1. Tamar Hahn appointed as Director of UN Information Centre
(i) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently appointed Tamar Hahn as the Director of United Nations Information Centre in Buenos Aires.
(ii) Prior to this appointment, Hahn was the Regional Adviser for Resource Mobilisation and Partnerships at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama City, Panama.
(iii) The network of 63 United Nations Information Centres are key to the UN Organisation’s ability to reach the peoples of the world and to share its story with them in their own languages.
2. Hydrocarbons Vision 2030 released
(i) Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 was recently released for North-East India by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.
(ii) The aim is to make focused efforts towards making hydrocarbons a tool to enable social and economic development.
(iii) The vision is based on five pillars: People, Policy, Partnership, Projects and Production. The states covered under this vision are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
3. UP passes Land Revenue Act, 2015
(i) The Uttar Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 2015, recently came into effect, helping replace around 39 old land revenue acts.
(ii) The new act also replaced the pre and post-British era Land Revenue Act of 1901 and Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950.
(iii) This Act has enabled Dalits to sell their land to non-Dalits without the approval of the administration and empowers women by stipulating that the wife gets equal rights on the gram samaj land given out on a lease.
4. Elephanta Island to be electrified before Independence Day
(i) Elephanta Island will be electrified by Independence Day, 2016.
(ii) Currently, the island is completely dependent upon diesel-powered generators for electricity. The island will be connected to the state electricity
grid and for this Maharashtra Chief Minister has fast-tracked a Rs.25 crore project to
draw undersea power cable network between Mumbai and the island.
(iii) Elephanta island is situated in the Sea of Oman close to Mumbai and is a popular tourist destination.
(iv) The caves in the island have been designated as the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
5. Ashok Bhargava re-elected as the chairman of Indian Tea Association
(i) Ashok Kumar Bhargava has been re-elected as the Chairman of the Indian Tea Association. He will also hold the chairmanship of Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA), the apex body of Tea Plantation Association in India.
(ii) Presently, he is the Managing Director of Apeejay Tea Limited.
(iii) Further, Azam Monem, Director, McLeod Russel India Limited and Vivek Goenka, President, Warren Tea Limited have been re-elected as vice-chairman and additional vice-chairman of the association respectively.
6. Brij Bhushan Singh elected President of South Asian Wrestling Federation
(i) Brij Bhushan Singh has been elected as the President of South Asian Wrestling Federation during the General Body Meeting of South Asian Wrestling Federation.
(ii) In other appointments, Tabiur Rehman from Bangladesh was elected Secretary General.
(iii) Chawdhury Mohd. Ajgar of Pakistan , U.H. Neville Pdmashri from Sri Lanka and Raj Mohammed Ansari of Nepal were elected as vice-presidents.
7. Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori quit Flipkart
(i) Recently, head of commerce and advertising business Mukesh Bansal and Chief Business Officer Ankit Nagori quit Flipkart.
(ii) Bansal had joined the firm when it acquired Myntra in 2014. Bansal will, however, continue to be an advisor. Ankit Nagori has quit the firm to start an entrepreneurial venture in the sports field, while Bansal has taken a break to spend time with his family.
(iii) Flipkart co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal will be the first investors in Nagori’s new venture.
8. Infosys commits Rs.1 crore to reward innovative ideas
(i) Ahead of the Make in India week, Infosys committed Rs.1 crore to reward innovative ideas coming out of India as a part of its Infy Maker Awards program.
(ii) Infosys COO Pravin Rao confirmed that Infosys would award 20 prizes of Rs.5 lakh each to citizens in a bid to motivate them to build creative ideas and solutions from various communities and sectors.
(iii) The Infosys Foundation USA had launched the Infy Maker Awards program.
9. Wipro acquires US-based HealthPlan Services for Rs.3150 crore
(i) Wipro recently acquired US based HealthPlan Services for Rs. 3150 crore.
(ii) Wipro will acquire 100 per cent of HealthPlan Services’ shares and the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the next 60-90 days.
(iii) The acquisition will help the Wipro strengthen its position in the U.S. health insurance market. HealthPlan Services is based in Florida and is a leading independent technology and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) provider in the U.S. health insurance market.
10. Pulitzer-winning composer Leslie Bassett passes away
(i) Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Leslie Bassett passed away in Georgia, aged 93.
(ii) Bassett had won the Pulitzer for Music for Variations for Orchestra, which premiered in Rome in 1963.
(iii) He was an alumnus of the University of Michigan and a member of the Gamma Pi chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at California State University-Fresno, 1942.
11. Quinton de Kock becomes youngest player to score 10 ODI centuries
(i) South Africa’s Quinton de Kock became the youngest player to score 10 ODI centuries.
(ii) He broke the record of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli during the third ODI against England in Centurion. De Kock’s age when he scored the century against England was 23 years and 54 days while Kohli was 23 years and 159 days when reached the landmark.
(iii) While Kohli achieved 10 centuries in 80 innings, de Kock has managed the achievement in just 55 innings.
To get fresh updates on your Facebook & Twitter timelines, subscribe to our pages created specifically for them. We will be posting only those exam specific links on these pages:
Bank PO:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pagalguybankpo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYBankPO
SSC & Other Exams:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-SSC-CGL-Others/879667042056262
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pagalguyssc
UPSC:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-UPSC/951926044840262
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYUPSC