1. India gets $1 billion loan from World Bank for solar mission
-The World Bank announced $ 1 billion in support of India’s ambitious solar generation plans, its largest financing of solar projects for any country in the world
-The projects now under preparation include solar rooftop technology, infrastructure for solar parks, bringing innovative solar and hybrid technologies to the market, and transmission lines for solar-rich States
-The commitment includes an agreement for a $ 625 million grid-connected rooftop solar programme for financing the generation of at least 40 megawatts of solar power
“India’s plans to virtually triple the share of renewable energy by 2030 will both transform the country’s energy supply and have far-reaching global implications in the fight against climate change,”
-The World Bank Group president also signed an agreement to be the financial partner for the International Solar Alliance that aims to collaborate on increasing solar energy use around the world, with the goal of mobilising $1 trillion in investments by 2030. The Alliance, consisting of 121 countries, is led by India.
2. Operation Sankat Mochan
-It was an operation of the Indian Air Force to evacuate Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from South Sudan during the South Sudanese Civil War.
-The operation was carried out in view of 2016 Juba clashes.
-Two C-17 Globemaster of Indian Air Force were deployed to evacuate. The first flight left Juba on 15 July (South Sudan Time) carrying 143 individuals including 10 women and 3 infants.
-It landed in Kerala on 16 July. 156 Indians reached India, led by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh. ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’ was conducted by the government to evacuate Indians from the violence-hit area of South Sudan.There were around 600 Indians in South Sudan; around 450 in Juba (Capital city) and others elsewhere in the country.
-South Sudanese Civil War was a conflict in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. The real clash was between country's largest ethinic group Dinka and second largest ethinic group Nuer.
[South Sudan :-South Sudan is the world's newest nation, in the centre of Africa bordered by six countries. It is rich in oil, but following decades of civil war it is also one of the least developed
regions on earth - only 15% of its citizens own a mobile phone and there very few tarmac roads in an area bigger than Spain and Portugal combined. Cattle are also central to life in South Sudan - a person's wealth is measured by the size of their herd.]
3. Operation Raahat
-It was an operation of the Indian Armed Forces to evacuate Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from Yemen during the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies in that country during the Yemeni Crisis. Commanded by General V K Singh.
-The evacuation by sea started on 1 April 2015 from Aden port.
-The air evacuation started by Indian Air Force and Air India on 3 April 2015 from Sanaa. More than 4640 Indian citizens in Yemen were evacuated along with 960 foreign nationals of 41 countries.
The air evaculation ended on 9 April 2015 while the evacuation by sea ended on 11 April 2015.
-Yemeni Crisis began with the 2011–12 revolution against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had led Yemen for more than two decades.
- After Saleh left office in early 2012 as part of a mediated agreement between the Yemeni government and opposition groups, the government led by Saleh's former vice president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, struggled to unite the fractious political landscape of the country and fend off threats both from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Houthi militants that had been waging a protracted insurgency in the north for years.
4.Theresa May New PM of UK.
-Queen Elizabeth-II appointed Theresa May as the 76th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) on 13 June 2016. She was appointed as prime minister following her election as the leader of Britain's ruling Conservative Party.
-With this appointment, she became the second women to assume the office of Prime Minister of the UK. The first women prime minister was Margaret Thatcher who was in the office of PM from 1979 to 1990.
-She succeeded David Cameron who resigned from the post on the same day following Brexit vote. Cameron tendered his resignation to the Queen. Britons on 22 June 2016 voted to exit the European Union.
5. Second Launch of MRSAM Successful
-A Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range off Odisha Coast.
-The MRSAM is jointly developed by DRDO and IAI of Israel for the Indian Air Force.
- The missile guided by a Radar system and on-board avionics successfully hit a Pilotless target aircraft.
-Many Indian industries like BEL, L&T, BDL, TATA group of companies besides other private industries have contributed to the development of a number of subsystems which have been put into use in this flight test.
6. INS Satpura Reaches Hawaii, USA for Exercise RIMPAC 2016
-In pursuance of India’s Act East Policy and demonstration of India’s commitment to peace and prosperity of Indo-Pacific region, Indian Naval ship Satpura arrived at Hawaii on 30 Jun 2016 to participate in the 25th edition of Exercise RIMPAC.
-Exercise RIMPAC is the largest multilateral naval exercise in the world and is held biennially in the Western Pacific Ocean.
-Indian Navy’s association with Ex RIMPAC commenced with participation as an ‘Observer’ in 2006, 2010 and 2012.
- In 2014, Indian Naval participation was enhanced with deployment of Indian Naval ship Sahyadri in the 24th edition of the exercise.
- The current edition of the exercise is scheduled off Hawaii from 30 June – 04 August '16 and is likely to be attended by 27 countries.
7. Defence Minister dedicated the Defence Communication Network (DCN) to the nation.
-The DCN is a strategic, exclusive, secure and state-of-the-art communication network.
-Implementation of DCN is a proof of strength of the Indian industry and has reaffirmed the emphasis of the Government on Make in India, program.
-The DCN is a major step towards ensuring Network Centricity across the three Services, Integrated Defence Staff and Strategic Forces Command.
-The network provides converged voice, data and video services to the three Services based on secured system with adequate redundancy.
8. Positive growth registered in both Domestic and Foreign Tourist visits during 2015, registering a growth of 11.63% over 2014.
Top three States in terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions), during 2015, were Tamil Nadu (333.5), Uttar Pradesh (204.9) and Andhra Pradesh (121.6).
9. Pema Khandu Takes Oath As Arunachal Chief Minister.
10. Lifeline Express: World’s first hospital on a train completes 25 years of service .
-The Lifeline Express has the distinction of being the first ever hospital-on-rails in the world.
- It is equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities and equipment to cater to the needs of the rural patients.
11. Madhya Pradesh became the first state in India to have ‘Happiness Department’ that will work as knowledge resource centre on the subject of happiness on the lines of Bhutan.
12. Advanced Towed Artillery Artillery Gun System (ATAGS). Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully conducted proof firing tests of Armament system for 155 mm x 52 calibre New Advanced Towed Artillery Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).
-The tests were conducted as part of technical trials at Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE) in Balasore, Odisha.
- Built by DRDO. Range of 40km.
