GK and Current Affairs Updates

Kalikho Pul, who briefly served as Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, died on 9 August 2016 in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. He was 47.
Pul allegedly committed suicide. He was found hanged from the ceiling fan in his bedroom at the Chief Minister’s official residence. 
•    Kalikho Pul was the acting Chief Minister of the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh for a brief time.
•    He belonged to Kaman Mishmi ethnic group.
•    From 2003 until 2007, he served as the State Finance Minister in the ministry of Chief Minister Gegong Apang.
•    He broke away from Congress Party and became the acting Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on 19 February 2016.
•    His government was supported by Bharatiya Janata Party, until it was dismissed by a court order in July 2016. 
•    Congress resumed power when the assembly was convened.
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Newly-elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Nita Ambani today distributed the medals to women’s 400m freestyle podium finishers at the Rio Games here to become the first Indian woman to do the honours at an Olympic victory ceremony.
•    Ambani, who became the first Indian woman to join the IOC when she was elected to the prestigious body on August 4, gave away the gold medal to world record-holder American Kathleen Ledecky, silver to Jazz Carlin of Great Britain and bronze to another American Leah Smith.
•    Ledecky won the event in a world record timing of 3 minutes 56.46 seconds, while Carlin and Smith came second and third in 4:01.23 and 4:01.92 respectively.
•    The 52-year-old Nita is the only current active individual member of the IOC from India and she will serve at the high-profile world body until she attains the age of 70.
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Irom Chanu Sharmila, the Iron Lady of Manipur, on 9 August 2016 ended her 16-year-long hunger strike outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, Manipur.
•    Sharmila, 44, has been fed through nasal tube since November 2000. Moreover, she spent most of her time in judicial custody in a hospital in Imphal.
•    Born on 14 March 1972, the Iron Lady of Manipur is also known as "Mengoubi" .
•    She is a civil rights activist, political activist. She is also a poet.
•    She began her hunger-strike, the world's longest hunger strike till date, on 2 November 2000 by refusing food and water for more than 500 weeks.
•    On International Women’s Day 2014, she was voted the top woman icon of India by MSN Poll.
•    Amnesty International has declared her as a Prisoner of Conscience.
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Commemorating the Platinum Jubilee anniversary of the Quit India Movement the Government of Maharashtra today launched the Quit India Movement 2 against various social ills, in the presence of Union Minister Shri M Venkaiah Naidu. 
•    The launch took place at the historic August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, from where Mahatma Gandhi had given the clarion call of Quid India in 1942.
•    He said, poverty has to be completely eradicated from the country. “Providing education to all, creating employment, combining development with welfare measures are all part of the larger ‘Quit Poverty” campaign and every Indian should supplement the efforts of the government in this regard. Antyodaya is the way forward” he asserted.
•    Shri Naidu further said, for the nation to achieve faster progress on all fronts, every section of the society irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region should be part of the growth story. 
•    The Minister said we need to say ‘Quit India’ to illiteracy, discrimination, disunity and disharmony, terrorism and anti-nationalism to take the country from ‘Swaraj’ to ‘Suraj’•    Earlier, Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Ministers Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar, Shri Vinod Tawde and others paid their respects at the August Kranti Diwas Memorial at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan.

Dipa Karmakar, the Indian Gymnast, on 7 August 2016 created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to enter the Olympic final at the Rio Olympic Centre.
•    The 22-year-old qualified for the final round in the Individual vault final of artistic gymnastics after finishing eighth on the standings.
•    Competing in the third sub-division, Dipa had an average score of 51.665. 
•    She scored 14.850 by performing her much-vaunted ‘Produnova’ vault cleanly on the vault, 11.666 on the uneven bars, 12.866 in balance beam and 12.033 in floor exercises.
•    American Simone Biles, the three-time world all-round champion topped the charts with a score of 16.050. 
•    North Korea's Jong Un Hong stood at the second position after securing 15.683 followed by Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber (15.266). 
•    Dipa Karmakar is an Indian artistic gymnast who hails from the Northeastern Indian state of Tripura. She represents India at the international circuit. 
 

Indian researchers, for the first time, have found that endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide, causes DNA damages in animals. 
•    The results were published on 4 August 2016 in the journal, Carcinogenesis.
•    Mice and rats exposed to endosulfan generated reactive oxygen species, a potent DNA damaging agent.
•    The reactive oxygen species, in turn, caused DNA damage in the form of breaks in DNA strands.
•    Five animals per group were studied and the experiment was repeated many times.
•    Three different concentrations of endosulfan were tested on animals and four doses of each concentration were given at 24 hours interval.
•    Lungs and testes of the animals were used for the study. These two organs show very proficient DNA repair mechanism.
•    Endosulfan is an off-patent organ chlorine insecticide.
•    Endosulfan sulfate is a product of oxidation containing one extra O atom attached to the S atom.
•    The ban took effect in mid-2012, with certain uses exempted for five additional years.
•    It is still used extensively in India, China, and a few other countries.
•    It is produced by Makhteshim Agan and several manufacturers in India and China.
 

The Odisha government on 7 August 2016 launched a special assistance scheme for elderly weavers, ‘Baristha Bunakar Sahayata Yojana’, to mark the National Handlooms Day.
•    Under the scheme all weavers above the age of 60 years would get a monthly pension of 500 rupees, and those above 80 years would get 700 rupees.
•    The scheme is aimed at improving the financial condition of over 8000 weavers, who have been working in this field for the last 20 years.
•    The pension amounts would be directly sent to the beneficiaries bank accounts.
•    On the occasion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik also gave away awards to weavers' cooperative societies who have been relentlessly promoting and producing the traditional weaves of Odisha.
•    As per reports, Odisha a home of nearly 1.5 lakh weavers including 78% women engaged in handloom production produces handloom fabrics worth 160 crore rupees. 
•    Some handloom products of Odisha include tie and dye, Sambalpuri, Khandua, Berhampuri Pata, Saktapar sari, Maniabandha, Bomkai and others.
 

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in first week of August 2016 announced that it will house India’s first repository on tigers, under its new Tiger Cell.
The Dehradun-based WII has about 23000 images of tigers, which will be maintained by the Tiger Cell.
•    If a tiger skin is recovered at a place, then a properly maintained database can be used to check where the tiger might have come from.
•    Y.V. Jhala, a wildlife scientist at the WII, will head the Tiger Cell.
•    The Wildlife Institute of India is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change.
•    The founder of WII was V. B. Saharia.
•    The first Director was Hemendra Singh Panwar who remained the director from 1985 to 1994.
•    The institute is based in Dehradun. It is located in Chandrabani.
 

Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta has won the 20th Commonwealth Chess championship crown 2016 held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
•    With this victory he has retained the Commonwealth Chess championship crown which was won earlier by him in 19th edition. 
•    Besides, International Master Tania Sachdev also finished with a gold medal. 
•    In this edition all the medals were won by the Indians players in the senior category.
•    Grandmasters S L Narayanan and Deep Chakkravarthy got the silver and bronze medals respectively in the open section.
•    Abhijeet started on a sedate note and conceded two draws to lower ranked opponents by the fourth round itself.
•    Abhijeet has won many laurels for the country, winning 23 medals in all in various World, Asian and Commonwealth Chess Championships in Sub Junior, Junior and Senior Category.
•    Abhijeet became National Junior (Under-19) Chess Champion at the age of 13 years and 10 days in 2002, a record unsurpassed till 2011.
 

Rajya Sabha on 8 August 2016 passed the Mental Health Care Bill, 2013. The Bill repeals the Mental Health Act, 1987.
•    The upper house passed the bill with record 134 amendments.
•    The Bill provides for mental health care and services for persons with mental illness.
•    It also has a provision to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and services.
•    This advance directive has to be certified by a medical practitioner or registered with the Mental Health Board.
Its basic aim is to:
•    Develop quality and service provision norms for such establishments
•    Maintain a register of mental health professionals
•    Receive complaints about deficiencies in provision of services
•    Advise the government on matters relating to mental health
•    It specifies the process to be followed for admission, treatment and discharge of mentally ill individuals.