GK and Current Affairs Updates

Switzerland on 1 June 2016 inaugurated Gotthard Base Tunnel, world’s longest and deepest railway tunnel. The tunnel is also the first flat low-level route through the Alps.
•    It took 17 years and 12.2 billion Swiss francs to construct the tunnel.
•    The Gotthard Base Tunnel has route length of 57.09 km and a total of 151.84 km of tunnels, shafts and passages.
•    It is a part of the AlpTransit project, also known as the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA).
•    It is situated 2.3km deep under the Alps.
•    It is the third tunnel connecting the cantons of Uri and Ticino after the Gotthard Tunnel and the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
•    The main purpose of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is to increase total transport capacity across the Alps, especially for freight.
•    The construction of the tunnel began in 1996 after 64 percent of Swiss voters accepted the AlpTransit project in a 1992 referendum.
•    Drilling operations in the eastern tunnel were completed on 15 October 2010 in a ceremony broadcast live on Swiss TV.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing up of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between United States of America and India to enhance cooperation in the field of wildlife conservation and combating wildlife trafficking. 
•    With the approval, India will benefit from the expertise of the US Institutions in the field of wildlife conservation and management of wildlife areas and in combating illegal trade of wildlife and their derivatives. 
•    India and the United States of America are endowed with rich biodiversity and natural heritage and have established a network of Protected Areas in their respective territories. 
•    As there is scope for both the countries to share professional expertise to address priority wildlife conservation concerns, the MoU would provide a convenient platform for collaboration. 
•    Wildlife Forensics and Conservation Genetics: Useful in species conservation efforts and better scientific evidence collection in wild life crimes leading to better enforcement. 
•    Natural World Heritage Conservation: Facilitating the institutional capacity of the existing UNESCO Category -2 - centre at Wildlife Institute of India. 
•    Nature Interpretation and Conservation Awareness: Use of information technology in strengthening interface of forest managers with the people for sensitizing people, especially the youth and children in understanding complex issues of conservation of biological diversity.

National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) in the last week of May 2016 announced that it will soon launch a project aimed at cleaning River Ganga in Bihar.
•    In December 2015, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation hired NBCC to carry out the feasibility study and conditional assessment of the river for entry-level activities in Bihar.
•    Detailed project reports have been approved the Ministry of Water Resources for three towns.
o    NBCC will undertake cleaning of debris.
o    It will construct new ghats and modernize the existing ghats.
o    It will repair and clean the river surface.
o    It will construct crematorium and public facilities such as toilets.
o    It will also set up a village drainage system in order to curb direct discharge into the river

Bollywood Actor R Madhavan feels proud to be the goodwill ambassador for the the LEPRA India organisation that fights against diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis.
•    LEPRA India is a non-government organisation working in the fields of leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV or AIDS and community health.
•    On the work front, Madhavan was last seen on the silver screen in 2016 "Saala Khadoos" directed by Sudha Kongara.
•    Lepra is a UK registered international charity. With a history spanning almost 90 years, they currently work on the frontline in India and Bangladesh to treat, educate, rehabilitate and give a voice to people affected by disease, poverty and prejudice and discrimination.
•    Lepra started life in 1924 as the 'British Empire Leprosy Relief Association', by Sir Leonard Rogers, with financial help from Sir Frank Carter, a Calcutta businessman and philanthropist.
•    Since then Lepra has grown to be an international charity giving a voice to people living at the intersection of disease, poverty and prejudice by helping them to improve their health, lives and livelihoods.

The health ministry will soon revamp its flagship immunization programme 'Mission Indradhanush' to include four new vaccines. 
•    Under Mission Indradhanush, the ministry identified 201 high-focus districts which account for nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children in the country. 
•    Of these, 82 districts are in just the four states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and account for nearly 25% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of the country.
•    In one year's time, 1.62 crore children have been additionally brought under the ambit of immunization. 
•    The government is targeting to immunize 90% of infants by 2020 under its ambitious nationwide immunization drive. 
•    Though the government said that it is confident of meeting the target, health experts say it would also require increased public spending on health. 
•    The health ministry is also in talks with various international health agencies to attract funding to ramp up the programme.

BS Bassi, who had a controversial tenure as Delhi Police Commissioner with frequent run-ins with the AAP government, was on Tuesday appointed a member of UPSC, a Constitutional post, with a five year tenure.
•    The Government cleared the name of 60-year-old Bassi as member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the civil services examination to select IAS and IPS officers among others. The Commission has a maximum strength of 10 members besides a Chairperson.
•    A 1977 batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, Bassi retired as Delhi Police chief in February this year after completing 60 years.
•    He will have a tenure of about five years till February, 2021. Under the Constitution, a member of the UPSC can have a maximum of six years tenure or till he attains age of 65 years.
•    Bassi's tenure as Delhi Police Commissioner, especially towards the end, had come for criticism after the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar over sedition row. The former police chief was involved in a running battle with the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal.
•    The UPSC is headed by a chairman besides maximum of ten members. With Bassi's appointment, the Commission is in its full strength.
•    Alka Sirohi, David R Syiemlieh, Manbir Singh, Former Navy Vice Chief DK Dewan, Vinay Mittal, Chhatar Singh, Prof Hem Chandra, Arvind Saxena and Prof Pradeep Kumar Joshi are other members of the UPSC, headed by Deepak Gupta as its Chairman.
•    The members to the Commission are mainly experts drawn from various streams which includes the IAS, IPS and other All India services.
•    It had former CBI Director A P Singh as one of its member, representing the IPS. However, after his name was linked to controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi, he tendered his resignation in January 2015.

Senior IAS officer Ashok Lavasa was on 31 May 2016 was appointed as the Finance Secretary. Lavasa, at present serving as the Expenditure Secretary, is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.
•    The post was lying vacant since April 2016 after the retirement of Ratan Watal. After retirement, Watal was appointed as principle advisor, social sector, in the NITI Aayog.
•    Prior to this appointment, he served as Civil Aviation Secretary and Environment Secretary.
•    Before that, he served in various capacities in the Ministries of Power, Renewable Energy among others.
•    He holds a Master’s degree in English literature from Delhi University and an MBA from Southern Cross University in Australia.
•    Prior to joining the civil services, he taught literature and also had a brief stint at State Bank of India.
•    He did his schooling from Belgaum Military School, one of the five military schools in India, from 1966 to 1973.
•    He co-authored a book titled An Uncivil Servant with former IAS officer and Stellar Group’s Chairman Ravi Mohan Sethi.
•    Norms for appointment of Finance Secretary
•    According to the existing norms, the senior most of the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry is appointed as Finance Secretary. The other four senior secretaries and their post includes
•    Shaktikanta Das is Secretary, Economic Affairs
•    Hasmukh Adhia is Revenue Secretary
•    Anjuly Chib Duggal is Secretary, Department of Financial Services
•    Neeraj Kumar Gupta is Secretary in Department of Investment and Public Asset Management

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.