IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 27^th, 2018

                           IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 27^th, 2018

1.  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan declared his party's victory in the Pakistan general elections. 

a.   He is expected to be the country's new Prime Minister. 

2.  "The International Congress of Parliamentary Women's Caucuses" will be held at Dublin Castle, Ireland during 9th and 10th of September 2018.

a.   The event will be attended by an estimated 300 delegates from over 27 countries.

b.   This conference is being organised by the Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus (IWPC), a cross-party forum for female parliamentarians within the Irish parliament.

   3.  Today is the Death Anniversary of 11th President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam)

a.   He is known as the 'Missile Man of India' for his work on the development of ballistic missile. 

b.   He passed away on 27th July 2015, while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong. 

4.  Tamil Nadu based political party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi today became the 1st Indian political figure to lead a party for 50 years. 

a.   Elected as DMK chief on this day (July 27) in the year 1969, the 94-year-old leader has served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu five times.

5.  Lok Sabha today passed the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018. 

a.   This bill calls for punishment ranging from 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of not less than ₹1 lakh to offenders. 

6.  A Museum dedicated to all former and future Prime Ministers will be built at Delhi's Teen Murti Bhavan, which served as Jawaharlal Nehru's official residence as PM until his death in office.

7.  The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik launched the 'Green Mahanadi Mission'.

a.   Objective of Green Mahanadi Mission : To stop soil erosion on river banks and recharge the groundwater reserve.

   8.  Canada's smartARM has won Microsoft's global competition Imagine Cup 2018 for creating an affordable, robotic arm prosthetic. 

a.   As part of their winnings, smartARM received ₹58 lakh, a mentoring session with CEO Satya Nadella, and ₹34.5-lakh Azure grant. 

b.   Team iCry2Talk of Greece earned second place with a low-cost interface that translates a baby's cry in a text or voice message.

   9.  The Ministry of Finance has extended the Deadline for filing of income tax returns to August 31, 2018, for categories of taxpayers who were to file their returns by July 31. 

a.   Note : Until last assessment year, there was no penalty for filing belated income tax returns, but a penalty up to ₹10,000 is applicable this year onwards.

10. Venezuela is going to remove five zeroes from its bolivar currency rather than the three zeroes originally planned.

a.   The announcement comes two days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Venezuela's inflation could top 1,000,000% this year. 

  11.              Australian investment bank Macquarie Group today appointed Shemara Wikramanayake as it's new Chief Execuitive Officer (CEO). 

a.   With this, the the 56 year old will become the group's first female CEO.

   12.              Two Indians Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk are among the winners of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award 2018, regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.

a.   Bharat Vatwani is a psychiatrist who works for mentally-ill people living on the streets.

b.   Sonam Wangchuk is known for his reforms in the education sector in Ladakh, started a movement to help poor village students clear examinations.

c.   Other Winners of Ramon Magsaysay Award 2018

o    Youk Chhang (Cambodia)

o    Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz (East Timor)

o    Howard Dee (Philippines)

o    Vo Thi Hoang Yen (Vietnam)

   13.              Indian Women's Compound Archery Team created history by becoming the World No. 1.

a.   The team, which comprises of V Jyothi Surekha, Trisha Deb, P Lily Chanu, Muskan Kirar, Divya Dhayal, and Madhumita, reached the top spot with 342.6 points leading Chinese Taipei team by six points.

14. The Sports Ministry has postponed the National Sports Day to September 25, 2018.

a.   Important Note : Every year, the Sports Day is traditionally celebrated on 29th August. But this year, with the Asian Games going on, the ministry has decided to postpone the event.

b.   The Asian Games are scheduled to be held from August 18-September 2. Hence the National Sports Day will be held on September 25.

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 26^th, 2018

                           IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 26^th, 2018

1.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined fellow BRICS leader at the 10th BRICS Summit, which is being held at Johannesburg , South Africa.

a.   Leaders of the BRICS emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- gathered for the three-day meeting focused on the threat of a US-led global trade war.

b.   The BRICS leaders are expected to discuss "global hotspot issues, international peace, and security, global governance, trade issues during the restricted session" during the summit.

c.   Theme of 10th BRICS Summit 2018 : 'BRICS in Africa: collaboration for inclusive growth and shared prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution'

2.  The Earth Overshoot Day, the calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year, will fall on August 1st for the year 2018.

a.   This is the earliest date since ecological overshoot began in early 1970s.

   3.  Nation pays tribute to martyrs on 19th Kargil Victory Day (Kargil Vijay Diwas) today.

a.   Kargil Vijay Diwas is named after the success of Operation Vijay.

b.   This day is is celebrated on 26 July every year in honour of the Kargil War's Heroes. 

c.   On this day, 26 July 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders. The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days, ended on 26 July 1999. 

d.   Defence Minister, 3 service chiefs pay tribute to Kargil heroes at Amar Jawan Jyoti.

                                i.    Defense Minister : Nirmala Sitharaman

                              ii.    Chief of the Air Staff : Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa

                            iii.    Chief of the Army Staff : General Bipin Rawat

                            iv.    Chief of the Naval Staff : Admiral Sunil Lanba

   4.  The West Bengal Assembly has passed the resolution to change the state's name to 'Bangla'. 

a.   The proposal will now go to the Home Ministry for approval, and the name of the state will be changed only if the Ministry gives the green signal. 

   5.  With a view to enable Regional Rural Banks (RRB’s) to minimize their overhead expenses, optimize the use of technology, enhance the capital base and area of operation and increase their exposure, the Government has sought comments of respective State Governments and Sponsor Banks on a roadmap for Amalgamation of RRBs within a State.

a.   The roadmap has been prepared in consultation with NABARD and proposes to bring down the number of RRBs to 38 from the present 56. 

b.   It is expected that the proposed amalgamation of RRBs will bring about better scale-efficiency, higher productivity, robust financial health of RRBs, improved financial inclusion and greater credit flow to rural areas.

6.  The Rajya Sabha today passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018.

a.   This bill empowers authorities to confiscate the assets of economic offenders who flee the country. 

b.   Note : The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on July 19. 

7.  According to the US-based Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report, Karnataka is the new national leader in renewable energy generation.

a.   It has overtaken Tamil Nadu that had long been India’s top renewables market.

8.  The government today gave final approval to the mega merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular which will create India's largest mobile operator with 35 per cent market share and around 430 million subscribers.

9.  Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has amended Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules 1959 to include 'shale' in definition of petroleum. 

a.   This change will allow private companies to explore and produce the resource in the blocks they already operate.

   10.              Invest India and Business France have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between startups of India and France. 

a.   The MoU will facilitate direct foreign investment by providing practical investment information to enterprises. 

b.   It will also support companies pursuing those opportunities which contribute positively to economic growth of two countries.

    11.              Tata AIA Life appointed Rishi Srivastava as the new Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director starting August 1, 2018.

a.   He will replace current chief executive officer Naveen Tahilyani who takes over as chief executive officer, group partnership distribution, AIA Group, Hong Kong. 

12. Max Financial Services has named its sponsor and founding shareholder Analjit Singh as non executive chairman of the company.

    13.              A book titled ‘Gandhi The years that changed the world (1914-1948)’ written by Sahitya Akademy winner Ramachandra Guha will be released in September 2018. 

a.   This book will be published by Penguin Random House India.

      14.         British Racer Lewis Hamilton has won the 2018 German Grand Prix.

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 25^th, 2018

                           IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 25^th, 2018

1.  China has invited Bhutan to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), following the visit of China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to the country. 

a.   This was the first high-level visit by a Chinese politician to Bhutan since the Doklam standoff between India and China last year. 

b.   Note : The Doklam region is claimed by both China and Bhutan.

    2.  The Parliament today passed Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

a.   This is an anti-corruption Bill that provides punishment to bribe givers and takers, and extends prior nod for prosecution to former public officials with the Lok Sabha giving its assent to the law.

b.   The Bill provides for imprisonment from three to seven years, besides fine, to those convicted of taking bribes. 

c.   Bribe givers have also been included in the legislation for the first time and they can be punished with imprisonment up to seven years, fine, or both.

3.  The month of September to be celebrated as National Nutrition Month every year

a.   The decision in this regard was taken in the 2nd meeting of National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan, which was held today at New Delhi.

   4.  Deshna Jain, a 20-year-old girl from Tikamgarh was crowned with Miss Deaf Asia 2018 title.

   5.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the Republic of Rwanda Paul Kagamewitnessed signing of 8 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) between the two countries. 

a.   The Signed MOUs are :

                                i.    MoU on Cultural Exchange Program for year 2018-22.

                              ii.    MoU on Agricultural Research and Education between RAB and ICAR.

                            iii.    MoU on Collaboration in the Areas of Leather and Allied Sectors between NIRDA and CSIR-CLRI.

                            iv.    Agreement on Trade Cooperation Framework.

                              v.    LoC Agreement for US $ 100 million for development of Industrial Parks and expansion of Kigali Special Economic Zones.

                            vi.    LoC Agreement for US $ 100 million for Agriculture irrigation scheme in Rwanda.

                           vii.    Amendment on MoU on Cooperation in field of Agriculture and Animal Resources.

                         viii.    Agreement on Cooperation Defence on Capacity Building, Defence, Industry, Science and Technology.

  6.  India and Uganda signed 4 MoUs in the areas of defence cooperation, visa exemption for official and diplomatic passport holders, cultural exchange programme and material testing laboratory. The singed MOUs are :

a.   MoU on Defence Cooperation

b.   MoU on Visa exemption for Diplomatic and official passport holders.

c.   MoU on Cultural Exchange Programme.

d.   MoU on Material Testing Laboratory.

   7.  Pulitzer Prize-Winning food critic, Jonathan Gold (57), has passed away.

a.   He became the 1st food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in the year 2007.

  8.  Bajaj Auto Ltd. has appointed Rakesh Sharma as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to complement the offices of the ED and the CTO.

  9.  India Under-19 batsman Pavan Shah slammed 282 runs off 332 balls against Sri Lanka Under-19 to record the highest-ever score by an Indian in a Youth Test. 

a.   Note : The 18-year-old overtook Tanmay Srivastava's nearly 12-year-old record of 220 runs scored against Pakistan at Peshawar.