1. Nepal approves new map including Lipulekh, Kalapani, Limpiyadhura amid border row with India

• Nepal's cabinet has endorsed a new political map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory, amid a border dispute with India.
• The move announced by foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali came weeks after he said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives.
• The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand'sPithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. India has said that the recently-inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand lies completely within its territory.

Foot Notes: About Nepal
Capital: Kathmandu
President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari
Prime Minister: Khadga Prasad Oli

2. Alibaba’s Jack Ma resigns from SoftBank board after huge loss

• Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma will be resigning from SoftBank board of directors. Jack Ma serving for nearly 13 years in the board. Ma is expected to resign from the Group’s board on June 25. 
• The news comes as the group posted record financial loss of USD 13 billion. Jack Ma had retired as the Executive Chairman of Alibaba in September 2019.

Foot Notes: About SoftBak
CEO: Masayoshi Son.
Headquarters: Minato City, Tokyo, Japan.
Established: 3 September 1981.

3. Geramny’s Bundesliga becomes 1st major sports event to resume post COVID-19 lockdown  

• The Bundesliga primary football league of Germany becomes the world’s first major sports event to resume after COVID-19 lockdown. 
• The Bundesliga games began with empty stadium though the stadium had the capacity to hold more than 80,000 players. Bundesliga means “Federal League”. 

Foot Notes:
The Bundesliga is the primary football league in Germany.
The game was begun in 1963.

About Germany:
Capital: Berlin
Chancellor: Angela Merkel
Currency: Euro

4. Punjab govt promulgates ‘Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners Amendment Ordinance, 2020’

• Punjab government (govt) promulgated ‘The Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Amendment Ordinance, 2020’. As per new provisions, the temporary release of the prisoners has been allowed beyond the maximum period of 16 weeks in a calendar year.
• The govt had earlier released around 3,000 undertrial prisoners on 6 week interim bail from various prisons across the state and the period of their release set to finish, the Government has now decided to extend the parole of convicts and interim bail of undertrial prisoners further by 6 weeks.
• The decision was taken by the Government panel, chaired by Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who is also the Executive Chairman of Punjab State Legal Services Authority.

Foot Notes: About Punjab
Capital: Chandigarh.
Chief Minister:  Captain Amarinder Singh.
Governor: Vijayender Pal Singh Badnore.

5. Centre reduces EPFO contributions from 12 percent to 10 percent from May to July this year

• The Centre has notified the reduction in statutory rate of contributions from 12 per cent to 10 per cent for wage months period from May to July, 2020 for all class of establishments covered under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
• Earlier, the government had announced to reduce the rate as part of the Atma-Nirbhar Bharat package. 
• As a result of reduction in statutory rate of contributions, the employee will have a higher take home pay and employers will also have their liabilities reduced by 2 percent of wages of the employees.

Foot Notes: About EPFO
Founded: 4 March 1952
Headquarters: New Delhi
CPFC: Sunil Kumar Bharthwal,IAS

6. J&K promotes e-learning under Samagra Shiksha programme

• In Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Union territory (UT) administration has initiated a slew of measures under “Samagra Shiksha programme” to facilitate students with complete access to education through technological interventions and other viable means in wake of COVID-19 lockdown.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all educational institutes have been closed and in order to maintain the continuity of education delivery to students several steps are being taken by the UT Government which inter-alia included Radio Classrooms wherein Live Lectures are being broadcast daily between 2 to 4 P.M.

Foot Notes: About Jammu and Kashmir
Capital- Srinagar (summer), Jammu (Winter).
Governor- Girish Chandra Murmu.

7. Cabinet approves "Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana" for boosting fisheries sector

• The Cabinet in its meeting held today has approved the “Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana - A scheme to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector in India” with highest ever investment of Rs. 20050 crores in fisheries sector comprising of Central share of Rs. 9407 crore, State share of Rs 4880 crore and Beneficiaries contribution of Rs. 5763 crore. PMMSY will be implemented over a period of 5 years from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25 in all States/Union Territories. The aims and objectives  of this Yojna are:

(i)Harnessing of fisheries potential in a sustainable, responsible, inclusive and equitable manner

(ii)Enhancing of fish production and productivity through expansion, intensification, diversification and productive utilization of land and water
(iii)Modernizing and strengthening of value chain - post-harvest management and quality improvement
(iv)Doubling fishers and fish farmers incomes and generation of employment
(v)Enhancing contribution to Agriculture GVA and exports 
(vi)Social, physical and economic security for fishers and fish farmers
(vi)Robust fisheries management and regulatory framework

8. Railway's Most  Powerful 12,000 HP Made in India Locomotive Begins Commercial Run

• The Indian Railways' most powerful 12000 HP Made in India locomotive made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya and Shivpur stations in Uttar Pradesh.
• Built by French company Alstom under the government's Make in India programme at the Railways' Madhepura factory in Bihar, these engines are the highest-powered locomotives that will run on Indian rails. All 800 of these locos are being manufactured indigenously while they have been designed at the company's engineering centre in Bengaluru.
• The locomotive is capable of working on railway tracks with conventional OHE lines as well as on Dedicated Freight corridors with high rise OHE lines. 
• The locomotive has air-conditioned driver cabs on either side.

Foot Notes: About Indian Railways
Headquarters: New Delhi
Founded: 16 April 1853
Railway Minister: Piyush Goyal

9. “Dilip Oommen”  is appointed as the next President of Indian Steel Association       

• Indian Steel Association (ISA) appointed Dilip Oommen as its new President with immediate effect.
• An extraordinary board meeting was called to decide on the leadership of the association after Tata Steel CEO TV Narendran stepped down as President on May 1, months before the end of his term in August. Oommen was unanimously appointed as President for the next two years.
• Oommen is a veteran of the steel industry with more than 37 years of experience and an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-K).

10. India's Chief Hydrographer Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar wins UK award

• Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar has been honoured with the 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region.
• He is the National Hydrographer to the government of India.
• The award, first presented by the UK Ministry of Defence-sponsored UKHO in 2006, is named after the first Hydrographer of the Admiralty, Alexander Dalrymple.
• The recipients of the award are selected by the chief Committee of the UK Hydrographic Office(UKHO) for his or her efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.