Current Affairs Current Affairs - 7 July 2016

General Affairs

Sri Lankan Court Remands 17 Indian Fishermen To Judicial Custody

RAMESWARAM: Seventeen fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were arrested by Sri Lankan naval personnel for allegedly fishing in their territorial water, were today remanded to judicial custody till July 20 by a court in the island country.

The fishermen from Nagapattinam had set out for fishing in two mechanised boats and they were arrested yesterday off Neduntheevu in Sri Lanka, according to Nagapattinam Fisheries Joint Director Subburaj.

They were today taken to a court which remanded them to judicial custody, he said.

They have been lodged in a prison at Jaffna, Mr Subburaj said.

Venkaiah Naidu Says Cabinet Reshuffle Evoked Favourable Reaction

NEW DELHI: Justifying the latest expansion of Union Council of Ministers, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said 78 ministers were not a large number for a country as large and diverse as India.

Speaking to reporters after taking over charge from his Cabinet colleague and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he said yesterday's reshuffle had evoked a favourable reaction from people and even from some rival leaders.

There are some people, who, however, cannot take a positive view of anything, he added.

"The Constitution allows 15 per cent of the strength of Lok Sabha for the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. We are well within that and it is a huge country. We have inherited huge problems and it needs a huge effort.

"For a country of our size and range of issues to be addressed, coordination with states and three tier institutions, I think 78 ministers is not certainly large," he said.

"The Prime Minister's focus is more on delivery. It needs effective coordination, monitoring, that is why these inductions are made," Mr Naidu, who was earlier in charge of Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, said.

Rival parties have raised questions over the increase in the size of the Council of ministers in the context of PM's mantra of 'minimum government and maximum governance'.

On the shifting of Smriti Irani from HRD to Textiles Ministry, Mr Naidu asked reporters not to read too much into it.

"The person who you are talking about is also a dynamic person," he said, adding, the decision regarding portfolios is the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

"I don't think anybody is unhappy about this," he said. Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Naidu said he is the "hope of the nation" and after long time the country has a combination of a stable government and an able leader.

Flanked by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, Mr Naidu thanked Mr Jaitley for having given quality time and attention to the important ministry despite his preoccupation with Finance Ministry and the economy and said he would broadly like to carry on with the same approach.

He said his mission would be to ensure various media units of the government emerge as credible brands serving the cause of information to the people.

On a question about religious leader Zakir Naik's speeches, Mr Naidu said, "We have time to study all these aspects" and added that he would be communicative and outspoken on issues.

Maharashtra's Pandharpur Gets World's Largest Toilet Facility

PANDHARPUR: Maharashtra's temple town Pandharpur is all set to get the world's biggest toilet facility to serve to the needs of over three lakh pilgrims who throng the shrine to seek the blessings of Lord Vitthal, the state's presiding deity.

Giving a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 'Clean India Campaign', NGO Sulabh International has constructed a cluster of eight mega toilet complexes -- comprising 1,417 toilet units -- in the vicinity of the temple in Pandharpur.

"So far, we have completed first two phases and by the end of next year there will be total 2,858 toilet units," Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak said on Tuesday.

"This will be the largest toilet facility as before this China had the largest toilet facility having 1,000 toilet units. But now we have outnumbered them," he added.

Pandharpur is famous for the temple of Lord Vitthal or Vithoba and his consort Rakhumai -- manifestation of Lord Vishnu's incarnation Krishna and Rukmini. Millions of devotees, who are known as Varkaris, congregate here throughout the year for pilgrimage. The largest annual congregation is around the Ashadhi Ekadashi -- the 11th day of the Hindu lunar month of Ashadh.

With the opening of the eight three-storeyed mega toilet buildings, over 1.5 lakh persons will be able to use the toilets daily.

The toilet complexes also comprise bathing facility for several hundred persons simultaneously. The project was financed and supported by the Maharashtra government.

Four buildings were operational for the last one year and now four more such structures will be operational ahead of the pilgrimage.

With the completion of the mega toilet blocks, Sulabh International claims "the project has attained the status of largest toilet facility of the world".

Each of the newly built complex consists of 282 toilet and bath compartments and provides facility of lockers as well as changing rooms for devotees.

Dr Pathak supported the ongoing campaign of the Prime Minister to make India Open Defecation Free.

He said that to make India free of open defection by 2019, funds are needed and nearly 12 crore toilets are required to be built by 2019 to realise the dream of the Prime Minister.

"This is a big task, but together we can do it and Non Resident Indians can play a pivotal role in this," Dr Pathak said.

Locals appreciated the cause, saying it would help in reducing the number of people going out for defecation.

A resident of Pandharpur, Rahul Jadhav says that open defecation has always been a problem in the city. During pilgrimage the problem used to aggravate because of lack of toilets. Pilgrims would be forced to opt for open defecation.

"With the construction of toilet complexes, the number of people opting for open defecation will certainly go down," Mr Jadhav told Indo-Asian News Service.

July month attracts a crowd of over a million people in Pandarpur for "Pandharpur Wari" -- the 22-day long annual pilgrimage that dates back to 800 years.

During the pilgrimage Varkaris' take out 'Palki' or palanquin of Lord Vitthal and revered saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram from the place of their 'Samadhi' or the place they received enlightenment at. The spiritual pilgrimage and fest ends on Ashadhi Ekadashi, which falls on July 15 this year.

In A First, Black Money Scheme Ads To Feature On Airline Boarding Passes

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind nationwide publicity drive, Income Tax Department has tied up with seven airlines including Air India and Vistara to publise one-time black money compliance window by printing the scheme's details on the back of boarding passes.

Armed with a total budget of Rs. 100 crore, it will employ the services of the government's publicity department, DAVP, to advertise the four-month window provided to domestic black money holders to come clean by paying a total tax and penalty of 45 per cent. It will also hold townhall meetings.

The Income Tax Department has tied up with seven airlines for Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016. These include Air India, Spicejet, Indigo, Vistara and Air Asia.

"Beginning July 15 till September 30, the backside of the boarding passes issued by these airlines will have information relating to the IDS," an official said.

The department, which has a total budget of Rs. 100 crore for IDS, will set aside some of the amount for publicity.

Also, at townhall meetings, it will issue bookmarks instead of pamphlets, as people tend to throw them away, the official added.

The Income Tax Department has also asked its officers to make "all-out efforts" to attract potential declarants by assuring them of confidential and hassle-free disclosures.

In order to give wide publicity, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has suggested putting up posters about the scheme, at places frequented by possible declarants, like club houses, posh markets and showrooms of high-end products.

The four-pronged strategy prepared by CBDT for the success of IDS includes single-point contact for confidentiality, setting up of facilitation centres across the country, giving wide publicity and monitoring at the highest level.

Excited To 'Take Off' At Civil Aviation Ministry, Says Jayant Sinha

NEW DELHI: Shifted out of the Finance Ministry, Jayant Sinha today said he is excited to "take off" in his new role as the Minister of State for Civil Aviation.

After taking charge of his new portfolio, he met senior colleague Ashok Gajapathi Raju and other officials at the ministry including Secretary RN Choubey.

Former Minister of State Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma was also present.

"Excited to 'take off' at Civil Aviation Ministry under @Ashok_Gajapathi Ji's guidance," Mr Sinha said in a tweet.

A member of the Lok Sabha representing Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Mr Sinha studied at IIT, Delhi, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School.

By profession, he is a venture capital management consultant and hedge fund manager. He is also a global expert on entrepreneurship and technology, according to an official release.

In another tweet, Mr Sinha, who was earlier Minister of State for Finance, thanked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for all his support and guidance.

"Thanked my team at @FinMinIndia for all their long hours and terrific work!," he tweeed.

In a major reshuffle yesterday, Mr Sinha was moved from all-important Finance Ministry which has been attributed in some quarters to his 'speaking out of turn' on certain occasions.

Business Affairs

FIPB clears FDI proposals worth Rs 643 crore

Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared four FDI proposals entailing overseas investment of about Rs 643 crore.

The inter-ministerial panel, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, has approved Rs 420 crore FDI proposal of Advanced Enzyme Technologies which intends to sell its stake to foreign investors by making fresh issuance of shares.

FIPB has also given its approval to Corona Remedies Private's investment worth Rs 118 crore. The company had sought approval for foreign investment of 19.51 per cent by Mauritius-based Cydista, a Finance Ministry statement said.

The board also cleared proposals of Macmillan Publishers International and Ordain Health Care Global, entailing investment flow of Rs 28.20 crore and Rs 77.05 crore, respectively.

While, proposals of Flag Telecom Singapore and Star Den Media Services were rejected by the board.

Also, eight proposals including that of IBM India, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Oxigen Services were deferred.

FIPB can clear FDI proposals envisaging investment of up to Rs 5,000 crore and those involving higher investment are approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

FDI in most sectors are allowed through an automatic route but in certain sectors proposals have to go through the FIPB.

India may lose 6.4 lakh IT jobs by 2021: Report

India, long considered as home to IT and business services, is set to lose its sweet spot in the global industry.

The country is projected to lose around 6,40,000 low-skilled positions during the next five years, says a report by US firm HfS Research.

India's $150 billion IT industry is said to employ about 10 million people.
The report attributes the likely job loss to a large number of non-customer facing roles at the low-skill level, with a significant amount of "back office" processing and IT support work likely to be automated and consolidated across a smaller number of workers.

It focuses on the true impact of Intelligent Automation on job creation and elimination in the global IT services and business process services industries.

Meanwhile, the report says the world's largest economy US is likely to lose 7,70,000 low-skilled positions by 2021.

However, the job loss on the lower levels is likely to be compansated by the additions to the workforce in the mid/high value skills segment. HfS forecasts that the UK will create 131,000 new services jobs (16% growth), India will add 160,000 (14% growth) and the US will lag with 7% expected growth (173,000 new jobs).

In terms of new job creation as a result of automation, HfS expects the Philippines to make the move higher up the mid/high value skills value chain (48% growth, albeit from a low base).

In addition, HfS forecasts that the UK will create 131,000 new services jobs (16% growth), India will add 160,000 (14% growth) and the US will lag with 7% expected growth (173,000 new jobs). These forecasts are based on the make up of the workforces, education levels and future anticipated IT/business services work for enterprises.

The government's new aviation policy stops short of global best practices.

The aviation sector is abuzz with action. After clearing the national civil aviation policy, the government has relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, allowing 100 per cent FDI in scheduled domestic carriers - up from 49 per cent. The policy aims to make India the third-largest aviation market by 2022. It also replaced the 5/20 rule (five years of domestic experience and minimum 20 aircraft) to settle for the 0/20 rule for international operations and put a Rs 2,500 cap on per-hour flights on specific routes.

This is the first time an integrated civil aviation policy has been brought out in India. Nevertheless, there are some misses. For instance, the prime minister could have demonstrated his commitment to "minimum government, maximum governance" by reducing the government's involvement in the sector.

At present, there are multiple government agencies regulating the sector. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for instance, is responsible for air safety and standards and crew training, while Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) regulates tariff and other charges. There are various other authorities under the aviation ministry, too.

In fact, most airlines have found it difficult to deal with the various layers of government agencies. DGCA is guilty of functioning at a slow pace. The launch of Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines airline, for instance, was delayed by four months. Recently, its new plane couldn't fly for 15 days after landing at New Delhi airport as DGCA did not give it the airworthy approval.

The policy should also have taken cues from global trends. Big aviation markets across the world, including the US, China and the UK, do not have dedicated aviation ministries. In the US, a much larger aviation market with a commercial aircraft fleet of 6,871 as compared to India's 450, aviation matters are entirely handled by one agency - the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Setting up an independent authority along the lines of FAA would have been a good idea.

The policy also did not mention the government's intent for Air India, despite the fact that the draft policy released in 2014 had talked about forming an expert committee to build a roadmap for the loss-making airline. The carrier was given a package of Rs 30,000 crore in 2012, but its performance has barely improved. The recent uptick in performance - the government says that Air India is set to make an operating profit in 2015/16 - can be largely attributed to low prices of aviation turbine fuel. Even the relaxation of the 5/20 rule does not make much difference. If an airline places an order for 20 aircraft today, the delivery of the last plane will happen four years down the line due to the huge order book of Boeing and Airbus.

There are no doubts that the government's interference in Indian aviation is less compared to other industries, but the new policy should have liberalised the sector more.

Will work on increasing minerals' share in GDP by 1%: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, who assumed the charge of Mines Minister on Wednesday, said he will work towards increasing the share of the mines and minerals sector in the GDP by 1 per cent in the next 2-3 years.

Goyal, the Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy took the additional charge of Mines Ministry from Narendra Singh Tomar, who has been shifted to the Rural Development Ministry in a Cabinet reshuffle.

"We will work on a growth of 30-35 per cent annually in terms of the volume of minerals mined, which would help us in increasing mining's share in GDP by 1 per cent in 2-3 years," Goyal told reporters here after taking the charge from Tomar.

At present, mining's share in the country's GDP is 2.4 per cent.

When asked about merger of the Coal and Mines Ministries, he said: "We will see that at an appropriate time. The Prime Minister and senior ministers will take a call on this. But, I must say this government works on synergy and is performance oriented."

The government has merged the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the External Affairs Ministry in sync with its broad principle of 'minimum government, maximum governance', he added.

Goyal also said he will talk with the officials in the Mines Ministry on creating an app which will inform people about the status of the mines, the minerals extracted as well as on export and import of minerals.

Tomar exuded confidence that the Mines sector will touch new heights under Goyal.

Congratulating Tomar for bigger role at Rural Development Ministry, Goyal said he has done an outstanding job by improving the basic infrastructure of mining sector.

The government claims it has made India the most open country as far as FDI is concerned. That may be a bit of an exaggeration.

On June 20, around 3 pm, a tweet from the Twitter handle of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) made a big claim - India has become the most open economy in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI). Around the same time, officials of the commerce ministry were organising a hurried press conference to provide the finer details of the tweet. India had just announced its latest round of FDI reforms and the officials, and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself, took pains to elaborate what it would mean for India's economic growth. Incidentally, the annual update brought out by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on FDI - the World Investment Report 2016 - also being released the same day, put India in the 10th position in terms of global FDI inflow in 2015. It also stated that multinational enterprises perceive India to be the third best country after the US and China in terms of investment attractiveness.

Earlier during the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened a meeting of some of his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials from the ministries of finance and commerce, and key stakeholders like representatives of government think-tank Niti Aayog, to further liberalise the rules governing FDI inflow. The key sectors were defence, civil aviation, pharmaceuticals, retail, food products, animal husbandry and private security industry. Modi himself had tweeted the decision as "a measure to boost employment, job creation and benefit the economy".

Ever since India decided to take the path of economic liberalisation in 1991, successive Central governments have been easing FDI norms in various sectors. While the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments have been credited with some reforms, the NDA governments - earlier under Atal Behari Vajpayee and now under Modi - have been more enthusiastic about FDI reforms. Modi, who has visited close to three dozen countries in the past two years, has always considered inbound FDI as part of his agenda. Hence, even if one questions India's claim to be the most FDI-friendly economy in the world, the fact that India has been one of the most attractive FDI destinations globally ever since the Modi government took charge two years ago cannot be ignored. The $55.46-billion inflow in 2015/16 was the highest ever, and the $45.15 billion in 2014/15 was the second highest. True, approximately one-fifth of these inflows during both the years were re-invested earnings of foreign companies operating in India (as India's FDI figure is a combination of all types of foreign investments including remittances from non-resident-Indians), but the trend pretty much remains the same.

The Changes

The reforms in the defence sector were a direct improvement on what the government had announced last November - foreign investments that add up to 49 per cent in defence without a need for government approval (through automatic route) and a higher level of investment with government permission if it results in transfer of 'state-of-the-art' technology. The current revision, however, makes it easier for companies to invest even in mundane technologies. In other words, the prerequisite of 'state-of-the-art' is gone. In addition, the 'small arms and ammunition segment' was also opened up for FDI. Since India has so far attracted just $5.12 million as defence sector FDI, the latest reform could be seen as the government's last-ditch effort to bring in FDI to the defence sector. The problem is, for the reforms to catch the attention of foreign investors, there should also be an assured market for defence products. Either the companies should be able to supply to the sole Indian buyer - the defence sector - or find an economically viable way to export it. And if that happens, the sector will certainly have the potential to create new manufacturing capacities, new jobs and boost the economy.

The second major policy shift is in food products. The government has now allowed 100 per cent FDI, with government approval, in trading, including e-commerce, of food products manufactured in India. While some call it an attempt to allow backdoor entry of multi-brand retail outlets such as Walmart, questions remain over the attractiveness of large-format retail chains that handle exclusively India-made food products. Walmart's India chief Krish Iyer told Business Today that the company is waiting for the policy document before it can make any commitment. "It is not practical. The consumer pattern in India is changing. They want products that are of international standard. It would not make sense for me to not to keep those products," says Vaibhav Singhal, MD & CEO of Savemax, a wholesale and retail chain.

Even if the changes in FDI policy are not to have an impact on the brick-and-mortar retail business, it has the potential to bring in new players in the online food products and perishable business space in future.

Diluting the local sourcing norms for bringing in FDI in single-brand retail companies - yet another decision taken by the government that can have an impact on the entry of global single-brand retail giants like Apple or IKEA - are also awaiting clarity at the moment. "The government has said that the local sourcing norms for products that are cutting-edge and state-of-the art will be applicable only after eight years. But the government is yet to define what is cutting-edge," says a stakeholder who did not wish to be identified. The local sourcing norms for single-brand retail companies, in general, also have a three-year relaxation in the current FDI norm revision. Easing the FDI restrictions on sectors such as animal husbandry and private security industry are also capable of adding jobs, though the FDI inflow may not be significant in value terms.

The Tweaks

Then come a set of reforms that can primarily attract financial investments, but offer very less scope for job creation - pharmaceuticals, for instance. Since the existing policy already allowed 100 per cent FDI through automatic route for greenfield projects, the only change that could have happened was in the case of brownfield assets, where government clearance was needed on a case-by-case basis. The latest amendment relaxed that condition by allowing foreign companies to acquire up to 74 per cent in existing Indian pharmaceutical companies without any government nod. Beyond that, it continues to remain in the approval route.

Since the change only impacts brownfield projects, what can happen will be easy takeover of Indian companies. "A sticky issue for M&A deals has been the non-compete issue, as non-compete proposals were not permitted without approval. The press release (government FDI policy announcement) is silent, but one would hope that every aspect of the deal, including non-compete clauses, should be under the automatic route so long as the investment is 74 per cent or below," says Rajat Mukherjee, Partner, Khaitan & Co. The government's decision to make takeover of domestic drug companies easy has been criticised by civil society groups that depend on India's low-cost generic supply to carry on with their global humanitarian programmes. "By allowing 74 per cent FDI in pharma under the automatic route and by progressively removing the conditions that FDI be linked to technology transfer and local production (greenfield investments), India has undermined a key component that contributed to the development of the generic industry," says Leena Menghaney, Head, South Asia, MSF (Medicines Sans Frontieres) Access Campaign.

In some cases, though, even investments seem unlikely. Take, for instance, the decision to allow 100 per cent FDI through automatic route in sectors such as broadcasting carriage services and civil aviation. These sectors had seen FDI norm relaxation in November 2015 itself and a further tweak in seven months seems to indicate that the earlier efforts did not bring in desired results. "We are unlikely to see investors suddenly rushing to invest in airlines just because the cap of 49 per cent has been removed," says Peeyush Naidu, Partner, Deloitte India. "Also remember that investment by foreign airlines is still capped at 49 per cent."

Global Pressure

UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2016 says that global FDI, which jumped 38 per cent to $1.76 trillion, its highest level since the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009, was driven by developing countries of Asia. Three quarters of the total inflows into developing Asia went to Hong Kong (China), China, Singapore and India. With competition rising among countries to attract more FDI, reform is more of a compulsion, it hints. "In 2015, 46 countries and economies adopted 96 policy measures affecting foreign investment. Of these measures, 71 related to liberalisation, promotion and facilitation of investment, while 13 introduced new restrictions or regulations on investment. Nearly half (42 per cent) of all policy measures were undertaken by Asian developing economies," it adds.

UNCTAD reveals that India and China were among the most active emerging economies in Asia to open up various industries. "China allowed foreign companies to set up bank card clearing companies and loosened restrictions on foreign investment in the real estate market. It also allowed full ownership of e-commerce business and designated Beijing for a pilot program for opening up certain service sectors," the report said. China also revised its 'Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries' to prune the sectors where FDI is prohibited.

It is too early to say whether the latest round of FDI reforms will result in investments that augment existing manufacturing or service capacities of Indian industry. In fact, there is a weak correlation between India's GDP growth and growth in FDI inflow. Hence, the decision may certainly result in acquisitions and takeovers in at least some sectors like pharma. Promoters will gain and, statistically speaking, India will be seen as a country that has successfully attracted more foreign funds. However, FDI reforms, unless followed up with a series of industry-specific reforms, may not attract investments that create jobs. If the government's prime objective in attracting FDI is job creation, a lot more needs to be done.

General Awareness

Latest Current Affairs - June 2016

Appointments

P Dhanapal re-elected as Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker.

Suresh Chandra is appointed as Union Law Secretary.

A.K. Mittal appointed as Member Engineering of Railway Board.

Adobe appointed Kulmeet Bawa as Managing Director (MD) for South Asia.

Ashok Lavasa appointed as Finance Secretary of India.

Bharti Airtel appointed Ashok Ganapathy as Director (Airtel Business).

Bharti Group Chief Sunil Bharti Mittal has been elected chairman of International Chambers of Commerce (ICC).

Bipin R Patel appointed as President of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) for2016-17.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Anil Kumble as head coach of Indian Cricket Team.

Bollywood actress Dia Mirza was named as the ambassador for Swachh Saathi (student internship) programme.

Brijesh Mehra is appointed as head of corporate banking at RBL (Formerly Ratnakar Bank Limited).

CR Sasikumar is appointed as Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore (SBT).

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Shashi Kant Sharmahas been conferred with honorary professorship by Nanjing Audit University (China).

DBS Bank appointed Niraj Mittal as Managing Director and Head of Institutional Banking for India.

Dr. Thomas Mathew appointed as Additional Secretary to the President

Exide Life Insurance appointed cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador, to be featusred in its marketing campaign - Lamba saath, bharose Ki baat.

Facebook appointed Umang Bedi as managing director for India Operations.

Food and Beverage multinational firm Nestle named Ulf Mark Schneider as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Former MP and cricketer Chetan Chauhan has been appointed as chairman of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).

G Kalyanakrishnan is appointed as Chief Executive of Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC).

Government appointed NS Vishwanathan as deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Other 3 Deputy RBI Governors are - R Gandhi, S S Mundra, Urjit Patel.

Gudni Johannesson won 2016 Presidential elections of Iceland.

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal has been re-elected to IATA(International Air Transport Association)'s Board of Governors for 5th successive tenure.

K Chari is appointed as Managing Director of State Bank of Mysore (SBM).

Ken Miyauchi has been appointed as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group.

Leading Payments platform PayPal appointed Anupam Pahuja as Managing Director (MD) and Country Manager for India operations.

M Beena is appointed as Managing Director of Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.

N Srinivasan re-elected as president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for 15th consecutive term.

Navin Agarwal appointed as Director General (DG) of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Nokia appointed Sanjay Malik as new head for India operations.

Noted Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway named as Global Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women.

P Sreeramakrishnan elected as speaker of 14th legislative assembly of Kerala.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski elected as President of Peru.

Per Lodin (Sweden) appointed as chief military observer and head of UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Peter Thomson (Fiji) has been elected as President of 71st session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Prabhas Kumar Jha appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Rakesh Ranjan Prasad appointed as Chief Justice of Manipur High Court.

Ranu Langthasa appointed as chairperson of NC Hills Autonomous Council.

Satya Pal Jain appointed as a part-time member of 21st Law Commission of India.

Shahid Rasool has been appointed as new director of Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA).

South African Indian-origin lawyer Yasmin Sooka has been appointed to chairman of UN commission (committee) to monitor human rights situation in South Sudan.

Sujoy Bose has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) Ltd.

Supriya Sahu appointed as Director General of Doordarshan.

Suzuki Motor Corp appointed Toshihiro Suzuki as its next Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

T Haque is appointed head of newly created land policy cell in NITI Aayog.

V. Vaithilingam is elected as Speaker of Puducherry legislative Assembly.

Virginia Raggi has been elected as first female mayor of Italy's capital Rome.

Awards

2016 IIFA awards (17th International Indian Film Academy Awards) held in Madrid (Spain). Winners List -

Best Picture - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Direction - Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Bajirao Mastani

Best Actor (Male) Award - Ranveer Singh for Bajirao Mastani

Best Supporting Actor (Male) - Anil Kapoor for DilDhadhakne Do

Best Actor (Female) - Deepika Padukone for Piku

Best Supporting Actor (Female) - Priyanka Chopra for Bajirao Mastani

Other Awards

Best Music Direction: Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros, Anjjan and Amaal Mallik forRoy

Best Story - Juhi Chaturvedi for Piku

Best Performance in Negative role Award: Darshan Kumaar for NH 10

Best Performance in a Comic Role Award: Deepak Dobriyal for Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Best Male Playback Singer Award: Papon for 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage', Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Female Playback Singer Award: Monali Thakur for 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage', Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Lyric Writer: Varun Grover for 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage', Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Special award for Woman of the Year: Priyanka Chopra

Bethool Ajmal from Kerala named as winner of The Little Miss Princess of Asia 2016 at a beauty pageant held in Georgia.

Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood chosen for 2016 Pen Pinter Prize.

Deshauna Barber, a serving Army Reserve officer has crowned as Miss USA 2016. She became first Military Person to be crownwd Miss USA. Miss Hawaii Chelsea Hardin came first runner-up and Miss Georgia Emanii Davis is second runner-up.

Five-time World chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has been conferred with Honoris Causa Doctor of Science by Indian Institute Of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) during its 49th convocation ceremony.

Four Indian-Americans honoured with Great Immigrants: The Pride of America Award 2016.

Sunder Pichai - CEO of Google.

Hari Sreenivasan - Broadcast journalist associated with the PBS NewsHour.

Vikram Malhotra - McKinsey.

Bharati Mukherjee - Professor emerita in department of English at University of California (Berkeley).

IIT-Kanpur professor Sanjay Mittal has been awarded 25th GD Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2015, for his contributions in area of Mechanics.

Indian American author Akhil Sharma won 2016 International Dublin Literary Award for his semi-autobiographical novelFamily Life.

Indian diabetes specialist Shashank S Shah conferred with Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award 2016.

Indian social entrepreneur Zubaida Bai has been named among ten 2016 Global Compact SDG Pioneers, an initiative launched by United Nations.

Indian-origin professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya awarded prestigious Regius Professorship in Manufacturing by Queen Elizabeth II. He is founder of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and has been granted Regius Professorship for his contribution in manufacturing.

Jadavpur University (Kolkata) won 12th National Youth Parliament Competition for Universities and Colleges conducted by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Kannada Movie Thithi won 2 awards - Best Film and Best Script Writers at 19th Shanghai International Film Festival, under Asia New Talent Awards Category.

Karnataka Bank won CFBP (Council for Fair Business Practices) Jamnalal Bajaj award for fair business practices.

Lakshmi Saravana Kumar, Tamil writer won 2016 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar award (Tamil) for his novel “Kaanakan”.

N Ramachandran, president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been honoured with Olympic Order by International Olympic Committee (IOC) for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement.

National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) awarded Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with Honorary Fellowship in UK for his contributions to world peace and culture.

Noted Indian footballer Syed Nayeemuddin will be conferred with the 2016 Mohun Bagan Ratna (Mohun Bagan Jewel) Award.

Paradip Port Trust received Best Performance Award from Shipping Ministry, in efficiency parameters for year 2015-16.

Qatar-based Indian banker Raghavan Seetharaman has been awarded by Green Economy Visionary award at 2016 Union of Arab Banks International Banking Summit held in Rome.

R Seetharaman (Group CEO of Doha Bank) has been honoured with 2016 Green Economy Visionary Award for his contribution in environment-friendly activities.

Rashmi Narzary has won the 2016 Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar award (English) for her collection of short stories His Share of Sky.

Ridley Scott will be honoured with 30th American Cinematheque Award.

Russia has honoured UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Order of Friendship Award.

Russian ice hockey winger Artemi Panarin won 2015-16 season Calder Memorial Trophy at US National Hockey League (NHL’s) Rookie of the Year at NHL Awards ceremony.

Sansad Ratna Awards given to 5 MPs - BJP's PP Chaudhary, Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Shrirang Appa Barne, Raajeev Shankarrao Satav, Shivaji Adhalrao Patil and P Rajeev.

Sudarsan Pattnaik, noted Indian sand artist won gold medal in People’s Choice Prize at 2016 world championship festival of sand sculpting Russe in Bulgaria for his sand sculpture Drugs kill Sports.

Books

Book A Life in Diplomacy , written by Maharajakrishna Rasgotra has been released.

Book All of Us in Our Own Lives, authored by Manjushree Thapa has been released.

Book Goa Undercover has been authored by Madhumita Bhattacharyya.

Book India’s Wars: A Military History (1947-1971) has been authored by Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam.

Book The Gene: An Intimate History has been written by Siddhartha Mukherjee.He is Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies.

Book The Unseen Indira Gandhi , authored by KP Mathur has been released.

Book The World in 2050- Striving for a More Just, Prosperous and Harmonious Global Community, written by Harinder S. Kohli has been released.

Book “A Life in Diplomacy”, authored by Maharajakrishna Rasgotra has been released.

Book “Chandigarh is in India” has been authored by Shanay Jhaveri.

Legendary Music Composer R D Burman's Biography R.D.Burmania –Panchamemoirs has been authored by noted journalist Chaitanya Padukone.

Novel “Once Upon a Time in India: The Marvelous Adventures of Captain Corcoran” was written in the 1860s, by a Frenchman Alfred Assollant, about India. It has been translated into English for the first time by Sam Miller.

OP Jindal Global University (JGU) launched book The Education President, highlighting President Pranab Mukherjee's contribution to field of higher education.

PM Narendra Modi released book The Birds of Banni Grassland, prepared by Scientists of Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE). It is a compilation of the research work, relating to more than 250 species of birds found in the Banni area of Kutch (Gujarat).

Committees

Expert Committee under Anand Desai has submitted its report about examining Specific Relief Act 1963. Committee recommended that courts’ intervention in public works should be minimal, specific performance of contracts be made the rule and damages or compensation be the exception and a separate class of contracts for public utility contracts should be created.

Government made a selection committee headed by P K Sinha to shortlist candidates for Reserve Bank of India governor post.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has set up Suresh Mathur committee to study scope of title insurance in Indian market.

Ministry of Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises constituted 3rd Pay Revision Committee for executives of Central Public Sector Undertakings under chairmanship of Justice Satish Chandra (Retd.).

Parliamentary committee under chairmanship of E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan has been constituted to review Model code of conduct (MCC) for election polls and suggest ways to check malpractices ahead of polls.

Rajiv Gauba Committee on Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi submitted its report to Ministry of Urban Development.

University Grants Commission (UGC) has constituted a 5-member committee under V S Chauhan for pay revision of academic staff of Universities and Colleges.

Uttar Pradesh Government appointed judicial commission under Mirza Imtiyaz Murtaza to probe into recent Mathura violence.

government constituted Financial Sector Search and Recruitment Committee headed by P K Sinha to decide on members and heads of financial regulatory agencies.

Days

04 June - United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.

1 June - World Milk Day, started by UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2001. Noted that India's National Milk Day is celebrated on 26 November, in memory of Verghese Kurien (Father of India's White Revolution).

1 June: Global Day of Parents.

12 June - World Day Against Child Labour. 2016 Theme is End child labour in supply chains – It’s everyone’s business.

13 June - United Nations International Albinism Awareness Day.

14 June - World Blood Donor Day. 2016 Theme Blood connects us all and 2016 Slogan is Share life, give blood.

17 June - World Day to Combat Desertification. 2016 theme is Inclusive cooperation for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality.

20 June - World Refugee Day.

21 June - Second UN International Yoga Day.

2016 Theme - Connect the Youth.

This year’s observance highlights important role healthy living plays in realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by all 193 UN member states in 2015.

Government organised National Event of Mass Yoga Demonstration at the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh.

Andhra Pradesh Postal circle released “Information booklet, Stamps on Yoga” and “12 stamps on Suryanamaskarams”.

first-ever ‘National Yoga Olympiad’ organized by NCERT for all government and government-aided schools students from June 18 to 21, 2016. Theme of Olympiad is ‘Yoga for Health and Harmony’.

History - International Yoga Day was pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014. In December 2014, UNGA had unanimously adopted India-led resolution to observe 21st June as ‘International Day of Yoga’.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today said Yoga education will be included in the state's school curriculum.

21 June - World Hydrography Day. Hydrography – the key to well-managed seas and waterways.

23 June - International Olympic Day.

23 June - International Widows’ Day

23 June - United Nations Public Service Day.

25 June - Day of the Seafarer. 2016 Theme is At Sea For All.

26 June : International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. 2016 theme is Listen First.

26 June: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

29 June - National Statistics Day. It is celebrated annually on occasion of Birth anniversary of India’s eminent statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. 2016 Theme is Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

5 June - World Environment Day. 2016 Theme is Go Wild for Life (ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE). Host Country is Angola.

Indian Navy Pledges 1.5 Per Cent of its Works Budget Towards Renewable Energy Generation.

Government committed to take up massive tree plantation drive in upto 200 cities across country to create Urban Forests. Environment Ministry launched ‘Urban Forestry Scheme’ in Pune, where 6000 saplings will be planted to create an ‘urban jungle’ on 80 acres of land.

Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu flagged off Tiger Trail Circuit Train between Mumbai and Delhi.

8 June - World Oceans Day. Theme for 2016 is Healthy oceans, healthy planet.

Defence

10-day long military exercise Anakonda 2016 started in Poland as largest training exercise of Polish Armed Forces in 2016. Purpose is to check abilities of NATO to defend territory of theeastern flank of North Atlantic Alliance. It involves 31,000 soldiers from 19 NATO countries and five partner countries.

5th edition of joint naval exercise 2016 Sahyog-Hyeobleod between Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and South Korea held in Bay of Bengal (Chennai).

BrahMos Aerospace for the first time demonstrated integration of supersonic cruise missile system BrahMos on Sukhoi SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved purchase of 145 Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) guns from USA, at cost of approx 4875 Crores.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar inaugurated a submarine assembly workshop at Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai.

First squadron of indigenously made Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas inducted into Indian Air Force (IAF), by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). First squadron of LCA Tejas has been named as ‘Flying Daggers’., with Its base in Sulur (Tamil Nadu).

Government decided to allow export of missile systems to certain friendly countries. 10 % of missile capacity will be permitted to be exported if producers manage to get export orders subject to parameters set by government.

Government decided to form a new reserve battalion to be named after great warrior Maharana Pratap. It will be called Maharana India Reserve Battalion.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unveiled Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) HTT-40. HTT-40 stands for Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40.

India announced to sell its Home-made Supersonic Cruise Missile to Vietnam.

India's first integrated Defence Communication Network (DCN) launched by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. It will enable Indian Army, Air force, Navy and Special Forces Command to share situational awareness for faster decision-making.

Indian Naval ship Satpura arrived in Hawaii to participate in 25th edition of Exercise RIMPAC.

Exercise RIMPAC is largest biennial multilateral naval exercise in world, held in Western Pacific Ocean.

Current (25th) edition of the exercise is scheduled off Hawaii from 30 June - 04 August 16 and is likely to be attended by 27 countries.

Indian Navy launched INS Tarasa - fourth and last ship in series of the Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC).

Indigenously-built anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra has been inducted in Indian Navy, making India one of eight countries to have capability to design and build such anti-submarine torpedo system. It weighs around 1.25 tonnes and carries about 250 kg of explosives at a speed of around 40 nautical miles an hour.

Medium range Surface-to-Air ballistic missile Barak-8 has been test fired. It has been developed in collaboration with Israel. It is 4 meter long ballistic missile which can hit target within 70 km.

Medium range surface-to-air missile missile (MRSAM) developed jointly by India and Israel was successfully test-fired. MR-SAM has strike ranges from 50 to 70 km.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted 3 women fighter pilots for first time - Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chatuvedi and Mohana Singh.

Economy

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is conferred with National Award for its Roof Top Solar Power initiatives. AAI has installed 4.8 megawatt peak power (MWp) rooftop solar plants at 13 airports, generating 51 lakh units of solar energy.

Andhra Pradesh joined Centre's debt revival scheme for state power distribution companies - Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY). It will bring benefits of approx 4400 crores. Under UDAY, 13 states have signed MoU till date. Andhra Pradesh being latest.

Andhra Pradesh obtained a telecom licence and will issue phone numbers starting with the 797 series from August 2016. It indirectly got the opportunity to start an internet based telephone service ‘without requiring any further registration’ after it obtained permission from the Telecom Ministry for starting its own IPTV — Internet Protocol based Television network — as part of its Fibre Grid project.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved 100 million USD loan to strengthen irrigation system and improve water management in Vennar sub-basin of Cauvery Delta in Tamil Nadu.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved 500 million USD loan to build a bridge across Ganga River in Bihar. Loan funds will be used to build 9.8 km road bridge in Bihar on Ganga River. It will be India’s longest river bridge.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed loan agreement with India for providing new loan of 200 million USD to upgrade 176 km of roads in Jharkhand.

Asian Development Bank and Government of India signed agreement for $200 million loan to upgrade 176 Kilometers of State roads Jharkhand.

Axis Bank launched India's first internationally-listed certified green bond to finance climate change solutions around the world at London Stock Exchange (LSE). Proceeds of the bond will be invested by Axis Bank in green energy, transportation and infrastructure projects, to play a role in reinforcing India’s commitment to produce 175,000 MW of renewable power by 2022.

Bombay Stock Exchange received RBI approval to start an online bidding platform for Sovereign Gold Bond scheme, to offer an online bidding platform for collecting bids from members and their clients for SGB issue.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved disinvestment of 10% equity of Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO), from Government's shareholding of 100%. Equity capital of HUDCO is Rs.2001.90 crore and Net worth is approximately Rs. 7,800 Crore.

Cabinet approved recommendations of 7th Pay Commission. The salaries and arrears, effective from 1 January 2016, will be made applicable now

Commission recommended 23.55 % hike in pay and allowances of government employees.

Minimum pay for government employees is to be set at 18000 rupees per month, while maximum is 225000 rs / month for Apex Scale and 250000 rs / month for Cabinet Secretary.

Increase in pay will be 16 %, increase in allowances will be 63 % and increase in pension will be 24 %.

DCB Bank launched Bengaluru's first ATM that accepts Aadhaar number and Aadhaar fingerprint (biometric) instead of ATM/Debit Card and PIN to dispense cash.

Finance Ministry announced that non-resident Indians (NRIs) can now open National Pension Savings (NPS) accounts online i.e. through eNPS (using Aadhaar Card / PAN card). Earlier, NRIs could open NPS accounts only through paper based applications by approaching Bank offices.

Government approved Civil Aviation Policy 2016 -

This is for the first time since Independence that an integrated Civil Aviation Policy has been brought out by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

Civil Aviation Policy 2016 aims at -

Make India 3rd largest civil aviation market by 2022 from current 9th position.

Increase domestic ticketing to 30 crore by 2022 from 8 crore in 2015.

Increase airports having scheduled commercial flights from 77 in 2016 to 127 by 2019.

Increase cargo volumes to 10 million tonnes i.e. by 4 times by 2027.

Under Regional Connectivity Scheme - enabling Indians to fly at Rs. 2,500 per hour at unserved airports.

For starting international operations, requirement of 5 years of domestic flying removed.

Ensure availability of quality certified 3.3 lakh skilled personnel by 2025.

Development of green-field airports and heliports.

Areas covered in the Policy - Regional connectivity, 5/20 Requirement for International Operations, Safety, Air Transport Operations, , Route Dispersal Guidelines, Bilateral traffic rights, Code-share agreements, Fiscal Support, Immigration and Customs, Airports developed by State Governments (Private / PPP mode), Aeronautical ‘Make in India’.+

Government approved a Special Package for employment generation and promotion of exports in Textile and Apparel sector -

Major benefits to textile and apparel sector in 3 years include increase of 30 billion USD, Investment of 74000 crore rupees and Creation of 1 crore jobs. Salient features of package are -

Employee Provident Fund Scheme Reforms - Government shall bear entire 12 % of employers’ contribution of EPF Scheme for new employees of garment industry for first 3 years who are earning less than 15000 rupees per month. Ministry of Textiles shall provide additional 3.67 % % of employer’s contribution amounting to 1170 crore rupees over next 3 years. EPF shall be optional for employees earning under 15000 rupees, so that workers will be left with more money in hands.

Increasing overtime caps - Overtime hours for workers will not be exceeded 8 hours per week in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) norms.

Introduction of fixed term employment

Additional incentives under ATUFS - Package breaks new ground in moving from input to outcome based incentives by increasing subsidy under Amended-Technology Up gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) from 15 to 25 % for garment sector as a boost to employment generation.

Enhancing scope of Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act, 1961 - Looking at the seasonal nature of garment industry, the provision of 240 days under Section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act would be relaxed to 150 days for garment industry.

Government approved mega auction of all available spectrum (more than 2300 Megahertz) across 7 bands, to make way for largest-ever spectrum auction in country. Airwaves in 7 spectrum bands to be auctioned are 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2500 MHz.

This auction for the first time will sell 700 MHz band which is preferred for offering high-speed broadband services. 700 MHz band is approximately 70% cheaper than in the 2100 MHz band (used for 3G services). Thus will increase internet penetration in country.

Government approved setting up India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) as a Public Limited Company under Department of Posts with 100% Government of India equity. Total expenditure is 800 Crores.

Government approved to set up a 10000 Crore Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) under Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for extending support to Startups, in line with Start up India Action Plan. FFS will be used for the contribution of various Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to extend funding support to Startups.500 crore rupees already has been provided to the corpus of FFS in the fiscal 2015-16 and 600 crore rupees has been earmarked for 2016-17.

Government banned use of potassium bromate (KbrO3) as a food additive as it is carcinogenic (Causes Cancer). A study by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that it is widely used in bread and refined flour. Study found that 84% of 38 commonly available brands of pre-packaged breads, including buns and pav tested positive for potassium bromate and potassium iodate.

Government decided to enhance financial powers of its Ministries, for approval of Non-Plan Schemes or Projects. The new approval limits are

Projects Under Expenditure 300 Crores - Concerned Ministry of Standing Finance Committee of concerned ministry.

Projects with expenditure over 300 Crores - Committee on Non-Plan Expenditure (CNE) (earlier limit was 75 crores).

Minister-in-charge of administrative Ministry now can approve Non-Plan schemes costing less than 500 crore rupees (Earlier limit was 150 crore rupees).

Projects with expenditure of 500 - 1000 crore -> These will be approved by Finance Minister.

Projects with expenditure of over 1000 crores - Cabinet or Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will final these proposals.

Financial Adviser now can appraise upto 20% increase in firmed up cost estimates.

If absolute cost escalation is upto 75 crore rupees it has to be approved by Secretary of concerned administrative Department. In case the absolute cost escalation is above 75 crore rupees, the Administrative Minister-in-charge will approve it.

Government extended deadline for implementing Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) by a year to March 31, 2017. With this, states shall take over 75% of ailing DISCOM (Power Distribution companies) debt as on 30th September, 2015 by 31st March, 2017 by issuing Bonds.

Government imposed 20 % customs duty on sugar exports to boost domestic supply and check prices.

Government is developing National Waterway-1 (NW-1) under Jal Marg Vikas Project with assistance from World Bank. NW-1 refers to 1620 km Haldia-Allahabad stretch of River Ganga. The project would be completed over a period of six years at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,200 crore.

HDFC Ergo General Insurance acquired L&T General Insurance for Rs 551 crores.

India and Asian Development Bank Signed 120 Million USD Loan Agreement to Modernize Irrigation and Improve Water Management in Odisha.

Karnataka government announcemd to abolish tax on agricultural income in State Budget for 2016-17.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched a scheme for setting up of 1000 Mega Watt (MW) Wind Power Project connected to transmission network of Central Transmission Utility (CTU), to facilitate supply of wind power to the non-windy states at a price discovered through transparent bidding process.

Ministry of Power launched URJA- Urban Jyoti Abhiyaan Mobile application for Urban Power Distribution Sector. It has been developed by Power Finance Corporation (PFC).

PM Narendra Modi outlined RAPID as a five-point mantra to tax officials to reform and broaden direct tax net base. RAPID Stands for Revenue, Accountability, Probity, Information, Digitization. It was announced during 2 day Rajasva Gyan Sangam held in New Delhi.

People of United Kingdom (UK) in a historic Brexit referendum voted in favour of leaving European Union (EU) by 52 % votes in Favor.

This is second referendum on UK’s relationship with the EU. In 1975, in a referendum on whether the UK should stay or leave the EU, the country voted for staying with 67.2% votes.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced resignation, wef from October 2016.

Leaving the EU now has triggered a 2-year ‘withdrawal process’ which will determine future of UK’s relationship with EU. At the end of withdrawal process, UK exits single market and EU countries will start imposing tariffs on British products.

Why UK wants to leave EU

Since formation of EU, several countries joined it and UK thinks that since then EU’s hold over everyday aspects of these countries has increased.

Britain can save billions of pounds every year that it spends as EU fees, without much gain in return.

UK also thinks that EU’s some constraints have imposed many opposing rules on Britain’s business.

What does UK’s exit means

Henceforth, UK will be able to secure independent trade deals with important countries such as India, China and US.

It will have control over wide areas like employment, health, law and safety and immigration policies.

What critics believe

By leaving EU, UK would not be able to obtain better trade terms with other countries. It would face problems with different regulations of EU.

Leaving EU will not help UK to reduce immigration as countries that trade with EU from outside have higher rated of immigration, including from EU countries.

Impact on India

UK’s exit from the EU will affect the flow of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in India over the short-medium term and long term periods.

Indian information technology (IT) companies based in the UK with large work forces that offer services to Europe Union member countries will be hit.

Indian Rupee may get hit and may get weakned due to strenthening of USD (United States Dollar).

Railways signed agreement with Odisha Government for formation of joint venture Company to develop railway infrastructure in state.

Reliance Industries and State Bank of India (SBI) signed Subscription and Shareholders' Agreement to set up payments bank. RIL will be promoter with a 70 % equity and SBI will have 30 % equity contribution.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its second bi-monthly monetary policy review 2016-17 has kept key policy rates unchanged. Current Rates are -

Policy Rates

Repo - 6.50 %

Reverse repo - 6.0 %

Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate - 7.00 %

Reserve Ratios

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) - 4.0 %

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) - 21.25 %

Other forecast

Growth forecast - Unchanged at 7.6% for current fiscal

Inflation target - Unchanged at 5% for January 2017

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines on Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A), with an aim to strengthen lenders’ ability to deal with stressed assets and to put real assets back on track. Highlights of the Scheme. RBI formulated the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) as an optional framework for resolution of large stressed accounts.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its Vision-2018 document - Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018. It aims at building efficiecnt payment systems for a ‘less-cash’ India and ensuring access to mobile banking services to even basic phone users.

Reserve Bank of India will set up a committee to study use of Blockchain technology for reducing use of paper currency.

Blockchain technology - Blockchain database consists of blocks that hold time-stamped batches of valid transactions. Digital records are put together into blocks and then leaped together cryptographically and chronologically into a chain using algorithms. Encryption process is termed ‘hashing’.

Blockchain database helps in reducing use of paper currency as it makes hard for hackers to attack it as hackers need access to every copy of database simultaneously. As the hash cannot be converted back into the original data,the blockchain database keeps data secure.

Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) signed agreement with Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited (GIFTCL) and GIFT SEZ Limited (GIFT SEZ) to establish a representative office in India.

South India Bank announced its Remit2India Service, Currently available for remittance from Europe, Australia, UAE, and Singapore.

State Bank of India (SBI) and Spain's CaixaBank signed pact to provide loans to Indo-Spanish joint ventures and local enterprises.

State Bank of India (SBI) launched IT Innovation Start-up Fund of 200 Crores to support start-ups in financial technology (fintech) space. It will provide assistance of up to 3 crore rupees to a company registered in India for promoting information technology for banking and related activities.

Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Boeing laid foundation laying of a new facility in Hyderabad for its joint venture named Tata Boeing Aerospace (TBAL), to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aerostructures.

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited will acquire renewable energy company Welspun Renewables for 9,249 crores, considered largest transaction in renewables space in India. This will help Tata Power to grow its clean energy portfolio to 2.3 gigawatts (GW).

To make agriculture production system more flexible to climate change, Haryana government approved a Rs 25 crore project that will benefit 75,000 farmers.

United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released State of World’s Children 2016 report -

Unless world focuses more on plight of its underadvantaged children by 2030

7 Crore children may die before reaching their 5th birthdays, mostly sub-Saharan Africa.

Over 6 crore primary school-aged children will be out of school.

Some 7.5 crore women will have been married as children.

Boys and girls attend primary school in equal numbers in 129 countries.

The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide is almost half what it was in the 1990s.

About 12.4 crore children today do not go to primary and lower-secondary school.

India in report

Report states that 5 countries will account for more than half of the global burden of under-five deaths - India (17 %), Nigeria (15 %), Pakistan (8 %), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7 %) and Angola (5 %).

In India, being born into poorest households carries a learning ‘penalty’ relative to children from richest households. Penalty widens between ages 7 and 11, reaching a 19 % gap in students’ ability to subtract.

Vibrant Gujarat summit will be held during January 10-13, 2017 with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) as its national partner.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim visited India.

World Bank signed agreement with International Solar Alliance (ISA) to provide over 1 billion USD to support India’s solar initiatives.

World bank will provide 625 million dollars to India’s grid-connected rooftop solar programme that will finance the installation of at least 400MW of solar photovoltaic installations.

ISA is Gurgaon (India) based first international organization comprising of 121 Countriesw, with United Nations as Strategic Partner. It was jointly launched by India and France in November 2015 during United Nations climate change conference (COP21) in Paris.

World Bank Group released mid-year India Development Update 2016 Financing Double-Digit Growth

It says that economy was lifted to a higher growth path by demand from urban households and public investments, despite the fact that other key growth engines (Rural households, Trade, Agriculture) are stalled.

Oil bonanza directly benefited government and exceeded its revenue collection targets.

Manufacturing and services sectors expanded 7.4 and 8.9 %, respectively.

Inflation abated primarily because of lower food prices. Lower inflation raised real incomes and allowed RBI to cut interest rates, which favored financially-connected urban households.

To remain on this growth path, challenge for India is to activate stalled engines - agricultural growth, rural demand and trade.

It expects India’s economic growth to be at 7.6 % in 2016-2017, followed by a 7.7 % in 2017-2018 and 7.8 % in 2018-2019

States are responsible for 57 % of the spending, which is 16 % of GDP.

Transfer of grants to states increased by 0.7 % of GDP in FY16 compared to the budget estimate of a net increase of 0.5 %.

Rajasthan and Kerala spent over 70 % of additional resources on health, education and infrastructure.

Key Reform resuired for Financial Sector - Accelerate ongoing structural transformation of sector toward one that is more market-oriented and competitive. Second, address NPA challenge.

World Bank approved 201.50 million USD Laon for Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (TEQIP III) in India to improve quality of engineering education in select Indian states.

World Bank approved 63 million USD project - Tejaswini: Socioeconomic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Jharkhand.

International

Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan visited UK for 5th Indo-UK Science and Innovation Council Meeting (SIC) in London. UK and India agreed to work in two major initiatives in Solar Energy and Nano Material Research.

2015 Good Country Index (GCI)

Top 5 Countres - Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany.

Libya was ranked as the least good country in the world in 2015 .

India has been placed at 70th position in list of 163 countries n Overall Index. India's Rank in sub-indexes -

International peace and security - 27th

prosperity and equality - 124th

Health and wellbeing - 37th

Science and technology - 62nd

Culture - 119th

Climate - 106th

2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) released by London-based business consultancy A T Kearney -

India is ranked at second position, jumping 13 positions from last year (2015) among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business.

Sharp pick up in GDP growth and better clarity regarding FDI regulations have helped India achieve a second ranking.

India’s retail sector expanded at annual growth rate of 8.8% between 2013 and 2015, with annual sales crossing US 1 trillion dollars.

2016 Human Capital Index (HCI) by World Economic Forum (WEF) -

Report was released in Tianjin (China), at WEF Annual Meeting of New Champions. It is also known as `Summer Davos’ summit.

Top 10 Countries - Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada and Belgium.

India ranked 105th, as compared to 100th in 2015.

India’s Neighbours - Sri Lanka (50th), China (71st), Bhutan (91st), Bangladesh (104th), Nepal (108th) and Pakistan (118th).

BRICS - Russia (28th), China (71st), Brazil (83rd) and South Africa (8th).

2016 Top 500 list of supercomputers -

China’s Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer is world’s most powerful supercomputer system Sunway-TaihuLight can perform calculations with speed of 124.5 petaflops per second (Pflops). It is world’s first system to surpass 100 petaflops. Sunway TaihuLight has been developed by the China’s National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology (NRCPC). It can perform 93 quadrillions calculations per second.

One petaflop is equal to one quadrillion sustained floating point operations per second.

Other supercomputers in list -

Second - Intel-based Chinese Tianhe-2 supercomputer (speed of 33.86 Pflops)

Third - Titan of the Department of Energy (speed of 17.59 Pflops)

2016 World Investment Report by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) -

India ranks 10th in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) inflows. India’s FDI inflows have increased to 44 billion dollars in 2015 as compared to 35 billion dollars in 2014.

Top 10 Countries are: United States, Hong Kong, China, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Brazil, Canada and India.

United States with 380 billion dollars FDI inflows has topped the list. China with FDI inflows at 136 billion dollars is ranked third.

4 Indian women - Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI Chief), Chanda Kochhar (ICICI Bank Chief), PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar are in new list of Forbes’ world’s 100 most powerful women. List is topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ganges-Danube Cultural Festival of India held in Hungary. Festival showcases Indian culture, i.e. dance, music, yoga, film and exhibitions.

A bronze statue of Shri Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose been unveiled at the Indian cultural centre premises in Malaysia.

According to Forbes’ 2016 list of world’s 100 highest-paid athletes, Portugese Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is at top with earnings of $88 million, followed by Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Roger Federer, Kevin Durant and Novak Djokovic.

As Per World Health Organization (WHO), Thailand became first Asian country to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission.

As per list by Dutch campaign group PAX Worldwide, State Bank of India (SBI) is only Indian bank named in Hall of Shame list of 158 banking institutions that have invested heavily in companies making cluster bombs. Maximum number of 74 banks are from US, followed by China (29) and South Korea (26).

BP Statistical Review of World Energy -

India surpassed Japan to become world’s third-largest oil consumer. Top 4 are - USA (19.39 million bpd), China (11.96 million bpd), India (4.1 Million bpd), Japan (3.9 Million bpd).

Oil remained the world’s leading fuel, accounting for 32.9% of global energy consumption. sCoal is second-largest fuel by market share (29.2%). Natural gas’ market share of primary energy consumption stood at 23.8%.

In 2015, global demand for primary energy grew only 1% which is slower than 10-year average.

BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) will issue its first yuan-denominated bonds to finance sustainable development projects, after receiving a rating from international ratings agencies as well as getting authorities’ approval.

Baltimore’s National Aquarium will create an Oceanside dolphin sanctuary. It will be first of its kind sanctuary for marine mammals in North America.

China established its first dark sky reserve for astronomical observation in Tibetan prefecture of Ngari.

Dark-sky reserve is an area that is kept free of artificial light pollution, with purpose of promoting astronomy.

China launched its second Shijian-16 series satellite for space research and experiments, on board of Long March-4B rocket.

City of Fallujah in Iraq has been officially declared fully liberated from terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), after military operation of Iraqi Army.

Colombian government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels signed a historic ceasefire and disarmament agreement. It is considered as one of last steps toward ending a half-century conflict that has killed thousands of people in Colombia.

Expanded Panama Canal reopened by Panama Government, with much-larger generation of container ships opw able to pass through isthmus of Panama.

Panama Canal expansion project was approved in October 2006 after it was favoured by national referendum by a 76.8% majority. Estimated cost for project was $50 billion.Panama Canal expansion project is also called as the Third Set of Locks Project.

New lane of canal runs for 77km. It doubles the existing capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships.

About Panama Canal -

Panama Canal is an artificial 77 km waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade.

It was opened in 1914 to provide alternative route to lengthy sea voyage around southernmost tip of South America via Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.

Forbes' America's Richest Self-made Women' list 2016 -

Diane Hendricks (owner of ABC Supply) is at top with worth of 4.9 billion USD.

Two Indian-origin women on List - Neerja Sethi (Syntel), Jayshree Ullal (Arista Networks)

Fortune 500 Top Companies List 2016 (62nd Annual Rankings). Top 10 Companies are - Walmart ($482 Billion Revenue), Exxon Mobil ($246 Billion), Apple ($233 Billion), Berkshire Hathaway ($210 Billion), McKesson ($181 Billion), United Health Group ($157 Billion), CVS Health ($153 Billion), General Motors ($152 Billion), Ford Motor ($149 Billion).

Geneva-based NGO Advisor’s 2016 Top 500 NGOs List -

Bangladesh-based Non-Government organization (NGO) BRAC ranked No. 1 in the list of World rankings. BRAC has acquired top position because of its holistic approach to fight against poverty. Doctors Without Borders (Switzerland) is at second place.

German Parliament passed resolution to recognize massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces during First World War (1915) as genocide.

Government approved Agreement with Saudi Arabia on Labour Co-operation for General Category Workers’ Recruitment.

Government approved Indian membership of International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) by signing MOU with Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for geosciences.

Government approved MOU with Brunei Darussalam for co-operation in Youth and Sports Affairs.

Government approved MOU with French Civil Aviation Authority (Direction Generale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC)) to implement Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) for implementation of Practices of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Government approved MOU with Taiwan for co-operation in Agriculture and Allied Sector, Air Services.

Government approved MoU between ISRO and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on cooperation in field of outer space.

Government approved MoU between Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) Bhutan, to strengthen relationship between both.

Government approved MoU with Tanzania for cooperation in water resources management and development.

Government approved National Mineral Exploration Policy (NMEP), aiming at accelerating exploration activity through enhanced participation of private sector.

Policy emphasizes on making available baseline geoscientific data of world standards in public domain, quality research in a public-private partnership (PPP).

It also seeks to undertake quick aerogeophysical surveys of country and creation of dedicated geoscience database etc.

Ministry of Mines will carry out auctioning of identified exploration blocks for exploration by private sector. It will be done on the revenue sharing basis in case their exploration leads to auctionable resources.

Government approved for amending Agreement between India and Belgium for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

Government approved signing 15 years contract with International Seabed Authority for undertaking exploration and other developmental activities related to Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS). The exploration and other developmental activities has been allotted in the area of 10,000 sq km in parts of Central and South – West Indian Ridges (SWIR), in Indian Ocean.

Government of India (GoI) extended ban on import of milk and its products from China till June 2017.

Government signed MOU with USA to enhance cooperation in field of wildlife conservation and combating wildlife trafficking.

IT Firm Tech Mahindra acquired UK-based digital transformation firm BIO Agency Ltd in an all-cash deal of 45 million pounds.

India and Morocco launched India-Morocco Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IMCCI) in Rabat (Moroccan capital), on the occasion of Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari visiting Morocco.

India and Switzerland signed an early agreement for implementation of AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) between two countries, to curb flow of Black money.

India and Tunisia signed MoU for co-operation in Information Technology (IT) and promotion of traditional handicrafts.

India and UAE will set up a joint parliamentary panel to enhance relations and facilitate their visits to promote cooperation to tackle security issues and challenges facing the region.

India and USA signed MoU to join global terror database maintained by Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) of USA. USA recognised India as a major defence partner which will pave way to bring it closest US allies for defence related trade and technology transfer.

India approved assistance of Rs 4.8 Crore to Nepal for construction of a college building in capital Kathmandu (Koteshwor Multiple Campus).

India became 35th member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). It would be mutually beneficial in furtherance of international non-proliferation objectives.

India was able to successfully enter this multilateral export control regime with the unopposed support of all 34 MTCR Partners. Earlier in 2015, India’s bid for the membership to the group had failed after it was blocked by Italy.

By becoming MTCR member, India will now be able to buy high-end missile technology and also can enhance its defence joint ventures with Russia. India’s inclusion to the MTCR will also strengthen its own export controls.

India gifted 2,000 bicycles to poor dalit girls in government schools of Nepal to encourage them to enrol in schools.

India joined Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC), a global ballistic missile proliferation regime. India has joined to highlight its readiness to further strengthen global non-proliferation objectives.

India joined a group of nearly 40 nations that have signed a Europe-led clampdown on tax evasion and corruption.

India signed MoU with USA to facilitate hassle-free entry of Indians into America at selected airports, with quick security clearances for pre-approved, low-risk travellers from India.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and India Ports Global Private Limited (IPGPL) signed MoU for implementation of additional works on the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) in Myanmar.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved 1.5 billion USD loan to Sri Lanka to support its economy.

Israel elected to chair a UN committee for first time in 71-year history of United Nations. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon won the chair of the legal affairs committee of General Assembly by picking 109 Votes from 193 members.

Kolkata-Ashuganj-Tripura transit facility under revised Inland Water Transit and Trade Protocol between India and Bangladesh became operational. The facility is running through a land and river route crossing Bangladesh territory cuts the Kolkata-Agartala distance via Siliguri’s ‘chicken neck’ from 1600 km to 800 km and reduced time of journey from 30 days (via Siliguri corridor) to 10 days.

Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016 of World Bank Group report - Connecting to Compete 2016: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy -

India ranked 35th among 160 countries with score 3.42. India has improved its ranking by jumping 19 positions compared to 54th rank in 2014 LPI.

For third time, Germany topped ter list . Top 5 countries - Germany (score: 4.23 points), Luxembourg (4.22), Sweden (4.20), Netherlands (4.19) and Singapore (4.14).

Mahasthangarh, 3rd century BC archaeological site in Bogra (Bangladesh) has been declared as South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) cultural capital for 2016-17.

Mercer's Cost of Living Survey 2016 -

The ranking for 2016 includes 209 cities across five continents. New York City is used as the base city for all comparisons and currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

Kinshasa, which is ranked sixth in the survey, appears for the first time in the top 10 cities.

Five Indian cities were also ranked in the list. They are:

Indian Cities - Mumbai (82), New Delhi (130), Chennai (158), Kolkata (194), Bangalore (180)

Top 10 cities in list -

Rank City

1

Hong Kong

China

2

Luanda

Angola

3

Zurich

Switzerland

4

Singapore

Singapore

5

Tokyo

Japan

6

Kinshasa

Democratic Republic of the Congo

7

Shanghai

China

8

Geneva

Switzerland

9

N'Djamena

Chad

10

Beijing

China

Microsoft's Report on Malware Infection Index (MII) in the Asia-Pacific region -

Pakistan topped in list of 19 countries, having maximum Infections. India is placed at 8th position.

Top 5 Malware Infected Nations are - Pakistan (1st), Indonesia (2nd), Bangladesh (3rd), Nepal (4th), Vietnam (5th).

Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Chinese city of Jinan signed pact for becoming sister cities, to exchange ideas and technology in field of education, urban planning, youth affairs, and sports.

Nepal banned its citizens from working in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. Owing to security concerns.

Norway became first country in world to prohibit deforestation and make government's public procurement policy deforestation-free.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna (Sri Lanka), which was renovated by India. PM Modi joined in via video conferencing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed his 5 Nations Visit to Afghanistan, Switzerland, Qatar, USA, Mexico. Highlights are -

Afghainistan

PM Narendra Modi conferred with Amir Amanullah Khan Award, Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour.

PM Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani jointly inaugurated Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province in Western Afghanistan. This Dam was earlier known as Salma Dam. It is built on Hari River amd meant to generate 42 MW of power and irrigate 75000 hectares of land.

Qatar

India and Qatar signed 7 agreements which include agreement to share intelligence to combat ‘hawala’ transactions and terror financing between the two countries. Other Agreements are -

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)

Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters

Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) and the Qatar Financial Information Unit (QFIU) concerning cooperation in the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering,

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the Government of Republic of India and the National Qualifications Authority/Supreme Education Council, Government of the State of Qatar

Tourism

Health

Youth and Sports

Switzerland

Switzerland supported India's membership in the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Switzerland agreed to provide mutual support to India for becoming non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

USA

PM Modi delivered an address to the joint meeting of the USA Congress.

USA welcomED India entry into Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

USA recognised India as an important strategic partner in defense which will give India access to better quality and dual-use technology.

There was also forward movement on the proposal to set up six nuclear reactors in India. Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Westinghouse Electric Co., a U.S. unit of Toshiba Corp., will begin engineering and site-design work for reactors.

Further Agreements between India and USA Include exchange of Terrorist Screening Information, co-operation on Wildlife Conservation and Combating Wildlife Trafficking, Technical Arrangement between the Indian Navy and the United States Navy concerning Unclassified Maritime Information Sharing andCooperation in Gas Hydrates.

India and US WILL set up 2 financial assistance programmes worth $60 million for supporting India’s clean energy initiatives including solar power and other renewables (includes creation of a $20 million US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative).

India signed Pact with USA for co-operation in development of INS Vishal (India's second Aircraft Carrier). It is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025.

Mexico

Mexico also supported India's membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG, a 48-member club of nations that control trade in advanced nuclear technologies.

QS University Rankings 2016

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and IITs of Mumbai (35th), Delhi (36th), Madras (43r) and Kanpur (48th) have figured in list of Asia’s top 50 universities. IISc is 33rd this year and it was 34th last year. IIT-Kharagpur was placed 51st and two other IITs --Roorkee (78) and Guwahati (94), made it to the top 100. Delhi University has been ranked 66th.

National University of Singapore (NUS) has been ranked best university in Asia, followed by University of Hong Kong.

India’s performance -

India is fifth best among 17 countries featured in ratings, with 23 universities in list of top 350.

India is behind Taiwan (34), South Korea (54), Japan (72) and China (82)

IISc, Bangalore, which emerged as the top Indian institution in the QS rankings, was also rated as the best Indian university in the HRD ministry’s first ever National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released earlier this year.

Report The Rise of Environmental Crime has been released by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL. As per report, environmental crimes grew up by 26 % larger than previous estimates. Environmental crime is the 4th largest criminal enterprise after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking.

Report by consulting firm Capgemini -

Millionaires in Asia are wealthier than Millionaires in other regions of the world, including North America and Europe.

Asian millionaires’ wealth is 17.4 trillion dollars in 2015, more than 8.4 trillion in 2006.

There are 5.1 million Asian millionaires in 2015, Majority of 2.7 million from Japan and 1 million from China.

Russia launched world's biggest, most powerful icebreaker, named Arktika. It is 568 feet long and powered by 2 nuclear reactors. It can break through ice 13 feet deep. Russia is only nation to possess Nuclear Powered Ice Breakers.

Shiyal Bet Island in Gujarat’s Amreli district got electricity supply for the first time since independence after Pashchim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL) started supply to island through a 6-km undersea cable.

Software Firm Microsoft announced to acquire professional social platform LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion USD.

Sri Lanka parliament passed Right to Information (RTI) bill, to restore transparency and good governance in country.

Stonegate Bank (Based in Florida, USA) issued first credit card that can be used in Cuba. Until now, Americans have generally had to bring cash to Cuba and change it either at state institutions that impose a 10 % penalty or informal exchanges with locals.

Sweden becomes first country to have electric road. It inaugerated test stretch of an electric road in Sandviken to conduct tests with electric power for hybrid heavy transports. Tests will be conducted upto 2018 on parts of road E16.

Switzerland voters rejected an unconditional basic income (UBI) proposal in referendum that proposed to provide a fixed Unconditinal Basic Income (UBI) to all Swiss citizens and foreigners who have been residents in Switzerland for at least 5 years. Amount suggested was 2500 US dollars a month to each adult and 640 US dollars for each child. It would have cost additional 25.62 billion USD to the government.

Switzerland-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD)’s world competitiveness rankings 2016 -

Hong Kong is at top, followed by Switzerland, USA, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

India has been ranked 41 out of 61 countries in the IMD’

The IMD measures how well countries manage all their resources and competencies to facilitate long-term value creation.

Two Indians - Kartik Sawhney and Neha Swain won 2016 Queen's Young Leaders award in United Kingdom.

Two women - Noor Huda Roslan and Nenney Shuhaidah Shamsuddin have been appointed as judges of Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah High Court for first time in history of judiciary of Malaysia.

USA returned over 200 stolen cultural artifacts to India, some dating back 2,000 years. The estimated cost of these artifacts is around US$ 100 million.

USA will provide over 3 billion USD support to Afghan forces by 2020 and donated 20 million aid to United Nations' effort to help refugees who fled fighting in Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Under impetus of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space Agency (CNES), space agencies of more than 60 countries agreed to engage their satellites, to coordinate their methods and their data to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) elected Ethiopia, Bolivia, Sweden and Kazakhstan as non-permanent members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC), for 2 year term. They will replace Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Angola and Venezuela.

United States launched its secret spy satellite NROL-37 by United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket, world’s most powerful rocket.

Washington DC-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) cleared payment of $501 million for Pakistan after completing 11th review of Pakistan’s economic performance under a three-year program supported by an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.

World Bank report on global economic -

Global growth forecast is cut to 2.4% in 2016 and at 2.8% in 2017, due to slower recovery in advanced economies.

India will remain one of fastest growing major economies, ahead of China, for next 3 years. India’s growth projections have been marginally lowered by 0.2% to 7.6% for 2016-17 and 7.7% in 2017-18.

Meetings

15th Asia Security Summit 2016 organized by International Institute of Strategic Studies in Singapore. Attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on India's Behalf.

19th Plenary Session of Contact Group on Piracy off Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) held in Mahe (Seychelles). India chosen to co-chair important Working Group on Improving Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) in Region.

2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) will be hosted by India. GES is initiative of USA President Barack Obama to bring entrepreneurs from across the globe on one platform.

20th Ex MALABAR-2016, Joint Naval Exercise of India, USA & Japan started. Harbour phase will be held at Sasebo (Japan) from 10 - 13 June 16 and sea phase in Pacific Ocean from 14 - 17 June 16.

7th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) and the inaugural Mission Innovation (MI) Meet held at San Francisco (USA). India was represented by Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan. India announced to double investment in Clean Energy Research in next five years (72 million USD to 145 million dollars).

9th India Chem 2016 event will be held in Mumbai from September 1-3, 2016. Purpose is to develop Indian Chemical and Petrochemical Industry.

Asia's largest technology trade fair Computex Taipei 2016 held in Taiwan, to promote internet computing ecosystems.

Asia’s largest annual security forum Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore to talk about security issues in Asia-Pacific region, organised by London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). India represented by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) commissioned 2 units of 14 Megawatts each at Salma Hydro Electric Project in Afghanistan.

Salma dam, or the Afghan-India Friendship dam, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited China.

He attended First Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors’ of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.

Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank was started in December 2015. Headquarters is in Beijing (China).

It has capital of $100 Billion USD.

India has state of 8.52 % in it. India will pay $334.7m annually till 2019-20 for 8.52% stake in AIIB.

China has highest stake in AIIB - 30.34 %.

Jin Liqun is first and current president of AIIB.

He attended 8th India-China Financial Dialogue.

First All India Women Journalists’ Workshop organized by Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) in New Delhi.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated 22nd meeting of Eastern Zonal Council at Ranchi (Jharkhand). He also inaugurated headquarters of Jharkhand's special anti-Maoist force 'Jharkhand Jaguar' in Ranchi.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visited Ghana, Ivory Coast and Namibia -

Ghana

Pranab Mukherjee become first Indian president to visit Republic of Ghana.

India and Ghana have signed 3 agreements to strengthen co-operation in - visa waivers for holders of diplomatic, official passports, setting up a Joint Commission.

India is the largest foreign investor in Ghana with more than 700 projects. Bilateral trade between India and Ghana increased to 1.2 billion dollars from 538 million dollars in 2010. India mainly imports Gold from Ghana.

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Pranab Mukherjee become first Indian president to visit Ivory Coast.

President of India honoured with highest national award of Cote d’Ivoire - Grande Croix Commandeur in National Merit Order / National Grand Crois.

Namibia

India and Namibia have signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) - MoU on Capacity building for civil servants of Namibia and Mou on setting up of centre of excellence in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

International Conference on Social Statistics in India held in Patna (Bihar). The conference has been organised by Asian Development Research of India.

Plenary session of 105th Session of International Labour Conference held in Geneva (Switzerland), attended by Shankar Aggarwal (Secretary (Labour and Employment)).

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2016 held is Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) summit held in Russia. Attended by Dharmendra Pradhan (Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas) on India's Behalf.

National

Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu launched NIVARAN portal as an online system for redressal of service related grievance of railway employees.

3,049 people registered in Guinness book of world records for performing largest Karma dance ever. Event was held inDistrict Mandla (Madhya Pradesh).

AYUSH Ministry released a Yog Geet (Yoga song) for celebrating 2nd International Yoga Day on 21 June 2016. It has been written by Dheeraj Saraswat, Music by Sumanto Ray and sung by Gandhar T. D. Jadhav and Ms. Gatha Jadhav.

Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched Crop Manager for Rice-based Systems (CMRS), a web based App for better crop and Nutrient management released for farmers in bihar.

Andhra Pradesh Government's AP Food Processing Society signed agreement with National Research Development Corporation (Ministry of Science & Technology) to strengthen agribusiness & food processing sector by establishing Smart Agribusiness Platform Networks of Andhra Pradesh (SAPNAP). These will focus on creation of enabling ecosystem for accelerated growth of agribusiness by involving all the stakeholders.

Annual Ambubachi Mela held at Kamakhya temple (Assam).

Assam Assembly passed Ease of Doing Business Bill 2016 to facilitate ease of doing business in state, to attract fresh investment in state.

Assam Government and Armed Forces launched “Exercise Jalrahat” for flood relief in Assam at Narangi cantonment of Army.

Assam Government granted district status to Majuli, a 400 square kilometres island in Brahmaputra River. With this, Majuli became India’s first island district. Majuli island is 34th district of Assam (splitted from jorhat district). Majuli island is mostly inhabited by Mishing tribal people.

Assam Government launched Maitree Ek Gyan Yatra initiative to link primary schools to high schools to colleges. Purpose is to change the mindset of teachers, as in some places in states teachers of a school considered it below their dignity to teach lower level students.

Assam’s Guwahati became first city to have its own city animal after Kamrup metropolitan district administration declared Gangetic River dolphin (Locally known as Sihu) as its official mascot. Less than 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins remain in Brahmaputra River along Guwahati.

Beijing Based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved first set of loans totalling US 509 million dollars to finance projects in four countries viz. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Tajikistan. These loans will have an interest rate of London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 1.15 % and a repayment period of 25 years with 5 years in grace period.

Bangladesh - US 165 million USD loan for a Power Distribution System Upgrade and Expansion Project.

Indonesia - US 216.5 million USD loan for a National Slum Upgrading Project.

Pakistan - US 100 million USD loan for Shorkot-Khanewal Section of National Motorway M-4.

Tajikistan - US 27.5 million USD loan for the Dushanbe-Uzbekistan Border Road Improvement Project.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned a 195 megawatt (MW) unit at Muzaffarpur thermal power station in Bihar.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar launched Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act for quick redressal of peoples' complaints / grievances from Government officials within 60-days.

Bihar Government inaugurated 'Child Labour Tracking System (CLTS)' in order to keep track of rescued child labour for their proper rehabilitation and financial help of Rs 25,000 for every rescued child labour.

CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR) signed MoU with coal supplying companies and power utilities for quality analysis of coal supplied.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) launched BGR-34, an anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug designed for type 2 Diabetes mellitus, jointly developed by National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP).

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) signed MoU with Jadavpur University (Kolkata) to establish Jagadish Chandra Bose Centre for Advanced Technology (JCBCAT).

Delhi government approved its first Solar Policy, aiming at making Capital an environment-friendly solar city. It Recommends installation of 1 GW (1,000 Mega Watts) solar power capacity in Delhi by 2020, which is proposed to be doubled to 2 GW by 2025.

Department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) approved setting up a greenfield electronic park within Infovally complex IT hub in Bhubaneswar (Odisha).

Election Commission (EC) asked Government to amend electoral law Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951 to empower it to postpone or cancel elections if evidence emerges of use of money to influence voters in affected areas, by inserting new clause 58 B in RPA 1951. It will allow declaring invalid of election if money is used to lure voters.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) signed MoU with Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) to check misleading advertisements in the food and beverages sector.

Global Peace Index (GPI) 2016 by global think Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) for 163 countries -

India ranked 141 on List (Up from 143 in 2015).

Top 5 peaceful countries - Iceland (1st), Denmark (2nd), Austria (3rd), New Zealand (4th), Portugal (5th).

Least 5 peaceful countries - Syria (163rd), South Sudan (162nd), Iraq (161st), Afghanistan (160th), Somalia (159th), Yemen (158th) .

India’s neighbours -Bhutan (13th), Nepal (78th), Bangladesh (83rd), Sri Lanka (97th), China (120th) and Pakistan (153rd).

Google and Tata Trusts jointly launched Internet Saathi program in Purulia (West Bengal), as part of Google’s Helping Women Get Online campaign.

Government approved Ramayana and Krishna Circuits under Swadesh Darshan Scheme -

Ramayana Circuit - 11 tourist destinations across 6 states. Uttar Pradesh: Ayodhya, Shringhverpur Nandigram and Chitrakoot (ii) Bihar: Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga (iii) Telangana: Bhadrachalam (iv) Chattisgarh: Jagdalpur (v) Karnataka: Hampi (vi) Tamil Nadu

Krishna Circuit - 12 destinations across 5 states. (i) Gujarat: Dwarka (ii) Rajasthan: Nathdwara, Jaipur and Sikar (iii) Uttar Pradesh: Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Gokul, Nandgaon and Govardhan (iv) Odisha

Government approved enhancement of retirement age Non-Teaching and Public Health Specialists of Central Health Service from 62 years to 65 years and and Doctors of General Duty Medical Officers (GDMOs) sub-cadre of Central Health Service (CHS) to 65 years.

Government asked all state governments to link Aadhaar with caste and domicile certificates to be issued to school students. It is first initiative to be undertaken by Government to issue these certificates to the students within 60 days when they are studying in Class V or VIII.

Government eased foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for 9 sectors to for job creation and ease of doing business in country. With these changes, India becomes most open economy in world for FDI.

Food products - 100% FDI under government approval route has been approved.

Defence - FDI beyond current limit of 49% has now been permitted through government approval route, in cases resulting in access to modern technology in country or for other reasons.

Pharmaceutical - 74% FDI under automatic route in greenfield pharma and brownfield pharma has been approved and require government approval for over 74%.

Aviation - 100% FDI (upto 49 % under automatic route).

Greenfield and Brownfield Airport Projects - 100% FDI (upto 49 % under automatic route).

Animal Husbandry - 100% FDI allowed in Animal Husbandry (including breeding of dogs), Aquaculture, Pisciculture and Apiculture under Automatic Route.

Single Brand Retail Trading - Entities undertaking single brand retail trading have been relaxed from local sourcing norms up to 3 years. Entities engaged in single brand retail trading of products having ‘state-of-art’ and ‘cutting edge’ technology have been relaxed from local sourcing norms up to 5 years.

Government extended retirement age of government doctors’ to 65 years, to strengthen healthcare sector in the country.

Government launched campaign ‘Swachh Yug’ to make all villages along banks of Ganga Open Defecation Free (ODF).

Government started Asia's First Gyps Vulture Re-introduction Programme on Pinjore (Haryana).

Gujarat government announced its first IT and Electronics Start-up Policy,wapplicable only to IT and electronics related start-ups. Under this, State Government will develop 50 new incubators to mentor and guide 2,000 start-ups in the next five years.

Haryana Government laid foundation stone of Jai Jawan Awas Yojna (JJAY) at Bahadurgarh. It is an initiative to provide affordable housing to serving and retired JCOs and Other Ranks.

Haryana government will set up an AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) University, the first-of-its-kind in India. It will be formed by upgrading Shri Krishna Government Ayurvedic College in Kurukshetra.

Himachal Pradesh became first state to have a State Data Centre (SDC), designed using green data centre concept. It will offer 101 people-oriented services online through an integrated data base. It would integrate websites of various departments and all services can be accessed through the integrated data base, saving time and money spent on creation of infrastructure.

India Post opened up ongoing scheme of customized printing of ‘My Stamp’ for individuals and corporate also. Under this, individual or a corporate entity can get their photo or logo printed inside postage stamp at a price of 12 lakh rupees.

India's First case of a baby born with a rare genetic disorder called ‘Harlequin Ichthyosis‘ occured in Nagpur (Maharashtra). This disease affects 1 in 3 lakh babies and causes thickening of the skin across body.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) signed MoU with Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to launchInitiative on Solar for Healthcare. It will focus on providing effective health care delivery at the last mile.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched ‘IRCTC Air’ mobile app to enable booking of air tickets for travel within India and abroad at lower prices.

India’s first pilot programme to run two wheelers on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been launched by Government in New Delhi to curb air pollution in cities.

India’s first sunken (Underwater) museum will be set up at World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi. It will open to public in early 2018 and will display a mix of artifacts locked up in reserve collections of National Archives and museums of Archaeological Survey of India.

India’s largest food products marketing organization Amul become official sponsor of Indian contingent to 2016 Rio Olympics. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which sells its product under brand Amul signed agreement with Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

Kerala Government announced to use Cricket Legend Sachin Tendulkar's name in campaign against liquor and drug abuse in state.

Kerala Tourism won 4 awards at the 11th ‘FilmAT’ international film festival dedicated to tourism, art and ecology in Poland.

Responsible Tourism initiative of Kerala Tourism won - Best Promotional Social Campaign, Protection of Nature, and Eco-Food categories.

Tourism board’s ad film “The Great Backwaters of Kerala” won ‘Best Editing Award.

Kerala became fourth state to ban e-cigarette (electronic cigarette) as its use can cause cancer and heart ailments. Punjab was first to ban e-cigarettes in November 2014, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

e-cigarettes - These are handy battery-powered devices that emit doses of vaporised nicotine. It produces the feel of tobacco smoking.

Kiran Bedi (Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry) launched a mobile app (HelpAge SOS App) to help senior citizens in distress.

MOU signed between Rural Development Ministry and ISRO for geo-tagging assets created under MGNREGA in each gram panchayat, to check leakages and for effective mapping of terrain for future developmental works.

Maharashtra Government decided to use plastic waste, along with tar, to build roads. It is aimed at improving durability and longevity of asphalt roads and reducing soil pollution caused by plastic.

Maharashtra Government gave minority status to Jews in state as per the provisions of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission Act, 2004.

Maharashtra government will celebrate 21st day of every month as Yoga day across all schools, colleges and universities in state.

Microsoft will design mobile application for Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry’s SWAYAM platform. Under this, ministry will launch 2000 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) for over 3 crore students in 2016.

Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Zubin Irani launched Prashikshak - teacher education portal. Vision is to strengthen District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) and bring quality teachers into Indian school education system.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry approved establishment of Mega Leather Cluster at Nellore district (Andhra Pradesh).

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting framed New Print Media Advertisement Policy for Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), to promote transparency and accountability in issuing of advertisements in print media -

Policy introduces a New Marking System for newspapers. Advertisements shall be released by DAVP to Newspapers based on marks obtained by each newspaper

Circulation certified by ABC/RNI (25 marks)

EPF subscription for employees (20 marks)

Number of pages (20 marks)

Subscription to wire services of UNI/PTI/Hindustan Samachar (15 marks)

Own printing press (10 marks)

Annual subscription payment to PCI (10 marks)

Certification by RNI/ABC if circulation exceeds 45,000 copies per publishing day, for circulation upto 45,000 copies per publishing day certificate from Cost/Chartered Accountant/ Statutory Auditor Certificate/ ABC is mandated.

Policy also stipulates empanelment procedure for Multi-Editions of a newspaper. It states that, whenever copies of one edition of a newspaper are printed from more than one centre and if contentcis different, they would be treated as different editions. Each edition is required to have a separate RNI registration number.

Policy has classified Newspaper/Journals into three categories namely Small (<25,000 copies per publishing day), Medium (25,001-75,000 copies per publishing day) and Big (>75,000 copies per publishing day).

Ministry of Urban Development approved setting up of District Level Advisory and Monitoring Committees to promote people centric planning and execution of new urban development schemes. These committees will comprise of elected representatives (Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA)).

Mori village in East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) will be developed as a smart village of global standards by using digital tools, real-time information, and uninterrupted internet connectivity.

Nagaland Government launched women helpline 181 and Sakhi-One Stop Centre, to provide integrated assistance including medical, legal and psychological counselling to women affected by violence. Sakhi-One Stop Centre is a centrally sponsored scheme by Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to be funded through Nirbhaya Fund.

National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) will launch cleaning River Ganga Project in Bihar. In December 2015, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation hired NBCC to carry out feasibility study of river for entry-level activities in Bihar.

National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW) and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (JNU) signed Agreement to conduct academic programmes to focus on development of Animal Welfare Sciences.

Odisha became first state to give social welfare benefits to transgender people, including BPL Cards, housing, pension and food grains.

Odisha government approved proposal of the Panchayati Raj department to add 500 new gram panchayats before 2017 three-tier panchayat polls.

Odisha government has signed a pact with WorldFish, an international non-profit research organization, to boost fish production in the state.

Odisha government launched scheme Kalinga Siksha Sathi Yojana (KSSY) with an aim to provide education loan at 1 % interest to students for pursuing higher studies.

PM Narendra Modi launched ‘Smart City Mission’ involving 83 projects from 20 different cities in the country, at a cost of 1770 crore rupees. These projects are related to water supply projects, sewage treatment plants, solid waste management under Swachh Bharat Mission and development of green and open spaces under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

PM Narendra Modi released National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) to make India more disaster resilient. It is based on 4 priority themes of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30 - Understanding disaster risk, Improving disaster risk governance, Investing in disaster risk reduction and Disaster preparedness.

Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in Darjeeling (West Bengal) received a male snow leopard named Makalu from London’s Dudley Zoological Gardens. The male snow leopard will be used for breeding conservation programme at PNHZP.

Piyush Goyal (Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy) launched Surya Mitra mobile App, developed by National Institute of Solar Energy. This App can handle thousands of calls simultaneously and can efficiently monitor all visits of Suryamitra’s.

National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) is organizing Suryamitra skill development programs at various locations across country. Duration of this skill development program is approx 90 days, sponsored by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Govt. of India.

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) launched by Government, to boost health care facilities for pregnant women (especially poor). Under this, pregnant ladies will be given free health check-up and required treatment for free on 9th of every month. The scheme is applicable only to the women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months.

Punjab became first state to launch a special fund Mukh Mantri Hepatitis C Relief Fund to provide free treatment for patients affected by Hepatitis C.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off India's first timetabled freight train, Cargo Express, from Delhi to Bengaluru. Aims is to reduce delay and uncertainty over the time schedule for delivery of goods.

Railway Ministry launched 2 policies related to Parcel Cargo Train Express and Parcel Leasing - Liberalised Comprehensive Parcel Leasing Policy (CPLP) and Liberalised policy on Parcel Cargo Express Trains (PCET).

Railways Ministry flagged off Champaran Satyagrah Express train in Motihari (Bihar), to mark 100 years of the historic Champaran Satyagraha (movement) launched by M K Gandhi in 1917.

Railways launched 3 passenger service initiatives - Janani Sewa for mothers (hot milk, hot water and baby food will be available at railway stations), optional catering in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains and children's menu on trains.

Rajasthan Government launched mobile application RajVayu for sharing information about air quality index of Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur. Rajasthan becomes first state in country to launch such app for sharing information about air quality index of cities.

Sikkim became first state to have an open government data portal at sikkim.data.gov.in.

Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura has been given additional charge of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) launched DND (do not disturb) mobile app for telecom subscribers to register their complaints against pesky calls and SMSes.

Telengana Government will set up a Pharma City on 12,500 acres of land in Rangareddy and Mahbubnagar districts.

To boost community participation in government schools, HRD ministry launched Vidyanjali scheme inviting volunteers to hold public speaking, story telling, play acting sessions and participate in other co-scholastic activities.

Urban Development Ministry sanctioned 37.5 crore rupees for development of Machilipatnam town (Andhra Pradesh) under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

Uttar Pradesh government declared that all natural calamities including unseasonal heavy rain, lightning, Loo and storm etc. will be treated as state disaster.

Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) launched long-term monitoring studies project to document the effect of climate change on animal biodiversity in states of Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Persons

Amber Gurung, Known as Father of modern Nepali music and composer of Nepal’s national anthem passed away.

Anju Bobby George resigned as President of Kerala Sports Council.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Visited Japan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released commemorative silver coin to mark 300th martyrdom day of Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur. He was given title of Bahadur by 10th Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh.

Former captain of England Cricket team, Donald Carr passed away.

Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, Nita Ambani became first Indian to be nominated as a member of International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquartered at Lausanne, Switzerland. Election will be held at 129th IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016. If elected, she will continue as an IOC member until age of 70.

Gunit Chadha resigned as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asia Pacific region of Deutsche Bank.

India’s First Mr. Universe Manohar Aich passed away. He won Mr. Universe title in 1952 and was nicknamed ‘Pocket Hercules’ due to his shiort height.

Joo Hyunghwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea Visited India. During His visit, India and South Korea launched a platform ‘Korea Plus’ to promote and facilitate Korean Investments in India.

Legendary Canadian ice hockey player Gordie Howe passed away.

Neil O'Brien, a pioneer of quizzing in India and educationalist passed away.

Noted American boxer Muhammad Ali passed away. He was former three times world heavyweight champion (1964, 1974 and 1978). He was also known globally for his civil rights activism.

Noted Hindi novelist Mudrarakshas passed away.

Noted Industrialist Xerxes Sapur Desai (founder of largest watchmaker company Titan) has passed away.

Noted Malayalam theatre artist and poet Kavalam Narayana Panicker passed away.

Noted Odia film actress Manimala Devi passed away.

Noted Russian Chess Player Victor Korchnoi passed away.

Noted Sculptor and painter KG Subramanyan passed away.

Noted actor and Comedian Razzak Khan passed away.

Noted journalist Inder Malhotra passed away.

Noted journalist K.K. Katyal passed away.

Noted theatre personality Achyut Lahkar passed away . He was konwn as father of the Bhryamyman (Mobile Theatre of Assam).

Prayut Chan-o-cha, Thailand's Prime Minister Visited India.

Two agreements signed between India and Thailand - MoU between India’s Nagaland University and Thailand’s Chiang Mai University, Agreement for extension of Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between both countries.

S.K. Roy resigned as chief of Life Insurance Corp (LIC).

Six Indian World War I (WW-I) heroes become part of Britain’s new digital archive - Risaldar Badlu Singh (Punjab), Chatta Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Darwan Singh Negi (Uttarakhand), Lance Naik Lala (Himachal Pradesh), Gabar Sing Negi (Uttarakhand), Gobind Singh (Rajasthan).

US President Barack Obama nominated Indian-origin Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir as USA's ambassador to Malaysia.

Science

As per recent reports, Pollutants PM2.5 and ground level Ozone are responsible for maximum number of premature mortalities in India.

As per recent study by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), hot drinks (beverages) consumed at temperatures above 65 Celsius can cause esophageal cancer. Report states that drinks are not carcinogenic, but actually the high temperatures at which they served causes cancer.

Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent (known as Bramble Cay melomys) has become the first mammal species driven to extinction by human-induced climate change.

China successfully launched 23rd BeiDou Navigation Satellite to support its global navigation and positioning network. It is 23rd satellite in BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, which is being developed as an alternative to GPS (Global Positioning System) of USA.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched record 20 satellites in a single mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34. It's ISRO;s Highest number of Satellites launched in a single mission -

Main satellite in this mission was India’s latest earth observation satellite Cartosat-2. It was PSLV’s 35th continuous successful launch of its total 36th flight.

Other 19 satellites were from USA (13), Canada (2), Germany (1) and Indonesia (1). 2 satellites were from Chennai’s Sathyabama University and College of Engineering, Pune (COEP).

Cartosat-2 will be used for mapping and Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS).

The total weight of all the satellites launched by PSLV-C34 were 1,288 kg, with the 19 co-passenger satellites weighing 560kg.

At the internationla scale, NASA in 2013 launched 29 satellites in a single mission and Russia in 2014 launched 33 satellites in one launch.

Other satellites

LAPAN A3 (Indonesia) - Micro-satellite to be used for earth’s magnetic field monitoring and surveillance purpose.

BIROS (Germany) - To be used for remote sensing of high temperature events.

SKYSAT GEN 2-1 - Micro -satellite developed by Google’s subsidiary company Terra Bella’s.

Flock-2P Earth imaging satellites (USA)

12 Dove Earth Imaging Satellites (USA)

M3MSAT (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite) (Canada) - To be used for study and collection of automatic identification system signals from low earth orbit.

GHGSat-D (Canada) - Earth observation satellite. It will be used for measuring the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) especially Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4).

Sathyabamasat (From Chennai's Sathyabama University) - to collect data on greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Swayam (by College of Engineering, Pune) - Aims to provide point to point messaging services to the HAM (amateur radio) community.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) named a crater on Mars as Langtang after one of villages most affected by 2015 earthquakes in Nepal.

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced proposed names for 4 new elements that were added in periodic table in January 2016.

All these 4 elements are super heavy and are synthetic in nature (created in laboratory). They completed seventh row of periodic table of elements.

These new elements are

Nihonium (Nh) - Created by a group of Japanese researchers. Nihon means Japan in Japanese.

Moscovium (Mc) - Named after Russian Capital Moscow.

Tennessine (Ts) - Named after American state of Tennessee. Indian scientist Susanta Lahiri played important role in discovering it

Oganesson (Og) - Named after Russian researcher Yuri Oganessian. It is second element to be named after a living scientist.

Matthew Gdovin, associate professor in University of Texas (USA) has developed a newly patented method to kill cancer cells.

Research involved injecting a chemical compound, nitrobenzaldehyde into tumour and allowing it to diffuse into tissue. A beam of light was aimed at tissue, which caused the cells to become very acidic inside. It forced the cells to commit suicide. It was estimated that up to 95 % of the targeted cancer cells were dead within 2 hours.

Scientist Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic (Columbia University) has grown a living bone in lab to repair large defects in head and face of patient. The new technique uses autologous stem cells derived from a small sample of the recipient’s fat and precisely replicates the original anatomical structure of the bone.

Scientists at USA's University of California created world’s first microchip that has 1,000 processors, fastest chip designed in a university lab. This energy-efficient microchip is named as KiloCore and has a maximum computation rate of 1.78 trillion instructions per second and contains 621 million transistors.

Scientists at University of Bristol (England) have developed a new stem cell-containing bio-ink that allows 3D printing of complex living tissues that may be used for surgical implants.

Scientists at University of California have developed world’s first 1,000-processor chip, named KiloCore. It has 1000 independent programmable processors and has highest clock-rate processor ever designed at university level.

Scientists from Harvard University (USA) created a unique bionic leaf (2.0) that solar energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen and hydrogen-eating bacteria to produce liquid fuels from CO2. It can convert solar energy to biomass with 10% efficiency, much higher than the 1% seen in fastest growing plants.

Scientists from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Iceland's Columbia University discovered a way to trap greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground by changing it into a rock, as part of CarbFix project.

In CarbFix project, scientists pumped CO2 and water, 540 metre underground into volcanic rock at Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. In this method, CO2 is dissolved with water (carbonation) is pumped into volcanic rocks called basalts. Later, CO2 solidifies into a storable solid mineral (calcite).

In the research it was found that 95% of the gas was captured and converted in two years.

Scientists from USA proposed an ambitious project Human Genome Project-Write (HGP-Write), to create a genetic blueprint or synthetic human genome. The project aims to develop technologies to more efficiently and more cheaply write DNA (synthetic genome).

The objective HGP-Write is to write genetic code (DNA of life) rather than reading the genetic code. The project envisions on same scale as the Human Genome Project-Read (HGP-Read) which had sequenced human genome in 2003. It seeks to reduce cost of engineering DNA segments synthetically in laboratory.

Scientists of University of Sheffield identified process of removal of DNA molecules from iconic double-helical structure. New research has unlocked a crucial part of mystery as to how human DNA can replicate and repair itself.

US based private space company SpaceX successfully launched 2 commercial satellites - EUTELSAT 117 West B and ABS-2A, using SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket.

World's first 3D-printed aircraft THOR (Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality) unveiled by Airbus at International Aerospace Exhibition in Germany.

THOR has just 3 parts, makin its lighter, faster and cheaper. It weighs 21 kilo grams and less than 4 metres long. All it parts (except electrical elements) are 3D printed from a substance called polyamide.

Sports

2019 AFC Asian Cup to be hosted by United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is a quadrennial (once in 4 years) men’s football championship organised by Asian Football Confederation.

56th edition of National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2016 started in Hyderabad (Telangana). It’s a qualifying event for Rio Olympics.

A cheerful white tiger cub “Soohorang” has been named as official mascot for South Korea’s 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Athletic World Championship medalist Anju Bobby George and national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand have been made members of Khelo India, national programme for development of sports in India.

Australia won 2016 Champions Trophy of Hockey by defeating India by 3-1 score. It was played in London (UK).

Australian Open Badminton 2016 -

Men's Singles - Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark) won by defeating Jeon Hyeok-Jin (South Korea)

Women's Singles - Saina Nehwal (India) won by defeating Sun Yu (China)

British tennis star Andy Murray won Queen's Club tournament for record fifth time. He defeated Milos Raonic (Canada).

Chile won 2016 Copa America Football tournament by defeating Argentina in a penalty shootout. Host country was USA.

French Open 2016 -

Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Britain’s Andy Murray. It was Djokovic’s 12th major title and he became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams at once.

Women's Singles - Garbine Muguruza (Spain) won by defeating Serena Williams (USA).

Men's Doubles - Spanish pair of Feliciano López and Marc López won by defeating Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan pair from USA.

Women's Doubles - French pair of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic defeated Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Mixed Doubles - Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) won b6y defeating Sania Mirza (India) and Ivan Dodig (Croatia).

Hockey Champions Trophy 2016 -

Men - Australia won by defeating India. It was australia's 14th title.

Women - Argentina won by defeating Netherlands. It was argentina's 7th Title.

Indian Boxing Council (IBC ), a licensing body for professional boxers in India has been granted affiliation by Commonwealth Boxing Council.

Indian Field athlete Tintu Luka won silver medal in 800 meters in Josef Odlozil Memorial Athletics Meet in Prague (Czech Republic).

Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli won best women's player award in Eurasian Blitz chess tournament in Kazakhstan.

Indian judoka Avtar Singh qualified for 2016 Rio Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Indian mixed recurve team of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das won silver medal at Archery World Cup held in Antalya (Turkey).

Indian shooter Jitu Rai won silver medal at ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) Shooting World Cup held in Baku (Azerbaijan).

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics in women’s 100metre event scheduled to be held in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Indian tennis player Leander Paes become only tennis player in world and first Indian to make 7th appearance at the Olympics. He will participate in Rio Olympics in August 2016.

International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Sri Lanka’s fast bowler Shaminda Eranga from bowling due to illegal bowling action.

International Tennis Federation banned tennis player Maria Sharapova (Russia) for 2 years over doping charges.

Lionel Messi announced retirement from Argentinean Football team. He made this announcement after Argentina was defeated by Chile in the 2016 Copa America final in penalty shootout, in which he missed the penalty.

Lucknow city of Uttar Pradesh will host 2016 Junior Men’s hockey World Cup.

Maharashtra won first edition of India’s Bad Bull Softball League by defeating Punjab.

Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton from Britain won 2016 Canada Grand Prix.

2016 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

China 17 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Russia 1 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Spain 15 May Max Verstappen (Netherlands)

Monaco 29 May Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Canada 12 June Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Europe 19 June

Austria 3 July

Britain 10 July

Hungary 24 July

Germany 31 July

Belgium 28 August

Italy 4 September

Singapore 18 September

Malaysia 2 October

Japan 9 October

USA 23 October

Mexico 30 October

Brazil 13 November

Abu Dhabi 27 November

Mercedes F1 driver Nico Rosberg (Germany) won 2016 European Grand Prix.

2016 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

China 17 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Russia 1 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Spain 15 May Max Verstappen (Netherlands)

Monaco 29 May Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Canada 12 June Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Europe 19 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Austria 3 July

Britain 10 July

Hungary 24 July

Germany 31 July

Belgium 28 August

Italy 4 September

Singapore 18 September

Malaysia 2 October

Japan 9 October

USA 23 October

Mexico 30 October

Brazil 13 November

Abu Dhabi 27 November

NR Visakh from Tamil Nadu became first Indian to win Mumbai Mayor’s International Open Chess Tournament 2016 (9th edition).

Navy Officer Ashutosh Pednekar became first Indian to participate and win International tournaments in sport of Racketlon.

Rio Olympics 2016 organising committee revealed official slogan for first Olympic and Paralympic Games in South America - A new world.

Serbian Tennis Player Novak Djokovic became first tennis player to earn more than $100 million in prize money. He is followed by Switzerland's Roger Federer.

Sports Ministry granted recognition to Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted temporary suspension on it.

Sri Lankan Bowler Nuwan Kulasekara retired from Test Cricket.

USA Women’s Team won FINA Women Water Polo World League Super Final in China by defeating Spain.

Yuzvendra Chahal is only player to represent India in chess and cricket. His name is listed in World Chess Federation’s official site. Beside this, he is playing for Indian national cricket team, which is touring Zimbabwe.

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1	Hong Kong	China
2	Luanda	Angola
3	Zurich	Switzerland
4	Singapore	Singapore
5	Tokyo	Japan
6	Kinshasa	Democratic Republic of the Congo
7	Shanghai	China
8	Geneva	Switzerland
9	N'Djamena	Chad
10	Beijing	China

Grand Prix	Date	Winner
Australia	20 March	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Baharain	3 April	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
China	17 April	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Russia	1 May	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Spain	15 May	Max Verstappen (Netherlands)
Monaco	29 May	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Canada	12 June	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Europe	19 June
Austria	3 July
Britain	10 July
Hungary	24 July
Germany	31 July
Belgium	28 August
Italy	4 September
Singapore	18 September
Malaysia	2 October
Japan	9 October
USA	23 October
Mexico	30 October
Brazil	13 November
Abu Dhabi	27 November