1) Dipa Karmakar named World Class Gymnast by International Gymnastics Federation

a) Karmakar, who recently became the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, has been awarded the honour for her performances in the Gymnastics World Championships held in Glasgow in October-November 2015.

b) She is the first woman in the gymnast history to land the Produnova, one of the most dangerous vaults. She won 10 gold medals at two national games. She received the Arjuna Award in August 2015.

2) NASA’s Juno Spacecraft successfully enters Jupiter’s orbit

a) Juno spacecraft of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit.

b) The main aim of this spacecraft is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. The spacecraft will also investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere and observe the planet’s auroras.

c) The spacecraft will orbit the planet once every 53 days until October 14, when it will shift to a tighter 14-day orbit.

3) SC-appointed Green Panel recommends high pollution cess of 20-22% on diesel vehicles

a) The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has recommended a green cess of 20-22% on diesel vehicles for the National Capital Region (NCR).

b) EPCA has recommended a cess of 20% on the cost of vehicles with engines that are smaller than 1,500cc in size, and 22% on those over 1,500cc.

c) Removing the fuel price differential, through the imposition of ECC (environment compensation charge) will be a step in removing the incentive for diesel vehicles which would reduce public health risk as diesel emissions are among the more harmful pollutants.

4) 2016 BRICS Youth Summit held with theme Youth as bridge for Intra-BRICS Exchanges

a) 2016 BRICS Youth Summit was recently held in Guwahati Assam to bring together the youngsters from five BRIC nations to empower them and strengthen their young minds.

b) Over 50 youth from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa gathered in Guwahati for the event.

c) The BRICS Youth Summit was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The last summit was held in Russia in 2015. Guwahati was chosen as the venue for the international summit to expose youth from the remote northeast region to international platforms.

d) The theme of this summit was ‘Youth as Bridge for Intra-BRICS Exchanges’.

e) This summit was focused on areas like skill development, entrepreneurship, social inclusions, youth volunteerism and youth participation in governance.

5) Union Cabinet approves Interest Subvention Scheme for farmers

a) The Union cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved Interest Subvention Scheme for farmers for 2016-17.

b) The government has embarked sum of Rs. 18,276 for this scheme. The scheme will prove beneficial to the farmers to get a short term crop loan payable within one year up to Rs. 3 lakh at only 4% per annum.

c) Central govt will provide interest subvention of 5% per annum to all farmers for short crop loan up to one year for loan upto Rs. 3 lakh borrowed by them during 2016-17.

d) To provide relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2 per cent will be provided to banks for the first year on the restructured amount.

6) Union Government launched National Green Highways Mission

a) Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has launched the National Green Highways mission (NGHM) in New Delhi. This initiative launched the plantation drive on 1,500 km of National Highways at a cost of about 300 crore rupees.

b) This mission has also launched initiatives like Guidelines for Implementation, Vision Document, Knowledge Reports of the mission, Adopt a Green Highway Program, Kisan Harit Rajmarg Yojana,National Green Highways Mission Mobile App.

c) This mission is launched under the Green highways policy to analyse the vision of developing eco-friendly and green National highways. This mission will generate jobs as greening of 1 km of highway provides employment for 10 people.

d) The government has made it mandatory to set aside 1 percent of the total project cost of any NH contract to a Green Fund corpus that will be used for plantation purposes.

7) Deepak Singhal appointed as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh

a) Deepak Singhal, principal secretary of irrigation has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

b) Singhal will replace former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Alok Ranjan.

c) Senior IAS officer Pravir Kumar was looking after the charge of Chief Secretary after the retirement of Ranjan.

8) 231 Projects under Namami Gange launched all over country

a) Union government has recently launched 231 different projects to give a major boost to Namami Gange at various locations like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana and Delhi.

b) These projects involve modernisation and redevelopment of Ghats and crematoriums, development of sewage infrastructure and treatment, afforestation, tree plantation, pilot drain project, interceptor drain project, trash skimmers and conservation of biodiversity.

c) 400 villages along the river will be developed as Ganga Gram in Phase I under Ganga Gram Yojna.

d) Thirteen IITs have adopted five villages each for development as Ganga Grams. She said training for 328 sarpanchs was completed at Sichawal in Punjab.

9) India, S Africa sign MoUs in four areas of cooperation

a) India & South Africa have recently inked 4 MoU is major areas of cooperation like the information and communication technology (ICT), grass root innovation and tourism, the Programme of Cooperation will cover segments of arts and culture.

b) These programmes were announced during the meet of PM Narendra Modi and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg, South Africa.

c) During the meeting, both the leaders discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues including reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

10. India gives SUVs to Mozambique, completes delivery of $4.5 mn grant

a) India handed over 30 SUVs to Mozambique, completing the delivery of US $4.5 million grant assistance as part of supporting the institutions of Mozambique.

b) Secretary of Economic relations in the External Affairs ministry Amar Sinha handed over these vehicles.

11. NATO Summit concluded in Warsaw

a) The leaders of 28 NATO allies and many partner nations have started a meet for a landmark Warsaw Summit.

b) The agenda of the biannual summit included the situation in Eastern Europe, the risks emanating from the Middle East, reform of NATO’s partnership policy, question of enlargement, debate about the future nuclear strategy of the Alliance.

c) The leaders agreed to deploy more troops along the eastern borders of Estonia 7 Poland. The leaders have also supported Georgia’s membership aspirations.

12. Nirmala Sitharaman to lead business delegation to Russia

a) Union Commerce and Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman will soon lead the delegation of over 110 companies. This delegation will showcase it’s engineering prowess at a trade fair in Russia.

b) India is the partner country for ‘INNOPROM 2016’, which is the largest annual international industrial trade fair of Russia. This 4 day trade fair will start in Ekaterinburg.

c) The theme of this exhibition is ‘Industrial Net’. The event means to bring together all important components to improve efficacy under one roof.

d) States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also showcasing their strengths. Central government departments including Heavy Industries, Electronics and IT, Ministries of Power, Tourism and Renewable Energy, will also form part of the official delegation.

e) INNOPROM will also offer india a platform to showcase ‘Brand India Engineering’ & ‘Make in India’.

13. Kerala Government imposes 14.5 per cent fat tax on Junk Food

a) The state government of Kerala has announced the Fat Tax on junk food in the market of the state. This will make food items like burgers, pizzas, pasta costlier.

b) The announcement was done in the first budget of LDF government on Friday. ‘Fat tax’ is something that is prevalent in certain foreign countries like France, Denmark and Hungary but is largely an alien term in India.

c) Kerala govt hopes to collect at least Rs. 10 crore from 14.5% tax on fattening food products like burgers, pizzas, etc. sold in fast food restaurants.

d) The government has also imposed a ‘Green tax’ for vehicles over 10 years besides levies on various items including packed wheat products like atta, rava and maida.

14. Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft Kelvin Turner has resigned

a) Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft Kelvin Turner has recently resigned with effect from 31st July, 2016.

b) He was serving Microsoft for last 11 years handling the sales operations.

c) Turner will be joining Citadel Securities as Chief Executive Officer.

15. Radhika Menon: First woman to receive Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea

a) Captain Radhika Menon, the first ever woman captain of Indian merchant Navy who has received the IMO award for exceptional Bravery at sea.

b) Menon will receive the 016 International Maritime Organisation Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea for her role in the dramatic rescue of seven fishermen from a sinking fishing boat in tumultuous seas in the Bay of Bengal in June last year.

c) She is master of oil tanker Sampurna Swarajya.

16. Phiroz Vandrevala steps down as TCS director

a) The non executive director Phiroz Vandrevala has resigned from his post from the country’s largest IT services Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

b) He has served TCS since September 2007. However, Vandrevala, also the Vice-Chairman and MD of Diligenta, a TCS subsidiary, will continue with this role.