Current Affairs Daily Updates: 7th
July 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Kewal Handa appointed as Non-executive chairman of Union Bank
- Kewal Handa was appointed as non-executive
chairman of Union Bank of India.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has
approved Handa’s appointment as non-official director/non-executive
chairman of the bank.
- An order was issued by the Department of
Personnel and Training (DoPT) and Handa will hold the post for a period of
three years.
Sanjiv Goenka named as IIT-Kharagpur chairman
- Sanjiv Goenka named as the Chairman of the
Board of Governors at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.
- He will serve as the Chairman for three years.
- He served as a member of the Prime Minister’s
Council on Trade & Industry, and also on several academic institutions
as member and chair of its Governing bodies.
BANKING AFFAIRS
RBI limits Customer liability in Online Banking Services
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued directions
on ‘Customer Protection – Limiting Liability of Customers in unauthorized
Electronic Banking Transactions’.
- If the customers report to the banks regarding
the loss they suffer through online banking transactions within three
days, then the amount involved will be credited to their accounts within a
time period of 10 days.
- The banks should ask its customers to
mandatorily register for SMS alerts and e-mail for email alerts for
electronic banking transactions.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
BMI Research: India to have a GDP Growth of 6.9% in this Fiscal
- According to BMI Research, a Fitch group
company, India is expected to register a growth of 6.9% in this financial
year.
- BMI Research was founded in 1984 by Business
Monitor International and later in 2014, it was acquired by Fitch Group.
The firm performs industry and financial market analysis in 24 industries
and 200 global markets.
Indus OS partners with YES Bank to launch OS-integrated UPI platform
- Indus Operating System partners with YES Bank
to launch Operating System integrated UPI (Unified Payment Interface) payment
platform in India.
- The Users with Indus OS will be able to use
this UPI payment platform on SMS, dialler interface, and on third party
apps like WhatsApp.
Siemens opens its first digital factory in India
- Siemens has opened its first digital factory in
India. It is also the third globally after one each in Germany and China.
- It aims to provide a comprehensive portfolio of
hard ware and software products which enable comprehensive integration of
data from development, production, and suppliers.
- The factory is situated on the outskirts of
Mumbai is capable of producing more than 180 variants of low-voltage
switchgear at the rate of one product every nine seconds.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
India ranks 23rd among 165 nations in Cyber-security Index
- India ranked a high 23rd out of 165 Nations in
a Global Index that measures the commitment of nations across the world to
cyber security.
- The second Global Cyber-security Index (GCI)
was released by the UN telecommunications agency International
Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- The top 5 most committed countries to cyber
security are Singapore, The United States, Malaysia, Oman, Estonia.
European Parliament approves first ever EU-Cuba agreement
- The European Parliament approved a first-ever
cooperation deal between the European Union and Cuba.
- The French city of Strasbourg approved the
Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement which was signed in December
2016.
- The European Parliament is headquartered in
Brussels, Belgium.
India becomes Fourth Largest Foreign Investor into UK
- As per the official figures published by the
United Kingdom Department for International Trade, India became the fourth
largest foreign investor into the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016-17.
- India is sharing the fourth spot with Australia
and New Zeland made to set up 127 projects collectively.
- The United States of America remains the top
most investor in the UK by setting up of 577 projects in 2016-17.
- China (including Hong Kong) with 160 projects
and France with 131 projects have been placed in the second and third
positions respectively.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
“JIGYASA”
- Student-Scientist connect programme launched
- Jigyasa, a student- scientist connect programme
was officially launched in the national capital.
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), has joined hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to
implement this programme.
- The focus is on connecting school students and
scientists so as to extend student’s classroom learning with that of a
very well planned research laboratory based learning.
India
declares itself free from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1 and H5N8)
- India has declared itself free from Avian
Influenza (H5N8 and H5N1) from 6th June, 2017 and notified the same to
OIE.
- India had reported outbreaks of Highly
Pathogenic Avian influenza at various epicenters in Delhi, Gwalior (MP),
Rajpura (Punjab), Hissar (Haryana), Bellary (Karnataka), Allappuzha and
Kottayam (Kerala), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Daman (Daman) and Khordha and
Angul (Odisha during October, 2016 to February, 2017.
- All the outbreaks of Avian Influenza (HPAI)
mentioned above were notified to OIE and the control and containment
operations were carried out as per the Action Plan on Preparedness,
Control and Containment of Avian Influenza.
HRD Ministry: No Detention Policy to be removed from next Academic Year
- The HRD Ministry has decided to remove the
no-detention policy for students from the next academic year.
- Under the Right to Education Act, no child will
be detained or held back in any class or expelled till the completion of
elementary education covering classes 1 to 8.
- The government’s decision comes after it had
received several complaints regarding the deterioration of the quality of
basic education in the country.
- In addition, the States have been asking for
the withdrawal of the no-detention policy from the Right to Education Act
2009.
- As per the critics, the policy has resulted in remarkable
improvement in enrollments but has brought down the academic standards.
Bengaluru man spots rare ‘pale’ tiger in the Nilgiris
- A rare ‘white tiger’ with a pale skin color has
been spotted for the first time in the Nilgiris by a wildlife
photographer.
- Photographer Nilanjan Ray from Bengaluru
spotted the cat at an undisclosed location on a recent trip to the Nilgiri
Biosphere Reserve.
- They are predominantly found in Rewa, Madhya
Pradesh.
Odisha Government signs EOI with IAAF & AFI to establish High
Performance Academy
- Odisha Government signs an Expression of Intent
(EOI) with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
- The State Government would provide
infrastructure and support services including the outdoor stadium,
medicine and physiotherapy facilities and specialists, international
sports hostel for the athletes and coaches and visiting foreign countries.
- The state Sports and Youth Services Department
will provide funds and make available infrastructure and support services.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
Pakistan successfully test fires short-range ballistic missile Nasr
- Pakistan successfully test-fired short-range
surface-to-surface ballistic missile 'Nasr'.
- NASR is a high-precision weapons system with
the ability for quick deployment and a range of 70 kilometers, or 43.5
miles.
- Pakistan Army has conducted a series of
training launches and tests during the current week for validation of new
technical parameters of 'NASR' with an enhanced range of 60-70 kilometers.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
Manpreet Kaur, Govindan Laxmanan win gold in Asian Athletics
Championships
- India’s Manpreet Kaur won the Gold medal in the
women’s Shot Put on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championships
2017 at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
- Govindan Laxman in the men’s 5,000 meters and
also won Gold Medal.
India ranked 96th in FIFA Rankings
- India is placed at the 100th position in the
ranking of Federation International of Football Association (FIFA).
- The FIFA World Rankings ranks the men’s national
teams in association football. The rankings were first introduced in 1992.
- At present, Germany leads the ranking. Germany
is followed by Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, and Switzerland in the
rankings.
