News in Short

• The Karnataka legislative assembly passed a bill to amend the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 to ban all forms of gambling in the state, including online gambling.
• The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced by Home Minister AragaJnanendra and was passed amid the opposition’s scepticism of police’s capabilities in tackling new forms of gambling.
• The amended law prescribes a three-year jail term for gambling instead of one year and a fine of up to ?1 lakh. The law exempts only bets on horse races from the purview of gambling.

• Two more beaches in India have been awarded “Blue Flag” certification taking the total number of such beaches in the country to 10.
• The two beaches to receive the certification this year are Kovalam in Tamil Nadu and Eden in Puducherry. The Foundation for Environment Education (FEE), Denmark accords the Blue Flag certification.
• It has also given re-certification for eight nominated beaches – Shivrajpur-Gujarat, Ghoghla-Diu, Kasarkod and Padubidri-Karnataka, Kappad-Kerala, Rushikonda- Andhra Pradesh, Golden-Odisha and Radhanagar- Andaman and Nicobar.

• The Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd said its board has given in-principle approval for its merger with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI).
• Zee has been under pressure from top investors for a management reshuffle, including the exit of Chief Executive, PunitGoenka, from the board.
• As part of the proposed deal, Zee shareholders will hold about 47.07% stake and the rest of the merged entity will be owned by Sony India shareholders.
• The merged entity will be publicly listed in India and Goenka will be its managing director and chief executive officer.

• The government appointed Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari as the next Chief of the Air Staff (CAS).
• Air Marshal Chaudhari was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Air Force on December 29, 1982. He has flying experience of more than 3800 hrs on a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Op-Meghdoot and Op-Safed Sagar.
• He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.
• He has held important appointments of Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air Headquarters overseeing capital procurements and Senior Air Staff Officer at the Eastern Air Command.

• The Sikkim government has declared ‘Cooper Mahseer’ locally named ‘Katley’ as the state fish. Its scientific name isNeolissochilus hexagonolepis.
• In Sikkim, Katley is found in varied altitudes covering entire state predominantly confined in Teesta and Rangit rivers and their tributaries.
• In the year 1992, ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBFGR), Lucknow had categorized Katley fish as endangered species. The fish has high market value and is highly preferred by the public in the state.