Chile win Copa América after beating Argentina on penalties

Chile won the Copa America for the first time in the tournament’s 99-year history after a 4-1 victory on penalties over Argentina. This was the 44th Edition of COPA America title, the prestigious football tournament for South American countries, had started from 11 June 2015 in Chile. Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 in the play-off match to finish the tournament at third place.

Literacy rate 71% in rural areas, 86% in urban areas: NSSO survey

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey has pegged literacy rate in the rural areas at 71 per cent and 86 per cent in the urban areas in year 2014. While among the age group of seven year and above, the male literacy rate was registered at 83 per cent vis-a-vis the female literacy rate of 67 per cent.

India-born biologist Kamal Bawa elected to the Royal Society

Kamal Bawa, India’s most prominent biologist and an evolutionary ecologist, has been elected to the prestigious Royal Society in recognition of his pioneering contributions in the area of conservation science. Currently he is serving as Biology professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of Bangladesh-based poverty alleviation NGO wins World Food Prize 2015

Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of Bangladesh-based poverty alleviation NGO wins World Food Prize 2015. He is founder and chairman of Bangladesh-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) BRAC (originally known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) which is world’s largest NGO. Since its formation, BRAC is being credited for helping more than 150 million people out of poverty.

He has been bestowed with prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (2010) and UNDP’s Mahbub Ul Haq Award (also known as Human Development Award) in 2004.

Scientist Sanjeev Galande gets G D Birla award

Professor Sanjeev Galande has been chosen for the G.D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014, the K.K. Birla Foundation announced. He is Professor and Team Leader at the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

The award, instituted in 1991, seeks to recognize research by Indian scientists aged below 50 and living and working in India. It carries a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakh.

 Current Affairs One-liners

  • Ira Singhal, a physically handicapped IRS officer from Delhi, topped the Civil services examination.
  • On 4th July 2015, International Day of Cooperatives was observed. It is observed on first saturday of every july.
  • Indian-American Professor R. Paul Singh named for GCHERA World Agriculture Prize 2015.