The Daily Brief – 1st July 2016

• The World Bank has announced a $1 billion grant in support of India’s solar power generation plans. This is the World Bank’s largest financing for solar power projects in any country. The deal was signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim.
  • Note that India has set a target of reaching 100 GW of solar power capacity by the year 2022. Additionally, we also aim to achieve 60 GW from wind sources, 10 GW from biomass, and 5 GW from small hydroelectric projects.
  • As per the Paris Agreement signed in December 2015, India has set a voluntary target of ensuring that at least 40% of our entire energy to come from renewable sources by the year 2030.
• The Indian Air Force will induct two indigenously developed aircrafts today. These are Light Combat Aircrafts (LCAs) named Tejas. The base chosen for Light Combat Aircrafts is Sulur, in Tamil Nadu. The project to induct Light Combat Aircrafts into the Air Force began in 1985. These were meant to replace MiG-21s. After long delays, the Light Combat Aircrafts will finally be inducted this year.
• Neecia Majolly, a Bangalore-based musician, has created a new music video titled ‘Whitebone’. It calls attention towards the poaching of African elephants for ivory, and has bagged the Global Music Award and Akademia Music Award for best song and best music video.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court clarified that politicians are not barred from holding posts on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The clarification was made by a bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice F.M.I. Kalifulla. They clarified that the Lodha Committee Report only barred government ministers and servants, not all politicians.
• The Lodha Committee was constituted by the Supreme Court in January 2015, under former Chief Justice R.M. Lodha. It also consisted of retired judges Ashok Bhan and R. Raveendran. It submitted its report on Reforms in Cricket, in light of allegations of corruption and lack of transparency in the BCCI. The BCCI is the national governing body for cricket in India. The President of the BCCI is currently Anurag Thakur.
• A new Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) has been test fired. It was jointly developed by the Defence research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The missile successfully shot down two target aircrafts. A year ago, India and Israel had jointly developed Barak – 8, which is a Long Range – Surface to Air Missle (LR-SAM). (And no, it’s not named after Barack Obama! Barak in Hebrew stands for ‘thunder’)
• ‘The Violin Player’ has won the Best Feature Film award at the 37th Durban International Film Festival. It was directed by Bauddhyan Mukerji, and stars Adil Hussain.
• Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, will write his first book, Hit Refresh. The book is to be published by Harper Collins in 2017. It will portray his personal journey, the changes being wrought inside Microsoft, and the transformations in society as a result of technology advancing rapidly. Nadella is Indian-born, and was appointed the CEO of Microsoft in 2014. He succeeded Steve Ballmer.
• The UNICEF released its ‘State of the World’s Children Report’, 2016. The Report highlights the success of integrated schools in Rajasthan. This was the result of a new transformative education programme, which established an elementary school in every village panchayat in Rajasthan. Two categories of schools are established here – Adarsh Vidyalayas for Class I-XII and Utkrishta Vidyalayas for Class I-VIII.
• Senior scientist Arun Kumar Bhaduri has assumed office as Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam.
• Money held by Indians in Swiss Banks fell by one-third to a record low of 1.2 Billion franc. The Swiss National Bank is based in Zurich and has begun sharing foreign client details on evidence of wrongdoing provided by India and other nations.
• Actors Sharmila Tagore, Frieda Pinto, and director Deepa Mehta have been offered membership by the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This is an effort to boost diversity following the controversy earlier this year when no actors of colour were nominated for the Oscars.
• The other notable people of Indian-origin are Pixar animator Sanjay Bakshi, known for his work on the movieThe Good Dinosaur , producer Anish Savjani, animator Sanjay Patel, and filmmaker Asif Kapadia, who won the Oscar for best documentary for his movie Amy, on the life of singer Amy Winehouse.
• Google has announced the name of its next Android Operating System. Android N will be called ‘Nougat’.
• Cisco has announced an initiative to accelerate start-ups and support growth in India’s developer community. This initiative is called LaunchPad. This would mentor start-ups and developers to create digital solutions by using the platform. Cisco is currently the world’s biggest networking equipment maker.
• The shooting World Cup Finals in pistol, rifle and shotgun has been allotted to India for 2017 by the International Shooting Sport Federation. The World Cup finals will be in the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlaqabad.

Today’s Quiz