G.K Update 4 July 2016 (English)
By: D.K. Choudhary
1. The 2nd BRICS Youth Summit concludes in Guwahati
i. The second BRICS Youth Summit has concluded on 3rd of July which was going on in Guwahati, Assam from 1st July 2016. The summit was inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in the presence of Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.
ii. The theme of the summit was “Youth as bridge for intra-BRICS exchanges“. The three-day summit had witnessed 50-member foreign delegation including ministers and head of executive authorities on youth affairs from BRICS nations.
iii. The BRICS Youth summit focused on enhancing people-to-people contacts of BRICS member states as well as focus on skill development and entrepreneurship, social inclusions, youth volunteerism and youth participation in governance. It has called for shifting of power from the West to the member countries to maintain balance in the world. It also adopted the ‘Guwahati BRICS Youth Summit 2016 Call to Action’ and urged the youth from the five member nations to come together for working towards this goal.
2. India’s first Commercial Court and Commercial Disputes Resolution Centre inaugurated in Chattisgarh
i. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh has inaugurated country’s first commercial dispute resolution centre and a commercial court in the state capital.
ii. The commercial court is located in Naya Raipur area of the city.
iii. The court also consists of arbitration centre and a meditation centre.
3. RIMPAC 2016 – World’s largest international maritime exercise kicks off
i. The multinational exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016 has begun in the Pacific Ocean at Hawaii, United States.
ii. RIMPAC 2016, the World’s largest international maritime exercise have included the participation of navies from 26 countries. This is the 25th edition (30th June to 4th August) of biennial exercise in the series that began in 1971.
iii. This year in RIMPAC 2016, three new nations are participating for the first time. They are Denmark, Germany, and Italy. Besides, India is being represented by Indian Naval ship (INS) Satpura, an indigenously built guided missile stealth frigate. The theme for the year 2016 RIMPAC is – “Capable, Adaptive, Partners”.
4. BRICS’ meeting on energy efficiency begins today
i. A two-day meeting of the BRICS nations working group for enhancing cooperation in energy efficiency and energy saving have started from today in Visakhapatnam. This is the first meeting of the group in which participants from all BRICS countries are attending the meet.
ii. During the two-day deliberations meet, the Working Group on Energy Saving & Energy Efficiency will deliberate on a plan on development of cooperation in energy saving and energy efficiency within BRICS countries.
iii. In the meeting, India will also showcase its efforts in energy saving, energy efficiency, in particular, the LED street lighting programme and PAT (Performance Achievement and Trade) programme for Industrial energy efficiency. This two-day meet of the Working Group is hosted by the Power Ministry.
5. President inaugurates smart village pilot project at Rashtrapati Bhavan
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated a smart model village pilot project at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
ii. Initially, this initiative will be implemented in five selected villages in Haryana than later on will be spread to the entire country.
iii. The five villages which will be developed into the smart villages under this pilot project are Dhaula, Alipur, Harichandpur and Taj Nagar from Gurgaon district and Rojka Meo from Mewat district of Haryana.
6. PM attends martyrdom anniversary of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended a commemorative event to mark the 300th Martyrdom Anniversary of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in New Delhi.
ii. On the occasion, Prime Minister Modi has released a book and souvenir on the life of Banda Bahadur.
iii. Banda Singh Bahadur was born on 27 October 1670 in Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch district. His childhood name was Lachman Dev. At age 15 he left home to become an ascetic and was given the name Madho Das Bairagi. He established a monastery at Nanded, on the bank of the river Godavari. In September 1708, he was visited by Guru Gobind Singh and became his disciple, who gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur.
7. Cyprus set to sign the new tax treaty with India
i. India and Cyprus have agreed to revise their tax treaty under which capital gains tax will be levied on the sale of shares of investments made after April 1, 2017.
ii. The new Cyprus Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which has been agreed upon by both the countries, would provide for source-based taxation of capital gains on transfer of shares.
iii. The completion of the negotiation on avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion will also pave the way for the removal of Cyprus from the list of ‘Notified Jurisdictional Areas’ retrospectively from November 2013.
8. China fits final piece on world’s largest radio telescope
i. China has hoisted the final piece into position on what will be the world’s largest radio telescope, which it will use to explore space and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.
ii. The Five Hundred Metre Aperture Spherical Telescope, or Fast, is the size of 30 football fields and has been cut out of a mountain in the south-western province of Guizhou.
iii. The telescope, which has taken about five years to build, is expected to begin operations in September. Advancing China’s space programme is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.
9. SBI gets $625 mn from World Bank for solar power
i. State Bank of India (SBI) and the World Bank have inked agreements for a $625 million (around Rs 4,200 crore) facility to support grid-connected rooftop solar programme (GRPV) in the country. Through this initiative, at least 400 megawatt (Mw) solar capacity will be created across the country.
ii. This will help SBI in financing GRPV projects at competitive rates and will also catalyse the market and support the government to faster achieve its target to generate 40 gigawatt (Gw) of electricity from the widespread installation of rooftop solar photo-voltaic panels.
iii. The agreements were signed by Karnam Sekar, deputy managing director, SBI and Onno Ruhl, Country Director, World Bank India. The programme also aims at improving the investment climate for solar PV, and increase the ‘ease of doing rooftop business’ through technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of key institutions, and support development of the overall solar rooftop PV market.
10. Linda Burney becomes first Indigenous woman elected to Australia’s lower house
i. Linda Burney, a former teacher has become the first Indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives (lower house) of the Parliament of Australia. She achieved the fete after claiming victory in the marginal seat of Barton.
ii. She has won the seat as a candidate of the centre-left Labour Party in the national polls. With this, she joins first Aboriginal MP Ken Wyatt of the conservative Liberal Party who was elected in 2010.
iii. While Olympian Nova Peris was the first indigenous woman in the upper house of the Parliament.
11. Obituaries :
i. Ex-MP Ranji player Kapil Seth passed away-
Former Madhya Pradesh cricketer Kapil Seth has recently passed away. He was 36 years old. According to the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), the all-rounder was suffering from Hepatitis B. Mr. Kabil
who represented the state in only one first-class and a List A game in the 2000-01 season, made his sole Ranji Trophy appearance against Vidarbha in November 2000.
ii. US Oscar-winning director Michael Cimino dies– US Oscar-winning director of the film the Deer, Hunter Michael Cimino has died at the age of 77. The police found Cimino dead at his home in Beverly Hills.
iii. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel dies at 87- Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author who fought for peace, human rights and simple human decency, has died at the age of 87. He was a professor at the City College of New York from 1972 until he left four years later to become a humanities professor at Boston University. Before that, Wiesel was a journalist in Paris and then New York.
iv. Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard dies- Michel Rocard, former Prime Minister of France, passed away in Paris, France. He was 85. Rocard served as Prime Minister under President Francois Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991.
12. India set to host South Asian Basketball Qualifiers
i. The South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Zone Qualifying Round of the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 will be held from July 6 to 8 at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bangalore.
ii. The detailed announcements regarding this regional competition were made by BFI President K Govindaraj at a press conference held at the Karnataka Olympic Association building.
iii. The three-day competition will be played on a round robin league format. Four South Asian teams – defending champions and hosts India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the island nation of Maldives are in the fray.
13. India to host world’s first MMA League
i. India will be hosting the world’s first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) ‘Super Fight League’ from August 26 to October 1.
ii. The franchise-based league will feature eight teams – Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Haryana, Bangalore, Punjab, Pune and Goa.
iii. The league will be a platform for Indian MMA players like Anup Kumar, CJ Singh, Amit Roy, Dhruv Chaudhary to showcase their skills. Each team will constitute nine Indian fighters and three international ones.
14. Double bonanza for India as Praneeth, Manu-Sumeeth win Canada Open titles
i. India is celebrating its double bonanza as India’s badminton player B Sai Praneet has won the Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton tournament and also it’s Rio Olympics-bound men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy have also won titles at the $55,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Calgary.
ii. Praneeth thrashed South Korea’s Lee Hyun Il 21-12 21-10 to win the championship in Calgary last night. It was Praneet’s first final of the year.
iii. While top seed Manu and Sumeeth Reddy, who became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to qualify for the Rio Games, received a big boost when they defeated local combo of Adrian Liu and Toby Ng 21-8, 21-14 in a lop-sided final.
15. Lewis Hamilton wins Austrian Grand Prix
i. Lewis Hamilton has won the Austrian Grand Prix after a dramatic last-lap collision with championship rival Nico Rosberg.
ii. Rosberg appeared on course to claim his sixth victory of the season but crashed into Hamilton as the Briton attempted to pass his Mercedes team-mate around the outside of the turn and damaged his front wing, finishing fourth.
iii. While Max Verstappen in a Red Bull was second and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was third