GK and Current Affairs Updates

 Brij Bedi, the husband of Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman IPS officer, died at a hospital in Gurgaon after a brief illness. A photographer and social activist, Brij Bedi ran a school in Amritsar for underprivileged children. Kiran Bedi is an Indian politician, social activist, former tennis player and a retired police officer. Bedi joined the Indian Police Service in 1972, becoming its first woman officer.

 Kidambi Srikanth made a rollicking start to the new season as he clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold with a convincing win over China's Huang Yuxiang in the men's singles final. It was his fifth title having won the 2013 Thailand Grand Prix Gold, 2014 China Super Series premier and Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series last year. 

 Swiss residents are to vote on a countrywide referendum about a radical plan to pay every single adult a guaranteed income of £425 a week (or £1,700 a month). 
The plan, proposed by a group of intellectuals, could make the country the first in the world to pay all of its citizens a monthly basic income regardless if they work or not. But the initiative has not gained much traction among politicians from left and right despite the fact that a referendum on it was approved by the federal government for the ballot box on June 5.

The Swiss confederation is a semi-direct democracy (representative democracy with strong instruments of direct democracy). The nature of direct democracy in Switzerland is fundamentally complemented by its profound federal governmental structures. Swiss citizens vote regularly on any kind of issue on every political level, such as financial approvals of a school house or the building of a new street, or the change of the policy regarding sexual work, or on constitutional changes, or on the foreign policy of Switzerland, four times a year.

 On the occasion of the 68^th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the PM announced the aim to developing a network of Khadi Gramudyog across villages in the country to provide more job opportunities through the sector.

Khadi, mainly produced in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, played a symbolic role in the Indian Freedom Struggle. Pointing out that khadi, which played an important role in the freedom struggle, has become a fashion statement, he said arrangements were being made to ensure that workers in the sector can easily avail benefits of government schemes like Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. P.M. Modi also lauded the efforts being made to produce khadi using Solar Charkha and Solar Loom, noting that these will double income of the weavers and increase production. On this occasion, the book titled Nathuram Godse – The Story of an Assassin authored by Anup Ashok Sardesai was also released. 

 The former Army chief General K.V. Krishna Rao, who was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir for two terms when militancy flared up, died. He commanded an Army Division in the 1971 war with Pakistan in the eastern theatre. General Krishna Rao was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff on June 1, 1981 and served as COAS until July 1983. From June 1984 to July 1989, General Rao was the Governor of Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura. He also served short tenures as the Governor of Mizoram.

India secured their 11th Olympic quota from shooting today when Ayonika Paul bagged the silver in women's 10m air rifle. Pooja Ghatkar narrowly missed out on a berth at the quadrennial extravaganza in a high-scoring final at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition. In the men's 50m pistol, Omkar Singh could not make the podium as he finished fifth after shooting 147.0 in the final.

 Serena Williams had been the outstanding favourite to claim her 22nd major trophy, but the 28-year-old Angelique Kerber, competing in her first Grand Slam final, played the match of her life to win 6-4  3-6 6-4. Kerber is the first German to win a Grand Slam singles title since Graf won her last in 1999.

 Veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of Asianet news TN Gopakumar died of cardiac arrest in Thiruvananthapuram. TNG, as he was popularly known, is known for his weekly show on the channel "Kannaadi" (mirror) which he produced and anchored for more than two decades. Gopakumar has previously worked with the Indian Express, News Time, The Independent, The Statesman and BBC. He is a recipient of several awards including the Kerala Sahithya Academy award.

 The government has transferred Central Provident Fund Commissioner K.K. Jalan as Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (M.S.M.E.). 
Shobhana K Pattanayak, a 1982 Karnataka cadre officer, has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, following the retirement of Siraj Hussain, a 1979 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer.
Avinash K Srivastava, (UP-1982), at present Special Secretary, Department of Agriculture, will now be Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, following the retirement of Ranglal Jamuda (Odisha-1981).
Vinod Agrawal, (Jharkhand-1980), at present Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, will take over as Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, following the retirement of Lov Verma, (Uttar Pradesh-1978).
Shyam S Agarwal, (Rajasthan-1980), Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, will be the new Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

 Union Government has appointed Dr. Kamlesh Kumar Pandey as the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (C.C.P.D.) for a period of three years. The C.C.P.D. is appointed by the Central Government from persons having special knowledge or practical experience in matters relating to rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. Office of C.C.P.D. is statutory government agency functioning under the aegis of Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.