Varinder, who played as a defender in right-half or right-in position, was also part of the silver medal winning Indian outfits at both the 1974 Tehran and 1978 Bangkok Asian Games.

 

Indian hockey stalwart and member of the gold medal winning 1975 World Cup team, Varinder Singh passed away in a hospital in Jalandhar in the early hours of Tuesday(28th June 2022). The former India defender had a heart ailment and was suffering for the past 10 days. He was 75.

 

Apart from winning India’s only World Cup crown, Varinder was also part of the silver medal winning 1973 World Cup team that lost the final to hosts Netherlands on penalties. He also won a bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics apart from being part of the 1976 Montreal Olympics when hockey was played on artificial turf for the first time. India had finished seventh then.

Varinder Singh (16 May 1947 – 28 June 2022)

Source : Hindustan Times

Iran and Argentina have applied to join the BRICS mechanism, the Russian state media reported, days after a summit of the five-nation bloc during which the leaders agreed to continue to discuss the possibility of admitting new countries to the grouping on the basis of "full consultation and consensus."

 

Argentina and Iran have applied for joining BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by the state-run Tass news agency.

 

It reported that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday(27th June 2022) that Tehran has applied for BRICS membership.

 

Tehran filed the application for accession to the BRICS, he said.

 

The diplomat expressed hope that "Iran will be able to contribute to the BRICS' operation and benefit the organisation.".

Source : Business Standard

Passing the baton to the next generation, Mukesh Ambani has resigned from the board of Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of the oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL), and handed over the company’s reins to their son Akash.

 

The $217 billion company in a statement said its board approved on June 27, 2022, the appointment of Akash Ambani as Chairman of the Board. Akash has also been appointed as a non-executive director of Reliance Jio Infocomm.  

 

“While the choice of succession was apparent, the timing of the decision is progressive.  Akash was already inducted into the family business about 8 years back and has held important positions in the Jio business.

 

The Board also approved the appointment of Pankaj Mohan Pawar as managing director of Jio for a period of 5 years from June 27, 2022, as well as Raminder Singh Gujral and K V Chowdary, as additional directors of the firm.  Raminder Singh Gujral and K.V. Chowdary have been designated as independent directors for a period of 5 years commencing on June 27, 2022..

Source : New indian express

Communications minister "Ashwini Vaishnaw" on Tuesday(28th June 2022) launched 'Dak Karmayogi', the e-learning portal of the Department of Posts.

 

'Dak Karmayogi' portal aims to enhance the competencies of Gramin Dak Sevaks and departmental employees by enabling them to access the uniform standardised content online, or in blended campus mode. This, in turn, will enable them to effectively deliver a number of government-to-citizen services, for enhanced customer satisfaction.

 

* The training videos and quizzes on the portal are available in 12 Indian languages to help postal trainees to access training content in vernacular languages.

 

* At the launch event, Vaishnaw noted that about 10-15 years back, there had been concerns over viability and future of postal department, given the proliferation of digital and email services.

 

* "That situation changed. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he decided to focus on transforming the postal department, by leveraging the strength of its vast network and committed cadre," the minister said.

 

* The result of the transformation is that nearly 40 government schemes are being delivered through the postal department today, he noted.

 

* Citing Postal Department's extensive reach, the minister said no other organisation has a presence in 2.5 lakh villages..

Source : Republic World

Every year, National Statistics Day is celebrated on June 29th in India. The celebration aims to create public awareness among people about the importance of statistics in daily life and in process of planning and development. National Statistics Day commemorates renowned statistician Prof Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis for his contribution in the field of economic planning and statistics. It is also the birth anniversary of Prof PC Mahalanobis, the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

 

The World Statistics Day is celebrated on October 20 across the globe every five years.

 

History : It was first celebrated on June 29, 2007 to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of Prof Mahalanobis in the fields of economic planning and statistical development. His birth anniversary was chosen as the National Statistics Day. A notification for this was first published in the Gazette of India on June 05, 2007.

Source : CNBC TV

The Bommai-led government in Karnataka okayed the ‘Kashi Yatra’ project on Monday(27th June 2022), which offers financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to each of up to 30,000 pilgrims traveling to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.

 

For this scheme, the government will be using funds of up to ₹7 crores from the accounts head of ‘Assistance to Manasa Sarovara Pilgrims’ which was announced in the chief minister's budget speech for the financial year.

 

Shashikala Jolle, the Minister for Religious Endowment, Hajj and Wakf, said, any pilgrim taking up the government-sponsored ‘Kashi Yatra’ would get the benefit only once in a life time.

 

 

1. Beneficiary should be a native of Karnataka

 

2. Applicant should be above 18 years old

 

3. Beneficiaries who have already availed the subsidy once are not eligible

 

 

1. Proof of beneficiaries' domicile of origin in Karnataka - voter ID, Aadhaar card or ration card.

 

2. Age proof - Aadhaar card, voter ID etc.

 

Shashikala Jolle said those who took up pilgrimage from April 1 to June 30 and want to take benefit of the ‘Kashi Yatra’ scheme would have to furnish proof that they visited Kashi Vishwanath Temple such as their darshan ticket, waiting list or their pooja receipt, and submit it to the commissioner of religious endowment department in the prescribed proforma..

Source : Hindustan Times

Telangana Chief Minister "K Chandrashekar Rao" on Tuesday(28th June 2022) dedicated the "T-Hub 2.0" facility, world’s largest innovation campus in Hyderabad, to young Indians across the country. T-Hub’s new innovation campus is T-shaped, with a total built-up area of 5,82,689 sq ft, making it the world’s largest, the second largest being Station F based in France.

 

The new T-hub facility has been built at a cost of Rs 400 crore with state government funds. T-Hub phase-II, which is five times bigger than the first phase of T-Hub established in 2005, will have the capacity to house about 4,000 start-ups.

 

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said "we have created a world-class entity at T-Hub to promote entrepreneurship and innovation. Our state’s startup policy is progressive, it has helped forge fruitful partnerships with both corporates and academia.

Around the fulcrum of T-hub, we promoted sister institutions to support different requirements of an entrepreneur and today all of these institutions also, namely We-hub, T-Works, TSIC, RICH, and TASK, have become champions in their own right, he said. He said T-Hub was founded to bring in the best talent from across the country to nurture a startup ecosystem. T-Hub has now become a national role model. It has impacted over 2000 entrepreneurs and seen 1.19 billion US dollars raised in funding by T-Hub startups..

Source : India Times

Pinterest Inc said that Chief Executive Officer "Ben Silbermann" would step down, handing over the reins of the social media platform to Google commerce executive Bill Ready.

 

Ready's appointment brings end to Silbermann's 12-year tenure as CEO, which began when he co-founded the company in 2010.

 

He will now take up the newly created role of executive chairman and keep his board seat, while Ready will also join the board, the company said.

 

The news sent the company's shares 9 percent higher in extended trading on Tuesday(28th June 2022) and underscored a shift in focus at Pinterest to e-commerce initiatives from its advertising-based business model.

 

Ready, 42, the company gets an executive who for the past two years ran commerce and payment operations at the Alphabet Inc-owned search giant. Ready has also held senior leadership roles at PayPal.

 

Pinterest has grown rapidly since then and now has more than 430 million monthly active users.

 

Ready will receive an annual salary of $400,000 and be eligible for a stock option award to buy about 8.6 million Class A shares.

 

"In our next chapter, we are focused on helping Pinners buy, try and act on all the great ideas they see," Silbermann said..

Source : Mint

International Day of the Tropics is observed globally on 29th June. The International Day of the Tropics celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face.

It provides an opportunity to take stock of progress across the tropics, to share tropical stories and expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region.

 

International Day of the Tropics 2022 Significance : The International Day of the Tropics is intended to raise awareness of the particular problems that tropical areas face, the far-reaching impacts of issues affecting the world’s tropical zone, and the need, at all levels, to raise awareness and highlight the critical role that tropical countries will play in achieving sustainable development.

 

International Day of the Tropics History : The inaugural State of the Tropics Report was launched on 29 June 2014, as the culmination of a collaboration between twelve leading tropical research institutions.

The report offers a unique perspective on this increasingly important region. Marking the anniversary of the report’s launch the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/267 in 2016, which declared that 29 June of each year is to be observed as the International Day of the Tropics..

Source : News9live