31 July 2018 - Daily Current Affairs


31 July 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

31 July 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

1. The first Nepal-India Think Tank Summit begins in Kathmandu

  • Former Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has inaugurated the first Nepal-India Think Tank Summit in Kathmandu (Nepal) to foster greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing among the think tanks of the two countries.
  • The objective of the summit is to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Nepal through multi-faceted collaboration among think-tanks in both the countries.
  • The summit is being jointly organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs & Nehru Memorial Museum Library.

2. EU moving anti-piracy HQ to Spain after Brexit

  • The European Union (EU) countries have decided to move the headquarters of the bloc's anti-piracy Atalanta patrols from London to the Spanish port of Rota on 29th March (when Britain exits the EU).
  • The member countries also agreed to transfer the London-based Martime Security Centre Horn of Africa to the French port of Brest.
  • The security centre will remain under the Atalanta command.

Obituaries

3. Veteran filmmaker John Sankaramangalam passes away

  • Veteran filmmaker and former director of Film and Television Institute of India, John Sankaramangalam (84-years) passed away due to age-related ailments in Thiruvalla, Kerala.
  • In his long career, John won two National and four Kerala State Film Awards.
  • Mr. Sankaramangalam had directed a handful of films and documentaries in his career.
  • "Aval Alpam Vaikippoyi", "Janmabhoomi" and "Samantharam" were among his directorial ventures.

National Affairs

4. Rajasthan signs MoU for the first Cow Sanctuary in state

  • The Rajasthan Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private trust Sohanlalji Buladeviji Ojha Gaushala Samiti to build its first 'Cow Sanctuary', a shelter for 10000 cows.
  • In June 2018, the state government introduced a 20 per cent surcharge on liquor to use the proceeds for protection of cows in the state.

5. Govt launches free software for editing text on scanned images

  • Electronics and IT (Information Technology) Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney has launched a desktop software ‘e-Aksharayan’ to enable editing of text printed on scanned documents.
  • "e-Aksharayan is a desktop software for converting scanned printed Indian language documents into a fully editable text format in Unicode encoding.
  • The software supports editing in seven Indian languages (Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Kannada & Assamese).
  • It can be downloaded for free from its website.

6. India imposes safeguard duty on solar cells imports from China, Malaysia

  • India has imposed safeguard duty on solar cells imports from China and Malaysia for two years to protect domestic players from steep rise in the inbound shipments of the product.
  • This comes following recommendations by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), under the commerce ministry.
  • Imports of the cells from these countries account for more than 90% of the total inbound shipments in the country.
  • The duty will be 20% (July 30, 2019, to January 29, 2020) and 15% (January 30, 2020, to July 29, 2020).
Note:
  • Solar cells, electrical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, are imported primarily from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
  • India is targeting to 100 gigawatts (GW) solar capacity by 2022.

7. Madhya Pradesh govt to observe Independence Day eve as Shahid Samman Divas to honour martyrs

  • The Madhya Pradesh government will observe Independence Day (15th August) eve as Shahid Samman Divas to honour ‘martyrs’.
  • It will be a comprehensive program and spread across all the villages, blocks and districts of Madhya Pradesh, where rallies will be organized.
  • The martyrs will be paid homage and the relatives of the martyrs will also be honoured on the day.

8. Hyderabad to host India’s first-ever international blockchain Congress

  • India's first three-day International Blockchain Congress (IBC) in India will be held at, Novotel & HICC Complex, Hyderabad.
  • Over 3,000 delegates, blockchain experts and innovators to take part.
  • The objective of the IBC is to bring thought-provoking conversations on blockchain for next-generation financial services.
  • The first two days of the IBC will be organised at Hyderabad and the third day will be hosted in Goa.

Appointments

9. HSBC appoints Surendra Rosha as India CEO

  • The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has appointed the ‘Surendra Rosha’ as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for HSBC India.
  • Rosha succeeds Jayant Rikhye, who is taking a leave of absence for medical reasons.
  • Currently, Rosha is the HSBC’s Head of Financial Institutions Group (FIG) for Asia-Pacific.

Honours & Awards

10. HDFC awarded best-performing lending institution in CLSS schemes

  • Prime Minister ‘Narendra Modi’ awarded HDFC bank for the best performing primary lending institution in credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) for the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) and LIG (Low Income Group) category.
  • During FY18, HDFC bank has approved 38% of home loans in volume terms and 19% in value terms to customers from the EWS and LIG segment.
  • CLSS was introduced in June 2015 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for home loans to customers.

Sports

11. Hamilton wins 6th Hungarian Formula 1 GP

  • Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) won the Hungarian Grand Prix for the sixth time of his career.
  • He finished with a 17.123-second lead over Sebastian Vettel(Mercedes), 20 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Finland (Ferrari).
Note: The 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Hungary.

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