CURRENT GK
1.India bonds slump after cenbank announces open market bond sale :-
Indian government bonds yields rose sharply on Monday after the central bank announced an open market sale of debt to remove some of the excess cash left at lenders because of the government’s removal of a big part of currency bills last year.
The Reserve Bank of India said late on Friday it will sell 100 billion rupees ($1.55 billion) of government bonds on Thursday.
2.Shri Sanjay Gupta appointed as the Chairman of the Society and Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar :-
Shri Sanjay Gupta, CEO & Whole Time Director, Jagran Prakashan Limited has been appointed as Chairman of the Society and Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management Amritsar for a period of five years w.e.f. 23rd June, 2017.
Shri Sanjay Gupta is the Editor in Chief of Dainik Jagran since 2014 and has been associated with the Jagran Group for more than two decades.
He also served as a Member of Board of Governors in Indian Institute of Management Lucknow from 2004 to 2009 and as Member, Board of Governors of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad from 2003-2011.
3.Svatantra Microfin launches cashless solution ‘Saathi’ :-
Mid-sized microfinance institution Svatantra Microfin is looking at doubling its loan disbursals to Rs. 800 crore by 2019, even as it plans to expand its operations to more States within the same period.
Svatantra has also launched an app, an end-to-end cashless solution called Saathi, for an entire spectrum of operations in areas such as loan originating system, loan management system and collections.
4.Telangana to Have Separate Agriculture Budget from Next Year :-
Telangana would have a separate budget for agriculture from the next year. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to substantially enhance funds for the agriculture sector and present a separate agriculture budget.
Rao also asked the officials to form farmers’ associations at various levels — from villages to the state — to organise the cultivators.
5.With The Roll-Out of GST, Check Posts Get Abolished Across 22 States in India :-
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out on 1st of July 2017. With the roll-out of the GST, 22 States in India have abolished their check posts. The details are as under –
- Andhra Pradesh,2. Arunachal Pradesh, 3. Bihar, 4. Gujarat, 5. Karnataka, 6. Kerala, 7. Madhya Pradesh, 8. Maharashtra, 9. Sikkim, 10. Tamil Nadu, 11. West Bengal, 12. Chhattisgarh, 13. Delhi, 14. Goa, 15. Haryana, 16. Jharkhand, 17. Odisha, 18. Puducherry, 19. Rajasthan, 20. Telangana, 21. Uttar Pradesh, 22. Uttarakhand
States where check posts are in the process of being abolished
- Assam, 2. Himachal Pradesh, 3. Manipur, 4. Meghalaya, 5. Nagaland, 6. Punjab, 7. Mizoram, 8. Tripura
6.FINO becomes payments bank :-
FINO Payments Bank has commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from June 30, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
FINO PayTech Ltd, Navi Mumbai, was one of the 11 applicants which were issued in-principle approval for setting up a payments bank.
Besides FINO, the other applicants which have launched payment bank operations are Airtel M Commerce Services, Department of Posts and Paytm Payments Bank.
7.PM’s upcoming visit to Israel and Germany :-
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will be visiting Israel on 4-6 July, 2017. Prime Minister will also be visiting Hamburg in Germany on 6-8 July, 2017 to attend 12th G-20 Summit.
In a series of Facebook posts from his account, the Prime Minister said:
“I will be visiting Israel on 4-6 July, 2017 upon invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
8.PNB to block all Maestro debit cards from July 31 :-
All Maestro cards issued by PNB will be blocked or hot listed on July 31, 2017 for security-based reasons.
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 this month.
The bank will not charge anything for the replacement and it will be provided free of cost.
9.Ravi Shastri formally applies for post of Team India head coach :-
Former India captain Ravi Shastri has reportedly applied for the post of head coach of Team India. Earlier The Indian Express had confirmed that Ravi Shastri, who was India’s team director in 2014, had decided to apply for the position of the Indian team’s head coach.
“Yes, I have decided to apply for the job,” Shastri had told The Indian Express. Meanwhile, former India player, Sunil Gavaskar has also claimed that he is one of the frontrunners to bag the job.
- Wimbledon 2017: Daniil Medvedev stuns Stan Wawrinka in first round :-
Stan Wawrinka’s Wimbledon hopes were shredded in a blitz of heavy artillery fire as Russian Daniil Medvedev, making his Wimbledon debut, ousted the fifth seed in the first round with a stunning display of power hitting on Monday.
Three times grand slam champion Wawrinka was thoroughly out-gunned by 21-year-old Medvedev, who had the Centre Court crowd on their feet as he pulled off a dazzling array of winners to wrap up a 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory.