G.K. Update 30 May 2016
By: D.K. Choudhary
- The Union Ministry of Power and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched India’s first integrated web portal designed to promote and mainstream Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in India. The portal (www.nzeb.in) was launched by Secretary of Union Ministry of Power Pradeep Kumar Pujari and Ambassador Mr Jonathan Addleton, USAID Mission Director to India.
- Lakshadweep became first Union Territory (UT) to sign “24×7 Power for All” The representative of Government of India and the Administration of Lakshadweep signed the document in presence of Shri P.K. Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Power.
- The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been working on how to reduce cash transactions in the economy. In this regard, they formed a committee of 7 members, chaired by a ministry official, Neeraj Kumar Gupta.
- Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India will present the Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskars for the year 2016 on May 29, 2016 at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar was instituted by Mohinder Singh Syngle Education & Research Society in honour of its founder Smt. Malti Mohinder Singh Syngle, eminent educationist and social worker. Every year Government school teachers from Punjab Government’s High & Higher Secondary Schools receive this award for their contributions in the field of education. The award carries Rs. one lakh, certificate of excellence, a robe of honour and a medal.
- The Press Information Bureau has created a special webpage which is a one-stop information source for the Media on the initiatives and achievements of the NDA Government at the Centre in the last two years. The webpage is linked on the main page under the icon “Transforming India” – “Desh Badal Raha Hai”. The Press Information Bureau has collected a number of success stories across the country on various flagship programmes, innovative projects and schemes of the Government which is made available on the webpage. These success stories have been collected from 42 field offices of PIB from across the country.
- As per the Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, India will have 8-10 very competitive public sector banks once the “dust settles” and the consolidation phase ends. Currently, there are 27 state-owned banks in the country. Mr. Sinha said that the problem with public sector banks in India was that they have “massive” fixed costs and 75 per cent of it is labour.
- Spiritual leader and Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev will lead a yoga session at the UN on the occasion of the second International Yoga Day next month. The International Yoga Day will be commemorated on June 21 and the theme for this Yoga will be Sustainable Development Goals.
- The Bihar government, UNICEF and the Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa entered into an agreement to reduce malnourishment among women and children in the state. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the three, an Agriculture Nutrition Cell would be set up in the Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa. UNICEF head of Bihar Yamin Mazumdar, Vice Chancellor of Rajendra Agriculture University R C Shrivastava and Director of Mid-Day Meal Harihar Prasad were present on the occasion.
- Ashok Leyland’s Board of Directors have approved the re-appointment of Vinod K Dasari as Managing Director (MD) of the company for 5 years from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2021.
- Indian-American scientist Arnab De has received the prestigious Springer Theses Award in recognition for his outstanding research in developing transgenic mice to study a critical tumor-suppressor A20. He was nominated by New York’s Columbia University for his PhD thesis.
- As per Defence spokesperson SD Goswami, three class 12 girls from Leh, Jammu and Kashmir have scaled Mount Everest.
- Har Parkash Rishi is an Indian man who holds the Guinness World Record for having the maximum number of flags (366) tattooed on his body.
- The Telangana government has entered the Limca Book of Records for conducting the most intensive household survey by a state.
- RBL Bank is going to launch an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme for fintech start-ups in the next 9-12 months.
- In a bid to give evolution to the Education system, Union government-appointed committee directed by Ex-Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian, has submitted its report of a New Education Policy.
- Indian author Aditi Krishnakumar has won the prestigious 2016 Scholastic Asian Book Award. She has won the award for her 32,000-word manuscript titled “Codex: The Lost Treasure Of The Indus”.
- The Tata Group forayed into e-commerce with the launch of ‘Tata CliQ’, an online and app-based platform.
