National News Affairs
- PM Narendra Modi today inaugurated India’s longest bridge, the Dhola-Sadiya bridge, in Assam.
- The 9.15-km-long bridge located over the Brahmaputra replaced Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea Link as India’s longest bridge.
- It will reduce Assam-Arunachal Pradesh travel time by four hours, and also boost defence along the border.
- Note : Modi announced that the bridge will be named after Dr Bhupen Hazarika, a noted playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, and filmmaker from Assam.
- The Ministry of Environment and Forests have come up with new regulations that bans the sale of cattle for slaughter.
- The rules have been notified under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960.
- Note : Slaughter of cows are banned in most parts of the country except parts of the north-east India and Kerala. The new rules will be implemented in the next three months.
- As the Aadhaar ID for cattle process begins in Gujarat to prevent cow slaughter, a team of technicians in the state has started implanting GPS-enabled microchips in the animal’s ears.
- The microchips will have details such as the animal’s age, breed, milk yield, owner’s name, cow’s identification number, date of birth, health records, and migration status.
- The government has renamed the Matritva Sahyog Yojana, a scheme launched in 2010 by the Congress for pregnant and lactating mothers, as ‘Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana‘.
- Note : While the Centre dropped ‘Indira Gandhi’ prefix from the scheme after coming to power in 2014, it added ‘Pradhan Mantri’ to it now, claiming that the earlier name did not ring a bell.
- I & B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu announces setting up of 24×7 satellite channel of Doordarshan for the state of Chhattisgarh.
- Govt of India is going to distribute 10,000 DD Free Dish DTH Set Top Boxes in remote & tribal areas of Chhattisgarh.
- The minister also announced setting up of3 new FM transmitters in Chhattisgarh, one each in Bastar, Surguja & Rajnandgaon.
Science & Technology
- American aerospace corporation Rocket Lab has become the first company to successfully launch an orbital-class rocket into space from a private launching facility.
- The test flight from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula was also the first rocket launch for the country.
- The firm launched 17-metre ‘Electron‘ rocket, which harbours 3D-printed engines and can carry 150-225 kg payload into a 500-km orbit.
- Iran has built a 3rd underground ballistic missile production factory and vowed to keep developing its missile program.
- The development is likely to increase tensions between Iran and the US, which has accused Iran of sponsoring militant groups and posing a threat to countries in the Middle East.
General Knowledge
- The Tanggula Railway Station (Tibet) holds the Guinness World Record for being the highest railway station in the world, as it is 5,068 metres above sea level.
New Appointments
- The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has appointed Anurag Tripathy, a 1998 batch officer of Indian Railway personnel Service (IRPS) as the new Secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
- He will hold the post for a period of five years.
- Socialist Lenin Moreno was sworn in as Ecuador’s President
- Note : He won April’s presidential election, beating conservative Guillermo Lasso.
- The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has appointed Google India managing director and angel investor Rajan Anandan as its new Chairman.
- He is going to relace Kunal Shah (FreeCharge co-founder and chairman).
- Deep Kalra (Chairman and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip), is the new vice-chairman of the association.
- India’s Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu became one of the members of the BWF Athletes’ Commission.
- Note : She has been elected for four years and will join Saina Nehwal as the member of the players’ representative body.
- United States senate has confirmed Amul Thapar as a Judge to the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- With this appointment he has become only the second Indian-American judge of an appeals court.
- Note ; In 2013, Srnivasan became the first Indian to get appointed to the DC circuit court of appeals by President Barak Obama.
Deaths
- Former DGP of Punjab KPS Gill(82), who is credited with wiping out militancy in the state, passed away today.
- Dubbed “supercop” by the media for his crackdown on Khalistani terrorists, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 1989 for his work in the civil service.
Banking, Business & Economic Affairs
- Digital currency Bitcoin, whose value surged this month, is now worth almost double an ounce of gold, with a single coin priced at about $2,500 (₹1.61 lakh).
- In just five days, Bitcoin rose to over 40% and has gone up by 88% so far this month.
- Note : Bitcoin surpassed the price of gold for the first time in March.
Books & Authors
- Two books based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popular radio show ‘Mann Ki Baat’ have been launched today by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at Rashtrapati Bhawan’s Darbar Hall. They are,
- ‘Mann Ki Baat: A Social Revolution on Radio’ :
- This book was compiled by Rajesh Jain.
- This is a compilation of the prime minister’s addresses to the nation on radio every month under the programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’.
- It contains a comprehensive, qualitative and academic analysis of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ — the themes, the choice of topics, the salient features.
- ‘Marching With A Billion Dreams’ :
- This book is written by eminent journalist Uday Mahurkar.
- This book analyses the monumental changes that Modi has brought on multiple fronts as the prime minister on India’s governance landscape by ushering in an unprecedented culture of transparency to create a level playing field so necessary in a developing country.
- President Pranab Mukherjee received the first copies of these book.
- ‘Mann Ki Baat: A Social Revolution on Radio’ :