Current Affairs Dialy Updates July 26th 2016:

Dear Readers,

Welcome to Mentor for Bank Exams. Here I am presenting 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.

DAYS TO REMEMBER:

1) Kargil Vijay Diwas was observed

Kargil Vijay Diwas, named after the success of Operation Vijay. On this day, 26 July 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders.
The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days, ended on 26 July and resulted in the loss of life on both sides, India and Pakistan and with the India regain possessions of Kargil.

NATIONAL:

1) Startup India States Conference to be held in New Delhi

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is organizing a day-long conference on Startup India in New Delhi

The main aim is to improve ease of doing business, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said a start-up would now need only a certificate of recognition from the government to avail IPR-related benefits.

Earlier, a budding entrepreneur had to go through an elaborate process of approaching an inter-ministerial board to procure the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) benefits.

2) Tamil Nadu and UP tops the list in Urban and Rural Internet connectivity Index list respectively

Tamil Nadu has maximum number of urban internet subscribers in India accounting for over nine per cent of country's total 231 million urban subscribers, with Maharashtra and Delhi having over 19 million users each.

Tamil Nadu boasts of over 21 million urban internet subscriber base, with Maharashtra and Delhi competing almost neck-to-neck with 19.7 million and 19.6 million subscribers respectively, followed by Karnataka with 17 million users, as on March, 2016.

3) Union Government to redraw Red Corridor

The Union Government is planning to redraw Red Corridor by reducing the number of Maoist (LWE: Left wing extremism) affected districts by about a fifth.

In this regard, approximately 20 of the 106 districts which have been described as being Maoist-affected and are part of the Red Corridor may be removed from the list.

The Red Corridor is a region in the eastern part of India that experiences considerable Naxalite – Maoist insurgency. There are 106 districts spanning across 10 States in the Red Corridor.’ Of these, 44 districts are worst-affected.

4) Orientation Workshop under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme held in New Delhi today

An orientation workshop under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development was held in New Delhi today.

Principal Secretaries of WCD/Social Welfare Departments of states, District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners, and representatives of other relevant district level authorities of 61 additional districts selected under the expansion of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme participated in the workshop.

In today’s workshop, the Ministries of Women & Child Development, Health and Family Welfare and Human Resource Development shared experiences from their sectoral interventions on improving the Sex Ratio at Birth, initiatives undertaken to encourage girl child education and to strengthen the advocacy initiatives.

5) Karnataka opens dedicated start-up cell

Nine months after announcing its start-up policy, the Karnataka government has set up a dedicated Start-up Cell to fuel the implementation of the initiatives under the policy.

The cell provides a springboard to facilitate sanctions of incentives and concessions under the Start-up Policy 2015-2020, for start-ups registered with it.

A portal, www.startup.karnataka.gov.in, was launched on Monday to enable and educate start-ups on the State government’s policies and provide access to various benefits under the policy. All technology-based start-ups that fall under the criteria listed by the State government can register with the portal.

6) Haryana notifies Freight Assistance Scheme for exporting MSMEs

Haryana Government has notified the "Freight Assistance Scheme" for the exporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) located anywhere in the State on 25 July 2016.

It has given time till September 9 to submit the claim application on the web portal of the Industries and Commerce department for the financial year 2015-16.

The decision was taken in backdrop of the additional cost that is borne by the MSMEs exporting unit located in the state due to large distances from the sea ports. This distance results in making their products non-competitive in comparison to the exporting units located in the coastal area.

7) UIDAI Lok Sabha passes IIT (Amendment) Bill

The Lok Sabha passed the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that will govern the six new recently set up Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and bring the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand within the ambit of this law.

Human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar said in his reply to a debate on the bill that the government will set up a fund with a Rs.1,000 crore investment and an equal contribution from a financial institution that will leverage Rs.20,000 crore for adding research infrastructure to IITs.

INTERNATIONAL:

1) Iraq overtakes Saudi Arabia as India's top oil seller

Iraq has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India's top crude oil supplier while Iran has grabbed the fourth biggest exporter slot post lifting of sanctions.

Iraq sold 11 million tonnes (MT) of crude oil to India during April-June, higher than 10 MT sourced from Saudi Arabia, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

Saudi Arabia has been India's top supplier of crude oil, selling 35 MT of oil in 2014-15 and 40.04 MT in 2015-16.

Iran, which was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia in 2010-11, had been relegated to seventh place in 2013-14 and 2014-15 out of the 50-odd nations India sources its crude oil from.

2) BRICS policy planning dialogue meeting in Patna

The BRICS policy planning dialogue meet is going to be held today in Patna.

The BRICS delegates’ countries-Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and China will be participating in this meeting.

This dialogue meeting is held ahead of the eighth BRICS Summit, which will be in Goa on October 15-16 under the chairmanship of India.

As per reports, Santosh Jha, the Joint Secretary (Planning and policy) of Ministry of External Affairs, has said that the discussions will further take forward the policy planning talks which are initiated under the chairmanship of Russia in 2015 in line with this year’s theme of the building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions.

BANKING NEWS:

1) RBI imposes Rs 2-crore penalty on HDFC Bank

Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 crore on HDFC Bank for lapses in adhering to Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) norms.

The RBI has also slapped a fine of Rs 5 crore on Bank of Baroda (BoB) over Rs 6,100-crore scandal exposed last year.

The RBI issued a show-cause notice to which the Bank submitted its detailed response.

2) Federal Bank partners with Reliance Jio Money

Federal Bank has signed an agreement with Reliance Jio Money for one-click payment service.

Reliance Jio Money is a wallet application that will be launched soon for mobile devices where Federal Bank will enable a direct payment option for its customers.

Through this service, the leading private sector bank's customers can complete a transaction without funding the wallet.

The bank's customers will get a facility to directly pay from their account for the services offered through the wallet (without pre-loading their wallet).

3) ICICI, Axis bank join Swift's global payments initiative

Global payments leader SWIFT said ICICI Bank and Axis have become the first domestic lenders to sign up for its global payments innovation initiative, which already has over 70 other leading banks globally.

The initiative aims to enhance cross-border payments by leveraging Swift's messaging platform and global reach and in the first phase, the initiative will focus on business-to-business payments.

BUSINESS NEWS:

1) SBI, IOC tied up to empower farmers

State Bank of India and Indian Oil Corporation has tied up to implement the bank's financial inclusion programme for farmers through the oil company's Kisan Seva Kendras.

Under the agreement, SBI will provide access to banking services for the farmers utilising the IOC's kiosks (booths, stall) and also supplement (augment, increase) their incomes by earning revenue on banking transactions.

The new SBI-IOC initiative will help farmers avail facilities and various banking products and services like bank accounts, term deposits, recurring deposits, micro-credit, remittances, social security schemes, Aadhaar Seeding through the kiosks.

2) Thomas Cook India inks pact with Matrimony Bazaar

Travel services provider Thomas Cook (India) has entered into a partnership with Matrimony Bazaar to tap the 'romantic leisure travel' segment which is seeing an "exponential" growth.

The company however did not disclose any financial details about the partnership. The romantic leisure travel segment is witnessing exponential growth with Indian couples expressing increasing appetite for fresh, new and off-beat locales with engaging itineraries.

3) Tata AIG launches travel insurance for Axis Bank customers

Tata AIG General Insurance has launched an integrated travel product, for all Axis Bank customers through the bank’s one stop solution called ‘Happy Holidays Package’.

The package allows Axis Bank customers, who are travelling abroad to buy Tata AIG travel insurance policy instantly and in a seamless (smooth) manner from the bank’s mobile application.

4) Hinduja National Power commissions 1,040 MW thermal power project in Visakhapatnam

Hinduja National Power Corporation Limited (HNPCL) has commissioned its 1,040 MW coal fired thermal power project located near Visakhapatnam.

The company has commissioned 2x520 MW thermal power plants and expects it to cater to the increasing demand for electricity in Andhra Pradesh, which has become the first southern State to become power surplus.

Andhra Pradesh is implementing 24X7 “Power for All Scheme.” The State had initiated the power sector reforms in 1998 and now has a total installed capacity is 15,311 MW. It is aiming at achieving 29,000 megawatt installed capacity by 2019.

5) Vodafone M-Pesa ties up with Punjab power utility

Vodafone M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer platform, has tied up with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to enable consumers pay their electricity bills instantly.

Vodafone M-Pesa offers customers a cashless, secure platform for electricity bill payments with the largest network of agents (or CashIn Points) to enable digitisation of money for cash holding population, said a company statement.

6) Flipkart pips Snapdeal and Future Group, acquires Jabong

Flipkart's unit Myntra, has acquired Jabong from Global Fashion Group to become India's biggest fashion shopping destination.

This acquisition will strengthen Flipkart Group's position in Fashion and Lifestyle segment to compete with Amazon Fashion in India.

Jabong has been in the market for a sell-off and had held talks with companies such as Future Group, Snapdeal, Aditya Birla -owned Abof among others.

APPOINTMENTS:

1) National Museum gets new chief

The Central government on Monday appointed Dr Buddha Rashmi Mani as the Director General of the National Museum.

Dr Mani is an ex-Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) official who was part of the team that had discovered remains of a likely temple during excavation at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

Dr Mani was later removed from the team by the ASI on the directions of the Allahabad High Court. Dr Mani retired as Additional Director General of ASI in 2015.

Shortly after his appointment was confirmed, Dr Mani told the newspaper that he stands by his team's findings.

2) Dr. Sanjiv Misra appointed as Additional Director and Non-Executive (part time) Chairman at Axis Bank

Mumbai-headquartered, Axis Bank has stated that the Reserve Bank of India has granted approval for appointment of Sanjiv Misra as Additional Director and the Non-Executive (Part-Time) Chairman of the bank for a period of three years with effect from July 18, 2016, up to July 17, 2019 (both days inclusive).

Mr. Misra has a Master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and a Ph. D from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

AWARDS AND HONORS:

1) Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar's statue to be installed in Haridwar

Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul has unveiled here the plaque of a statue of Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar for installation in Haridwar.

The programme was held at the Raj Bhawan here on the first day of Tamil new year.

The statue is being installed on the efforts of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay who has contributed Rs 20 lakh from his local area development fund.

Unveiling the plaque, the governor said teachings of saints like Thiruvalluvar have shown people the way for hundreds of years. Though India is home to diverse cultures, all of them have the same basic ethical system.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

1) Scientists working toward storing digital information in DNA

Scientists are working towards storing digital data in the base sequence of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Thus they are seeking to make the genetic material capable to store data for long time in durable format as an archive data for the future.

Advantages: DNA digital data storage technology has very long durability i.e. scientists can store digital information in DNA sequences for thousands of years. Information stored in DNA consumes very little space.

Challenges: Making this technology practical and much cheaper using current technology is hugely expensive.

2) Solar plane makes history after completing round-the-world trip

Solar Impulse 2 has completed the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane, after touching down in Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday.

The final leg of the feat, aimed at showcasing the potential of renewable energy, was a bumpy one, with turbulence driven by hot desert air leaving the solo pilot, Bertrand Piccard, fighting with the controls.

The plane, which has a wingspan wider than a Boeing 747 and carries more than 17,000 solar cells on its wings, began the circumnavigation in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi. It has since crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans using no fossil fuel and has spent more than 23 days in the air.

SPORTS NEWS:

1) R Ashwin becomes No. 1 Test bowler again after taking 7 wickets

Indian offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin today (July 26) became the number one Test bowler again, after taking 7 wickets in the 1st Test against West Indies on Sunday (July 24).

In the latest ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers released on Tuesday, Ashwin has returned to the top of the charts, replacing Pakistani legspinner Yasir Shah. Ashwin moved one spot to achieve 876 rating points while Yasir slipped 4 positions

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