VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY  7^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 7^th,  2019

1.       (7th July) is Global Forgiveness Day.

a.       This day was created in 1994 by the Christian Embassy of Christ's Ambassadors.

b.       Important Note : There is already a Forgiveness Day in August (which is observed on 1st Sunday in August each year), founded by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, but the Global Forgiveness Day is different. This was founded by CECA (Christian Embassy of Christ’s Ambassadors).

2.      Today is World Chocolate Day.

a.       This day marks 468 years since chocolate was introduced to Europe.

3.      Iran has announced it will break a limit set on uranium enrichment, in breach of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. 

a.       The county's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran still wanted to salvage the deal but blamed European countries for failing to live up to their own commitments.

b.       The Iranian announcement marks the latest breach of the accord. 

c.       Note : The US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018. It has since reimposed strict sanctions on Iran.

4.      The Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Rattan Lal Kataria has announced that there are over 10.38 crore senior citizens in India. 

a)      Uttar Pradesh accounts for more than one crore 54 lakh followed by Maharashtra one crore 11 lakh.

b)     He said the Ministry is implementing the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana since April 2017 for senior citizens belonging to BPL category, who are suffering from age-related disabilities.

5.      Assam government has taken a step to develop 316 tourists spots in the state.

a.       150 crore rupees will be spent to develop these locations under Axom Darshan.

6.      Pune-based cybersecurity firm Quick Heal Technologies has become the 1st Indian firm to be granted a US patent for an anti-ransomware technology. 

a.       The artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered technology detects and blocks known and unknown ransomware on a real-time basis.

7.      Punjab National Bank (PNB) today announced taht it has detected a fraud of ₹3,805.15 crore by Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd and has reported it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

a.       The steelmaker misappropriated bank funds and manipulated books to raise funds from consortium lender banks. 

b.       Important Note : The disclosure comes as the lender is recovering from a ₹14,000-crore fraud by diamantaire Nirav Modi.

8.      Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey has announced that the Aadhaar card can be quoted for cash transactions above ₹50,000 where PAN was a must.

a.       Banks and other institutions will make back-end upgrades to allow acceptance of Aadhaar in all places where quoting PAN is mandatory, he added. 

9.      Economic Affairs Secretary SC Garg has announced that the government expects ₹90,000 crore as dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) this fiscal. 

a.       The central bank transferred ₹68,000 crore to the government including ₹28,000 crore as interim dividend last fiscal. 

b.       Note : The Union Budget has pegged dividend or surplus from the RBI, nationalised banks and financial institutions in 2019-20 at ₹1.06 lakh crore.

10. The government has announced that it will sell sovereign bonds overseas for the 1st time to finance the fiscal deficit. 

a.       Important Note : This move was opposed by the Ex-RBI Governor C Rangarajan opposed saying India will have to bear the exchange-rate risk if it borrows in foreign currency. 

11. India defeated Sri Lanka by 7 wickets at Leeds today to go top of the 2019 World Cup points table with 15 points from 9 matches. 

a.       With the defeat, Sri Lanka ended their 2019 World Cup campaign at the 6th position with eight points from nine matches. 

b.       Note : India's final position will be confirmed after the result of South Africa-Australia match.

12. India opener Rohit Sharma reached the 3-figure mark against Sri Lanka off 92 balls in 2019 World Cup to become the 1st-ever batsman to smash five hundreds in a World Cup. 

a.       With this, Rohit overtook ex-Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who slammed four hundreds in the 2015 edition. Rohit also equalled Sachin Tendulkar's record for most World Cup hundreds (six).

13. Team India captain Virat Kohli has become the 3rd Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to score 1,000 runs in World Cup history. 

a.       Kohli achieved the feat after reaching the 5-run mark against Sri Lanka in the 2019 World Cup yesterday. 

14. English umpire Ian Gould ended his umpiring career after officiating for the last time during India's clash with Sri Lanka at the ongoing World Cup at Headingley yesterday. 

a.       Gould finished his career having officiated in 74 Tests, with the India-Sri Lanka World Cup match being his 140th ODI.

15. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju has announced that central government is going to set-up 3 Sports Centre of Excellence in Itanagar very soon.

a.       The three centre of excellence will be for Martial Arts, Weight Lifting and Boxing.

b.       These centres will have a capacity of 300 sportspersons with residential facility. 

c.       He said the government will also set up 12 to 15 football stadiums with Astro-turf football pitches across the state in the next three years.