VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY  4^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 4^th,  2019

1.      (4th July) is Independence Day of United States.

a.       This day commemorates  the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on 4th July 1776, by the Continental Congress declaring that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and no longer part of the British Empire.

b.       About United States :

c.       Capital : Washington, D. C.

d.       National Language : English

e.       Motto : In God We Trust

f.        Anthem : The Star - Spangled Banner

g.       President : Donald Trump

h.       Vice President : Mike Pence

i.         House Speaker : Nancy Pelosi

j.         Chief Justice : John Roberts

k.       Currency : United States dollar ($)

2.      Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed a law suspending the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. 

a.       The 1987 treaty banned both the countries from stationing short and intermediate-range, land-based nuclear missiles in Europe. 

b.       The US is set to withdraw from the pact on August 2, claiming Russia's development of a missile violated the accord.

3.      Zimbabwe has run out of passports as the country has no adequate funds to pay for special imported paper, ink and other raw materials required to print the passports. 

a.       Citizens seeking to apply for a passport face a minimum wait time of 18 months. 

b.       Note : Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis in over a decade, with inflation at almost 100%.

4.      Pakistani authorities have booked 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his 12 accomplices for terror financing.

a.       Pakistan's counter-terrorism department (CTD) said in a statement that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and his aides used five trusts to raise funds for terrorism financing.

5.      Today (July 4) marks the 117th death anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, who was one of India’s most revered spiritual leaders.

a.       Through his speeches and lectures, Swami Vivekananda tried to awaken the religious consciousness among people and also tried to uplift the downtrodden using the principles of Practical Vedanta.

6.      The world-famous Jagannath Rath Yatra began at Puri in Odisha today.

a.       Jagannath Rath Yatra, also called Chariot Festival, marks the annual journey of the three deities from the 12th century Jagannath temple to the temple of Devi Gundicha.

b.       Lakhs of people are gathering in Puri to witness Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra riding three giant wooden chariots as they travel to Gundicha temple.

7.      Noida Authority today announced that it has decided to start a 'Say No to Plastics' campaign by distributing cloth bags, beginning July 4.

8.      The Rajasthan government has ordered a plantation drive wherein every new student in state-run engineering colleges will have to plant a tree on campus this academic session. 

a.       The students will look after the trees until they graduate.

9.      Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), 9crore 62 lakh individual household toilets have been constructed so far, the government announced today.

a.       The sanitation coverage in the rural areas of the country has increased to more than 99 per cent, which was over 38 per cent on 2nd October 2014.

b.       632 Districts, 30 States, over  2.50 lakh  Gram Panchayats and 5 lakh 67 thousand 498 villages have been declared open defecation Free.

10. Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey of India 2019 in both Houses of Parliament today.

a.       The survey projects GDP to grow at 7 per cent in 2019-20. 

b.       The Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.8 per in 2018-19 while maintaining macro-economic stability.

c.       The fiscal deficit has been pegged at 3.4 per cent of GDP for 2018-19. 

d.       The survey has provisionally estimated 2.9 per cent growth rate for the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.

e.       Theme of the Economic Survey 2019 : To enable Shifting Gears to accelerate and sustain a real GDP growth rate of 8% and thereby achieve the vision of $5 trillion economy.

11. The Union Cabinet has approved leasing out of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru Airports to Adani Enterprises. 

a.       Earlier this year, Adani had won the bids to operate the 3 airports for a period of 50 years. 

12. In a major boost to the farmers’ income, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all Kharif crops for 2019-20 Season.

a.       The move will lead to increased investment and production through assured remunerative prices to the farmers.

b.       Agriculture Minister : Narendra Singh Tomar

13. Delhi Police signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up Rooftop Solar Energy Systems in more than 200 of its buildings across the city. 

14. International fitness brand, Reeebok has signed Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif as its new brand ambassador in India.

15. Indian sprinter Hima Das won the women's 200m gold, while national record holder shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor bagged a bronze in the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland. 

16. Chelsea Football club have appointed their former midfielder Frank Lampard as their new manager on a 3-year deal.

17. The government today announced that recruitment examination of IBPS Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) will be conducted in 13 regional languages in addition to English and Hindi.

a.       The regional languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malyalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.