Current Affairs Update – 24 July 2018

Current Affairs Update 24 July 2018

Current Affairs is an important part for many exams. Be prepared for this section with ByScoop which brings all the important Current Affairs in one place. 24 July 2018.

HM Rajnath Singh Inaugurates 3-day National Traders’ Conclave

  • Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 3-day National Traders’ Conclave organised by the Confederation of All-India Traders in New Delhi.
  • As many as 1,500 trade leaders is likely to participate in the summit to discuss wide range of issues on related to trade and business. Post Conclave, the CAIT IS likely to submit its recommendations to govt for implementation

17 Indian Sites To Be Developed as Iconic Tourist Sites

  • Ministry of Tourism has identified 17 sites in 12 clusters in the country for development under Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project.
  • Following are the 17 sites:-
    • Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh;
    • Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra,
    • Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort and Qutub Minar in Delhi;
    • Colva Beach in Goa;
    • Amer Fort in Rajasthan;
    • Somnath and Dholavira in Gujarat;
    • Khajuraho in MP;
    • Hampi in Karnataka;
    • Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu;
    • Kaziranga in Assam;
    • Kumarakom in Kerala and
    • Mahabodhi in Bihar.
  • The monuments taken up for development under the Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project fall under the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State Archaeology Departments.

‘Mukhyanmantri Kissan Aaye Badhotri Solar Yojna’ approved by Delhi Govt

  • The Delhi Cabinet chaired by Shri Arvind Kejriwal has approved the  ‘Mukhyanmantri Kissan Aaye Badhotri Solar Yojna’.
  • Under this scheme farmers in the Delhi can lease out part of their agricultural land for setting up solar panels for additional income. Any farmer can rent out not more than one third of his land to a private firm to set up solar panels at a rate of Rs one lakh per annum per acre.
  • The scheme will start in about nine months. These farmers will also get 1,000 units of free solar power without any investment. The Delhi government plans to generate 2,000 MW in solar energy by 2025.

Mobile app ‘Bijli Mitra’ launched in Rajasthan

Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje launched a mobile app ‘Bijli Mitra’ for farmers, registering a complaint regarding defunct transformers through the mobile app. The transformers will be replaced within 6 hours of the complaint.

No Sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2020

  • The sale and manufacturing of Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) non-compliant vehicles will not be allowed across the country from April 1, 2020.
  • However, time till June 2020 has been given for registration of BS-IV vehicles manufactured up to March 2020.
  • The BS-VI non-compliant vehicles would lessen the expected emission benefits to be accrued from using cleaner BS-VI fuel.
  • Besides, it would not be possible to segregate pricing of diesel or have a differential pricing mechanism for the fuel for private vehicles.

Banks & Financial Institutions Sign Agreement to Speed up Resolution of Bad Loans

  • Nearly two dozen Banks and Financial Institutions in India, including SBI and LIC, have signed the inter-creditor agreement (ICA) framework agreement to speed up the resolution of stressed assets in Rs 500-crore bracket that are under consortium lending.
  • The ICA has been signed by 22 public sector banks (including India Post Payments Bank), 19 private sector banks and 32 foreign banks. Besides, 12 major financial intermediaries, like LIC, HUDCO, PFC and REC.
  • The agreement gives a bigger say to the lead lender in a consortium and allows a resolution plan to be approved if 66 percent of the banks in the group agree to it.
  • The objective of ICA is to resolve stressed assets fast, and will primarily focus on NPAs in the Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 500 crore bracket. The framework will deal separately with stressed assets of 500 to 2,000 crores or more.
  • The role of the lead lender varies from determining the proportion of sustainable debt to finalising the resolution plan. The terms of the resolution plan has to be approved by 66% of the lenders, and will then be final and binding on all other lenders.
  • The framework is part of the Project Sashakt, the report on bad bank drafted and submitted by the committee headed by Non-executive Chairman of PNB, Sunil Mehta earlier this month.

Only Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank among PSBs with Positive Net Profit

  • As per the data released by government on the Bank-wise details of gross NPAs as of March 2018, and operating profit, provision done and net profit/loss in FY 2017-18 here is a summary of the data:
  • Only Indian Bank (Rs 1,259 crore) and Vijaya Bank (Rs 727 crore) are among the 21 PSBs have Positive Net Profit, while all other banks are in loss.
  • Top three Banks according to Gross NPA ratio (%): 1. IDBI Bank Ltd (28%); 2. Indian Overseas Bank (25.3%); 3. UCO Bank (24.6%)
  • Bank with least Gross NPA ratio: Vijaya Bank (6.3%) followed by Indian Bank (7.4%).
  • The gross NPA ratio for Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as a category is 14.6% in the financial year (FY) 2017-18, as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. 
  • In terms of Highest Operating Profit, SBI is on the top with Operating profit of Rs 59,511 Crore and 
  • In the last 25 financial years, the gross NPA ratio for PSBs was highest in FY 1993-94 at 24.8% and was also higher in six other financial years.

10th BRICS summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • The 10th BRICS summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 25 to July 27.
  • Theme for 2018: ‘BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for inclusive growth and shared prosperity in the fourth industrial revolution’.

Ramachandra Guha pens “Gandhi: the years that changed the world (1914-1948)”

  • Renowned historian and author, Ramachandra Guha has penned a book on Mahatma Gandi titled “Gandhi: the years that changed the world (1914-1948)”. 
  • It will be published by Penguin Random House India. and will be out by September 2018. 
  • Ramachandra Guha has authored books like “India After Gandhi” and “India Before Gandhi”.

World’s longest bicycle race begins in Moscow

  • The first stage of the Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme ultra-stage bicycle race got started on July 24, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.
  • Trans-Siberian race is the World’s longest bicycle race consisting of of 15 stages, from 260 km up to 1,372 km long.
  • The Trans-Siberian race will take place for the fourth time with six cyclists participating: Amit Samarth from India, Vladimir Gusev from Russia, Marcelo Florentino Soares friom Brazil, Michael Knudsen from Denmark, Patricio Doucet from Spain and Pierre Bischoff from Germany.

India, Rwanda sign Eight Agreements in Various Fields

  • India and Rwanda has signed eight agreements in various fields following delegation-level talks between Mr Modi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. 
  • The agreements were signed in the areas of defence, agriculture and dairy production, trade and leather and allied sectors.
  • The two sides also signed an agreement of $100 million for development of industrial parks and expansion of Special Economic Zones, and a similar amount for an agriculture irrigation scheme in that African nation
  • Besides, PM Modi also gifted 200 cows to villagers in Rweru Model Village of Rwanda, under the Rwandan Government’s Girinka Programme.  

Pakistan Gets its First Woman Chief Justice of High Court

  • Justice Tahira Safdar has been named as the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. This will make Justice Safdar to be first-ever woman Chief Justice of a High Court in Pakistan.
  • Justice Safdar will take charge of her new role following the retirement of incumbent Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Noor Muskanzai, who attains superannuation on the 31st August.
  • Justice Tahira will then take charge as the Chief Justice till October 5 2019. In 1982 she became the first woman civil judge in Balochistan.

Lewis Hamilton wins German Grand Prix

  • Lewis Hamilton (Britain- Mercedes) won the German Grand Prix 2018 after Sebastian Vettel crashed while leading near the end.
  • Valtteri Bottas finished second with Kimi Raikkonen taking third place.

Dhanvir, Priya set meet records in National Youth Athletics Championships

  • Punjab shot-putter Dhanvir Singh and Kerala 400m hurdler Vishnu Priya set new meet records to win gold medals in their respective events in the 15th National Youth Athletics Championships in Vadodara. 
  • Dhanvir threw 19.69 metre to erase the earlier meet record of 19.34 m set by Navtejdeep Singh in 2011. The silver medal in the competition was claimed by Adish Ghildiyal of Uttarakhand followed by Aniket Kala of Uttarakhand for bronze.
  • In women’s 400 metre hurdles, Priya (Kerala), crossed the finish line in a season-best time of 1:02.52 seconds to erase the previous meet record of 1:02.58 seconds set by P O Sanya in Bambolim in 2015. 
  • The silver medal went to K Prajna of Karnataka while the bronze went to Jyoshna Sabar of Odisha.
  • In women’s 200 metre race, Kerala’s Ancy Sojan won the gold in 24.91 seconds. The silver medal in the competition went to Kirti Bhoite. The bronze medal went to Giridharani of Tamil Nadu.

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