GK and Current Affairs Updates

Congress Legislature Party leader V Narayanasamy was sworn-in as Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Puducherry on 6 June 2016. 
•    Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi administered his oath of office and secrecy along with five ministers at Gandhi Thidal in Beach Road.
•    Five Congress legislators who were also sworn-in as ministers are A Namassivayam, Shah Jahan, Malladi Krishna Rao, M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan.
•    He represented Puducherry in Rajya Sabha for three terms.
•    He was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 and served as Minister of State Parliamentary Affairs in UPA-I.
•    In UPA-II, he served as Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office.
•    Narayanasamy is not a member of the house hence he will need to face polls in 6 months.
•    Earlier on 19 May 2016, Congress - DMK alliance has 17 members in the 30 member Territorial Assembly. DMK which has 2 members in the Assembly will be supporting the Government from outside.
•    Of the four regions of the Union Territory, Mahe alone do not have representation in the Council of Ministers.

Odisha is first in the country to give transgender people social welfare benefits - such as a pension, housing and food grains - usually allocated for only the most impoverished. 

•    Niten Chandra, principal secretary of Odisha's Department of Social Security , said the move to give the transgender community the same benefits as those living below the poverty line was aimed at improving their overall social and economic status. 
•    Most transgender people are in a very bad condition because of social exclusion.
•    There are no official figures, but activists say there are hundreds of thousands of transgender people in India. 
•    A lack of access to education and employment opportunities has meant many male-to-female transgender people - also known as "hijras" - end up forced into sex work or moving around in organized groups, begging or demanding money. 
•    India's Supreme Court in 2014 recognized transgender as a legal third gender and called on the government to ensure their equal treatment. 
•    The court recognized the community as a marginalized group and directed authorities to implement policies to improve their socio-economic status. 
•    Identity documents such as birth certificates, driving licenses and passports must now recognize the third gender, and a certain number of public sector jobs , seats in schools and colleges must be allocated to third-gender applicants.

Legendary Indian body builder and India’s first Mr Universe, Manohar Aich died on 5 June 2016. He was 104.
•    He was born in Comilla district, now in Bangladesh.
•    He was famously called Pocket Hercules as he was 4 feet 11 inch tall.
•    He won gold medals for three times in Asian Games.
•    He was the first Indian to win the Mr Universe title post-independence in 1952.
•    He started his career as a coconut vendor at Sealdah station.
•    Age never a bar for the veteran body builder who kept a stringent routine and even performed in his eighties.
•    He began his career as a stuntman performing with the legendary magician PC Sorkar.
•    He even tried his luck in politics he contested in the Lok Sabha elections of 1991 from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

India’s first Islamic bank will start its operations in Gujarat and the person leading the initiative is none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friend, Zafar Sareshwala.
•    Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank will soon launch its first branch in Gujarat. The state will also get 30 medical vans as part of IDB’s social sector initiatives.
•    IDB and its private sector arm, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), have already met with top officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), EXIM Bank and other nationalized banks. They are likely to start their India operations from Gujarat with a branch in Ahmedabad.
•    The plans will come to fruition after Modi’s trip in April to UAE, where India’s EXIM Bank had signed a memorandum of understanding with IDB for a $100 million line-of-credit to facilitate exports to IDB’s member countries.
•    IDB will provide 350 fully-equipped medical vans (mobile clinics) to India, 30 of which will be received for the tribal areas of Chhota Udepur, Narmada and Bharuch in Gujarat, in the first phase.
•    The IDB is likely to get involved in taking care of the maintenance of Gujarat’s Waqf properties.
•    Sareshwala is currently visiting Saudi Arabia for this purpose.

Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on 5 June 2016 flagged off the inaugural run of the Tiger Trail Circuit Train from Delhi Safdarjung Station.
The launch of this Tiger Express on World Environment Day is to highlight the significance of environment.
•    The most important objective of the train is to create and spread awareness about the wildlife in general and the tiger in particular.
•    This tourist train will be operated by Indian Railway PSU namely Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
•    It is one of the most innovative tourism products ever launched by Indian Railways.
•    This is for the first time that Indian Railways have forayed into the exciting and fascinating wildlife tourism.
•    This is also the first semi-luxury train on a tourist circuit having a dining car. The objective behind it is to facilitate frequent interactions among travelers during the travel.
•    The train with 5 days/6 nights itinerary will start from Delhi Sufdarjung railway station.
•    The semi-luxury train will take the guests onboard to the world famous Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks in Madhya Pradesh.
•    The 5 days/6 nights itinerary of the Tiger Express includes three Tiger Safaris.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 5 June 2016 launched Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act. The act seeks disposal of peoples' complaints or redressal of grievances from Government officials within 60-days.
•    The law has strict provisions in non-compliance of applications.
•    Officials not adhering to provisions of the law could be dismissed from service or face a penalty of from 500 rupees to 5000 rupees.
•    All the 42 Departments of the State government will be covered under the new Act.
•    The Government has one Grievance Redressal Officer in each department as well as first and second Appellate authorities.
•    In cases where the grievance cannot be redressed, then the complainant will get a letter citing reasons for not getting the grievance redressed. In that case, the complainant can file an appeal if he/she is not satisfied with the answer.
•    Complaints relating to subjects covered under the Right to Information Act, Right of Public Service Act and cases pending in courts will not be entertained under Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act.

CR Sasikumar on 1 June 2016 took over as Managing Director (MD) of State Bank of Travancore (SBT).
The State Bank of Travancore is one of the associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI).
•    Sasikumar started his career as a probationary officer with SBI in 1978. Since then, he has held several key assignments.
•    Prior to the present posting in State Bank of Travancore, he worked as Deputy Managing Director, Inspection & Management Audit, at SBI Corporate Centre in Hyderabad.
•    About State Bank of Travancore - State Bank of Travancore is a subsidiary of the State Bank Group and also has private share-holders.
•    It is the premier bank of Kerala where it handles its majority of business.
•    Overall, SBT as of 31 March 2015 has a network of 1157 branches and 1602 ATMs, covering 18 states and three union territories.
•    The bank was established in 1945 as the Travancore Bank Ltd, at the initiative of C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, then Divan of Travancore.
•    Following violent resentment against the dictatorial rule of C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, the bank no longer credits his role.
•    The Bank now credits the Maharaja of Travancore as the founder, though the Raja had little to do with the founding.
•    In 1960, it became a subsidiary of State Bank of India under the SBI Subsidiary Banks Act, 1959, enacted by the Parliament of India.

World number one Novak Djokovic on 5 June 2016 won 2016 French Open title. In the final clash in Paris, Djokovic defeated Britain's Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
•    It was Djokovic's first French Open title and 12th major title of his career. Other 11 titles include six Grand Slam titles from the Australian Open, three from Wimbledon and two from the US Open. Among men, only Roger Federer (17), Rafael Nadal (14) and Pete Sampras (14) own more.
•    With this win, he also became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams at once. The 29-year-old also becomes the third man ever to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time, joining American Don Budge and Australian Rod Laver in a quite remarkable feat.
•    Djokovic was born on 22nd  May 1987 in Belgrade, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to parents Srđan and Dijana .
•    His two younger brothers, Marko and Djordje, are also tennis players with professional aspirations.
•    Residing in Monte Carlo, Djokovic was coached by former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda from 2006 until Boris Becker took over the role of Head Coach in December 2013. 
•    Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking Serbian, English, French, German and Italian.

World Environment Day (WED) was observed globally on 5 June 2016 with theme Zero tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife. The day aims at inspiring more people to take action to prevent the growing strain on Earth’s natural systems from reaching the breaking point.
•    The host country for the WED 2016 is Angola. 
•    The year’s slogan "Go Wild for Life" encourages everyone to spread the word about wildlife crime and the damage it does. It also asks people to challenge all to do what they can to prevent it.
•    The 2016 theme highlights the fight against the illegal trade in wildlife, which erodes precious biodiversity and threatens the survival of elephants, rhinos and tigers, as well as many other species. It also undermines our economies, communities and security.
•    Illegal trade in wildlife products is eroding Earth’s biodiversity and driving whole species to the brink of extinction. 
•    As per an estimate, in 2011, a subspecies of Javan rhino went extinct in Vietnam, and the last western black rhinos vanished from Cameroon.
•    Lesser-known victims include helmeted hornbills and pangolins, as well as wild orchids and timbers like Rosewood – flowers and timber that are also considered as wildlife.
•    On this day to create awareness for environment, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Tiger Express, a semi-luxury tourist train, from Safdarjung station New Delhi. 
The day was established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the day when Stockholm’s United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972 began. 

Eminent actor and theatre personality Sulabha Deshpande passed away 4 June 2016 in Mumbai. She was 79.
Deshpande was considered to be one of the pioneers of the experimental theatre movement that swept Mumbai in the 1970s.
•    Sulabha Deshpande was an acclaimed Indian film, theatre and television actress and theatre director.
•    She started her career as a teacher at Chhabildas Boy's High School in Dadar, Mumbai.
•    Apart from Marathi theatre as well as Hindi theatre in Mumbai, she acted in over 73 movies mainstream Bollywood.
•    She also acted in art house cinema, like Bhumika, Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan and Gaman as a character actor.
•    In 1971 she co-founded, theatre group, Awishkar with her husband Arvind Deshpande.
•    Soon, she established the Chandrashala, the children's theatre wing of Awishkar. Notable Bollywood actors Nana Patekar and Urmila Matondkar have been students of Chandrashala.
•    In recent years, she acted in serials like Jee Ley Zara, Ek Packet Umeed, Asmita and films like English Vinglish.