Current Affairs Daily Updates: 29th July 2017
AWARDS AND
HONOURS
Jhulan
Goswami and Subrata Bhattacharya felicitated by Mohun Bagan
- Mohun
Bagan was conferred former club captain and coach Subrata Bhattacharya
with prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna award at the club’s annual day
programme in kolkata.
- The
city football gaint also felicitated India Women’s cricket team veteran
pacer Jhulan Goswami with a special award. On the other hand, former club
striker Balwant Singh was awarded the Best Football Player of the Year
prize.
- Debabrata
Das was honoured with the Best Cricket Player of the Year award. Former
Bengal batsman Shyam Sundar Mitra was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement
Award.
BANKING AFFAIRS
IOB goes
live with Bharat Bill Payment system
- Public
sector Indian Overseas Bank has offered Bharat Bill Payment System,
introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India, for its
customers.
- BBPS
is an integrated bill payment system that offers inter-operable online
bill payments to customers.
- The
services include online payments of electricity, telecommunication, DTH,
water and gas bills, the Chennai headquartered bank said in a statement.
- Indian
Overseas Bank is one of the three public sector banks (apart from Bank of
Baroda and Union Bank of India) to get the approval from RBI for providing
the service.
Reserve
Bank of India sets up Supervisory Colleges for six Scheduled Commercial Banks
- Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has set up Supervisory Colleges for six Scheduled
Commercial Banks which have a sizeable international presence: - State
Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd., Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank
Ltd. and Punjab National Bank.
- The
main objectives of the colleges to enhance information exchange and
cooperation among supervisors, to improve understanding of the risk
profile of the banking group and thereby facilitate more effective
supervision of internationally active banks.
BUSINESS AND
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Govt.
collected more than Rs. 2.35 lakh crore as cesses in 2016-17
- According
to the minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar, the union
government has collected more than two lakhs thirty-five crore rupees last
fiscal by way of a host of cesses (including education, Swachh Bharat, and
Krishi Kalyan).
- The
total revenue generated from cesses and surcharges under direct tax was
around Rs. 47,000 crores.
- In
2016-17, the amount generated from the cesses and surcharges under the
indirect tax category stood at around one lakh 88,000 crore rupees.
India's
Foreign Exchange Reserves touch record high of USD 391.33 bn
- According
to Reserve Bank of India data, the Country’s Foreign
Exchange Reserves touched a new record high of USD 391 point 33 billion
aided by the increase in foreign Currency Assets (FCAs).
- Gold
reserves remained unchanged at USD 20.35 billion.
- The
special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went up
by USD 12.1 million to USD 1.491 billion.
- Country's
reserve position with the IMF too increased by USD 19 million to USD 2.341
billion.
IMPORTANT DAYS
OBSERVED
International
Tiger Day is observed on July 29
- The
7th International Tiger Day is observed Globally on 29 July.
- This
year’s International Tiger Day would be celebrated with the slogan ‘Fresh
Ecology For Tigers’ Protection’.
- Jim
Corbett National Park, a famous National Park for tigers is situated at
Uttarakhand.
INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi, interim PM of Pakistan
- The
ruling Pakistan Muslim League has selected Minister for Petroleum and
Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to be the interim prime minister
of Pakistan.
- Nawaz
Sharif had recently resigned as Pakistan Prime Minister after the Supreme
Court disqualified him from holding public office. The court disqualified
Sharif under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Punjab
launches flagship ‘care companion programme’ scheme
- The
Punjab health minister Brahm Mohindra launched a flagship care companion
health scheme.
- The
main aim is to improve patient outcomes through better family engagement
and education.
- The
state department of health and family welfare signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Noora Health India Trust, a healthcare-profit
organisation, for implementation of the ‘Care Companion Programme’ (CCP).
- The
objective is to reduce the number of infant deaths and complications like
infections in the first 30 days post discharge and ensure adoption of
long-term health pro-motive behaviours. The innovative programme includes
teaching the family of patient’s high-impact medical skills to take care
of the patients in the hospital and at home.
Bengaluru
ranks 40 among top 50 cities for women entrepreneurs
- Bengaluru
has ranked 40 out of 50 cities on Women Entrepreneur (WE) Cities Index
2017 study released by Dell.
- It is
the only other Indian city in the top 50 list is Delhi at the 49th
position.
- Singapore
was at the 8th spot the only city from Asia Pacific and Japan region.
- New
York topped the list followed by Bay Area (US), London (UK), Boston (US)
and Stockholm (Sweden).
Union
Government launches Sagar Vani to alert Coastal Community
- Union
Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan launched
‘Sagar Vani’ system to communicate and help the coastal community,
especially fishermen, with advisories and warnings related to the safety
at sea.
- The
‘Sagar Vani’ is a software platform where various dissemination modes will
be integrated on a single central server.
- The
system that can send information in regional languages through various
platforms including radio, television, voice calling, text service, social
media, mobile apps and e-mail aims at timely dissemination of ocean
information and advisory services that includes Potential Fishing Zone
(PFZ) advisories, Ocean State Forecast (OSF), High Wave Alerts and Tsunami
early warnings.
NPCI
receives final nod from RBI to function as Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit
- National
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) received a final nod from the Reserve
Bank of India to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU)
and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
- Last
year, BBPS operating units received in-principle approval from Reserve
Bank of India took part in the pilot.
- The
Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is a
RBI conceptualized system driven by National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI).
NITSER
(National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research) Amendment
Bill passed in Rajya Sabha
- The
NITSER (National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research)
Amendment Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha.
- The
Bill proposes to introduce two new Institutions namely Indian Institute of
Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati and IISER Berhampur in the
Second Schedule of the NITSER Act, 2007.
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS
Iran
successfully launches satellite-carrying rocket
- Iran
successfully launched a satellite-carrying rocket Simorgh into space
recently.
- The
launch of a “Simorgh” rocket that is capable of carrying a satellite
weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds). “Simorgh” means “phoenix” in Farsi.
- It
took place at the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan, 220
kilometres (138 miles) east of Tehran.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
HS Prannoy
got 17th spot in BWF Rankings
- Indian
shuttler HS Prannoy got the 17th position in the Badminton World
Federation (BWF) World rankings.
- Ajay
Jayaram is ranked 16th, while B Sai Praneeth is 19th place recently.
- Another
Indian shuttler Sameer Verma climbed four places from 32 to 28 and became
the fourth Indian to qualify for the World Championship.
- Indian,
Kidambi Srikanth is highest ranked at number 8. India now has four
shuttlers in top-20.
