1. PM Narendra Modi launches IPDS in Varanasi to ensure 24×7 power supply to every house
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched National Integrated Power
Development Scheme (IPDS) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh to provide 24×7
power supply to every house.
ii. To start the scheme in Varanasi, PM laid foundation stone of two
power substations and Union Government will provide 572 crore rupees to
implement it.
iii. Apart from launching IPDS, PM also laid the foundation stone of
seven other developmental projects in Varanasi. He also formally
inaugurated the biggest Trauma centre of the country in Banaras Hindu
University.
iv. IDPS is to strengthen the transmission and distribution (T&D)
networks, 100 per cent metering urban areas and smarten it with
information technology. It was announced in Union Budget 2014-15 and is
one of the flagship schemes of the Union Ministry of Power core attempt
to ensure 24×7 power for all.
2. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare bans sale of Diclofenac in multidose vial
i. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has banned the sale of
Diclofenac in multidose vial. Henceforth, it will be sold only in
single-dose vial packaging for human use.
ii.
This ban was imposed on recommendation of Union Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in order to save and
protect vultures from brink of extinction.
iii. In this regard, MoEFCC has published an official Gazette
notification no G.S.R 558 (E) dated 17th July, 2015, banning packaging
of multi-dose vial of Diclofenac.
iv. Diclofenac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) is
administered to cattle, is the chief cause of mass extinction of
vultures.
v. Vultures feeding on cattle having traces of diclofenac either die
from acute kidney failure within a few days or lose their ability to
reproduce.
3. Metro Man E Sreedharan to serve UN High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport
i. Metro Man Elattuvalapil Sreedharan has been invited to the United
Nations’ High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST).
ii. He has been invited by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to serve on
his HLAG-ST for a period of three years. Mr. E Sreedharan has accepted
this offer.
iii. Mr. E Sreedharan was born on 12 June 1932 in Palakkad district of
Kerala. He is a retired Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer.
iv. He is credited for changing the face of public transport in India.
Under his leadership, Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro projects were
completed on time. He was given the sobriquet of Metro Man by the Indian
media for his grand success in executing the completion of the Delhi
Metro on time and with stipulated budget.
4. Veteran Marathi cricket commentator Bal Pandit passes away
i. Veteran cricket Marathi commentator Bal Pandit passed away in Pune,
Maharashtra. He was 89. He is considered as pioneer of cricket
commentary in Marathi who had made the game more popular in
Maharashtrian households.
ii.
Bal Pandit was born on 24 July 1929 in Pune. Prior to starting his
commentator career, Pandit was cricketer and had played for Maharashtra.
His cricketing debut was in the Rohinton Baria Trophy and played for
two seasons between 1951 and 1953.
iii. He is often described as an encyclopedia of Marathi synonyms for
original cricketing parlance in English. Pandit had endeared himself
with fans of the cricket with his lucid live commentary of both domestic
and international matches on All India Radio (AIR) for over4 decades,
before the advent of 24X7 television channels.
iv. He was also a prolific cricket writer and had written about 30
books. He also had penned newspaper and magazine articles on cricket and
enhanced knowledge of the game among readers.
5. India, Laos ink two MoUs to strengthen bilateral ties
i.
India and Laos have inked two key Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on
Air services and Quick Impact Projects under the Mekong-Ganga
Cooperation (MGC) programme to strengthen bilateral ties between the two
nations.
ii. These MoU’s were signed in presence of Indian Vice President Hamid
Ansari and his counterpart President of Lao Choummaly Sayasone in
Vientiane.
iii. Vice President Hamid Ansari is on four-day official state visit to
Cambodia and Laos. It is also first visit of an Indian Vice President to
Laos.
6. Ajinkya Rahane honoured with life membership by CCI
i. Ajinkya Rahane, India's most consistent batsman in the last couple of
years, has been conferred with the honorary life membership by the
Cricket Club of India (CCI) here on Friday.
ii. Honouring the top-order batsman was CCI president Kekoo Nicholson in
the presence of past president Sevanti Parikh and other members.
iii. Rahane joins an illustrious list of sportspersons, not just
cricketers, to be conferred with the CCI membership and these include
Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Geet Sethi, Michael Ferreira, Muttiah
Muralitharan and MS Dhoni, to name a few.
iv. The 27-year-old right-handed batsman who has risen from humble
background, who has come a long way from his early life in Dombivli to
making centuries at the Home of Cricket, Lord's, has been looked upon by
the club as the flag-bearer of Mumbai cricket at the world stage.
