4 July 2015 Current affairs / GK / GA : Software giant Microsoft agreed to setup Digital Village in Maharashtra.
The information was given by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after his meet with India-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Miscrosoft’s office in Seattle. Fadnavis is on a week-long visit to the US.
Operation Shiva : an operation launched by Indian Army to secure Amarnath Yatra’s route in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The operation is aimed to provide security to those devotees taking part in the 59-day-long annual Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The Yatra started on 2 July 2015.
- The operation was launched on the basis of intelligence report suggesting that a group of 15 terrorists are likely to attempt a strike.
- The operation will include Rashtriya Rifles unit, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance of Yatra route and cave shrine, combing of forests located along the Yatra track, Infantry Unit of Army, companies of Paramilitary Forces, CRPF and BSF.
Guinness Book of World Records recognised a record created in Madhya Pradesh on ‘World Hand washing Day’ in 2014.
- The mega hand washing event was held on 15 October 2014 to create awareness about hygiene by washing hands with soap.
- It was organised in all the 51 districts of Madhya Pradesh in over 13 thousand places. In it more than 12 lakh 78 thousand students had washed their hand simultaneously.
- Earlier this world record was jointly held by Argentina, Peru and Mexico which was created on October 14, 2011 in which 7,40,870 people had washed their hands simultaneously at different locations.
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Rajasthan to replicate Maharastra Govt’s “Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan”, a programme to make state drought free by 2019.
About Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan :
- Jalyukta Abhiyan is an ambitious program of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that was launched in March 2015.
- It aims to make 5000 villages free of water scarcity every year and make Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019.
- It involves active participation of the peoples from the villages.
- Under the programme, rainwater will be harvested within the village boundaries, which may help in increasing ground water levels. It will also encourage micro-irrigation systems encouraged for proficient use of water.
GCHERA World Agriculture Prize 2015 : Indian American Professor Emeritus R. Paul Singh was named for GCHERA World Agriculture Prize 2015.
- GCHERA stands for Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences.
- The award was announced at the annual GCHERA conference, held on 24 June 2015 at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
- The award will be officially presented on 20 September 2015 during the GCHERA World Agricultural Prize Award Ceremony that will take place at Nanjing Agricultural University, China.
World Food Prize 2015 to be awarded to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh as announced on 1 july 2015.
- He will be awarded in October 2015 during the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium at Des Moines in Iowa, the USA.
- He was selected for the coveted award by the Selection Committee for the World Food Prize headed by eminent Indian agricultural scientist Prof MS Swaminathan.
- Sir Abed has been recognized for his decades of service to human development and through building Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) that operates in 10 countries around the world.
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received the first copy of the book ‘Uniki’ in Hyderabad from Shri K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana who formally released it.
- The book has been written by Shri Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra.
- Speaking on the occasion, the President appealed to the people of both the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to work in close harmony, so as to ensure sustainable development and betterment of the people of the country and help it earn its rightful place in the comity of nations. He said that we all belong to India.
Four Indian-Americans have been honoured with prestigious Great Immigrants, The Pride of America award 2015.
- Preet Bharara: US Attorney, Southern District of New York.
- Rakesh Khurana: Dean of Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership and Development.
- Madhulika Sikka: Vice President and Executive Editor of .Mic.
- Abraham Verghese: Physician, Professor and Author.
Solar Impulse, the aeroplane powered only by the sun, has landed in Hawaii after making a historic 7,200km flight across the Pacific from Japan.
- The distance covered and the time spent in the air – 118 hours – are records for manned, solar-powered flight.
The duration is also an absolute record for a solo, un-refuelled journey.
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BSNL launches a pre-paid card linked mobile wallet service on Friday which allows customers to transfer cash, pay for services as well as withdraw cash of up to Rs 1 lakh.
- The wallet service, Speed Pay, allows a customer to load money even if he does not have a bank account.
- The money loaded in the wallet can be transferred to an account and even withdrawn at branches or at BSNL outlets.
- BSNL customers who don’t have bank accounts can also load money at any BSNL retail outlet and ask the retailer to recharge their mobile wallet account and pay for various services.
- There will be one-per cent transaction charge if money from the wallet is transferred to other bank accounts or a there is cash withdrawal.
Y K Sabharwal, former chief justice of india passed away.
- 73-year-old Justice Sabharwal is survived by two sons Chetan and Nitin.
- Justice Sabharwal delivered several important judgements including the verdict in January 2006, that held the dissolution of Bihar Assembly as illegal and unconstitutional.
- Justice Sabharwal was CJI from November 1, 2005 to January 13, 2007.
- He was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 1986 and became its permanent judge in April 1987.
- From Delhi High Court, he went to Bombay High Court as chief justice before being appointed as a judge of the SC on January 28, 2001.
