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Online marketplace Snapdeal has announced its   partnership with e-ticketing platform BookMyShow and extended its service offerings.  With this partnership, customers can now book tickets for movies on Snapdeal. “Snapdeal’s integration with a leading service provider like BookMyShow is another step in this direction. Snapdeal is an online marketplace, based in New Delhi, India.  The company was started by Kunal Bahl,  a Wharton graduate as part of the dual degree M&T Engineering and Business program at Penn, and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of IIT Delhi in February 2010.  Snapdeal currently has 275,000 sellers, over 30 million products and a reach of 6,000 towns and cities across the country. Share via Whatsapp

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has reformed the Joint Parliamentry Committe(JPC) for Land Acquistion Bill and appointed Ganesh Singh as the Chairperson of the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Land Acquisition Bill . Mr. Ganesh is a member of parliament of BJP from  Satna constituency of Madhya Pradesh . He is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha of India and this is the third term for him. Mr. Ganesh Singh replaced S S Ahluwalia, who became Minister of the State for Parliamentary Affairs in reshuffle of the council of ministers on 5 July 2016.  After the appointment, Singh will have to move a resolution in the Lok Sabha seeking the seventh extension of the term of the panel. Earlier, the committee's term was extended till the first week of the Monsoon session and was to end on yesterday. Although, five positions are vacant in this committe as the tenure of Mr Jairam Ramesh, Mr Sarad Yadav and Mr Rajpal Singh Saini had ended in Rajiya Sabha while P P Chaudhary g...

India test team captain Virat Kohli has become the first Indian captain to score a double century outside India .  He scored 200 runs  against West Indies  on day two of the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium in North Sound, West Indies. With his double century, Kohli entered the list of visiting captains with highest scores in West Indies. Kohli is the fifth Indian captain to score a double century in a Test match  after Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (2013 vs England), Sunil Gavaskar (205 vs West Indies), Sachin Tendulkar (217 vs New Zealand) and MS Dhoni (224 vs Australia).  It is the highest score by an Indian skipper away from home. Mohammad Azharuddin had scored 192 against New Zealand in Auckland in 1990.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC),  is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and the country's largest public sector bank(PSB) State Bank of India (SBI)  have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to hammer out a detailed plan for promotion of rail ticketing activities, including internet ticketing and unreserved ticketing system. Under the MoU,  the signatories will jointly explore areas of cooperation and draw up a detailed plan for  promotion of rail ticketing activities. IRCTC,  a  'mini Ratna'  PSU of Indian Railways which handles catering, tourism and Internet ticketing activities, and the  SBI will also undertake development of Unreserved Ticketing System and "such other services which can be jointly undertaken".

The Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has saluted Indian revolutionary  freedom fighters  Chandra Shekhar Azad, and Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak on their birth anniversaries .  In a tweet, Mr. Modi said that he salutes the courageous Chandra Shekhar Azad, who won the admiration of countless Indians due to his valour and the great Bal Gangadhar Tilak inspired several people to devote themselves to the freedom struggle. Azad was born on July 23, 1906 in Bhavra village, in the present-day Alirajpur district of  Madhya Pradesh while Tilak was born in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra  on July 23, 1856.  On February 27, 1931, Azad shot himself dead with his last bullet when he was surrounded by police at Alfred Park in Allahabad while Tilak died on August 1 1920. 

A conference titled 'Made in Afghanistan' was recently held in Delhi to promote Afghan products and boost trade relations between both nations.   'Made in Afghanistan: Harnessing the Economic Potential' was the theme of two-day long event  held to strengthen India-Afghan relations in terms of trade, commerce and investment opportunities. An MoU was also signed between  FICCI-FLO and Afghanistan women  business federation during the event. The delegates from Afghanistan also appreciated the way India helps Kabul in uncertain conditions.  The traders from Afghanistan also exhibited their products in the exhibition sponsored by the Indian Government.  The traders were very positive in terms of trade relations between the two nations and hoped to get better promotion of their products in the Indian market as it will have a significant impact on their country's economy

The  Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF) ,  a film festival focusing on Mother Teresa's life and teachings is going to be held at over 100 locations in India and around 50 other countries.  The festival will be  kicked off from Kolkata  on August 26 after which it will travel all over the world for the next six months.  It will be organized by  the World Catholic Association for Communication. In Kolkata, the festival will be held for three days from August 26 at the state-run Nandan multiplex.  The objective is to spread the message of Mother Teresa before the world. The festival would also feature a film  on the Nobel laureate and inspired by her life. Mr.  Sunil Lucas will be the festival director.  The Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, who passed away in 1997 after serving the poor and sick on the streets of Kolkata for 45 years, will be declared a saint on September 4 by Pope Francis in the Vatican Cit...

Central Government has promoted director general and mission director of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Ajay Bhushan Pandey as its chief executive officer (CEO). "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved appointment of A B Pandey. Under Pandey’s tenure, UIDAI will have to deal with the legal cases involving privacy and parliamentary issues that Aadhaar has been embroiled in. Pandey is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra cadre.  He has been serving as Director General of the UIDAI since August 2015.  He holds a doctorate in Computer Science from University of Minnesota Minneapolis of US.

Kerala Tourism has secured two Gold Awards at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) awards in recognition of its trendsetting marketing initiatives . The two gold medals for ' Marketing Media'  are in the categories of  'Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media' and 'E-Newsletter',  which were clinched by the successful 'Visit Kerala'  television commercial campaign and the popular Kerala Tourism  E-Newsletter  respectively . The awards will be presented at the PATA Gold Awards Luncheon and Presentation on September 9 in Jakarta . This year's awards attracted 212 entries from 71 organizations and individuals worldwide.  Last year also , Kerala Tourism has awarded the PATA Gold in the Heritage and Culture category for the Muziris Heritage Project.

Facebook has announced the first successful test flight of a high-altitude solar plane to bring internet access to remote parts of the world.  The Aquila drone has the wingspan of an airliner but weighs less than a car.  When cruising it consumes just 5,000 watts – the same as three hairdryers or a powerful microwave. The first flight took place on 28 June in Arizona. Facebook said the test went better than expected and that Aquila’s 96-minute flight was three times longer than planned. Aquila was developed in Bridgwater, Somerset, by Ascenta, a designer of solar-powered drones that Facebook bought in March 2014.  The drone, designed to fly non-stop for three months, will use lasers to beam down internet access to remote areas without online capacity.

The Kerala  State Government has constituted a  State Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (STAGI)  for advising it on policies and practices to be adopted and implementation of the National Immunisation Programme. STAGI will provide technical and academic inputs and leadership in the State’s immunisation efforts. With the changes in the epidemiology and disease pattern in the State,  the committee is responsible for timely recommendations on the choice of vaccines to be included and modifications on current guidelines based on surveillance data available in the state.   The advisory group will have the Director of Health Service as the chairman and the Director of Medical Education as co-chairman. Apart from the chairman and the co-chairman, it will have eleven members.

The Kerala  State Government has constituted a  State Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (STAGI)  for advising it on policies and practices to be adopted and implementation of the National Immunisation Programme. STAGI will provide technical and academic inputs and leadership in the State’s immunisation efforts. With the changes in the epidemiology and disease pattern in the State,  the committee is responsible for timely recommendations on the choice of vaccines to be included and modifications on current guidelines based on surveillance data available in the state.   The advisory group will have the Director of Health Service as the chairman and the Director of Medical Education as co-chairman. Apart from the chairman and the co-chairman, it will have eleven members.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organisation  has announced that global temperatures for the  first six months of 2016 broke many records.  It means that 2016 is on the track to be the world's hottest year on record. June marked the 14th consecutive month of record heat  for land and oceans. It called for the speedy implementation of a pact reached last  December to limit climate change by shifting from fossil fuels to green energy by 2100.  The average temperature in the first six months of 2016 was 1.3C warmer than the pre-industrial era in the late 19th century, according to Nasa

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation constituted a committee to prepare Draft Ganga Act.  The Committee has been asked to prepare a Draft Act on Ganga ensuring wholesomeness of the River.  The Act should have provisions to ensure cleanliness (Nirmalta) and uninterrupted e-flow (avirlta) of Ganga. The Committee may take into consideration any other issue which it may deem fit in the drafting of the Act. The tenure of the Committee would be for a period of three months which may be extended by another three months,  if required. Justice Girdhar Malviya (Retd.) is the Chairman of the committee.  Other members of the committee are: V.K.Bhasin, Ex-Secretary, Legislative Department of Union Govt, Prof. A.K. Gosain,  llT Delhi and Prof. Nayan Sharma, llT Roorkee. Sundeep, Director, National Mission for clean Ganga is the member secretary.

Major producer of a wide variety of industrial goods, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)  successfully commissioned the third unit of  the 4x40 MW Teesta Low Dam Hydro Electric Project (HEP) Stage-IV in West Bengal.  A run-of-the-river greenfield project located in Darjeeling district of West Bengal(WB),  Teesta HEP is being set up by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), on the River Teesta.  The fourth and final unit of the project is also in advanced stages of execution. Power generation from the Teesta project will result in reduction of green-house gas emissions and will help in achieving a low carbon development path for the state as well as the nation.  The order for Electrical & Mechanical (E&M) works for four units of 40 MW each was placed on BHEL by NHPC.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between  India and Tunisia for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Digital Economy  has been apprised by the Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.  The agreements intends to foster active cooperation and exchange between private entities, Governments, institutions involved in enhancing capacity building and other public and private organisations of the two countries in the field of ICT and Digital Economy.

To boost education and development of the tribal section of society in the north eastern state of Mizoram,  the Mizoram’s Scholarship Board Secretary JH Zoremthanga has said that 90 % of tribal scholarship has been issued to the meritorious students and the Central government has directly deposited the amount to the respective account of the students. As many as 47,685 students who are in standard 1 to 10 have so far received scholarship.  With launching of digital India by Modi government, Ministry of Minority has directly deposited scholarship to the bank account of all merit students without any involvement of state scholarship board. In the ongoing minority scholarship scheme, students  who are in standard 1 to 5 are given Rs 1000 and students who are in class 5 to 10 are given Rs 5000. Altogether, 47,685 students have so far received tribal scholarship.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has listed Chandigarh's Capitol Complex and Sikkim's national park home to the world's third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga among its World Heritage Sites, approving all three nominations linked to India this session . These approval comes two days after the ruins of  Nalanda University in Bihar  made to the elite tag at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul. This is the first time that any country got three sites inscribed in the Word Heritage List at a single session of the committee meeting.  India now has 35 sites, including 27 cultural properties, seven natural sites and one mixed site, notified as World Heritage Sites.   The KNP became India’s first mixed World Heritage Site after fulfilling the nomination criteria under both natural and cultural heritages. Extra Info:  A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, c...

Vice President Hamid Ansari  has unveiled a stone statue of  Mahatma Gandhi at Pethub Monastery in the Mongolian  capital which is seen as symbol of India-Mongolia cultural and spiritual ties. After unveiling the statue of the  'Father of the Nation',  the Vice President also went around the monastery founded by former Indian ambassador  Kushok Bakula Rinpoche.  Pethub Monastery, seen as symbol of India-Mongolia cultural and spiritual ties, was inaugurated in August, 1999  by Indian Vice President Krishan Kant.  Rinpoche named his monastery as 'Pethub', which in Tibetan means a model or exemplary. The name is drawn from the main monastery in Ladakh which is also known  as Spituk Monastery and is over 800 years old. 

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)  and French firm  Safran Helicopter Engines  have agreed to establish a support centre in India for national and international rotorcraft customers. An agreement was signed by DK Venkatesh, Director (Engg and R&D), HAL, and Bruno Even, CEO,  Turbomeca, at the ongoing Farnborough International Airshow (July 11-17) in England. The new centre will provide MRO services for Safran TM333 and HAL Shakti engines that power HAL-built helicopters. Safran and HAL will provide their customers with services including optimised engine availability.  With over 1,000 engines, including 250 TM333s and 250 Shaktis, India’s armed forces are one of the largest operators of Safran-designed helicopter engines.  Shakti is the Indian designation for the Safran’s Ardiden 1, co-developed with HAL and produced under a licence.

The government has launched ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’  to evacuate the Indians from South Sudan. Two C17 aircraft of Indian Air Force left for Juba with  Minister of State for External Affair VK Singh onboard. The Indian Ambassador in South Sudan Srikumar Menon and his team is organising this operation on the ground. Indian Embassy in Juba in an advisory had communicated that all the stranded Indian citizens should get in touch immediately with the embassy to avail the facility. South Sudan has been hit by violence which has claimed hundreds of lives till now.  The conflict is because of clashes between government troops and forces loyal to Vice President Riek Machar. 

The first direct bus service between New Delhi and Nepal's famous tourist spot Pokhara has been launched to connect South Asia’s two important cities .  The bus service was launched as per the  Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) signed between India and Nepal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Nepal  visit in 2014 . After the signing of the agreement, regular buses ply on Kathmandu-New Delhi, Kathmandu-Varanasi and Mahendranagar-Delhi routes and  vice versa. The bus service was flagged off by Nepal Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet and India’s ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae from Pokhara.  The bus  service is a joint initiative of the Modern Era Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd of Nepal and Uttar Pradesh State Road transport Corporation (UPSRTC), Ghaziabad depot, of India. Under this initiative, altogether eight modern deluxe AC buses, four from each side have started plying between Pokhara and  Delhi.

The book titled Ringside With Vijender published by Juggernaut Books and authored by Rudraneil Sengupta has released . The book is all about the  Beijing Olympics bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh's life post his transition to the world of pro boxing. The book also offers an insight into his  struggles, changes in his boxing style, training, and his personal life. Vijender Singh is an Indian professional boxer . He has won the bronze at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and also in 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. In  2009 also he has won the bronze medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.  While the writer, Rudraneil Sengupta is the deputy editor of  Lounge, the weekly feature magazine of Mint . In 2008, he was awarded the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism for a documentary on  river rafting in India and in 2015, he also won the Society of Publishers or Asia (SOPA) award for excellence in reporting on human rights issues.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also given its approval for Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of Rs. 7290.62 crore for  the ongoing 1020 MW Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project (HEP) in Bhutan . The Project will provide surplus power to India and thus augment power  availability in the country and would enable project works to proceed smoothly without interruption. The total cost escalation for the project, at this  stage, is Rs.3512.82 crore. The bilateral agreement to execute the Punatsangchhu-II HEP was signed between India and Bhutan in  April 2010 at the approved cost of Rs. 3777.8  crore with funding by Government of India as 30% grant and 70% loan at 10% annual interest to be paid back in thirty equated semi-annual installments .  The factors behind cost escalation are due to inflation from March 2009 to March 2015, change in surface power house to the underground powerhouse,  increase in capa...

According to a survey conducted by Skytrax, Emirates is the world's best airline for the year 2016.  The survey underscores the consistency of the quality  service among the world's top carriers.  The international airline Emirates based in Dubai has won the top honors at Skytrax World Airline Awards  ceremony at the Farnborough International Airshow in England . The awards run the gamut from 73 categories from best economy class onboard catering  to best airline staff to best seats to best cabin cleanliness. The top 10 best airlines were named during the ceremony as: Emirates (1st), Qatar Airways (2nd), Singapore Airlines (3rd), Cathay Pacific (4th), ANA All  Nippon Airways (5th), Etihad Airways (6th), Turkish Airlines (7th), EVA Air (8th), Qantas Airways (9th) and Lufthansa (10th). The other winners included:  Transatlantic Airline: Lufthansa, Transpacific Airline: Eva Air, Airline Staff in Asia: ANA airlines, Airline lounge: Star Alliance,...

Leading stock exchange BSE is introducing  'Paperless SIP' (systematic investment plans)  that would allow mutual fund investors to make transactions through various modes of payments. The additional feature on BSE's mutual fund platform - StAR MF  - would allow MF distributors to register SIPs for their clients,  who can pay SIP amounts through various modes. The new facility, to be launched, is available only for non-dematerialised transactions and for instalment of amount more than Rs 2 lakh. MF distributors  have the option to register only Exchange SIP (XSIP) for their clients which allows  for ECS (electronic clearing service) payment route. XSIP,  launched last year, offers the MF distributors on its StAR MF platform facility to register their client's ECS bank mandates and upon successful registration with the destination bank, to start registering SIPs for their MF customers. Under the Paperless SIP facility,  the investors woul...

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the revival of defunct Fertilizer Units in Gorakhpur, Sindri and  Barauni . These include two closed urea units of Fertilizer Corporation India Limited (FCIL) at Sindri (Jharkhand) and Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) and  Barauni (Bihar) unit of Hindustan Fertilizers Corporation Limited (HFCL).  These three fertilizers units would be revived by means of Special Purpose  Vehicle (SPV) of Public Sector Units (PSUs) namely, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Coal India Limited (CIL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited  (IOCL) and FCIL/HFCL, through ‘nomination route’ . The setting up of new units at Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni will meet the growing demand of urea of Bihar, West Bengal, and Jharkhand. It will also  ease the pressure on railway and road infrastructure due to long distance transportation of urea from Western and Central Regions and thereby saving in  ...

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also given its ex-post facto approval for the Official amendment to the  Rajendra Central Agricultural University Bill, 2015 for change of name from  “Rajendra Central Agricultural University” to “Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central  Agricultural University” . Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, situated in Pusa  is to fulfill the desired goal and achieve excellence in teaching and produce the  much-needed manpower educated in agriculture and allied sciences. This would help in getting over the shortage of technical manpower and  infrastructural facilities and would contribute to the development of agriculture, including animal husbandry, horticulture, and fisheries in the region.  The existing colleges will help familiarize the farmers with new techniques, thereby contributing to the production and productivity of agriculture in  the region.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the official ICC men’s Team Rankings from Test, One Day International (ODI) and T20I cricket in  Dubai.  Australia remains on top with rating 118 in the latest ICC Test rankings while India (112 rating) held the second position followed by Pakistan (111  rating) and England.  In One Day International (ODI) rankings also Australia has topped the list with 123 rating while New Zealand held at second positon with 113 points  followed by India (110 points) . However in ICC T20 Rankings India held the second position while topped by New Zealand.  India's Ravichandran Ashwin  topped the all-rounders list besides being placed second in bowling . In batting, Australia's Steve Smith leads the field and he is followed by Kane  Williamson of New Zealand and South Africa's Hashim Amla

Senior IPS officer Ashok Patnaik was appointed CEO of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID),  One of the most ambitious intelligence projects that failed to take off during United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule. Patnaik is currently serving as Additional Director in the Intelligence Bureau and he will continue to hold this post till his superannuation in 2018. The NATGRID is a centralised agency which stores sensitive personal information  on citizens from almost two dozen agencies to be made available for counter-terror investigations.There are around 70 personnel,  drawn from both the government and private sectors, in the NATGRID.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of  Rs.12000 crore to impart skilling to one crore people over the next 4 years (2016-2020) . The PMKVY will impart fresh training to  60 lakh youths and  certify skills of 40 lakh  persons acquired non-formally under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).  The Scheme, completely aligned to the Common Norms by  a grant based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and  assessment bodies.  The post placement support would be given directly  to the beneficiaries through  Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) . Skill training would be done based on industry led standards aligned to the  National Skill  Qualification Framework (NSQF) . Although the mobilisation, monitoring and post training placement of trainees will be done th...

Indian Navy, the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces has commissioned INS Karna, an independent base of Marine Commandos (MARCOS) at Bheemunipatanam Naval Base, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It was commissioned by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba at the commissioning ceremony held at Bheemunipatanam Naval Base. The commissioning of a new base to the Special Forces of the Indian Navy will play important role to safeguard our na tion’s vast maritime interests. Captain Varun Singh will be the Commanding Officer of INS Karna. MARCOS or the Marine Commando Force (MCF) was raised as the Indian Marine Special Force (IMSF) in February 1987 at INS Abhimanyu in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is capable of operating in all three dimensions viz. in air, at sea and on land. The unit has progressed in terms of manpower, equipment holding, infrastructure and other resources. Since its establishment the force has been established itself as Special Operations Force of international reput...

India’s top public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), (IIT) Bombay’s technology business incubator, to promote innovation by startups in the financial sector. As per the MoU, both the parties will identify FinTech startups that have products or applications to cater to the financial se ctor and can help SBI explore opportunities to enhance the synergy for their banking services. SBI will provide a platform for testing/ piloting such products/applications and maybe also check for any specific business linkages. This MoU also aims to help evaluate startups operating out of SINE or those being promoted by SINE for early stage funding within the bank’s norms.

Union ministers Najma Heptulla and GM Siddeshwara resigned, a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made big cabinet changes. Dr Heptulla was above 75 years in age - the ceiling for holding a cabinet post according to the unwritten rules of the party. Dr Heptulla, the Minority Affairs Minister, was replaced by Minister of State Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who has been given independent charge. The portfolio held by Mr Siddeshwara - junior minister for Heavy Industries - will be taken over by Babul Supriyo, who was the junior minister for Urban Development.