Current Affairs for the year of 2025 - 2024

A new book The Unseen Indira Gandhi authored by Dr KP Mathur was released in May 2016. Dr KP Mathur was personal physician of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for nearly 20 years till her assassination in 1984. The Book was published by Konark Publishers. The book provides some interesting peeps...

The Union Government in the second week of May 2016 decided to replace 5-year plans with 15-year vision documents. The long-term perspective plans will be prepared by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog beginning from 2017-18 financial year. Features of 15-year vision document...

Senior IAS officer Ashok Lavasa was on 31 May 2016 was appointed as the Finance Secretary. Lavasa, at present serving as the Expenditure Secretary, is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre. The post was lying vacant since April 2016 after the retirement of Ratan Watal. After retirement, Watal was...

Union Ministry of AYUSH released a Yog Geet (Song) on 17 June 2016 in connection with the celebration of International Day of Yoga–2016. The details of the song are as under: • The song is of 3 minutes and 15 seconds in Hindi language. • The song is written and produced by Deeraj...

Book titled Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up authored by Rana Ayyub was released in May 2016. The book is an account of an eight-month long undercover investigation by journalist Rana Ayyub, who posed herself as Maithili Tyagi, a filmmaker from the American Film Institute Conservatory to investigate...

Ashok Ganapathy was on 6 June 2016 appointed as the Director of Bharti Airtel Ltd. He will take over the post with effect from 1 July 2016. Ganapathy succeeds Manish Prakash as Director (Airtel Business). Prakash has been appointed as Director (strategic alliances). He will report to Gopal Vittal, Chief...

Mohun Bagan on 21 May 2016 clinched the Federation Cup title for the 14th time. In the final played at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, Bagan defated Aizwal FC 5-0. Bagan won this tournament after a gap of 8 years (in 2008), when it defeated Dempo 1-0. The first half of the match went...

Mori village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh will be developed as a smart village of global standards. Towards this endeavor, the partners in the project on 19 June 2016 announced that prototype will be ready by mid-December 2016. Under the project, the village will be developed as a self-contained...

Shahid Rasool, a communication technology specialist, on 7 June 2016 took charge as the Director of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA). Rasool will guide CEMCA in its mission to ensure effective utilisation of educational media resources for distance education. He was earlier...

Mohun Bagan on 15 June 2016 announced that it will honour country’s only Dronacharya football coach Syed Nayeemuddin with the Mohun Bagan Ratna. Nayeemuddin was chosen for the prestigious award for his overall contribution to the club and the country both as a player and as a coach. Who is Syed...

World Refugee Day was observed on 20 June 2016. It is observed annually to draw attention to the plight of refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience and renew commitment to solve refugee problems. It also recognises contributions of the refugees made to the countries that host them. Refugees...

Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 May 2016 gave its ex-facto approval to the Amendment to The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 for incorporation of six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). These six new IITs will come up at following places: • Tirupati in Andhra...

National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) in the last week of May 2016 announced that it will soon launch a project aimed at cleaning River Ganga in Bihar. In December 2015, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation hired NBCC to carry out the feasibility...

Prominent Malayalam script writer TA Rasaq passed away on 15 August 2016 in Kochi following a brief illness. He was 58. He had worked for more than thirty films in Malayalam beginning from 1991. About TA Rasaq • He was born in Thurakkal near Kondotty town in Malappuram in April 1958. • He...

Nico Rosberg of Germany on 19 June 2016 won the European Grand Prix Formula 1 championship in Baku, Azerbaijan. To win the title, the Mercedes driver overcame Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany in the final race. In this championship, Rosberg completed second career Grand Slam. Prior to him,...

The Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute of Plant Sciences, Kozhikode, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in July 2016 joined hands to launch field trials of oil-degrading bacteria in Kochi. The scientists will undertake the trail to establish the oil-degrading properties of three new...

Rajeev Krishnan was on 9 August 2016 appointed as the Managing Director of Max Hypermarkets in India with effect from 1 August 2016. Krishnan succeeds Viney Singh, outgoing Managing Director. However, Singh will continue to be on the Board of the company as a Non-Executive Director. As managing director,...

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 10 June 2016 flagged off the weekly Champaran Satyagrah Express at Motihari, Bihar. He inaugurated six rail facilities in Bihar on the occasion which includes three Road Over Bridges (ROBs) at Danapur (Patna), Motihari and Begusarai railway stations, the broad...

Forbes on 8 June 2015 released the list of 2016 World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes. The list has been topped by soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo with earnings of 88 million US dollars. The 100 top-earning athletes hail from 23 countries and compete in ten sports with Americans (65) and baseball players...

Lok Sabha on 26 July 2016 passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) (CLPR) Act, 1986. The amendment bill allows children below the age of 14 years to work in select non-hazardous family enterprises. With this, both...

Union Home Ministry on 16 June 2016 notified 10 coastal police stations extending their jurisdictional limits from the existing 12 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles. The notified 10 police stations share the coastline in eight States. The new coastal police stations are proposed to maintain security...

Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Chairperson (CPN-MC) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on 4 August 2016 was elected the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal. Dahal was the sole claimant to the post of Prime Minister, when he filed his candidacy at the Parliament Secretariat on 2 August 2016. Dahal was elected...

The World Bank Board on 13 May 2016 approved a 625 million US dollars loan to support the India’s program to generate electricity from widespread installation of rooftop solar photo-voltaic (PV). The Board also approved a co-financing loan of 120 million US dollars on concessional terms and a...

Famous Television actress Ann Morgan Guilbert died on 16 June 2016 after battling with cancer. She was 87. About Ann Morgan Guilbert • She began her TV career in the 1960s, appearing on popular programmes such as I Dream of Jeannie, My Three Sons, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Partridge Family,...

Union and Karnataka Government on 24 May 2016 signed 100 million US dollar loan and project agreement with World Bank to support ‘Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project’. Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) is the implementing agency of the...

Scientists have discovered a Jupiter-like planet, Kepler-1647b, orbiting a system of two stars, making it the largest such cosmic body ever found. The planet Kepler-1647b, located in the constellation Cygnus, was discovered by astronomers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre and San Diego State University...

Renowned scientist S K Sharma on 23 May 2016 was appointed the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). Sharma will be responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of nuclear power reactors. He has been appointed to the new post...

US-based law firm BakerHostetler in May 2016 hired the world’s first robot lawyer ROSS to assist the company and its various teams in legal research. The law firm will licence artificial lawyer ROSS for use in its Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights team. Key characteristics...

P Sreeramakrishnan was on 3 June 2016 elected as the Speaker of the 14th legislative assembly of Kerala. He was the candidate of ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and a two-time legislator from Ponnani constituency. In the voting held, he secured 92 votes against UDF's V.P. Sajeendran from Kunnathunadu...

Chinese supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight with 93 petaflop/second speed was on 20 June 2016 declared as the world’s fastest supercomputer. It was revealed in the TOP500 list of supercomputers released at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Frankfurt, Germany. The list further revealed...