07 July 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel appointed NGT Chairperson

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (Former Supreme Court Judge) has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for five years term.
The post of NGT chairperson had been lying vacant after the retirement of Justice Swatanter Kumar (20^th December 2017).
The tribunal's principal bench is in New Delhi and its zonal benches are in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata & Chennai.
Its circuit benches are in Shimla, Shillong, Jodhpur and Kochi.

Note:

National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (NGT) is an Act of the Parliament of India which enables the creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues.
It draws inspiration from India's constitutional provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment.

Important Dates

2. 7 July: International Day of Cooperatives

The International Day of Cooperatives was observed across the world on 7^th July every year to promote the co-operative model.
It contains aspects of sustainable development at its core and is based on ethical values and principles.
The theme of 2018 is ‘Sustainable societies through cooperation’.
This year’s theme was aimed at creating the sustainable societies through cooperation.

National Affairs

3. Uttar Pradesh orders ban on plastic from 15^th July

The Uttar Pradesh Government has issued an order to ban the use of plastic in the state from 15^th July 2018.
The latest ban comes following the footsteps of Maharashtra government which enforced a similar ban in March 2018.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath urged everyone to stop the use of plastic cup, glass and polythene after 15^th July 2018.

4. Free ration for ten tribal blocks in Tripura

Tripura government will distribute free ration to around 62,000 BPL families in ten tribal dominated blocks for two months.
The Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in ten tribal dominated blocks will get this facility because they face a shortage of foods.
Each family will get 20 kg of rice per month.

5. RIL becomes India's largest taxpayer in the private sector

According to the Reliance Industries Chairman ‘Mukesh Ambani’, Reliance is India's largest payer of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Excise and Customs Duty, and Income Tax in the private sector.
Now, Reliance has become the first Indian company to record PBDIT (Profit Before Depreciation Interest and Taxes) of over USD 10 billion with each of our key businesses (refining, petrochemicals, retail and digital services).
Jio's subscribers grew from 124 million at the end of last year to 210 million at the end of FY18.
The company's consolidated revenue stood at Rs 1,29,120 crore (up 39% during Q4 FY 18) compared to the Rs 92,889 crore posted in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Note:

India's largest private sector enterprise ‘Reliance Group’ founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani.

6. BHEL to partner Ukraine's Zorya for an overhaul of warship turbines

The ‘Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd’ (BHEL) is setting up a joint venture (JV) in India with the Zorya Mashproekt (Ukrainian manufacturer) to overhaul turbines in India.
The Navy will soon have 34 warships driven by Zorya turbines, with four turbines per vessel, adding up to 136 in-service turbines.
There will also be a stock of six-eight spare turbines.

Note:

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an engineering and manufacturing company owned and founded by the Government of India, in 1964.
BHEL is India's largest power generation equipment manufacturer.

7. Indian Railways to accept the driving licence, Aadhaar in DigiLocker as ID proof

The Railway Ministry will accept soft copies of Aadhaar and driving licence as proof of identity when they are issued from the digital locker account of the passenger.
Digital locker (around 1.2 crores registered users) is a service offered by the IT Ministry allowing users to keep digital records of various documents like birth certificate, mark sheets, driving licenses.
The documents uploaded by the user himself/herself the documents in ‘Uploaded Documents’ section of DigiLocker will not be considered as a valid proof of identity.

Banking & Finance

8. YES Bank gets SEBI nod to launch Mutual Fund business

YES Bank has received final approval from the capital markets regulator SEBI (Securities & Exchange Board of India) to start mutual fund business.
YES Asset Management (India) Limited (YAMIL) will launch fund offerings across the spectrum in both debt and equity markets over the next 6-12 months.

It has recruited a team to establish the operations under the guidance of the Board of Directors and trustees.

International Affairs

9. US boycotts informal UNSC meeting on ICC's 20th anniversary

The United States boycotted an informal UN Security Council meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the statute that created the International Criminal Court (ICC).
US noted concerns about any potential ICC investigation of American personnel related to the situation in Afghanistan.

Note:

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
The ICC has four principal organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry.

10. Nepal & India to jointly promote tourism

The joint working group on tourism cooperation meeting (2nd) between India and Nepal concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Both countries agreed to jointly promote Buddhist & Ramayana circuits and Adventure tourism.
The meeting also decided to set up an industry-led India Nepal Tourism Forum.
In 2014, the joint working group was formed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Nepal to enhance cooperation in tourism between the two countries.

Note:

Under Ramayana Circuit, 11 destinations (across 6 states) have been proposed.

The destinations covered are: Ayodhya, Nandigram, Shringhverpur & Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh); Sitamarhi, Buxar & Darbhanga (Bihar); Jagdalpur (Chattisgarh); Bhadrachalam (Telangana); Hampi (Karnataka); and Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu).
The expert committee suggested to include Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Nashik & Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Mahendragiri (Odisha).

Under Krishna circuit, 12 destinations (across 5 states) have been proposed.

The destinations covered are: Dwarka (Gujarat); Nathdwara, Jaipur & Sikar (Rajasthan); Kurukshetra (Haryana), Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon & Govardhan (Uttar Pradesh); Puri (Odisha).

Sports

11. Dhoni reaches the coveted milestone of playing 500 international matches

Former India captain ‘Mahendra Singh Dhoni’ reached the coveted milestone of playing 500 international matches during the second T20 International against England.
Now, Dhoni became the third Indian after Sachin Tendulkar (664) and Rahul Dravid (509) to breach the 500 match barrier in international cricket.
Dhoni has played 92 T20 International, 90 Test matches and 318 One Day Internationals(ODI).

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Thought of the Day

"If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes."

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