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| Current Affairs |
Dear Readers,
Welcome to Mentor for Bank Exams. Here I am
posting Daily Current affairs News
Updates about the National and International events were listed here.
Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other
competitive exams can use this. Kindy make use of these!!!
APPOINTMENTS
1) J N Singh new Gujarat Chief Secretary
Additional Chief Secretary
(Finance), J N Singh is set to replace 1981-batch Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) officer G R Aloria as the new Chief Secretary of Gujarat on the latter's
retirement, a government notification on Saturday said.
A 1983 batch Gujarat cadre
officer, J N Singh is also the Managing Director of state-owned GSPC Group and
its group companies. Singh takes charge on July 31.
A PhD in Political Economy from
the M S University of Baroda, Singh holds a masters degree in international
studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
2) DB Bhosale takes over as Chief Justice
of Allahabad HC
Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale
today took over as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
He was administered the oath by
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik in presence of High Court judges, and other
dignitaries.
The post had been vacant since
May this year when Justice Bhosale's predecessor, Justice D Y Chandrachud, was
elevated to the Supreme Court.
Born on October 24, 1956, Justice
Bhosale belongs to a family of freedom fighters and his father Babasaheb
Bhosale had served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
3) Ashok Leyland non-exec vice chairman R
Seshasayee resigns
Indian commercial vehicle
manufacturer Ashok Leyland has announced, in a BSE filing, that the company's
Non-Executive Vice-Chairman - R Seshasayee has resigned from the board of
directors with effect from July 28.
A Chartered Accountant by
profession, Seshasayee started his career with Hindustan Lever in 1971, and
joined Ashok Leyland in 1976. He was appointed Executive Director of the
company in 1983, became Deputy Managing Director in 1993.
4) Rani Nair set to be new CBDT Chairperson
Senior IRS officer Rani Singh
Nair is set to be appointed as the new CBDT Chairperson with incumbent Atulesh
Jindal retiring today.
Nair, a 1979-batch Indian Revenue
Service officer of the Income Tax cadre, is presently working as Member
(Legislation and Computerisation) in the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the
policy-making body of the I-T department.
5) Praveen dixit retires today; Satish
Mathur appointed DGP of Maharashtra
Satish Mathur, a 1981-batch
Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has been appointed the new Director
General of Police (DGP), Maharashtra.
Mathur will take over from
Praveen Dixit, the outgoing DGP who retires on Sunday. The formal handing over
of charge is scheduled on the same day.
A St Stephen’s alumni, Mathur has
many firsts to his credit. He is the first IPS officer in the country who was
trained by the National Security Guard (NSG).
He was also the first IPS officer
to become the Director General, Legal and Technical, after it was created by
the state to improve the conviction rate in Maharashtra.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1) Nayeemuddin conferred Mohun Bagan Ratna
Mohun Bagan conferred the highest
decoration of the club, the Mohun Bagan Ratna (jewel), on legendary Syed
Nayeemuddin in a glittering function here on Friday.
The former India captain and
latter the National coach became the 16th recipient of the prestigious award,
which is given to someone making seminal contribution to the success of the
club.
Nayeem, who contributed
wholesomely both as a player and later as the coach, received a citation and
Rs. 1 Lakh.
Mohun Bagan’s current star
player, Haitian international Sony Norde, was not present to receive the Karuna
Shankar Bhattacharya Memorial award for best footballer.
2) Kerala Tourism bags six National Tourism
awards
Kerala Tourism bagged six
National Tourism awards for 2014-15 in the marketing category for states. It
received two more awards, including the one for its Responsible Tourism (RT)
initiative in Wayanad.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan
presented the awards to Principal Secretary Venu V and Director U V Jose in the
presence of Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at a function at Vigyan Bhavan
in New Delhi.
3) Adman Srinivasan Swamy conferred with
AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award
The Advertising Agencies
Association of India (AAAI) conferred its Lifetime Achievement Award on famous
adman Srinivasan K.Swamy.
Mr. Swamy is popularly known as
Sundar. He is a veteran in the advertising industry and has almost four decades
of rich experience.
Swamy is Chairman of R.K. Swamy
Hansa, a diversified marketing communications group. He has served as the
President of AAAI for three consecutive terms from 2004 to 2007.
He is also the Vice Chairman of
the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and a Board Member of the
Audit Bureau of Circulations.
BANKING NEWS
1) SBI, associates
merger by March end: Bhattacharya
The merger of State Bank of India
with its associate banks and Bhartiya Mahila Bank is likely to be completed by
March 2017, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya said.
Employees of public sector banks
have gone on a one-day strike to protest against the proposed merger and
services of about 80,000 bank branches across the country were hit as a result
of the strike.
2) Stress tests find Europe’s bank sector
would survive fresh crisis
The European Banking Authority
(EBA) has found that EU's top 51 banks were resilient to a financial crisis
after conducting a stress test.
Italy's Monte Dei Paschi bank
performed the worst with capital ratio turning negative during a three-year
crisis scenario, indicating it would be insolvent.
However, EBA Chairman Andrea
Enria said, "This is not a clean bill of health".
3) ICICI Bank sets up top team to track
loans, sound 'NPA' alert
ICICI Bank has set up a team to
improve monitoring of credit and provide early warning of loans going bad after
a sharp rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last fiscal year.
The group will be separate from
existing loan-monitoring teams and is a result of suggestions by consultant
McKinsey.
ICICI Bank's net profit plunged
76 per cent in the quarter ended March, the biggest year-on-year drop since
inception as it set aside Rs 3,600 crore against bad loans.
4) Bank of India to allot preference shares
to govt for Rs 1,338 crores
Bank of India (BoI) will issue
shares on a preferential basis to the government for capital infusion of Rs
1,338 crore.
On the proposed preferential
issue, BoI said there is an ever-increasing need to raise capital for the bank
to comply with Basel II and III capital adequacy norms.
The government announced capital
infusion of Rs 22,915 crore in 13 public sector banks for the current financial
year and BoI is to get Rs 1,784 crore.
5) Fifteen banks ready to roll out UPI by
July 31
At least 15 banks, both from
public and private sectors, are ready to roll out the unified payments
interface (UPI) starting July 31.
The UPI system is a kind of
e-payment which can be authenticated using mobile phones.
Existing bank apps can be
UPI-enabled or have UPI apps. Customers can have a single virtual identity for
a bank account through which they can make and receive payments digitally.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
1) Flipkart valuation marked down by Morgan
Stanley fund to $9.39 billion
Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund Trust,
a mutual fund investor in Flipkart Ltd, has lowered its estimate of the online
retailer’s valuation by 15.5% for the second successive quarter in a row.
The fund marked down the value of
its Flipkart shares to $87.9 per share as of 31 March from $103.97 per share as
of 31 December. The December value marked a 27% fall from $142.24 per share in
June 2015, according to a regulatory filing by the firm in February.
2) FDI inflows
have risen 53% over last two years, says Finance Minister
India has seen a 53% rise in FDI
inflows in the last two years, and the shining investment climate, which is a
result of steps taken to foster growth, price stability and fiscal prudence,
can be cited as the reason behind it.
These said steps have also worked
to improve the overall macroeconomic stability, said the government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
said in Lok Sabha that nobody invests for "charity", and the
government was further working on improving the ease of doing business in the
country.
3) Infosys co-founder Kris invests in
GoCoop Solutions
Infosys co-founder Kris
Gopalakrishnan has co-invested in GoCoop Solutions and Services, a venture that
provides an online global marketplace for cooperatives and community-based
weavers and artisans.
The Bengaluru-based firm said it
has closed an undisclosed Series A funding from investors, including
Mr.Gopalakrishnan and Saha Fund. Existing investors Unitus Seed Fund and Indian
Angel Network led by Naga Prakasam also participated in the round.
GoCoop said that it plans to
utilise the funds to enhance its marketplace technology platform and expand its
buyer and seller base.
4) Gold bond scheme: Govt realises record
Rs 919 cr in fourth tranche
Government has realised Rs 919
crore through the fourth tranche of its Sovereign Gold Bond scheme -- the
highest so far.
The amount realised through the
fourth tranche, at around Rs 919 crore, is the highest achieved as yet
The previous highest was Rs 746
crore, which was realised in the second tranche, when the issue price was Rs
2,600 per gram of gold.
In the latest subscription, the
issue price was fixed at Rs 3,119. This time around, the amount was mobilised
through over 1.95 lakh applications representing around 2.95 tonnes of gold.
SBI, NSE, Bank of India, ICICI
Bank and HDFC Bank were the top five receiving offices. The total subscription
in the first three tranches was Rs 1,318 crore corresponding to 4.9 tonnes of
gold.
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
1) ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' book
launches in London
The book based on the script of
the play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' launched today globally.
This is JK Rowling’s eighth Harry
Potter story written along with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.
Thorne scripted the two-part play
based on the original story, which begins 19 years after 'Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows', which was published in 2007.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1) Brazil's former president Lula to stand
trial in corruption investigation
A Brazilian judge has accepted
charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for allegedly
obstructing the corruption probe at state-run oil giant Petrobras.
The decision published on Friday
named Silva and five others as co-conspirators in an alleged attempt to buy the
silence of a former Petrobras director implicated in the scandal.
Silva's lawyers filed a petition
at the UN Human Rights Committee alleging a lack of impartiality and abuse of
power by another judge investigating the Petrobras scandal.
2) UN extends peacekeeping mission in South Sudan
The United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) has extended the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan until 12
August, in the wake of renewed fighting in and around the capital, Juba.
On Friday the Council in its
meeting said there has been renewed heavy fighting around Juba between rival
forces loyal to South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and opposition leader, Riek
Machar. The mandate was expected to expire on Sunday but now extended for over
a week.
Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador
to the United Nations, told the council before the vote that the recent
violence in Juba was "horrifying but sadly not unexpected" because
the country’s leaders are unable to work together for their people.
3) Tunisia parliament votes to sack PM Habib Essid
Tunisia's parliament has passed a
vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid, effectively dismissing the
government of the US-trained economist.
A total of 188 MPs voted to sack
Mr Essid, with only three supporting him.
Mr Essid, who has been in office
less than two years, has faced criticism for what his opponents say is his
failure to push through economic reforms.
President Beji Caid Essebsi last
month called for a national unity government to break months of economic
turmoil.
NATIONAL NEWS
1) Suresh Prabhu Launches Construction of
Indian Railway's Longest Tunnel
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on
Saturday announced the commencement of works of the longest tunnel in the
Indian Railway - on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad gauge railway line in
Manipur.
The 111-km-long line comprises 37
tunnels and the tunnel no 12 will be the longest in the Indian Railway at 11.55
km.
Besides the longest tunnel in
Indian Railway, the stretch also has another striking feature - the tallest
bridge in the world, being constructed over Iring river with a pier height of
141 metres, almost equal to two Qutub Minar stacked over each other.
2) Google
doodle celebrates Munshi Premchand’s Birth anniversary
Google doodle celebrates 136th
birth anniversary of one of the greatest short story writers, Munshi Premchand.
Premchand, who has written many
short stories, essays and novels in his lifetime, was born on July 31, 1880 in
Lamhi, Uttar Pradesh.
The Google’s doodle shows
Premchand in a rural setting, which is the backdrop of most of his work. The
doodle takes inspiration from his last novel, Godaan (1936).
3) Bihar: Two new universities at Patna and
Patliputra recieve cabinet approval
The Bihar cabinet today gave its
approval for creation of two new universities in the state at Patna and Purnea.
A special meeting of the state
cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, paved way for
establishment of two new universities namely Patliputra University and Purnea
University, official sources said.
Many colleges affiliated to B N
Mandal University at present, would be brought under the new Purnea University.
Colleges in Patna and Nalanda, presently under Magadh University, would be
attached to Patliputra University, they said.
4) Assam Chief Minister gives order to
setup Embankment Protection Committee to be set up in Assam
A protection committee to avert
breaches in any embankment in flood-hit Assam will be set up with Chief
Minister Sarbananda Sonowal issuing directions to Chief Secretary V K
Pipersenia in this regard.
The Embankment Protection
Committee comprising of engineers, experts, youth organisations, NGOs, clubs
and socio-cultural organisations will help averting breaches in embankment with
timely intervention, an official release said.
5) ‘Madhubabu Pension Scheme’ to cover 3
lakh more people
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik today directed the district collectors to extend ‘Madhubabu Pension
Scheme’ to three lakh more beneficiaries from August 15.
The district collectors must
ensure that the people get pension under the social security scheme on time, he
said.
While 47 lakh people have already
been covered under the ‘Madhubabu Pension Scheme’, the number of beneficiaries
will increase to 50 lakh from August 15.
Speaking to the officers through
video conferencing, Patnaik told them to double the number of completed houses
under the rural housing scheme.
6) Centre to hold Make In India Conference
in Odisha in December
The Central government proposes
to organise a ‘Make in India’ conference in Bhubaneswar in December, an
official said on Saturday.
The conference would be organised
by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, to attract investment to Odisha as well as the country.
The Odisha government has
requested the ministry to hold the conference in the first week of December.
7) Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister
meets District Nodal Officers of Eastern and North Eastern States; 23 lakhs
connections issued so far under PMUY
Minister of State (Independent
Charge) of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has held meeting
with all District Nodal Officers (DNOs) of Eastern States and North Eastern
States.
Nearly 250 DNOs, Senior Officials
of the Ministry and Oil Marketing Companies attended the meeting.
The DNO meet was first such
meeting providing an opportunity for experience sharing by DNOs in implementing
Hon’ble Prime Minister’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) under
which LPG connections are given to women of BPL Households.
8) India to supply free ration to jobless
workers in Saudi Arabia
The government also immediately
announced that the unemployed Indian workers in Saudi Arabia would be given
free rations. Minister of state (MoS) for external affairs Gen. (retd.) V.K.
Singh has rushed to Saudi Arabia to take stock of the situation and discuss the
issue with the Saudi government.
“The number of Indian workers facing food
crisis in Saudi Arabia is over 10,000. I appeal to 30 lakh Indians in Saudi
Arabia. Please help your fellow brothers and sisters. There is nothing mightier
than the collective will of the Indian nation,” Ms Swaraj tweeted.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1) New artificial leaf converts CO2 into
usable hydrocarbon fuel using sunlight
Scientists have developed
"artificial leaves" - potentially game-changing solar cells that
cheaply and efficiently convert atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable
hydrocarbon fuel using sunlight.
Unlike conventional solar cells,
which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored in heavy batteries,
the new device essentially does the work of plants, converting atmospheric
carbon dioxide into fuel, solving two crucial problems at once.
A solar farm of such
"artificial leaves" could remove significant amounts of carbon from
the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently.
2) SpaceX Wins Second NASA Contract To Take
Astronauts To International Space Station
The US space agency has ordered a
second mission from Elon Musk's space transport services company SpaceX to take
astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
Commercial crew flights from
Florida's Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore America's
human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time US crews can dedicate
to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space
missions, including the Journey to Mars, NASA said in a statement on Saturday.
SPORTS
1) Novak Djokovic advances to Rogers Cup
final, will face Kei Nishikori
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic of
Serbia is on to the final of the Rogers Cup after a 6-3, 6-2 win over France's
Gael Monfils on Saturday night.
Djokovic will face third seed Kei
Nishikori of Japan in the final on Sunday afternoon.
Croatia's Ivan Dodig and Brazil's
Marcelo Melo will face Britain's Jamie Murray and Brazil's Bruno Soares in the
doubles final earlier Sunday.
2) Modi flags off ‘Run for Rio’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
flagged off the ‘Run for Rio’ here on Sunday as a means to encourage the Indian
contingent at the Olympics beginning on August 5.
The 5km run, from Major Dhyan
Chand National Stadium to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, had thousands of school
children and youth participating in what was meant to express the nation’s support
to the Indian athletes at Rio.
3) Bryan brothers pull out of Rio 2016
Olympics citing health concerns
Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, the
most successful doubles team in men’s tennis history, have pulled out of the
defence of their title at the Rio Games saying their family’s health is their
top priority.
Many athletes have withdrawn from
the Olympics over concerns about the mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to birth
defects in newborn babies and possible neurological problems in adults.
