Hassan Rouhani sworn in as president of Iran

Rouhani, Iran's seventh president since the 1979 Islamic revolution, formally began his four-year mandate on Saturday when Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a separate ceremony, endorsed his sensational victory in June's presidential election.

Malayalam poetess Sugathakumari gets Saraswati Samman

• Sugathakumari was honoured for her collection of poems in Malayalam entitled Manalezhuthu (the writings on the sand) published in 2006.

• Renowned Malayalam poetess and social activist Sugathakumari was on Friday conferred with prestigious Saraswati Samman award for 2012, instituted by KK Birla Foundation.

• Apart from this award, K. K. Birla Foundation also confers other two awards that include Bihari Puraskar, Rajasthani writers and Vyas Samman for Hindi.

• Past recipients include Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Vijay Tendulkar, Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Dr Dharam Veer Bharati and Srilal Shukla.

Waman Kendre is the new NSD director

Theatre artist Waman Kendre has been appointed the director of the National School of Drama (NSD) here. An NSD alumnus, Kendre's appointment is for five years w.e.f the date of assumption of charge of the post or till superannuation on 62 years of age or until further order, whichever is earlier.

• A frontrunner of the Dalit theatre movement in Maharashtra of the late 70s, he is currently heading the Academy of Theatre Arts, Mumbai University.

• He is known for role in plays like "Mohandas", "Ranangan" and "Janeman".

UNICEF launches initiative on violence against children

UNICEF on Wednesday launched a new initiative on violence against children, calling on the international community to speak out against it. The 'End Violence Against Children' initiative seeks to build on growing popular outrage following attacks against children, including the 2012 shooting of then 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan, the fatal shooting of 26 pupils and teachers in Newtown in US and gangrapes in India and South Africa.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 years experienced sexual violence and exploitation, and an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year, according to a 2005 report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The latest initiative urges people around the world to recognise violence against children. The initiative was unveiled today with a video narrated by UNICEF goodwill ambassador and actor Liam Neeson.

India's First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 'INS Vikrant'

India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) for the Indian Navy has been floated out at state-owned Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL). This made India the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have the capability to build such vessels. The carrier is expected to be delivered by end 2018.

The IAC-1 is a 40,000 tonne air defence platform and will be named INS Vikrant. 

The aircraft carrier INS Vikrant will have an endurance of 8,000 nautical miles and will be to carry a maximum of 30 aircraft. INS Vikrant will have long-range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR SAM) systems with a multi-function radar, a close-in weapon system, the most modern C/D band early air-warning radar and the V/UHF tactical air-navigational and direction finding systems. The carrier will have two take-off runways and landing. 260 metre in length and 60 m in breadth and capable of attaining speeds over 28 knots (56 km per hour), the carrier will be able to accommodate about 25 aircraft. It will have a crew of about 1,450.

Swavalamban Scheme

Objectives:

1. To encourage the people from the unorganized sector to voluntarily save for their retirement.
2. To lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for such subscribers.

Key Points:

1. Government contributes Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened.
2. Govt does a minimum contribution of Rs. 1000 and a maximum contribution of Rs. 12000 per annum.
3. The then Hon’ble Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has launched the Swavalamban Scheme on 26.09.2010 at Jangipur (West Bengal).
4. Managed by the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
5. The Operational Guidelines on Swavalamban are available on the PFRDA’s website at http://pfrda.org.in. 
6. Swavalamban Scheme was initially announced for three years.
7. Has now been extended to five years.
8. This scheme is open to those citizens of India who are not part of any pension/provident scheme. 
9. Relaxations have been provided in the exit norms of the Scheme to encourage more participations
10. Subscriber under Swavalamban will be allowed exit at 50 years (instead of the existing prescribed age of 60 years) or a minimum tenure of 20 years, whichever is later.
11. A budget provision of Rs.110 crore in RE 2011-12 and Rs. 220 crores in RE 2012-13 has been made for the scheme.

Haryana number 1 in cyber crimes, frauds

• Known for its high crime rate against women, Haryana has now registered an unprecedented spurt in incidents of cyber crimes, making it the top state with highest number of cases in the country.

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data revealed that the number of cyber crimes registered under various sections of IPC jumped from just three in 2011 to 116 in 2012 in Haryana.

• West Bengal was closely behind Haryana with 113 cases and Maharashtra came third with 90 cases of virtual crimes registered last year. Most of these cases were frauds using some form of technology.

• Haryana also arrested maximum number of cyber crime accused, 137, last year. Most of the arrested accused, numbering 60, were in the 18-30 age group, followed by 43 in 30-45 age group and 27 in 45-60 age group. Six accused were above 60 years of age.

• Most cases under the IT Act were registered in Haryana under section 66 (1) of the Act for offences of destroying information in computers. Twelve cases were of obscene electronic transmission of content.

• As many as 27 sections of IT Act and 24 sections of IPC cover various cyber crime offences.

• It is important to note that there is no special mention of hacking in the IT Act, 2000. But it is derived under the Section 66 of Computer Related offences, where there is a mention of maximum sentence of 3 years.

Factfile:

Cases under IPC: 116

Cases under IT Act: 66

Fraud cases: 89

Arrests: 137

Guangzhou launches 72-hour visa-free stays

• South China's mega-city Guangzhou started offering international transit passengers 72-hour stays on Thursday.

• China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in the People’s Republic of China, which operates daily flights from Dubai to Guangzhou province of China, a business hub for many tourists and business travelers from the Middle East, has announced a 72-hour free transit visa to travelers from 45 countries including the UAE.

• “There is daily flights from Dubai to China and many business passengers going to long haul destinations like the USA, or the Philippines or Thailand can break their travel in Guangzhou province of China, the headquarters of the airline and a business hub.

• Guangzhou is the third Chinese city to introduce the visa-free policy, following capital Beijing and commercial hub Shanghai.

Jamaat-e-Islami banned in Bangladesh

• Bangladesh's biggest right-wing party Jamaat-e-Islami was banned from contesting future polls by a court which cancelled its registration in a landmark ruling, leaving the once-most powerful fundamentalist party with an uncertain future.

• In the petition, they said Jamaat-e-Islami was a religion-based political party and it did not believe in independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.

• The verdict comes at a time when the demand for outlawing the party, blamed for war crimes during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, was mounting.

• Several top Jamaat leaders, including its 91-year-old supremo Ghulam Azam, were recently sentenced either to death or to long jail terms for masterminding atrocities during the war.

NAI launches e-Abhilekh

National Archives of India (NAI) has planned a quarterly news bulletin, e-Abhilekh to promote and project activities and development being made in India and abroad in the archival field. The formal launch of this e-bulletin is scheduled in the first week of July 2013. In the inaugural bulletin, NAI would be incorporating the news and other highlights for the period April-June 2013. 

What:  e-Abhilekh
Why:   Promotion of Archival activities in India and around the globe
When: First week of July 2013
Who:   National Archives of India (NAI)
How does it look like: Click Me!