Daily Current Affairs For Competitive Exam - 2nd July 2016

International Affairs

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan launched a Program to help advance educational opportunities for Afghan women.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Promote Scholarship Program will provide aid to 720 Afghan women over the next five years.

United States President Barack Obama today signed into law measures to give the public greater access to government documents and records under the Freedom of Information Act.

The new law requires agencies to consider releasing records instead of presuming the information is secret. 

It also places a 25-year-limit on the government's ability to withhold documents related to decision-making.

Austria's Constitutional Court today ruled that the presidential elections must be held again, as irregularities were found in the counting of over 700,000 ballots. 

The court said there was enough doubt over the result, as Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen had won the elections by 30,863 votes. 

It said there is no proof that the count was actively manipulated.

India withheld from voting at a United Nations Human Rights Council session today to appoint an investigator to help protect homosexuals and transgender people from violence and discrimination. 

The 47-member forum ultimately voted in favour of the bid, with 23 states for and 18 against it. 

Note : India, South Africa, and the Philippines were among the six abstainers.

The main Opposition in Mongolia, the Mongolian People's Party (MPP) has returned to power after 4 years by winning 65 seats in the 76-member parliament. 

MPP is the former communist party which ruled Mongolia for 70 years before its transition to democracy. 

The outgoing Democratic Party won nine seats with the public reportedly blaming it for the country's "economic woes".

National Affairs

Today (1st July 2016) is National Doctors' Day.

This day is observed in India to honour the contributions of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (1st July 1882 – 1st July 1962), former West Bengal Chief Minister who was also a physician.

Born in 1882, the legendary physician, who was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1961, died on his birthday in 1962.

The 2nd BRICS Youth Summit has begun in Guwahati today.

Theme of this year : "Youth as bridge for intra-BRICS exchanges" 

Several foreign delegates, including ministers and heads of executive authorities on youth affairs from BRICS nations, will participate in the three-day summit. 

The summit will focus on skill development, entrepreneurship, and youth participation in governance.

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has launched ‘Prashikshak’- an online teacher education portal for District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). 

The Prashikshak portal was launched by the Union HRD minister Smriti Iraniin New Delhi.  

It seeks to strengthen DIETs and bring quality teachers into the school education system.

The Kerala government has decided to ban the production, sale, and advertisement of e-cigarettes in the view of studies claiming that its use can cause health issues like cancer and heart ailments.

The Union Railway Ministry has launched Nivaran portal, an online system for redressal of service related grievance of serving and former Railway employees. 

It was launched by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at function held in Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. 

New Appointments

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy was given additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh during JP Rajkhowa’s absence on leave.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was today appointed as the lead independent director ofNike's Board. 

Cook, a Nike director since 2005, is Chairman of the Board’s Compensation Committee and also serves as a member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. 

Note : Cook's appointment comes after Nike Chairman Phil Knight retired from the Nike's Board of Directors.

Awards & Honors

Indian writer P T Bopannas's book The Romance of Indian Coffee has been chosen as the Worlds Best Book on Coffee at The Gourmand World Awards function at Yantai in China.

The Romance of Indian Coffee was published in 2011, and takes a 360-degree view of Indian coffee.

The Gourmand Awards celebrate global cookbook and wine book publishing, and feature many world-renowned chefs each year.

Business & Economy

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India, on the occasion of 61st State Bank Day, launched a social media banking platform for Facebook and Twitter users, called ‘SBI Mingle’.

This will help the customers with a host of banking services on their social media accounts, at their own convinience. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has today announced that it will accept pre-2005 banknotes only at its select branches from today as majority of the old series banknotes have been withdrawn.

Note : RBI is pulling out the pre-2005 banknotes because of fewer security features compared to banknotes printed after 2005.

The Union Government has decided to enhance financial powers of its Ministries, Departments for appraisal and approval of Non-Plan Schemes or Projects. 

In this regard, Union Finance Ministry has issued a notification in order to expedite appraisal and approval process in the Union Government Ministries and Departments. 

Deaths

American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, Alvin Toffler (87) passed away.

Toffler is a former associate editor of Fortune magazine.

In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "information overload." 

In 1970 his first major book about the future, Future Shock, became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies.

Renowned Marathi literary scholar Dr. Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere (86) passed away.

He was an Insightful scholar who has unraveled the Cultural linkage between the past and the present through his path-breaking literally research. 

Science & Technology

The first squadron of indigenously designed and manufactured Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was inducted into Indian Air Force (IAF). 

State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first two Tejas aircrafts to IAF as part squadron at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru. 

Google today announced 'Nougat' as the name for the upcoming Android version 'Android N', continuing the dessert-themed names for the operating system.

'Nougat' refers to the family of sweets made from honey, nuts and egg white. 

This was the first time that the company crowd-sourced the name of the mobile operating system.

12 Indian students have been selected to participate in the prestigious "International Space Settlement Design Competition" (ISSDC) at National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) in Florida, US.

They won the Asian regional round against teams from countries including Pakistan, China, Japan and Korea, to reach this stage.

India’s first integrated Defence Communication Network (DCN) was launched by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in South Block, Delhi.

The network will enable India Army, Air force, Navy and the Special Forces Command to share situational awareness for a faster decision-making process. 

Sports

The Italian Cricket Board President Simone Gambino, has today revealed that Cricket will be a part of the 2024 Olympics if Rome gets to host the tournament.

As per new rules, host cities will have the opportunity to add five sports to the Games.

Other cities vying for host status are Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest, with France also keen to add cricket.

Russian 800-metre runner Yuliya Stepanova, who helped expose the Russian athletics' systematic doping, will be the first neutral athlete to compete at the Rio Olympics. 

The 29-year-old passed the IAAF doping review board's "exceptional eligibility" guidelines that allow individually-cleared athletes to participate in Rio. 

Over 80 Russian athletes have applied to IAAF for "exceptional eligibility".

Anil Kumble, the newly appointed Indian team coach, will continue as the Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee. 

Earlier it was being speculated that Kumble might have to step down from the post after his appointment as India's coach.