1.Prime Minister’s visit to Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa :-
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be on the state visit to Republic of Rwanda (23-24 July), Republic of Uganda (24 to 25 July) and Republic of South Africa (July 25 to 27). This will be the first Rwandan visit of any Indian Prime Minister, whereas this will be the first Ugandan visit of the Indian Prime Minister after 20 years. The journey of South Africa is in reference to the BRICS Summit.
2.The launch of an improved version of ‘Delhi Metro Rail’ app :-
Launching an upgraded version of the ‘Delhi Metro Rail’ mobile app here today, the Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the DMRC Mr. Durga Shankar Mishra said that through this app, the metro passenger, nearest metro station, fare, first And the last metro time etc. This mobile app will be very convenient for people of the entire NCR.
In this advanced version many new features have been added, such as the nearest metro station information, the passengers’ responses, the smallest road information etc.
3.Mr. S.N. Agarwal takes charge as new member of the Railway Board :-
Mr. S.N. Agrawal took over as new member of Railway Board and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India. Earlier, Mr. Agarwal was the General Manager of South-East Rail, Kolkata.
Mr. S.N. Agarwal is a civil engineer and is a 1980 batch officer of Indian Railway Engineering Service (IRSE). He has rich experience of working on important posts of the Western Railway, Central Railway, Southern Railway, North Central Railway, South-East Central Railway, RDSO etc., including Mandal Rail Manager, Nagpur and Head Chief Engineer, Western Railway, Mumbai.
4.MSME Ministry will send teams in 117 aspiring districts to increase awareness about their plans :-
The Ministry of Micro , Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) will send teams of officers in 117 most backward and Naxal affected aspiring districts, identified by the Commission, to increase awareness about their current plans. It is also aimed at achieving proposals for setting up and strengthening micro and small enterprises. Information about this effect was given in the Lok Sabha today by Mr. Giriraj Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of MSME.
The Minister also informed that in all states and Union Territories MSMEs are present in a significant number and the second largest employer after agriculture in the country. He said that these enterprises have also given the necessary support to inclusive development across the country, as well as speed of development. In response to another question, Shri Giriraj Singh said that the schemes of the MSME Ministry are actually the Central Sector Schemes in which the specific amount of budget allocation is specified separately for SC , ST and North Eastern population.
5.Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated / laid the foundation of National Highway Project costing Rs. 5485 crore in Madhya Pradesh :-
Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Conservation Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated / laid the foundation stone of National Highway Project costing Rs. 5485 crore in Madhya Pradesh.
In a program organized in Guna, he laid the foundation for the total of 226-km total of 5 National Highways (NH) projects costing Rs 3583 crore.
6.Sri Lanka express gratitude to India for cooperation in starting free ambulance service across the country :-
The Sri Lankan government has expressed gratitude to India for cooperation in starting free ambulance service across the country. India has provided assistance of 20 million 28 million US dollars to Sri Lanka for this work.
7.Government reduced the minimum annual deposit under the Sukanya Samrudhi Yojana :-
The Government has reduced the compulsory annual deposit amount from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2.50 in accounts of Sukanya Samrudhi Yojana. With this decision, more and more people will be able to take advantage of this scheme of saving for girls. The Government has amended the Sukanya Prosperity Account Rule, 2016 for this work. The deposit amount has been reduced to two and a half rupees to open the account.
Like the other small savings schemes and public provident fund on the Sukanya prosperity account, interest rates are revised every quarter.
Interest rate for July-September quarter has been fixed at eight decimal one percent. Under this scheme, parents or legal guardians can open an account in the post office or government bank in the name of their daughter till ten years. In this scheme, the amount received on deposit and maturity will be exempted under Section 80C of Income Tax Act.
8.Special caste status will be given to Sikhs in UK census :-
In the census being held in Britain in 2021, the Sikh community is getting ready to give status to a particular ethnic group, apart from just one religion. The country’s Statistics Department says that this move will help the Sikhs to get the benefit of all public facilities available in the country. Last year some 100 MPs, including some indigenous people, had demanded to mark the Sikh community as a separate ethnic group in the 2021 census.
In the 2011 Census, more than 83,000 Sikhs had refused to identify themselves as Indian or Anglo-Indian ethnic groups. All of them wrote Sikh in the ‘Other Ethnic Groups’ box in the census form.
Although the UK’s National Statistics Office is considering to include the Sikh as a caste group in the 2021 Census form.
9.PNB gets Rs 2816 crore capital from government :-
Public sector Punjab National Bank (PNB) has said that it has received capital of Rs 2816 crore from the government. This capital has been given for allocation of preferential equity shares. In the Regulatory Filing, the bank informed that according to the notification of the Financial Services Department, it has got the capital from the central government. After getting regulatory approval, he will issue the shares to the government.
PNB said in its regulatory filing, “The bank has received capital investment of Rs 2,816 crore towards the contribution of the Central Government according to the Department of Financial Services Notification.” PNB has said that after the regulatory approval process is complete Only the preferential allocation of equity shares will be made to the government. On the other hand, Allahabad Bank, the second largest public sector bank, had informed last week that it has received Rs 1,790 crore as a capital investment from the government.
10.The deal between the banks to deal with the NPA will be recoverable up to Rs 500 crore :-
On Monday, 12 major financial institutions including 22 public banks, 19 private banks, 32 foreign banks and LIC, HUDCO, PFC and REC, together with the intermediate credit agreement (ICA), to reduce the old taxpayer (NPA) signed on. After the agreement, Career Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said that almost the entire banking system and major financial institutions have signed the ICA. This will allow quick solutions to NPA accounts stuck for decades. He said that the remaining banks including ICICI Bank will soon sign the agreement after approval of their board of directors.
11.India’s legendary spinner Yusufendra Singh Chahal was inducted into India A :-
National selectors have included leg-spinner Yuvraj Singh for a four-day match against South Africa A in India-A team on Monday for the purpose of preparing for the test. Two-day matches will be played between the two countries. This decision was taken in the meeting of national selectors held in Kolkata. Chahal did not play any first-class match after December 2016.
