The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on 21 July 2016 announced that global temperatures for the first six months of 2016 broke many records. It means that 2016 is on the track to be the world's hottest year on record.

The WMO stated that Arctic Sea ice melted early and fast, which is another indicator of climate change. In addition, Carbon dioxide levels have also reached new highs.

Key facts announced by WMO

• June 2016 marked the 14th consecutive month of record heat for land and oceans and the 378th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.
• Carbon dioxide concentrations have passed the symbolic milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere so far in 2016.
• Two separate reports from the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS) highlighted the dramatic and sweeping changes in the state of the climate.
• The average temperature in the first six months of 2016 was 1.3°C (2.4°F) warmer than the pre-industrial era in the late 19th century.
• NOAA said the global land and ocean average temperature for January 2016–June 2016 was 1.05°C (1.89°F) above the 20th century average.

• The El Niño event which developed in 2015 and was one of the most powerful on record contributed to the record temperatures in the first half of 2016.

The state has decided to distribute identity card along with Soil Health Cards to farmers is -
Assam

The Hungarian biochemist, professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences (D.Sc.) and winner of a Széchenyi Prize who died recently is - Gyorgy Keri

The oldest and last litigant of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri title suit, who died due to heart-related complications in the temple city of Ayodhya is - Hashim Ansari

The prolific Romanian actor, director and essayist and recipient of the title of "The oldest active theatre actor" on the planet by Guinness World Records who died recently is - Radu Beligan

i.The Board of Control for Cricket in India has organised a course for umpires on English language and communication skills.

ii.For this the first batch took place from July 12 to 16 and the second is scheduled from July 19 to 23 in Mumbai.

iii.The course has been designed by the British Council along with the International Cricket Council and is aimed at equipping the match officials with requisite communication skills. 

i.Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned the third unit of the 4x40 MW Teesta Low Dam Hydro Electric Project (HEP) Stage-IV in West Bengal. 

ii.A run-of-the-river greenfield project located in Darjeeling district of West Bengal(WB), Teesta HEP is being set up by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), on the River Teesta. The fourth and final unit of the project is also in advanced stages of execution.

iii. The Power generation from the Teesta project will result in reduction of green-house gas emissions and will help in achieving a low carbon development path for the state as well as the nation. The order for Electrical & Mechanical (E&M) works for four units of 40 MW each was placed on BHEL by NHPC.

i.Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has joined hands with the State Bank of India to chalk out a detailed plan for promotion of rail ticketing activities, including internet ticketing and unreserved ticketing system. 

ii.The MoU was signed by IRCTC CMD A K Manocha and Arundhati Bhattacharya, CMD, SBI.

iii. The MoU also envisages for undertaking activities which can provide value to customers and bring about synergy in working of both the organisations.

i.Federal Bank has signed an agreement with Reliance Jio Money for one-click payment service.

ii.Reliance Jio Money is a wallet application that will be launched soon for mobile devices where Federal Bank will enable a direct payment option for its customers.

iii. Through this service, the leading private sector bank's customers can complete a transaction without funding the wallet. The bank's customers will get a facility to directly pay from their account for the services offered through the wallet (without pre-loading their wallet).

i.The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the launch of National Electoral Roll Purification (NERP) 2016 programme across the country.

ii.The programme was launched to improve health of Electoral Rolls (ERs) and to optimize the Polling Station (PS) location and area across the country.

iii. The motto of ECI for the year 2016 is No voter to be left behind.

i. India and Japan have signed a Social Security Agreement (SSA) that will come into force on 1st October 2016. 

ii.The SSA will benefit Indian and Japanese professionals and skilled workers working in each other’s country and will also boost bilateral business linkages. 

iii. The SSA will help avoid double social security contributions but an exemption will be provided to Indian worker, only if he is covered under the social security system of India and continues to pay his contribution during period of overseas contract.  

i.Establishment of a new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) has been approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The cost of the project for the establishment of the new AIIMS in Gorakhpur shall be Rs. 1011 crore which does not include recurring costs (wages & salaries and operation & maintenance expenses).

ii. Another approval by the Union Cabinet is for the incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013 with an initial authorized share capital of 1 thousand crore rupees and a subscribed share capital of Rs. 90 Crore. SDC will be under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping. It will provide equity support to the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and funding support to the residual projects under the Sagarmala Programme.

iii. The 3rd approval for the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 which has been approved by the Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. This Bill will help the Government to evolve a mechanism for their social, economic and educational empowerment and will also benefit a large number of transgender persons, mitigate the stigma, discrimination and abuse against this marginalized section and bring them into the mainstream of society. It will lead to greater inclusiveness and will make the transgender person's productive members of the society.

iv.The 4th approval by the Union Cabinet is for introducing amendments to the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in Parliament. The amendments aim to strengthen the Bill in terms of the legal and administrative procedure so as to overcome the practical difficulties which may arise in the implementation of the provisions of the Bill when it becomes an Act.

v.The 5th approval is for the signing of the Air Services Agreement between India and Mozambique as at present there is no Air Services Agreement between India and Mozambique and to promote the air connectivity between the two countries, the two sides also initiated the process of consultation in 2011 to finalize the text of Air Services Agreement.

vi.Sixth approval is for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which has been signed between India and Tunisia for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Digital Economy.

vii. Seventh approval by the Union Cabinet chaired is about a ex-post-facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation of the Swiss Confederation for cooperation in skill development

viii. The 8th approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is for the installation of Ghatampur Thermal Power Project of 1980 Mega Watt capacity. This project will be installed by a joint venture of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited with an estimated cost of Rs 17,237.8 crore, including interest during construction component of Rs 3,202.42 crore.

 ix.The 9th approval by the CCEA is for a construction of a new dry dock within Cochin Shipyard Limited at a cost of 1 thousand 7 hundred 99 crore rupees. The objective is to augment the shipbuilding and repair capacity of the country. 

i.India and Bangladesh has opened the newly constructed modern integrated check-post at Petrapole-Benapole point of the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal. The cost of the project is 200 crore.

ii.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have inaugurated it through video conference which have also been linked to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee. 

iii. The multipurpose checkpost is aimed at further facilitating increased India-Bangladesh trade. Currently the Petrapole-Benapole lands customs station is one of the busiest handling over 60% of the India-Bangladesh bilateral trade of around US$ 6 billion. 

i.Seven Indian companies have made it to the latest Fortune 500 list of the world's biggest corporations in terms of revenue. 

ii.The list is topped by the retail giant Walmart with revenue of $482,130 million, followed by State Grid (revenue of $329,601 million) and China 

National Petroleum ($299,271 million) at the second and third place respectively. 

iii. While among Indian firms, Indian Oil Corporation ranked highest at 161st place with revenue of $54.7 billion. However, another state-run firm ONGC has moved out of the rankings for 2016 and private gems and jewelry major Rajesh Exports has made its debut at the 423rd position.

iv.Among the seven Indian companies, four are from the public sector while Reliance Industries (215th) is the top-ranked among private sector firms, followed by Tata Motors (226) and Rajesh Exports. Among state-run majors, Indian Oil is followed by banking behemoth SBI (232), Bharat Petroleum (358) and Hindustan Petroleum (367). 

i.An Indian boy from Tamil Nadu has won the community impact awards from Google for his project of mobile GPS that keeps fishermen safe from invisible maritime boundaries. 14-year old Advay Ramesh won the mentioned prize for Asia-Pacific region in the Google Science Fair of 2016. 

ii.Under this fair, Google has awarded 25 innovative Community Impact student projects across the globe that solve community and health resource challenges using science.

iii. Google selected top 100 ideas out of thousands of projects submitted. This includes 14 projects from Indian students. The top 16 global finalists will join Google in Mountain View on September 27 for their sixth annual Awards Celebration. To help develop their project, each winner will also be awarded $1,000 in an educational scholarship and a year-long mentorship from a Google Science Fair partner organization.

i.Noted Indian hockey player Mohammed Shahid has passed away in Gurgaon due to multiple organ failures. He was 56 years old. 

ii.He was a member of the V Baskaran-led Indian team that won a Gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 

iii. Mohammed Shahid was born on 14 April 1960 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He was known for his dribbling skills and was considered one of India's greatest hockey players. He was a part of the national team that won a silver medal at the Delhi Asian Games in 1982 and bronze in the Seoul Asiad in 1986. He has also received the Arjuna Award in 1981 and was honoured with Padma Shri in 1986.

i.The oldest litigant of Babri Mosque Ram Janmbhumi dispute of Ayodhya, Mohammad Hashim Ansari has passed away. The 96-year-old Ansari, who was ailing for some time due to heart-related ailments, breathed his last at his house in Ayodhya. 

ii.Ansari had been associated with the Babri mosque dispute case since December 1949 but had filed the case in December 1961 along with six others about the disputed matter. 

iii. Allahabad High Court in 2010 in its majority verdict allotted one-third of the disputed site in Ayodhya to Nirmohi Akahara. The other two-thirds portion has been given equally to be shared by the Waqf Board and the side representing Ram Lalla. Soon after the verdict, Ansari had called for burying the dispute and making "a fresh start".

i.Beverages major Coca-Cola has appointed Sarvita Sethi as the new Vice-President-Finance for India and South West Asia. 

ii.Sethi takes over from Sanjeev Kumar, who moves to Lagos as Director Finance, Coca-Cola West Africa and will be heading finance operations for 31 countries and will report to Peter Njonjo, President, Coca-Cola West Africa Business Unit. 

iii. While Sarvita will report to Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India, and South West Asia. She has been a part of Coca-Cola for eight years and earlier she was Commercial Finance Director – Great Britain and Ireland, based in London.

i.International remittance company the Western Union appointed Sohini Rajola as Regional Vice President, India and South Asia. 

ii.Rajola will be responsible for managing and developing the Western Union business across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan.

iii. Prior to the Western Union, Rajola was the Senior Vice President and Head - Digital Banking of Axis Bank. 

i.International remittance company the Western Union appointed Sohini Rajola as Regional Vice President, India and South Asia. 

ii.Rajola will be responsible for managing and developing the Western Union business across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan.

iii. Prior to the Western Union, Rajola was the Senior Vice President and Head - Digital Banking of Axis Bank. 

i.A Nigerian journalist Didi Akinyelure has won the second BBC World News Komla Dumor Award for 2016. 

ii.Didi Akinyelure is a prime-time news anchor in Nigeria and presents business news for CNBC, which broadcasts across the continent. She has been working with the CNBC Africa team since 2013. Prior to that, she worked in the asset management finance sector in Nigeria and in the UK.

iii. The award was established to honour Ghanaian BBC World News presenter Komla Dumor, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014. The Komla Dumor award aims to celebrate African journalism and reward exceptional talent. The first Komla Dumor Award was won by Ugandan news anchor Nancy Kacungira.

i.Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suspended Deputy Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh, who was named in a report on the doping of Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

ii.The investigation was led by Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren, who sat on the independent commission that last year exposed doping and corruption in Russian track and field, leading to its exclusion from the international competition. 

iii. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not spell out whether it would heed growing calls for Olympic bans already imposed on Russia's track and field athletes and weightlifters to be extended to all its competitors in Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

i.Mobile payment and commerce platform Paytm has entered into a strategic alliance with Hyderabad-based grocery retailer Heritage Fresh as Paytm aims to provide more and more users the convenience and safety of cashless transactions. 

ii.So with the effect of this tie up, payments made through Paytm will now be accepted at all the 114 supermarket stores of Heritage Fresh in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. 

iii. Heritage Foods Limited is one of the largest private sector dairy enterprises in Southern India and the brand "Heritage Fresh" is a leading food and grocery brand of it. 

i.The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) jointly announced that Steve Elworthy had been appointed as Managing Director of the ICC Cricket World Cup, which will be held in England and Wales in 2019. 

ii.Mr. Elworthy will also have an oversight of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, which will both be staged in England and Wales.

iii. Mr. Elworthy is a former South Africa fast bowler who played four Tests and 39 ODIs and also featured in the Commonwealth Games 1998 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999. In his new role as Managing Director of the ICC Cricket World 2019, Elworthy will oversee a dedicated Lord’s based team responsible for all aspects of the tournament including marketing, logistics, cricket operations, volunteering, and security.

i.Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) SBI and Brookfield Asset Management have set up a joint venture (JV) with an initial commitment of over $1 billion to make investments in businesses with stressed assets.

ii.Brookfield will commit around Rs 7,000 crore and SBI up to 5 percent of the total investments into stressed assets, the state-owned bank said in a statement.

iii. The JV will evaluate and invest in various stressed assets, relying upon Brookfield's operational expertise to manage recapitalised businesses. At a later stage, the JV may seek participation from other lenders in the identified assets.

i.The Supreme Court (SC) has accepted the major recommendations of the Lodha Committee on reforms to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 from becoming its members. 

ii.It, however, left it to Parliament to decide whether it should come under the RTI and betting on the game should be legalised.

iii. The court has also accepted the recommendations of the committee headed by retired Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice R M Lodha to have a CAG nominee in the BCCI. 

i.The Supreme Court (SC) has accepted the major recommendations of the Lodha Committee on reforms to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 from becoming its members. 

ii.It, however, left it to Parliament to decide whether it should come under the RTI and betting on the game should be legalised.

iii. The court has also accepted the recommendations of the committee headed by retired Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice R M Lodha to have a CAG nominee in the BCCI. 

i.The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched the SVEEP Portal in the Hindi language along with two other releases in the sidelines of the Conference of Chief Electoral Officers of States by the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi.

ii.The Series of Launches are : Launch of SVEEP Portal in Hindi, Launch of Matdaata Mahotsav Document and Film, and Release of NERP Handbook.

iii. However, SVEEP Portal is a web-based application, accessible to the Chief Electoral Officers and all other stakeholders and serves as a window for easy accessibility of various initiatives of the Commission. While, a document and a film on Matdaata Mahotsav which was held in Central Park from 14th - 17th January 2016 and Handbook on NERP (National Electoral Rolls Purification) to further improve upon the Electoral Roll and ensure it stays error free in a standardized form.

i.Rohit Khandelwal has become the first Indian to win the title of Mr. World at a grand ceremony at Southport in England. He received a whopping cash prize of 50,000 US dollars. However, the first runner-up crown went to Mr. Puerto Rico.

ii.Rohit defeated 47 other contestants from across the globe to bag the title. Born in Hyderabad in 1989, Mr. Khandewal, is a model, actor and television personality. He is also the winner of Mr. India 2015 contest.

iii.  Mr. World is a 2-3 week competition designed to test the candidates in a variety of ways through a series of challenge events, interviews, and a final stage show. These challenges test every aspect deemed necessary to be "The World's Most Desirable Man."

i.Rohit Khandelwal has become the first Indian to win the title of Mr. World at a grand ceremony at Southport in England. He received a whopping cash prize of 50,000 US dollars. However, the first runner-up crown went to Mr. Puerto Rico.

ii.Rohit defeated 47 other contestants from across the globe to bag the title. Born in Hyderabad in 1989, Mr. Khandewal, is a model, actor and television personality. He is also the winner of Mr. India 2015 contest.

iii.  Mr. World is a 2-3 week competition designed to test the candidates in a variety of ways through a series of challenge events, interviews, and a final stage show. These challenges test every aspect deemed necessary to be "The World's Most Desirable Man."

i.Legendary singer and ghazal maestro Mubarak Begum Shaikh has passed away at her residence in Mumbai after a prolonged illness. She was 80 years old and started her career with light music recitals in All India Radio. She was proficient in both Hindi and Urdu. 

ii.Rajasthan-born Mubarak Begum is known for the evergreen song 'Kabhi tanhaiyon mein hamari yaad ayegi' from the 1961 movie 'Hamari Yaad Aayegi', which is, till this day, regarded as a classic rendition.

iii. Her career as a playback singer began in 1949 with the Indian, Hindi-language film Aaiye. That was the launch of a notable singing career spanning over 110 films over four decades till the early 1980s. Besides playback singing, she used to give regular stage performance and musical concerts.

i.Malcolm Turnbull was sworn in for another term as Australia’s prime minister,after a narrow election victory with budget repair and a public vote on same sex marriage among his top priorities. 

ii.Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is the 29th and current Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Liberal Party. 

iii. He assumed both offices after defeating Tony Abbott in a leadership election on 14 September 2015. He was subsequently elected in his own right at the 2016 federal election.

i. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim has appointed Paul Romer as World Bank Chief Economist with effect from September 2016. Romer is a widely respected economist and a successful entrepreneur. 

ii.The American economist Paul Romer will succeed Kaushik Basu as Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank. He will join the Bank at a critical time when the field of development is transforming under the forces of rapid technological change, globalization, and demography.

iii. Romer is currently a professor at New York University (NYU) and director of NYU's Marron Institute of Urban Management. Romer is also known as a proponent of "endogenous growth theory", which holds that economic growth is primarily the result of investment in human capital, innovation, and knowledge. He also founded a start-up Aplia, an education technology company dedicated to increasing student effort and classroom engagement.

i.Wrist spinner Yasir Shah has scaled the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings becoming the first Pakistani bowler to do so since Mushtaq Ahmed in December 1996. 

ii.He reached the number-one spot after bowling Pakistan to a 75-run victory over England in the first Test at Lord's. Yasir, who recorded the figures of six for 72 and four for 69, leapfrogged India's Ravichandran Ashwin and England's fast bowling pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. 

iii. Yasir won the player of the match award in his first Test outside Asia and now leads Ashwin by seven points and Anderson by 10 points. Ashwin, however, still leads the All-rounders rankings. Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan is
second. 

i. An Odisha-born bureaucrat Guruprasad Mohapatra has been appointed the chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI). He is a 1986 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer. 

ii.Prior to this, he was posted as Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce and had served as Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad for over three years. After about two years of his tenure as Joint Secretary, he was appointed the Chairman of AAI.

iii. He had also served as Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad for over three years. He started in the State Electricity Sector with the erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board in 2002 and worked with various Electricity Companies such as GSEC and the distribution companies such as PGVCL, DGVCL & UGVCL.

i.US space firm SpaceX has launched supplies to the International Space Station, including a crucial docking port for future American commercial crew vehicles. 

ii.The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft lifted off on the company's Falcon 9 rocket on time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 

iii. The cargo is the first of two international docking adapters, which will allow US commercial spacecraft to dock to the station while transporting American astronauts in the near future.

1.  NASA has announced the discovery of 104 new planets outside our solar system including four that could have Earth-like, rocky surfaces. 
2. Scientists discovered the exoplanets in Hawaii using Kepler space telescope. 

1. Tata STRIVE, an initiative of Tata Community Initiatives Trust, has been launched its first Skill Development Centre (TSSDC) centre. 
2. The centre will equip the youth in the State with skills in BPO, banking, financial services, insurance and retail industries to make them employable.

1. Herbalife International India, a global premier nutrition company, has entered into a two-year exclusive partnership with Indian Olympic Association to be the official nutrition sponsor of the Indian Olympic contingent to Rio De Janeiro.
2. Herbalife International is an American multinational multi-level marketing corporation that develops, markets and sells nutrition supplements, weight management, sports nutrition and personal-care products. 

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and US Secretary for Energy Ernest Moniz have agreed to enhance technical and institutional cooperation specific to hydrocarbons and energy.

India's first e-court has opened at High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad. It is the common high court for the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Inaugurating the e-court, Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur stated that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were first two states in the country to be chosen for Integrated Criminal Justice System project.

MIT scientists have developed an inexpensive, solar-powered water treatment system for Indian villages. They have designed, built and tested the prototype system to be installed in a village outside of Hyderabad.

Aizawl, Gangtok and Agartala, the capital cities of the three Northeastern states of Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripurahave found their place among the 10 cleanest cities of the country in a survey conducted by New Delhi-based research and advocacy organization, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

On the first day of the Monsoon session, Parliament has passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 with the Rajya Sabha approving it yesterday. The bill seeks to establish a Regional Centre for Biotechnology, an institution of education, training and research, under the auspices of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the National Capital Region. It also confers upon it the status of an institution of national importance. Lok Sabha had passed the bill in April this year.

A team of researchers of NASA has announced the discovery of 104 new planets outside our solar system including four that could have Earth-like, rocky surfaces. Scientists discovered the exoplanets in Hawaii using Keler space telescope as well as ground observations by Earth-based telescopes, including four on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. 

International remittance company Western Union appointed Sohini Rajola as Regional Vice President, India and South Asia. Rajola will be responsible for managing and developing the Western Union business across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has signed a shareholder agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) have signed Subscription and Shareholders’ Agreement to set up payments bank. According to the agreement, Reliance Industries will be the promoter with a 70 % equity contribution in the payments bank and SBI as joint venture will have 30 % equity contribution.

The Union Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has launched Crop Manager for Rice-based Systems (CMRS) a web-based App for better crop and Nutrient management released for Bihar farmers in a program organised at ICAR-RCER in Patna.

The Sports Ministry has announced that it has granted recognition to the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI),giving a huge confidence boost to the several para-athletes who have qualifiez for Rio Paralympics. The ministry's move comes less than a month after the International Paralympic Committee announced temporary lifting of suspension imposed on the national body last year so that Indians can take part under the tri-colour in the showpiece event in September.

radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ will now also be telecast to Bangladesh. The programme which reaches crores of people in real time featuring PM Modi talking on various subjects related to social, economic and political  which have international audience soon. The programme will be translated tao Bengali language and will reach Bangadeshi Nationals through Radio channel Maitree.