IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 29th, 2017

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 29th, 2017

1. International Tiger Day: 29 July

i. The 7th International Tiger Day is observed globally on 29 July. This year’s International Tiger Day would be celebrated with the slogan ‘Fresh Ecology For Tigers’ Protection’.

ii. The conference of the heads of 13 countries – where tigers are available – held at Saint Petersburg of Russia in 2010 took the decision to mark the world tiger day on July 29 every year. 

2. NPCI receives final nod from RBI to function as Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit

i. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for all retail payment systems has received a final nod from the Reserve Bank of India to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

ii. On August 31, 2016, 8 BBPS operating units, which received in-principle approval from RBI, took part in the pilot. Almost after a year of running the pilot, streamlining the technology and business processes, NPCI has now received final clearance from RBI. 

3. IOB goes live with Bharat Bill Payment system

i. Public sector Indian Overseas Bank has offered Bharat Bill Payment System, introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India, for its customers. BBPS is an integrated bill payment system that offers inter-operable online bill payments to customers.

ii. The services include online payments of electricity, telecommunication, DTH, water and gas bills, the Chennai headquartered bank said in a statement. Indian Overseas Bank is one of the three public sector banks (apart from Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India) to get the approval from RBI for providing the service.

4. RBI sets up Supervisory Colleges for six Scheduled Commercial Banks

i. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up Supervisory Colleges for six Scheduled Commercial Banks which have sizeable international presence: - State Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd., Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank Ltd. and Punjab National Bank.

ii. The objectives of the colleges are to enhance information exchange and cooperation among supervisors, to improve understanding of the risk profile of the banking group and thereby facilitate more effective supervision of internationally active banks. 

5. Niti Aayog clears six proposals for high-tech public transport

i. Mass rapid transportation technologies such as hyperloop, metrino and pod taxis could soon be a reality in India after Niti Aayog cleared half-a-dozen proposals of the transport ministry exploring options to improve public transport.

ii. The think tank approved the proposals of the transport ministry with a condition that the ministry conducts trial run of all these technologies and puts in place safety measures before the starting commercially operation. Once these safety parameters are tried and tested and the pilot run is successful, some of them including metrino, could be up for running by next year’s end.

6. Dr. Harshvardhan launches “Sagar Vani” - An Integrated Information Dissemination System 

i. Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan launched an app “Sagar Vani” on the occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences.

ii. ‘Sagar Vani’ has been launched to disseminate ocean related information and alerts to the user community in a timely manner for their safety.

7. Iran successfully launches satellite-carrying rocket into space

i. Iran successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket called ‘Simorgh’ into space. The launch took place at the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan.

ii. The development marks a significant step forward for the Islamic Republic's young space program. It also raises alarm among the nation’s adversaries who fear that the same technology could be used to produce long-range missiles.

8. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi declared as interim Pakistan Prime Minister

i. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League has selected Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to be the interim prime minister of Pakistan.

ii. Nawaz Sharif had recently resigned as Pakistan Prime Minister after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office. The court disqualified Sharif under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution. He will remain on he post for 45 Days.