- Noted sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has carved 103 sand chariots on the Puri beach, in a bid to make a world record. This is ahead of the Rath Yatra in the Jagannath temple in Puri.
- The Kolkata National Library will set up its first regional centre in Delhi. The library is 113 years old, and its sole campus is currently located in south Kolkata.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will expand his Council of Ministers, with 19 new ministers from 10 states. The list of 19 Ministers includes two tribals, Faggan Singh Kulaste (from Madhya Pradesh) and Jaswant Singh Bhabhore, five who are Dalits, including Mr. Tamta, BJP’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha Arjun Ram Meghwal, Karnataka MP Ramesh Jigjinagi, Mr. Athawale and Mrs. Krishna Raj, who is an MP from the reserved seat of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested IAS officer Rajendra Kumar, the Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and four others on corruption charges. Kumar, an IAS officer belonging to the 1989 batch of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre and the recipient of the Prime Minister’s award for excellence in public administration in 2006-07, was handpicked by Mr. Kejriwal and is considered a close confidant of the Delhi Chief Minister. The CBI had registered a case against Mr. Kumar and others in December last year, alleging that the officer had abused his official position by “favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments”. The charges pressed by the CBI are under Sections 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and 13(2), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (criminal conspiracy, criminal misconduct etc.) for allegedly favouring a private company.
- The RBI has reshuffled the portfolios of its deputy governors. R. Gandhi has been tasked with overseeing the foreign exchange department and financial market regulation, in place of retiring deputy governor, H.R. Khan. N.S. Vishwanathan, who replaced him, will oversee banking and non-banking regulation. The bank has also appointed Sudarshan Sen as the new Executive Director who will look after banking and non-banking regulation.
- Supreme Court judge, J. S. Khehar, has recused himself from hearing a petition filed by the AAP government, regarding the constitutional relationship between the Delhi government and the Central government in administering the capital city.
- The Indian Open snooker tournament is to be held in Hyderabad, at the HICC-Novotel Hotel, on July 5th, 2016.
- Researchers have built an electronic nose that can detect pesticides and nerve gas in low concentrations. These researchers are from the University of Leuven in Belgium, and have used metal organic frameworks (MOFs) to build the e-nose. The best known electronic nose is the breathalyzer, which converts an alcohol-induced chemical reaction to turn into an electronic signal that can be read.
- Radiation levels in the Pacific Ocean are finally returning to normal. This is five years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March, 2011. Cleaning up Fukushima and making the area habitable again has been a key policy objective in Japan.
- Nigel Farage, who campaigned extensively for Britain to exit the European Union (EU), has stepped down as the leader of the U.K. Independence Party. The U.K. Independence Party was instrumental in the referendum to leave the EU. Britain voted 52-48 to leave, whereas Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are also part of the United Kingdom, voted to remain in the EU. In order to formally withdraw from the European Union, the UK must invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Post the referendum, David Cameron has resigned, and the terms of renegotiation regarding Britain’s involvement with the European Union are yet to be ascertained.
Today’s Quiz
