Current Affairs - July 2, 2017 Current Affairs

World Sports Journalists Day is celebrated on July 2, to mark the services of sports journalists for the promotion of sports. It was established by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) in 1994 to mark the 70th anniversary of its foundation. The term "sports journalism" refers to a form of writing that reports on sporting topics, it is an essential element of any news media organization.

Indian Prime Narendra Modi formally inaugurated TransStadia in Ahmedabad, Gujarat earlier today. The multi-purpose sports complex also hosts a 20-000 seater state-of-the-art football stadium, the first of its kind in the state. TransStadia is a Rs. 550 crore project, built on a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, and is hailed as India's first convertible stadium.

The first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India was named Innovate in India (i3). It is launched by the Cabinet Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. It is an investment of USD 250 million with USD 125 million as a loan from world Bank and is anticipated to be a game changer for the Indian Biopharmaceutical industry.

'Vikrikar Bhavan' the headquarters of Maharashtragovernment's erstwhile Sales Tax department, was renamed as 'GST Bhavan" as the new tax regime rolled out. In two years, the 'GST Bhavan' will be shifted to Wadala from Mazgaon.

Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveries have been awarded the 2017 Global Leadership Awards of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) at the USIBC 42nd Anniversary Leadership Summit in Washington DC for their role in integrating India in the global supply chain. Both were honoured for creating inclusive business environments, integrating India into the global supply chain and advancing core values such as manufacturing, innovation and scale in tough market conditions.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated computerisation of PACS and launched RuPay Kisan Credit cards in the state. It is the first state to implement an integrated Core Banking Solution Project covering all three tiers of short term cooperative credit structure - state cooperative bank, district central cooperative banks and 2,708 primary agriculture cooperative societies.

Writer Preeti Shenoy was honoured with the Indian of the Year award. She is one of the most reputed branding companies in India to recognise the achievements of personalities who have contributed towards building up the reputation of the country.

Vijay Gokhale, a 1981 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed as the new Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Currently, he is Indian Ambassador to China. Beside this, Gokhale has served as Ambassador of India to Germany and also in Indian missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) Maestro debit cards holders will face a card blockage if they fail to replace it with a more secure EMV chip based card by the end of July. It will not charge anything for the replacement and it will be provided free of cost. As per RBI advisory, existing magnetic stripe only cards need to be replaced with EMV chip and pin based cards by December 31, 2018, irrespective of the validity period of the cards.

Rail Land Development Authority joined hands with National Building Construction Corporation for redevelopment of 10 railway stations across the country on global standards. It has embarked on an ambitious project to redevelop 403 stations with the participation of private players, public sector and foreign agencies. The stations are Tirupati, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Nellore, Puducherry, Madgao,Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota, Thane (New), and Ernakulam.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Sunday announced exemption of fees for its transgender students of all programmes. The university holds the lecture on 2 July every year in the memory of the founding Vice Chancellor of the university professor G Ram Reddy. It invites eminent educationists and scholars to deliver lectures on higher education, especially in the open and distance learning domain.