01 August 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

01 August  2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Kapil Dev honoured with Bharat Gaurav Award

• India's first World Cup-winning cricket captain Kapil Dev (60 years) has been conferred with the East Bengal's highest honour, ‘Bharat Gaurav’.
• Kapil had signed for East Bengal on June 22, 1992, and played for 27 minutes six days later as a substitute forward in an exhibition match against arch-rivals Mohun Bagan.
• Bhaichung Bhutia honoured with "identifying and nurturing the icon' award, while former India captains, Manoranjan Bhattacharya and Bhaskar Ganguly have given Lifetime Achievement awards.
• The club also honoured legendary PK Banerjee with the 'Coach of coaches' award, while Laldanmawia Ralte was given 'Best Footballer of the Year' award.

Note:

• East Bengal club officially started the centenary celebrations on its foundation day (1^st August) with a glittering ceremony at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.

Obituaries

2. Founder of Cafe Coffee Day V G Siddhartha passes away

• The founder of cafe chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) V G Siddhartha has passed away, as he committed suicide.
• The body of Mr. Siddhartha was found in the Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
• He served as the Chairman and Managing Director of CCD.
• Non-Executive Independent Director S.V. Ranganath has been named the interim chairman.

Note:

• Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) is an Indian cafe chain owned by Coffee Day Global Limited, a subsidiary of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited.
• Cafe Coffee Day has also expanded outside India with its outlets in Austria (Vienna), Czech Republic, Egypt and Nepal.
• As of July 2019, there are 1,843 outlets across 28 states of India.

International Affairs

3. Foreign Ministers from South East Asia attend 52nd ASEAN summit

• Foreign Ministers from South East Asia are attending the 52^nd ASEAN summit in Bangkok, Thailand (30 July – 3 August 2019).
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, H.E. Mr Don Pramudwinai chaired the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) plenary session.
• The annual meeting opened with a call from the host Thailand for deeper integration to expand trade and bolster prosperity in the region amid rising global challenges.

Note:

• The AMM was first held in 1967 and is currently held back-to-back with PMCs with Dialogue Partners and External Parties.
• ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners also discussed preparations for the 35th ASEAN Summit, which will be held later in November 2019.

4. London named world's best student city in new rankings

• UK's capital London has been named as the world's best city for students for the second consecutive year.
• As per new worldwide rankings, London beat international cities like Tokyo and Melbourne that came second and third respectively.
• According to the rankings, India's best student city is Bangalore (81st), followed by Mumbai (85th), Delhi at 113 and Chennai at 115 out of a total of 120 cities ranked in the list.
• The 'QS Best Student Cities Ranking' compiled by global education consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds highlights each city's performance across six categories - the number of top-ranked universities; the proportion of a city's population.

Source: Economic Times

Appointment

5. BJP’s Vishweshwar Kageri is the new Karnataka Speaker

• Six-time MLA Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
• The Opposition Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) did not field any candidate.
• The post fell vacant after KR Ramesh Kumar resigned as the Speaker of the Assembly shortly after the BJP government won the trust vote.
• Kageri, who represents the Sirsi constituency in Uttara Kannada.

Note:

• The Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, the main law-making body for the Indian state of Karnataka.
• He is elected by the members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Source: The Hindu

6. Atanu Chakraborty nominated on RBI Central Board

• The Union Government has nominated Atanu Chakraborty (Economic Affairs Secretary) as a Director on the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Currently, he is a Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
• Shri Rajiv Kumar (new Finance Secretary) is also a Director on the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India.

Note:

• The central board of directors is the main committee of the central bank.
• The RBI has four regional representations: North in New Delhi, South in Chennai, East in Kolkata and West in Mumbai.

Source: Money Control

Banking & Finance

7. Postal dept decides to convert India Post Payments Bank into SFB

• The Postal Department has decided to convert the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) into a small finance bank (SFB), enabling it to offer small loans to customers.
• Besides, the department also looks to open one crore accounts for IPPB in 100 days.
• According to the Postal Department statement, the decisions were taken at the annual Heads of Circles Conference held at Srinagar.

National Affairs

8. Mobile library service launched by Delhi Public Library

• Mr Prahlad Singh Patel (Culture and Tourism Minister) has flagged off mobile library bus service in New Delhi.
• The objective of the mobile library bus service to reach out to readers in Delhi, especially those in slums, resettlement colonies and rural areas.
• The five-bus mobile library service was launched under the "Ghar Ghar Dastak Ghar Ghar Pustak" Scheme of the Delhi Public Library (DPL).
• These buses have been procured under CSR (corporate social responsibility) assistance from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Source: Indian Express

9. Shillong to host a national conference on e-Governance 2019

• The 22nd National Conference on e-Governance 2019 will be held at Shillong, Meghalaya (8^th-9^th August 2019).
• The theme of the Conference is “Digital India: Success to Excellence”.
• It would provide opportunities to civil servants and others to showcase their successful interventions in improving end-to-end service delivery.
• The conference will be attended by 28 states and eight union territories.
• 21st National Conference on e-Governance was held on 26- 27 February 2018 in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Note:

• The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), in association with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India and the State Government of Meghalaya will organize the conference.
• The Conference is also a forum to showcase best practices, innovative technologies and ICT solutions.

10. Taskforce on direct tax code to submit a report by 16^th August 2019

• As per Finance Ministry release, the extension has been given as new members of the Task Force requested for more time to provide further inputs.
• Now, they can submit its report by 16^th August 2019 (earlier, 31^st July)
• The Task Force was constituted by the Government in November 2017 to review the existing Income Tax Act, 1961 and to draft a new direct tax law in consonance with economic needs of the country.

Source: AIR News

11. Indian tourists exempted from visa fees by Sri Lankan govt

• India is among 48 countries whose citizens have been exempted from visa fees for tourism purposes by the Sri Lankan government.
• According to Sri Lankan tourism minister John Amaratunga, visa fees (20 to 40 US dollars) will not be charged for grant of one-month visa for tourism.
• The tourists can apply for electronic travel authorisations online or apply for visa on arrival.
• Sri Lankan tourism has been impacted after the Easter Sunday attacks but the tourism authorities have claimed that there is a revival seen since last month.

Note:

• Tourism is Sri Lanka’s third-largest and fastest-growing source of foreign currency last year, accounting for almost 5% of the gross domestic product in 2018.

Source: AIR News

12. Lok Sabha to become paperless from next session: Speaker

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has announced that the Lower House (Lok Sabha) will become paperless from the next session.
• The move will save crores of rupees to the exchequer.
• Under the new system, speakers name and division number are displayed on the screen in the house, when they are speaking.
• If any member needed paper, he or she will be provided.

Source: AIR News

13. J&K: Governor admin approves operationalisation of 24x7 Free Ambulance Service

• Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Governor’s Administration has approved operationalisation of the 102-108 Toll-Free Ambulance Service in the state.
• The State Government has decided to bring a fleet of 416 Ambulances under the ambit of this service, which will be operationalised through a centralised Call Centre working on a 24x7 basis.
• The project will be operational by 15^th October 2019.
• It will provide round the clock transportation to the patients requiring immediate medical care especially critical, Trauma, accidental victims, pregnant women & sick children.
• 102 Ambulance Service will provide free of cost service to the targeted population.

Source: AIR News

14. Visiting hours of 10 historical monuments across India extended

• Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel has announced that visiting hours of 10 historical monuments under the care of Archaeological Survey of India will be extended for tourists.
• Now, The historical Monuments will remain open from 9 AM to 9.00 PM for the general public (earlier 9 AM to 5:30 PM).
• According to Joint DG of Archaeological Survey of India, All these 10 monuments will be illuminated in the evening and hoped that this effort will attract more tourist.

S. No	Monuments	States/UT
1.	Humayun’s Tomb	Delhi
2.	Safdarjung Tomb	Delhi
3.	Rajarani Temple Complex	Odisha
4.	Dulhadev Temple, Khajuraho	Madhya Pradesh
5.	Shekh Chilli Tomb	Kurukshetra
6.	Group of Monuments at Pattadakal	Karnataka
7.	Gol Gumbaj	Karnataka
8.	Group of Temples Markanda	Maharashtra
9.	Man Mahal (Vaidhshala)	Uttar Pradesh
10.	Rani ki Baav	Gujarat

Source: Zee News