1. Annual electronic music festival Tomorrowland begins in Belgium

a) One of the biggest electronic music festival ‘Tomorrowland’ has begun in Boom, Belgium.

b) In 2016, the tomorrowland festival marks it’s 10th edition.

c) By the time, tomorrowland has won the International Dance Music Award, DJ Magazines inaugural award & Red Bull Elektropedia.

2. Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival 2016 begins in Guwahati

a) To pay homage to the North East India’s culture, the fourth edition of the Brahmaputra valley Film festival has begun.

b) Six short films and six full-length films from northeast states like Manipur, Assam, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh will be presented at the three-day fest, organised by Tattva Creations.

c) The core objective of this festival is to bring filmmakers of this region under one roof. There will be special sessions with Bollywood filmmakers Prakash Jha and Imtiaz Ali.

3. Modern Indian artist Syed Haider Raza dies

a) the last surviving member of the six modern artists who founded the influential Bombay Progressive Artists Group in 1947, Syed Haider Raza has recently passed away.

b) His works are mainly abstracts in oil or acrylic. His painting named Saurashtra was sold for 16.42 crores and he became one of the India’s priciest modern artist.

c) He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981 and with Padma Bhushan in 2007. He was awarded with Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

d) On 14 July 2015, he was conferred with the highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d’honneur (Legion of Honour).

4. Madhav Chitale committee constituted to prepare Guidelines for Desiltation of River Ganga

a) A committee was recently constituted by the water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation ministry to prepare guidelines for distillation of Ganga river from Bhimgauda (Uttarakhand) to Farakka (West Bengal).

b) The committee will be headed by Madhav Chitale, member of National Ganga River Basin Authority. The tenure of this committee is of 3 months.

c) The other members of the committee are Shashi Shekhar secretary water resources ministry , Ajay Narayan Jha ,secretary, environment minister and Mukesh Sinha, director, central water and power research station-Pune.

d) The committee will also establish difference between desilting and sand mining and also to establish need for desilting for ecology and e-flow of the river Ganga.

5. Neeraj Chopra becomes first Indian to win gold in World Athletics championships

a) India’s Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has won gold medal in the IAAF world under 20 championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

b) Neeraj has set a new world record in under 20 category by throwing the javelin 86.48m far.

c) it is country’s first ever gold medal in any World Athletics championship. South African Johan Grobler with 80.59m took the silver and Anderson Peters with 79.65m of Granada the bronze.

6. Feliciano Lopez wins 2016 Swiss Open Gstaad

a) By defeating Netherland’s Robin Haase, veteran Spanish tennis player Feliciano Lopez has bagged the 2016 Swiss Open Gstaad.

b) He defeated Robin Haase by 6-4, 7-5. It is his first title on clay and overall fifth title.

c) Lopez has previously won 2004 Vienna Open, 2010 Johannesburg Open & Eastbourne open in 2013 & 14.

7. Bappi Lahiri conferred Mahanayak Samman of West Bengal

a) Popular musician & singer Bappi Lahiri was recently conferred with West Bengal’s Mahanayak Samman award by state CM Mamata Banerjee.

b) He was awarded for his outstanding performances over the years.

c) The Mahanayak Samman awards were instituted in 2012 in the memory of Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar who is revered in this part of India as “Mahanayak (Great hero)”.

8. A Kanyakumari, first female violinist to receive Sangita Kalanidhi award

a) Renowned violinist A Kanyakumari has conferred with 2016 Sangita Kalanidhi award. With this award, she has become first female violinist to receive this award.

b) She will preside over the 90th annual conference of the Academy to be held between 15 December 2016 and 1 January 2017.

c) The Rudrapatnam brothers R N Thyagarajan & R N Tharanathan have received the Sangita Kala Acharya Awards.

d) A Kanyakumari is the exponent of Carnatic music who has created seven ragas under the title Saptadri, seven names of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati.

9. Nepal PM KP Oli resigns ahead of a no-confidence vote

a) Ahead of non confidence vote in nepal’s parliament, Nepal’s prime minister K P Oli has resigned from his office.

b) K P Oli was heading Nepal’s 8th government currently. The country will again face political turmoil with his resignation.

c) He became prime minister of Nepal in October 2015, has been facing a no-trust motion after the Maoists withdrew support from the coalition government.

10. Scientists decide to launch field trials of oil-degrading bacteria in Kochi

a) To launch field trials for three new strains of oil degrading bacteria in Kochi, The Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute of Plant Sciences, Kozhikode, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) have joined hands.

b) these bacteria will help the bio remediation techniques used for the cleaning of petroleum pollutants from the environment.

c) The three new strains including two species of Burkholderia and one species of Pseudomonas have been sequenced and submitted to the Genbank database on organisms.

11. India’s first water metro launched in Kochi

a) The Kochi water Metro project was recently launched in kerala. It is India’s first ever metro project.

b) the German development bank Kreditanstalt fr Wiederaufbau (KfW) is funding for this project.

c) This metro will link various islands on mainland with it’s 78 modern boats.

12. Ganesh Singh appointed Head of Joint Parliamentary Committee for Land Acquisition Bill 

a) BJP member Ganesh Singh is recently appointed a new chairperson of the joint committee of parliament examining the contentious land bill.

b) Singh will replace S S Ahluwalia who became minister of state for parliamentary affairs.

13. Lok Sabha passes Bill to establish new NIT in Andhra Pradesh

a) Lok Sabha has recently passed the National Institute of Technology, Science, Education and Research (Amendment) (NITSER) Bill, 2016 to establish a National Institute of Technology in Andhra Pradesh with effect from August 2015.

b) The bill provides a NIT for the Andhra Pradesh after after its bifurcation as the existing NIT went to Telangana.

c) The Bill amends the NITSER Act 2007 so as to establish an additional NIT in Andhra Pradesh.