Business & Economy
Cabinet approves merger of 5 associate banks with SBI:
i. The Union Cabinet approved the merger of five associate banks — State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad as well as Bharatiya Mahila Bank with State Bank of India.
ii. Last month, SBI cleared proposal for merger of subsidiary banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
iii. SBI first merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008. Two years later, State Bank of Indore was merged with SBI. The merger will create Rs 37-lakh crore banking behemoth with over 50 crore customers.
National
President Pranab Mukherjee adorned with the highest civilian award of Ivory Coast:
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has been presented National Order of the Republic of Ivory Coast, the highest civilian award of the West African country.
ii. The award was bestowed upon Pranab Mukherjee during his two days visit to Ivory Coast on the second leg of his three-nation African tour.
iii. With this, Mr Mukherjee’s became the first Indian President to visit Ivory Coast. He was invited by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.
About National Order of the Republic of Ivory Coast:
a) It is highest state order of knighthood of the Ivory Coast.
b) Established: 10 April 1961 to celebrate the independence of the Ivory Coast from France in 1960.
Railways signs pact with Odisha for rail infra:
i. Railways today signed a pact with the Odisha government for setting up a joint venture company for development of rail infrastructure in the eastern state.
ii. As part of it, the two partners will fund part of such identified projects, it said, adding, project-specific special purpose vehicles (SPVs) would also be formed after financial closure of the project.
BHEL commissions 195 MW unit at Muzaffarpur:
i. Public Sector Power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned 195 MW unit at Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station in Bihar.
ii. This is the second 195 MW unit to be commissioned by BHEL at the 2×195 MW Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station Stage-II of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL).
iii. KBUNL is a joint venture (JV) of NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) and BSPGCL (Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited). The first 195 MW unit was
commissioned in March, 2015.
About Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL): BHEL is a power plant equipment manufacturer completely owned by Union Government. It was established in 1964 and was
awarded a Maharatna Company status in 2013. It is the largest engineering and manufacturing company of its kind in India.
NITI Aayog to set up 500 ‘Atal’ Tinkering Labs in schools:
i. To cultivate scientific temperament and a spirit of innovation in young minds, the NITI Aayog has decided to set up 500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools across the country.
ii. These laboratories will provide a work space to the young students for shaping their ideas by hands on doing themselves models and learning innovation skills.
iii. The vision of the scheme is to ‘Cultivate 1 Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’.
iv. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) set up at NITI Aayog will provide grant-in-aid that includes a one-time establishment cost of Rs 10 lakh and operational expenses of Rs 10 lakh for a maximum period of 5 years to each ATL.
Union Government Unveils Scheme for setting up 1000 MW CTU- connected Wind Power Project:
i. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched a scheme for setting up of 1000 Mega Watt (MW) Wind Power Project connected to transmission network of Central Transmission Utility (CTU).
ii. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate supply of wind power to the non-windy states at a price discovered through transparent bidding process.
iii. The Scheme will also facilitate fulfilment of Non-Solar Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) requirement of non-windy states.
iv. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has been designated nodal agency for implementation of the scheme.
v. The Scheme will be implemented for setting up 1000 MW capacity of CTU connected Wind Power Projects by Wind Project Developers on build, own and operate (BOOT) basis.
Background:
a) The Union Government has set an ambitious target of achieving 175 Giga Watt (GW) power capacity from clean renewable energy resources by 2022. Out of this, 60 GW target is set for wind power.
b) Globally, India is at 4th position in term of installed wind power capacity after China, USA and Germany.
Science & Technology
Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent; 1st mammal species wiped out by human-induced climate change:
Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent (also known as Bramble Cay melomys) has become the first mammal species driven to extinction by human-induced climate change.
Reasons for Extinction:
a) The main reason for extinction Bramble Cay melomys is anthropogenic climate change.
b) The climate change caused in ocean inundation (due to sea rise) of the low-lying cay areas of their habitat over the last decade resulting in dramatic habitat loss.
About Bramble Cay melomys:
a) Bramble Cay melomys is a small rat-like (rodent) animal species in the family Muridae.
b) It is Great Barrier Reef’s only endemic (found nowhere else) mammal species.
c) It was mainly found in a small coral cay called Bramble Cay located off the north coast of Queensland in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Jupiter-like planet Kepler1647b orbiting two suns discovered:
i. Scientists using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have discovered a Jupiter-like circumbinary planet named Kepler1647b orbiting a system of two stars.
ii. The planet was discovered by astronomers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre and San Diego State University (SDSU).
iii. Kepler1647b is the largest such cosmic body ever found. Circumbinary planets are those planets that orbit two stars.
Appointments & Resignations
Peter Thomson elected as President of 71st session of United Nations General Assembly:
i. Fijian diplomat Peter Thomson has been elected as President of 71st session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
ii. With this, Peter Thomson becomes the first representative from the Pacific island states to get elected for the largely honorific post in the UN’s 71-year history.
iii. Peter Thomson is a Fijian diplomat. Since February 2010, he was Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
iv. He was the architect of changing name of the UN’s Group of Asian States to the new name of the Asia-Pacific Group.
About UNGA President:
a) President of UNGA presides over the sessions of the General Assembly which is starts begins every year in September.
b) The President is elected annually on rotational basis between the five geographic groups namely African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European and other States.
Important Note: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was first and only Indian to serve as President of UNGA in 1953. She was also the first woman President of UNGA.
Obituary
Thespian Hindi writer Mudrarakshasa passes away:
i. Renowned Hindi novelist and critique Mudrarakshas passed away due to old age related causes in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He was 82.
ii. He was distinguished Hindi writer, activist, thinker and cultural personality. His write-ups invariably hinged on various vital social issues and causes.
About Mudrarakshasa:
a) He was born as Subhash Chandra in Behta near Lucknow in 1931. He was rechristened as Mudrarakshasa by his teacher Dr Devendra when he had started writing.
b) He was the editor of Calcutta based magazine Anuvrata and was also associated with All India Radio (AIR) as Editor from 1962 to 1976.
Short News
I. Indian limited-overs captain MS Dhoni became the first Indian wicketkeeper to register 350 dismissals in ODI cricket. He became the fourth wicketkeeper in ODI history to achieve the feat, behind Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, Australia’s Adam Gilchrist and South Africa’s Mark Boucher.
II. The Rio 2016 organising committee revealed the official slogan for the first Olympic games in South America — “A new world”. The core values of the slogan and the manifesto are unity, respect for diversity and the will for change.
III. Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) and Bharti Airtel have partnered to deliver high-speed data network coverage across 325 cities in the Asia-Pacific, Middle- East, Africa, Europe and the US under one network.
IV. Facebook partnered with Deepika Padukone’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation and NGO Aasra to launch its suicide prevention tool on Tuesday in India. The tool lets users flag their friends’ posts that seem suicidal. The posts will be reviewed by a Facebook team to provide various suicide prevention resources including a helpline and support to the people suffering from depression.
V. Five Indian institutes have been named amongst the top-50 in the latest QS University Rankings Asia 2016 list. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore was the highest ranked Indian university at 33, followed by IIT-Bombay (35), IIT-Delhi (36), IIT-Madras (43), and IIT-Kanpur (48). The rankings were topped by the National University of Singapore, followed by the University of Hong Kong.