Sudarsan Pattnaik bags gold medal at sand art contest in Moscow

 Renowned artistSudarsan Pattnaik bagged thegold medal at the ninth Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship “The magical world of sand” 2016. 

• Pattnaik won the championship for best composition ‘Mahatma Gandhi – World Peace’. 
• Pattnaik’s solo presentation-about fifteen feet high sand sculpture ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ depicted the message of non-violence and peace.

Sudarsan Pattnaik :

• Born- 15 April 1977 (age 39) -Puri, Odisha, India
• Occupation-Sand artist
• Awards -Padma Shri (2014)

Indian Naval Ships Veer and Nipat decommissioned

Indian Naval Ships (INS) Veer and Nipat were decommissioned at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

•  The decommissioning ceremony of these ships was held in the presence of Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. 
• Both the ships belonged to the 1241 RE class missile vessels. 
• They had served under 22nd Killer Squadron and have completed 29 and 28 years of commissioned service respectively. 
• The ships had played a significant role as the guardian of International Maritime Borderline off west coast of India. 
• These ships are also the first of Veer Class of ships to be decommissioned from the Indian Navy.
•  In their service, they have participated in numerous operations and successfully completed many deployments. 
• They were extensively deployed during the Operations Vijay (1961) and Parakram (2001–2002) of the Indian Navy.

EC launches mobile app e-voter for Kerala assembly polls

 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched an innovative mobile application titled e-voter with comprehensive details about the forthcoming 2016 Assembly polls in Kerala. 

• The app is envisaged for voters’ facilitation for search in electoral roll, information regarding candidates, location of polling station, affidavit filed by them, filing of complaint and so on.

About e- voter app :

•  The e-voter app was developed by the state IT Mission.
•  It aims at ensuring great transparency and conduct of free and fair elections.
•  The app has ‘know your candidate’ option that would provide constituency wise details of candidates. 
• It has ‘constituency list’ option that would give segment wise details of voters (total number of voters, number of male voters and female voters) and total polling stations. 
• The app will also provide information about previous elections results and names of Chief Ministers.
•  The e-voter app can be downloaded from the Google Play store and can be installed on any android phone

Gujarat announces 10% quota for economically backward in general category

The Gujarat government announced on Friday 10% reservation for the economically backward among upper castes, a move apparently aimed at placating the influential Patidars who launched a violent agitation last year seeking quota benefits.

•  The decision, taken at a meeting of the BJP core committee headed by party president Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, will benefit all upper caste families with annual income less than Rs six lakh.
• A special ordinance will be promulgated earmarking 10% reservation in jobs and education on May 1st.

Gujarat :

• Capital- Gandhinagar

 • Governor- Om Prakash Kohli

 • Chief Minister -Anandiben Patel

 • Legislature -Unicameral (182 seats)

Area rank- 6th

Population Rank-  9th

PM Narendra Modi to address US Congress on June 8

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of the United States (US) Congress on June 8, 2016 during his visit to the US.

 He was invited by President Barack Obama for a bilateral visit during the fourth nuclear summit. 

It was announced by the Speaker of the US House of Representative Paul Ryan. 

PM Narendra Modi will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, and the first since 2005.

 Earlier, Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi (July 13, 1985), P V Narasimha Rao (May 18, 1994), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (September 14, 2000) and Manmohan Singh (July 19, 2005) had addressed the joint meeting of the US Congress.

United States Congress  :

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two houses:

1.  the Senate and
2.  the House of Representatives. 

• The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. 

Parliament passes Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015

The Parliament has passed the Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015.

•  The Bill amends the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.
•  Now it will go for Presidential assent as per Article 111 of the Indian Constitution.
•  The bill seeks to bring industries engaged in the manufacture of potable alcohol under the exclusive control of States in all respects.
• However, the Centre will continue to be responsible for formulating policy and regulating foreign collaboration for all products of fermentation industries, including industrial and potable alcohol.

The Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 :

• The Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 7, 2015.
• The Bill was introduced by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman.
•  The Bill amends the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.

Parliament passes Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016

Parliament passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to include certain communities in the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) from 4 states.

•  The bill seeks to amend Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 to include certain communities from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala and West Bengal in the list.
•  It also has provisions for exclusion of certain communities from Odisha and removal of area restriction in respect of certain communities.

About the Bill :

• The bill was introduced in the Parliament by Union Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot as per the provisions of Article 341 of the Constitution.
•  Chhattisgarh: Inclusion of Sais, Sahis, Sarathi, Soot-Sarathi, Thanwar communities in the list. 
• Haryana: Inclusion of (i) Aheria, Aheri, Hari, Heri, Thori, Turi and (ii) Rai Sikh communities in the list.