GK & Current Affairs June 2016

Nine-coach Spanish train Talgo’s trial run was conducted on 29 May 2016 on the Bareilly-Moradabad route of Uttar Pradesh. It was conducted as part of the Railways’ strategy to increase the speed of trains.
•    The trail run was conducted by a joint team of the Railway Design Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Spanish train manufacturer Talgo.
•    The nine-coach Talgo train hauled by a 4500 HP diesel engine was tested on the 90-km line as part of the first trial run. The 90-km distance was covered in 1 hour 10 minutes.
•    First phase: Bareilly-Moradabadone route
•    Second phase: Mathura-Palwal route
•    Third phase: Mumbai-Delhi route
•    Spanish train Talgo
•    It is a lighter and faster vehicle with speed up to 115 km per hour.
•    Besides reducing travel time, Talgo's lighter trains consume 30 percent less energy.
•    They are designed in a way that it can run on curves without decelerating the speed.
•    The nine-coach Talgo train consists of two Executive Class cars, four Chair Cars, a cafeteria, a power car and a tail-end coach for staff and equipment.
•    It envisages reducing time of journey between Delhi and Mumbai from 17 hours at present to 12 hours.
As of now, the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express runs at an average speed of 85 km per hour.

Admiral Sunil Lanba on 31 May 2016 took over as Chief of Naval Staff. 58-year-old Lanba, a specialist in Navigation and Direction, will have the full three-year tenure as the Navy Chief.
•    Lanba succeeded Admiral RK Dhowan.
•    An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Lanba is the 21st Indian to be the Navy Chief. The first two were British.
•    Born on 17 July 1957, Lanba is a recipient of Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) and Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM) for distinguished service of an exceptionally high order.
•    His operational and staff experience in a career spanning more than three decades include
•    He served as Navigating Officer of corvette INS Sindhudurg and frigate INS Dunagiri.
•    He has commanded four frontline warships namely INS Kakinada (minesweeper), INS Himgiri (frigate) and INS Ranvijay and INS Mumbai, both destroyers.
•    He is also an alumnus of the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad, where he has served as a faculty.
•    Lanba held key staff assignments such as Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet and the Chief of Staff, Southern and Eastern Naval Commands.
•    He was also the Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area and Commandant, National Defence College.
•    He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command at Kochi, prior to being appointed to head the Western Naval Command. He took over as the Vice Chief on 2 June 2014.

CEAT Cricket Awards 2016 were conferred on the players in a function of 20th edition of CEAT awards at Mumbai on 30 May 2016. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
England batsman Joe Root was named as the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year and also International batsman of the Year 2016 while India’s test captain Virat Kohli was named CEAT T20 Player of the Year.
•    Lifetime Achievement Award – Dilip Vengsarkar
•    International Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root
•    International Batsman of the Year – Joe Root
•    International Bowler of the Year – Ravichandran Ashwin
•    Test Cricketer of the Year – Kane Williamson
•    ODI Cricketer of the Year – Martin Guptill
•    T20 Player of the Year – Virat Kohli
•    Indian Cricketer of the Year – Rohit Sharma
•    Domestic Cricketer of the Year – Shreyas Iyer
•    Young Player of the Year – Rishabh Pant
•    Special Award –  Ajinkya Rahane
The CEAT awards honour the best of the cricketers based on their performances in international cricketing in all formats - Test, ODI and T20 - as rated by the CEAT Cricket ratings (CCR) over a period of 12 months from 1st May to 30th April.
In its first year of Inception of Award in 1995-96 the CEAT International Cricketer award was bagged by Brian Lara.