India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a public sector unit under the Tourism Ministry, has appointed new as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD). What is the name of the new CMD?: Umang Narula
Explanation: Umang Narula, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir. Narula has succeeded Girish Shankar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, who also held additional charge as ITDC's Managing Director. Meanwhile it is important to highlight that recently Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma had said the government plans to privatise eight loss-making properties of out of 16 hotels run by it. These eight hotels likely to go under the hammer are those at Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Jammu, Guwahati, Ranchi, Pondicherry and the Lalitha Mahal hotel in Mysore, all of which are loss-making. ITDC also offers a bouquet of services ranging from accommodation, conferences, tours and travels, duty free shopping, entertainment, publicity consultancy, engineering consultancy and event management.
Nek Chand Saini at the age of 90, passed away on 12 June 2015. He was the creator of which iconic creation in Chandigarh?: Rock Garden
Explanation: Nek Chand Saini was known all over the world for his unique creation in Chandigarh, the Rock Garden and was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 1984. The Garden was created with used waste and useless articles like old switches, tyres, bicycle parts, bangles, mosaic, etc. from demolition sites around the city. Nek Chand’s work was illegal and he was able to hide it for eighteen years before it was discovered by the authorities in 1975. After pressure from citizen groups to continue the park, the Rock Garden was opened officially in 1976. Nek Chand passed away following complaint of chest pain at PGIMER, Chandigarh short while after interview on the recent announcement made in Britain for the mosaic sculptures to be exhibited in UK.
World’s first penis transplant patient is set to become a father. The 22-year-old man, who has not been named, is among around 250 South Africans who lose their penises each year in which tradition?: Botched traditional circumcisions
Explanation: Each year, hundreds of young South African men, mainly from the Xhosa tribe, lose their penises after coming-of-age rituals go wrong. Thus, the nine-hour transplant operation formed part of a pilot study by Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. Andre van der Merwe, who led the surgical team. The patient was sexually active five weeks later. Announcing the successful transplant in March, Van der Merwe's team said the procedure could eventually be offered to men who have lost their penis to cancer or as a last resort for severe erectile dysfunction.
On 12 June 2015, Darjeeling-NJP has resumes which train service after 5 years?: Toy Train Service
Explanation: The toy train service was suspended on September 11, 2010, after a landslide destroyed about 600 mt of road and tracks running parallel to it at Tindharia. The toy train service between 'Queen of Hills' Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri resumed on 12 June 2015, after a gap of nearly five years. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, consists of 88.48 km of narrow gauge track that connects New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, passing through Ghoom at an altitude of 2258 meters. A special train 'Red Panda' also started from Darjeeling to Kurseong, another hill station in Darjeeling district, with domestic and foreign tourists.
As per Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), they had generated 12 crore Aadhaar numbers in which state, thus covering 60% of the population of the state?: Uttar Pradesh
Explanation: The current phase of enrolment started in March, 2014 in which Lucknow is at the top with 34.51 lakh Aadhaar generation followed by Allahabad with 33.07 lakh Aadhaar generation and Kanpur Nagar with 31.83 lakh Aadhaar generation. The Aadhaar database is the largest biometric database in the world and as per directories of Government, Aadhaar is to be linked to various schemes and initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY), Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pensions, Scholarships, PAHAL, Universal Account Number (UAN) of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Public Distribution System (PDS), Passport, EPIC card and Attendance system in the Government offices etc.
On 11 June 2015, Election Commisison notified that they are working on a proposal which will help to increase the voting turnout and also help to reduce the Long queues at polling stations. What is this proposal?: To allow a voter to book his/her time slot for casting vote
Explanation: Booking time slots will ensure that voters are staggered over the polling hours. The facility may be provided between, say, 8am to 3pm thus will reduce the queues at the polling station. Among the other queue management techniques tried out by the EC is distribution of tokens to the voters, allowing them to be seated in a designated area, and calling them by turns to the polling booths as per their token numbers. As part of its efforts to boost voter turnouts, the Commission is thinking of issuing voter slips on their mobiles or internet to compliment photo voter slips. The printed photo voter slips are given to registered voters by the booth-level officer ahead of the day of polling. EC's Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation programme (SVEEP), the Commission has also set up an internal committee to address the problem faced by migratory population in exercising their franchise.
On 11 June 2015 announced was made by Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi that his party will join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP to fight the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. What is the name of his party?: Hindustan Awam Party (HAP)
Explanation: After a meeting with BJP President Amit Shah in New Delhi on 11 June 2015, Manjhi made the announcement the joining of his party with NDA to fight against the Lalu Yadav and Nitish in Bihar. However, the BJP believes its caste formula, a key factor in any election in Bihar, is now in place with Manjhi, a Mahadalit, expected to eat into Kumar’s mahadalit support base.
In June 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared India free of which infection which was much prevalent in the country for very long time?: Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus
Explanation: The Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus disease usually occurs in newborns through infection of the unhealed umbilical stump, especially when the stump is cut with a non-sterile instrument.The WHO’s declaration of India now being free of maternal and neonatal tetanus (which was once responsible for 15% of deaths in the country) means that the elimination of neonatal tetanus is defined as less than one case in 1000 live births in every district across the country. It is worth mentioning that Nagaland was the last Indian state to achieve maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination.
On 10 June 2015, India undocked its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier at a simple ceremony at Cochin Shipyard Limited. What is the name of the carrier?: INS Vikrant
Explanation: India's largest aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant's induction into the Navy will be done after a series of static and dynamic trials. Thus, the successful completion of the 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier puts India in the elite group of four nations - the US, Russia, the UK and France - in the world capable of designing and constructing aircraft carriers. The ship has a length of over 260 metres and breadth of 60 metres. It has two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires, capable of operating STOBAR aircraft including the indigenous LCA, as well as a range of helicopters with hangar facilities.
What is the name of creator of Chandigarh Rock Garden, who’s mosaic sculptures to be exhibited in UK?: Nek Chand
Explanation: Over 40 of Nek Chand's figurative mosaic sculptures will be on exhibition for the first time in the charming setting of historic Chichester (West Sussex). Nek Chand was a deeply spiritual man, fascinated by the mystical significance of rocks, who was by profession a public roads inspector was born in 1924 in the village of Berian Kala, in what is now Pakistan, Chand relocated to India with his family in 1947. Eventually, he moved to Chandigarh - the first planned 'utopian' city in post-Independence India, designed by Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Chand uses discarded objects, such as broken crockery, electrical fittings, glass bangles and bicycle frames, building up the bulk of the figure with cement and sand mix. A final coating of smoothly burnished pure cement combined with waste materials would then be added. Chand believed that each figure contained the spirit of a human being, god or goddess.
