1. US Army Reserve officer Deshauna Barber crowned as Miss USA 2016
a) Twenty six year old, Deshauna Barber, a serving U.S. Army officer and an IT analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been declared as Miss USA 2016.
b) She hails from a military family, her father being a retired Army Master Sergeant. She was commissioned as a Quartermaster Officer in 2011 and is currently a Logistics Commander for the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit based at Fort Meade, Maryland.
c) Barber won the pageant ahead of first runner-up Chelsea Hardin, Miss Hawaii, and second runner-up Emanii Davis, Miss Georgia. She will now represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant.
2. Ashok Ganapathy appointed as Director of Airtel Business
a) Bharti Airtel announced the appointment of Ashok Ganapathy as Director for Airtel Business. His appointment will be effective from July 1, 2016.
b) He will report to Gopal Vittal, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.
c) Ganapathy will replace Manish Prakash who will switch to looking after as Director – Strategic Alliances.
d) Ganapathy joined Bharti Airtel in 2013 as the Hub CEO for Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat circles. He has over 26 years of experience across FMCG, Retail, Entertainment and Telecom sectors.
3. Gujarat Government unveiled IT and Electronics Start-up Policy 2016
a) The Gujarat government recently launched its first IT and Electronics Start-up Policy which will focus on subsidies and state assistance for incubators and start-ups over the next five years.
b) The policy aims at raising an investment of Rs. 7,000 crore and establish 50 incubators to help as many as 2,000 startups flourish over the next five years.
c) The policy will be applicable to IT and electronics-related startups. Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have already put in place IT policies and state assistance to promote startups.
4. Guwahati becomes the first city to have a ‘city animal’
a) Assam’s Guwahati became the first city in the country to have its own city animal with the district administration declaring the Gangetic river dolphin as the mascot.
b) The decision was made after an online/ offline voting organised by the district administration nominating three animals for the mascot which are on the verge of extinction. The animals included Gangetic river dolphin (Sihu), lack softshell turtle (Bor Kaso) and greater adjutant stork (Hargila).
c) Of the 60,003 participants , Gangetic river dolphin (Sihu) receives maximum share of votes.
5. Delhi Government approves solar policy with 1 GW target by 2020
a) The Delhi government recently announced implementation of its solar policy with the aim of making the national capital a solar city with installation of 1 GW solar power capacity by 2020. This target is proposed to double it to 2 GW during further next five years.
b) The key highlights of the policy include: mandatory deployment of solar panels in govt. Institutions, Virtual net metering to give access to the solar net metering facility for people who cannot install solar system, building bylaws amendment for rooftop solar installations, tax breaks, benefits and subsidies, and solar system up to 200 KWp being exempt from certification by an electrical inspector.
6. Switzerland voters reject unconditional basic income proposal in referendum
a) 77% of the Swiss Voters have rejected the unconditional basic income proposal and remaining 23% have backed it.
b) The proposal had called for adults to be paid an unconditional monthly income, whether they worked or not. The supporters of this proposal have proposed a monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs every month for adults whether they work or not.
c) The proposal was mainly criticized as there was no plan for funding this costly policy. Even,no parliamentary party has backed the proposal.
7. IOC honours IOA chief N Ramachandran with Olympic Order
a) The International Olympic Committee has awarded the Olympic Order to Indian Olympic Association president N. Ramachandran for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement.
b) He is an Indian squash administrator and became the president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in February 2014.
c) He is the second sports administrator to receive this honour. Former IOA president, the late BS Adityan was the other Indian to be honoured with the same award in 1995.
8. Manohar Aich, India’s first Mr Universe passes away
a) Legendary Indian body builder and India’s first Mr. Universe, succumbed to age related ailments at the age of 102.
b) A three-time Asian Games gold medalist, he was the first Indian to win the Mr Universe title post-independence in 1952. At 4 feet 11 inch, he famously nicknamed ‘Pocket Hercules’.
9. ADB, India ink $200 million loan agreement for Jharkhand roads
a) A $200 million loan agreement is recently signed between Indian government and Asian Development Bank (ADB). the agreement is aimed at upgrading 176 km roads in the Jharkhand
b) The Jharkhand State road II project will upgrade the existing sections of four state roads to two lane standard and design improvement. It will also help in developing an international standard road safety master plan for promoting road safety in Jharkhand.
c) The ADB is supporting the Jharkhand state in improving the road connectivity. The the two projects are rehabilitating 487 kilometres of state highways in Jharkhand.
10. Sudarsan Pattnaik wins gold in People’s Choice Prize
a) Internationally renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won gold medal in people’s choice prize at world championship festival of sand sculpting Russe, 2016, Bulgaria for his sand sculpture “Drugs Kill Sports “.
b) Padma Shri awardee sand artist Sudarsan has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships and festivals around the world and won many prizes. His sand sculptures are based on social issues and current topics.
c) Recently, he won gold medal in Moscow for creating sand sculpture on Peace and Nonviolence.
11. Kulmeet Bawa appointed Adobe MD for South Asia
a) Kulmeet Bawa has been appointed as the Managing Director of Adobe for South Asia.
b) He will replace Umang Bedi who served Adobe for five years.
c) He will lead Adobe’s customer-facing engagements in India while Shanmugam Natarajan, Executive Director for Adobe India and VP Engineering, Digital Media, will continue to provide Site Leadership to Adobe India with a key focus on important research and development operations.
12. Swachh Yug campaign to make gram panchayats along Ganga open defecation free
a) The central ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has recently launched the Swachh Yug Campaign in partnership with Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
b) The campaign is aimed making villages open defecation free which are situated along the banks of Ganga river. The villages will be from five states namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
c) There are around 5,169 villages present on the banks of Ganga river. The campaign will have a local support from Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Bharat Scouts and Guides, Nehru Yuva Kendras and National Service Scheme.
d) A nodal officer will be appointed for each district to make his/hers district open defecation free. The government will also provide interpersonal behaviour change communication training to local trainers through a network of virtual classrooms.
13. Dia Mirza named Ambassador for Swachh Saathi programme
a) Bollywood actress Dia Mirza was recently appointed as the ambassador for Swachh Saathi (student internship) programme. It is a youth based programme under Swachh Bharat Mission.
b) Dia Mirza will interact school and college students across the country to spread awareness about cleanliness and cleaning activities.
c) Under this programme, more than 2,000 interns would enrolled to coordinate around 10,000 schools across India. All the students in these schools will pledge for clean India.
14. World’s Space Companies come together against climate challenge
a) Space agencies of more than 60 countries came together under the impetus of Indian Space Research organization (ISRO) & French Space Agency (CNES). These agencies have decided to engage their satellites, to coordinate their methods and their data to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
b) Without the support of satellites, it was impossible to recognise the issue of global warming and the subsequent historic agreement at UN headquarters which was signed on 22nd April, 2016.
c) 26 out of 50 essential climate variables which are being monitored at the present time can be measured only from space. i.e. rising sea level, sea ice extent, etc.
d) through the New Delhi declaration, these world space agencies have decided to establish an independent, international system to centralise data from their Earth-observing satellites.