Current Affairs Today 14th and 15th June 2020-Download in PDF

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Current Affairs Today – 14th and 15th June 2020

NEWS AT A GLANCE

  1. Every year, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on June 14.
  2. World Wind Day, also known as Global Wind Day, is observed on 15th June every year.
  3. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund announced Vodafone Idea Ltd has made an interest payment of about Rs 103 crore and that the amount will be distributed among investors in proportion to their holdings in the segregated portfolios.
  4. Government of India has launched Aarogyapath, a web-based solution for the healthcare supply chain that provides real-time availability of critical supplies.
  5. Railway Protection Force of Central Railway, Pune division, has launched a unique robot named ”CAPTAIN ARJUN”, for the screening of passengers for COVID-19 infection while they board trains as well as keep a watch on anti-social elements.
  6. The Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways has launched a body-screening facility “FebriEye thermal cameras” at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, Maharashtra, to scan passengers for COVID-19 symptoms and ensure contactless entry.
  7. The Government of India recently reconstituted the advisory panel on corporate insolvency resolution and liquidation process.
  8. The first disease diagnostic laboratory is ready to be launched.
  9. Uttar Pradesh government, under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana [Child Labor Education Scheme (BSBY) via video conferencing on June 12, on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour.
  10. The Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh has launched a mobile based app named ‘Ghar Ghar Nigrani’, to undertake house to house surveillance in the state, in an effort to check the community spread of COVID-19.
  11. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir recently launched the Poultry Policy, 2020.
  12. The private spaceflight company, SpaceX successfully launched its latest batch of 58 Starlink internet satellites into the orbit, in a rideshare mission.
  13. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting on June 22, 2020.
  14. The International Labour Organization and the UNICEF have released a report on Child Labour.
  15. The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) announced said its entry level small car Alto has become the best-selling model for the 16th year in a row clocking sale of 1.48 lakh units in 2019-20.
  16. The Union Government has constituted a seven-member ‘Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS)’, headed by Cabinet Secretary, for attracting investments in India.
  17. The recent massive fire at the Baghjan Oil field, Assam had caused serious environmental damages and led to migration of 1000s of people in the region.
  18. Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Bihar Khadi by the state government.
  19. UTI Mutual Fund has appointed Imtaiyazur Rahman as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
  20. Shambhu S. Kumaran has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of the Philippines.
  21. India would be sending a tri-service military contingent to participate in the Russian Victory Day Parade on June 24, 2020.
  22. The Union Health Ministry has recently included Remdesivir as a part of investigational therapy and updated Clinical Management Protocol of COVID-19 patients.
  23. India’s oldest First Class cricketer Vasant Raiji passed away at the age of 100.
  24. Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment. According to Mumbai police, he had committed suicide.
  25. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Director, Atul Srivastava passed away. Srivastava assumed charge as Director (Personnel) of SAIL on March 12, 2018.
  26. Surinder Kaur, former Head of Publications Division and Directorate of Advertising & Visual publicity passed away after a brief illness.
  27. The Archaeological Survey team has recently claimed that a 500 year old temple that submerged in the waters of Mahanadi resurfaced.
  28. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has approved the opening of four new Kendriya Vidyalayas.

NEWS IN DETAILS

IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES

World Blood Donor Day observed on 14th June

  • Every year, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on June 14.
  • The day is celebrated to thank voluntary blood donors and also raise awareness about the need for regular blood donations.

Theme:

  • Theme: Safe Blood Saves Lives

Highlights:

  • The World Blood Donor Day event was established in 2004. It is one of the eight official campaigns that are marked by the World Health Organization.

The campaigns are as follows:

  • World Tuberculosis Day
  • World Health Day
  • World Malaria Day
  • World No Tobacco Day
  • World AIDS Day
  • World Hepatitis Day
  • World Immunization Week

History:

  • World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on June 14 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner. Karl won Nobel prize for discovering ABO blood Group.

World Wind Day celebrated on 15th June

  • World Wind Day, also known as Global Wind Day, is observed on 15th June every year.
  • The day is encouraging and raises awareness on wind energy, which is a natural form of energy and also sheds light on all the ways that wind energy helps to shape the energy systems and the way it encourages economic and other growth in the society.
  • Global Wind Day began in Europe in 2007 and globally in 2009.

History

  • EWEA established the day as Wind Day in the year 2007 and later in 2009, EWEA (European Wind Energy Association) and GWEC (Global Wind Energy Council) teamed up with aims to coordinate the events globally and the name was changed to Global Wind Day aka World Wind Day.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Vodafone Idea pays Rs 103 crore interest to Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund

  • Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund announced Vodafone Idea Ltd has made an interest payment of about Rs 103 crore and that the amount will be distributed among investors in proportion to their holdings in the segregated portfolios.
  • Six FT schemes had invested in VIL: Ultra Short Bond Fund, Low Duration, Short Term Income Plan, Credit Risk Fund, Dynamic Accrual Fund, and Income Opportunities Fund.

Extra Shots:

Vodafone:

  • CEO: Nick Read
  • Headquarters: Berkshire, United Kingdom
  • Founded: 1982, Newbury, United Kingdom
  • Founders: Gerry Whent, Ernest Harrison

NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Centre launched Aarogyapath for healthcare supply chain

  • Government of India has launched Aarogyapath, a web-based solution for the healthcare supply chain that provides real-time availability of critical supplies.
  • Aarogyapath is available on CSIR National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal.
  • The portal Aarogyapath was developed in partnership with Sarvodaya Infotech.

Aarogyapath:

  • AarogyaPath will serve manufacturers, suppliers, and customers.
  • The aim is to tackle the national health emergency that has arisen out of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the critical items may be compromised due to a variety of reasons.
  • AarogyaPath aims to provide a path that leads one on a journey towards Aarogya (healthy life). it has been developed to address these challenges.
  • AarogyaPath is expected to become the national healthcare information platform of choice in the years to come, filling a critical gap in last-mile delivery of patient care within India through improved availability and affordability of healthcare supplies.
  • The portal will serve as a platform to generate awareness about the demand for new technologies. It will also help reduce wastage of resources.

Central Railway Launches Robot ‘CAPTAIN ARJUN’ to intensify screening, surveillance of passengers in Pune

  • Railway Protection Force of Central Railway, Pune division, has launched a unique robot named ”CAPTAIN ARJUN”, for the screening of passengers for COVID-19 infection while they board trains as well as keep a watch on anti-social elements.
  • With this, the Central Railway has added another feather in its cap.
  • ‘CAPTAIN ARJUN’ stands for Always be Responsible and Just Use to be Nice.

Some of the other features of the robot include:

  • It has a sensor-based sanitizer and mask dispenser and can move.
  • The robot has a floor sanitization facility with good battery backup.
  • It has rugged wheels that support all kinds of surfaces.

Central Railways Installs Body Screening Facility ‘FebriEye’ in Mumbai’s CSMT & LTT Stations to screen Passengers

  • The Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways has launched a body-screening facility “FebriEye thermal cameras” at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, Maharashtra, to scan passengers for COVID-19 symptoms and ensure contactless entry.
  • FebriEye is an Artificial Intelligence-based thermal screening system for real-time and automated, non-intrusive monitoring of the passengers at the entry point, to ensure that a person entering does not have a high fever.
  • When passengers pass before the cameras, anyone with temperature above the set range will be shown in a different colour pattern than the rest, on the computer screen connected to the cameras.
  • FebriEye thermal cameras can cover large areas which means it can detect the temperature of multiple people entering at once at a premise and record temperature automatically while passengers keep on moving.

Advisory Panel on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) reconstituted

  • The Government of India recently reconstituted the advisory panel on corporate insolvency resolution and liquidation process.

Highlights:

  • The IBBI recently reconstituted advisory panel by inducting four members.
  • The committee was constituted in 2017 and is chaired by a noted banker Uday Kotak.
  • The new members include Crisil MD Ashu Suyash, former chief economist at NSE Nirmal Mohanty, Edelweiss Group chairman Rashesh Shah and L&T Director R Shankar Raman.
  • The Committee will advise on matter relating to corporate insolvency resolution and liquidation.

IBBI

  • The IBBI is a regulator that oversees insolvency proceedings in the country.
  • It was established in 2016 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code.
  • The code aimed to speed up resolution process of stressed assets.
  • The Insolvency code attempts to simplify the process of insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings.

IBBI Board

  • The IBBI board includes 10 representatives. It includes representatives from Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Finance, law and corporate affairs.

Structure of the Board

The IBBI board is constituted as follows:

  • A Chairman
  • Three members from the GoI and they cannot be lower than the rank of joint secretary
  • One member from RBI
  • Five members are nominated by the Central Government of which three function as full time members.

Extra Shots:

IBBI:

  • Regulatory agency executive: M. S. Sahoo, Chairperson
  • Key document: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
  • Founder: Parliament of India
  • Founded: 1 October 2016
  • Headquarters: Connaught Place, Delhi, New Delhi

India’s first infectious disease Diagnostic Lab

  • The first disease diagnostic laboratory is ready to be launched.
  • The mobile laboratory was constructed under the scheme Atma Nirmar Bharat Abhiyan launched by PM Modi.

Highlights:

  • The laboratory aims to promote and support the idea of becoming self sufficient in difficult times.
  • It was constructed in a record time of 8 days.
  • The laboratory was built with the assistance of Department of Biotechnoogy.

About the Lab

  • The Lab is the first inifectious disease diagnostics lab. It is constructed with a safety level of BSL-2 (Bio Safety Level 2).
  • It has RT-PCR (Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction) machines, bio-chemistry analyzers and on-site Elisa.
  • The lab can perform 50 RT-PCR tests per day and around 200 ELISA tests per day.
  • ELISA is designed to detect soluble substances such as antibodies, proteins and hormones.
  • ELISA is Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay.
  • The RT-PCR is an in virto method that has a crucial role in biomaterial fields and medical science. It uses RNA material to detect pathogens.

STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS

UP Government Launches Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana

  • Uttar Pradesh government, under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana [Child Labor Education Scheme (BSBY) via video conferencing on June 12, on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour.
  • The scheme is meant to provide school education to child labourers, orphans and children of workers in the age group of 8 to 18 years.
  • As a part of the scheme, boys would be given an annual grant of Rs 1,000 per month while the girls would get Rs 1,200 per month for school education.
  • Apart from this, those studying in class 8, 9 and 10 would an additional amount of Rs 6,000 per year to encourage them.

Extra Shots:

Uttar Pradesh:

  • Capital: Lucknow
  • Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
  • Governor: Anandiben Patel
  • State formed in: 24 January 1950
  • Literacy Rate: 67.68%
  • Nation Park: Dudhwa National Park

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Launches ‘Ghar Ghar Nigrani’ Mobile App for house-to-house COVID-19 surveillance

  • The Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh has launched a mobile based app named ‘Ghar Ghar Nigrani’, to undertake house to house surveillance in the state, in an effort to check the community spread of COVID-19.
  • This is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country.
  • The user-friendly app had been developed and designed in-house by the Health Department of the state, as a tool for early detection and testing of the people for Covid19, and preventing its community spread.
  • The state government, with the help of ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers and community volunteers, will conduct house to house survey, in which the entire rural and urban population above 30 years of age shall be surveyed.
  • This would not be a one-time activity but an ongoing process till the containment of COVID.
  • The survey would help the state to develop an extremely important database and further plan its COVID containment strategy and make targeted interventions for the community.

Extra Shots:

Punjab

  • Capital: Chandigarh
  • Chief Minister: Captain Amarinder Singh
  • Governor: V.P. Singh Badnore

Jammu and Kashmir launches J&K Poultry Policy 2020

  • The Government of Jammu and Kashmir recently launched the Poultry Policy, 2020.
  • The Government has provided operational guidelines under the policy to promote establishment of poultry units.
  • The Jammu and Kashmir Government has announced Rs 50 crores of subsidy per annum to establish broiler farms and its allied activities.
  • The policy aims to generate employment in the territory.
  • The policy is expected to reduce an annual bill of Rs 900 crores that is spent on importing poultry and its products outside the territory.
  • The entrepreneurs, farmers, NGOs, cooperatives, Self Help Groups, Joint Liability Groups are eligible to avail the benefits under the scheme.
  • For Commercial Broiler farms that holds rearing capacity of rearing more than 10,000 birds per unit are to be provided with incentive 30% of capital investment.
  • The upper limit fixed to such incentives is Rs 50 lakhs.

Extra Shots:

Jammu & Kashmir:

  • Capitals- Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
  • Lt Governor- Girish Chandra Murmu
  • National Parks: City Forest (Salim Ali) National Park, Dachigam National Park, Hemis National Park, Kishtwar National Park
  • Wildlife Sanctuaries: Baltal-Thajwas WLS, Changthang Cold Desert WLS, Gulmarg WLS, Jasrota WLS, Karakoram (Nubra Shyok) WLS etc

INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

SpaceX Launches Fresh Batch of 58 Starlink internet satellites in a Rideshare mission

  • The private spaceflight company, SpaceX successfully launched its latest batch of 58 Starlink internet satellites into the orbit, in a rideshare mission.
  • With this launch, the total number of operational Starlink broadband internet satellites on orbit comes to 538.
  • The launch of the rideshare mission took place on Falcon 9 rocket, which carried 58 internet-beaming Starlink satellites along with three small Earth-observation satellites, SkySat, owned by PlanetLabs.
  • This is the first time that SpaceX Starlink mission shared the ride with Planet Skysat spacecrafts.

Extra Shots:

SpaceX:

  • Founder: Elon Musk
  • Founded: 6 May 2002
  • CEO: Elon Musk
  • Headquarters: Hawthorne, California, United States
  • Type of business: Privately held company

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

EAM S Jaishankar to meet Chinese FM during virtual RIC meet on June 22

  • Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting on June 22, 2020. This meeting comes amid rising tensions between India and China over border stand-off along the LAC.
  • The trilateral meeting is being convened at the initiative of Russia. It is expected to largely focus on enhancing cooperation to tackle the fallout of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Currently, the three nations are working on the agenda for the meeting and it is expected to be finalised by early next week.

Significance

  • This would be the first meeting between Indian EAM S Jaishankar and Chinese FM Wang Yi since the India-China border stand-off along the LAC.
  • The two leaders had earlier joined for a virtual summit of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on May 13 but at that time full details of the border issue hadn’t been made public.

RANKS AND INDICES

COVID-19 and Child Labour Report by the United Nations

  • The International Labour Organization and the UNICEF have released a report on Child Labour.
  • The report has been released under the title Title: COVID-19 and Child Labour: A Time of Crisis, A Time to Act

Findings

  • The report says that millions of children are to be pushed to child labour due to COVID-19 crisis.
  • The report also says that the children already in laborious activities might end up working longer hours.
  • According to the report, COVID-19 will increase poverty that will eventually drive the increase in child labour.
  • The report predicts that 1% increase in poverty will lead to 0.7% increase in child labour.
  • This is because, as poverty increases in a country, schools close and the social services decrease.
  • This forces more children turn into work forces. Currently, temporary school closure is affecting more than 1 billion students spread in 130 countries.
  • This will also push children into hazardous and exploitative jobs.
  • The Gender Inequalities may grow with girls becoming vulnerable to exploitation especially in domestic works and agriculture.
  • Among all, the most vulnerable persons during COVID-19 are the migrant workers.
  • They will face economic downturn.

Extra Shots:

UNICEF:

  • Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
  • Head: Henrietta H. Fore
  • Founded: 11 December 1946, New York, New York, United States
  • Founders: United Nations General Assembly, Ludwik Rajchman
  • Parent organizations: United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Economic and Social Council

Alto becomes best-selling model for 16th straight year: Maruti

  • The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) announced said its entry level small car Alto has become the best-selling model for the 16th year in a row clocking sale of 1.48 lakh units in 2019-20.
  • Launched in September 2000, the Alto became India’s bestselling car in 2004 for the first time.
  • the strong customer base of Alto is a testament of customers appreciating the timely upgrades and refreshment in the brand.
  • “Maruti Suzuki has kept a close eye on the evolving customer preferences and aligned its product range to such changes.

Extra Shots:

Maruti Suzuki

  • Parent organization: Suzuki
  • CEO: Kenichi Ayukawa
  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • Founder: Government of India

RECENT COMMITTEES IN NEWS

Government Constitutes Empowered Group of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary, to facilitate investment in country

  • The Union Government has constituted a seven-member ‘Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS)’, headed by Cabinet Secretary, for attracting investments in India.
  • Rajiv Gauba is the current Cabinet Secretary of India.
  • The initiative will reinforce India’s vision of becoming a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

The members of the EGoS include:

  • Cabinet Secretary (Chairperson)
  • CEO, NitiAayog (Member)
  • Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (Member Convenor)
  • Secretary, Department of Commerce (Member)
  • Secretary, Department of Revenue (Member)
  • Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (Member)
  • Secretary of Department concerned (to be co-opted).

M B Lal Comitttee- fire accident at the IOCL terminal in Jaipur

  • The recent massive fire at the Baghjan Oil field, Assam had caused serious environmental damages and led to migration of 1000s of people in the region.
  • More than 1,610 families are now lodged in 4 relief camps.
  • The Government of India has taken several measures to address the issues of such oil field fires. In 2009.
  • GoI constituted the M B Lal Committee following the fire accident at the IOCL terminal in Jaipur.

M B Lal Committee

  • The Committee had made 118 recommendations in regards to the safety guidelines to be followed by the oil companies while installing oil wells.
  • According to the Ministry of Petroleum, 94% of recommendations made by the committee have been implemented.

Extra Shots:

IOCL:

  • Chairperson: Sanjiv Singh
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

APPOINTMENT IN NEWS

Actor Pankaj Tripathi became the brand ambassador of Bihar Khadi

  • Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Bihar Khadi by the state government.
  • He is originally from Bihar.
  • He will promote Bihar Khadi and the country’s largest Khadi Mall in Patna.
  • The Khadi Village Industries Board has instructed all Khadi institutions to produce new designs of Khadi garments to increase production and sales.
  • The Madhubani Khadi of the state is being promoted throughout the country.

Imtaiyazur Rahman appointed as CEO of UTI Mutual Fund

  • UTI Mutual Fund has appointed Imtaiyazur Rahman as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
  • Earlier Rahman was serving as the acting Chief Executive Officer of the UTI Mutual Funds.
  • He joined the UTI Group in 1998 and is with the AMC since 2003. Imtaiyazur Rahman was made the acting Chief Executive Officer of the UTI Mutual Funds after the completion of 5-years term of Leo Puri whose contract ended in August 2018.
  • Before becoming acting CEO, Rahman was serving as the chief financial officer of UTI Asset Management Company.

Extra Shots:

UTI Mutual Fund

  • Headquarters location: Mumbai
  • Founded: 14 January 2003
  • Areas served: India, Japan, Singapore, London, Dubai, Bahrain

Shambhu S. Kumaran appointed India’s next Ambassador to Philippines

  • Shambhu S. Kumaran has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of the Philippines.
  • He is presently serving as the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Morocco.
  • Shambhu S. Kumaran will replace Jaideep Mazumdar as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Philippines.

Extra Shots:

Philippines (Capital/Currency): Manila/ Philippine peso

  • President: Rodrigo Duterte
  • Official Language: Filipino, English

DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS

Indian tri-service military contingent to participate in Russian Victory Day parade

  • India would be sending a tri-service military contingent to participate in the Russian Victory Day Parade on June 24, 2020.
  • The Russian parade was supposed to be held on Victory Day on May 9 but got delayed because of COVID-19.
  • India had participated in the Russian Parade for the first time in 2015.
  • However, only the Indian army had participated then.
  • This time, all three services will be participating.
  • The annual Russian Victory Day parade marks the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
  • PM Narendra Modi was initially scheduled to be a special guest for the May 9 event. However, under the present circumstances, the Prime Minister will not be attending the event.
  • The government instead plans to send a tri-service contingent to take part in the parade which showcases Russia’s military might.
  • A tri-service contingent will comprise about 75 armed forces personnel, including 25 each from the Indian army, navy and the air force.
  • The military contingent will be kept in quarantine and then tested before being sent to Russia. They will also be quarantined after their return.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Remdesivir now a part of COVID-19 therapy in new health protocol

  • The Union Health Ministry has recently included Remdesivir as a part of investigational therapy and updated Clinical Management Protocol of COVID-19 patients.
  • The ministry has also added loss of taste and loss of smell as two key symptoms of COVID-19 infection. The Ministry recently issued “Clinical Management Protocols for COVID-19”.
  • The above therapies and protocols were included under the guidleines.
  • Under the updated protocol, the Ministry has removed its earlier recommendation of the use of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in severe cases.
  • Also, the usage of HCQ along with Azithromycin was also removed.
  • The Ministry has issued a protocol and listed medicines that can be taken by the COVID-19 patients.
  • The medicines include Tocilizumab, Hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma therapy.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy

  • It is an experimental treatment that are being used by some doctors on COVID-19 patients.
  • Under the therapy, the antibodies isolated from the COVID-19 recovered patients are injected into people affected with the virus.
  • The blood sample of people recovered from COVID-19 is called Convalescent Plasma.
  • The therapy is used on people that are not responding to other drugs and are suffering from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

OBITUARY

India’s oldest first class cricketer Vasant Raiji passes away

  • India’s oldest First Class cricketer Vasant Raiji passed away at the age of 100.
  • He was a right-handed batsman and played nine First-Class games in the 1940s and scored 277 runs.
  • He made his first appearance for Bombay in 1941 under Vijay Merchant, against Western Provinces, at Nagpur.
  • The cricketer-historian was also a founding member of Jolly Cricket Club in Mumbai.
  • He also took the lead in setting up Cricket Club of India CCI’s Legends Club during the tenure of Raj Singh Dungarpur as president.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away

  • Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment. According to Mumbai police, he had committed suicide.
  • The actor has played lead roles in TV series.
  • He won the best actor award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in 2017 for his movie M S Dhoni: The Untold Story.
  • The actor has also won Screen Awards, Guild awards, ITA awards.

NITI Aayog

  • Indian think tank NITI Aayog had signed him to promote Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The platform is a unified access portal that brings together women from different regions of India to realize their entrepreneurship aspirations. The idea of the platform was framed at the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

Sushant Singh Rajput

  • The actor was born in Patna. He was a mechanical engineer from Delhi College of Engineering. He dropped out of college pursuing as his career. He was a winner of National Olympiad in Physics.

SAIL director Atul Srivastava passes away

  • Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Director, Atul Srivastava passed away. Srivastava assumed charge as Director (Personnel) of SAIL on March 12, 2018.
  • In his long-standing career spanning more than 35 years at SAIL, he had served in the Human Resources department of the company.
  • During his entire career, he had led Personnel and Administrative functions at SAIL’s Bokaro and Durgapur Steel Plants and also at its Corporate Office.

Extra Shots:

SAIL:

  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • CEO: Anil Kumar Chaudhary
  • Founded: 19 January 1954
  • Owner: Government of India (74.9%)

Former Head of Publications Division, Surinder Kaur passes away

  • Surinder Kaur, former Head of Publications Division and Directorate of Advertising & Visual publicity passed away after a brief illness.
  • A senior Indian Information Service Officer of 1968 batch, and wife of former CBI Director late Joginder Singh, she held several important positions in All India Radio News and Press Information Bureau. Mrs. Kaur also served as a Director in Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • Kaur was known for improving the working of media units in the context of government communication.

MISCELLANEOUS

500-year old Temple submerged in Mahanadi found

  • The Archaeological Survey team has recently claimed that a 500 year old temple that submerged in the waters of Mahanadi resurfaced.
  • The Mahanadi river that changed its course 150 years due to flooding had submerged the Padmabati village where the temple is located.
  • There are more than 22 villages in the region that are submerged in the waters of Mahanadi.
  • However, Gopinath Deba Temple was visible as it is the tallest of all. The temple is called “Mastaka”.
  • Mastaka The Mastaka was visible 11 years back when the water levels were very low.
  • The Mastaka was found while the Archaeological team of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was documenting the monuments along the course of river Mahanadi.
  • The Mastaka is the upper part of the temple. Only the Mastaka of the temple was visible.
  • Mahanadi river The river flows through the states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
  • The famous Hirakud dam is located across the river.
  • The Hirakud dam is the largest earthen dam in the world.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan approves opening of 4 new Vidyalayas