1) Ahmedabad to host biggest ever International Yoga Day event on June 21
•Ahmedabad in Gujarat will host biggest ever International Yoga Day event on the 21st of June announced by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev. About 5 lakh people will participate in the event.
•Chief Minister of Gujarat Mr. Vijay Rupani will inaugurate the event. The program will be conducted in partnership with Gujarat government which will also involve various social organizations. GMDC ground and AES ground of Ahmedabad will jointly host the event.
2) Election Commission of India Launches National Contact Centre
•The Election Commission of India has added feather to its cap with the launch of National Contact Centre with a toll-free No. 1800111950.
•Now any citizen from any part of the country can call on the toll-free in English or Hindi with any query or complaint at any time of the day. Callers can enquire on subjects such as elections, voting dates, EPIC, electoral roll, online registration etc. and lodge a complaint by simply dialing into the toll free no.
•Not only this, executives also make outbound calls for educating the electors and spreading voter awareness.The National Contact Centre is operated on a National Grievance Redressal System Software.
3) Aadhaar not mandatory for PAN, ITR in J&K, Assam & Meghalaya: Govt
•The government has exempted the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Meghalaya and citizens above 80 years from mandatory quoting of Aadhaar to obtain PAN cards and file tax returns.
•As per the official notification of the Finance Ministry, the exemption has been given to an individual who does not possess the Aadhaar number or the enrolment ID. The exemption will also apply on non-residents and non-citizens.
•The government, under the Finance Act 2017, has made it mandatory for taxpayers to quote Aadhaar or enrolment ID of the Aadhaar application form for filing tax returns. Besides, quoting Aadhaar has also been made mandatory for applying for PAN with effect from 1st of July, 2017.
4) Telangana first state with logo for hearing impaired drivers
•Telangana has introduced a logo for identifying vehicles driven by persons with hearing impairment and has become the first state in the country to do so.
•The state’s transport department has finalized the logo designed by Hyderabad-based graphic designer Manikanta Annapragada, who incidentally is the first person to obtain a driving license in the ‘hearing impaired’ category.
5) Vinay Mohan Kwatra named India’s new ambassador to France
•Vinay Mohan Kwatra currently a joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office has been appointed as the next ambassador to France.
•Apart from having experience of dealing with the UN organisations such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), he has served in Indian diplomatic missions in China and the US. He has also held the position of joint secretary incharge of the counter-terrorism division in the Minister of External Affairs (MEA).
6) VVS Laxman awarded honorary life membership by MCC
•VVS Laxman awarded with an honorary life membership by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
•The elegant Hyderabad batsman becomes the fifth Indian to receive the honour after fellow stalwarts, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan.
