GK Update : 6th July, 2016 (English)

i. In a much-awaited council of minister’s expansion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expanded his Cabinet by inducting 19 new ministers in the government while one has been elevated to the cabinet rank.

ii. President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

iii. Minister of State with independent charge Prakash Javdekar was elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister. The Ministers of State are Faggan Singh Kulste, S.S. Ahluwalia, Ramesh Jigjinagi, Vijay Goel, Ramdas Athawale, Rajen Gohain, Anil Madhav Dave, Parshottam Rupala, M.J. Akbar, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jaswant Sinh Bhabhor, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Ajay Tamta, Smt. Krishna Raj, Mansukh Mandaviya, Smt. Anupriya Patel, C.R. Chaudhary, P.P. Chaudhary, and Dr. Subhash Bhamre.

i. The Centre government has released an official statement that it will provide an assistance of 400 crore rupees for developing airports at Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

ii. Apart from these 4 cities in UP, the Centre will also study the feasibility of developing no-frills airports in Meerut, Faizabad, and Moradabad. While to develop an airport at Kushinagar the state government has already provided 200 crore rupees which will be complete within a year.

iii. The Centre has also set up a committee comprising two officials each from union civil aviation ministry and state government of UP. This committee will prepare a feasibility report to develop airports in Meerut, Faizabad and Moradabad as well.

i. The National mineral exploration policy has been unveiled to adopt comprehensive exploration of non-fuel and non-coal mineral resources.

ii. The new policy aims to bring together best of knowledge and experience, modern technology, trained manpower and financial resources on a collaborative platform. Space technology would be used to check illegal mining by developing a mining surveillance system.

iii. Releasing the policy at National conclave on mines and minerals at Raipur in Chhattisgarh Union minister of steel and mines Narendra Singh Tomar said the objective is to set in motion a massive process of mineral exploration in the country that would give a major boost to the economy.

i. Jawaharlal Nehru Port has become the first port in India to implement logistics data tagging of containers.

ii. The logistics data bank tagging of containers is a first of its kind facility which will help importers and exporters track their goods in transit. An RFID  (Radio Frequency Identification Tag) tag would be attached to each container which would be tracked through RIFD readers installed at different locations.

iii. It will integrate the information available with various agencies across the supply chain to provide detailed real time information within a single window. The government claims that this is an important ‘ease of doing business’ initiative focused towards document, time and cost reduction for the benefit of trade.

i. Thirteen districts in Madhya Pradesh will be covered under the upcoming phase of the Centre’s “Mission Indradhanush” initiative aimed at full immunisation of all children in the country.

ii. It (the third phase of ‘Mission Indradhanush’) will cover Alirajpur, Jhabua, Ashok Nagar, Raisen, Vidisha, Sagar, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Chhattarpur, Panna, Umaria, Satna and Rewa districts,” said V Kiran Gopal Rao, Mission Director, National Health Mission for Madhya Pradesh.

iii. ‘Mission Indradhanush’ was launched by Union Health Minister J P Nadda last year, aiming at immunising all children against seven vaccine preventable diseases namely diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B by 2020.

i. The central government has given its nod for renaming Mhow railway station in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh after BR Ambedkar as the Dalit icon was born there.

ii. In this regards, the Union Home Ministry has requested the Madhya Pradesh government to issue a Gazette notification with spelling the name accordingly in Devnagri (Hindi) and Roman (English) script.

iii. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot had already written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu last year and in January this year, demanding that the name of Mhow railway station to be changed to BR Ambedkar railway station. Although, the Mhow was already renamed as Dr Ambedkar Nagar in the year 2003.

i. Gurgaon-based online pharmacy 1mg has acquired diagnostic labs aggregator Medd (HolaMed Healthcare Technologies Pvt. Ltd) for an undisclosed amount. However, as a part of the deal, all the three founders of Medd – Arpit Kothari, Anurag Mundhada, and Era Dwivedi, have joined the 1mg team.

ii. 1mg operates an online marketplace for medicines, besides facilitating medical appointments and diagnostic test bookings. The e-diagnostic service of 1mg is currently available across 23 cities, powered by tie-ups with certified laboratories.

iii. Medd was co-founded by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay graduates Arpit Kothari and Anurag Mundhada and Carnegie Mellon graduate Era Dwivedi in 2015. Following the acquisition, Kothari and Mundhada will be joining the 1mg team. Medd operates across Mumbai, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Bengaluru and Jaipur.

i. NASA’s $1.1 billion Juno spacecraft has successfully entered the orbit of Jupiter, the largest planet of the solar system.

ii. It was launched five years ago, and will study Jupiter’s composition, gravity, magnetic field and search clues about the planet’s formation.

iii. Juno will be the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, following the Galileo probe which orbited from 1995–2003.

i. Sudarshan Sen has been appointed as the Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

ii. He will replace NS Vishwanathan who was elevated as Deputy Governor of RBI.

iii. In his new role, Sudarshan Sen will look after Department of Banking Regulation, Department of Co-operative Bank Regulation and Department of Non-Banking Regulation. Earlier, he had served as in charge of the Department of Banking Regulation. He also had served as the Regional Director of Ahmedabad office of the RBI.

i. Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN),an industry association and Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for the microfinance industry in India, has announced R Baskar Babu, CEO of Suryoday Micro Finance as its new President of the Board in the wake of the previous President retiring.

ii. He replaces Manoj Nambiar of Arohan.

iii. The Board also elected Rakesh Dubey, CEO of SVCL CreditlinePvt Ltd. as MFINs new Vice President.

i. Mr. K B Koliwad has unanimously elected as the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Mr. K B Koliwad is 72 years old and represents Ranebennur constituency in Haveri Taluk.

ii. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah proposed his name, seconded by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs J B Jayachandra.

iii. The speaker post of Karnataka Legislative fell vacant after incumbent Kagodu Thimmappa resigned following his induction into the cabinet as revenue minister on June 19. Koliwad was the lone MLA to file his nomination papers for the post of the Speaker. Koliwad, Chairman of the House committee to study lake encroachments, will be the 20th Speaker of the Lower House.

i. Veteran communist leader and former World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra has passed away in Mumbai. He was 94 years old.

ii. Chandra had taken part in freedom struggle as a student leader and later joined CPI and went on to become its national executive. Mr. Chandra was a recipient of Lenin Peace Award and had also worked as the editor of CPI’s central organ New Age.

iii. Chandra, who joined the World Peace Council headquarters in Helsinki (Now in Greece) as its president and played a role during cold war era. He had also addressed United Nation’s General Assembly as peace body’s leader many a times, the highest number of times as an Indian.

i. The Olympians Association of India (OAI), the first-ever association for Indian Olympians, by the Olympians, was launched.

ii. The Olympians Association of India’s official Twitter account, @IndianOlympians, will serve as the platform for real-time updates of the Indian contingent at the upcoming Rio Olympics.

iii. Five-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan will serve as the association’s first president.

i. Saudi Arabia was unanimously elected as the 39th Associate Member of International Cricket Council’s (ICC) during its full council meeting in Edinburgh.

ii. The Saudi Cricket Centre (SCC) has been an Affiliate Member of the ICC since 2003. The application for Associate Membership of SCC had been pre-approved by the ICC development committee during its October 2015 meeting, which was followed by a full application and an ICC inspection in March 2016.

iii. Saudi Arabia made its international debut at the 2004 ACC Trophy in Malaysia and has since played regularly in Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments. After finished second in the 2014 ACC Elite League, the team qualified for the World Cricket League for the first time. Saudi Arabia was due to compete in the 2015 Division Six event, but members of the team were denied visas by the host country, forcing the team to withdraw.

i. Bengaluru para-swimmer Niranjan Mukundan has won eight medals, including three golds, at the recently-concluded IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) U-23 World Games in Prague, Czech Republic.

ii. He has won the gold medals in the 200m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke, silver in the 100m fly and 50m freestyle, as also bronze in 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, and 100m backstroke events, stated by a release from GoSports Foundation, which is supporting Niranjan through the Para Champions Programme.

iii. Niranjan, who is born with a medical condition called Spina Bifida and clubbed feet and competes in the S-8 category, also had the honour of delivering the athlete’s oath on behalf of 35 competing countries