Current affairs notes on July 24-28

 Current affairs notes on July 24-28

1.23rd July- Birth Anniversary of Chandra Shekhar Azad & Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Chandra Shekhar Azad After the suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad joined Hindustan Republican Association (HRA). Azad was involved in the 1925 Kakori Conspiracy. Bal Gangadhar Tilak- The British Government termed him as the “Father of Indian Unrest”. Tilak proposed Grand celebrations on ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ and ‘Shivaji Jayanti’ . Tilak published two newspapers –‘Mahratta’ (English) and ‘Kesari’ (Marathi). As a founding father of the Deccan Education Society created in 1884.

2.President of India has appointed Anandiben Patel, Governor of Uttar Pradesh to discharge the functions of the Governor of Madhya Pradesh, in addition to her own duties. A governor is a nominal head of a state, unlike the Chief Minister who is the real head of a state in India. According to 7th Constitutional Amendment Act 1956, the same person can be the Governor of two or more states. Governors are appointed by the president.

3.10 crore houses completed under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin. The erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas yojana (IAY) has been restructured into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana –Gramin (PMAY-G) from 01.04.2016. PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless householder and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022. The cost of unit assistance in this scheme is shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90: 10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States.

4.The Reserve Bank of India has agreed to a $400 million currency swap facility for Sri Lanka till November 2022. Currency Swap Arrangement (CSA) is an arrangement between two friendly countries to involve in trading in their own local currencies. Both countries pay for import and export trade at the pre-determined rates of exchange, without bringing in third country currency like the US Dollar.

5.On July 22, China launched its Mars mission named ‘Tianwen-1’.  This week had important  Mars missions, with the UAE having launched HOPE mission on 19th July and NASA to launch its own rover on July 30- ‘Perseverance’.

6.Poland is to withdraw from Istanbul Convention- a treaty aimed at preventing violence against women. It is also called as the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The treaty is the world’s first binding instrument to prevent and tackle violence against women.

7.Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 was recently released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.  According to FRA 2020, top  3 countries that have recorded the maximum average annual net gains in forest area during 2010-2020 are: 1. China 2.Australia 3.India. The FRA 2020 has credited the Indian government’s Joint Forest Management programme for the significant increase in community-managed forest areas in the Asian continent.

 

8.July 26-The day commemorates the success of “Operation Vijay” launched by the Indian Army to recapture the Indian territories from Pakistani intruders in the Kargil-Drass sector in 1999. Safed Sagar, the Indian Air Force’s operation, was a major part of the Kargil war.

 

Industrialisation has reduced Nag river to a cursed lady, Bombay High Court said recently. The Nag River is a river flowing through the city of Nagpur in Maharashtra, India.

 

9.Hurricane Hanna has made landfall recently near Texas In the USA. Hurricanes are large, swirling storms. They produce winds of 119 kilometers per hour (74 mph) or higher.  They form over warm ocean waters. 

10. TRIFED has entered into a partnership with IIT Delhi for the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA). Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) functions under the Tribal Affairs Ministry. It is a flagship program of the Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD). Unnat Bharat Abhiyan  aims to link the Higher Education Institutions with a set of at least (5) villages,so that these institutions can contribute to the economic and social betterment of these village communities using their knowledge base.

11. Ministry of Earth Sciences launches Mobile App “Mausam” for Indian Meteorological Department. Users can access observed weather, forecasts, radar images and be proactively warned of impending weather events.

12. TTSZ (Tuting Tuddding structure zone) is a major part of the Eastern Himalaya, where the Himalaya takes a sharp southward bend and connects with the Indo-Burma Range. TTSZ is generating moderate earthquakes at two different depths in Arunachal Pradesh.

 

13. Roshni Nadar Malhotra, India's richest woman becomes the 1st woman to head a listed Indian IT company as she took over as the Chairperson of HCL Technologies from her father and billionaire Shiv Nadar (Founder & chairman)

14. Largest Solar Power Plant at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala has been commissioned by the Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla. It has been set-up in line with the Indian Government's initiative of 'National Solar Mission' which aims to achieve 100GW of solar power by 2022.

15. Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Keshav Javadekar virtually launched the piloting of the National Transit Pass System (NTPS) from Indira Paryavaran Bhawan in New Delhi, as another step towards Digital India Movement.

16. Pi approximation day is observed annually on July 22. Pi denotes the relationship between a circle's circumference and its diameter and is denoted by the fraction 22/7 which calculates approximately to 3.14.

17.Karnataka state has approved ‘Digital Economy Mission’, to promote start-ups, e-commerce and other gig economy companies.

18.National Broadcasting day is observed on July 23.

19. Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research (DIHAR) of DRDO located at LEH.

20. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its Financial Stability Report (FSR) for the month of July 2020. The RBI warned that the Gross Non-performing Assets (GNPA) ratio of all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) may increase from 8.5% in March 2020 to 12.5% by March 2021. The RBI projected that Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) ratio could slide to 13.3% in March 2021 under the normal scenario and to 11.8% under the very severe stress scenario. CAR is the ratio of a bank’s capital in relation to its risk weighted assets and current liabilities. It is also known as Capital-to-Risk Weighted Asset Ratio (CRAR). Indian SCBs are required to maintain a CAR of 9%.

21. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has decided to conduct an online audit of accounts of about 50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) through its application AuditOnline during the current financial year (2020-21). This will be the first such exercise.

22. KURMA is a mobile-based application aimed at turtle conservation. It was launched on the occasion of World Turtle Day (23rd May).

23. Recently, the government has announced that Haryana will host the fourth edition of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG).  Khelo India Scheme: Under the Scheme, talented players identified in priority sports disciplines at various levels are provided annual financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakh per annum for 8 years.

24. Exercise Samudra Shakti the bilateral maritime exercise between Indai and Indonesia. Garuda Shakti is the joint military exercise between India and Indonesia.

25. The 'Dare to Dream 2.0': The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has launched an innovation contest 'Dare to Dream 2.0' on the 5th death anniversary of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.