1. National highways to grow by 50,000 km in 6 months
i. The road transport and
highways ministry will add nearly 50,000 km of roads to the National
Highways (NH) network in the country in the next six months.
ii. This addition within two
years of the Narendra Modi government will be more than twice the length
NDA-I had added in its six years and over three times of what UPA added
in its 10-year rule.iii. According to the sources,in the past 15 months, the new government has added about 7,000 km of roads to the NH length and at present it's little more than one lakh km. Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has announced to take it to 1.5 lakh km by this year end.
2. Leander Paes, Martina Hingis won US Open Mixed Doubles Title 2015
i. Leander Paes and Swiss
Martina Hingis won the US Open Mixed Doubles Title 2015. This fourth
seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated unseeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands
and Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in a tricky final which lasted for one
hour and seventeen minutes. The pair fired 32 winners and staved off
four of five break points during the 77-minute affair. This is 17th
Grand Slam crown for Paes.
ii.
With this victory, they became the first team since 1969 to win three
Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in the same season at the US Open. They
defeated Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic in the Australian Open
final 2015 and beat Alexander Peya and Timea Babos in the Wimbledon
title match 2015 itself.
iii. With the mixed double
win, Paes surpassed compatriot and former partner Mahesh Bhupathi's
record of eight mixed doubles titles. As Paes has now eight men's
doubles and nine mixed doubles title in his pocket.
3. Rakesh Sharma appointed as MD and CEO of Canara Bank
i. Rakesh Sharma was appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bengaluru-headquartered Canara Bank.
ii. Prior to this
appointment, Sharma was the MD and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank since March
2014, where in a short span of 18 months, he helped the private sector
lender excel in all parameters.
4. Radical leftist Jeremy Corbyn becomes head of Britain's Labour party
i. Jeremy
Corbyn has been elected leader of the British Labour party, in a
stunning first-round victory that dwarfed even the mandate for Tony
Blair in 1994.
ii. Corbyn won with nearly
59.5% of first-preference votes, beating rivals Andy Burnham, who
trailed on 19%, and Yvette Cooper who received 17%. The “Blairite”
candidate Liz Kendall came last on 4.5%.
iii. The north London MP is
one of the most unexpected winners of the party leadership in its
history, after persuading Labour members and supporters that the party
needed to draw a line under the New Labour era of Blair and Gordon
Brown.
5. Three IIA members awarded at Asia Brand ceremony
i. Three IIA members were
felicitated at the 10th Asia Brand Ceremony, which is also termed as the
Oscars of Industry awards in Asia.
ii. During the ceremony, IIA
members like MD of Celestial Knit & Fabs Private Limited, Noida got
the Asia Brand Annual Personality Award and Top 500 Asia Brand Award,
Noida's Rajiv Bansal, Manali Pigments Private Limited 's MD Manmohan
Agrawal from Lucknow feted with awards such as Top 10 Most Influential
Brand Award, Asia Famous and Fine Brand and Asia's Annual Innovative
Enterprise Award, similarly Puri Industries' MD Kush Puri, was
felicitated with Asia Famous and Fine Brand Award.
6. JK Tyre, Singapore arm to buy 100% in Cavendish Ind
i.
JK Tyre & Industries (JK Tyre) and JK Asia Pacific Singapore Pte
Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JK Tyre said that it has signed a
binding term sheet with Kesoram Industries Ltd (KIL) to acquire 100 per
cent equity in Cavendish Industries Ltd (CIL) at a value of ₹2,200
crore.
ii. CIL houses a tyre business undertaking located at Haridwar (Laksar) which manufactures a range of tyres, tubes and flaps.
iii. JK Group has agreed for this acquisition at an enterprise value not exceeding ₹2,200 crore.
7. Current a/c deficit narrows to 1.2% of GDP in April-June
i. A decline in merchandise
imports helped the country narrow its current account deficit to 1.2 per
cent of GDP in the first quarter of the current financial year compared
with 1.6 per cent in the year ago period.
ii. The reduction in the CAD
was also enabled by higher net earnings through services exports and
lower outflow on account of primary income (profit, dividend and
interest), according to RBI data on balance of payments
iii. In absolute terms, the
CAD, which arises when a country’s total import of goods, services and
transfers is greater than exports, was at $6.2 billion in the April-June
quarter, compared with $7.8 billion in the year ago quarter.
8. Vice-President Hamid Ansari Releases Book by Jamia Faculty
i. The
Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari released a book entitled
“Feminist and Orientalist Perspectives – A Study of Lady Mary Montagu’s
Turkish Embassy Letters” authored by Dr. Farha Hiba Parvez’ at a
function .
ii. Addressing
on the occasion, the Vice President said that this book on Lady Mary
Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters is a serious work diligently done and
will become an open area for many scholars.
9. Singapore ruling party wins elections, returns to power
i.
Singapore's prime minister lauded the city-state's youth vote for
helping return his party to power in a massive victory for the 12th time
since independence a half-century ago.
ii. The PAP (People's Action
Party) got 83 of the 89 seats in Parliament while the opposition
Workers' Party captured six. In an indication that the PAP has regained
some of its lost popularity, it won 69.86 percent of the votes cast,
according to the Elections Department, compared to 60 percent votes in
the 2011 elections.
iii. Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong, who won from the Ang Mo Kio constituency, singled out the youth,
saying the results show that the young people "understand what is at
stake, support what we are doing."
10. Russian astronaut record-breaker Padalka returns to Earth
i.
Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka has returned to Earth with the record
for having spent the most time in space. The 57-year-old's latest
mission lasted 168 days, bringing his total to 879 days in space over
five trips. This is two months longer than the previous record set in
2005 by Russian Sergei Krikalev over six missions.
ii. Mr Padalka and two other
members from the International Space Station (ISS) landed safely in
Kazakhstan on their Soyuz spacecraft just before sunrise.
11. Indian golfer Aditi Ashok claims Singha Thailand Amateur title
i. Aditi Ashok clinched the
Singha Thailand Amateur Championship after carding a one-over 73 to
finish the tournament at two-under 286, five shots ahead of Australian
Gennai Goodwin and Thailand's Chakansim Khamborn.
ii.
Bengaluru's 17-year-old Aditi opened the final round with bogeys on 2nd
and 3rd before firing birdie on 11th and then dropped another shot on
14th followed by a birdie on 16th to claim the title at the Par-72 Panya
Indra Golf Club.
