11-12 june 2015
11 june
India, Japan and Australia held first ever trilateral dialogue
India, Japan and Australia on 9 June 2015 held their first ever high-level trilateral dialogue in New Delhi.
The talks were attended by Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Japanese vice foreign minister Akitaka Saiki and Australian secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Varghese.
The representatives of three countries discussed prospects of cooperation in the fields of economy and security with special emphasis on maritime security.
The three countries agreed to hold their next round of talks in Tokyo, Japan.
Comment
The first ever trilateral dialogue among the three major countries in the Asia-Pacific region assumes significance against the backdrop of growing assertiveness of China in the South China sea of Pacific Ocean.
India accords greater importance to Japan and Australia that is evident from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to both the countries within six months of coming to the office in order to operationalise his Act East Policy.
Indian naval officials recently were in Perth for talks on their first ever bilateral maritime exercises with Australia scheduled for September 2015 off the east coast of India.
Separately, India is also considering including Japan for 2015 Malabar Exercises in October 2015, which has usually been an U.S.-India bilateral engagement. Japan participated in the Malabar exercises in 2014 as well. This is in addition to the Japan India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) held annually between the two countries.
In 2007, India’s involvement in the informal Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Japan, Australia and the United States – with all four participating the 2007 Malabar Exercises along with Singapore provoked a strong backlash from China due to fears of encirclement.
Parkash Singh Badal conferred with 2015 Sant Namdev National Award
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was on 10 June 2015 conferred with the prestigious 14th Sant Namdev National Award at a function in Pune, Maharashtra. He was awarded for promoting peace, communal harmony and universal brotherhood.
The award was given by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on behalf of the Sarhad Foundation.
Badal was honoured with a citation, a prize amount of 101000 rupees and a memento by the foundation. As a goodwill gesture, the Chief Minister returned the award money to the foundation and urged to utilise it towards the ongoing socio-cultural programmes and other development activities.
Former Indian Cricketer Hemant Kanitkar died
Former Indian cricketer Hemant Kanitkar died after a prolonged illness on 9 June 2015 at his residence in Pune, Maharashtra. He was 72.
He is survived by his wife and sons Hrishikesh, also a former Indian batsman, and Aditya.
Kanitkar, a stalwart of domestic cricket, played two Tests as a wicketkeeper-batsman in the home series against West Indies cricket team led by Clive Lloyd in 1974-75. He started his first class career in 1963 for cricket team of Maharashtra and kept playing for it till 1978, the year of retirement.
In his first class career, he scored 5006 runs at an average of 42.78 with 13 centuries and 23 half-centuries.
After retiring from first-class cricket, he served as a coach and selector for Maharashtra, and chaired the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) All-India Junior Selection Committee from 1996-97 and 1998-99.
HDFC Bank launched PayZapp
HDFC Bank on 10 June 2015 launched PayZapp, a complete digital payment and purchase solution. The mobile app will allow customers to manage credit or debit card details, recharge and pay bills, use virtual card, send money through a wallet and shop.
Highlights of PayZapp
• The app will be available for all customers of HDFC bank who will be allowed to use both type of cards namely VISA and MasterCards
• The application can be downloaded on any Android phone from the Google Play Store from 15 June 2015 onwards.
• To use the app, the customer will have to register himself/herself using the mobile phone number, which is registered with the bank and fill certain details related to him like name, date of birth and others. Then he/she will have to create his/her personal identification number (PIN).
• The mobile phone number will be the login ID for the application
• The application is different from applications launched by other banks which are just prepaid wallets, but in case of PayZapp, a customer will be able to link his/her debit or the credit card to the app
• The application will allow a customer to apply for loans or purchase an insurance plan
Managing Director of HDFC Bank: Aditya Puri
FC Barcelona won 2015 UEFA Champions League title
FC Barcelona won the 2015 Champions League title on 6 June 2015 by defeating Juventus FC 3-1 in the final match held at the Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in Germany.
While, Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar scored goals for Barcelona, Alvaro Morato scored the lone goal for Juventus.
In the summit clash, Barcelona, a Spanish club, was led by Andres Iniesta and Juventus, an Italian club was led by Gianluigi Buffon.
This was the fifth time Barcelona has been crowned with the title and their fourth in the last decade after their victories in 2006, 2009 and 2011.
With the present win, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the European treble in a single season for two times having won the Europa League and Spanish League titles in the 2014-15 season. Earlier, the team won all the three titles in the 2008-09 season.
Following their 2009 treble, Barcelona joined Celtic, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich on the exclusive list of teams to have won the treble.
CCEA approved 4721 crore rupees road projects in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 10 June 2015 approved two road projects worth 4721 crore rupees, one in Madhya Pradesh and another in Telangana. The projects will be executed under the flagship road building programme National Highways Development Project (NHDP).
Highlights of the Madhya Pradesh Road Project
• The road project of Madhya Pradesh includes development of the four laning of the Guna-Biaora andBiaora-Dewas section of National Highway-3 in with an estimated cost of 2815.69 crore rupees.
• This will be done under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV in Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis in BOT (Toll) mode.
• The cost for Guna-Biaora laning is estimated to be 1081.9 crore rupees including land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 93.5 kms.
• The total cost for Biaora-Dewa section will be about 1733.79 crore rupees including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 141.26 kms.
Highlights of the Telangana Road Project
• The road project of Telangana includes development of the four laning of the Yadgiri-Warangal section of National Highway- 163. This work will be under the NHDP Phase-IV.
• The approval was given on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.
• The cost of the project is estimated to be 1905.23 crore rupees including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 99 kms.
• After completion of the project, the whole stretch from Hyderabad to Warangal would be 4-laned.
Kapil Mishra named as Delhi Law Minister
Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Kapil Mishra was on 10 June 2015 named as the new Law Minister of Delhi.
34-year-old Mishra, who represents Karawal Nagar Assembly seat, will succeed Jitendra Singh Tomar who resigned on 9 June 2015 following his arrest in fake degree case.
Mishra has been associated with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal since the days of India Against Corruption (IAC).
Indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant undocked in Kochi
India’s maiden indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was on 10 June 2015 undocked at the Cochin Shipyard in Kochi, Kerala.
The structural work of the ship was completed and undocking was part of the second phase of work on the carrier, which is expected to be complete by 2017.
Key Features of INS Vikrant
• It is India’s largest and first indigenous aircraft carrier.
• Its basic design was done by the Indian Navy's Directorate of Naval Design, which was developed into detailed design by the design team of the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
• On the completion, it weighs around 40000 metric tonne and will have a length of over 260 metres and breadth of 60 metres.
• It has two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires, capable of operating STOBAR aircraft including the indigenous LCA, as well as a range of helicopters with hangar facilities.
• It will undergo basin trials in 2017 and is expected to be inducted into the Navy by 2018 end.
Upon its induction, the aircraft carrier puts India in the elite group of four countries in the world viz., USA, Russia, the UK and France that are capable of designing and constructing aircraft carriers.
3800-year-old statuettes of priestess and politicians discovered in Peru
Researchers discovered a trio of mud statuettes inside a reed basket in a building, an important archaeological site, in the ancient city of Vichama in northern Peru. They believe that it was created about 3800 years ago by the ancient Caral civilization.
The information of the discovery of figurines measuring no more than 80cm was given by Ministry of Culture of Peru on 9 June 2015.
Two of the three figures, who were a man and woman, were painted in white, black and red. It is believed that they represented political authorities. The third, a woman with 28 fingers and red dots on her white face, is believed to represent a priestess.
The figures had been arranged to be looking at one another.
Apart from this, the research team, also unearthed two mud statuettes of women’s faces which are wrapped in cloth and covered with yellow, blue and orange feathers.
Caral Civilisation
The Caral civilisation first emerged some 5000-year-ago and lived in Peru's Supe Valley. The civillisation covered an area of over 60 hectares, with around 3000 inhabitants and left an impressive architecture including pyramids and sunken amphitheaters.
Amazon opened its biggest Fulfilment Centre in Hyderabad
Amazon, the global e-commerce and cloud services firm, on 10 June 2015 opened a Fulfilment Centre near Hyderabad in Telangana.
It is the biggest such facility for Amazon in the country having previously established 10 Fulfilment Centres across seven states.
The present centre is spread across 2.80 lakh sq ft facility and is aimed at helping small and medium businesses (SMBs) in utilizing the logistics and delivery capabilities offered by Amazon.
At the centre, by using automated solutions, the firm segregates and packages the goods before delivering them to customers.
In 2014, Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos during his visit to India announced that the company would invest 2 billion US dollars in India in order to leverage the huge potential in e-commerce and SMBs.
The firm is also planning to set up its biggest global campus outside of the US in Hyderabad.
It is also considering a proposal to set up a datacenter in India to back its cloud service business Amazon Web Services (AWS).
NASA scientist developed tool to predict destructive solar storms
NASA scientists on 10 June 2015 developed tool to predict destructive solar storms. The model will help predict solar geomagnetic storms 24 hours in advance.
The storm can cause telecommunication disruptions and power outages. Solar geomagnetic storms may be caused by a giant cloud of solar particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), aligned in the opposite direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.
How model works
The model is now undergoing testing, but if it’s robust, then scientists might finally have a tool to predict a CME’s magnetic configuration from afar. This means forecasters could give utility grid and satellite operators a full 24-hour advance warning to protect their systems – crucial time to protect their assets.
If a CME is aligned in the same direction as Earth’s – that is, pointing from south to north – the CME will slide by without much effect.
Currently, scientists don’t have much advance notice of how a CME’s magnetic fields are arranged. They can only measure the fields as the CME passes over satellites close to Earth. Savani made use of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to observe the magnetic fields of the initial eruption on the Sun.
In the past, using such data to predict which direction the CME’s magnetic fields point has not been very successful. There are no tools to measure the magnetic fields once a CME has moved away from the Sun, but scientists do have ways of watching how the clouds expand, twist and grow as they race into space.
Ultimately, the model can describe how the CME will be configured as it approaches Earth, and even which parts of the CME will have magnetic fields pointed in which direction.
Union Cabinet approved proposal to promulgate the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 10 June 2015 gave its approval for the proposal to promulgate the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.
The intended ordinance will amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (The NI Act) that is focused on clarifying the jurisdiction related issues for filing cases for offence committed under section 138 of the NI Act.
Earlier on 13 May 2015, the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was passed in Lok Sabha with a voice vote, but was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
Key Features of Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015
• Cases of bouncing of cheques can be filed only in a court in whose jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee (person who receives the cheque) lies.
• If a complaint against a person issuing a cheque has been filed in the court with the appropriate jurisdiction, then all subsequent complaints against that person will be filed in the same court, irrespective of the relevant jurisdiction area.
• If more than one case is filed against the same person before different courts, the cases will be transferred to the court with the appropriate jurisdiction.
• It seeks to amend the definition of cheque in the electronic form. While the parent act defines it as a cheque containing the exact mirror image of a paper cheque and generated in a secure system using a digital signature, the amendment bill re-defines it as a cheque drawn in electronic medium using any computer resource and which is signed in a secure system with a digital signature, or electronic system.
Necessity for Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015
The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 defines promissory notes, bills of exchange, cheques and creates penalties for issues such as bouncing of cheques. Though, the act specifies circumstances under which complaints for cheque bouncing can be filed (Section 138) but does not specify the territorial jurisdiction of the courts where such a complaint is to be filed.
In a bid to overcome the legal lacunae, the Supreme Court of India (SC) in August 2014 issued an order stating that cases against those having defaulted on their cheque payments could only be filed in courts under which jurisdiction of the bank account of the accused fell. However, since this order is not Payee-friendly (who happens to be the victim) the government has brought the present amendment bill to by-pass the court’s order.
The new law is also intended to help consolidate the cases and aid the judicial system, which is currently dealing with 21 lakh cheque-bounce cases with 259 courts hearing them, exclusively.
ISRO presented with 2015 Space Pioneer Award for Mars Orbiter Mission
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was presented with the Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 in the Science and Engineering category during the 34th Annual International Space Development Conference held at Toronto in Canada during 20 May- 24 May 2015.
The information was published on the ISRO's website on 8 June 2015. The award was presented by National Space Society (NSS) of USA in recognition of ISRO’s efforts in accomplishing Mars Orbiter Mission in its very first attempt.
Highlights of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
• The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched on 5 November 2013 and was designed with five scientific payloads within a record time of 18 months.
• The spacecraft and its payloads performed as designed during the 300 days journey, traversing about 666 million kilometre in interplanetary space before entering the Mars Orbit on 24 September 2014.
• The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit and the high resolution camera onboard MOM is configured to take full-disk colour imagery of Mars at apoareion and close-ups at periareion.
• Presently, the spacecraft is under solar conjunction at Mars, which means the spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars, is behind the sun as viewed from the Earth.
The Space Pioneer Award consists of a silvery pewter Moon globe cast by the Baker Art Foundry in Placerville, California, from a sculpture originally created by Don Davis, space and astronomical artist.
National Space Society (NSS) is an independent non-profit educational membership organisation dedicated to the creation of a space faring civilisation.
African leaders signed 26-nation Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement
African leaders on 10 June 2015 signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) pact paving the way for creating Africa’s largest free-trade zone.
The pact was signed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia and Mohamed Bilal, Vice-President of Tanzania at the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit 2015 held at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
Key Features of Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA)
• It is intended to create a common market among 26 nations spanning half the continent from Cairo (Egypt) in the North to Cape Town (South Africa) in the South.
• It will be created by integrating three existing trade blocs viz., the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADCT).
• It will operationalise a framework for preferential tariffs easing the movement of goods across member countries.
• The pact needs ratification in national parliaments by 2017 for implementation.
Importance of TFTA
• The Tripartite FTA popularly known as the Grand Free Trade Area represents around 58 percent of the continent's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 1.2 trillion US dollars.
• It is expected to benefit 625 million people living in 26 member countries of the pact.
• The launching of the TFTA is the first phase of implementing a developmental regional integration strategy that places high priority on infrastructure development, industrialization and free movement of business persons.
• It offers significant opportunities for business and investment and will act as a magnet for attracting foreign direct investment into the region.
• The business community, in particular, will benefit from an improved and harmonized trade regime which reduces the cost of doing business as a result of elimination of overlapping trade regimes due to multiple memberships.
• It is expected to stimulate 1trillion US dollars worth of economic activity across the region.
• It will be the largest economic bloc on the continent and the launching pad for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Are (CFTA) in 2017 covering the entire Africa.
Big Band Leader James Last passed away
German composer and Big Band leader James Last died on 9 June 2015 in Florida after battling a short illness. He was 86. He sold more than 80 million records worldwide and was best known for pop hits in a big-band style.
James was born as Hans Last in the northern city of Bremen in 1929 and was originally a piano player. He began his musical career after World War II and performed about 2500 live concerts during a career spanning some six decades.
Initially, he arranged music for the likes of Freddy Quinn, Caterina Valente and Helmut Zacharias but later he went on to write original songs. His first album titled Non Stop Dancing was released in 1965.
He was also famous for his easy-listening recordings of pop hits which included Creedence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary.
12 june
Dr Bimal K Roy removed as Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
Dr Bimal K Roy was on 10 June 2015 removed as the Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
He was removed from the position one-and-a-half months before the end of his term.
He was replaced by director-designate Prof S Bandyopadhayay who was set to assume the office on 1 August 2015 on Roy’s superannuation.
The ministry accused him of indiscipline and removed him on a reasonable apprehension that he may indulge in propagation of indiscipline and mischief, including acts of administrative and financial impropriety in the interregnum up to 31 July 2015 when he is set to demit the office.
Roy was appointed to the position in August 2010.
Roy, a renowned cryptologist, completed his bachelor and masters degree from ISI and holds a Ph.D in Combinatorics and Optimization from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
In April 2015, he was conferred with Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth highest civilian honour in the discipline of literature and education.
Chandigarh's Rock Garden creator Nek Chand died
The creator of Chandigarh’s Rock Garden Nek Chand Saini died in Chandigarh on 12 June 2015. He was 90.
His creation Rock Garden of Chandigarh was opened for public on 24 January 1976. The garden is maintained by the Nek Chand Foundation, formed in 1996. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1984
The Padma awardee Nek died few days before his 40 figurative mosaic sculptures were to be put on display for the first time in the UK Pallant House Gallery in the setting of historic Chichester (West Sussex) from 13 June to 25 October 2015. The works are on loan from the Nek Chand Foundation in London.
Born on 15 December 1924 in Shakargarh region, now in Pakistan, Chand immigrated to India with his family and settled in Chandigarh in 1950.
Tamil Nadu and Adani Power Ltd signed PPA to set up 200 MW solar power plant in Ramanathapuram
Tamil Nadu Government and Adani Power Ltd in the second week of June signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to set up a 200 MW solar power plant in Ramanathapuram district.
The plant will be constructed with an investment of nearly 1400 crore rupees.
The district was chosen by the group because of the fact that it is one of the two districts along with Thoothukudi that receive highest solar radiation in the state.
In March 2015, Adani Power Ltd applied to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGDECO) for a load flow study to establish 1000 MW solar plant at Kamuthi in the district.
In 2012, the State government unveiled Solar Energy Policy (SEP) that envisaged generation of 1000 MW every year for three years through utility scale projects, rooftops and Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) schemes.
However, the plan did not fructified with the state’s total grid connected solar power achieving a mere 5 percent of its goal due to high capital cost (7 crore rupees per MW) and land requirements (5 acres for 1 MW) involved in setting up solar power plants.
As per data released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Tamil Nadu ranks seventh in terms of total commissioned solar capacity till May 2015, contributing just about 3.8 percent of the total capacity of 3.88 GW.
In India, Rajasthan and Gujarat lead among the states and Union Territories (UTs) in terms of solar power generation because of the fact that both the states receive high solar radiation and have lot of arid land that is available at low cost.
Ravi Garikipati appointed as Entrepreneur in Residence of Flipkart
Ravi Garikipati was on 11 June 2015 appointed as Entrepreneur in Residence of online portal Flipkart.com.
In this position, he will work closely with Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and head of Flipkart’s e-commerce platform Mukesh Bansal on new business projects.
His first assignment will be to grow the online advertising division.
This is the first time such a role is being created in the organisation. Usually, position of Entrepreneur in Residence is created when an organisation brings an accomplished executive to work on a new project or start a new firm and is willing to back him financially.
Before the present appointment, Ravi was president for innovation labs at Silicon Valley-based [24]7 Inc. where he was responsible for overall strategy and development of all products.
He worked also as the Senior Vice President at Vendio, a large third party e-commerce service provider which was later acquired by Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Flipkart is India’s largest online retailer in the 1 lakh crore rupees e-commerce market and also considered as the most valuable internet company.
Prof S Bandyopadhayay appointed as Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
Prof Sanghmitra Bandyopadhayay was on 10 June 2015 appointed as the Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
She is the first woman to lead the institute and replaced Dr Bimal K Roy who was removed on charges of indiscipline.
Earlier on 8 June 2015, she was appointed as director-designate of the institute and was set to assume the office on 1 August 2015 on Roy’s superannuation.
She is a computer scientist specializing in computational biology. Her research is mainly in the areas of evolutionary computation, pattern recognition, machine learning and bioinformatics.
She obtained a master's degree in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP) and pursued Ph. D. at the ISI.
She received Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in 2010 for her contributions to engineering sciences.
Union Government launched Migrant Resource Centre in Chennai
The Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) along with the Tamil Nadu Government on 11 June 2015 launched the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Chennai. The MRC in Chennai is the fourth such MRC in India set-up by MOIA.
The MRC will provide information, guidance, advise and counselling on all aspects of overseas employment including legal and regulatory requirements; documentation and procedures; policies; and problems faced while working aboard to intending migrants and overseas Indian workers.
Functions of the MRC
• The MRC will disseminate information on safe and legal migration.
• It will disseminate information about status of Recruiting Agents and other service providers.
• It will register and respond to complaints and grievances within the redressal forum of MOIA.
• It will also offer counselling support (walk in or telephone and email support).
The first Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) was established by MOIA in 2008 in Kochi, Kerala, followed by fully functional MRCs in Hyderabad (Telengana & Andhra Pradesh), Gurgaon (Haryana) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
Union Government scrapped import duties on AIDS drugs
Union Government on 11 June 2015 scrapped customs import duties on drugs and test kits used to treat AIDS. The exemption will remain in effect until March 2016.
The exemption would apply to certain first-line and second-line antiretroviral drugs (ARV) used to treat adults and children, as well as to certain diagnostic kits and equipment that are used by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to fight the HIV/AIDS under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).
The decision is an effort to cut the prices so as to cope up with the ongoing shortage of drugs and test kits to fight HIV/AIDS at home.
Further, it would help in importing raw materials that are used in making ARVs under the NACP at cheaper rates.
At present, Mylan Inc, a firm of US and Aurobindo Pharma of India supply ARV under the NACP.
More than a third of India’s 2.1 million HIV/AIDS patients depend on getting their daily ARV for free from state-run distribution centers, which have been facing shortages. Moreover, the drugs under exemption make up roughly 95 percent of the ARVs used by India's AIDS patients under the NACP.
About National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)
In 1986 Union Government set up National Aids Committee under the aegis of Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs after the detection of first case of AIDS in India.
Then in 1992, the first phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) was launched that covered the period 1992-1999 and NACO was constituted to implement the programme.
At present, the fourth phase of NACP is being implemented that aims to reduce new infections by 50% (2007 Baseline of NACP III). NACP-IV will cover the period 2012 -2017.
Said Djinnit, UN envoy to Burundi crisis, stepped down as mediator
Said Djinnit, the United Nations (UN) envoy to Burundi crisis, stepped down from his role as mediator of the crisis on 11 June 2015.
He stepped down following requests of the opposition parties, who accused him of being biased and demanded a new UN mediator for the crisis.
The Burundi crisis was triggered after President Pierre Nkurunziza bid for a third-term.
However, Djinit will remain engaged with Burundi as part of his role of UN special envoy to the Great Lakes region. The region comprises of nations surrounding African Great Lakes namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Burundi crisis
Burundi’s political crisis started on 25 April 2015 after President Nkurunziza (in power since 2005) announced that he will run for a third term in the upcoming elections. He announced his willingness to run for the elections, despite warnings at home and abroad.
This bid for election led to clashes between protestors and police leading to death of at least 30 people.
According to opponents, Nkurunziza's decision violates the constitution that limits the president to two terms in office.
On the other hand, supporters say that first term of Nkurunziza doesn’t counts as he was not elected by people, but was appointed by the Parliament.
Veteran actor Sir Christopher Lee died at the age of 93
Veteran actor Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, famous as the master of horror, died on 7 June 2015 at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He was 93.
Lee was famous for his role as Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films. He also appeared in Lord of the Rings trilogy (as Saruman), the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (as Francisco Scaramanga), The Hobbit film trilogy Count Dooku, Stars Wars prequel trilogy Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jinnah (biopic of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah), The Wicker Man and others.
The actor was knighted in 2009 for services to drama and charity. In 2011 and 2013, he was awarded with the BAFTA fellowship and BFI Fellowship, respectively.
England’s cricketer Matt Prior retired from all forms of cricket
Matt Prior, the English cricketer, on 11 June 2015 retired from all forms of cricket. The 33-year-old, wicketkeeper-batsman helped England to win three Ashes series between 2009 and 2013.
He was the first English wicketkeeper to score a century on debut match against West Indies in 2007. He scored an unbeaten 126 at Lord’s. He played his One Day International (ODI) debut match against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on 5 December 2004.
Matt Prior played his last test match against India at Lord's from 17 to 21 July 2014 and his last ODI match was against Sri Lanka at Colombo (RPS), on 26 March 2011.
Details of his cricket career
• Test:Batted in 123 innings of 79 matches and scored 4099 runs of which 131 not out was his highest score.
• ODI: Batted in 62 of 68 matches and scored 1282 runs of which 87 was his highest score.
•T20Is: Batted in 8 of 10 matches and scored 127 runs of which 32 was his highest score.
He left cricket with a Test batting average of 40.18, the highest for any England wicketkeeper to claim more than 100 dismissals. He was the fourth best wicket-keeper of all-time behind only Kumar Sangakkara, Andy Flower and Adam Gilchrist.
In 2013, the South African born cricketer was named as England’s best player of the year. In December 2014, he co-founded the new professional One Pro Cycling team.
Forbes released 2015 World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes list
Forbes on 10 June 2015 released the list of 2015 World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes. The list has been topped by Floyd Mayweather and the only Indian to figure in the list is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The earnings were calculated based on athletes’ salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, as well as licensing and endorsement income between 1 June 2014 and 1 June 2015.
The list only includes athletes active during the given period.
Highlights of the list
• Floyd Mayweather tops the list for the second year in a row and third time in four years with 300 million US dollars. His win over Manny Pacquiao, in the historic match held on 3 May 2015 helped him to top the list. Mayweather earned 240 million US dollars through the match.
• Manny Pacquiao stood at the second position in the list with earnings up to 160 million US dollars.
• Real Madrid’s soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo stood at the 3rd position with 79.6 million US dollars.
• Barcelona’s soccer player Leonal Messi stood at the fourth position with 73.8 million US dollars.
• Switzerland’s Roger Federer became the highest earned tennis player with earnings up to 67 million US dollars.
• Brazilian soccer player Neymar (23 years) was the youngest player in the list with 31 million US dollars.
• Golf player Phil Mickelson (44 years) of USA was the oldest player in the list with 50.8 million US dollars.
• Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were the only women athletes in the list who stood at 26th and 47th position respectively in the list.
• The top 100 athletes earned a total of 3.2 billion US dollars over the last 12 months, which is a 17 percent increase from the previous year.
• The list consists of players from ten different sports. While, baseball players occupied 27 percent of the list, cricket and track and field both placed one athlete on the list.
• There are no hockey players on the list for a fourth straight year.
• The cutoff for the top 100 keeps rising and is now 18.8 million US dollars, up from 17.3 US million US dollars in 2014 and 16.4 million US dollars in 2013.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the sole Indian and only cricketer in the list with earnings of 31 million US dollars. It includes 4 million US dollars from salary/winnings and 27 million US dollars from endorsements. Dhoni shared the 23rd position with Neymar in the list dropping a notch from his ranking of 22 in 2014.
World Day Against Child Labour observed globally
12 June: World Day Against Child Labour
The World Day Against Child Labour was on 12 June 2015 observed globally with the theme NO to child labour – YES to quality education!The day is the United Nations observance to bring awareness against child labour.
World Day Against Child Labour 2015 calls for:
• Free, compulsory and quality education for all children at least to the minimum age for admission to employment and action to reach those presently in child labour;
• New efforts to ensure that national policies on child labour and education are consistent and effective;
• Policies that ensure access to quality education and investment in the teaching profession.
Background
The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and on the action and efforts needed to eliminate it.
Every year on 12 June, the Day brings together governments, employers, workers organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.
Child Labour in World
The latest surveys suggest that more than 215 million children work instead of attending school. Some do not even have enough time to play. Many are exposed to slavery and other illicit activities like drug trafficking and prostitution, and some are even involved in armed conflict.
In India, the labour law allows children under the age of 14 to work in non-hazardous industries, and has even fewer restrictions on children working between the ages of 15 and 18.
Vinita Bali appointed as Chair of Board of Directors of GAIN
Vinita Bali was on 4 June 2015 appointed as the Chair of Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Vinita succeeded Jay Naidoo, who led GAIN in the global fight against malnutrition since its creation in 2002.
Vinita has been on the board of GAIN since 2010 and has led large companies in a variety of marketing and general management roles in the India, UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Chile and the US.
She also serves on the Advisory Board of The Division of Nutritional Science at University of Cornell and is the Vice Chair of CARE India. She is among the 27 global leaders appointed by the UN Secretary General to stand on the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.
She also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of several companies in India including CRISIL Ltd, Titan Industries Ltd, and Kasturi & Sons Ltd; as well as, on the Advisory Board of The World Gold Council and as a Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore.
She is also recognized in forums nationally and internationally and has won several awards for her various contributions to business.
Dick Costolo resigned as CEO of Twitter Inc
Dick Costolo on 11 June 2015 resigned as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Twitter Inc after serving the company for five years. Costolo will demit the office of CEO on 1 July 2015.
Twitter co-founder and Square Inc's CEO Jack Dorsey will take over as the Interim CEO of the company on 1 July 2015 and will stay until a replacement is found.
Costolo joined the company in 2009 as its Chief Operating Officer. In 2013, he helped the company to go public and recently he struggled to attract new users to the service.
Under Costolo, Twitter evolved from a scrappy startup to a public company with a market value of some 25 billion US dollars. At the same time, the 140-character messaging service of Twitter gained cultural prominence, becoming a powerful microphone for celebrities, activists and citizen journalists.