Current Affairs Daily
Updates: 20th July 2017
AWARDS AND
HONOURS
L K Advani
receives Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions in Lok Sabha
- Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani received the Lifetime Achievement
Award for his contributions as a parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha.
- Sharad Yadav received the Lifetime Achievement Award as a Rajya
Sabha representative from Vice President Hamid Ansari at a function
organised by the Lokmat Media Group to honour distinguished Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha members.
Sheikha
Lubna Al Qasimi tops poll of most powerful Arab women
- According to Forbes Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Minister of State for Tolerance Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi topped a poll of
the most powerful Arab women in Government.
- Released a list of the top 100 most powerful Arab business women for
2017.
- The UAE represents the highest number of women with 18 followed by
Egypt with 16 Ms Qasimi was followed by two women from Egypt.
Indians win
gold and bronze at first global robotics Olympiad
- A group of seven Indian students bagged two awards at a robotics
Olympiad organised by ‘FIRST Global’ in the Washington United States of
America.
- Students from Mumbai won gold for Zhang Heng Engineering Design
Award
- The Indian team also won a bronze for Global Challenge Match.
BUSINESS AND
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
ADB
projects 7.4% growth for India in 2017
- According, to Asian Development Bank supplement report India is
expected to achieve the projected growth rate of 7.4 per cent in 2017 and
further up to 7.6 per cent next year on strong consumption demand, with
South Asia leading the growth chart in Asia and the Pacific.
- According to the report, South Asia will be the fastest growing of
all sub-regions in Asia and the Pacific, with growth on track to meet
original projections of 7 per cent in 2017 and 7.2 per cent in 2018.
Google
introduces recruiting app ‘Hire’ for business
- Google launched ‘Hire, a recruiting app for small and medium sized
businesses that integrates seamlessly with G Suite.
- The launch of Hire app is seen an apparent move to compete with
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.
- Hire makes it easy to identify talent, build strong candidate
relationships and efficiently manage the interview process end-to-end.
- It integrates seamlessly with G Suite apps like Gmail and Google
Calender that are being used by over three million businesses to drive
recruiting efforts.
INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Australia
joins International Solar Alliance led by India and France
- Australia became the 35th country to join the International Solar
Alliance (ISA), an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
November 2015 in Paris.
- The larger aim of ISA is to mobilise over $ 1000 billion by 2030
towards promoting solar power on all fronts generation and storage.
- India is contributing $1 million to the ISA fund the Indian Renewable
Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Solar Energy Corporation of India
(SECI).
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Cabinet
Approvals on 19th July 2017
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
has approved following agreements and MoUs on different fields.
- The
Cabinet has approved:
- MOC in respect of tax matters between India and BRICS countries –
Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
- MoU between India and Netherlands on cooperation in space
technology.
- IRDAI’s admission as a signatory to International Association of
Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding
(MMoU).
- Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
- Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
- Revision of Indian Community Welfare Fund guidelines.
- Cadre Review of Indian Defence Accounts Service, IDAS.
Telangana
launches ‘Janahitha’ for speedy redressal of public grievances
- The Telangana government launched a special portal called
“Janahitha” to receive complaints from the public. The programme was
inaugurated in Suryapet district on a pilot basis by Telangana Energy
Minister G Jagadish Reddy.
- The portal, which has been developed by Telangana’s IT department is
a single window for all grievances and their redressal management. It is
aimed at facilitating the public to submit their complaints online and get
speedy redressal.
Ram Nath
Kovind is the next President of India
- National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former Bihar
Governor Ram Nath Kovind will be India's 14th President of the country.
- He defeated opposition's Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker,
winning more than 65 percent of the votes in the Electoral College.
- A total of 32 polling stations including the one in Parliament House
was set up in various states and a total number of 4,896 electors, 4,120
MLAs and 776 elected MPs are eligible to cast their ballot.
Patnaik
dedicates to Nation Odisha’s longest bridge
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated to the nation the
state's longest bridge and named it after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
- It is 2.88 km bridge over the river Kathajodi will connect the state
capital of Bhubaneswar with Cuttack reducing the distance between the two
cities by 12 kilometres.
- He laid the foundation in February 2011, the completion missed the
deadline by over three years.
Environment
Ministry approves Projects in 3 States under NAFCC
- The Union Environment Ministry approved three projects for climate
change adaptation in three states namely Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim for
funding under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC).
- In this regard, the National Steering Committee on Climate Change
(NSCCC) headed by Environment Secretary approved the Detailed Project
Reports (DPRs) submitted by these three state governments.
- NAFCC is a scheme of Union Government launched in 2015 to provide
100% central grant to the State Governments for implementing climate
change adaptation projects.
Lok Sabha
passes Indian Institutes of Information Technology (PPP) Bill, 2017
- The Lok Sabha passed the Indian Institute of Information Technology
Public Private Partnership (IIIT-PPP) Bill, 2017.
- The bill is used to grant institute of national importance status to
IIITs on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and
National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
- The bills define PPP as a partnership under a scheme of the centre
for establishment of institutes through collaboration between the centre,
the state Government and industry partners such as individuals, trusts,
companies or societies.
Underwater
‘ghost nets’ posing threat to marine ecosystem off Kerala
- The underwater Ghost nets posing threat to the marine ecosystem off
Kerala coast.
- It may become a major threat to the natural habitat and breeding
ground of underwater fish.
- Kerala state is well known for its Underwater fishing zone.
Union Cabinet
approves MOC in respect of tax matters between India and BRICS countries
- The Union Cabinet approves the signing of Memorandum of Cooperation
(MOC) in respect of tax matters between India and the BRICS countries
namely, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
- It aims to promote cooperation amongst BRICS Revenue administrations
on common areas of interest in tax matters and capacity building and
knowledge sharing.
- The decision is taken by the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
UIDAI
launches mAadhaar app for Aadhaar data on phone
- The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched
‘mAadhaar’, a new mobile application for syncing Aadhaar data on mobile
phones.
- The app allows users to carry their unique Aadhaar information
including name, date of birth, gender, address, and the linked photograph,
on their smartphones. The app also allows users to lock or unlock
biometrics data.
- It also allows viewing and sharing updated Aadhaar profile via QR
(Quick Response) code and sharing eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer)
details with service providers such as telecommunications companies. It
also has a “Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP)” feature that can be used
instead of SMS (short messaging service)-based OTP (one-time password).
