Current Affairs Update – 17 July 2018

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Current Affairs Update 17 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. 17 July 2018.

India’s first National Skill Training Institute to come up in Odisha

  • Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation stone of India’s first National Skill Training Institute (NSTI) in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. 
  • This modern state-of-the-art institute will impart training to trainers who are teaching in various ITIs and other skill-based education institutes.
  • The Institute will be set up at a cost of Rs. 160 crore, on a 5 Acre land.

C K Mishra headed committee to tackle industrial pollution near Taj Mahal

  • The government has formed a committee comprising officials of the environment ministry, experts from NEERI, IITs and various other forums to look into the issue of industrial pollution around the iconic Taj Mahal. 
  • The committee will be headed by C K Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Anil Swarup led committee to find ways to strengthen NCC, NSS

  • Government has decided to form a committee under former education secretary Anil Swarup seeking suggestions to revamp and strengthen National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme(NSS).
  • The Committee will deal with issues like expansion, strengthening training infrastructure, rationalising resources, reducing manpower deficiency affecting NCC and NSS.
  • The committee will also have representations from NCC (National Cadet Corps) and the Ministry of Human Resource and Development.

Panel headed by Rajiv Kumar to suggest changes in law to prevent defaulters from fleeing country

  • The Government has set up a high-level committee headed by Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar to look at various measures and suggest changes in existing laws in order to stop defaulting promoters from fleeing the country.
  • Other members of the high-level panel include representatives from Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Bureau, and Reserve Bank of India. Besides, senior officials of Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs are also part of the committee.

Finance Ministry approves Rs 11,336 cr capital infusion in 5 PSU Banks

  • The finance ministry has approved infusion of Rs 11,336 crore in five state-owned banks. Punjab National Bank will get the highest amount.The detailed infusion is given below:
    • Punjab National Bank – Rs 2,816 crore
    • Allahabad Bank – Rs 1,790 crore 
    • Andhra Bank – Rs 2,019 crore
    • Indian Overseas Bank – Rs 2,157 crore
    • Corporation Bank – Rs 2,555 crore
  • These banks have come under pressure because of interest payment to their bond holders of Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) bonds.
  • The infusion would be part of remaining Rs 65,000 crore out of Rs 2.11 lakh crore capital infusion over two financial years. 

Steel CPSE Employees Pension Scheme Announced

  • Ministry of Steel has agreed to the proposal received from various CPSEs under its control to introduce the pension scheme.
  • The pension scheme will be effective from 1stJanuary 2007 in case of executives and 1stJanuary 2012 in case of non-executives or from a subsequent date as decided by the company.
  • The pension scheme will benefit over 94,000 serving and 56,000 retired employees of CPSEs under the Ministry of Steel and put an additional financial burden of Rs. 45 crore per month.

Facebook Joins Skill India Mission to Train Empower Youth

  • Social media giant Facebook has entered into a strategic partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to empower youth and entrepreneurs with digital skills in India.
  • The partnership will enable Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to incorporate Facebook’s training on Digital Marketing Skills in its courses, besides providing trainees with access to local, domestic and international markets.
  • The programme includes courses on Digital Marketing, Online Safety and Financial Literacy in regional languages with Facebook imparting training to people nominated by the NSDC. This will up-skill job seekers and increase their prospects of employment.

UN Environment & Google Announce Ground-Breaking Partnership to Track Environmental Changes

  • The United Nations has entered into a partnership with Google to monitor the impacts of human activity on global ecosystems by using sophisticated online tools of the tech giant.
  • According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the aim of the partnership is to develop a platform to enable governments, NGO’s and the public to track specific environment-related development targets with a user-friendly Google front-end.
  • The partnership would provide the world with most sophisticated online tools to better track progress, identify priority areas and make better decisions to solve the biggest environmental challenges.

Apple, Facebook, Twitter Observes World Emoji Day

  • Apple, Facebook, Twitter and other tech giants celebrated World Emoji Day on July 17, 2018.
  • As a part of the day, the tech giants also declared most used and favourite emojis list as well as announced the new ones to be launched and acknowledged how emojis make conversations easy and expressive without words.
  • From being used only for creative expression by the millennials, to being Oxford dictionary’s “Word of the year 2015,” emojis are now also being embraced by brands across the globe.

Walmart to team up with Microsoft for digital transformation

  • Walmart will enter into a strategic partnership with Microsoft on “digital transformation”. 
  • The partnership was focused on using artificial intelligence and other technology tools to help manage costs, expand operations and innovate faster.
  • Microsoft’s business cloud computing platform known as Azure will help Walmart manage operations ranging from refrigeration and air conditioning to improving its supply chain and transportation.

Haryana Governor Given Additional Charge of Himachal

Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki has been given the additional charge of Himachal Pradesh since the incumbent Acharya Devvrat is visiting the US.

Goldman Sachs names David Solomon as CEO

  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc named David Solomon as its next chief executive officer. His first day in charge is October 1.
  • Lloyd Blankfein is the current CEO of Goldman Sachs. Currently Solomon is the president and chief operating officer of the company.

Dolphin Population Declines in India’s Only Dolphin Sanctuary

  • According to a survey report, the population of the endangered Gangetic river dolphin at the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) has declined to 154 from 207 in 2015.
  • The Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) in Bhagalpur District of Bihar is India’s only sanctuary for its national aquatic animal (Dolphins).
  • The survey was conducted in December 2017 by Vikramshila Biodiversity Research and Education Centre (VBREC) in partnership with researchers from Ashoka Trust for Research on Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, and Wild Life Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.

Akshay, Salman enlisted to Forbes Top 100 highest-paid entertainers

  • Forbes has released the list of The Highest-Paid Celebrities 2018. American boxer Floyd Mayweather has topped the list with earning of $285 Million.
  • The list is made on the basis of the money the actors earned during the years 2017-2018. 
  • Two Indian have been listed in the list. Akshay Kumar is at 76th spot with an earning of $ 40.5 Million while Salman Khan is at 82nd rank with earning of $37.7 Million. 

Hima Das to be sports ambassador of Assam

  • Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has announced that sprinter Hima Das would be appointed the sports ambassador of Assam.
  • Recently Hima created history by winning gold at IAAF World Under-20 Championships at Tampere in Finland. Hima would be given a reward of Rs 50 lakh.

Indian Hockey Team Jumps to 5th Place in FIH Rankings

  • The Indian hockey team has achieved the fifth spot in the latest world rankings released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) pushing back Germany to sixth place.
  • The Indian team made one spot jump after finishing runner up by winning silver medal at the Champions Trophy against Australia in Breda, the Netherlands
  • The top 5 states are:
    • Australia (1906 points) 
    • Argentina (1883)
    • Belgium (1709) 
    • Netherlands (1654)
    • India (1484)

Veteran actor Rita Bhaduri Passes Away

  • Veteran actor Rita Bhaduri died after fighting a kidney related ailment for many days. She was 62.
  • The popular character actor had worked in both films and TV.

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