1. Union cabinet approves setting up of major port at Enayam in Tamil Nadu

a) The Union cabinet has given a nod to set up a major port at Enayam in Tamil Nadu. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs. 25,000 crores.

b) A special purpose vehicle will be formed for development of this project, with initial equity investment from three other major ports in Tamil Nadu namely Chidambaranar Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, and Kamarajar Port Limited.

c) This port will act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo that is presently trans-shipped outside the country, but also become a trans-shipment hub for the global East-West trade route.

2. India signs MoU with Mauritius for rural development and poverty alleviation

a) The Union cabinet recently signed two MoU with Mauritius to create a framework for cooperation between the National Development Unit, Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Mauritius and the Ministry of Rural Development of the Republic of India in the sphere of rural development.

b) The MoU will facilitate cooperation in the field of rural development and capacity building on the basis of equality.

c) A joint committee on cooperation and rural development will be formed.

d) Both countries have agreed to coordinate and facilitate appropriate technical cooperation, exchange of relevant information and documents in the sphere of rural development, & collaboration to strengthen their human resource capacity.

3. India, Portugal decide to issue joint postage stamps

a) Department of Post of India and Portugal Post have decided to issue joint postage stamps on the theme of folk dances.

b) Department of Post of India has picked up Dandiya dance of Gujarat.

4. India to ink pacts with Mozambique

a) India has decided to enter into a government-to-government pact with the Government of Mozambique to import pulses.

b) Mozambique, which has its eastern coast alongside the Indian Ocean, currently faces a shortage of 7.6 millions of tonnes of pulses, a staple protein source for many.

c) India has decided to apply the cooperative model of farming to Mozambique to increase production.

d) Cabinet has approved the signing of an MoU between the two nations on drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals and related matters through enhanced cooperation.

5. National Apprentice Promotion Scheme approved

a) Union Cabinet has given a green signal to the National Apprentice Promotion Scheme to incentivise employers to engage apprentices.

b) Under this scheme, 50 lakh youth of the country will receive apprenticeship training by 2019-20 at an estimated cost of Rs. 10,000 crores.

c) To be implemented by the director general of training (DGT) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the scheme will strengthen the employment sector.

d) 25% of total stipend will be given by government directly to the employers payable to the apprentices.

6. Rajasthan becomes first state to introduce minimum wages for part-time workers

a) Rajasthan has become India’s first state to introduce minimum wages for part time workers.

b) As per the official notification, it is mandatory to pay 50% of the prescribed a day minimum wage to a person who works for less than four hours in a day.

c) With this, part-time workers of Rajasthan now come under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

7. Zee Learn appoints Debshankar Mukhopadhyay as CEO

a) Debshankar Mukhopadhyay has been appointed as the CEO of Zee Learn.

b) Earlier, he was the head of Educational Sales-Financial Services & Insurance, at Manipal Global Education Service.

c) He has served at Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Western Union, Scholastic India, Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd and DHL Worldwide.

8. Bengali actor Jeet acquires Kolkata team of PFL

a) Bengali film actor Jeet has acquired the Kolkata franchise of the first-ever multi-nation Premier Futsal League (PFL).

b) The team will be known as Kolkata 5s. The PFL will start from 15th July, 2016.

9. 30% of the land in India is getting degraded: ISRO study

a) As per a recent report released by ISRO, 30% of India’s geographical land is under land degradation. The study was carried out using data from satellite images.

b) The degrading area has increased over 0.5 per cent to 29.3 million hectares during the period.

c) There was high desertification and degradation in Delhi, Tripura, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram, while Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh showed some improvement.

d) ISRO’s Space Applications Centre released the findings last month in the form of a ‘Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas’, combining GIS and remote sensing data.

e) The states where high amount of land is degraded are, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

10. First fossil facial tumour found in dinosaur jaw

a) First record of the fossil facial tumour in the jaw of a 69 million-year-old dwarf duck-billed dinosaur is recently found by An international group of researchers, including Kate Acheson from the University of Southampton in the U.K.

b) The tumour is a type of non-cancerous facial tumour, which is found in humans, mammals and some modern reptiles.

c) The scientists claimed that the presence of such a deformity early in their evolution provides us with further evidence that duck-billed dinosaurs were more prone to tumours than other dinosaurs.

d) The micro CT scans discovered that the dinosaur suffered from a condition known as an ‘ameloblastoma’, a benign, non-cancerous growth known to afflict the jaws of humans and other mammals, and some modern reptiles too.

11. Tarantula species named in honour of Garcia Marquez

a) Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been honoured and a Tarantula species has been named after him.

b) The newly researched “Kankuamos marquezi” is named for both Garcia Marquez and the indigenous Kankuamo group who live in the area of Caribbean Colombia where the writer was born.

c) This tarantula species has a defence mechanism which includes releasing stinging hairs that dig into predator’s’ eyes and people’s skin.

12. FTII to be converted into Digital Media University

a) The governing council of Film & Television has given a nod to the conversion of FTII into Digital Media University with 22 new courses.

b) The suggestions were given by the Academic Council of FTII headed by producer BP Singh.

c) The Digital Media University envisages setting up of nine different “schools” under the aegis of FTII, which will offer 22 courses. The institute currently offers 11 courses- seven on filmmaking and four on television production.

13. NADA signs 2-year MoU with Australian agency

a) National Anti-Doping Agency has signed a 2-year MoU with its Australian counterpart and its international parent body-WADA-to bolster its anti-doping programme.

b) The project plan established by these 3 agencies will ensure that India implements a more effective anti-doping programme that is fully compliant with the WADA Code.

c) WADA’s role is to monitor the partnership, including the timeline set for the project, and to assist with the implementation of the work required.

d) The MoU will prove beneficial in testing and results management structures, more timely appeals processes, and a review of the agency’s structure to confirm that the current structures enable autonomous operational decision making.

14. US sanctions North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un for human rights abuses

a) Citing notorious abuses of Human rights, US has sanctioned Kim Jong-Un, the infamous leader of North Korea.

b) The sanctions, for the first time target any North Koreans for rights abuse and also affect property and other assets within the U.S. jurisdiction.

c) The report from US notified many of the abuses are in North Korea’s prison camps, which hold between 80,000 and 120,000 people including children.