Factory in Gurgaon as a One Stop Shop to cater the needs of MSME segment in the NCR. The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has announced to launch its Americas Regional Office in Brazil this year. Last year, the bank opened its Africa Regional Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The government s Bank Note Paper Mill India (BNPM) has received environment clearance (EC) to increase the production of bank note paper at its Mysuru unit in Karnataka from 12,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) to 16,000 TPA. CSC SPV and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed an MoU for providing financial support to the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of Common Services Centers (CSCs), with minimum one year of operation, under the Direct Financing Window of SIDBI. Yes Bank has received approval from National Stock Exchange to be enrolled as Settlement Bank for National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of NSE. YES BANK is already an empanelled Clearing Bank for the BSE, NCDEX and MCX. India s most valuable lender HDFC Bank has launched Digital Loans against Mutual Funds in partnership with transfer agent CAMS. Customers can now pledge mutual fund assets online and get overdraft limit set in their account in under 3 minutes, the bank claimed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 3 Indian mobile payments apps namely international Rupay Card, Bhim app and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in Singapore for internationalisation of the country s digital payment platforms. The Income tax Department has launched a new reward scheme titled Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018 to have people s participation in the Income Tax Department s efforts to unearth black money and to reduce tax evasion. o Under the Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018, a person can get reward up to Rs. 1 crore for giving specific information in prescribed manner to to the Joint or Additional Commissioners of Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) in Investigation Directorates of Income Tax Department about benami transactions and properties as well as proceeds from such properties which are actionable under Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, as amended by Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016. o It also includes an interim reward of Rs 50, 00,000 for information of undisclosed foreign income/assets liable under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act, 2015. o Giving information about stashed black money can fetch individuals up to Rs 5 crore,
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o Foreigners will also be eligible for such reward. Identity of the persons giving information will not be disclosed and strict confidentiality shall be maintained. The scheme comes into effect from June 1. HDFC Bank has been conferred with the Champion Security Award 2018 at the 14th Visa Asia Pacific Security Summit for second time in a row in the India and South Asia category. Corporation Bank has bagged Investor Relations Awards 2018 under the category Best Expectation Management (Mid Cap) for 2017-18 instituted by Investor Relations Society India The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed voluntary transition of Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) into Small Finance Banks (SFBs) on the basis of a report submitted by the high-powered committee on urban cooperative banks headed by the then RBI deputy governor R. Gandhi. UCBs with capital funds in the range of Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore may be granted facilities akin to Small Finance Banks in the private sector. According to the World Investment Report 2018 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Foreign Direct Investment to India decreased to $40 billion in 2017 from $44 billion in 2016. However, outflows from India, the main source of FDI in South Asia, more than doubled to $11 billion. The Reserve Bank of India has raised the housing loan limits under priority sector lending (PSL) for economically weaker sections and lower income groups. o The metropolitan centres (with population of 10 lakh and above) will now qualify for home loans up to Rs 35 lakh for the benefits of priority sector lending, as against up to Rs 28 lakh earlier. o Similarly, loans up to Rs 25 lakh will now qualify under PSL for other centres, compared with Rs 20 lakh earlier. o The overall cost of the dwelling unit in the metropolitan centre (with population of ten lakh and above) and at other centres should not exceed Rs 45 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, respectively. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to set up a Public Credit Registry (PCR), containing information on all borrowers to ensure financial stability and check loan default. This move follows recommendations by a high-level task force on PCR for India headed by Yeshwant M Deosthalee. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to implement the interest subsidy scheme on short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode from financial year (2018-19). An amount of Rs 15,000 crore has been earmarked for 2018-19 towards interest subvention for short-term crop loans. Farmers can avail short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at subsidised interest rate of 7 percent that could go down to 4 percent on prompt repayment. Yes Bank has launched the first-ever green deposit scheme named Green Future: Deposit to raise up to Rs. 1,000 crore via this novel product offering. o It can be opened for a tenure of 18 months and 8 days to 18 months and 18 days, with best-in-class peak interest rate of 7.50% p.a. for regular Green Future: Deposits and 8.00%* p.a. for Senior Citizens. o The Bank will earmark equivalent proceeds raised through Green Future: Deposit towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aligned sectors and for every Green Future: Deposit opened, YES BANK will contribute a Money Plant. o The Green Future: Deposit can only be opened through YES BANK Net Banking and YES Mobile banking application, making the process entirely paperless, thereby helping create a sustainable future. Market regulator SEBI has set up a panel to recommend the ways to make stock market listing attractive for startups.
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The Union Cabinet has approved a Rs 24,000 crore foreign direct investment (FDI) as additional share capital into private sector HDFC Bank to strengthen the capital adequacy ratio of the bank. Even with this infusion, the FDI foreign equity will remain capped below 74 per cent. The current foreign equity holding is 72.62 percent. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ruled out draft guidelines on Loan System for Delivery of Bank Credit to improve credit discipline among larger borrowers enjoying working capital facility from the banking system. o The draft stipulates a minimum level of loan component of 40 percent for borrowers having aggregate fund based working capital limit of Rs 150 crore and above from the banking system effective from October 1, 2018. o The 40 per cent loan component will be revised to 60 per cent, with effect from April 1, 2019. o The undrawn portion of cash credit/ overdraft limits sanctioned to large borrowers, irrespective of whether unconditionally cancellable or not, shall attract a credit conversion factor of 20% from April 1, 2019. SoftBank Group Corp has decided to invest $60 billion-$100 billion in a solar power project in India. The company is expected to make the investment through a fund backed by Saudi Arabia s government. Karnataka Bank has unveiled KBL Deposit Only Card , which enables hassle free cash deposit transaction at Bank s 24×7 e-Lobby services specially meant for Bank s Current/Overdraft customers and by using this card they can perform card based cash deposit transactions even with higher deposit limit at Bank s Bunch Note Acceptor (BNA) / Cash Recycler kiosks. The limit for the cash deposit a day is Rs 10 lakh. Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata and Assam s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched the first 28 branches of the North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) marking the region s first small bank. The Tata Trusts Chairman, through the investment arm RNT Associates, has invested Rs 40 crore in the bank. Yes Bank has received approval from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for acting as custodian of securities. Custodian of securities is a licence granted by Sebi to eligible entities allowing them to offer custodial services to financial market participants including foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). The Finance Ministry has launched the second tranche of Bharat-22 exchange traded fund (ETF) from June 19 which will help raise up to Rs 8,400 crore from the markets. The ETF follow on offer will remain open till June 22. o The investors would get a 2.5 per cent discount over the issue price. The government aims to raise Rs 6,000 crore from this round. There is also a green shoe option of Rs 2,400 crore, subject to government approval. Greenshoe option is a special provision where the bid issuer allows for oversubscription to the issue up to a certain limit/cap. The Bank of Baroda has announced its partnership with technology majors IBM and Accenture to enhance business growth and portfolio diversification using digitisation of its IT Centre of Excellence (ITCoE) and Analytics Centre of Excellence (ACoE). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has narrowed the definition of Relatives by defining it as given in the Companies Act, 2013 instead of Companies Act, 1956, to prevent any misuse of flow of fund abroad. o According to RBI, the funds sent abroad under the maintenance of close relative category of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) can be now sent only to immediate relatives such as parents, spouses, children and their spouses. o The decision was taken since outward remittances under maintenance of close relatives shot up more than double to almost $3 billion in 2017-18 from a mere $174 million in 2013-14. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has sanctioned Rs 41,548 crore as total Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund till June 16.
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DBS Bank of Singapore is set to launch its India subsidiary in October, the second foreign bank in the country to convert its local operations into a wholly-owned entity. State Bank of Mauritius was the first to open a local subsidiary in India last year, after RBI came out with the regulations in 2013. The new subsidiary has been registered as DBS Bank India Ltd. Reserve Bank of India has decided to set up Data Sciences Lab to improve its forecasting, surveillance and early warning detection abilities which will aid policy formulation. The Reserve Bank of India switched back to the gross domestic product (GDP)-based measure to offer its growth estimates from the gross value added (GVA) methodology, citing global best practices. The State Bank of India (SBI) will be investing a total of Rs 80 billion in the Arun III hydropower project of Nepal, which has 900 megawatts (MW) electricity production capacities. The National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has come out with a Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework framework for regional rural banks (RRBs), much like the revised one the RBI unveiled for scheduled commercial banks nearly a year ago. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has slapped Rs 9 crore penalty on Bank of Baroda for failing to adhere to anti- money laundering norms, and not having an effective system to report suspicious transactions linked to the Rs 6,000 crore scam in its Delhi-based branch. RBI imposed monetary penalty worth Rs. 3 crore on IDBI Bank for not complying with the outlined norms related to reporting of bad loans. ICICI Bank has launched a cross-border remittance facility Social Pay that can be used by NRIs for sending money to their friends and family in India through social media like WhatsApp and e-mail. IndusInd Bank has become the first lender to start using WhatsApp enterprise solution to provide basic banking services to customers. Using the widely-used messaging service, customers can check their balance, obtain a mini statement, check reward points as well as update Aadhaar. Jio Payments Bank Limited has commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from April 3, 2018.Telecom major BhartiAirtel was the first to begin payment bank services in November 2016. RBI dropped Axis Bank, which has been one of the largest importers of bullion, from the list of lenders allowed to ship in gold and silver for the current fiscal year. SIDBI launched Samridhhi- the virtual assistant on banks revamped universal loan portal www.udyamimitra.in. A Bankability Kit (brought in partnership with Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank) was also launched. Leading public sector bank, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) as part of their Customer First initiative launched Internet of Things (IoT)-based customer feedback application on a pilot basis at its Cathedral branch in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Three trade receivable discounting systems (TReDS)—digital invoice discounting platforms—approved so far by the RBI have jointly implemented a blockchain solution, which is expected to help reduce frauds in bills discounting or receivable financing. o The platforms—RXIL, A.TReDS and M1xchange—had been set up to bring together buyers, sellers and financiers for discounting the MSME invoices and provide them with timely funding. o This is billed as India s first live blockchain implementation in the enterprise financial segment.US-based MonetaGo has designed and implemented the production solution. National E-Repository Limited (NERL), a group company of National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX ), has brought in ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank on board as the repository participants for pledge finance. As part of the drive to double income of farmers by 2022, the government has raised the authorised capital of NABARD by six times to Rs 300 billion (from Rs 50 billion) to help it increase its lending to the rural economy. Central Vigilance Commission has asked banks to give details of any fraud worth over Rs. 3 crore to devise a preventive mechanism. This data is originally lying with respective banks and the Reserve Bank of India.
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Kotak Mahindra Bank has surpassed SBI to become India s second-most-valued lender after HDFC Bank in terms of market capitalisation. The Centre has announced the release of Rs. 120.92 crores as co-contribution towards its Atal Pension Yojana scheme. According to the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018, State Bank of India was the most-trusted bank (both public and private sector) in the country and ICICI topped the chart among the private ones. Vikram Raichura, CEO of VivaConnect along with Radhika Raichura, announced their new venture INFIN8 . INFIN8 offers a quick and easy process of connecting potential borrowers with multiple lenders through both online (APP and Web) and offline, through India s most premium number 8080808080. The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for the promulgation of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018 that seeks to confiscate properties and assets of economic offenders, like Nirav Modi, who flee the country to avoid facing criminal prosecution. Private sector lender ICICI Bank has introduced first of its kind digital form which will help open current accounts in a few hours. Private sector lender Yes Bank has received Reserve Bank of India s (RBI) approval to open two representative offices in London and Singapore. Its first representative office was opened in Abu Dhabi in April 2015 Total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts crossed Rs 80,000 crore mark with more people joining the flagship financial inclusion programme. The deposits, which have been steadily rising since March 2017, were at Rs 80,545.70 crore on April 11, 2018. National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has announced the launch of its e – Gsec platform for facilitating the non- competitive bidding in Government of India Dated Securities (G-Sec) and Treasury Bills (T-Bills). HDFC Bank has launched Interactive Robotic Assistant (IRA) 2.0, an interactive humanoid at its Koramangala Branch in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Reserve Bank of India has announced that it is withdrawing the restriction that limited foreign investors to only investing in government and corporate bonds with tenures of three years or more. India collected Rs 7.41 trillion in taxes in the first year of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the period ending March 31, 2018. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the licence of Alwar Urban Co-operative Bank in Alwar, Rajasthan has been cancelled as it is not in a position to pay its depositors in full as and when their claims accrue, among other reasons. It also added that the cancellation of the licence is effective from the close of business on July 5. The Reserve Bank of India has issued licence to Bank of China to operate in India. The Union Cabinet extended the recapitalisation scheme for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) for the next three years. This will enable the RRBs to maintain the minimum prescribed capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of 9%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it compulsory to incorporate purchaser s name on the face of payment instrumentalities like demand draft, pay order, banker s cheques and other instruments to prevent money laundering. The committee on bad-loan resolution led by Punjab National Bank chairman Sunil Mehta has suggested a live auction mechanism to help banks free up security receipts worth Rs 90,000 crore in their investment books that can used to revive credit growth. Recommendations were reviewed that seek to achieve this through an asset trading platform (ATP) recommended under Project Sashakt, the broad contours of which had been announced on July 2. Ba k redit gre y . per e t to ₹ , , rore i the fort ight e ded Ju e 22, according to RBI data.
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SBI Card has announced the launch of ELA (Electronic Live Assistant), a virtual assistant for customer support and services. Driven by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, ELA will revolutionise the way customers interact with the company. HDFC Bank has gone past Russia s Sberbank to become the most valuable bank in the emerging market outside China. HDFC Bank s current market capitalisation is $78.4 billion against Sberbank s $74.4 billion. Private sector lender Yes Bank has received the final regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to commence its mutual fund business. After running into rough weather due to Aadhaar-related e-KYC issues, Airtel Payments Bank has received requisite approvals from the Reserve Bank of India and UIDAI to start acquiring new customers. India has become the 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) headquartered in London, United Kingdom. A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) tailor-made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families, was signed between the Indian Army and HDFC Bank on the defence salary package. SoftBank has signed a $930-million deal with China s energy conglomerate Golden Concord (GCL) to produce and sell solar equipment in India. The project will have a 4 gigawatt-capacity and will produce solar ingots, silicon wafers, batteries, and components. A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) was signed between the Indian Army and Axis Bank on the Defence Salary Package on 13 Apr 2018.Under the current MoU, the Army personnel will get free personal accident death cover and free permanent total disability cover of Rs 30 lakh and free educational cover of up to Rs 2 Lakh for children between the age of 12 and 20 years. Recently, Indian Army has also signed a MoU with HDFC bank. The Indian Army renewed its MOU with Axis Bank, to offer Power Salute , a salary account, exclusively designed for the Army personnel. Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has entered into an agreement for information utility services with the National E- Governance Services Limited (NeSL) to enable high-quality, authenticated information about debts and defaults; which will have more transparency in maintaining the list of borrowers, debtors, creditors and loan defaulters.
Electoral Bonds Scheme
The Government of India had notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 on January 2, 2018. The Finance Ministry has announced that the fourth tranche of electoral bonds sale will take place from July 2-11. State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 11 Authorised Branches in the 4th phase of sale o As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. o A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. o Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds. o The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank. o Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. o The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day.
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Second bi-monthly monetary policy review
In its second bi-monthly monetary policy review, the six membered Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel unanimously hiked the policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent to curb inflationary pressure from rising crude prices. This is the first time since January 2014 that RBI has announced a rate hike.
Current Rates
Repo Rate 6.25% Reverse Repo Rate 6.00% Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) 6.50% Bank Rate 6.50% CRR 4% SLR 19.5%
Govt keeps small savings interest rates unchanged
The government has kept the interest rates on small savings schemes, including NSC and PPF, unchanged for the July- September quarter. The move is aimed at matching the hardening interest rates in the banking sector. Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.
Senior Citizens Savings Scheme: 8.3%. The interest on the senior citizens scheme is paid quarterly. Interest on savings deposits has been retained at 4 per cent annually. Public Provident Fund (PPF): 7.6% National Savings Certificate (NSC): 7.6% Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP): 7.3% and will mature in 11 months. Sukanya Samriddhi account: 8.1%. Term deposits of 1-5 years will fetch interest rate of 6.6-7.4 per cent, to be paid quarterly, while the five-year recurring deposit is pegged at 6.9 per cent.
Business News Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has purchased leading Pakistani online retailer Daraz in a move to doubling its investment in Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada. Paytm has introduced automatic recurring payments named My Payments , a new feature that lets users configure the payments app to pay for periodic high-value recurring expenses automatically such as house rent, maid/driver s salary, milk or newspaper vendor payments. Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) has launched India s first options contract on copper futures. Three contracts expiring in June, August and November 2018 with a lot size of 1 tonne were launched. Patanjali king Baba Ramdev has joined hands with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to launch Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards. Initially the benefit of the SIM card will be available for only the employees and office bearers of Patanjali. US drinks giant Coca-Cola has launched its first alcoholic drink, a lemon flavoured alcopop, in Japan in a bid to tap new markets and consumers especially women. Three new Lemon-Do drinks containing three, five and seven percent alcohol respectively has been launched.
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The global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation service firm Infosys has acquired US- based Wongdoody for nearly $75 million. WONGDOODY is an award-winning creative and consumer insights agency with studios in Seattle and Los Angeles. Tech giant Microsoft has acquired San Francisco based software development platform GitHub for $7.5 billion. Reliance Industries (RIL) is investing to set up India s first carbon fibre manufacturing unit to cater to aerospace and defence needs. Muthoot Fincorp Limited has announced its partnership with National Skill Development Corporation to train over 10,000 youth over the next three years and make them job ready under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY-2) programme. Microsoft has acquired Flipgrid, a popular video platform used by more than 20 million teachers and students worldwide. Microsoft will make Flipgrid free for everyone. The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have decided to increase the output of crude oil by around 1 million barrels per day from July to meet extra demand and push global oil prices down. Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. o Saudi Aramco and ADNOC will together hold 50 percent stake while the rest 50 percent will be with Indian Oil (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). It is the world s largest oil refinery cum petrochemical project with the total investment of $ 44 billion. Software company HCL Technologies has acquired Germany-based IT and engineering services provider H&D International Group to have a foothold in Germany. Private sector lender IndusInd Bank has received RBI s approval to buy the securities services arm of IL&FS. After conducting a seven-month-long pilot in India, Amazon Business announced the expansion of its Global Selling programme by launching B2B selling for Indian exporters. UC Browser has launched India s first women-only news channel where they aim to show women related content, based on relationships, education, health, fashion and lifestyle. M-commerce play, Myntra has acquired Witworks, a Bengaluru based technology startup, focused on producing smart wearable devices and their underlying software. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country s largest IT outsourcing company has emerged as the first Indian listed company to cross the $100-billion mark in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap). US wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. have inked about a $26 billion deal to form a combined entity under the name T-Mobile. The agreement would leave just three major wireless carriers in the US namely- T- Mobile, Verizon and AT&T. The telecom ministry approved the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular Ltd. that will create the country s largest mobile services operator. The Bharti Infratel, a mobile infrastructure company, has got the the approval of competition watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) for merging its operations with Indus Towers. Manappuram Finance has agreed to buy 85.39 per cent stake in Indian School Finance (ISFC) for over Rs 212 crore. IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK), has announced its tie-up with Oxigen Services India Pvt. Ltd., to establish distribution of its insurance products at Oxigen retail outlets. Reliance has become India s largest payer of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Excise and Customs Duty, and Income Tax in the private sector.
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Facebook has announced it is shutting down its fitness app Moves , Android app Hello and anonymous social media app tbh . Facebook is deprecating these apps due to low usage. HDFC securities announced launch of Mutual Funds transactional capabilities on Facebook Messenger through their virtual assistant, Arya. Payments-wallet services provider Paytm has launched foreign exchange services in 20 international currencies. It would offer multi-currency forex card and forex cash . Economy News President Ram Nath Kovind said the Indian economy is set for a surge in the next decade with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) size doubling to 5 trillion US dollars probably by 2025. Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that after the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), there was an increase of 18% in Direct tax collections. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India seems to be petering out with the inflows growth rate recording a five-year low of 3 per cent at USD 44.85 billion in 2017-18. According to the latest data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), FDI in 2017-18 grew by only 3 per cent to USD 44.85 billion. According to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, the Indian economy is on the cusp of a major sustained and ongoing recovery and poised to grow above 8% from the next year. He also insisted that the weakening of the rupee should not be a cause of worry as it is still overvalued in terms of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER). According to Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, India s digital economy is expected to touch a $1 trillion mark by 2022. The World Bank in its June 2018 edition of the Global Economic Prospect report has forecasted a growth rate of 7.3 percent for India for 2018-19 and 7.5 percent for the next two years, making it the fastest growing country among major emerging economies. Fitch Ratings has raised India s growth forecast for 2018-19 to b to 7.4 percent from 7.3 percent due to higher financing costs and rising oil prices as risks to growth. For 2019-20, it estimated the country to grow at 7.5 percent. Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to a 14-month high of 4.43 percent in May on increasing prices of petrol and diesel, prompting industry to demand action from policymakers to keep fuel prices under check. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 3.18 per cent in April and 2.26 per cent in May last year. The previous high was in March 2017, when the WPI inflation stood at 5.11 per cent. India s exports grew by 20.18 percent to 28.86 billion dollars in May 2018 as compared to the same period during May 2017 when it was valued at 24.01 billion dollars. The imports during May this year were valued at 43.48 billion dollars which was 14.85 per cent higher than the imports in May last year. Idea and Vodafone India are in process of merging their businesses. The combined entity would be known as Vodafone Idea Ltd post merger. Vodafone is expected to own 45.1 percent, 26 percent by Aditya Birla Group and Idea shareholders will own 28.9 in the combined entity. The merged entity will have around 430 million mobile subscribers from Day 1.
Growth Rate Predictions
Organisation 2018-19 2019-2020 Asian Development Bank (ADB) 7.3% 7.6% International Monetary Fund (IMF) 7.4% 7.8% Fitch 7.3% 7.5%
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UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018 7.5% 7.6% report Moody’s 7.3% 7.5% Central Statistics Office 7.5% NITI Aayog 7.5% Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 7.3-7.7%
The government s revenue collection from GST or goods and services tax was pegged at Rs. 1.03 lakh crore in April 2018 according to the statement by the Ministry of Finance. The growth of eight core sectors slowed to a three-month low of 4.1% in March 2018, down from 5.3 per cent in February and 6.1 per cent in January. (Core Sectors-coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, electricity, fertilizers and cement) According to the BMI Research, a Fitch group company, the economic growth in India is expected to strengthen to 7.3% in financial year 2018-19 from 6.6 per cent in fiscal 2017-18, on the back of robust activity from construction, manufacturing, and services sectors. According to government data, Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to 3.18 percent in April on increasing prices of petrol and diesel as well as fruits and vegetables. Rating agency Icra Ltd expects gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2017-18 at 7.4%on account of good rabi crop harvest and improved corporate earnings, up from 7.2% in the third quarter. HSBC in its latest report says that Inflation is set to rise further towards the second half of the fiscal, and could average 5.1 percent in 2018-19 compared to 3.6 percent in 2017-18. NITI Aayog has estimated Indian economy to achieve 9 percent growth rate on sustained basis by 2022 on the back of reforms like GST, demonetisation and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The Finance Ministry has ratified 8.55 percent rate of interest on EPF for 2017-18. According to the data released by Central Statistics Office, Indian economy grew 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, retaining the fastest growing major economy tag. The GDP had expanded 5.6 percent, 6.3 percent and 7 percent, in the first three quarters of 2017-18. However on yearly basis, the economic growth slowed to 6.7 percent in 2017-18 compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted that the Indian economy is set to expand by: 7.3% in 2018-19 7.6% in 2019-20 The World Bank has predicted a growth rate of 7.3 percent in 2018 7.5 percent in 2019 and 2020. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects India s economy to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2018 from 6.7 per cent in 2017 7.8 percent in 2019. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said it expects India s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 7.3-7.7 per cent during the 2018-19 financial year. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has said the country s economy growth is expected to accelerate at 7.4 percent in the current fiscal year to March 2019 after a resilient performance in the second half of the previous year.
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India has been recording the highest growth rate amongst the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economies, as per report of KPMG titled India Soars Higher . As per the report, Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2018. Global credit rating agency Fitch has projected India s growth at 7.3 per cent in current the fiscal and further to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20. It has affirmed India s sovereign rating at BBB- with stable outlook, saying that the country s medium-term growth potential is strong. BBB- rating indicates lowest investment grade. India is now the world s sixth largest economy, displacing France according to International Monetary Fund s World Economic Outlook (WEO) report. The five economies ahead are the United States, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom. The Indian economy likely to witness a GDP growth of 7.5 per cent this financial year (2018-19), says a Deutsche Bank research report. Apps Launches/ Portal/Helpline
APP/Portal Features/Use Data Visualisation App UNICEF Provides user-friendly visual representation of complex analytics of the education scenario in the country. PRAAPTI App ((Payment Ratification And Ministry of Power App and web portal www.praapti.in will bring Analysis in Power procurement for bringing transparency in power purchase transactions Transparency in Invoicing of generators),) between Generators and Discoms. Kimbho Patanjali Messaging platform Kimbo is derived from a Sanskrit word which translates to, How are you? What s new? and can be downloaded directly from Google Play store. Similar to Whatsapp Neighbourly Google India The beta launch of the app currently for Mumbai will help people find local answers in their neighbourhood. Kamao (earn) AU Small Finance Bank Encourage stakeholders to refer prospective customers, who want to open deposit accounts or get loans, on the app and win rewards. DARPAN (Digital Advancement Of Rural Post Department of Posts Office For A New India) Study in India Portal HRD Ministry Promote Indian education to 200,000 international students by 2023
Projects The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved three major infrastructure projects – new terminal buildings at Guwahati, Chennai and Lucknow airports. In order to boost the public transport system in Noida, the Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Delhi Metro corridor from Noida City Centre to Noida Sector 62, covering a distance of 6.675 km at a cost of Rs 1,967 crore. The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in Deoghar, Jharkhand at a cost of Rs. 1103 crore.
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The Government has given in-principle approval for establishing a Central University by the name of Central University of Andhra Pradesh in Janthaluru Village of Ananthapur District, Andhra Pradesh at a total cost of Rs. 450 crore. The National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR) has been approved to be established in Bhopal as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the aegis of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities at an estimated cumulative cost of Rs. 179.54 crore in first three years. The Union Health ministry has approved two schemes of the Odisha government for the establishment of two new Government Medical Colleges in Balasore and Balangir districts of the state with 100 seats each, for the academic year 2018-19 under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing District/Referral Hospitals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of India s longest road tunnel and Asia s longest bi- directional tunne Zojila tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway. The 14.2 kilometer tunnel tunnel is scheduled to be completed in 5 years at an investment of Rs 6,809 crore. The tunnel will cut down the time taken to cross Zojila pass from the present three and a half hours to just fifteen minutes. The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR) at Bhopal as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the aegis of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The estimated cumulative cost of the project is Rs. 179.54 crore in first three years. PM Modi laid the foundation stone of 1000 MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric project in Kishtwar district which will be the largest Hydro Power Project in Jammu and Kashmir after it is constructed. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for the Southern Campus of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) at Kondapavuluru in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the development of trunk infrastructure components for the integrated multi-modal logistics hub known as Freight Village at Nangal Chaudhary in Haryana under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project. It will be implemented in two phases with a financial sanction of Rs 1,029.49 crore by CCEA for development of Phase I Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones for developmental projects worth Rs 27,000 crore from Sindri in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the first phase of 2400MW NTPC s Patratu Super Thermal Power Project in Jharkhand. Council of Ministers has given nod to form a Company for Managing Rs 770 crore World Bank funded Cold Dam Water lifting Schemes. The firm is being called Shimla Jal Prabhandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL). India s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 which is expected to be launched around October- November 2018, is likely to cost Rs 800 crore. It includes Rs 200 crore for launching and Rs 600 crore for the satellite.
Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP)
The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Department of Expenditure has approved the proposal of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation for revised cost estimate of World Bank funded Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP). The EFC approved revised cost estimate of DRIP for Rs. 3466 Crore and extended time period for conclusion of this project till June, 2020.
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Nepal-Bharat Maitri Irrigation Project
India handed over a Cheque of 99.2 million Nepali rupees to Nepal towards final payment for Nepal-Bharat Maitri Irrigation Project for installation of 2700 Shallow Tube Well Irrigation Systems in 12 districts of Nepal. With this payment, the Government of India has released a total of 227.6 million Nepali rupees to the Government of Nepal for implementing this project.
Himachal Pradesh Tourism Infrastructure Development Project
The Central government has approved Rs 1,900 crore Tourism Infrastructure Development Project of the Himachal Pradesh Government. The eight-year-long project will be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Defence News
The Indian Army s Vijay Prahar exercise in which over 25,000 troops of the Jaipur based South Western command participated concluded in Rajasthan s Suratgarh. The Indian Army has finalized a mega Rs 15,000-crore project to create an inventory for all major weapons and tanks to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile. India successfully test-fired BrahMos Cruise Missile under life extension program from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, along the Odisha coast. BrahMos is the first Indian missile whose life has been extended from 10 to 15 years. Joint Military Exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII between India and Nepal will be conducted at Pithoragarh from 30 May to 12 June 2018. The Indian Navy commissioned IN LCU L54 – the fourth ship of 8 Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-IV class ships at Port Blair. Russia quietly conducted the world s longest surface-to-air missile test of S-500. The system successfully struck a target 299 miles away, which the U.S. assessed is 50 miles further than any known test. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, has approved the procurement of equipment for the Defence Forces valued at over Rs. 6900 crore. It includes procurement of Thermal Imaging (TI) Night Sights for the Rocket Launcher (RL) used by the Army and the Air Force under BUY (Indian) IDDM category through established Indian Vendors. Indian warships are all ready to begin its journey towards the Western Pacific to join the 2018 MALABAR exercise which will be held jointly with the US and Japanese navies off the US island territory Guam in Micronesia, Pacific Ocean. The biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise is scheduled to be held from June 27 to August 2, 2018 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The theme this year is Capable, Adaptive, Partners. Four countries — Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka and Vietnam — are participating in RIMPAC for the first time while China has been uninvited by United States for RIMPAC 2018. The Indian Navy successfully completed the "Service Life Extension Refit" of a 32-year-old ship of the Mauritius Coast Guard Ship (MCGS) Guardian which it began on December 1 2017 at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. MCGS Guardian, after successfully completing all the mandated trials, is now set to return to Mauritius. India successfully conducted the sixth trial of its indigenously developed nuclear capable long range ballistic surface-to-surface missile Agni-5 with a strike range of 5,000 km. Apart from the Agni-5, other Agni missiles that
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India has includes Agni-1 with a 700-km range, Agni-2 with a 2,000-km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500 km range. The Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kamorta of the Eastern Fleet participated in the 22nd edition of Malabar Exercise conducted off Guam, US from June 7 to 16, 2018. India s first indigenous, long-range artillery gun Dhanush has passed its final test at Pokhran, paving the way for its induction into the Army. Dhanush is a 155mm x 45mm calibre artillery gun and is also called the desi Bofors . The gun has passed tests under severe cold conditions in Sikkim and Leh and in hot and humid weather in Balasore, Odisha, Babina in Jhansi and in the desert of Pokhran in Rajasthan. The Trump administration has approved a deal to sell six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to India for USD 930 million to strengthen India s ability to defend its homeland and deter regional threats. In addition to the attack helicopters, the contract also includes fire control radars; Hellfire Longbow missiles; stinger Block I-92H missiles; night vision sensors and inertial navigation systems. The indigenous Pinaka rocket system of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is being evolved into a precision-guided missile, with enhanced range and accuracy to hit its targets.The missile, known for firing a salvo of 12 rockets in just 44 seconds, has completed the initial trial, will undergo developmental trials next month. The Pinaka Mark II is expected to be inducted in the armed forces in the next two years. The last of the five Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) project of Indian Coast Guard Rani Rashmoni was commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard on June 18 at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). So far four such ships such as ICGS Rani Abbakka, ICGS Rani Avanti Bai, ICGS Rani Durgavati and ICGS Rani Gaidinliu, have been commissioned and are in active service at various locations on the eastern seaboard. Rani Rashmoni was the last in the first phase of five FPVs. Indian Army is observing the year 2018 as the Year of Disabled Soldiers in Line of Duty to honour soldiers who have been disabled in line of duty, while serving the Nation and to celebrate the undying spirit of Soldiering . The Indian Navy and the Navy of Bangladesh conducted the first edition of the Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) in Bangladesh from June 24 to 29. The two sides have agreed to institute CORPAT as an annual exercise. The Indian Navy regularly conducts CORPATs with Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. The world s largest multilateral naval exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) started off Hawaii in the Western Pacific Ocean on June 27. The two-month long biennial exercise will be attended by navies of 26 countries including India. Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri is participating in the 26th edition of RIMPAC exercise. The Navies of India and Indonesia participated in Passage Exercise (PASSEX), to enhance their maritime cooperation. Indian Naval ships INS Shakti and INS Kamorta undertook Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Madidihang (855) at the Port of Makassar, Indonesia. Exercise Surya Kiran-XIII, a joint military training exercise, between India and Nepal culminated at Pithoragarh on June 12. The thirteenth edition of the military exercise was held from May 30 to June 12, 2018. The fifth Indo-Kyrgyzstan joint training exercise KHANJAR V culminated after a Joint Tactical Validation Exercise and a closing ceremony held at Counter Insurgency Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte, Mizoram. Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise SAHYOG- HYEOBLYEOG 2018 was conducted off the Chennai coast. The Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted its biggest ever combat exercise (Gagan Shakti, 2018) along Pakistan and China borders. The Indian and Malaysian armies begins two week long joint military exercise Harimau Shakti from April 30 in dense forests of Sengai Perdik in Hulu Langat distric of Malaysia as part of efforts to bolster defence cooperation.
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Two days Coastal Security Exercise Sagar Kavach held in Kerala to strengthen and assess the loopholes in the coastal security mechanism along Kerala shores. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by the Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, accorded approval to Capital Acquisition Proposals of the Services valued at over Rs 3,687 crore. For the first time, Indian Navy s P8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from Indian Naval Ship (INS) Rajali has inducted at Hawaii for participating in the Rim of Pacific Multinational Naval exercise (RIMPAC-18). Science & Technology
The critically endangered Chinese giant salamander, well known as the world s largest amphibian, now faces the imminent threat of extinction in the wild. A new species of water beetle found in Malaysia was named after the Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio for his environmental activism. The Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi beetle was discovered at the bottom of a waterfall in Maliau Basin, a remote nature reserve in Malaysian Borneo. Scientists have discovered the first known permanent immigrant to the solar system – an asteroid named (514107) 2015 BZ509, currently nestling in Jupiter s orbit, that migrated from another star system. After over 15 years of state-funded work, the Chinese scholars has announced that Chinese civilization was born 5,800 years ago and matured 3,800 years ago. The Scientists of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa and Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute (BORI) will conduct joint exploration of the Bay of Bengal through training programs. A team of scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad led by Abhijit Chakraborty, has spotted for the first time a distant planet six times bigger than Earth and revolving around a Sun-like star about 600 light years away. Both the planet and the star have been named EPIC. EPIC 211945201b (or K2-236b) is the name given to the planet. The host star is named EPIC 211945201 or K2-236. Russia successfully launched a new navigation satellite, Glonass-M positioning satellite, using a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome space center in northern Russia.. Built by ISS Reshetnev in Zheleznogorsk, Russia, Glonass network provides real-time positioning data for surface, sea and airborne objects around the globe. With this there are now 26 Glonass satellites in orbit. India s newest and first robotic telescope called GROWTH-India has been launched at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle in Ladakh. GROWTH-India is part of a multi-country collaborative initiative known as Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) to observe transient events in the universe. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch second Lunar mission known as Chandrayaan- 2, in October 2018. Under the mission, India will send a rover on the south side of Moon to research the prospects of mining helium-3 and water. ISRO will be spending around $125 million on its new moon mission. The NASA space agency has delayed the launch of its flagship highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope by another 10 months. Webb was earlier scheduled to be launched in May 2020 but has now been pushed back to March 2021 due to some technical challenges and tasks remaining before launch. The project s development cost has now risen from $8 billion to $8.8 billion, and its total lifecycle price tag now stands at $9.66 billion. Four engineering students from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science near Chennai, Tamil Nadu have developed the world s lightest satellite Jaihind-1S which will be launched by NASA in August 2018. The 4cm cube satellite has been built with a 3D printed outer casing from polylactic acid (PLA) nylon material, making it lighter than a medium sized egg, at just 33.39 grams.
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Microsoft has announced the launch of AI for Accessibility — a new $25 million, five-year programme to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help people with disabilities. China has launched a hyperspectral imaging satellite, Gaofen-5, for comprehensive observation of the atmosphere, including air pollution. The satellite was developed and produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation can be used for comprehensive environmental monitoring. It has a designed life of eight years. SpaceX has launched the new and final version of its Falcon 9 rocket named Block 5 which lifted off from Kennedy Space Center s Launch Complex 39A, carrying the Bangabandhu-1 satellite, the first Bangladeshi telecom satellite, into geostationary transfer orbit. The Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu launched the Intellectual Property (IP) mascot – IP Nani to spread awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) among people especially children, in an interesting manner. Mascot IP Nani is a tech-savvy grandmother who helps the government and enforcement agencies in combating IP crimes with the help of her grandson Chhotu aka Aditya. The Telecom Commission headed by Aruna Sundararajan has approved the long awaited mobile in-flight connectivity, facilitating both Voice & Data Calls and date surfing in Indian airspace over next three months in both domestic as well as international airlines entering the Indian space. China has launched its first privately developed rocket Chongqing Liangjiang Star, which travels 5.7 times faster than the speed of sound. It has been developed by OneSpace Technology. For the first time, the railways will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to control air circulation, signages and even supervision and maintenance work in the 10.28 km-long tunnel in Imphal as part of its 110 km railway line from Jiribam to Manipur s capital city. After US, Russia and China, India has decided to include Artificial Intelligence in its defence forces with an aim to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces. A task force has been set up under the chairmanship of Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran to finalise the specifics and framework of the project. China has launched a relay satellite named Queqiao, or Magpie Bridge as part of a groundbreaking programme to be the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, also known as the dark side because it faces away from the earth and is comparatively unknown, later this year. General insurance company HDFC ERGO launched its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbot DIA on Google Assistant to enable users to access the service through Google s home device. Facebook has tied up with National Commission for Women to launch Digital Literacy Program for women that will run in collaboration with the Cyber Peace Foundation to conduct training programme for women to ensure safe and responsible use of the internet, social media and email. o The one-year pilot project of Facebook s digital literacy program will be held in local languages at Delhi- NCR, Haryana, Manipur, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu. China has launched a new Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-6, for use mainly in agricultural resources research and disaster monitoring. A scientific experiment satellite named Luojia-1 was sent into space at the same time. India Meteorological Department, IMD will use Flash Flood Guidance System for the first time in the country to forecast floods. Currently, the Central Water Commission issues flood warnings. The Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) has developed a mobile based application Utsonmobile for faster and more techno-advanced transactions in Indian Railways. The App enables booking and cancellation of unreserved tickets, issue and renewal of season and platform tickets, check and load R-wallet balance and helps maintain user profile management and booking history.
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Facebook has partnered with the National Commission for Women (NCW) to conduct a digital literacy programme aimed at training women scholars in Panjab University. The programme has been launched in collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation and will enable women scholars to learn using online resources, protect themselves and promote digital literacy to reap the benefits of the internet. US scientists have unveiled the world s most powerful and smartest scientific supercomputer called Summit that can complete over 200,000 trillion calculations per second. It is eight times more powerful than its previous top- ranked system, Titan – providing unprecedented computing power for research in energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence (AI). NASSCOM has unveiled its Women Wizards Rule Tech programme for women techies to increase the number of women in senior levels in the Information Technology (IT) industry. VeriSign, Inc, a global leader in domain names and internet security, announced that the first quarter of 2018 saw approximately 1.4 million domain name registrations compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, taking their total number to approximately 333.8 million across all top-level domains (TLDs). Google India has announced to provide training to 8,000 Journalists 6 Indian languages (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada) in the next one year to guard journalists from falling prey to false news stories. The Google News Initiative India Training Network will select 200 journalists from cities across India for training during five-day train-the-trainer boot camps. EY and Microsoft has launched a blockchain solution for better content rights and royalties management for media and entertainment industry. Instagram has launched a new app called IGTV which is its step towards competing with YouTube to attract video creators. The IGTV app is available for iOS and Android. It is meant for publishers to create full-screen, vertical videos in longform. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Accenture, the Consulate General of Israel to South India, and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) have jointly launched Scalerator . It is an exclusive program that aims to enhance the collaboration between Israeli and Indian startups to create innovative solutions for global markets. Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Bonsai, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in San Francisco, to boost its AI and machine learning capabilities. Facebook has launched a free version of its enterprise communications app Workplace to make working better, smarter and faster for charities and non-governmental organisations. The App, named Workplace for Good , would donate work-essential mobile, video, communication and collaboration tools free of charge to organisations like World Wildlife Fund, United Nations Children s Fund (Unicef) and more. o Additionally, the app also comes integrated with tools like OxBot which is a jargon-busting bot that provides a link to internal sources of information, increasing accessibility options. US Scientists in the University of Michigan have developed the world s smallest computer, Michigan Micro Mote , measuring just 0.3 millimetres. These new microdevices lose all prior programming and data as soon as they are switched off Aviva Life Insurance has launched a chatbot named ALISHA in partnership with Findability Sciences, a cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) Solutions Company. The chatbot, also called Aviva Life Insurance Self Help Assistant, is powered by IBM Watson s Conversation application programming interface (API) and will provide meaningful insurance guidance anytime, anywhere to the customers.
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In a bid to help small businesses connect with relevant customers online, Google has unveiled Smart campaigns to allow small businesses to create ads in minutes. The tech giant has also changed the name of its lineup of ad products Google AdWords which will now be known as Google Ads . Nasa s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the farthest individual star ever seen – an enormous blue stellar body nicknamed Icarus located over halfway across the universe. The star, harboured in a very distant spiral galaxy, is so far away that its light has taken nine billion years to reach Earth. NASA is all set for its first interplanetary launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5 with the Mars-bound InSight lander. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1I or IRNSS-1I from SatishDhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island.The IRNSS-1I will replace the IRNSS-1A which was rendered ineffective as the onboard atomic clocks had failed. In a landmark decision, the US Food and Drug Administration on June 25 approved the first medical drug made from marijuana. Created by GW Pharmaceuticals, Epidiolex is an oral solution of cannabidiol (OSC) and does not cause intoxication or a high. The drug will be used to cure severe forms of epilepsies in children. Natco Pharma has launched fixed dose combination of Sofosbuvir-Daclatasvir tablets for the treatment of Hepatitis C under the brand name Hepcinat Plus, in India. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted its first pad abort test — crucial for proposed human spaceflight programme — at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. NASA is prepared for a launch on August 4 to touch the sun, for the first time in human history. NASA unveiled a cutting-edge heat shield that will protect the spacecraft from getting burnt. It was installed on June 27, 2018. New Zealand scientists have performed the first-ever 3-D, colour X-ray on a human. The device is based on the traditional X-ray but incorporates particle-tracking technology developed for CERN s Large Hadron Collider. Scientists have developed a computer SpiNNaker that mimics the brain s neural networks, and could overcome the speed and power consumption problems of conventional supercomputers. Sports News
Tournament Winner Runner Up 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championships India 2- Sri Lanka (SAJAC) 3- Pakistan Grand Prix of Liberation International Shooting Jurate Cesynaite & Karolis Gagan Narang & Pooja Ghatkar Competition Girulis Spanish Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas Madrid Open (Men s Single) Alexander Zverev (Germany) Dominic Thiem (Austria) Madrid Open (Women s Single) Petra Kvitova Kiki Bertens U-16 Four Nation Football Tournament India Tajikistan International Shooting Competitions of Heena Sidhu Mathilde Lamolle Hannover, Germany Italian Open (Men s Single) Rafael Nadal (Spain) Alexander Zverev(Germany) Italian Open (Women s Single) Elina Svitolina Simona Halep 5th Asian Champions Trophy South Korea Indian Women Hockey Team Formula Junior Racing Series 2018 Championship Bala Prasath Sohil Shah
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LIC 3rd Kolkata Open International Grandmasters Srinath Narayanan Shyam Sundar M Chess Tournament (Reward: Rs 3 lakhs) 2018 Munich Grand Prix Tejaswini Sawant Anjum Moudgil 2018 Munich Grand Prix Matthew Emmons (USA) Chain Singh Uber Cup 2018 Japan Thailand 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo of Australia Sebastian Vettel 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup Bangladesh India Canadian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 2018 Intercontinental Cup Football Tournament India Kenya Netherlands Gouden Spike Meet Gavit Murali Kumar (Men̓ s 10,000 m Race) XXth International Umakhanov boxing Saweety Bora (75kg) Anna Anfinogenova (Russia) Tournament Russia 2018 Stuttgart Open (MercedesCup) Roger Federer (Switzerland) Milos Raonic (Canada) 2018 United States Open Championship (Golf) Brooks Koepka (United Tommy Fleetwood (England) States) World Para Athletics Grand Prix, Tunisia Amit Kumar Saroha (men s club throw F51 event ) Singapore National Swimming Championships Sandeep Sejwal (men s 50 Virdhawal Khade meter breaststroke event ) French Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2-Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3- Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
ISSF Junior World Cup, Germany. Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker and Anmol Jain Devanshi Rana (10m air pistol mixed team event) South East Asian Women Handball Championship India Beat Bangladesh (held at K.D. Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow, UP) Santosh Trophy football tournament (held at the Kerala Beat Bengal Vivekananda YuvabharatiKrirangan (Salt Lake Stadium) in Kolkata, West Bengal) 11th Barcelona Open 2018 Rafael Nadal Stefanos Tsitsipas Monte Carlo Masters 2018 Rafael Nadal (Spain) Kei Nishikori (Japan) Bahrain Grand Prix 2018 German Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel 2018 Monterrey Open Spanish GarbiñeMuguruza Miami Open (Men s Singles trophy) American John Isner Miami Open title (Women s Singles trophy) American Sloane Stephens Asian Armwrestling Championship Firuz (Tajikistan) Munkhbold (Mongolia); Differently-abled Indian arm wrestler Shrimant Jha clinched the bronze medal 16th Federation Cup Junior National athletics championship Stuttgart Open 2018 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Coco Vandeweghe Republic) Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2018 Lewis Hamilton
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Badminton Asian Championships 2018 (men s) Kento Momota (Japan) Badminton Asian Championships 2018 (women s) Tai Tzu Ying (China) Wimbledon title (Women s) Angelique Kerber Serena Williams Wimbledon title (Men s) Novak Djokovic Kevin Anderson Indonesia Open title Japan s Kento Momota Tbilisi Grand Prix Bajrang Punia (in the 65kg category) Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull s Max Verstappen British Grand Prix Germany s Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari Kabaddi Masters title (held in Dubai, UAE) India Beat Iran Hockey Champions Trophy (Men s) (held in Australia Beat India Breda, Netherlands) 2018 FIFA World Cup France Beat Croatia. Tournament was held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia Asia Cup World Archery Korea India ranked third. Tournament was held in Taipei, Taiwan. FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup Dipa Karmakar (from She created history by (held in Mersin, Turkey) Tripura) becoming the first Indian gymnast to clinch a gold at a global event. Calcutta South Club Senior ITF Tennis Sharad Tak Championship (men s singles) (held in Kolkata, West Bengal) Spanish Grand Prix wrestling tournament Vinesh Phogat She clinched the gold medal in women s 50 kilogram freestyle category in Madrid, Spain
Sports
Indian Shooter Shahzar Rizvi clinched top-spot in 10m Air Pistol rankings after winning the silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, South Korea. Rizvi (1654) was followed by Russia s Artem Chernousov (1046) and Japan s Tomoyuki Matsuda (803). India continued to sit atop the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test team rankings followed by South Africa at No.2 and Australia at the No.3 positions. England has overtaken India to seize the top spot in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI team rankings. India has slipped one spot at second while South Africa has dropped down to third place with New Zealand at fourth-place. India s star shuttler and Commonwealth silver-medallist Kidambi Srikanth climbed to the third spot in the latest men s single rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). In the women singles section, Indian star PV Sindhu continues to hold on to the third spot. Spain s Rafael Nadal retained number one spot in the latest edition of the men s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world singles rankings followed by Switzerland s Roger Federer in second place, Germany s Alexander Zverev in third spot and Bulgaria s Grigor Dimitrov at fourth spot. Romania s Simona Halep retained the top spot in the Women s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings followed by Denmark s Caroline Wozniacki at second spot and Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain at third position.
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A sports initiative Star Khel Mahakumbh was launched at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. The athletes will compete in volleyball, basketball, cricket, football, kabaddi and athletics. India bagged total 50 medals including 20 gold, 22 silver and eight bronze medals to clinch the 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championships at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has decided to implement a strict No-Needle policy at all the national camps and training centres in the country. Liverpool FC and Egypt national football team s forward Mohamed Salah won the English Premier League (EPL) Player of the Season award. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has announced Asia s leading sports apparel brand Li-Ning as the Indian contingent s official sports apparel partner till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The first Para-National Games for differently abled athletes will be held under Khelo India scheme in June-July 2018 in Bengaluru. It is considered as the selection trial of the Para Asian Games to be held in Indonesia in October 2018. Iraq is to host a West Asia Football Federation championship at Basra Sports City stadium in the southern Iraqi city in November, the first international tournament to be staged in the country since the 1990s. Paris Saint-Germain s Brazilian forward Neymar was named as France s player of the year. Prajnesh Gunneswaran won the prestigious T.K. Ramanathan award for the year 2017-18. He received a cash prize of Rs. 30,000. 34 years old South African superstar AB de Villiers has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect. Former Australia captain Steve Smith will return to cricket after being named among the marquee players for the inaugural Global T20 Canada league beginning June 28. The Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata has been voted the best ground in IPL 2018. Top discus thrower and four time Olympian, Vikas Gowda announced retirement from the sport after competing at the highest level for more than 15 years. The ICC has included Nepal, Netherlands, Scotland and the UAE in their ODI rankings list apart from the 12 existing countries. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal became the fifth man in the Open Era to win 900 matches during his entire tennis career following a win over Germany s Maximilian Marterer in French Open 2018. Star batswoman Mithali Raj became the first Indian cricketer to score 2000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). The Indian veteran has also become the first Indian cricketer (Men and Woman s) to complete this record. She now has 2,015 runs in 75 matches. New Zealand women s team smashed the world record for the highest ever One-Day International (ODI) score by posting a mammoth 490-4 against Ireland at at the YMCA Sports Club, Dublin. The team broke their own 21-year- old record of 455 -5 made against Pakistan at Christchurch in 1997. The women s team record also went past the highest total in any men s one-day international made by England 444-3 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, in 2016. New Zealand teenager Amelia Kerr set a new world batting record in women s one-day cricket with her unbeaten 232 against Ireland in Dublin. With the feat, Kerr broke the 21-year-old record held by Australian Belinda Clarke, who scored unbeaten knock of 229 against Denmark in 1997. Kerr s 232* is the third highest score in ODI cricket history. India men s player Rohit Sharma is at the top of the pile with his 264 scored against Sri Lanka in 2014, with the unbeaten 237 made by New Zealand s Martin Guptill, against West Indies in 2015. The 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup is being held in Russia from June 14 to July 15.
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India Women s Cricket team opener Smriti Mandhana will become the first Indian player to appear in Kia Super League– the women s cricket super league in England. She has been signed by Western Storm for the tournament beginning 22 July that features six teams. Sports Minister Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore has approved the revised guidelines for Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy under which the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India will invite and Scrutinized the applications of the universities which were earlier invited and scrutinized by the Association of Indian Universities. o The revised criteria for calculation of marks for selection of universities for the trophy will consider the performances of the students in Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, World Cup, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World University Games, Khelo India University Games and Intra Zonal University Games. o Tournaments which are held more than once a year will not be considered for computation of marks. o Besides, the amount of award money for the overall all winner university has been enhanced from 10 lakh to 15 lakh rupees and for 1st Runner-up the amount has been enhanced from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh while 2nd Runner-up universities will get Rs 4.5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh earlier. Tennis player Yuki Bhambri and weightlifter Sanjita Chanu has been dropped from the sports ministry s flagship programme, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Bhambri was left out as he will not take part in the Jakarta Asian Games in August-September since the dates clash with the US Open, where he is expected to qualify for the main draw. Men s doubles specialist Divij Sharan, 32, has been included in the scheme till the Asian Games. Sanjita was dropped following her suspension by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on alleged doping charges. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The US would host 60 matches while Mexico and Canada would host 10 games each. The 2026 competition is set to be the first in FIFA s history to feature 48 instead of the usual 32 teams. Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian batsman to score a hundred before lunch on the opening day of the one- off Test match against Afghanistan. Dhawan joins five other cricketers who have reached the landmark before lunch namely Victor Trumper(Aus) England 1902, Charles Macartney(Aus) England 1921, Sir Don Bradman(Aus) England 1930, Majid Khan(Pak) New Zealand 1976 and David Warner(Aus) Pakistan 2017. The 15th annual Asia and Oceania Region Inter-Governmental Ministerial meeting on anti-doping was held in Colombo with representatives from 29 countries including India to discuss important anti-doping issues that will help in the fight for clean sport. Ace Indian shuttler and Commonwealth Games 2018 gold-medalist Kidambi Srikanth, has been adjudged as the Sportsperson of the Year for 2018 by the Sports Illustrated India magazine. Other Winners Includes: o Team of the Year: Women s Cricket Team o Coach of the Year: Stephen Constantine o Editor s Choice for Excellence (Team): Aizawl FC o Editor s Choice for Excellence (Male): Jitu Rai o Young Sportsperson of the Year: Manav Vikas Thakkar o Community Development in Sport: Sailen Tudu o Comeback of the Year: Sushil Kumar o Gamechanger of the Year: Shubhankar Sharma o Outstanding Contribution to Sport: Leander Paes
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o Lifetime Achievement Award: Dhanraj Pillay o Special Award Living Legend: Balbir Singh Sr. o Sportsperson Of The Year: Kidambi Srikanth The Indian cricket team will make its debut in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship by playing against West Indies in the Caribbean in July 2019. It is a part of Future Tours Programme (FTP) announced by International Cricket Council (ICC) for a five-year period (2018-2023) which includes the World Test Championship and a 13-team ODI league. o As per the ICC, the nine top-ranked Test teams will participate in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, which will run from July 15, 2019 to April 30, 2021. o The ODI League will serve as a qualification pathway for the 2023 World Cup to be hosted by India. India will mark its campaign in the 13-team ODI League versus Sri Lanka (away) in June 2020. India s tennis star Karman Kaur Thandi claimed her maiden singles title on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro circuit after defeating Jia-Jing Lu s of China in straight sets in the final of the USD 25,000 Hong Kong event. Chennai based R Praggnanandhaa has become India s youngest and the second youngest Grandmaster in the world at 12 years, 10 months and 13 days. Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine had become the youngest Grandmaster at 12 years, seven months in 1990. Praggnanandhaa became India s youngest Grandmaster after making it to the final round at the Gredine Open in Italy to clinch his third GM. Praggnanandhaa had already achieved his first GM norm in the World Juniors 2017, and second GM norm at a closed round-robin tournament in Greece. Indian Archer Deepika Kumari won her first individual gold medal in six years at stage three of the Archery World Cup in Salt Lake city of US following a 7-3 win over Germany s Michelle Kroppen in the recurve event final. Romania s Simona Halep retained the number one spot in the Women s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings with 7,970 points. While Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) acquired the second spot with 6,745 points, Spain s Garbine Muguruza maintained her third spot with 6,550 points. Spain s Rafael Nadal has reclaimed the top spot in the men s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world singles rankings with 8,770 points, while Switzerland s Roger Federer (8,720)stood second followed by Alexander Zverev (Germany) at third spot with 5,755 points. Commonwealth gold medal-winning weightlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam is the first Indian weightlifter to become brand ambassador for a product/service. He has been roped in by i steel TMT bars as he represents the core attributes of i steel brand strength and flexibility. India s middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson created history as he broke 42 year old record set in Indian athletics to win the gold medal in the men s 800m event at the 58th National Inter State Championships at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati. The 27-year-old from Kerala clocked 1:45.65 seconds to break previous record of 1:45.77 seconds set by Sriram Singh at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Rani Rampal has been named as the Captain of India s 18-member squad for the women s hockey World Cup while goalkeeper Savita will serve as her deputy in the World Cup to be played in London from July 21 to August 5, 2018. Indian women s cricket team captain Mithali Raj was adjudged Sportsperson of the Year while ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu bagged the best senior male and female athletes at the Telangana Sports Journalists Association annual awards for 2017. Pullela Gopichand was given best coach of the year award while triple Olympian and former national Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the event. Both Indian captains of men and women s cricket team, ViratKohli and Mithali Raj were named among Wisden s leading cricketers of the year.
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Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth became World number 1 in men s singles category after Badminton World Federation updated its weekly rankings. He overtook World Champion Danish Viktor Axelsen at the top of rankings with 76,895 points. Ankita Raina became only the third Indian woman tennis player to breach the top-200 rankings in singles. Son of Dreams was unveiled to be the Official Mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. Indian tennis ageless wonder Leander Paes became the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup as he combined with Rohan Bopanna to not only grab a record 43rd win but also bring the country back in the tie against China. The 2018 Asia Cup, that was earlier scheduled to be held in India, has now been moved out to the United Arab Emirates. India clinched the title of team champion in the 8th South Asian Judo Championship held in Kathmandu, Nepal. India ended their campaign in the tournament with a total of 12 Gold medals and three Bronze medals. All 104 International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries will be granted T20I status. Currently, only the 18 member countries are eligible to play T20Is. All Women s team matches will be awarded T20 International status on July 1, 2018. All the men s team matches will be given T20 International status on January 1, 2019. India ended the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament held in Serbia with three gold, five silver and five bronze medals in all. The three gold medalists include Sumit Sangwan (91kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Himanshu Sharma (49kg). The torch relay for the much awaited Asian Games 2018 began from Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. The multi sport-event will begin on August 18 in Indonesia s Jakarta city. Hima Das created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a gold at the IAAF World Under- 20 Athletics Championships in Tempere, Finland. She clinched the top spot in the women s 400 meters final race. India s women cricket team coach Tushar Arothe has stepped down from the role, citing personal reasons. Indian Cricketer Mohammad Kaif has announced his retirement from all forms of the game. Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced that more than 34 years after coming into existence, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been renamed as Sports India after the sports body s governing body meeting. The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) decided to approve the Indian Men s Hockey team, comprising 18 players selected for the Asian Games, as part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Indian Football Teams faced a major setback as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has decided against sending its senior teams to the Asian Games. The IOA chose not to clear Indian men s and women s Football Teams since they have deemed them incompetent to win any medals. Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will lead the 18-member Indian men s hockey squad in the 18th Asian Games, which is slated to begin in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18. Striker Rani will lead Indian women s hockey squad. The anti-doping disciplinary panel of NADA handed a four-year suspension to shot putter Inderjeet Singh for failing a dope test prior to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Rahul Dravid was on Sunday inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, becoming only the fifth Indian to receive the honour after Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Anil Kumble.
IPL 2018
Chennai Super Kings won 2018 IPL tournament by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final. This was their third IPL victory. CSK are now only the second team besides Mumbai Indians to win the IPL thrice and the only team to appear in the finals 7 times.
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Orange Cap (Highest Run) – Kane Williamson (SRH-NewZealand) Purple Cap (Highest Wicket) – Andrew Tye (KXIP- Australia) Most Valuable Player (MVP)- Sunil Narine Stylish Player of the Season – Rishabh Pant Super Striker of the Season – Sunil Narine IPL Fairplay award – Mumbai Indians
CEAT Cricket Ratings Awards 2018
International Cricketer of the Year 2018: Virat Kohli International Batsman of the Year Award: ShikharDhawan International Bowler of the Year Award: Trent Boult (New Zealand) T20 Batsman of the Year Award : Colin Munro (New Zealand) T20 Bowler of the Year Award: Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) Outstanding Innings of the Year Award: HarmanpreetKaur Lifetime Achievement Award: Farokh Engineer (former India wicket-keeper) Popular Choice Award: Chris Gayle (West Indies) Domestic Player of the Year Award: MayankAgarwal U19 Player of the Year award: Shubhman Gill
58th National Inter State Championships
Event Winner Runner Up Men̓s 800 m Jinson Johnson Manjit Singh Women̓s 100 m Dutee Chand Ranga K Women̓s 200 m Hima Das Dutee Chand Women̓s 400 m Hima Das Nirmla
Ulaanbaatar Cup 2018: Mongolia
India ended the tournament with one gold, four silver, and four bronze medals. Mandeep Jangra (69kg) was the lone Indian boxer to claim a gold medal among the five finalists. The silver medals went to both the women finalists Sonia Lather (57kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Himanshu Sharma (49kg) and Etash Khan (56kg).
BCCI Award Winners for the 2016-17 Season
Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award – Pankaj Roy BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award For Women – Diana Edulji (Declined) BCCI Special Award – Abbas Ali Baig and Naren Tamhane Polly Umrigar Award – Virat Kohli Best International Cricketer - Women – Harmanpreet Kaur Lala Amarnath Award For The Best All-rounder In The Ranji Trophy – Parvez Rasool Lala Amarnath Award For The Best All-rounder In Domestic Limited-overs Competitions – Krunal Pandya
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Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Scorer In The Ranji Trophy – Priyank K Panchal Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Wicket-taker In The Ranji Trophy – Shahbaz Nadeem MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-23) Col C K Nayudu Trophy – Ekant C Sen MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-23) Col C K Nayudu Trophy – Karan Kaila MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy – Jonty Sidhu MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy – Rahul Singh Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy – N Thakur Tilak Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy – Rohit Dattatraya Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Best Woman Cricketer (Sr Domestic) – Punam Raut Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Best Woman Cricketer (Jr Domestic) – Jemimah Rodrigues Best Umpire In Domestic Cricket – Anil Dandekar Best Performance In BCCI Domestic Tournaments – Cricket Association of Bengal BCCI Award Winners for the 2017-18 Season
Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award – Anshuman Gaekwad BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award For Women – Sudha Shah BCCI Special Award – Budhi Kunderan Polly Umrigar Award – Virat Kohli Best International Cricketer - Women – Smriti Mandhana Lala Amarnath Award For The Best All-rounder In The Ranji Trophy –Jalaj Saxena Lala Amarnath Award For The Best All-rounder In Domestic Limited-overs Competitions – Diwesh Pathani Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Scorer In The Ranji Trophy – Mayank Agarwal Madhavrao Scindia Award – Highest Wicket-taker In The Ranji Trophy – Jalaj Saxena MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-23) Col C K Nayudu Trophy – Aryaman Birla MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-23) Col C K Nayudu Trophy – Tejas Baroka MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy – Y V Rathod MA Chidambaram Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-19) Cooch Behar Trophy – Ayush S Jamwal Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Highest Scorer In (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy – K Nithish Kumar Reddy Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Highest Wicket-taker In (U-16) Vijay Merchant Trophy – Reshu Raj Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Best Woman Cricketer (Sr Domestic) – Deepti Sharma Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy – Best Woman Cricketer (Jr Domestic) – Jemimah Rodrigues Best Umpire In Domestic Cricket – Yeshwant Barde Best Performance In BCCI Domestic Tournaments – Delhi & District CA
2018 French Open
The 2018 French Open, also known as Roland Garros was the 122nd edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of 2018. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 27 May to 10 June.
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List of Winners
Category Winner Runner-Up Men s Single Rafael Nadal (Spain) Dominic Thiem (Austria) Women s Single Simona Halep (Romania) Sloane Stephens (United States) Men s Double Pierre-Hugues Herbert/ Nicolas Mahut Oliver Marach (Austria)/ Mate Pa ić (France) (Croatia) Women s Double Bar ora Krejčíko á/Kateři a Eri Hozumi/Makoto Ninomiya (Japan) Siniaková (Czech Republic) Mixed Double Latisha Chan (Taiwan)/Ivan Dodig Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada)/ Mate (Croatia) Pa ić(Croatia)
2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships
The 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the 18th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.
India scored total 17 medals including 5 gold, 2 silver and 10 bronze to attain third spot in the Medal table after Japan (41) and China (24) respectively.
List of Gold Winners
Event Winner Runner 800 metres (Men’s) Anu Kumar Abdolrahim Dorzadeh (Iran) 5000 metres (Men’s) Ajeet Kumar Ren Tazawa (Japan) Triple jump (Men’s) Kamalraj Kanagaraj Yu Gyumin (South Korea) Hammer throw (Men’s) Ashish Jakhar Damneet Singh (India) 400 metres (Women’s) Jisna Mathew Dilshi Kumarasinghe (Sri Lanka)
All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2018
Event Winner Runner Up
Men̓s Single Sourabh Verma Pratul Joshi
Women’s Single Sai Uttejitha Rao Rituparna Das
Men’s Double Arjun M.R and Shlok Ramachandran Krishna Prasad G and Dhruv Kapila
Women’s Double Rutuparna Panda and Aratha Sara Sunil Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker
Mixed Double Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi Arun George and Arathi Sara Sunil
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21st Commonwealth Games
The 2018 Commonwealth Games was held at the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 4 to 15 April 2018. Carrara Stadium was chosen as the venue to host the opening ceremony. The 2022 Commonwealth Games is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England. PV Sindhu was India s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the of the 21st edition game while Mary Kom carried India s flag at closing ceremony in Gold Coast. Australia topped the medal table winning the most golds (80) and most medals overall (198). England and India finished second and third respectively. With 26 Gold medals and a total of 66 medals, India finished 3rd for the tournament. Read More at: http://www.aspirantszone.com/commonwealth-games-2018-overview/ Schemes and Policy
Scheme Name Information Outlay Go to Village Launched by Manipur Govt. in 60 villages of all the 60 Assembly constituencies with the objective of bringing good governance and inclusive development in the state Bharat Inclusion Launched by IIM-Ahmedabad s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Over USD 25 Initiative Entrepreneurship (CIIE) to help the startups working in the areas of million for next 3-4 financial inclusion, livelihood, education and health turn ideas into years viable businesses Nidaan Launched by Rajasthan Govt. Presumptive diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and non- communicable diseases as well as the trends of ailments found in the specific areas. Jan Manch Launched by Himachal Pradesh Govt. For redressal of public grievances Mukhya Mantri Launched by Himachal Pradesh Govt. for Providing assistance to the Swavlamban Yojana unemployed youth Himachal Grihini Launched by Himachal Pradesh Govt. for Offering gas Suvidha Yojana cylinder security and gas stoves to those not covered under the Ujjwala Yojana. Reuse of Treated Launched by Gujarat Govt. to Promote the use of treated waste Waste Water Policy water and reduce the state s dependence on fresh water sources like the Narmada river. REPLACE Launched by World Health Orgainsation to eliminate industrially- produced artificial trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023. Sovereign Gold Interest Rate: 2.5% Bond Scheme 2018 Tenor: 8 years with exit option in 5th, 6th and 7th year Series-I Minimum Size: 1 gram of gold. Maximum Size: 4 KG for individual, 4 Kg for HUF and 20 Kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal (April-March) Restructured To be Implemented from April 2018-Marc h 2022 Total cost- Rs. Rashtriya Gram Aim: Making rural local bodies self-sustainable, financially stable and 7255.50 crore Swaraj Abhiyan more efficient. Central Share -Rs. (RGSA) scheme 4500 crore
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State Share -Rs. 2755.50 crore. National Bamboo Rs 1,290 crore Mission (NBM) (with Rs 950 crore as central share) Gobardhan Launched at national level from Karnal, Haryana (Galvanizing Organic Bio Agro Resources Dhan) Scheme
Campaigns
Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte launched the Clean Air India Initiative in New Delhi to curb air pollution in Indian cities. The Clean Air India Initiative is a collaborative project between Get InThe Ring, a platform for start-ups, the government of the Netherlands, Start-up India, and INDUS Forum, an online matchmaking platform of Indian and Dutch businesses. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah launched a massive Sampark se Samarthan (contact for support)personal outreach programme, to generate awareness about the Narendra Modi government s 4 years achievements so far. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) rolled out the Gaj Yatra from Tura, the principal town of Garo Hills in Meghalaya to protect the elephant and its habitat. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan has become the face of Central Railways anti-trespassing campaign. Central Railway has launched an initiative Ek Safar Rail Ke Saath , where celebrities will share their experience about Indian Railways and their journey in a short film. At the end of the film, they will give a message for railway commuters. Government of India s think tank Niti Aayog has roped in film actor Sushant Singh Rajput to promote two of its major initiatives. One of them is BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app and the other is women entrepreneurship platform (WEP). Film actor Akshay Kumar launched the twin pit toilet technology campaign in New Delhi to spread the awareness on sanitation and cleanliness issue and make the cleanliness drive more effective.
Committee
Head of Committee Purpose Arvind Virmani Head of the six member advisory council of the 15th Finance Commission constituted to advise and assist the commission. Murali Manohar Joshi Head of 30-member parliamentary panel formed to study the recovery of black money and performance of public sector banks among a host of subjects. Dr. Randeep Head of high level group (HLG) constituted by the 15th Finance Commission to examine Guleria (Director of AIIMS) the strengths and weaknesses for enabling balanced expansion of health sector. Vinay Sheel Oberoi The committee headed by former HRD Secretary VinaySheelOberoi will examine the conduct of Class 10 and Class 12 examinations by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in order to prevent leak of question papers and revisit all aspects related to security checks built into the system to ensure question papers reach
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examinees without tampering. Goutam Ghosh The West Bengal government set up a 18-member committee chaired by eminent film director GoutamGhosh with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the patron to commemorate 100 years of Bengali cinema.
Bhupendrasinh Chudasama Human Resource Development Ministry constituted the committee under the Chairmanship of Gujarat Education Minister ShriBhupendrasinhChudasama to suggest the ways to make the maths subject easy. Jayant Sinha The Government constituted a Task Force under the chairmanship of ShriJayantSinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation for fast-tracking the roll-out of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology. The Task Force will develop a roadmap with implementable recommendations for Central as well as State Governments, Industry and Research Institutions. The Headquarters of the Task Force will be at Ministry of Civil Aviation, New Delhi. Ravindra H Dholakia The government has set up a 13-member committee to upgrade the norms for computation of economic data at states and districts level in the backdrop of plans to revise the base year for National Accounts or GDP calculation. Injeti Srinivas, Corporate Ministry of Corporate Affairs has constituted a 10 Member Committee to review the Affairs Secretary Companies Act 2013. According to an official release, certain offences of the act may require to be decriminalised. It will also allow the trial courts to pay more attention on offences of serious nature.
Rankings
Index India’s Rank Other Information AT Kearney Foreign Direct Investment 11 Top 3 countries: Confidence Index 1. United States 2. Canada 3. Germany Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 4 1. United States 2. China 3. Japan 2018 World Competitiveness Ranking 44 1. United States 2. Hong Kong 3. Singapore The Lancet ͂s Global Burden of Disease Study 145 Iceland and Norway share top position End of Childhood Index 2018 by Save the 113 (175) 1- Singapore and Slovenia Children 175- Niger Global Peace Index 2018 137 Iceland New Zealand Portugal 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 177 out of 180 Switzerland France Denmark Summer 2018 State of the Internet/ Security: 4th out of top 10 1-Russia Web Attack report target countries 2- China
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for Web 3- Indonesia Application Attacks. 2018 Global Real Estate Transparency Index 35 1- United Kingdom 2- Australia 3- United States Commonwealth Innovation Index 10th Top three countries includes UK, Singapore and Canada respectively World Press Freedom Index 138 Top- Norway Last- North Korea Global Innovation Index (GII) 57th 1st - Switzerland
India has emerged as one of the five biggest military spenders in 2017, according to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the arms watchdog, the five top military spenders in 2017 were the US, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India respectively. India emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the United States according to the report of Mercom Communications India. India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of 8,230 billion US dollars according to the AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review. US is the wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of 62,584 billion dollars while China stood at the second place with 24,803 billion dollars with Japan at the third place with 19,522 billion dollars. Based on the revised World Urbanisation Prospects 2018 report of UN, Delhi is projected to surpass Tokyo as the world s largest city in a decade around the year 2028. India has now become the largest importer of almonds in the world. India ranked 37th in the global startup ecosystem in 2017, according to a report released by global startup ecosystem map Startupblink. United States topped the list. India is now the second-largest mobile phone producer in the world after China. According to the data shared by Indian Cellular Association with the government, annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017. India emerged as the third most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats, such as malware, spam and ransomware, in 2017, moving up one place over previous year, according to a report by security solutions provider Symantec. The U.S. remains most vulnerable to such attacks. India has jumped 13 places in the last one year to be earn 130th spot in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank. The Global Findex Report by World Bank states about 190 million Indian adults still don t have a bank account, second only to China, despite the account ownership more than doubling from 35 per cent in 2011 to 80 per cent in 2017. India topped as the highest recipient of remittances globally in 2017, with its diaspora sending back $69 billion, according to the World Bank statement. India has been projected to be the second fastest growing country in the world for passenger traffic by the Airports Council International (ACI) in its traffic forecasts between 2017-40. Vietnam tops with a 8.5 per cent growth rate, followed by India at 7.5 per cent and Iran at 7.3 per cent.
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India has become the world s sixth largest economy overtaking France, according to World Bank data on gross domestic product (GDP) of countries for 2017. United States has topped the list recording a GDP of USD 19,390,604 million. India has the world s fifth largest cultivated area under genetically modified (GM) crops, at 11.4 million hectares (mh) in 2017 according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). The country with the highest area under transgenic crops, at 75 mh, is the United States. Loans from Banks
From To Amount Purpose Asian Development India $ 4 billion Expand its sovereign and non-sovereign operations Bank (ADB) World Bank India $ 200 million National Nutrition Mission -POSHAN Abhiyaan NABARD Arunachal Rs 87.83 lakh For LED Solar Street Lighting system in the state from Pradesh its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund World Bank India $ 300 million India Energy Efficiency Scale-Up Program World Bank India $ 21.7 million Strengthening Public Financial Management in Rajasthan. Asian Madhya $375 million To improve irrigation in Madhya Pradesh to help double Development Bank (ADB) Pradesh (Rs 2,529 crore farmers income. approximately) World Bank India $ 500 million Provide additional financing for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Rural Roads Project. Asian Development Bank India USD 503- For lining project of the Son canal in Shahabad-Bhojpur (ADB) million region of Bihar which would benefit the agriculture sector immensely in the region NABARD West Bengal Rs 735.53 In the first quarter of the current fiscal under the Rural crore Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for West Bengal for facilitating the execution of 86 projects World Bank India Rs.6000 crore Implement Central Sector Scheme Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation over a period of five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Asian Infrastructure India $100 million Equity investment in Phase I of India s National Investment Investment Bank (AIIB) & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to help various development projects in this country Export-Import Bank of Seychelles USD 10 million The line of credit (LOC) is for healthcare and procurement India (Exim Bank) of goods and projects.
Asian Development Bank India USD 80 million To help improving skills of youth and modernising (ADB) (Rs 512 crore) institutes in Himachal Pradesh World Bank (IBRD credit) India USD 125 Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project (equivalent) Asian Infrastructure Madhya USD 140 It is the loan amount through which approximately 1.5 Investment Bank (AIIB) Pradesh million million rural residents in Madhya Pradesh will directly benefit from improved livelihoods, education and mobility.
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The project will be co-financed with the World Bank. World Bank Madhya $ 210 million To improve the rural roads in Madhya Pradesh under Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project. The project will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister s Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY) program. Asian Development Bank Uttarakhand Rs 1,700 crore For infrastructure development and creation of sewerage (ADB) treatment facilities in urban areas. World Bank Meghalaya USD 48 million For Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)
Rankings (Persons, Cities, Organisations and Others)
South Korean conglomorate Samsung has emerged as the topmost brand that Indians trust the most according to the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018 (BTR 2018). Sony and LG finished second and third, respectively. Patanjali Ayurved Limited has been ranked as India s most trusted Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brand in the TRA s Brand Trust Report 2018. In overall brand ranking Patanjali is at 13th rank. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, gained top spot in The World s Most Powerful People 2018 by Forbes list followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at second place. The list featuring only two Indians includes PM Modi at 9th spot and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 32nd place. Indore has emerged as the cleanest city, followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh in the government s cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan 2018. Jharkhand was adjudged the best performing state in the survey followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. According to the report on urbanization by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), Delhi will overtake Tokyo as world s most populous city by 2028. Tokyo remains the world s largest city in the world with 37 million inhabitants currently. Microsoft has surpassed Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in the market capitalisation for the first time in three years, becoming the third most valuable firm after Apple and Amazon globally. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru is the only Indian institution to make it to the top 100 universities in the Times Higher Education s World Reputation Rankings 2018 and has been ranked in the 91-100 band of the list. o The top 5 Institutes in the list comprises of American universities Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, UK s Cambridge and Oxford respectively. India cricket team captain Virat Kohli is among the world s highest-paid athletes, according to Forbes. Kohli is the only sportsperson from India to be featured in the list at 83rd spot with earnings of USD 24 million. o The list has been topped by American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather. Three Indian universities feature in the top 200 universities of the QS World University rankings 2019 released by global higher education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds. These include:
University 2019 Rank 2018 Rank IIT Bombay 162 179 IISc Bangalore 170 190 IIT Delhi 172 172
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o The list has been topped by Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the seventh year in a row followed by Stanford University and Harvard University respectively. According to a statement by US Consul General in Kolkata, Craig Hall, India is the second highest sender of foreign students in the US, next only to China. The Forbes 2018 Global 2000 list released recently features total 58 Indian companies on the overall list of 2,000 biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies from across the world. o In India, Reliance Industries, placed at 83rd place, is the only company to be placed in the top-100 list. o Besides, housing finance major HDFC has been ranked as the 5th biggest public company globally in the consumer financial services category with an overall ranking of 202. o The 16th annual Forbes Global 2000 list has been topped by China s banking behemoth Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for the sixth consecutive year. Gujarat has topped the NITI Aayog s 2018 Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The tribal state Jharkhand was adjudged as the worst performer. o In the northeastern and Himalayan states, Tripura has been adjudged as the top state in 2016-17 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam. The United States has surpassed India to become the top destination for greenfield FDI investment in 2017, according to FDI Report 2018 compiled by FDI Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Ltd. o In the Asia and Pacific region, China was on top in terms of FDI in total number of new projects and capital investment, followed by India. According to Forbes World s Billionaires list, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the world with a net wealth of $141.9 billion. The principal founder of Microsoft Corporation is the second-richest man in the world with USD 92.9 billion followed by Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors in the world, with a total of wealth of USD 82.2 billion. Based upon the report of a survey of global experts by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, India has been ranked as the most dangerous country for women in the world due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour. Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third respectively. Mumbai continues to be the most expensive city in India to live in for expatriates according the 2018 cost of living survey by global consulting firm Mercer. The financial capital of India is ranked at the 55th spot in terms of cost of living globally which is higher than cities like Melbourne (58), Frankfurt (68), Buenos Aires (76), Stockholm (89) and Atlanta (95). o Hong Kong is ranked as the world s costliest city to live in for expatriates, followed by Tokyo, Zurich, Singapore, and Seoul. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has topped the list of smart cities in the Middle East and Africa, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute titled Smart Cities: Digital Solutions for a More Livable Future . With a rating of 18.4, Abu Dhabi ranked the first in the region ahead of Dubai, which was placed the second with a rating of 17.3. Based on a joint study by the ASSOCHAM-NEC (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and Japanese multinational NEC), India is among the top five countries generating largest e-waste. The other countries topping the chart of e-waste generation are China, USA, Japan and Germany. Maharashtra contributes the largest e-waste of 19.8 percent in India.
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North Korea has been put in Tier 3 category together with China, Russia and Iran, in US State Department s annual 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report for being one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 16th consecutive year. North Korea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. o Meanwhile, South Korea was placed at highest category of Tier 1 countries for the 16th straight year, along with other advanced nations like the US, Britain, France and Canada. o India continued to be placed in Tier-2 category since 2011 which suggests that the government of the country does not fully meet the minimum standards, but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with those standards. State-owned power giant NTPC has been ranked 25th in the list of India's Great Place to Work for 2018. NTPC is the only public sector undertaking among top 25. Mumbai s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has been ranked as the fifth least punctual airport in the world based on the findings released by the British aviation intelligence firm OAG, which did a survey of 513 airports and 65 airlines across the world. o Mumbai was placed at 509, Delhi at 451, Bangaluru at 262, Chennai at 255, and Hyderabad at 246. o The Nagoya Komaki Airport in Japan topped the global ranking list with an on-time performance (OTP) rate of 94.5 percent. o None of the major Indian airports figured among the top 200 in on-time performance (OTP), but the small Port Blair airport in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands got the worldwide rank of 65, with the punctuality rate of 84.6 percent. o The Indigo became the highest ranking airline from India at 14th rank. The Niti Aayog released the first Delta ranking for 108 aspirational districts to measure their incremental progress across five developmental areas during a two month period of April and May 2018. Top 3 Districts Include
Rank District State Points 1 Dahod Gujarat 19.8 2 West Sikkim Sikkim 18.9 3 Ramanathapuram Tamil Nadu 17.7 Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, Begusarai in Bihar, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Simdega in Jharkhand and Khagaria in Bihar were listed as first to fifth, respectively, in least improved states in the delta rankings. Hyderabad has been ranked the top city in the short-term Momentum Ranking of JLL s annual global survey. The CMI Short-Term Momentum rankings published by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) features Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata among the top five cities with Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai also earning a spot among the top 20 in the Global Top 30 index. In the survey conducted across 53 airports in the country by AAI, Mangalore International Airport was adjudged the cleanest. A team of officials from AAI had inspected the airport terminal, parking area, toilets, commercial stalls, the road leading to the airport and customer lounge. According to a report from OpenSignal, a wireless coverage mapping company, Patna has topped in 4G connectivity among 20 of India s largest cities. It has emerged ahead of the likes of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. Online search engine Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook as per TRA Brand Trust Report 2018.
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Technology giant Microsoft India has been declared the most attractive employer brand, followed by e-commerce giant Amazon India according to HR service provider Randstad s Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2018. Books
Book Author Other Info Across the Bench – Insight into the Indian Military Lt Gen Gyan Bhushan Judicial System Hidden India Latika Nath Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism s Greatest Thinker Shri Pavan Varma Mister M K Gandhi Ki Champaran Diary Arvind Mohan Champaran Andolan 1917 Ashutosh Partheshwar Pir Muhammad Munis: Kalam Ka Satyagrahi Collected and edited by Srikan All Doors Opened Autobiography of Padma Shri (Late) Inder Sharma My Journey from Marxism-Leninism to Nehruvian C H Hanumantha Rao Socialism Notes of a Dream: The Authorized Biography of Krishna Trilok Biography of Oscar-winning music A.R. Rahman maestro A.R. Rahman. Published by Penguin Random House India. Foreword by Danny Boyle, Vedvigyan Alok (Maharishi Aitareya Mahidas Acharya Agnivarat It is the scriptural verse in Vedas prose Praneet – Aitareya Brahmina ki Vaigyanik Vyakhya Naishthik and is divided into four broad volumes. The Great Indian Nature Trail with Uncle Bikky Rohan Chakravarty and First-ever comic book launched by Bijal Vachharajani WWF-India that revolves around the geographical diversity of India. Indian Railways has released a Guidebook for Creating a Child Friendly and Protective Environment for Children in Contact with Railways , developed by National Commission for protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in collaboration with Railway Children India.
Obituaries
Name Profession Other Info Ashok Mitra Marxist economist and politician Former Finance Minister of West Bengal Idris Hassan Latif Air Chief Marshal Former Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Anne V. Coates Film Editor Ankit Chadha Writer and Storyteller Noted as a highly talented exponent of dastangoi – a 13th century Urdu oral storytelling art form. Rajinder Pal Cricketer Dr Nirmal Hirawat Politician Former Madhya Pradesh minister Kalashala Babu Actor Stage, TV and Malayalam film artiste Nandram Das Bairagi Film Lyricist Former Rajya Sabha MP
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Jivya Soma Mashe Artist Came to fame from the Warli tribal art form EC George Sudarshan Physicist Margot Kidder Actor Rose to fame as Lois Lane in the 1978 film Superman, Tom Wolfe Writer and Journalist Joseph Campanella Character Actor V Balakumaran Tamil novelist Yamunabai Waikar Lavani singer In 2012, she was honoured with a Padma Shri Raghuvir Singh Freedom Fighter Last freedom fighter of Muzaffarnagar district Zhao Kangmin Chinese archaeologist Credited with discovering the ancient Terracotta Warriors Yaddanapudi Novelist Sulochana Rani Bansidhar Panda Industrialist Founder of Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) Philip Roth Author Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Gold Graphic Designer Hollywood s best-known creators of film posters, Vinod Bhatt Gujarati writer and humourist Geeta Kapoor, Actor Received fame from the movie Pakeezah Madala Ranga Rao Telugu Film Actor Popularly known as Red Star Lt. Gen. Zorawar One of India s most decorated Received the second-highest military decoration, Chand Bakshi Generals Maha Vir Chakra Lewis Myers Jr Civil rights attorney Alan Bean NASA astronaut Journeyed into space two times and became the fourth man to walk on the moon Siddu Nyamagouda Karnataka Congress MLA Kameshwar Paswan Politician Former Bihar minister Pandurang Phundkar Politician Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Rajinder Sachar Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Bhimsain Khurana Filmmaker C.V.Rajendran Movie Director Surendra Nihal Singh Journalist He was former Chief Editor of The Statesman and The Indian Express Barbara Bush Former US first lady Ajith Malayalam Actor MuninBarua Assamese film-maker T.V.R. Shenoy Journalist Nabi Tajima She was World s oldest known person. 117 years old. Dr Tony Daniel Athlete Joint secretary of All-India Athletic Federation and Chairman of its technical committee Kanu Gohain Former Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) N N Wig Doctor (Psychiatrist) He was the doyen of Psychiatry in India Admiral J G Nadkarni Former and 14th chief of naval staff He was the Navy chief between December 1, 1987 and November 30, 1990.
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Krishna Kumari Politician She was Rajmata of the erstwhile Marwar principality and former MP M.M. Jacob Politician He was former Meghalaya Governor JN Sadhu Journalist Kalpesh Yagnik Journalist Kabutari Devi Kumaoni folk singer Kavi Kumar Azad Actor He is best-known for his role of Dr Hansraj Haathi in the popular comedy show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah J. P. Vaswani Spiritual leader He was the spiritual head of The Sadhu Vaswani Mission Liliane Montevecchi Tony Award-winning French-Italian actress, singer, dancer and cabaret star Timothy Pereira Former Football Player He was 75. Robert Mandan TV Actor He was 86 Arabinda Guha Bengali Litterateur Known by his pseudonym Indramitra. He was 89 William Phipps Actor Gave the voice for Prince Charming in the animated Disney film Cinderella. He was 96 Anthony Bourdain Celebrity Chef US based was also a Television host for CNN series, Parts Unknown . He was 61. LP Shahi Politician Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister from Bihar. He was 98 Narayan Prasad Singh Lyricist Odisha based Singh was popularly known as Rasaraj. He was 86. Maria Bueno Tennis Player Hailed from Brazil He was 78 Shantaram Naik Politician Served as Goa Congress Leader. He was 73 David Douglas Duncan Photo Journalist Best known for his combat photographs captured during World War II. Hailed from America. He was 102. Laxman Patil–Bhosle Socialist Leader Popular as Lakhutatya, Patil was former vice- chairman of the Nashik District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCC) and founder chairman of Zilla Mazoor Federation. He was 84. Sukracharya Rabha Theatre Personality He was 41. Hailed from Assam Xavier Rutsa Journalist Hailing from Nagaland, he was also the president of the Kohima Press Club (KPC) He was 42. Shahzahan Bachchu Bangladeshi Writer and Publisher He was shot dead by unidentified 5 attackers in his ancestral village in Bangladesh. He was 60. Mulubha Jadeja Crickter He was right-handed batsman, represented Saurashtra and Railways between 1945 and 1964. He was 88 Adiraju Venkateswara Senior Journalist and writer He was 79 Rao John Chambers British Film and Television Finance Former senior member of BAFTA. He was 81. Executive
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Nerella Venumadhav Mimicry Artiste He was 85. Richard Alan Visual Effects Artist He was 71. Oscar-nominated artist. Greenberg Jamsheed Marker Pakistani Diplomat Listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the world s longest serving ambassador Charles Krauthammer Columnist Recipient of Pulitzer Prize Peter Thomson Australian Golfer He was 88 Kim Jong-pil Former South Korean Prime Minister He was 92 Professor B Sujatha Poet, Travel Writer Winner of Kerala Sahitiya Akademi award. Devi She was 72 Gautam Kanjilal Rock Climber and Mountaineer He was 69 Donald Hall Poet & writer He was 89 Moosa Aboobaker South African Indian cinema Industry He was 75 Moosa Personality Stanley Anderson Hollywood actor He was 78
Important Days
Important Days for upcoming BoB PO and SBI PO Exam:
July 2018
Date Day 1 July National Doctor s Day 2 July World Sports Journalists Day 11 July State Bank Foundation Day, World population day 15 July World Youth Skills Day 17 July World Day for International Justice 18 July Nelson Mandela International Day 28 July World Hepatitis Day 29 July International Tiger Day
August 2018
Date Day 7 August National Handloom Day 10 August World Bio-Fuel Day 12 August International Youth Day 13 August Organ Donation Day 19 August World Photography Day, World Humanitarian Day 20 August Sadbahavana Divas (Birth Anniversary of Shri. Rajiv Gandhi)
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23 August International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition 29 August National Sports Day
September 2018
Date Day 2 September World Coconut Day 5 September National Teachers Day 8 September International Literacy Day 10 September World Suicide Prevention Day 14 September Hindi Diwas 16 September International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 21 September International Day of Peace 25 September World Pharmacists Day 26 September World Environmental Health Day World Environmental Health Day 27 September World Tourism Day 28 September World Rabies Day 29 September World Heart Day 28 September 2017 World Maritime Day 30 September International Translation Day
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VISIT www.aspirantszone.com for New Pattern Questions in each section.
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