GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Maldives appointed its young Ahmed Adheeb as the vice president of the country after removing incumbent Mohamed Jameel from office - in the first such instance in the Indian Ocean island country.

Pulitzer winning Indian-born American doctor Siddhartha Mukherjee has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his documentary series on cancer.The six-hour programme based and titled after Dr Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 book "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" is among five nominees for the award for documentary or nonfiction series.

Zach Johnson of the United States claimed the second major triumph of his career as he won the prestigious British Open. Johnson surged through the field with a closing 66 before overcoming South African Louis Oosthuizen and Australian Marc Leishman in extra holes.

The scheme has been renamed as Electronic Tourist Visa (e-TV) and the Government of India has already extended the e-TV facility to 74 countries in the first two phases of its implementation.

As per information currently available, the following countries/ territories have either extended the facility of visa-on-arrival or require no visa or have extended e-Visa facility to Indian passport holders who visit those countries:Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cook Islands, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Georgia, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Macau, Madagascar, Malaysia (visa on arrival under certain condition), Maldives, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Montserrat, Myanmar, Nepal, Niue, Palau, Reunion Island, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka (Electronic Travel Authorization), Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Pankaj Munjal was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Hero Motors Group.Pankaj Munjal joined the Hero group in 1988 as a trainee and was appointed as its Co-Chairman and Managing Director in December 2011.

The British government has decided to honour India's greatest hockey player Major Dhyan Chand with 'India Pride Award'. In British Parliament's House of Commons this award will be presented to him on 25^th July. On behave of Dhyan Chand, his son Ashok Chand and former captain of Indian hockey Ashok Kumar has been invited to London for the award. One of the world's best hockey players Dhyan Chand won Gold medals in three Olympics: 1928, 1932, 1936. 

Health Schemes for Rural Children 

Under National Health Mission (NHM) the provision of health care to children particularly in rural areas is given priority attention. The details of the various interventions being implemented to improve the health of children are as below:-
 1. Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK): entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section.  The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment till one year of age.2. Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC) at different levels to reduce newborn morbidity and mortality by setting up of facilities for care of sick and small newborn such as Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSUs) and Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs) at different levels is a thrust area under NHM.3.Home Based New Born Care (HBNC) through ASHAs has been initiated to improve newborn practices at the community level and early detection and referral of sick newborn babies.4.India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched with an aim to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths.5.Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth, Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, Kangaroo Mother Care and injection Gentamicin to young infants in cases of suspected sepsis have been rolled out.6.Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with highest child mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).7.Management of severe acute malnutrition in children is being done at Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) which have been established across the country. 8.Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and Child Development.9.Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are organized for imparting nutritional counselling to mothers and to improve child care practices.10.Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) a name based Mother and Child Tracking System has been put in place which is web based to ensure registration and tracking of all pregnant women and newborn babies so that provision of regular and complete services to them can be ensured.11.Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening and early intervention services has been launched to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community. The purpose of these services is to improve the overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability.12.Under National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI), through life cycle approach, age and dose specific Iron & Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation programme is being implemented for the prevention of anemia among the vulnerable age groups like under-5 children, children of 6 – 10 years of age group, adolescents, pregnant & lactating women and women in reproductive age along with treatment of anemic children and pregnant mothers at health facilities. 14.Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) covers about 13.5 crore children for vaccination against seven vaccine preventable diseases, through 90 lakh immunization sessions each year.

A Framework for India-US Defence Relationship was signed, which builds upon the previous Framework to guide the bilateral defence and strategic partnership for the next 10 years.

The new Framework provides-

1.Avenues for high level strategic discussions, continued exchanges between armed forces of both countries

2. Strengthening of defence capabilities to both sides.

3. Both sides have identified proposals for joint development of Mobile Electric Hybrid Power Sources and Next Generation Protective Ensembles.

4.The proposed cooperation envisages enhancement of India’s defence technological and manufacturing capabilities.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched Mission Indradhanush to cover all partially vaccinated and un-vaccinated children in the country. 201 high priority districts which account for nearly 50% of such children in the country have been selected in the first phase.. Under Mission Indradhanush, immunization is being provided against seven life-threatening diseases (diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B). In addition, vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza type-B will be provided in select districts/states of the country. Vaccination against tetanus is also being provided to the pregnant women.

Model-actor Milind Soman, , has won the IRON MAN title at a triathlon held in Zurich in Switzerland on July 19 in which over 2,000 participants this year included seven Indians.
The triathlon, organised by World Triathlon Corporation, includes a 3.8-km swim, 180.2-km cycle ride and 42.2-km run and is widely regarded as the world’s toughest race, which has to be completed in 16 hours by participants for an Iron man title.