International
Affairs
The two day annual
summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) 2016 is
being held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
This
is a Eurasian economic, political and military organisation.
Aim : Jointly
preserving and safeguarding regional peace, security and stability and also
establishing a democratic, fair and rational new international political and
economic order.
SCO was established in Shanghai by the leaders 6 countries
viz. China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in the
year 2001.
Important Points Note :
India will
sign a memorandum of obligation in Tashkent today to join the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
India will also sign about 30 other documents during the
period of one year to become a permanent member of the SCO.
Nepali
citizens were banned by their country from working in Afghanistan,after 13 Nepali people were killed in
a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul.
According
to data from the European
Environment Agency released today, the European
Union achieved its 2020 greenhouse gas emission targets in2014, six years ahead of the
deadline.
In
2014, greenhouse gas emissions were lower by 24.4% when compared to the 1990
baseline.
Note :
The target was to achieve a 20% reduction on the 1990 baseline.
Europe's Sweden opened
its first ever electric road
today to provide power for heavy hybrid
electric transports on public roads on a pilot basis.
The
two-kilometre long electric road's technology is similar to the light rail,
with contact lines 5.4 meters over the roadway.
National
Affairs
Nagaland
Governor
PB Acharya today launched the women
helpline number '181' in Dimapur and inaugurated 'Sakhi - One Stop
Centre', an institute that supports women affected by violence.
The
helpline and centre are aimed to provide integrated assistance, medical, legal
and psychological counselling to women affected by violence.
Note :
The '181' helpline was first started in Delhi in 2012.
Mizoram
will
become the first hill state to launch a
two-wheeler taxi service, which will start operating from July.
Around
200 to 250 motorcycles will operate on the roads in the state capital Aizawl with fares starting at ₹10.
The
taxi service is aimed at controlling traffic in the city’s narrow roads while
boosting employment amongst the youth.
The Arunachal
Pradesh government has decided
to go paperless from August 15, in its endeavour to implement
e-governance in the state.
e-Office
suites will be made functional in the state’s civil secretariat to stop manual
movement of files.
Further,
all government files will be processed electronically to ensure speedy
decision-making and bring about transparency in the government processes.
The Jammu and
Kashmir government today ruled out a ban on the sale and trade of liquor.
Kerala
Governor
P Sathasivam today announced a new
development policy that ensures the generation of 2.5 million jobs in the IT, biotechnology, tourism, and
agriculture sectors in the next five
years.
The
model will also promote gender sensitivity and organic farming.
Further,
a department for the welfare of women and children will be set up in Kerala.
In
a bid to curb air pollution, the Chhattisgarh
government has decided to ban
trucks and buses older than 10 and 12 years, respectively.
Their
owners will be given one year to buy new commercial vehicles, the state's
Environment Conservation Board said.
Further,
permits will not be sanctioned to vehicles coming from other states that are
older than eight years.
Tamil
Nadu
today passed a bill seeking the
indirect election of Municipal Corporation mayors by councillors and not
by the people, as is the current practice.
The
bill's objective was to ensure better delivery of services to the public.
The Odisha government
today approved a proposal of the Panchayati Raj Department to add 500 new gram panchayats in the state.
This
will be implemented before the three-tier panchayat polls to be held in
2017.
Note :
Presently, Odisha has 6,211 gram panchayats.
Places in
News
Mahasthangarh, the 3rd
century BC archaeological site in Bogra, Bangladesh, has been declared as the South Asian Association of Regional
Cooperation (SARRC) cultural capital for the year 2016-17.
As
a SARRC cultural capital, the historic place will host festivals on literature,
films, foods and dances from October 2016 to September 2017.
Note :
Tthe year 2016-17 has also be declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.
The world's longest and tallest tunnel slide, Arcelor Mittal Orbit, which has 12
loops was opened to the public today in London,
UK.
The
584-feet long and 250-feet tall slide has been designed by British-Indian
artist Anish Kapoor and created by Belgian artist Carsten Holler.
It
has been transformed from UK's tallest artwork built for the London Olympics in
2012.
Awards
& Honors
IIT-Kanpur professor Sanjay
Mittal bagged the prestigious G
D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2015.
People in
News
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a
referendum.
The
Prime Minister had led the 'Remain' campaign which advocated staying in the EU.
Deepanshu
Jindal from Delhi has
topped the IIT JEE Main 2016 exam, the rankings of which were released
by the CBSE yesterday.
Pratyush Maini secured the second position and Rajesh Bansal
stood at third.
Around
11.28 lakh students had appeared for the exam to secure admissions to
engineering institutions like NITs and IIITs.
Science
& Technology
The scientists have developed d a microchip, named Kilo Core that has 1000 independent
programmable processors.
The
microchip is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and has the highest
clock-rate processor ever designed at the university level.
The Defence Research
& Development Organisation (DRDO) is collaborating with the Jadavpur University to start a ₹100-crore
research centre aimed at developing technologies related to cyber security and
robotics for the defence forces.
The
foundation stone for the 'Jagadish Chandra Bose Centre for Advanced Technology'
was laid yesterday and the centre is expected to be ready within two years.
Business
& Economy
Britain
voted to end its 43-year old association with the
European Union in a landmark referendum today.
The
country voted 52%-48% in favour of 'Leave' to become the first member state to exit the 28-nation European Union.
The British Pound
has dropped to a 31-year-low of
1.35 against the US Dollar with voting on the Brexit referendum leaning towards
Britain ‘leaving’ the European Union.
Note :
The drop in the British currency marks its biggest intra-day fall in history.
Britain's central bank, The Bank of England, today announced it will provide £250 billion to ease the country's financial
markets.
This
comes amid the UK's stock markets suffering huge losses following the nation's
exit from the European Union.
Further,
the bank has also planned several measures to deal with a "period of
uncertainty and adjustment", it added.
The Haryana government
today decided to provide 100% rebate in
property tax for residential, commercial, and institutional
properties.
The
rebate would be given for a year– from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017.
The
government had earlier waived electricity dues for consumers whose properties
were damaged or looted during the Jat quota agitation.
New
Appointments
Nokia
today
announced the appointment of Sanjay
Malik, the current Head of Network Implementation at Nokia Global
Services, as the new head of Indian
market, effective August 1st.
He
will be replacing Sandeep Girotra, who was promoted to the head of Asia-Pacific
and Japan market after serving as the head of Indian market for about five
years.
Deaths
Pioneer of Indian quizzing, Neil O'Brien (82) passed away.
An
educationist, Neil has been credited with conducting the first formal quiz in
India in 1967.
He
was a three-time nominated MLA in West Bengal, leader of the Anglo-Indian
community and Managing Director of Oxford University Press, India.
Sports
Indian women’s team all-rounder and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first Indian female cricketer to sign for an
overseas T20 league, after the BCCI allowed their participation in
international leagues earlier this month.
Kaur has signed up for the current Women’s Big Bash League
champions, Sydney Thunder, for the second season of the league in
December-January.
Following
their silver medal win in the Champions Trophy in London this month, the Indian men’s hockey team has risen two
places to number five in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.
Note :
This is only the second time India has managed to break through in the top five
since the ranking system was started in 2003.
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