1. IPL scam: Apex court suspends Rajasthan Royals, CSK
for two years.
i. The Supreme
Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee on Tuesday suspended Indian
Premier League (IPL) teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK)and Rajasthan Royals (RR)
from the League for two years.
ii. The committee on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on Gurunath Meiyappan, and
Raj Kundra who were the face of these IPL franchises respectively and were
found to have indulged in betting activities. It declared them ineligible for
participation from cricket activities for life.
iii. The committee
has stressed that the betting activities of these individuals had brought the
game of cricket, BCCI and IPL into disrepute.
iv. The Lodha
committee was formed by the Supreme Court in its judgment in the IPL betting
case on January 22. This judgment confirmed the Supreme Court-appointed Justice
Mukul Mudgal committee's findings and held Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra guilty
of betting.
2. Legendary music composer MS Viswanathan passes
away.
i. Legendary
music director MS Viswanathan, who had scored music for over 1,000 films,
passed away at his residence early this morning following illness.
ii. 88-year-old
Viswanathan was being treated at a private hospital here for geriatric
problems. The music director is survived by four sons and three daughters.
iii. Born in
Palakkad in Kerala, Viswanathan had scored music for over 1,000 films, some of
them in association with his partner Ramamurthy. Later they parted ways.
3. Noted artist Sayed Haider Raza conferred with
France’s de la Lgion dHonneur.
i. Noted artist
Sayed Haider Raza was conferred with highest French Civilian Award Commandeur
de la Lgion dHonneur (the Legion of Honour).
ii. Raza was
bestowed with this award for his peerless achievements in transcending all
boundaries, forging ties between France and India and for continuing artistic
quest straddling nations, religions, cultures and philosophies.
iii. Born in 1922
in Madhya Pradesh. He started his artistic career at the age of 12.
iv. la Lgion
dHonneur (the Legion of Honour) is the highest civilian award given by the
French Government.
4. India and Georgia signed MoU for cooperation in
field of Election Management
i)India and Georgia
on 13 July 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in
the field of election management and administration. The MoU was signed by
Chief Election Commissioner of India Nasim Zaidi and Tamar Zhvania,
Chairperson, Central Election Commission, Georgia.
ii) Till now,
Election Commission of India has signed twenty MoUs with Election Management Bodies
and international organizations across the world.
iii) Major purpose
of the MoU between India and Georgia:
a) Promotion of
exchanges of knowledge and experience in electoral processes
b) Exchange of
information, materials, expertise and training of personnel
c) Production and
distribution of materials pertaining to electoral systems, voting technology,
voters’ education and awareness
d)
Participation of women and minorities in electoral process.
5. IT department launched OTP to e-file Income Tax
i) The Income Tax
(IT) Department on 13 July 2015 launched One Time Password (OTP) based e-filing
verification system for taxpayers. This OTP will help in ending the practice of
sending paper acknowledgement, called ITR-V, through post to the I-T Central Processing
Centre (CPC) based in Bengaluru.
ii) The facility
can be accessed using internet banking, Aadhaar number, ATM and email.Central
Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in its notification said that any taxpayer, whose
income is 5 lakh rupees or below per annum and has no refund claims, can
straightaway generate the 'Electronic Verification Code' (EVC) for e-filing and
validating their Income Tax Return (ITR) through their registered mobile number
and e-mail id with the department.
iii) Once logged in
on the banking portal, the taxpayer will be sent the EVC to his mobile number
provided in the official e-filing web portal of the department which they will
put in their ITR for final submission.
6. MoD and MSDE signed MoU to increase employability
of ex-servicemen.
i)The Union
Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Union Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on 13 July 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to facilitate strategic partnership on skill development and
entrepreneurship.
ii) The MoU was
signed by the Defence Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar and his counterpart from
MSDE Shri Sunil Arora. The MoU will provide impetus to use the skills of
servicemen for the country when they retire from the Armed Forces.
iii) The MoU will
be a harbinger of skill development in the country that will align the Armed
Forces and the civilian field.
7. Lt General Man Mohan Singh Rai appointed as
Vice-Chief of Indian Army
i) Lieutenant
General Man Mohan Singh Rai was on 13 July 2014 appointed as the Vice-Chief of
the Indian Army. Rai will succeed Lt Gen Philip Campose, who will superannuate
the office on 31 July 2015.
ii) Presently, Rai
is working as the Eastern Army Commander. He is from the Corps of Engineers and
is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned
from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on 15 December 1976.
8. Former BSFI president Pashupatinath Roy died.
i)Former Billiards
and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) President Pashupatinath Roy died on 13
July 2015 following a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Kolkata. He was
76.
ii) Roy was also
the president of West Bengal Badminton Association for more than five decades
after he toook over charge from his father B K Roy in late 1960's.
iii) He also served
BSFI in various capacities. He was the secretary and advisor at BSFI for some
time and later went on to join the Asian body of the game as Secretary and
President.
9. Operation Talaash for missing Dornier ends.
i) Thirty-five days
after a Coast Guard aircraft on a surveillance sortie disappeared off the
Chennai coast with three crew, the search operation has been “terminated” after
recovery of human remains, parts of the plane and personal effects.
ii)“Eighty per cent
of the aircraft’s parts have been retrieved, besides human bones and wrist
watches from the sea bed,” I G Coast Guard S P Sharma said here today, adding
the search operation was “terminated” last night.
iii) The
authorities have called the families of the crew for carrying out DNA tests for
identification of the deceased and collecting the remains and personal effects.