Satish Mathur appointed DGP of Maharashtra Police

• Satish Mathur was appointed as Director General of Maharashtra Police on 20 July 2016 by Maharashtra Government. Mathur, the IPS of 1981-batch, is due to retire in June 2017. 
• Mathur will succeed Praveen Dixit, the IPS of 1977 batch, who is retiring from on 31 July 2016 on superannuation. Dixit was serving in the post since September 2015.

PM Modi flags off 'Run for Rio'

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off the Run for Rio event in New Delhi to celebrate the Olympic mood in the country. 
• The mass run was announced by the Sports Minister Vijay Goel at a press conference.
• Around 20,000 school children participated in the event, which commenced from Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi.

Pashudhan Bima Yojana launched in Haryana

• Haryana Government on 29 July 2016 launched Pashudhan Bima Yojana in Jhajjar. The Yojna was launched by the state’s Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister, O P Dhankar. 
• The Yojna was started in accordance to the recommendations made in Swaminathan Report.

SEBI's first phase of new enterprise portal goes live

• Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated the first phase of its new enterprise portal to facilitate accurate and timely circulation of information to internal and external stakeholders. 
• The portal, developed by IT firm Tech Mahindra, provides an e-platform to registered and prospective intermediaries to interact in a secure, transparent, and paperless manner with SEBI.

AAAI confers Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 on Srinivasan Swamy

• Srinivasan K Swamy, popularly known as Sundar, was conferred with the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) on 29 July 2016. 
• The award was bestowed on him in Mumbai.

Centre to organise ‘Make in India’ conference in Bhubaneswar

• Centre has decided to organise a Make in India conference in Bhubaneswar in December this year. 
• The conference would be organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to attract investment in the state as well as the country.

Yahoo researchers built a powerful new online abuse detector

• Yahoo researchers have developed a new online abuse detecting algorithm. 
• Most current abuse filters use a combination of blacklisted terms or expressions to catch hate speech online, but the new method applies machine learning as well.

Bihar lifts ban on toddy (palm wine) sale, consumption

• Bihar government has lifted the ban on the sale and consumption of toddy (palm wine) in the state. 
•  In April after Bihar imposed a total liquor ban in the state, it also banned the sale of ‘toddy’. But the decision to banned toddy was not lauded by Lalu Prasad and his party Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Kerala Tourism bags six National Tourism awards

• Kerala Tourism has bagged six National Tourism awards for 2014-15 in the marketing category for states. It received two more awards, including the one for its Responsible Tourism (RT) initiative in Wayanad. 
• Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan presented the awards to Principal Secretary Venu V and Director U V Jose in the presence of Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at a function at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

AAAI confers Lifetime Achievement Award on adman Srinivasan Swamy

• The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced the recipient of this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award as Srinivasan K Swamy popularly known as Sundar Swamy. 
• This Award is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry. This award was instituted in 1988 by AAAI and so far 23 persons have been bestowed with it earlier.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book launched

• The book based on the script of the play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' launched today globally. This is JK Rowling’s eighth Harry Potter story written along with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.
• Thorne scripted the two-part play based on the original story, which begins 19 years after 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', which was published in 2007.

WHO to remove transgenders from its mental disorders list

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering changing the way it classifies transgender identity. 
• It came following calls from researchers and advocates to remove it from the WHO's list of mental disorders. 

Oracle to Buy NetSuite for $9.3 Billion

• Business software maker Oracle has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite, the very first cloud company. The transaction is valued at $9.3 billion .
• The deal would help Oracle gain market share in the fast-growing cloud computing business.

Skydiver Luke Aikins Sets Record For Highest Jump Without Parachute

• Skydiver Luke Aikins, 42, became the first to jump from a height of 25,000 feet without a parachute, landing in a net in southern California. 
• He has completed the jump in Simi Valley, west of Los Angeles.

Current Affairs : 2 August 2016

Patna Pirates wins 4th season of Pro Kabaddi League

• The Patna Pirates have won the fourth edition of STAR Sports-Pro Kabaddi League by defeating Jaipur Pink Panthers in the final match played at Hyderabad. 
• Patna Pirates (champions of season-3) has became the only team to lift the trophy twice in the tournament’s history of four editions. 
• The Puneri Paltan was placed at the third place in this edition after they defeated Telugu Titans.

Darren Lehmann signs on as Australia cricket coach to 2019

• Australian cricket team Coach Darren Lehmann (46-year) will continue as head coach of Australia until October 2019.
• He has received a two-year contract extension.
• Lehmann is a former Australian cricketer, he made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998.

 

IRS officer Rani Singh Nair takes over as new chairperson of CBDT

• Senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Rani Singh Nair  took over as the new chairperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• Central Board of Direct Taxes  is the policy-making body of the I-T department under the Union Finance Ministry.

 

IRCTC’s Food on Track app ties up with Mobikwik for e-cash payments

• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Mobile payments company MobiKwik will power e-cash payments on IRCTC’s e-catering app, Food on Track. 
• This app will allow passengers to book and get food from their preferred restaurants and delivered right at their train coaches.

 

Resolution to rename Madras HC as Tamil Nadu HC passed

 

• The Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to rename the Madras High Court as the Tamil Nadu High Court. 
•  The resolution on the matter was moved by Chief Minister J Jayalalitha as most of the High Courts established after the formation of new states based on linguistic lines have been named after the states only. 
• The resolution was presented in light of the High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016, which was introduced in Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016.

 

Luke Aikins became first person to jump from 25000 feet without a parachute or wing suit

• Luke Aikins, a skydiver with 18000 jumps, on 30 July 2016 jumped from 25000 feet (7620 meters) without a parachute or a wingsuit.
• With this he became the first man in the world history to dive from mid-tropospheric altitude and land safely without a parachute or a wing suit or anything else that might helped him stop or slow his descent.