Gk Update 29 June 2016

1. Majuli in Assam becomes India’s first island district

i. Majuli was in news  as the Government of Assam approved its up gradation as a district.With this approval, Majuli has become the first island district in the country.
ii. At present, Majuli is a Mohkuma, a sub division of the Jorhat District and represented by the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in the Assembly.

2. Cabinet clears pay hike for 1 cr. govt employees, pensioners

i. More than 1 Cr. central government employees will get a pay hike after the Cabinet approved the implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.
ii. The report submitted by the commission in November last year recommended a 14.27 percent hike in basic pay at junior levels, 23.55 per cent overall hike in salaries, allowances and pension. 
iii. The entry level pay was recommended to be raised to Rs. 18,000 per month from the current Rs. 7,000 a month while maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, had been fixed at Rs. 2.5 lakh per month, up from Rs.90,000 per month.

3. FSSAI signs MoU with ASCI

i. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) signed MoU with each other to put check on the issues of misleading as well as uncorroborated advertisements in the food and beverage sector.
ii. Under this MoU, FSSAI asked ASCI to make it compulsory to keep check upon the process of complaints against misleading ads by food companies. Active monitoring will be done by ASCI of various advertisements from across all the media segments. 
iii. ASCI will also report to FSSAI if the companies do not abide by the instructions through the complaints if received on GAMA Portal set up by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

4. V Sasi elected Deputy Speaker in Kerala

i. V Sasi of the CPI (M), representing the Chirayinkeezh constituency, has been elected the Deputy Speaker of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly. 
ii. Sasi beat IC Balakrishnan, candidate of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front, by 90 votes to 45 after voting took place this morning on the floor of the House.

5. NASA tests rocket booster for space mission

i. A booster for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world, has been successfully tested, an advance that may pave the way for future human exploration in deep space, including the journey to Mars.
ii. The booster was fired up for its second qualification ground test at test facilities in Utah in the US.
iii. “This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA.

6. Amul signs up as official sponsor of Indian team to the Olympics

i. India’s leading food products company Amul has signed up as the official sponsor for the Indian contingent to the Rio Olympics 2016. 
ii.The company will launch a series of advertising campaigns for milk and other dairy products to promote this association. In addition, the company’s products will also sport special branding to promote this association.
iii. Amul will launch a series of advertising campaigns for milk and various dairy products to promote this association in the coming months. Amul has embarked upon an ‘Eat Milk with Every Meal’ campaign.

7. Suzuki Motors appoints scion Toshihiro Suzuki as CEO

i. Suzuki Motor Corp has appointed Toshihiro Suzuki, son of Chairman Osamu Suzuki, as its next chief executive effective the same day, as the Japanese automaker attempts to recover from a vehicle testing scandal.
ii. The appointment comes after patriarch Osamu Suzuki this month said he would decline the CEO position to take responsibility for the automaker's use of incorrect testing methods when calculating vehicle mileage.

8. Exercise ‘Jalrahat’ commences in Assam

i. As a measure for counter operation during Natural calamities, exercise ‘Jalrahat’ commenced at Narangi Cantt in Assam which is a joint initiative by State Govt and Armed Forces for relief during floods.
ii. Taking the leaf from the latest National disaster management policy – 2016 and the call given by the Prime Minister urging the enhanced cooperation and involvement by Armed Forces in mitigating disasters, the Exercise Jalrahatis a joint initiative taken by the Assam State Govt and the Armed Forces that is being led by GAJRAJ Corps with full support from HQ Eastern Command. 

9. Govt launches web portal to keep a check on environmental approvals for mining of minerals

i. A new web portal has been launched for online submission and monitoring of environmental approvals for mining of sand and minor minerals. Launching the web portal at a workshop on mining of sand and minor minerals.
ii. According to the Prakash Javadekar Minister of State (I/C) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the web portal will lead to the empowerment of the project proponent, as it not only enhances transparency of the entire application process, but also enables the proponents to track their applications online.
iii. Some of the features of the application include– submission of all projects in a single window interface; facilitate management in effective monitoring; delays in the clearance process can be ascertained; a unique ID for each proposal for future reference; On-the-fly generation of all required reports; automatic mailer notification to take instance action; accessible from any PC having internet facility and different types of privileges roles for users as per their responsibilities.

10. India's Sanjeev Rajput wins silver in ISSF 

i. Sanjeev Rajput, a doyen shooter of India bagged a silver medal for India in men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event at the ongoing series of sport activities of ISSF World Cup in Baku. 
ii. Rajput shot 456.9 in the combined three events. This made him distant from the gold medal only by 0.6.
iii. The gold medal was acquired by Petar Gorsa from Croatia doing 457.5. Hyeonjun Kim, the player representing Korea took away the bronze medal after shooting 445.5.