IMPORTANT CURRENT
AFFAIRS OF JULY 20th, 2018
1.
India and the United
States are going to hold the inaugural 2+2 dialogue led
by India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and their
US counterparts in New Delhi on September 6.
a. Note : The
US earlier postponed the dialogue, which was supposed to take place in July, as
their Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was due to travel to North Korea.
2.
The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today declared that Migrants do
not have the unfettered right to choose their host nation.
3.
US President Donald
Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to
Washington this autumn to discuss several issues, including Ukraine and the
Middle East.
a. Trump
and Putin met earlier this week in Helsinki, Finland for their first bilateral
talks.
b. Trump
had said that he looked forward to his second meeting with Putin to work on
several issues, including Ukraine and the Middle East.
4.
Lok Sabha also passed The Right of
Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 to
abolish the ‘no detention policy’ in schools.
a. This
Bill amends the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
2009.
b. The Act
was having provision of no detention policy i.e. no child can be held back in
any class until completion of elementary school (classes 1-8).
5.
The Lok Sabha today passed the Fugitive
Economic Offenders Bill, 2018.
a. This
bill aims to allow authorities to attach and confiscate properties
of economic offenders who flee the country.
b. Note : Cases
where the total value involved in such offences is ₹100 crore or
more, will come under the bill's purview.
6.
Messaging app WhatsApp has
announced that it is testing a limit on forwarding messages to five
chats at one time in India.
a. It also
announced that it will remove the quick forward button which is present next to
media messages.
b. This
move comes in the wake of violent incidents triggered by the spread of fake
news on the platform.
7.
Noted Hindi poet and lyricist Dr
Gopaldas Neeraj (93) passed away.
a. He was
felicitated with the Padma Shri in 1991 and with the Padma
Bhushan in 2007 for his contribution to literature.
b. He
wrote famous Bollywood songs 'Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo' and 'Likhe
Jo Khat Tujhe'.
8.
Repco Micro Finance Ltd, a
non-banking finance company promoted by Repco Bank, has received Nabard
2018 Award for its service to Self-Help Group (SHG) linkage in Tamil
Nadu for the fiscal year 2017-18.
9.
India's biggest power producer NTPC
(National Thermal Power Corporation) Limited has signed a term loan
agreement with HDFC Bank for availing a loan of ₹1,500
crore.
a. The
loan is extended at an interest rate linked to 3-months marginal cost-based
lending rate (MCLR) of the bank.
b. The
loan has a door-to-door tenure of 15 years and will be utilised to partly
finance capital expenditure of NTPC.
10.
The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) amongst BRICS Nations (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa) on Regional Aviation
Partnership Cooperation.
a. The
objective of MoU is to benefit BRICS countries from establishing of
institutional framework to cooperate in field of civil aviation.
11.
The union government has renewed the
appointment of Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe as the Chairman of
the technical and professional education regulator All India Council
for Technical Education (AICTE).
12.
Arman Ali was
appointed as Executive Director of National Centre for
Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).
a. He is
going to replace Javed Abidi in October 2018.
13.
India captain Virat Kohli today
achieved a career-high 911 points to sit on Top of the
ICC ODI rankings for Batsmen.
a. England
batsman Joe Root stood at second place in the rankings list.
b. Meanwhile,
Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav broke into the top-10 for
the first time.
c. Kuldeep
is the second Indian and the fifth spinner to find a place in the 10
highest-ranked bowlers.
14.
Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman has
become the first Pakistani and overall sixth batsman to
smash a double century in men's ODI cricket history, achieving
the feat against Zimbabwe today.
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