PERSONS IN NEWS
A). APPOINTMENTS
China Nominates Jin Liqun as AIIB president
China on 6 July nominated its former finance Minister Jin Liqun as the Presidential candidate for $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Presently, Jin is Secretary General of AIIB’s interim secretariat.
RS Sharma Appointed as the Chairman of TRAI
IT secretary RS Sharma has been appointed the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 27 July. Sharma is an IAS officer from 1978 Jharkhand batch and replaces Rahul Khullar, who had retired in May 2015.
Ashish Bahuguna Appointed as Chairman of FSSAI
Ashish Bahuguna, former agriculture secretary, has been appointed as the chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on 27 July. His tenure will be of three years and he succeeded K Chandramouli whose tenure ended in January 2015. Since then the position was lying vacant and the Health Secretary Bhanu Pratap Sharma was given the interim charge of chairman of FSSAI.
B). RESIGNS
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis Resigned
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on 6 July resigned from his post after Greeks voted resoundingly to reject the austerity terms of a bailout.
C). DEATHS
Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam Died
Former Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (APJ) Abdul Kalam passed away on 27 July in Shillong (MeghalayA).He was 83. He was also known as the Missile Man of India. He was born on 15 October 1931 in Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu. He spent four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the DRDO and ISRO. During his tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister from July 1992 to December 1999, he led the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, which made India a nuclear weapon state. He was the 11th President on India from 2002 to 2007. He has been awar-ded with the coveted civilian awards including Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997).Kalam authored numerous inspira-tional books including India 2020, Wings Of Fire and Ignited Minds.
D). VISITORS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited Uzbekistan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Uzbekistan on 6-7 July 2015. India and Uzbekistan have signed three agreements during delegation level talks held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov in Tashkent ,the capital of Uzbekistan. During the visit, Narendra Modi released the first Uzbek-Hindi dictionary at the event along with Uzbeki-stan Prime Minister and Indologist Rakhmatov.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited Turkmenistan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Turkmenistan on 10-11 July 2015. During the visit, Narendra Modi held formal talks with Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The two leaders reaffirmed their strong commitment towards timely implementation of the strategic Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project. In the visit, India and Turk-menistan signed eight agreements to deepen bilateral cooperation between the two nations. During the visit Narendra Modi had unveiled a bust of Gandhi at a traditional medicine and yoga centre in Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat.
E). MISCELLANEOUS
Gennady Padalka Sets Record For Spending Longest Time In Space
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has set a Guinness World Record for spending longest time in space with a total of 804 days as on July 2015. With this he broke the previous record of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes set by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (now retired) across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
Guinness Book Recognises Madhya Pradesh’s World Record in Washing Hands
The Guinness Book of World Records has on 3 July 2015 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.