Current Affairs - July 5, 2019 Current Affairs

The Department of Sports and Youth Service of the Odisha government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and Odisha State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) to host the 21st Commonwealth Championship for the year 2019. It will be held from July 17-22, 2019 at the Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha.

2019 UK-India Awards marked the conclusion of the annual UK-India Week in London. This was the 3rd edition of the UK-India Award organised by India Inc., a media house based in London. AXIS Bank Limited was conferred with the Finance Organisation of the Year.

Uttar Pradesh government launched a toll-free Chief Minister helpline 1076. This scheme will enable people from across the state to register their complaints and a time-bound action will be taken. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will personally review the complaints every month. The people now don't need to travel to Lucknow to lodge their complaints. The action will be taken against those who make false complaints. The CM helpline number 1076. The helpline will work 24x7 and anyone from any part of the state. The 500-seater call center established for the helpline.

Working Women's Forum (WWF) founder Dr. Jaya Arunachalam, aged 87, passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu after a brief illness. She hailed from Tamil Nadu. She was the president of the National Union of Working Women, in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Vice President of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) and member of the All India Congress Committee. She was the first South Asian woman member to be elected to the Governing Council of the Society for International Development, Rome. She was also a member of the Inter-ministerial Conference on Women and Children to the Philippines in the year 1994.

The Economic Survey has projected 7 percent growth in GDP in 2019-20. The Economic survey was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on July 4, 2019.

The CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has signed Mou with Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) to provide DNA-based diagnostic service to the public at lower cost and to develop newer diagnostic methods has been signed here. The objectives of the MoU include provision of quality DNA-based diagnostic services to the public at lower costs, to develop newer diagnostic methods and to engage in scientific research to improve understanding of human genetic disorders. Both the institutes have also mutually agreed to undertake training and educational activities in genetic diagnostics. The CDFD is a Biotechnology research centre i.e. operated by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology. It is located at Hyderabad, Telangana.

The South Central Railway (SCR) had commissioned the longest electrified tunnel of 6.6 km between Cherlopalli and Rapuru stations in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The tunnel is part of the recently completed Obulavaripalli-Venkatachalam new railway line.

The West Bengal Assembly passed a bill endorsing hiking of retirement age of Vice-chancellors of State own Universities from 65 years to 70 years replacing an ordinance on the matter.

China will provide 2,500 metric tons of rice to Bangladesh for the forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar. This was part of nine instruments signed between Bangladesh and China on July 4, 2019.

The International Monetary Fund Executive board approved a three-year, USD 6 billion loan package for Pakistan to rein in mounting debts and stave off a looming balance of payments crisis, in exchange for tough austerity measures.

Quantela Inc, a Hyderabad and Silicon Valley-headquartered digital technology company, was awarded World Economic Forum's (WEF) 'Technology Pioneers' award 2019. It was selected by a selection committee of more than 59 academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate executives.Quantela: It is a new age digital technology solutions company focused on IoT(Internet of Things). It provides a comprehensive, customizable, scalable platform, "Atlantis" that helps cities to proactively predict and solve social, economic and environmental problems.Technologies: This year technology pioneers emerged from a diverse set of industries focusing on AI(Artificial Intelligence), IoT, robotics, blockchain, etc.

The first live payments bank in the country, Air-tel Payments Bank has partnered with Bharti AXA Life Insurance to offer Bharti AXA Life POS (Point of Sale) Saral Jeevan Bima Yojana, a pure life term insurance plan up to Rs 5 lakh which is aimed at the under-insured and uninsured segments in India. The policy available at Airtel Payments Bank's 25,000 retail outlets will be expanded to cover over 60,000 banking points. The customers are offered the option of life cover between 3-5 lakh and it will soon be extended up to Rs 25 lakh. Any individual between the ages of 18 and 55 can enroll for this product. In 2018 Airtel Payments Bank had also partnered with Bharti AXA Life Insurance to offer Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).

Minister of Electronics and Information and Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in a written reply in Lok Sabha stated that comprehensive legislation on data privacy named Data Protection Bill is under formulation to strengthen the protection of personal data.The government has formed a committee of experts on data protection headed by Justice (Retd) BN Srikrishna of Supreme Court to study the issues on data protection and frame Data Protection Bill. It has released a draft Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) which will be placed in the Parliament for the approval.

Finance Minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel presented the Budget size of Rs 2,04,815 crore for the year 2019-20 for the state. The budget indicates the overall surplus of Rs 572 crore. An additional tax income of Rs 287 crore is added to it. This is the first time the State's budget crossed Rs.2 lakh crore. The budget estimates around Rs 1,54,732 crore revenue expenditure of Rs 1, 51, 858 crores for the year 2019-20. The tap water to every household by 2022. The state government allotted Rs.4,500 crore for this purpose.

India is ranked at the 86th position in the Henley Passport Index 2019 with a mobility score of 58. India shares the position with Mauritiana and Sao Tome and Principe. In 2018, India was ranked at the 79th position.

For the first time, an international team of researchers has discovered the source of FRB 180924, a mysterious powerful pulse of cosmic energy known as Fast Radio Burst (FRB), which lasted for just a fraction of a second. The discovery has been made by using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia.It is said to be originated in the outskirts of Milky Way-sized galaxy roughly 3.6 billion light-years from Earth.The first FRB (FRB 12110B) was discovered in 2007 and so far over 80 have been detected.The findings published in AAAS journal Science. The lead author of the study was Keith Bannister.

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the assignment of additional charge as Secretary to the Ministry of Textiles to Rabindra Panwar, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development with immediate effect and till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders whichever is earlier. He is the 1985 Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) of Bihar cadre. He succeeded Raghvendra Singh.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed ex-executive director RBI A.K Misra as Additional Director on the Board of Directors (BOD) of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited. The appointment shall be for a period of two years. The appointment will be effect from July 3, 2019 to July 2, 2021. The usual sitting fee and allowances are paid to other directors for attending the meetings of the Board and Committees.

Union Jal Shakti Minister, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA)- a campaign for water conservation and water security in New Delhi. It will focus on 256 water stressed districts and 1,592 water stressed blocks.Launched in two phases, the first phase is between July 1, 2019, and September 15, 2019, for all participating States and the second phase, will be from October 1 to November 30, 2019, for States with a retreating monsoon.The 5 key intervention areas under the campaign include water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse, bore well recharge structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation.

Karnataka Bank launched web tool for NPA recovery process named 'Vasool So-Ft. The tool will enable easy & faster processing, real-time information and immediate decision making in the recovery area.