Current Affairs - July 26, 2019 Current Affairs

BJP MLA Isidore Fernandes has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Goa Assembly. Fernandes succeeds Michael Lobo, who resigned earlier in July 2019 itself.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and JCB International, along with domestic banks launched RuPay JCB Global Cards. The Banks including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, Union Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Andhra Bank, City Union Bank, and TJSB Bank issue these cards. These cards which will be accepted in India at all POS terminals and ATMs. NPCI tied up with Discover for international cards. They started its card business in 1961. They reached global in 1981. The industry has certain concerns and these are being discussed in certain forums.

The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India.

India's Kishen Mangaldas Narsi (Mumbai) has been appointed as the Chairman of Asian Boxing Confederation's (ASBC) competitions commission. His appointment has been made under ASBC Constitution Article 38.3/F. The appointment was confirmed by the ASBC President Anas Naser Al Otaiba. Kishen, a former All-India University champion boxer was an International Referee and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Boxing Association (AIBA). Kishen, the founding interim President of the Boxing Federation of India has officiated in three Olympics.

Pakistan announced that it will send its first astronaut to space in 2022. It will be using close ally China's satellite launching facilities to execute the mission.

India's Vivek Kohli and M P Singh have been elected as chairman and secretary-general respectively of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF).Vivek Kohli defeated incumbent Alan Ransome(England)by securing 16 votes more than him in the elections held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.While MP Singh (secretary-general at Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI)) was unanimously elected as secretary-general of CTTF.TTFI chief Dushyant Chautala is already held the CTTF president's post.This is the first time all the three positions in CTTF are being held by Indians.

India and UK bilateral scheme launched on Pilot basis.The UKEIRI Mobility Programme launched on a pilot basis to support Britain's universities to collaborate with Indian partners to facilitate the United Kingdom (UK) students to visit India during their studies. UKERI stands for 'UK-India Education Research Initiative'.

The army was first formed in August 1942 under Mohan Singh by Indian PoWs of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore

The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) appointed Dejan Papic of Canada as the head coach of the Indian table tennis team. He has signed a one-year contract which was offered by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He will be in charge through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He will be paid $7000 per month and his contract will be up for renewal after the Olympics.

The 10,000 square feet project compliance lab was launched by Wipro in Hyderabad, Telangana. This lab will serve customers in defence, consumer electronics, Aerospace, Telecom, medical energy, and the manufacturing industries. The project compliance lab will be part of the Tarang labs, which is an independent product qualification lab of Wipro. The key focus of this lab is on security.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that it will launch its first solar mission Aditya-L1 in the first half of 2020. It will be the first dedicated scientific mission to study Sun's corona. It aims to put Aditya-L1 satellite (800-kg) into a halo orbit around Lagrangian point L1 of Sun and Earth system. The L1 point is situated at a distance of about 1.5 million km from earth. It will be India's 1st solar probe to study the magnetic field of the sun's corona. The satellite will carry 7 payloads including the main payload Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VLEC). It will study the dynamic nature of the sun's outer most layers, corona, and chromosphere and collect data about Coronal Mass Ejections (CME).

Sunil Kumar has been given additional charge of chairman and managing director of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). Kumar is currently Director (Human Resources and Enterprise Business) at MTNL and takes over from P K Purwar who was recently appointed chairman and managing Director of BSNL.

The Civil Aviation ministry added 8 more routes under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, thus making the total operational routes to 194.The eight roots are as follows: Mysore-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Mysore, Goa-Mysore, Mysore-Goa, Cochin-Mysore, Mysore-Cochin, Kolkata-Shillong and Shillong-Kolkata. The flights connecting Kolkata and Shillong will be operated By Indigo whereas the other connectivity will be provided by Alliance air.

A team of scientists from state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) developed a process to convert Jute fibre into Bio-Degradable cellulose sheets 'Sonali'. The country will start the commercial production of these bags by 2019 end.

Four Northeast Indian states share the border with Myanmar: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur.

Beijing-based startup "Interstellar Glory Space Technology" also known as iSpace successfully launched the china's first commercial rocket. The 20 m (66-foot) rocket designed by iSpace named Hyperbola-1 reached an altitude of 300 kilometres (186 miles). The rocket is capable of carrying satellites into orbit.

India's Central Bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has assigned Deputy Governor BP Kanungo to run the monetary policy portfolio after the resignation of fellow Deputy Governor Viral V. Acharya. The monetary policy department, including forecasting and modeling unit, was earlier looked after by Acharya, who quit his role as Deputy Governor on June 2019. Kanungo will retain his currency management portfolio would become the 6th member of the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, which will next meet on August 5-7,2019. Now the three deputy governors N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo and M K Jain will be responsible for 12 departments each. M K Jain has been given additional charge of corporate strategy and budget, financial stability unit, and human resource management. He will be in charge of the right to information division.

It is the fourth integrated public sector steel plant in India built with Soviet help. It was incorporated as a limited company in 1964.

The Idukki Dam is a double curvature Arch dam constructed across the Periyar River in a narrow gorge between two granite hills locally known as Kuravan and Kurathi in Kerala, India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a grand museum dedicated to all the former prime ministers of the country will be built in Delhi. He made the announcement at at an event to release a book on former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, written by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) delivered one Chetak helicopter to the Indian Navy ahead of its scheduled month of august. The documents of the Chopper were handed over to Commodore Vikram Menon. The HAL entered into a contract with the Indian Navy in the year 2017 to supply 8 Chetak helicopters by August 2020, with the first two by August 2019. The remaining seven helicopters will be delivered by August 2020. Latest communication and navigation systems indigenously developed by HAL are fitted in this helicopter.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (POCSO Bill) on 24 July. The Bill will now be sent to Lok Sabha for its approval. The Bill provides death penalty to the culprits for sexual assault on children. It also proposes stringent punishments for other crimes that are committed against children.

MS Dhoni has begun his training with Indian Army's Territorial Army Battalion. Dhoni will be deployed in Kashmir Valley for 15 days. He will be on patrol and guard duties.

The mobile app 'CARE4U' created by the IIT Kharagpur students connects the caregiver's phone to the elderly's. It can remind the person to take medicines and even detect if the person has fallen down. The 'CARE4U' mobile app can also do a plethora of other day-to-day life activities like make a call, send a text, book a cab and so on.

The BCCI has approved the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA). The ICA is not affiliated to Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA) and is only open to former men and women cricketers.