CURRENT GK
1.Nitish to take oath as Bihar Chief Minister at 10 am :-
Bihar Governor has invited caretaker Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take oath as Chief Minister at 10 am today at Rajendra Mandap inside Raj Bhawan, a press release stated.
Mr.Kumar has submitted a letter of support from 131 legislators to the Governor. The legislators were from BJP, JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and two Independent MLAs, said the release.
2.Standard Chartered Bank unveils forex card :-
Standard Chartered Bank has launched a Multi- currency Forex Card for overseas travelers.
The card will allow customers the convenience of loading up to 20 widely used currencies on one card with an online reload facility during overseas travel.
The card will offer travelers protection against the frequent currency fluctuations by locking in the currency exchange rate they availed during the time of loading the card, and not pay different rates every time they use the card.
Points to remember –
About Standard Chartered Bank
Headquartered in London, England
Founded :1969
Chairman :José Viñals
3.India 399-3 after Dhawan’s 190 on Day 1 vs. Sri Lanka :-
India finished day one of the opening test against Sri Lanka in the commanding position of 399—3 on Wednesday after a powerful 190 from opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhawan hit his career-best score in an exhibition of aggressive batting as top-ranked India took a firm grip on the game, with Dhawan backed up by Cheteshwar Pujara, who was 144 not out. They had a partnership of 253 for the second wicket.
- Travel portal Yatra acquires corporate bookings firm Air Travel Bureau :-
Yatra Online Inc, India’s second-largest online travel operator, has acquired corporate travel services provider Air Travel Bureau (ATB) in an estimated cash-and debt deal of $22.5-27.5 million.
Points to remember –
About Yatra Online
Industry:Online travel agency
Founded: August 1, 2006
Founder: Dhruv Shringi (CEO)
5.Janalakshmi Financial Services appoints Ajay Kanwal as CEO :-
Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), the largest microfinance company, has announced the appointment of its new CEO Ajay Kanwal.
He will replace VS Radhakrishnan, who will take over the role of vice chairman.
Points to remember –
About JFS
Janalakshmi Financial Services,set up in Bengaluru in 2008 by former Citibank senior executive Ramesh Ramanathan and his wife Swati.
Janalakshmi finance bank got license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up Small Finance Bank.
- Veteran Actress Shakuntala Barua Gets ‘Mahanayak Samman 2017’ :-
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee conferred this year’s ‘Mahanayak Samman 2017’ to veteran actress Shakuntala Barua for her contribution to the world of cinema.
For this year, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Nusrat Jahan took home the Best Actor and Best Actress awards
The Best Director, Music Director, Cinematographer and Script Writer awards went to Arindam Sil, Pt Bickram Ghosh, Shoumik Halder and Padmanabha Dasgupta.
Points to remember –
Mahanayak Samman –
Mahanayak Samman is bestowed upon the best talents of the Bengal’s film industry by the West Bengal State Government.
The awards were instituted in memory of Uttam Kumar, who is widely regarded as the greatest actor of Bengali cinema, and also among the greatest actor sever in India.
Mahanayak Awards are given on the death anniversary of Uttam Kumar.
7.PM to inaugurate Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial:-
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the former President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s memorial at Pei Karumbu, Rameswaram, (27.07.2017) at 11.30 AM. The Prime Minister will hoist the National flag at the memorial, designed and built by DRDO.
The Prime Minister will unveil a statue of Dr. Abdul Kalam, and offer floral tributes. Prime Minister Modi will interact with the family members of Dr. Kalam.
8.Investment Agreements with Foreign Countries :-
The existing Indian Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) were largely negotiated on the basis of Model BIT text adopted in 1993, and as amended in 2003.
The 1993 Model BIT text contained provisions which were susceptible to broad and ambiguous interpretations by arbitral tribunals.
Further, significant changes have occurred globally regarding BITs, in general, and investor-state dispute resolution mechanism, in particular. Accordingly, India started the process for review and revision of the earlier Model BIT, and came out with a revised Model BIT version, in December, 2015.
Discussion on commencing negotiations on Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) or investment agreement based on approved Model BIT text with Russia, USA and EU are ongoing.
9.Airtel to roll out VoLTE service across India by March’18 :-
Telecom major Bharti Airtel plans to roll out VoLTE service, that enables phone calls using 4G technology, across India by end of the current financial year, a top official of the company said on Wednesday.
“We have done (VoLTE) trials in 5-6 cities. Towards the end of this fiscal year, we will be taking VoLTE across the country.
The uptake of VoLTE devices will depend on certification…We should be very much national in the coming 6-9 months,” Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said.
10.New Post Offices will be opened in this fiscal-Manoj Sinha :-
The Government has planned to open 81 Sub-Post Offices and 100 Branch Post Offices during the current financial year 2017-18 under the Scheme – “Rural Business & Access to Postal Network”.
Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today that the Department of Posts has also planned to open 66 Branch Post Offices by creation of new posts in 32 worst affected Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts in the country under the aforesaid scheme in the current financial year.
11.Inauguration of CBRN Workshop by the COAS :-
The 5th Workshop on Medical Management of CBRN Casualties for Medical Officer is being held under the aegis of HQ Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) from 25 Jul 2017 to 28 Jul 2017.
Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session.
The Chief of Army Staff, highlighted the need to work towards equipping and training doctors and paramedical staff in the Armed Forces to deal with all types of CBRN emergencies.
12.U.K. to ban diesel, petrol cars :-
Britain will join other European nations in plans to ban diesel and petrol-fuelled cars in the coming decades, in a move designed to force a shake up within the auto industry as governments seek to deal with high levels of air pollution and climate change.
New diesel and petrol cars will be banned by 2040, as part of a package of measures designed to improve air quality in Britain, and meet tough EU rules on emissions, particularly around nitrogen dioxide emissions.
13.Closure of Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana :-
The Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Surakhsha Yojana did not get an encouraging response from Indian emigrant workers for a variety of reasons including its voluntary nature, difficulty in payment of subscriptions from NRI accounts, limited insurance cover, and the restricted regulatory environment in destination countries where the scheme was to be rolled out.
The Scheme stands closed with approval of the Cabinet with effect from April 1, 2017.
14.Shri Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs appointed as India’s Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) :-
Shri Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India has been appointed as India’s Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines with effect from 12th July, 2017.
Shri Garg has been appointed in place of Former Secretary, DEA, Shri Shaktikanta Das.
15.Exhibition ‘Textiles & Decoration in Culture of Serbs in 19th and First Half of 20th Centuries’ Begins in National Museum :-
Smt. Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Culture & Tourism inaugurated an exhibition, entitled “Textiles and Decoration in the Culture of the Serbs in the 19th and the First Half of the 20th Centuries” organized by the National Museum under M/o Culture in collaboration with the Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade in National Museum, New Delhi today.
The exhibition will be open from 26th July-31st August, 2017 at the Special Exhibition Hall of National Museum, Delhi.
The exhibition has been curated by Dr Mirjana Menković, Director and Ms Marina Cvetkovic, Curator, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade and Ms Anju Sachdeva, Curator and Ms Abira Bhattacharya, Co- Curator of National Museum, New Delhi.
