Current Affairs Update – 17-18th July, 2016

• Yatra Online, Inc. and Terrapin 3
  Acquisition Corporation on 14 July 2016 entered into a definitive merger
  agreement. The transaction values Yatra at an enterprise value of 218 million
  dollars (1458 crore rupees).
• Yatra in its statement said that
  it intends to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol
  “YTRA” following completion of the transaction.
• The combined company will
  continue to be led by Yatra’s experienced management team under the leadership
  of chief executive and co-founder Dhruv Shringi.

• The Ministry of Railways on 17
  July 2016 developed the TRI-NETRA system on locomotives for enhancing the
  vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather. TRI-NETRA stands for Terrain
  imaging for diesel dRivers INfra-red, Enhanced opTical &Radar Assisted
  system.
• TRI-NETRA system is be made up of
  high-resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red video camera
  and additionally a radar-based terrain mapping system. These three components
  of the system act as three eyes (Tri-Netra) of the Locomotive Pilot.

• TRI-NETRA is designed to see the
  terrain ahead of the running locomotive during inclement weather by combining
  the images captured by the three sub-systems.
• It will create a composite video
  image which shall be displayed in front of the Loco Pilot on a computer
  monitor.
• It will give the locomotive pilot
  a clear view of the track ahead in bad visibility conditions so that he can
  apply brakes well in time.
• It will also map the terrain
  ahead so that the driver knows when he is approaching a station or a signal.

• The Union Minister of Electronics
  and Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on 15 July
  2016 launched Transforming India website www.transformingindia.mygov.in.
• Transforming India website is a
  repository for sharing the impact of various governance initiatives with
  citizens in real-time.

• It provides information in a
  user-friendly format enabling citizens to view the content in the form of
  Infographics, e-books, performance dashboard, videos, daily news corner, etc.
• It facilitates two-way
  communication between the government and citizens.
• It is also a social platform on
  which users can share their opinions about various initiatives of the
  government.
• It acts as a repository of major
  policies and decisions and provides a central platform to citizens for sharing
  of transformational changes that they see around themselves.

• The ruins of ancient Nalanda
  Mahavihara known as old Nalanda University of Bihar on 15 July 2016 got
  inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• With this, Nalanda University
  ruins became the second World Heritage Site in Bihar after Bodhgaya’s Mahabodhi
  temple and 33rd such site in India.
• The ruins comprise the
  archaeological remains of monastic and scholastic institutions dating from the
  3rd century BC to the 13th century AD.
• The ruins have large number of
  remains of stupas, shrines and viharas and important art works in stucco, stone
  and metal.
• Listing into UNESCO’s heritage
  site list will help in conserving and protecting the site in a better way with
  increased funds and many more way.

• The United Nations Educational,
  Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 17 July 2016 listed
  Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s works among its World Heritage Sites.
• The listed works include
  Chandigarh’s Complexe du Capitole, Khangchendzonga National Park and Mount
  Khangchendzonga.
• It is the first time that any
  country got three sites inscribed in the Word Heritage List at a single session
  of the committee meeting.
• The chosen works of Le Corbusier
  depict his contributions to the Modern Movement that emerged after World War I.
  His works emphasize on functionality, bold lines and materials such as
  concrete, iron and glass.

• The site comprises three
  buildings, i.e., Legislative Assembly, Secretariat and High Court.
• Following the independence of
  India, the divided Punjab required a new capital as Lahore was now in Pakistan.
  Therefore, Le Corbusier was commissioned by first Prime Minister of India,
  Jawaharlal Nehru to build a new city of Chandigarh as the capital of Punjab.
• The brief for the design was a
  city unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation’s faith
  in the future.
• Later, Corbusier and his team
  constructed large assembly and high court building, and also the major
  buildings in the city.
• At present, many of the buildings
  are considered modernist masterpieces.

• The park is located at the heart
  of the Himalayan range in Sikkim.
• It includes a unique diversity of
  plains, valleys, lakes, glaciers and snow-capped mountains covered with ancient
  forests, including the world’s third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga.
• It is the first ‘Mixed Heritage’
  site of India.
• Besides these, Antigua Naval
  Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites (Antigua and Barbuda) and Pampulha
  Modern Ensemble (Brazil) were also included in the list.

• Pema Khandu was sworn-in as the
  Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh at Raj Bhawan in Itanagar on 17 July 2016.
  Governor Tataghata Roy administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy to him.
• Chowna Mein was also sworn-in as
  the Deputy Chief Minister.
• With this, Khandu, 37, also
  became the youngest chief minister of the country. He has replaced Nabam Tuki,
  who resigned from the post after stepping down as leader of the Congress
  Legislature Party (CLP) on 16 July 2016. 
• Tuki also proposed Khandu’s name as
  the next CLP leader and the new Chief Minister of the state. His proposal was
  unanimously accepted by all the 43 members present in the CLP meeting.

• Odisha-born bureaucrat Guruprasad
  Mohapatra was on 15 July 2016 appointed as the Chairman of Airports Authority
  of India (AAI) with effect from 19 July 2016.
• Guruprasad Mohapatra is a 1986
  batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

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• Vijender Singh, the boxing star
  from India, on 16 July 2016 clinched the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight
  title at the Thyagraj Stadium, New Delhi. To win the title, the six-footer from
  Haryana defeated former WBC European champion Kerry Hope.
• Virender, 30, took all 10 rounds
  to dismantle the 34-year-old Australian Hope and record his seventh straight
  win in the circuit. He scored 98-92, 98-92, 100-90 to be the unanimous winner.
• With this, Singh also became the
  country’s first-ever professional boxing title holder. The win also helped him
  to climb to 15th in the world in his category.

• A white tiger named ‘Soohorang’
  and an Asian black bear called ‘Bandabi’ were unveiled on Monday as the two
  mascots for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang scheduled to
  begin from February 9 to 25.
• “Soohorang and Bandabi will be
  your good friends and promote the Pyeongchang Olympic Games to the whole
  world,” Lee hee-beom, president of the Games organising committee, told
  students during a ceremony at Hoeng Gye elementary school in Pyeongchang.
• Derived from Korean words,
  Soohorang is made of two words – ‘protection’ (Sooho) and ‘tiger’ (ho-rang-i).
• The white tiger is considered a
  sacred guardian animal in South Korea, with some locals considering the Korean
  peninsula to be tiger-shaped.
• The 1988 Seoul Olympics also
  featured a tiger mascot.
• The Paralympic Games mascot
  “Bandabi” represents courage and strong willpower, organisers said.

• The 73rd Senior National Squash
  Championship held from 12 July – 17 July 2016 concluded in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Dipika Pallikal Karthik (World
  no. 19) dethroned defending champion Joshna Chinappa 4-11 11-6 11-2 11-8 to regain
  the women’s title. Dipika was playing in the nationals after a five-year gap
  when she won in 2011.

• Top seed Saurav Ghosal defeated
  fourth seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu 11-7 7-11 3-11 11-8 14-12 in five
  hard-fought games to claim the title.
• With this win, Ghosal also
  created a history of winning the title for the 11th time and went ahead of RK
  Narpat Singh’s feat of 10 titles, won from 1946 to 1955.

• Turkish musician Kudsi Erguner
  was on 10 July 2106 appointed as the UNESCO Artist for Peace by the
  Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
• Erguner was appointed for the
  post at a ceremony held at the Congress Center in Istanbul (Turkey) after the
  opening ceremony of the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee, which
  ends on 20 July 2016.

• SpaceX on 18 July 2016 launched
  its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station, carrying
  a key piece of equipment that was lost in 2015 due to rocket explosion. The
  launch to the ISS is a resupply mission for NASA.
• Dragon spaceship was packed with
  nearly 23000 kilograms of gear, including science experiments and equipment for
  the astronauts living in space.
• After blasting off from Cape
  Canaveral, Florida, the rocket separated after sending the cargo to orbit. Then
  the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed back on the solid ground in Cape
  Canaveral at the NASA facility.
• As per the plan, the Dragon is
  expected to arrive at the space station early 20 July 2016.
• With this, SpaceX now has five
  successful rocket landings to its name. The first occurred in December 2015,
  when a Falcon 9 first stage came back to Cape Canaveral during a commercial
  satellite launch. The other three successful launches happened in April (one)
  and May (two), these launches were featured with sea landings, on a robotic
  ship named Of Course I Still Love You.

• Nelson Mandela International Day
  was observed across the world on 18 July 2016 to honour the Nobel Peace Prize
  laureate Nelson Mandela (1918-2013).
• The day is aimed at inspiring
  individuals to take action to help change the world for the better.
• The Day was celebrated for the
  first time on 18 July 2010 as per a UN General Assembly resolution of November
  2009.