1. Ashok Khemka promoted to the role of
Haryana’s Govt’s Principal Secretary

1.
Ashok Khemka has been promoted to the rank of Principal
Secretary to the Haryana Government.

2.
Khemka is currently Secretary and Director General, Archaeology and Museums
Department, Haryana Government.

3. An IAS Officer, Khemka is the
whistleblower who had cancelled a controversial land deal between Robert
Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality and real estate giant DLF in 2012.

4. He was then chargesheeted for this
and was finally acquitted of all charges in November 2015.

5. He has been in the news for as
many as 46 transfers in 22 years.

6. Five other IAS officers of the
1991 batch have been promoted to the rank of Financial Commissioner and
Principal Secretary, namely Abhilaksh Likhi, Vineet Garg, Anil Malik, AK Singh
and Shrikant Walgad

2.   Bowler
R Ashwin tops ICC Rankings

1. Indian off spinner Ravichandran
Ashwin has featured as the top bowler in the latest ICC rankings, replacing
South Africa’s Dale Steyn.

2. Ashwin took 62 wickets in nine
matches to reach the top. He has become the first Indian bowler after Bishen
Singh Bedi in 1973 to reach this position.

3. Ashwin has also been named the
best all-rounder, a title he has been awarded for the second time in three years.

4. Australian captain Steven Smith has been named top Batsman of the Year.

3.  
L&T chief AM Naik steps down as IIMA head

1. AM Naik, the Group Executive
Chairman of Larsen & Toubro has stepped down as the Chairman of IIM Ahmedabad’s
Board of Governors (BoG).

2. He has been in the post since 2012
and was serving his second term.

3. He cited time constraints owing to
responsibilities as the active chairman of L&T Group as the primary reason
for resignation.

4. He brought about major changes in
the premier management institute by getting in top brains like Ashish Nanda of
the Harvard Law School as the Director of IIMA and Srikant Datar, senior
Harvard Professor as a member of the IIMA’s Board of Governors.

5. He was also responsible for
bringing down the number of members of the institute’s BoG from 25 to 15.

4.   Virat Kohli to be conferred Polly Umrigar
Award

1. Indian Test cricket captain Virat
Kohli will be honoured with the Polly Umrigar Award for his achievements of
being India’s top international cricketer during 2014-15.

2. Kohli led India to its first Test
series win in Sri Lanka in 22 years and India also recorded a 3-0 win against
South Africa.

3. The award will be given by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and includes a trophy and a cheque
of Rs.5 lakhs.

4. Former recipients of the award include
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, among others.

5. The Polly Umrigar Award for
2013-14 was awarded to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

5.  
Shyam Benegal to head panel to revamp CBFC

1. The
Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry formed a committee under filmmaker
Shyam Benegal to recommend measures to help Board members understand the
nitty-gritties of film certification and provide a holistic framework for the
same.

2. The committee will also include
filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, adman Piyush Pandey, journalist and film
critic Bhawana Somaaya, National Film Development Corporation’s MD Nina Lath
Gupta and Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s Joint Secretary (Films) K
Sanjay Murthy.

3. Pahlaj
Nihalani, Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), has been
excluded from the committee owing to controversial decisions like arbitrary cuts in movies like
James Bond-starrer Spectre and Angry Indian Goddesses.

4. The panel will also suggest
changes in the Cinematograph Act and is expected to submit its recommendations
in two months.

6.    E-
Commerce markets may touch $38 billion

1. As per Assocham reports, India’s e-commerce market is likely to touch
$38-billion mark in 2016, a 67% rise from last year’s $23 billion revenue.

2. In 2015, the e- commerce space was
ruled by discounts, while this year trends will be driven by increase in Internet
and mobile penetration, in online payments and favourable demographics.

3. Dominance of mobile commerce
comprising up to 70% of the revenue is also expected.

4. Mumbai topped the list in
e-commerce purchases, while Delhi came second.

5. The apparel sector saw major
growth followed by electronics and baby care sectors.

6. While 45% of the customers
preferred cash-on-delivery as a mode of payment, 21% opted for debit cards
followed by 16% who preferred credit card transactions.

7.  
Ian Murdock, founder of Debian Linux, no more

1. Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian
Linux, passed away at the age of 42.

2. On the afternoon of his death
Mordock sent out few tweets hinting at suicide, however, the actual reasons of
his death are still unknown.

3. Some tweets also hinted at him
being embroiled in a police case and having been charged with battery.

4. Murdock, who has worked for
companies like Linux Foundation and Sun Microsystems was working at Docker
Inc.  

5. Ben Golub, Docker’s CEO, announced
his death in a blog post without disclosing any details.

8.  
DAVA project wins 2015 eASIA
Award

1. The Department of Commerce’s DAVA
(Drug Authentication and Verification Application) project has won the 2015
eASIA Award, under Trade Facilitation category in Tehran, Iran.

2. The announcement for this was made
by Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT).

3. DAVA project was launched on June
29, 2015, in order to create an integrated platform for implementation of the
Track-and-Trace system both for exports and domestic markets of drugs and pharmaceuticals.

4. The project aims to cover all
drugs manufactured in India. Indian pharmaceutical industry has approximately
250 large units and over 8,000 small and medium scale units.

5. The project will provide simpler
means to the consumer and regulatory agencies to establish drug authentication
and protect India’s brand image in international trade.

9. Vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam conferred with Sangita Kalanidhi award for
2015

1. The Sangeeta
Kalanidhi award was conferred on Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan at the
89th annual conference of the Madras Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

2. With this,
47-year-old Subrahmanyam became the seventh artist to be conferred the award before
completing 50 years of age, others being-Ariyakudi Iyengar, Musiri Subramania
Iyer, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, GN
Balasubramaniam, ML Vasanthakumari and M Balamuralikrishna.

3. A
chartered accountant by profession, he became a full-fledged musician in 2000
and has received the Tamil Nadu government’s Kalaimamani award, among other
honours.

4. Sangeeta Kalanidhi is a
prestigious award annually conferred on experts of Carnatic music by the Madras
Music Academy.

5. The award comprises of a gold
medal and a ‘Birudu Patra’.

10. 
Javed Ahmed appointed as UP’s Director General of Police

1. The
Uttar Pradesh government appointed Javed Ahmed as the state’s new Director
General of Police. He succeeds Jagmohan Yadav.

2. A
1984-batch Indian Police Service officer, Ahmed was serving as the Director
General (Railways). Earlier he also served as the Joint Director of the Central
Bureau of Investigation during central deputation.

3. Ahmed is due for retirement in the
year 2020.

11.  
Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole passes away

1. Grammy winning singer Natalie Cole
passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 65 due to congestive heart failure.

2. Cole is the daughter of late jazz
legend Nat King Cole and was popular for hits like ‘This will be’ and albums
like ‘Unforgettable … With Love’ and ‘Still Unforgettable’.

3. She won the Grammy Award for best
R&B Female Performance and Grammy Award for Best New Artist for her debut
in 1975.

12.   India
signs Financing Agreement with World Bank to fund education of minorities

1. The Union Government has signed a
Financing Agreement of $50 million with the World Bank for Nai Manzil Scheme-
Education and Skills Training for Minorities.

2. The credit will be facilitated by
IDA, World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, and the loan carries a maturity of
25 years, including a 5-year grace period.

3. In
order to tackle the high dropout and unemployment rate minority youth, the
project aims to adopt a holistic methodology towards their education and skill
development.

4. The minority youth below the
poverty line will be the main beneficiaries of the project and the project will
commence in August 2016 and will officially close on the October 31, 2021.

13. India’s first underwater tunnel to come up in Andhra Pradesh

1. As
per the recently released master plan for Andhra Pradesh’s new capital
Amaravati, an underwater tunnel is set to come up in River Krishna.

2. After
the state government’s final clearance, the 3km-long tunnel will be thrown open
for vehicular traffic.

3.
The under-river tunnel will come up near Ibrahimpatnam,
on the outskirts of Vijayawada and will connect the latter with the
administrative capital.

4.
The master plan has been created by Singapore designers
and proposes a giant wheel on the riverbank, which will function 24×7 to
attract tourists.

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