1. 13th
Pravasi Divas begins in Gujarat

i. The
13th Pravasi Divas began at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat today. This is the
first time that the event is being held in the state.

ii. The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the event and
urged the young Indian diaspora to contribute to the initiatives and programs
launched by the Government of India.

iii. The theme of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015 is “100 years of Mahatma
Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa.”

iv. The
President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, is the chief guest of the 13th Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas. The Guyanese President will also be presented the ‘Pravasi
Bharatiya Samman’, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians and people
of Indian origin (PIOs).

2. “Big B” named
brand Ambassador of AP health sector

i. The Andhra Pradesh government today announced
that Amitabh Bachchan would be the brand Ambassador of the AP health sector.

ii. As the brand Ambassador of the AP health sector, he will
be participate in various health-related campaigns of the AP government.

iii. State Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas also
clarified that Mr. Bachchan will not take any remuneration for the services he
would be rendering to the state as its health ambassador.

3. Country’s
first contact-less debit & credit cards launched by ICICI Bank

i. The first ‘contact-less’ debit and credit cards
to enable electronic payments without swiping were launched by ICICI Bank
today.

ii. The cards, which are based on near field
communication (NFC) mechanism, will allow customers to manage their accounts without having to insert or swipe the cards.

Note: Customers need not swipe the card at the
point of sale terminal. The card is similar to the Metro card used in Metro trains.
You can simply tap it on the terminal and pay for your purchases.

4. Neutrino project approved by
Centre

i. India will
soon join the global high-end scientific Neutrino Club as the Centre has given
its nod to launch a project for experiments in high energy physics.

ii. The
project, which will be set up near Pottipuram village in Theni district of Tamil
Nadu, is aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory to
study fundamental issues in science.

5. 102nd Indian Science Congress ends today

i. The Indian Science Congress was
concluded today at the Mumbai University campus.

ii. The Science Congress and ‘Pride
of India Expo’ both provided useful opportunities (mostly for students and
researchers) for receiving information on the latest inventions and discoveries.

iii. The event was mainly
focused on using science and technology for human development and for fostering a
scientific temperament.

6. Dinesh Oraon new speaker of
Jharkhand Assembly

i. Dinesh Oraon
of Bharatiya Janata Party was unanimously elected Speaker of the Jharkhand
Legislative Assembly today.

ii. He will be the 10th Speaker of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

7. New Zealand wins Test Series
against Sri Lanka

i. New Zealand beat Sri Lanka
by 193 runs in the second Test at the Basin Reserve to clinch a whitewash in
the two match Test series.

ii. With this win, New Zealand have moved up to the
fifth position in the ICC Test ranking.

iii. New Zealand will now take on Sri Lanka in a seven
match ODI series before World Cup 2015.