25 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

25 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

25 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Biswabhushan Harichandan sworn-in as new Andhra Pradesh Governor

  • BJP veteran and former Odisha minister Mr. Biswabhushan Harichandan (84-years) was sworn in as the new Governor of Andhra Pradesh (23rd) at the Raj Bhavan.
  • The oath of office was administered by the Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh, Justice C Pravin Kumar.
  • Harichandan replaced ESL Narasimhan, who is also governor of Telangana.
  • The governors and lieutenant-governors are appointed by the president for a term of five years.
  • Biswabhusan Harichandan has authored several books in Odia language some of which include Maru Bataas, Rana Pratap, Sesha Jhalak, Asta Sikha and Manasi.
Note:
  • The governors (exist in the states) and lieutenant-governors/administrators (union territories and in the NCT of Delhi) of the states and union territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at Union level.
  • The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the Chief ministers of the states and his/her councils of ministers.

2. Ajay Bhalla appointed as Home Secretary

  • Ajay Kumar Bhalla (1984 batch IAS officer) has been appointed Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Ministry of Home Affairs with immediate effect for two-year tenure (till August 2021).
  • He will take over as Home Secretary from incumbent Rajive Gauba.
  • Currently, Mr. Bhalla is serving as Power Secretary.
  • Anshu Prakash has been appointed new Secretary, Telecommunications, in place of Aruna Sundararajan, who is superannuating on 31st July.
Note:
  • Home Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Home Affairs and is the principal adviser to the Home Minister on all matters of policy and administration within the Home Ministry.
  • As a Secretary to Government of India, the Home Secretary ranks 23rd on Indian Order of Precedence.

3. Indian origin Priti Patel appointed as Britain's Home Secretary

  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Indian origin Priti Patel (47-years) as the country Home Secretary.
  • The Prime Minister named former Home Secretary Sajid Javid (former banker) to take over from Philip Hammond as the Finance Secretary or Chancellor.
  • Mr Johnson has also named Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab as the country's Foreign Secretary.
  • Priti Patel (MP for Witham) was first elected as a Conservative MP in 2010 and gained prominence in the then David Cameron led Tory government as his Indian Diaspora Champion.
Note:
  • The ‘Home Secretary’ is a senior official as one of the Great Offices of State within Her Majesty's Government and head of the Home Office.
  • The Home Secretary is responsible for the internal affairs of England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the United Kingdom.
Books & Author

4. PM Modi releases a book on former PM Chandra Shekhar

  • The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a book "Chandra Shekhar-The Last Icon of Ideological Politics" in New Delhi.
  • The book has been written by Shri Harivansh, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha; and Shri Ravi Dutt Bajpai.
  • The book release event was held at the Balayogi Auditorium, Parliament Library Building.
  • Prime Minister also announced a museum for all former Prime Ministers of India and invited their families to share aspects of their lives.
Source: DD News
National Affairs

5. Cabinet approves the merger of National Institute of Miners' Health with ICMR-NIOH

  • Union Cabinet has approved the merger of National Institute of Miners' Health with ICMR - National Institute of Occupational Health.
  • This will help both the institutes in terms of enhanced expertise in the field of occupational health besides efficient management of public money.
  • The Cabinet also approved sale of 481.79 acres of land held by Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, FACT to the Government of Kerala and utilization of the sale proceeds by FACT.
  • The decision will help the company in reducing bank borrowings and implementing projects for enhancing fertilizers production capacity and upgrading logistics and raw materials.
Source: AIR News

6. Facebook slapped with 5 billion US Dollar fine for users' privacy violation

  • US regulators formalized a record 5 billion US Dollar fine on Facebook for violation of users' privacy in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving 87 million users. 
  • According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the penalty was the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers' privacy and one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the US government for any violation.
  • The FTC initiated the investigation after a scandal involving former British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which was accused of illegally accessing data of more than 87 million Facebook users without their prior knowledge.
Source: AIR News

7. FM Nirmala Sitharaman to chair 36th meeting of GST Council

  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 36th meeting of the GST Council through video conferencing in New Delhi.
  • This will be the first GST Council meeting after the presentation of Union Budget in Parliament on 5th of this month.
  • Among other issues, the GST Council is expected to announce its decision on lowering tax rates for electric vehicles, solar power projects and rationalisation of GST rates on lottery.
  • In its last meeting, the GST Council had approved the use of Aadhaar by businesses to register under GST and the imposition of a penalty of up to 10% on entities not passing on benefits of GST rate cuts to consumers.
Source: AIR News

8. ISRO’s commercial arm earned Rs 6,289 crore in the last 3 years: Govt

  • Total 239 satellites were launched by ISRO’s commercial arm ‘Antrix Corporation’ in the last three years, garnering revenue of Rs 6,289 crore,
  • The government has already set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), under the administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS) to commercially exploit the research and development work of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres and constituent units of DOS.
  • The NSIL was set up to meet the ever-increasing demands of the Indian space programme and to commercially exploit the emerging global space market.
Source: Business Standard

9. UGC declares 23 universities as 'self-styled, unrecognised

  • The higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a list of 23 "self-styled, unrecognised" universities.
  • The UGC has warned students against taking admission in these institutions.
  • According to UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain, these unrecognised institutions are functioning in various parts of the country in contravention of the UGC Act,".
  • Eight of these universities are in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Delhi (seven). Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Puducherry have a fake university each.
India’s Unrecognised universities:
Unrecognised universities
Uttar Pradesh
Unrecognised universities
Delhi
Unrecognised universities
Other States
Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (Varanasi)Commercial University LtdBadaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society (Karnataka)
Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya (Prayagraj),United Nations UniversitySt John's University (Kerala), Raja Arabic University (Maharashtra)
Gandhi Hindi Vidyapeeth (Varanasi)Vocational UniversitySree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education (Puducherry)
National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy (Kanpur)ADR-Centric Juridical UniversityIndian Institute of Alternative Medicine (West Bengal)
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Open University (Aligarh)Indian Institution of Science Engineering,Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research (West Bengal)
Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya (Mathura)Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya (Spiritual University)Nababharat Shiksha Parishad (Odisha)
Maharana Partap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya (Pratapgarh), andViswakarma Open University for Self-EmploymentNorth Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology (Odisha)
Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad (Noida).
Note: "In case of Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad in Lucknow, the matter is sub-judice,".
Source: Business Line

10. ADB sanctions about Rs 2000 Cr for power projects in Tripura

  • Asian Development Bank (ADB) has sanctioned 1,925 crore rupees project for up-gradation of power generation and distribution in Tripura.
  • The amount was recently sanctioned to the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited after the state government had sought the ADB's assistance.
  • The project has been sanctioned for upgrading capacity of 63 MW Rokhia Project to 120 MW at an estimated cost of over 699 crores and modernising Gumti Hydro Electric Project at an estimated cost of nearly 1225 crore rupees.
  • Rokhia project is located at West Tripura district whereas the Gumti project is in Gomati district.
Source: AIR News

11. DCC approves Rs 3,050 cr penalty on Airtel, Vodafone Idea

  • The Digital Communications Commission (DCC) has approved the cumulative penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
  • The penalty was imposed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for not providing points of interconnection to Reliance Jio when it entered the market.
Source: The Hindu
Obituaries

12. ‘Blade Runner’ actor Rutger Hauer passes away

  • Dutch film actor Rutger Hauer (75-years) passed away at his home in the Netherlands.
  • He acted in both Dutch and English-language TV series and films.
  • Hauer's roles included a terrorist in 'Nighthawks' with Sylvester Stallone, Cardinal Roark in 'Sin City' and playing an evil corporate executive in 'Batman Begins.'
  • Hauer founded the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, an AIDS awareness organization.
Source: CBS News
Sports

13. Boxer Maxim Dadashev dies from head injuries sustained in the fight

  • Russian boxer Maxim Dadashev (28-years) passed away following injuries suffered in his IBF light-welterweight fight against Subriel Matias.
  • Dadashev was reportedly unable to walk to the dressing room after his bout was stopped by trainer Buddy McGirt at the end of the 11th round.
  • He was hospitalised with bleeding on the brain and underwent emergency surgery but failed to recover.
  • Dadashev had won all of his previous 13 fights but had to absorb a barrage of punches from Puerto Rican Matias during the course of the fight in Maryland.
Source: DD News

14. Lasith Malinga to retire from ODIs after first Bangladesh match

  • Sri Lanka fast bowling ace Lasith Malinga (35- years) will retire from 50-over internationals (ODI-Cricket) after the first match against Bangladesh at Kettarama stadium in Colombo (on 26th July).
  • Malinga is the third-highest wicket-taker for the island country behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.
  • He has taken 335 wickets from 225 one-day internationals for Sri Lanka.
  • He has also taken three ODI hat-tricks and is the only player to have achieved the milestone twice during a World Cup.

15. BCCI approves Indian Cricketers Association

  • The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formally recognised the Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA), a non-profit company limited, under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013, as the official association for ex-cricketers in India.
  • Former India cricketers Kapil Dev, Ajit Agarkar and Shantha Rangaswamy are the directors at ICA and will hold their positions until elections are held.
Note:
  • The ICA is not affiliated to Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) and is only open to former men and women cricketers, unlike the players’ associations in most countries.
  • The functioning of ICA will be independent of BCCI’s functioning and the association will have to generate its own funds even though the board will provide some initial grants.
Source: Hindu Business Line

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