important current affairs june 2015 capsule with pdf

Romesh Sharma - Important Current Affairs June 2015 Capsule with PDFby Romesh Sharma - Testbook Blog - https://testbook.com/blog

Important Current Affairs June 2015 Capsule with PDF

by Romesh Sharma - Friday, July 03, 2015

https://testbook.com/blog/important-current-affairs-june-2015-capsule-with-pdf/

Important Current Affairs June 2015 Capsule

Person in News

Ameenah Gurib-FakimThe government of Mauritius designated Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as the Indian Ocean Islandnation’s new president, making her the first woman to hold the ceremonial position.

Gurib-Fakim, 56, will be the first female President of the Island, which gainedindependence from Britain in 1968 and which replaced Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as itshead of state in 1992.Mauritius is one of the richest, and least corrupt, countries in Africa, a middle-incomecountry of some 1.3 million people with a per capita GDP of just over $9,000 (7,200euros).Gurib-Fakim is currently director of the Mauritius-headquartered Centre forPhytotherapy Research (CEPHYR), which carries out research on plants for use incosmetics, nutrition and therapy.

Shri Vijai SharmaShri Vijai Sharma (Indian Administrative Service:1974), Information Commissioner in theCentral Information Commission, New Delhi, has been appointed as the Chief InformationCommissioner.

Shri Sudhir Bhargava (Indian Administrative Service:1979), retired Secretary, Ministry

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https://testbook.com/blog/important-current-affairs-june-2015-capsule-with-pdf/


of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been appointed as the InformationCommissioner in the Central Information Commission, New Delhi.The above appointments have been made for a term of five years from the date(s) onwhich they enter upon their office(s) or till they attain the age of sixty five years,whichever is earlier.Central Information Commission, which is mandated to resolve appeals and complaintsfiled against government departments or public authorities by information seekers underthe Right to Information Act, has been working without a Chief for over nine months,after the tenure of CIC Rajiv Mathur ended on August 22, 2014.

Shri K.V. ChowdaryShri V. Chowdary (Indian Revenue Service:1978) retired Chairman of Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) has been appointed as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), New Delhi.

Shri M. Bhasin, Chairman & Managing Director, Indian Bank, has been appointed asthe Vigilance Commissioner in the CVC, New Delhi.The above appointments have been made for a term of four years from the date(s) onwhich they enter upon their office(s) or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever isearlier.Chowdary, a former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, is working as an Adviser inSupreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to check black money.CVC is conceived to be the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executiveauthority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and advisingvarious authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing,reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.

Sharad PawarMaratha strongman Sharad Pawar was unanimously re-elected as the president of NationalistCongress Party (NCP), a post he has occupied since he founded the party in 1999 after partingways with Congress.Mogens LykketoftThe United Nations General Assembly has elected by acclamation Mogens Lykketoft ofDenmark as President of its upcoming 70th session.

Addressing delegates immediately after his election today at UN Headquarters in NewYork, Mr. Lykketoft, who has served both as Denmark’s Foreign and Finance Ministers,declared that his Presidency would be marked by a “commitment to action” towardsbuilding “a more fair and stable world” in line with the objectives set out by the UNMillennium Development Goals.Made up of all the 193 Member States of the United Nations, the General Assemblyprovides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issuescovered by the UN Charter. It meets in regular session intensively from September toDecember each year, and thereafter as required.

CNR Rao

Eminent scientist and recipient of Bharat Ratna CNR Rao was conferred Japan’s highestcivilian award for promoting academic interchange and mutual understanding in science andtechnology between the two countries.

He was presented with the ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star’ and

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certificate by Japanese ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi in the presence of seniorofficials of the Department of Science and Technology, which Rao has helped shape upover the years.The highest civilian award of Japan is conferred on academicians, politicians and militaryofficers.Rao had been bestowed with about 70 honorary doctorates and is the ‘Linus PaulingResearch Professor’ and honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.He is the only Indian to be elected as a foreign member of the Japan Academy.He is also credit for shaping several premier technical institutes in the country such as IITKanpur and has authored over 1000 research papers and 36 books.He had also worked as the Chief Science Advisor to Prime Ministers of India.

Nikesh Arora

India-born former Google executive Nikesh Arora has been appointed the President of Japan”stelecommunications giant SoftBank Corp that paid the “rising star” a whopping USD 135million for the financial year 2014.

Mr Arora, 47, was appointed company president and chief operating officer at a generalmeeting of shareholders here.In less than a year at SoftBank, Mr Arora has already directed about 200 billionyen ($1.67 billion) worth of deals that include investments in Indian technology start-ups– Snapdeal, an online marketplace, and taxi-booking service Ola Cabs, Nikkei BusinessDaily reported.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the brightest stars of modern football, has a galaxy named after him.COSMOS Redshift 7 or CR7, as it’s popularly known, is one of the oldest galaxies in theuniverse. It’s said to have existed when the universe was only 800 million years old, i.e.some 13 billion years ago.The Portugal captain and the Real Madrid superstar was bestowed with the honour bythe European Southern Observatory(ESO).The ESO described the CR7 galaxy as “by far the brightest galaxy yet found in the earlyUniverse.”

Sister Nirmala JoshiSister Nirmala Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries ofCharity founded by the Nobel laureate, died here this morning.

She was 81. A Missionaries of Charity official said Sister Nirmala was not keeping wellfor the past few days and her health was gradually deteriorating.On March 13, 1997, six months before Mother Teresa’s death, Nirmala Joshi wasselected the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. She expanded theorganisation’s reach to 134 countries by opening centres in nations such as Afghanistan,Israel and Thailand.

Dileep Singh BhuriaSenior BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh Dileep Singh Bhuria, one of the

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prominent tribal faces of the saffron party, passed away after a brief illness at a hospital inGurgaon today.

Bhuria started his political career with Congress and first made it to Parliamentfrom Jhabua, a tribal-dominated district in Madhya Pradesh which he made his pocket-borough in 1980 when Indira Gandhi swept back to power at the Centre.He won Jhabua Lok Sabha seat five times consecutively – from 1980 to 1996.Born on June 19, 1944, Bhuria began his legislative stint in the state in 1972 when he waselected MLA from Petlawad seat in Jhabua district.He served as National SC/ST Commission Chairman during the Vajpayee government.Bhuria also joined Gondwana Gantantra Party for a brief period.

Zaheer AbbasFormer Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas has assumed the role of the ICC President on day threeof the apex cricket body’s Annual Conference week here.

Zaheer began his one-year term and thanked the ICC Board and the Full Council forconfirming his nomination.Zaheer, 67, played 78 Tests and 62 ODIs from 1969 to 1985 in which he scored 5,062 and2,572 runs, respectively. He also played in the 1975, 1979 and 1983 ICC Cricket WorldCups and captained Pakistan in 14 Tests and 13 ODIs.With 108 centuries, Zaheer is the only Asian batsman to score a century of first-classcenturies as he finished his 22-year career with 34,843 runs.Zaheer was also an ICC match referee in the 1993 series between Sri Lanka and the WestIndies in Sri Lanka.The ICC has 105 members. The ICC President is required under the body’s Memorandumand Articles of Association to be ‘an iconic former international cricketer of high standingand repute (unless truly exceptional circumstances mean that nobody so qualified isavailable)’.

Satnam Singh BhamaraSatnam Singh Bhamara, a 19-year-old from the small village of Ballo Ke, Punjab, became thefirst Indian-born player ever selected in the NBA Draft.

The Dallas Mavericks chose the 7-foot-2, 290-pound center with the 52nd overall pick inthe 60-pick draft.The groundbreaking news comes less than three months after Canadian-born22-year-old Sim Bhullar – a giant himself at 7-foot-5, 360 pounds – became the firstplayer of Indian descent to sign an NBA contract and appear in an NBA game.

Rahul Agarwal

Technology major Lenovo today said it has appointed Rahul Agarwal as the Managing Directorof its India operations with immediate effect.

National Affairs

A web portal to be used as social medium for people to share information about missing childrenwas launched by the government here.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and IT Minister RaviShankar Prasad jointly launched the website — ‘Khoya-Paya’, a platform for citizens to

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report children sighted as abandoned, lost or with suspicious person.Besides enabling those who spot a missing child in suspicious circumstances to uploaddata along with photo, the portal will allow parents to upload information about theirmissing children in real time.According to National Crime Record Bureau, the figure of missing children every yearis 70,000. In 2010 and 2011, it was 77,000 and 90,000 respectively. While in 2012 and2013, 65,000 children went missing. The total number of recovered children from January2012 and April 2015 is 23,597.The portal is developed by Women and Child Development Ministry in partnership withInformation Technology and Communications.

India and US signed a new strategically important 10-year defence frameworkagreement setting the stage for co-development and manufacture of defence equipment andtechnology besides holding joint exercises and greater intelligence sharing.

The agreement, which was decided during the visit of US President Barack Obama toIndia in January and focuses on issues ranging from maritime security, aircraftcarrier to jet engine technology cooperation, was inked by Defence Minister ManoharParrikar and visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.The signing of the agreement comes as the two countries moved ahead on two of the four“pathfinder projects” identified under the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative(DTTI) during Obama’s visit.One of the projects is the development of a high-tech mobile power source for the MarineCorps that would work on solar energy, be smaller, more portable and efficient, and whichcould be used in remote outposts.The other is a protective suit for the Indian Army that would be more lightweight andeffective when used in chemical and biological hazard incidents.During Obama’s visit, both countries had identified four “pathfinder projects” as well asdecided to explore development of aircraft carrier technologies and jet engines.

Marking the World Environment Day on June 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi planted asapling at the lawns of his Race Course Road residence and exhorted people to work forprotecting the environment for the sake of future generations.

Land Boundary Agreement

India and Bangladesh opened a new chapter in their ties as they settled the 41-year-oldboundary dispute and promised to do more in other areas amid Prime Minister NarendraModi’s announcement of a fresh line of credit of USD 2 billion to the neighbouring country.

The two sides exchanged documents regarding the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)that was passed unanimously by the Parliament last month in the presence of Modi and hisBangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina besides West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee.The exchange of documents paves way for the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh LBA that provides for exchange of 161 enclaves between the two countries.A total 111 border enclaves will be transferred to Bangladesh in exchange for 51 thatwill become part of India.Under the agreement, India will have an advantage of 500 acres and 10,000 acres will go

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to Bangladesh.The agreement settles the question of citizenship for over 50,000 people.The issue has been a major irritant in ties between the two countries which sharea 4,096-km-long border, most of which is porous.Boundary pact was signed in 1974 by the then Prime Minister IndiraGandhi and Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to settle the border issue.

A Memorandum of Understanding was arrived at between India and Netherlands fordevelopment of vaccines.

The MoU signed under ‘Make in India’ initiative of Government of India will enablethe Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Ltd (BIBCOL), a Central PSUunder Department of Biotechnology, to develop Measles – Rubella vaccine at its plant atChola, Bulandshahr, U.P.Translational Vaccinology (INTRAVACC) a government-based institute of theNetherlands will extend technical support for the development of vaccine. The MoU wassigned in the august presence of the Prime Minister of The Netherlands Shri MarkRutte during his visit to New Delhi.

India and Bangladesh inked as many as 22 agreements, including on curbing humantrafficking, smuggling of fake currency and setting up an Indian Economic Zone, to boostbilateral ties.

The agreements were signed on the first day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maidenvisit in the presence of other leaders, including Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina andWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.Exchange of Instruments of Ratification of 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its2011 Protocol; Exchange of letters on Modalities for implementation of 1974 LandBoundary Agreement and a renewed Bilateral Trade Agreement were inked duringModi’s two-day visit.Agreements on two key bus services were also reached, includingthe Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala route that will benefit the commuters by reducing traveltime by nearly one-third.Another Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati route was also flagged off by the three leaders.Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on Prevention of HumanTrafficking; Prevention of Smuggling and Circulation of Fake Currency notes; andsetting up an Indian Economic Zone were also reached by the two sides.In another key development, a Memorandum of Understanding for Extending a New Lineof Credit (LoC) of USD 2 billion by India to Bangladesh was signed.A renewed Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade besides an Agreement onCoastal Shipping between Bangladesh and India were among the other deals reached.

Water Resources minister Uma Bharti launched ‘Jal Kranti’ campaign here in Jaipur,emphasising that the water preservation and conservation initiative will not be successful unless itis converted into a mass movement.

The Jal Kranti Abhiyan will be celebrated across the country during 2015-16 toconsolidate water conservation and management through a holistic and integratedapproach.The chief component under the campaign is the Jal Gram Yojana, whereby one villagefacing acute water scarcity would be selected from each of the 672 districts in the country.

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The scheme will identify and train a cadre of local water professionals, preferably womenpanchayat members, to be called “Jal Mitra” who will create mass awareness about waterproblems.The scheme also provides for a “Sujalam Card” which will provide annualstatus/information about the quality of drinking water available for a Jal Gram.

The Union government has launched an insurance pool of Rs. 1,500 crore, mandatory underthe Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to offset the financial burden on foreign nuclearsuppliers in case of an accident.

The announcement was made here on Saturday by Union Minister of State inthe Department of Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh.The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (CLND), had suggested that thenuclear insurance pool be made operational with funds of Rs 1,500 crore.R K Sinha, Secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy, said this would be a solutionfor suppliers’ concerns about liability from nuclear risks.Clauses in the CLND Act, which give the operator the Right to Recourse and allow it tosue the suppliers in case of any accident were seen as being a major hindrance to thegrowth of the nuclear industry. These concerns led to to the formation of the Indiannuclear insurance pool.Under the Rs 1,500 crore pool, set up by General Insurance Corporation of India (GICRe) and 11 other non-life insurers including New India, Oriental Insurance, NationalInsurance and United India Insurance from the public sector apart from private insurancecompanies, policies offered will be a nuclear operators liability insurance policy and anuclear suppliers’ special contingency (against right to recourse) insurance policy.

The Election Commission suspended the recognition of P A Sangma”s National People”sParty for failing to file its election expenditure statement for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“Exercising power under para 16A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment)Order 1968, the Election Commission of India has suspended the recognition ofthe National People’s Party, a recognized state party in Meghalaya, due to its failure infiling the election expenditure statement of the party,” the EC said.This is for the time that the poll watchdog has taken such a step of suspending recognitionof a party using its powers under Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order1968 “for its failure to follow the Lawful directions of the Commission,” EC said in astatement.The party had requested time to submit its expenditure statement by April 15, 2015 andagain May 15, 2015 “but failed to honour the deadline”

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region(DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, DrJitendra Singh launched an Augmented Reality (AR) application named ‘Sakaar’ to highlightthe achievements of the Department of Space during one year in office of the presentGovernment. DECU-ISRO has developed this application for Android devices.

Sakaar consists of 3D models of MOM, RISAT, rockets (PSLV, GSLV Mk-III); videosof INSAT 3D-predicting cyclones, GSLV D5/Cryo, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) orbitinsertion, launch video of MOM, 360 degree animated view of MOM; Anaglyph of Marssurface. The sakaar app is loaded on webpage with the URL:http://www.sac.gov.in/SACSITE/sakaar/index.html. The user can scan the QR codeusing a QR code reader on the device for downloading the app.

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Augmented Reality is a live direct view of a physical, real-world environment whoseelements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated 3D models, animations,videos etc. The technology enhances user’s current perception of reality. Augmentation isin real time and the information is overlaid on the live view of the device’s camera.Essentially, AR requires three elements: Android device with back camera, ARapplication, AR Markers. The Multimedia content which is embedded in the Sakaar app isgenerated with the support of multimedia & editing facilities of DECU-ISRO.Shri S. Kiran Kumar, Secretary Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO highlightedthe achievements of Department of Space during the last one year such as the launch ofPSLV-C23, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, GSAT-16, LVM3-X/Crew Module, successful groundtesting of high thrust cryogenic engine for GSLV MkIII. He also said that an MoU wassigned between ISRO and CNES in April, 2015 and between ISRO and China NationalSpace Administration in September, 2014.The ISRO Chairman informed that various missions are planned for the upcoming year2015-16 including launch of PSLV-C28 in July, GSLV–D6 in August, ASTROSAT inSeptember this year among others. The launch of IRNSS-1F and IRNSS-1G are plannedfor beginning of the next year 2016, he informed.

Stepping up his digital presence, the Prime Minister launched ‘Narendra Modi Mobile App’ toprovide instant updates and an opportunity to receive messages and emails directly from him.

The Android-based application is also aimed at giving a chance to people to interact withhim and share ideas and suggestions.The application description said, “download the app and get the latest updates anywhere,anytime! Highlights of the Narendra Modi app include receiving the latest news andupdates, exclusive opportunity to receive E-Mails & Messages directly from the PM and‘Mann Ki Baat’ with the PM.”Apart from providing a chance to interact with the Prime Minister and share ideas andsuggestions, it will also give latest thoughts from Modi and his blogs.

The Indian government launched a free SMS service called ”Nowcast’‘ to provide alerts onextreme weather conditions like hailstorm every three hours to over one crore registered farmerson their mobile phones.

Besides, a web-portal on crop insurance was also unveiled to create awareness andencourage more farmers to insure their crops taking advantage of existing schemes. TheWeb portal, however, has been launched in English.The free SMS alerts, to be sent in English, Hindi and regional languages as per farmers’request, will be issued to over one crore farmers whose mobile phones are alreadyregistered on the government’s mKisan portal.The data for SMS service would be taken from the 146 weather stations of the IndiaMeteorological Department (IMD).In the second phase, the portal will be launched in Hindi and other regional languages andwill also provide an online interface for filing insurance applications and scrutiny of thesame by banks.

India offered its expertise to Tanzania in development of its potentially rich natural gassector and decided to extend e-tourist visa to people of the African nation even as the twocountries signed eight MoUs to expand engagements in diverse areas.

During extensive talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with TanzanianPresident Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, both the countries also decided to establish a Joint

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Working Group to strengthen cooperation in counter terrorism.ISRO has said it will provide navigational support to the country’s Railways through ‘GAGAN’(GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation) system.

GAGAN is an indigenous navigational guide system developed by ISRO on the lines ofGPS system of the U.S.GAGAN was jointly developed by the ISRO and Airports Authority of India(AAI) with a view to assist aircraft in accurate landing.The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)satellites — GSAT8 and GSAT10.ISRO will provide satellite-generated information to the railways through spacetechnology-based tools that will provide safety at unmanned level crossings.With the use of GAGAN software system, a train would know the location of anyunmanned level crossing and soon a a warning signal can be given.As soon as the warning signal will be given, the train’s hooter will automatically startwhen it comes near an unmanned crossing.

TheHaryana Government launched a Village Mentoring Project (VMP) to improve healthcareand education of the villagers with a special emphasis on girl child.

The Village Mentoring Project (VMP)is the first of its kind in Haryana under whichvillages in the state would be mentored by leading corporate houses, educationalinstitutions and other organizations.Each of the 22 districts in the state would be launching the project in a phased manner inaround five villages each, an official spokesman said.Project has been commenced in the state from Panchkula district in associationwith Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali whose faculty and students would visit thevillage.The students and the staff of ISBpresented a street play on the theme of ‘Continuing girleducation, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition’ and conducted a counseling session withvillage residents.

UNHCR Indiamarked World Refugee Day with an exhibition of refugee photos by worldrenowned photographer Raghu Rai in India International Center, New Delhi.

Every Year, on 20th June, the United Nationsalong with government and civil societycelebrate World refugee Day.The theme for the celebrations this year was “With courage let us all combine”,aiming tobring the public closer to the human side of the refugee stories by sharing stories of hopeand resilience of displaced people, showing them as “ordinary humans living inextraordinary circumstances” UNHCR

Prime Minister Narendra Modiled the first International Yoga Day celebrations in the country,defining yoga as a means to train the human mind to begin a new era of peace and harmony.

The gathering at Rajpath, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, set recordfor ‘Largest number of participants’ at 35,985and ‘Most number of nationalities’ at84.Confirming this, an official release by the Ministry of AYUSHsaid -“The Ministryof AYUSH has been awarded with two Guinness World Records in two differentcategories on the first International Day of Yoga.

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Category 1was for the largest number of participants in a Yoga Lesson at single venue.The earlier record was of 29,973. To beat that record a target of 30,000 was required. TheMinistry broke that record as 35,985 participants performed Yoga at Rajpath todaymorning.Category 2was most number of nationalists in a Yoga Lesson. To achieve this at leastparticipants from 50 countries were required to perform. But today participants from 84countries performed Yoga at Rajpath.Shri Shripad Yesso Naik. MoS(I/C). Ministry of AYUSHand Secretary AYUSHreceived the awards which were presented by the representatives of Guinness WorldRecords Ms Victoria from UK and Marco Frigatti from Italy.The Guinness recordwas earlier held by Vivekananda Kendra which organised a yogaevent in which 29,973 people participated in Gwalior on November 19, 2005.

The Centre launched a mobile application, where the public can upload pictures of pollutionsources of the Ganga riverfor further action by the authorities concerned.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bhartilaunched Bhuvan Ganga MobileApplication and web portal after signing of an MoU between the National Mission forClean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO toeffectively plan and monitor the Centre’s flagship Clean Ganga Mission here today, astatement said.Bhuvan Ganga portalis an exclusive web portal deployed in ISRO Bhuvan’s geoportalwith all geospatial layers related to river Ganga.It will be used as a tool to support decision making and planning for the Clean GangaMission. Bhuvan Mobile App is a user-friendly android based application to enable publicto collect and report information on various pollution sources that affects the water qualityof river Ganga.The first version of the app is available for download in the Bhuvan Gangawebportal (http://bhuvan.Nrsc.Gov.In/ganga).

The International Day of Yogawas observed in all 192 countries except strife-torn Yemen,the Union Cabinet was informed.Prime Minister Narendra Modilaunched three urban development schemes, AMRUT, SmartCities Mission and Housing for All, saying urbanisation should be viewed as an opportunity andurban centres should be seen as growth engines.

While 500 cities will be developed under AMRUT scheme, there would be 100 smartcitiesover five years and Housing for All aims at construction of 2 crore houses in urbanareas in the next seven years, Modi said.PM Modion Thursday pitched for maximum FDI in urban infrastructure and involvementof private players as he launched three ambitious programmes for provision of housing forall and development of 600 cities, 100 of them as ‘smart cities’.The 100 Smart Citiesare proposed to be built through a competitive mechanism on thebasis of demand from the residents and municipalities instead of the Central government“imposing” it, the Prime Minister said.Urban development initiatives, Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All, unveiled byPrime Minister Narendra Moditoday, are likely to infuse Rs 4 lakh crore once integratedwith other missions like Digital India and Swachh Bharat, say industry experts.The move is expected to help create as many as 34 lakh jobsin the country as the decision

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will have significant “multiplier effect” for over 250 core and ancillary sectors, includinginfrastructure, logistics and modern retail, they said.

Indiawas among the 50 founding countries that signed an agreement on Monday providing thelegal framework for the China-led USD 100 billion multilateral Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB) which is being seen as a rival to the US and Europe-dominated bankinginstitutions.

The 60-article agreement specified each member’s share as well as governance structureand policy-making mechanism of the bank, which is designed to finance infrastructure inAsia.The AIIBwill have authorised capital of $100 billion, and Asian countries will contributeto up to 75% of the total capital. Each member will be allocated a share of the quota basedon their economic size, according to the agreement.China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders, taking a 30.34%, 8.52%, 6.66%stake, respectively. Their voting shares are calculated at 26.06%, 7.5% and 5.92%.The AIIB is designed to finance infrastructure construction in the continent. The AIIB wasproposed by President Xi Jinpingin October 2013.Apart from China and India, some of the countries which signed the agreement includeAustralia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Nepal,Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russia, SaudiArabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.TheAIIB is expected to become operational by the end of the year.

India and Thailandsigned a number of important agreements, including the double taxationavoidance treaty, and exchanged instruments of ratification on the extradition treaty inked in2013, which provides for the legal framework for seeking extradition of fugitive offenders.

The tax treatyprovides for the framework to avoid double taxation and prevention offiscal evasion with respect to taxes so as to promote bilateral economic cooperation.The extradition treatysigned between the two countries in 2013 provides for the legalframework for seeking extradition of fugitive offenders, including those involved interrorism, transnational crimes, economic offences etc.The treaty provides for the extradition of any person, who is wanted for trial or for theimposition or enforcement of any sentence by one Contracting state and is found in theterritory of the other Contracting state.The two sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) onthe Establishment of Nalanda University. By signing this agreement, Thailand joinsother East Asian Summit countries in the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar.

The Railwayshas decided to grant automatic refund of tickets on cancellation of trains similar towaitlisted e-tickets.

Ministry of Railways have decided to grant automatic refund of Confirmed/RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to waitlisted e-tickets. There shall not be anyrequirement for cancellation/filing of TDRfor refund of e-tickets in case of cancellation oftrains. This will become effective very shortly.In case of cancellation of trains, PRS counter ticketshall continue to be refunded acrossthe reservation counter as per the existing provisions.

International Affairs

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Bangladesh honoured former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his outstanding support for thecountry”s independence from Pakistan in 1971 when he was a Lok Sabha member.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman familiar with the process said Bangladesh will hand overVajpayee’s “Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War Award” to PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi during his upcoming visit to the country from June 6.The then Indian primeminister Indira Gandhi was the first “foreign friend” to beconferred with the ‘Bangladesh Liberation War Honour Award’.Most of the subsequent recipients were also from India which extended the most crucialsupport for Bangladesh’s independence with incumbent President PranabMukherjee being one of them.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto”s party won congressional elections, retaining its simplemajority despite protests and falling approval ratings, according to preliminary results.China launched a freight train service between its northeastern city of Harbin and Europe,opening a new trade route to Europe covering a distance of nearly 10,000 kms.

During the 9,820-km-long travel, the train will pass Russia and Poland before reachingits destination of Hamburg, Germany, said Tu Xiaoyue, general manager of HAOLogistics Co., Ltd, a joint venture which runs the service.The train will be run once every week and each single trip takes 15 days. It will transportgoods from China, the Republic of Korea and Japan as well as European countries such asGermany, Poland, France, Spain and Italy.Several Chinese cities, including Chongqing, Chengdu, Changsha, Hefei, Yiwu andSuzhou, have launched similar freight train services to Europe.

Amid US pressure, Pakistan suspended its order and allowed international aid agency ”Save theChildren” to resume operations, days after it sealed the NGO”s office here for alleged “anti-nation activities”.Japan’s parliament passed a bill to lower the voting age to 18 from 20, adding 2.4 million newpotential voters to the nation’s current voting population of 104 million.

The legislation will come into effect in time for next year’s upper house election.The last time Japan’s voting age was revised was in 1945, when the voting age waslowered to 20 from 25, and women were given the right to vote.The new law puts Japan in line with nearly 90% of the world’s countries in setting theminimum voting age at 18.

Keith Vaz, Britain”s longest-serving Indian-origin MP was re-elected as chair of Parliament”sinfluential Home Affairs Select Committee, even as a controversy rages over his help to scam-tainted former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in obtaining British travel documents.Chinese authorities have manufactured the world’s first electric passenger aircraft.

It is priced at about one million yuan ($163,000).The “BX1E” has a 14.5-metre wingspan and a maximum payload of 230kg. It can fly at analtitude of 3,000 metres, according to the report.It can be charged within two hours, and can fly for 45 minutes to an hour at a maximumspeed of 160kmph.According to the manufacturer, the aircraft can be used for pilottraining, tourism, meteorology and rescue operations.The plane was designed by the Shenyang Aerospace University and Liaoning generalaviation academy in the northeastern Liaoning province.

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The total number of orders has reached 28.India has moved down to 61st place in terms of foreigners” money in Swiss banks and it nowaccounts for a meagre 0.123 per cent of the total global wealth worth USD 1.6trillion in Switzerland”s banking system.

In a first major admission of being an “attractive location” for laundering of assetsamassed illegally abroad, Switzerland has said it needs to further strengthen systems forcombating money laundering and terrorist financing.

China opened a new, “safer” and “more convenient” route for Indians undertaking thearduous Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra as the first batch of pilgrims crossed the Indian border andentered Tibet via Nathu La.In a landmark opinion, a divided Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can marrynationwide, establishing a new civil right and handing gay rights advocates a historic victory.

Nearly 46 years to the day after a riot at New York’s Stonewall Inn ushered in themodern gay rights movement, the decision could settle one of the major civil rights fightsof this era.The U.S.A is now the 21st country to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, includingterritories. Married same-sex couples will now enjoy the same legal rights and benefits asmarried heterosexual couples nationwide and will be recognized on official documentssuch as birth and death certificates.The decision affirmed growing public support in the U.S.A for gay marriage, with abouttwo-thirds of Americans now in favor.Several hundred gays, lesbians and transgender people held a Gay Pride rally inthe Philippine capital to push for LGBT rights and to celebrate the US Supreme Courtdecision recognizing gay marriages in all US states as a victory for their cause.

Economy

Bangladesh has granted permission to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to run itsbusiness, making it the second foreign insurance company to operate in the country, officials said.The United States has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer in 2014while India has recorded the highest growth in energy consumption among major economies.

The US produced 15.9% more oil in 2014 at 11.6 million barrels of oil per day to toppleSaudi Arabia’s 11.5 million bpd production, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review ofWorld Energy released.Russia with 10.8 million bpd oil production was placed third.The US surpassed Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, producing 1,250.4million tons of oil and oil equivalent natural gas in 2014. This compared with Russia’s1,062 million tons of oil equivalent.BP said the US shale revolution helped it overtake “Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggestoil producer and surpass Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas.”India posted a 7.1% rise in energy consumption, the fastest among major economies andsecond only to Algeria’s 8.4% expansion.

In a move to cut debts, India”s largest private miner Vedanta Ltd headed by billionaire AnilAgarwal will absorb oil firm Cairn India in a USD 2.3 billion all-share deal to create India’slargest diversified natural resources company.

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Vedanta will use Rs 16,867 crore cash lying with Cairn to pay off part of its Rs 77,752crore debt.Vedanta, previously known as Sesa Sterlite Ltd, in 2013 consolidated its iron ore miningbusiness by merging Sesa Goa Ltd with Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, which ran copperand aluminium businesses.The merger will help Cairn spread its risk from volatile oil business to other metals andcommodities.Shareholders in Cairn India, the country’s top private oil producer, will get one ordinaryshare and 7.5 percent redeemable preference share of Vedanta Ltd with a face value of Rs10.

India achieved a milestone with the signing of a motor vehicles pact with Bhutan, Nepal andBangladesh enabling seamless transit of passenger, cargo and vehicles with the first stage ofthe USD-8 billion road connectivity project set to begin in October.

India signed a major motor vehicles pact with three SAARC nations – Bhutan,Bangladesh and Nepal – that will enable seamless transit of passenger amongst them.

State-run telecom firm BSNL from 15th june started offering free roaming across the country,which will allow all its mobile customers to receive calls at no extra cost.

Government under National Telecom Policy 2012 has set a goal to achieve free roaminggradually.BSNL had a mobile subscriber base of 7.72 crore as of March, 2015.“From today no more roaming charges on BSNL. a step towards realising dream of OneNation-One Number. A promise kept,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

State-run BSNL will set up 40,000 wi-fi hotspots across the country, entailing an investment ofabout Rs 6,000 crore.

The tender for the project is likely to be floated by July and it will be completed by 2018.“BSNL will set up 40,000 wi-fi hot spots across the country and the project is likely to becompleted by 2018,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while launching wi-fifacility at Taj Mahal.The minister added that estimated investment by BSNL for this would be around Rs 6,000crore.The company also inaugurated wi-fi facility at Taj Mahal as part of the government’splan to put such services at major tourist places.This year BSNL will set up another 2,500 wi-fi hot spots at 250 locations at the cost of Rs500 crore. BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava said that of these 200 hot spots havealready been set up.BSNL will be providing free wi-fi services for 30 minutes per 24 hrs (three times in amonth) which visitors can utilise in multiple sessions.After free usage limit of 30 minutes is exhausted, one can continue using the service onpaid basis for which subscription plans are available in the denomination of Rs 20, Rs 30,Rs 50 and Rs 70 for validity of 30 min, 60 min, 120 min and one day, respectively.BSNL has also plans to expand the coverage of the wi-fi facility to other tourist andreligious locations such as Khajuraho and Jagannath, amomg others by March.

Retirement fund body EPFO notified an order to make Universal Account Number

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(UAN) mandatory for all employers covered under the Employees Provident Funds andMiscellaneous Provisions Act 1952.

The government was considering the proposal to make UAN mandatory for availing ofbenefit of the scheme. The UAN facility was launched by Prime Minister NarendraModi in October last year.The UAN remains portable throughout the lifetime of an employee and they don’t have toapply for PF transfer claims at changing jobs.The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had issued over four croreUANs to employers across the country in July last year.

India leads regional inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in South Asia accounting for $34 billion investment during 2014 and the upward trend is likely to continue this year also,according to a UN report which placed China as the world’s largest FDI recipient.

FDI inflows to the country (India) surged by 22 per cent to about $ 34 billion” improvingits position to 9th top host country for FDI in 2014, over its rank of 15th in 2013,the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2015The top five recipients in South Asia of FDI inflows were India, followed by Iran,Pakistan and Bangladesh ($ 2 billion each) and Sri Lanka ($ 1 billion).According to the report, China became the world’s largest recipient of FDI ($ 129billion) toppling the US ($ 92 billion).The US had the largest outward flow of FDI ($ 337 billion) followed by Hong Kong-China($ 142 billion) and China ($ 116 billion).

Private insurer Bajaj Allianz has launched a weather-based crop insurance scheme for orangecrops in Nagpur, Hingoli and Washim districts of Maharashtra.

The index-based insurance policy will cover losses incurred by orange fruit-growingfarmers due to deviation in weather conditions and has been approved by Central and theState government, a company release issued here said.The losses would be assessed on the basis of pre-defined and government-approved termsheets and actual weather data received from an approved automatic weather stationinstalled in each block of these districts.Farmers who have taken loan through Kissan Credit Card (KCC) would automaticallyget insured (for the scheme) by their banks, while those who don’t have KCC but savingsaccounts need to visit the bank branches and authorise the banks to enrol them in thescheme.

Banking & Finance

Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy, 2015-16

EMIs on home and auto loans will come down with SBI & other banks cutting lending rateswithin hours of RBI slashing policy rate by 0.25 per cent for the 3rd time this year.

RBI cut the repo rate (short-term lending rate) from 7.5 per cent to 7.25, but left allother policy tools like cash reserve requirement unchanged at 4 per cent and StatutoryLiquidity Ratio at 21.5 per cent.But the move comes with a message that any further cut this year is unlikely. Articulatingthe concerns of the RBI over the expected poor monsoon and crude oil prices,Governor Raghuram Rajan expressed fears that a monsoon shock could push up food

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prices and challenge its control over inflation.The Reserve Bank lowered the economic growth forecast for the current fiscalto 7.6 percent from 7.8 per cent projected in April, citing various risks, including poor monsoonand rising crude oil prices.Current account deficit is estimated to be around 5 per cent of the GDP in the currentfiscal, helped by sharp fall in oil prices even as gold imports rose in the past few months,the Reserve Bank said today.

RBI in its First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2015-16 said banks will be allowed toinvest in bonds issued by other banks to fund long-term infrastructure projects and affordablehousing.

In its latest circular on cross-holding of long-term bonds by banks for financinginfrastructure and affordable housing, the RBI said banks’ investment in such bonds willnot be treated as ‘assets with the banking system in India’ for the purpose ofcalculation of net demand and time liability (NDTL).NDTL (or deposits) is used to determine the cash reserve ratio (CRR) — slice of depositsthat banks have to place with RBI — and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) – the portionof deposits that banks have to invest in government securities.Currently, the CRR is at 4 per cent of NDTL and the SLR is at 21.5 per cent of deposits.Banks’ investment in such bonds will not be treated as ‘assets with the banking system inIndia’ for the purpose of calculation of NDTL.Investing bank’s investment in a specific issue of such bonds will be capped at 2% of theinvesting bank’s Tier 1 Capital or 5% of the issue size, whichever is lower.Banks cannot hold their own bonds.

Multi-lateral lender World Bank approved $250 million loan for Jhelum and Tawi FloodRecovery Project for reconstruction of flood-affected public infrastructure in Jammu &Kashmir.

It will also strengthen the capacity of state government to respond and better managenatural disasters in future, World Bank said in a release.The project will be funded by credit from World Bank’s concessionary —InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA).The loan has a maturity of 25 years, including a 5 year grace period.A continuous spell of rains in September 2014 had caused Jhelum, Chenab and Tawirivers, their tributaries and many other streams to flow above the danger mark which hadseverely affected livelihoods in the state.

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest non-state lender, has named MK Sharma its non-executivechairman. He will succeed KV Kamath, who will shortly step down from the bank’s board afterbeing nominated as the first president of the BRICS development bank.

Sharma, a former vice chairman of Hindustan Unilever, was an independent director onthe ICICI Bank board from 2003 to 2011.

An ordinance that will allow filing of cheque bounce case at the place where the cheque waspresented for clearance has been promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee.

The President has promulgated the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance,2015, that will help lakhs of persons battling cheque bounce cases far away from theirplaces, official sources said.

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It is the 14th ordinance by the Modi government in a little over a year time.The ordinance will enable filing of cheque bounce cases in the place where the cheque waspresented for clearance or payment and not the place of issue.There are an estimated 18 lakh people facing cheque bounce cases across the country.The Union Cabinet had on June 10 approved the ordinance.

Looking not to miss out on the e-commerce boom, private lender HDFC Bank launched a mobilephone application, PayZapp, for online payments and money transfer.

In PayZapp, SmartBuy will help drive the payment process. The bank has tied up withFlipkart, Cleartrip, Goibibo and Expedia for SmartBuy.Also, customers would be able to make money transfers, pay utility bills and recharge theirmobile and DTH connections with just one click and a single PIN entry.PayZapp does not require credit or debit card numbers and security codes to be enteredfor every purchase. There is no pre-paid card restriction on daily or monthly limits and noneed to load money to pay, the bank said.PayZapp is part of the bank’s digital banking offering called ‘GoDigital’, which centresaround the theme of “Bank aapki muthi mein”.In 2014-15, 63 per cent of all transactions at HDFC Bank are conducted through digitalchannels, it added.

Country’s second-largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank launched a 10-second paperlessinstant loan plan for its existing customers.

The entire process of availing the loan is completely paperless, and users can simply loginto their bank account via net-banking or mobile banking and avail of this loan at a click,it added.The loan is completely hassle-free and transparent. Users will no longer have to wait fordisbursement of funds, particularly in medical or other types of emergenciesThe 10-second loan is another offering under HDFC Bank’s digital bankingplatform GoDigital. Under the platform, the bank had launched PayZapp application tocater to e-commerce space.

Country’s largest lender State Bank of India said it has launched SBI eforex, an Internet- basedplatform that enables customers to book their foreign exchange transactions online.

The customers will be able to obtain forex rates without having to visit the branch, thebank said in a statement.This is SBI’s second forex technology initiative, having launched SBI Fx Out, whichenables customers to send foreign currency remittances from any its branches in India.

Private sector lender Axis Bank launched a new debit card, which can be “switched off” forspecified time periods, and has also put in fraud protection and personal accidental cover alongwith the offering.

The card named ‘Secure+’ can be switched off by using a mobile phone application orInternet banking gateway or through the phone-banking application.Besides, customers can also put limits on transactions.At Rs 300 per year, it will cost a customer twice as much as a regular debit card offeringto avail this card, said Jairam Sridharan, Axis Bank’s president and head of retaillending and payments.The bank is giving a ‘fraud protection’ service along with the card, wherein disputedtransactions of up to Rs 75,000 will be covered for customers.

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In case a customer has multiple cards of different lenders and loses his wallet, a single callto the bank’s executive can help lock other banks’ cards as well.Apart from that, those choosing this card will also get an enhanced personal accidentinsurance at Rs 5 lakh.

The Reserve Bank extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of variousdenominations, including of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, by six months till December 31, 2015.

The Reserve Bank of India has extended the date for the public to exchange theirpre-2005 banknotes till December 31, 2015. It had, in December 2014, set the last date forpublic to exchange these notes as June 30, 2015.Soliciting cooperation from members of public in withdrawing these banknotes fromcirculation, the Reserve Bank of India has urged them to deposit the old design notes intheir bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them.The Reserve Bank has stated that the notes can be exchanged for their full value. It hasalso clarified that all such notes continue to remain legal tender.Explaining the move, the Reserve Bank said that the banknotes in Mahatma Gandhiseries have now been in circulation for a decade. A majority of the old banknotes havebeen withdrawn through bank branches. It has, therefore, decided to withdraw theremaining old design notes from circulation. Not having currency notes in multiple seriesin circulation at the same time is a standard international practice, the Reserve Bank haspointed out.The Reserve Bank will continue to monitor and review the process so that the public isnot inconvenienced in any manner.

Easing norms for accessing foreign funds, RBI allowed banks to borrow from internationalfinancial institutions for general banking business without its permission.

Such borrowings, RBI added, should be for the purpose of general banking business andnot for capital augmentation.In another circular, RBI allowed all non-deposit taking NBFCs to act as sub-agentsunder Money Transfer Service Schemes (MTSS) without seeking prior approval from it.Deposit accepting non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are however, not permittedto undertake such activity, RBI

United Bank of India has topped the list of public sector lenders with maximum bad loansincluding restructured assets as a percentage of total advances.

According to the data provided by the RBI to the Finance Ministry, United Bank ofIndia’s 21.5 per cent assets are either bad or have been restructured to save them fromturning non-performing assets (NPAs).

Showing anti-consumer bias in Indian banks” approach on interest rates, an IMF study showsthey are faster in effecting lending rate hike, but rise in deposit rates not so quick.

In her research paper on ‘Monetary Policy in India: Transmission to Bank InterestRates’, IMF Economist Sonali Das has said there is fresh evidence about “significant,albeit slow, pass-through of policy rate changes to bank interest rates in India.”The problem has also been raised by various commentators in India, including RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajan, that banks tend to resist passing on the policy rate cuts toconsumers.The latest IMP paper said the “extent of pass-through to the deposit rate is larger than thatto the lending rate, and the deposit rate adjusts more quickly to changes in the policy rate”.

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The study has studied the monetary policy transmission in India from end-March 2002 toend-October 2014.

JCB International, a Japanese cards issuer, has entered into a strategic partnership with NationalPayments Corporation of India under which its card-holders will be able to transact at all NPCIlocations.

At present, JCB cards are accepted in India through a tie-up with American Express.Following the pact, the Japanese company will call off the tie-up with the American issuerhere.Under the tie-up, RuPay-JCB international debit cards will also be issued by NPCImember-banks that would be globally accepted through the JCB network.NPCI currently has 10 lakh card merchants and 2 lakh ATMs across the country.The co-branded card will work as RuPay cards in the country and work as JCB cardsoutside.

Reports

Fortune 500 Annual list

Walmart stayed at the top of the Fortune 500 annual list of the largest US companies today,while Apple was the most profitable and Facebook the most upward-bound.This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. In total, the Fortune 500 companiesaccount for $12.5 trillion in revenues, $945 billion in profits, $17 trillion in market valueand employ 26.8 million people worldwide.Retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores remained in the number one spot for the third year in a row,based on company revenues last year of USD 485.6 billion.The biggest jump was notched by Facebook, which climbed from 341 to 242. New entrantsincluded emerging tech heavyweights com, Netflix and Expedia.

Forbes magazine’s 2015 list of the world’s highest-paid Athletes

With earnings of $31 million, ace Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only Indian tofeature in Forbes magazine’s 2015 list of the world’s highest-paid athletes.Dhoni, who retired from Test cricket at the end of 2014, is ranked 23rd on the list, one notchbelow his 2014 ranking. Dhoni’s total earnings stood at $31 million, including amount fromsalary/winnings at $4 million and endorsements worth $27 million.The list is topped by American boxer Floyd Mayweather with earnings of $300 million, morethan double the previous high for an athlete.This is the third time in four years that Mayweather has ranked as the world’s highest-paidathlete.The 100 highest-paid athletes made $3.2 billion in total over the last 12 months, up 17 percentfrom the prior year.

Top 10 athletes:

1. Floyd Mayweather, US, Boxing $300 mn2. Manny Pacquiao, Philippines, Boxing $160 mn

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3. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal, Football $79.6 mn4. Lionel Messi, Argentina, Football $73.8mn5. Roger Federer, Switzerland, Tennis $67mn6. LeBron James, US, Basketball $64.8 mn7. Kevin Durant, US, Basketball $54.1 mn8. Phil Mickelson, US, Golf $50.8 mn9. Tiger Woods, US, Golf $50.6 mn

10. Kobe Bryant, US, Basketball $49.5 mn

Top 25 Self-Made Billionaires In the World

Bill Gates, the legendary founder of tech giant Microsoft, is the wealthiest of the elite self-madebillionaires club, with an estimated net worth of $85.7 billion, according to a list released todayby Wealth-X, a Singapore-based firm that compiles research on the ultra wealthy.Second to Gates is Warren Buffett, the guru-investor with a net worth just north of $70 billion.And rounding out the top three positions is Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of the fast-fashion dynasty Zara, who has a net worth of $65 billion.American entrepreneurs like Gates dominate the Wealth-X list, claiming 14 of the 25 spots. Thelist features numerous notable American billionaires who are responsible for building some of themost successful companies in the world including Berkshire Hathaway, Oracle, and Google.

Top Ten in List:

Rank

Name Nationality Estimated Net Worth*

1 William Gates III United States 85.72 Warren Buffett United States 70.13 Amancio Ortega Spain 65.04 Lawrence Ellison United States 51.55 Ingvar Kamprad Sweden 48.16 Jeffrey Bezos United States 39.87 Carlos Slim Mexico 35.48 Mark Zuckerberg United States 35.39 Wang Jianlin China 35.210 Michael Bloomberg United States 33.7

2015 Global Peace Index

The 2015 Global Peace Index shows that the world is becoming increasingly divided with somecountries enjoying unprecedented levels of peace and prosperity while others spiral further intoviolence and conflict.The Global Peace Index measures the state of peace in 162 countries according to 23 indicatorsthat gauge the absence of violence or the fear of violence. It is produced annually by the Institutefor Economics and Peace.This year the results show that globally, levels of peace remained stable over the last year,however are still lower than in 2008.

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The most peaceful countries are Iceland, Denmark and Austria. The countries that made thebiggest improvements in peace over the last year, generally benefited from the ending of warswith neighbours and involvement in external conflict. The biggest improverswere: Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and Benin.Syria remains the world’s least peaceful country, followed by Iraq and Afghanistan. Thecountry that suffered the most severe deterioration in peace was Libya, which now ranks 149th of162 countries.The total economic impact of violence last year reached US$14.3 trillion, or 13.4% of globalGDP. That’s equivalent to the combined economies of Canada, France, Germany, Spain and theUK.Since 2008, the total economic cost of violence has increased by almost US$2 trillion.The Global Peace Index is a composite index comprised of 23 qualitative and quantitativeindicators that gauge the level of peace in 162 countries. These indicators can be grouped intothree broad themes: the level of safety and security in a society, the number of international anddomestic conflicts and the degree of militarisation.Ranking India among 20 most violent places in the world, a global study today said the country’seconomy took a hit of over Rs 1 lakh crore in containing and dealing with cases of violence lastyear.In the latest annual ranking of Global Peace Index, India has been ranked at 143rd position outof 162 countries surveyed.Within South Asia, Bhutan has been ranked as the most peaceful country, followed by Nepal,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India is ranked fifth in the region — better than Pakistan at sixth andAfghanistan at seventh.Globally, Pakistan is ranked 154th, while Afghanistan is at 161st position in this year’s list.As per the report, India suffers chronically from international tensions and widespread internalconflict.

Highlights

Since last year, 81 countries have become more peaceful, while 78 have deteriorated.Many countries in Europe, the world’s most peaceful region, have reached historically highlevels of peace. 15 of the 20 most peaceful countries are in Europe.Due to an increase in civil unrest and terrorist activity, the Middle East and North Africa is nowthe world’s least peaceful region for the first time since the Index began.Globally the intensity of internal armed conflict has increased dramatically, with the number ofpeople killed in conflicts rising over 5 times from 49,000 in 2010 to 180,000 in 2014.The economic impact of violence reached a total of US$14.3 trillion or 4% of global GDP lastyear.

World’s Biggest Employer Report

Two Indian organizations — Army and Railways — are among the world’s biggest employers,together employing a whopping 2.7 million people, said a report.The organization is ranked at the eighth place in the list of world’s biggest employers.Immediately after Indian Railways in the 8th rank with 1.4 million staff is the Indian Armed

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Forces with 1.3 million people.According to a research published by the World Economic Forum, the US department ofdefense is the world’s biggest employer which claims over 3.2 million employees on its roster.Second is People’s Liberation Army (the Chinese military) with 2.3 million, and in third isthe US supermarket giant Walmart with 2.1 million workers, the report said.McDonald’s is the 4th biggest employer with 1.9 million employees, however, as the majority ofits restaurants are franchises, this figure falls to 4,20,000 when they are excluded, the report said.UK’s National Health Service was ranked at the 5th place, with 1.7 million employees, followedby state-run China National Petroleum Corporation with 1.6 million.

World Cellular Information Service (WCIS) Report

Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has become the world”s third largest mobile operator with 303million subscriber.Bharti Airtel has become the world’s third largest mobile carrier by subscribers, behind ChinaMobile and UK’s Vodafone Group, latest data from research firm Ovum’s World CellularInformation Service (WCIS) showed.Bharti Airtel, with more than 303 million mobile subscribers across 20 countries in South Asiaand Africa, has “moved up one position in the global rankings”, WCIS said. It nowleads China Unicom and Mexican carrier America Movil, which are at fourth and fifth spots,respectively.

Bibek Debroy Committee Report

The Bibek Debroy Committee, in its recent report, has said the Railway’s core activity is to runtrains and not to engage in activities like running hospitals, schools, catering, real estate activitiesand maintaining the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

Ministry of Railways have constituted a committee on 22.09.2014 with a tenure of oneyear for “Mobilization of resources for major Railway projects and Re-structuring ofRailways, Ministry & Railway Board”under the chairmanship of Dr. Bibek Debroy.The committee has said that RPF is meant for protecting railway properties, passengerareas and passengers though it has limited police powers which are mainly vested with theGRP for which Railway bears the half the cost.Law and order being essentially a state subject, the committee has recommended two-foldaction on the RPF front. It has suggested that first the state governments should bepersuaded to bear the entire cost of GRP.It has also recommended that General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers shouldbe given freedom to choose between private security agencies and RPF for providingsecurity on the trains.With regard to running schools, the committee suggests that educational needs of thechildren of Railway employees could be met through susbisdising their education inalternative schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas and private schools.On medical service undertaken by the Railway, the committee has recommended a multi-pronged approach. It has said for functions such as periodic medical examination, pre-employment examination, medical boards, safe water and food supply at stations, the GMsand DRMs as also the employees could be given the choice to opt for services either

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through Indian Railway Medical Service or through private empanelled practitioners.Reacting to Debroy panel’s report, the National Federation of Indian Railways has saidit has totally failed in understanding the complexities of the Indian Railway’s workingsystem.The recommendation to separate production units, hospitals, medical services, schools andRPF from the main activity of running trains is totally wrong as these supporting activitiesstrengthen the Indian Railway in providing services to the customers, NFIR said in astatement.

Sports

Former greats Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman were inducted intothe BCCI’s newly-constituted cricket advisory committee to guide the Board and the nationalteam on various “progressive steps” needed for future challenges.

Spelling out their role in the committee, the BCCI said the three legends’ guidance will besought in preparing the national team for gruelling overseas assignments besidesstrengthening the domestic structure.

India’s legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the ‘Best Test player’ of the 21stcentury in an online poll conducted by Cricket Australia’s website.

The former India skipper got the highest number of votes to emerge on top of the list ofthe 100 best Test players since 2000, in a poll conducted by com.au.Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara received the second highest votes, followed by AdamGilchrist of Australia in the third position.The 42-year-old Tendulkar, who is the only batsman to have hit 100 internationalcenturies, holds the record for highest run scorer in both Tests and One-DayInternationals.The Poll result: 1. Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 23 per cent, 2. Kumar Sangakkara (SL) 14 percent, 3. Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 13 per cent, 4. Ricky Ponting (Aus) 11 per cent, 5. JacquesKallis (SA) 11 per cent, 6. AB de Villiers (SA) 10 per cent, 7. Shane Warne (Aus) 9 percent, 8. Glenn McGrath (Aus) 5 per cent, 9. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) 3 per cent, 10. DaleSteyn (SA) 1 per cent.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid has agreed in principle to become the coach of the IndiaUnder-19 and A teams, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur confirmed during a board advisorymeeting.

Dravid was even approached to join the cricket advisory committee with former batsmenSachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, but he declined the offer as he waskeener on a more hands-on role.Since 2014, Dravid has been serving as mentor of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL,grooming several young players such as Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and Deepak Hooda.

I-League Title-2015

Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan clinched their maiden I-League title and their first domesticchampionship in 13 years after managing a 1-1 draw against defending champions BengaluruFC at Kanteerva Stadium here today.

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It was the fourth national title for Bagan after having won the last in 2002 when the tournamentwas named the National Football League.

French Open title-2015

Men’s Single Title Winner

Stan Wawrinka has completed a magical fortnight of tennis with his finest performance of all,stunning Novak Djokovic to win his first Roland-Garros title.Having beaten No.2-ranked Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, Wawrinka played with power,aggression and consistency – and used his stellar one-handed backhand to devastating effect – torecord a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the world No.1 in the final.

Women’s Single Title Winner

Serena Williams captured her third French Open title – and an incredible 20th major singlestrophy in the process – thanks to a 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 defeat of Lucie Safarova in an absorbing two-hour final.

Stuttgart Open

Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea clinched the men’s doublestitle at the 574,965-euro Stuttgart Open on the grass courts of Tennis Club Weissenhof.The fourth seeds took just an hour and 12 minutes to beat Austrian-Brazilian third seedsAlexander Peya and Bruno Soares 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 in the final.This is the second title the two have won together, having won the clay court Madrid Open lastmonth. This is 35-year-old Bopanna’s fourth title of the year, having won two hard courttournaments in Dubai and Sydney with Canadian partner Daniel Nestor. This is also theBengaluru-born’s 14th career doubles title and second on grass.

Gerry Weber Open title

Roger Federer showed he is ready for Wimbledon by defeating Italy’s Andreas Seppi 7-6 (1),6-4 to claim his record eighth Gerry Weber Open title.The 17-time Grand Slam winner sealed his 15th title from 20 finals on grass and his 86th careertitle from 130 finals overall. Lleyton Hewitt is next on grass with eight titles.The GERRY WEBER OPEN is one of seven grass-court events on the calendar, and has been re-categorised as an ATP World Tour 500 tournament from 2015 as part of the extended grass-court swing.The GERRY WEBER OPEN has crowned five German winners since the inaugural event in1993: Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer (1999), David Prinosil (2000), Tommy Haas (2009 &2012) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011). Roger Federer won his eighth title in 2015.

Canada Open Women’s Doubles Title

Indian shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the Canada Open women’s doubles

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title after upstaging the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the summitclash here.The third-seeded Indian pair triumphed 21-19, 21-16 in the contest which lasted 35 minutes.This was Jwala and Ashwini’s first title since their reunion after the 2012 London Olympics.

Awards

Norwegian prize for freedom of expression

Former security contractor Edward Snowden won a Norwegian prize for freedom ofexpression and received yet another invitation to leave his exile and receive the award in person.

The Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expressionsaid the 31-year oldfugitive had won the Bjornson Prize — named after a Norwegian Nobel literature laureate —“for his work protecting privacy and for shining a critical light on US surveillance of its citizensand others.”Snowden, a former analyst at the US National Security Agency, has lived in exile inRussiasince2013 after revealing mass spying programmes by the United States and its allies.The academy requested assurances from the Norwegian governmentthat Snowden would not beextradited to the US if he travelled to Norway to receive the 100,000 kroner ($12,700, 11,500euros) prize money in person on September 5.

Space Pioneer award-2015

The country”s low-cost Mars mission which is in rendezvous with the red Planet for an extendedperiod has been presented with the Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 by the US” NationalSpace Society.Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 was presented to Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) in the Science and Engineering category during the 34thAnnual International Space Development Conference held at Toronto in Canada, city-headquartered ISRO said on its website.It said the National Space Society (NSS) of USA presented the award in recognitionof ISRO’s efforts in accomplishing Mars Mission in its very first attempt.Scripting space history, India on September 24, 2014 successfully placed its low-cost Marsspacecraft in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club ofthree – US, Russia and Europe who have successfully undertaken missions to Mars or its orbit.The Space Pioneer Award consists of a silvery pewter Moon globe cast by the Baker Art Foundryin Placerville, California, from a sculpture originally created by Don Davis, the well-known spaceand astronomical artist, ISRO said.

Fukuoka Prize

Historian-author Ramachandra Guha has been selected for Japan’s prestigious Fukuoka Prizein the Academic category.His fellow awardees are Thant Myint-U, a highly regarded historian from Myanmar who is

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working towards preserving cultural heritage, and Minh Hanh, a VietnameseThe well-knownauthor and columnist, who is currently “completely immersed” in his three-part biographyof Gandhi.The Fukuoka Prize has been awarded to Guha for presenting “thorough explanations of thecomplex history of India.”Some of his early writings, such are This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India(1992), Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, his Tribals and India (1999), andEnvironmentalism: A global history (2000).“His books vividly illustrate the actual state of the Indian democratic system, shedding light onour current multi-dimensional and chaotic world,” says the citation.Fukuoka Prize honours those who have made outstanding contributions to academia, arts andculture across Asia.Previous winners of Fukuoka Awards include Mohammad Yunus, Romila Thapar, AshisNandy and Mo Yan.

Colombia”s Highest Civilian Award

Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been conferred with Colombia”s highest civilianaward for his contribution to peace issues around the world, particularly in the Latin Americancountry.Fabio Raul Amin Saleme, President of the House of Representatives, Congress of Colombiapresented ‘Orden de la Democracia Simon Bolivar’ award to Sri while highlighting hisachievements in peace matters through his foundation, The Art of Living.The award is in recognition of his peace work around the world, with special reference to his workin Colombia through his foundation.

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