1st June 2015

>>Kolkata’s Mohun Bagan Football Club (FC) has won the I-League title by defeating Bengaluru Football Club.

• Mohun Bagan won the title after a 1-1 draw score against Bengaluru FC in their final game of the 2014-15 season played at the Kanteerva Stadium, Bengaluru.

•  It should be noted that it is the fourth national title for Mohun Bagan FC after having won the last in 2002 when the I-League tournament was named the National Football League (NFL).

>>Archer​ Deepika Kumari stuns world number 8, Chang Hye Jin, on Sunday to win bronze medal in Women's Recurve event at Antalya Archery World Cup.

• Deepika beat the South Korea in straight sets 6-2 (26-25, 29-26, 26-28, 28-27) to stamp her authority.

• Earlier, the 20-year-old archer put up a brave fight in the semi-finals but was denied a place in the final by Olympic gold medallist Ki Bo Bae of Korea.

• In the Antalya 2015 recurve women's event Misun Choi (KOR) and Bo Bae Ki (KOR) won gold and silver respectively

>>Dilawar Singh of Haryana   won 'Pedal for Kashmir' cycling competition held along the banks of picturesque Dal Lake here today.

• Singh took the title while local hero Muhammad Khan came runner up, followed by another local cyclist Mohammad Adil Teli.

>>An advanced version of the indigenously developed Pinaka Mark-II rocket was successfully test-fired today from Army's Chandan firing range near Pokhran using a multi-barrel launcher.

• "Pinaka Mark-II trials were successfully tested in Pokhran field firing range near Indo-Pak border. Target was successfully hit in Keru area which was situated 55 km from the firing point,".

• Jointly developed by the DRDO and  the Indian Army, this multi-barrel rocket launcher has high operational mobility, flexibility and accuracy as the major characteristics.

• According to the sources "the ongoing developmental trials at Pokhran range in western Rajasthan by Army and scientists of DRDO was to test the advance stage of development of Pinaka Mark-II weapon system with upgraded version of software".

• Pinaka-I has already been inducted into the Army and was also put into field testing for assessing its capability during the Kargil war.

• "Pinaka Mark-II rocket with a range of more than 60-km .

• Pinaka Mark-II  can fire a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds with 1.2 tonne of high explosives. Can neutralise a target area of 3.9 square km and supplement existing artillery system at a range beyond 30 km.

>>The controversial land ordinance was on Sunday re-promulgated for the third time with President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent notwithstanding opposition protests over the measure.

• The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, had decided to re-promulgate the ordinance, insisting it was necessary for maintaining continuity and providing a framework to compensate people whose land is acquired.

• The ordinance will now have to be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the date of reassembly if it is not converted into law.

• The ordinance has been promulgated for the third time and it is the 13th executive order of the NDA government since it came to power in May last year.

• The move came despite vehement protests by Congress whose vice president Rahul Gandhi termed the measure as reflecting the “amazing hurry” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “grab” land from the farmers.

• Senior leader Jairam Ramesh, who was the Rural Development Minister during UPA rule, said the Modi government had insulted Parliament by re-promulgation as a Joint Parliamentary Committee was already looking into the land bill.

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also castigated the government for its action, saying it wanted to “snatch” the rights of farmers.

>> As a part of Punjab government’s efforts to give further fillip to the “all round development of the State”, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said the year 2015-16 will be observed as the “year of development“.

• During this phase, focus of the State government will be to provide ultra modern civic amenities to the people in urban and rural areas, he said.

•  “In urban areas  focus will be on providing the facility of water supply, Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs), streetlights, roads and parks whereas in rural areas provision of roads, potable drinking water, disposal of waste water and toilets will be our thrust areas,” .

• State government has initiated a major campaign to impart training to the youth for skill development.

•  “Due to encouraging results of skill development campaign in the State Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed him as chairman of Sub Group of NITI Aayog on skill training for chalking out road map for skill development in the country,” .

• “Skill development is the need of the hour to eradicate the menace of unemployment and give boost to the progress of the country,” Mr. Badal said.

• State government is also to make Punjab a completely drug-free state, build drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres and massive steps have been taken to check drug peddling in the State.

>> Ace Indian shooter Gurpreet Singh has secured India a fifth quota place in shooting for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

• He achieved this feat by finishing fourth in the Men’s 10 metre Air Pistol final at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shooting World Cup held in Munich, Germany.

• In the final qualification round Gurpreet scored 154. He became second Indian to have secured a 2016 Rio berth at the ongoing World Cup.

• Previously, Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela have secured an Olympic quota place for 2016 Rio Olympics.

>> Chinese researchers have successfully developed the first automated teller machine (ATM) with facial recognition technology to reduce the risk of theft.

• The developers include Tsinghua University and Tzekwan Technology, a Hangzhou firm in eastern China's Zhejiang province that provides security protection for financial transactions, South China Morning Post quoted Chinese official media as saying.

• Tzekwan chairman Gu Zikun, an anti-counterfeit technology expert, believes the technology will curb ATM-related crimes.

• Gu said the product had passed the authorities certification and would soon be available on the market.

• The news come a week after the state launched its "Made in China" campaign, which aims to transition the mainland from a manufacturing hub for low-end goods to high-quality products within the next 10 years.

• Cash machines using fingerprint authentication have sprung up in countries like Chile and Colombia.

• These biometrics ATMs are not being used by some countries, such as the United States, because of privacy concerns and its high cost.

• The new ATM's are expected to connect with the country's banks and public security networks, which guarantees that only cardholders withdraw money, even if someone else knows the password.

>> Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa was sworn-in as the 19th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

• Acting Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Justice K Sreedhar Rao administered the oath of office as per provisions of Article 159 of Constitution.

• President Pranab Mukherjee had appointed him as Governor on May 12, 2015 after then Governor Lt General (Retired) Nirbhay Sharma was transferred to Mizoram.

>> Gatimaan Express is the first semi high-speed train service that will be launched between Delhi and Agra.

• The train will run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph and is expected to cover the 200-km distance between both destinations in about 105 minutes.