National
19 new Ministers of State inducted in Union council of Ministers:
i. Nineteen new Ministers of State (MoS) were inducted in the Union Council of Ministers in a major expansion.
ii. These new ministers were administered oath of office and secrecy by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
iii. Besides, induction of these new ministers, Minister of State (MoS) Environment, Forests and Climate Change with independent charge, Prakash Javdekar was elevated to the Cabinet rank.
The Ministers of State inducted are: Faggan Singh Kulste, Ramesh Jigjinagi, S S Ahluwalia, Vijay Goel, Rajen Gohain, Ramdas Athawale, Parshottam Rupala, Anil Madhav Dave, M J Akbar, Jaswant Sinh Bhabhor, Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ajay Tamta, Smt. Krishna Raj, Mansukh Mandaviya, Anupriya Patel, C R Chaudhary, P P Chaudhary, Dr Subhash Bhamre.
Note: With the induction of 19 MoS, total number of Ministers in the Union Council has gone up to 83, exceeding the constitutional cap of 82. As per provisions of Article 75, the total number cannot exceed 82 i.e. 15% of the total number of members of Lok Sabha.
Assam launches 100-day plan for agri growth:
i. The Assam government on Sunday announced a 100-day plan for the development of agriculture, urban infrastructure, and veterinary sectors in the state.
ii. The plan includes issuing soil health cards to farmers, building cold storages, setting up e-tendering of seed distribution, and urban infrastructure development.
Second BRICS Youth Summit concludes in Guwahati:
i. The second BRICS Youth Summit was held in Guwahati, Assam from 1st July 2016 to 3rd July 2016. The theme of the summit was “Youth as bridge for intra-BRICS exchanges“.
ii. The summit was inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in presence of Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.
iii. The summit focused on enhancing people-to-people contacts of BRICS member states viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
iv. It also adopted the ‘Guwahati BRICS Youth Summit 2016 Call to Action’ and urged the youth from the five member nations to come together for working towards this goal.
JNPT becomes first Indian port to implement logistics data tagging of containers:
i. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) at Nhava Sheva in Raigad District of Maharashtra has become the first port in India to implement logistics data bank tagging system of containers.
ii. The first of its kind system has been launched as part of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiatives implemented at JNPT Port. It focuses on document, time and cost reduction for the benefit of trade.
iii. Under this system, a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Tag) tag will be attached to each container. It will help to track containers through RIFD readers installed at different locations.
iv. The RFID would provide the visibility and transparency of the exporters/importers (EXIM) container movement.
v. It will cover the entire movement of containers through rail or road to the ICDs (Inland Container Depot) and CFSs (Container Freight Station).
vi. The RFID tags contain electronically stored information. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight (LoS) of the reader, so it can be easily embedded in the tracked object.
India to host meet of BRICS anti-narcotics heads:
i. India is going to host meet of the heads of anti-narcotics agencies of BRICS nations to discuss issues related to narco-terrorism and money laundering.
ii. The one-day meeting on July 8, 2016 will be hosted by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
iii. The agenda of the high-level meeting is to take into consideration of illicit drug trafficking including diversion of precursors and chemicals, usage of new psychoactive substances.
Business & Economy
NSE launches trade repository for corporate debt:
i. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday said it has established a trade repository for Indian corporate debt in a bid to increase liquidity and transparency in over-the-counter (OTC) deals.
ii. TThe repository, launched on July 1, will provide consolidated information on OTC deals in corporate bonds across exchanges. Currently, about 80% of such deals occur on the NSE platform.
SBI secures $625 million from World Bank for solar programm:
i. India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an agreement worth 4,200 crore rupees ($625 million) with the World Bank to support its grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic (GRPV) programme.
ii. The programme also aims at improving the investment climate for solar PV, and increase the ease of doing rooftop business. It will also support development of the overall solar rooftop PV market.
Key Insights:
a) Under GRPV programme, at least 400 MW solar capacity will be created across the country.
b) This agreement will help SBI to finance grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects at very competitive rates.
Appointments & Resignations
Sudarshan Sen appointed Executive Director of RBI:
i. Sudarshan Sen has been as Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will replace NS Vishwanathan who was elevated as Deputy Governor of RBI.
ii. In his new role, Sudarshan Sen will look after Department of Banking Regulation, Department of Co-operative Bank Regulation and Department of Non-Banking Regulation.
iii. Sudarshan Sen has rich experience as the central banker and has a long association with the RBI in the field of supervision and regulation.
MV Dhekane takes over as Director of IISU:
i. Noted scientist M V Dhekane has assumed the office of Director of ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
ii. With this Dhekane becomes the seventh director of IISU which functions under the aegis of the Department of Space.
iii. He had had joined Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in 1983. He has rich experience and expertise in the launch vehicle control and guidance design, mission design and analysis and onboard software development.
About ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU):
a) IISU is a research and development (R&D) unit of the ISRO that functions under the aegis of Department of Space. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Sports
B Sai Praneeth wins 2016 Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton title:
i. Ace Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth (World no 33) has won the 2016 Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton title in the men’s singles category. In the final match played at Calgary Praneeth defeated Lee Hyun II of South Korea.
ii. Indian pair Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also won the 2016 Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton title in the men’s doubles category.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu becomes first Indian footballer to play in Europa League:
i. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu became the first Indian football player to play in UEFA Europa League.
ii. He achieved this feat after was named in Norwegian club Stabaek FC’s squad for qualifying match against Connah’s Quay Nomads FC in Europa League.
Short News
I. The IIT-Kharagpur on Monday announced to start a ‘Centre for Science of Happiness’. The Centre aims to develop courses, research, and training that scientifically explores the science of happiness.
II. Governemnet has renamed the Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras High Courts. These courts, established after an 1862 order by Queen Victoria of Great Britain, will now be called the Mumbai HC, the Kolkata HC, and the Chennai HC. This decision needs to be approved by the President.
III. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said the Centre will provide ₹400 crore aid to Uttar Pradesh for developing airports in Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur, and Bareilly.
IV. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain has won the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix title of Formula One. Rankings after 2016 Austrian Grand Prix:
1st position: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes.
2nd position: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) of Ferrari.
3rd position: Daniel Ricardo (Australia) of Red Bull.
V. The first meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency began in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The two day conference will be attended by all 5 member BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries.
VI. ndia’s first Commercial Court and Commercial Disputes Resolution Centre was inaugurated at Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh. It was inaugurated by State Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh.
VII. unjab Government has launched Rapid Rural Police Response System (RRPRS) to ensure prompt and effective police response in 12,000 villages across the state.
VIII. Researchers from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium have built a super-sensitive electronic nose comprising of chemical sensors metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
IX. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has successfully entered into the orbit of Jupiter on 4th July 2016 and started orbiting solar system’s most massive planet. The spacecraft was launched by NASA as part of its New Frontiers program in 2011 to study Jupiter’s composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere.