GK and Current Affairs Updates

India and Pakistan were accepted as full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (S.C.O), a regional grouping including China and Russia. This decision was taken at the 15^th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (S.C.O) summit held in Russia. India, which has had an observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become a member by next year after completion of certain procedures.

Scientists, Geophysicists, and Seismologists of 27 countries are working under India’s leadership on an ambitious project to develop early warning system for earthquakes to predict them some seconds before they occur. This was stated by the Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India Dr.Shailesh Nayak at a summit on ‘Combating Earthquake Disasters’ in Kolkata last evening (14.07.2015). He, said, if the effort is successful and the model is developed, we could reduce the number of human casualties substantially. He said, before earthquakes, some chemical changes under the earth’s surface and some physical displacements on the surface occur and hoped if parameters are developed to observe, study and analyze these changes, the quakes can be predicted. For this purpose, India is going to launch a satellite by 2019 which will send images of surface displacement up to the accuracy of few centimeters. Dr. Nayak added that in the coming years deep bore wells filled with sensors and other equipment will be put in place in all seismically active regions in the country to sense the chemical and physical changes under the earth’s surface. 

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been organizing National Youth Parliament Competition for school children across the country. Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs presided over the prize distribution function of the 18^th National Youth Parliament Competition for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas here today. Among the 64 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalas spread over 8 regions of Navodaya Vidyalaya Saimiti, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Churachandpur (Manipur) came first in the 18^th Youth Parliament Competition for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. The Running Parliamentary Shield and Trophy was awarded to the winner

USA today presented the 2015 Asia – Pacific Economic Development Innovation: Policy and Program Implementation Excellence Award in Manufacturing to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for the Make in India initiative.The award is in recognition of the outstanding contribution of the Make in India program’s vision and implementation excellence to simplify the regulatory framework, and reinforce connectivity .After a detailed 10 step process the independent global experts arrived at the GIL-100 Index: Manufacturing Index for 2015 on Manufacturing Excellence. The Make in India program has scored the highest in this data driven GIL Index on vision and implementation, among 100 Countries. 

Indian citizen Sumit Nagal became the sixth Indian to win a Grand Slam junior title after winning the boys doubles trophy at the Wimbledon championship 2015. 17-year-old Nagal and his Vietnamese partner Nam Hoang Ly overcame Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan 7-6(4), 6-4 in the title clash 

Leander Paes won the mixed doubles title of the Wimbledon Championship 2015 with legendary Martina Hingis. This was Paes’ 16^th Grand Slam title. Whereas this was overall 18^th Grand Slam title of Hingis. Indo-Swiss pair of Paes and Hingis drubbed the Austrian-Hungarian team of Alexander Peya and Timea Babos by 6-1 6-1 in the final summit clash which was over in just 40 minutes.

Indian-origin Sunita Williams is among four by N.A.S.A to fly the first commercial space vehicles, a part of the space agency’s ambitious plan to put a man on Mars by 2030. Williams, accompanied by Robert Behnken, Eric Boe and Douglas Hurley, will train and prepare for commercial spaceflights for most ambitious mission.

NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has been appointed as the President of the U.K. Council for International Student Affairs (U.K.C.I.S.A). He will replace Baroness Usha Prashar as she steps down, having served the maximum term of nine years. Hyderabad born Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer, is also the Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.