Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 25 June 2015

::National::

Modi,s Smart cities dream

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday that the development of smart cities will hinge on a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach, as citizens and municipalities would be in charge.
Smart City aspirants will be selected through a "City Challenge Competition" intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission objectives.
Cities must qualify themselves through city-challenge criteria like sanitation, clean water, power, greenery quotient and ratio between revenue and expenditure on municipal salaries.
The government has approved the Smart Cities Mission under which 100 new smart cities, which would promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets and enhance the quality of urban life, would be made.
Each selected city would get central assistance of Rs.100 crore per year for five years.

::Sports::

Dhoni,s determined inning against Bangladesh

Mahendra Singh Dhoni loves to make flamboyant statements. This one was reserved but equally noteworthy.
In his first appearance after declaring that stepping down from captaincy didn’t bother him in the least, Dhoni fought off cramps to play a combative innings that held the middle order and allowed India to reach their highest total in this series.
A 77-ball 69 is no trademark Dhoni blitz, but the hallmark of his innings, around which the rest of the batting flourished, was the intent to correct things that had gone wrong in the series.
He again came at No 4 with Shikhar Dhawan at the other end, and continued with Ambati Rayudu. It seemed a replay of the second match, only this time India were not playing suicidal cricket. All courtesy the way Dhoni anchored the innings.

Ex-Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas named ICC president

The former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas has been appointed as president of the International Cricket Council.
The 67-year-old succeeds Bangladesh’s Mustafa Kamal in the ceremonial post, which passes between cricket’s national governing bodies on annual rotation.
A stylish and prolific batsman for both Pakistan and Gloucestershire throughout the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, Zaheer scored more than 5,000 runs in 78 Tests, 2,500 in 62 one-day internationals and more than 34,000 in a professional career that brought him 108 centuries – making him the only Asian batsman to make a century of first-class centuries.
South Africa, Zimbabwe and West Indies will be the next three nations to supply the ICC president, followed by England for the 2019-20 term of office.
The announcement came during the ICC’s annual conference week in Barbados, which also saw Serbia approved as an ICC affiliate member while Morocco and Turkey’s memberships were suspended and Brunei’s was removed.

According to CA poll, Tendulkar best Test player of 21st century,

In an online poll conducted by Cricket Australia's website, Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the 'Best Test player' of the 21st century.
The former India skipper got the highest number of votes to emerge on top of the list of the 100 best Test players since 2000, in a poll conducted by cricket.com.au.
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara received the second highest votes, followed by Adam Gilchrist of Australia in the third position.
Currently the 'Icon' of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians, Tendulkar earned 23 per cent of votes, with more than 16,000 fans participating in the survey.
Sangakkara got 14 per cent votes after CA released the top-100 Test players' list since 2000 on its website.
The 42-year-old Tendulkar, who is the only batsman to have hit 100 international centuries, holds the record for highest run scorer in both Tests and One-Day Internationals.

The Poll result:

1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) 23%
2. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 14%
3. Adam Gilchrist (Australia) 13%
4. Ricky Ponting (Australia) 11%
5. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 11%
6. AB de Villiers (South Africa) 10%
7. Shane Warne (Australia) 9%
8. Glenn McGrath (Australia) 5%
9. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 3%
10. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 1%.

Saina Gets Rs 9 Lakh for Physiotherapist

The sports ministry on Wednesday announced it has sanctioned financial assistance of Rs.9 lakh to Saina Nehwal on the ace woman singles shuttler's request for a full-time exclusive physiotherapist from June to the end of 2016 Olympics.
"The assistance will be utilised for payment of monthly remuneration to the physiotherapist at the rate of Rs.60,000 per month. The selection of physiotherapist has been done by Saina Nehwal herself," the ministry said in a release.
Olympic bronze medalist Saina has been selected under Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme for financial assistance from National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) for training as part of preparation for the 2016 Olympics.
The World No.2 is currently training in Bengaluru at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy at Karnataka Badminton Association.