Current Affairs Update – 26 July 2018

Current Affairs Update 26 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. 26 July 2018.

Parliament passes Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018

  • The Parliament has passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 on July 26 to prevent big economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya from fleeing the country.
  • The fugitive economic offenders bill, 2018 will become law after the President’s assent and will empower the government to seize both local and overseas assets of alleged offenders who do not return to India to face the law even after arrest warrants were issued.
  • The Enforcement Directorate will be the investigative agency under the Act.
  • Salient features of the Bill
    • The Bill enables action against such offenders committing offences worth Rs 100 crore and above.
    • As per the Bill, a person will be declared as a fugitive economic offender (FEO) if an arrest warrant issued against him/her for specified offences, where the value involved, is over Rs 100 crore and he/she has left the country and refuses to return to face prosecution.
    • The bill empowers the government to attach properties of an accused who run away from the country after committing tax and loan related offences. 
    • The bill will extend not only to loan defaulters and fraudsters, but also to individuals who violate laws governing taxes, black money, benami properties and financial corruption.

Parliament Passes Bill Amending Negotiable Instruments Act

  • The Parliament has approved the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2018 after it was passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
  • The new bill will amend the Negotiable Instruments Acts 1881.
  • The bill seeks to specify penalties for bouncing of cheques, and other violations with respect to such negotiable instruments.
  • The Bill has a provision for allowing a court trying an offence related to cheque bouncing to direct the drawer (person who writes the cheque) to pay interim compensation to the complainant.
  • This interim compensation, not exceeding 20 percent of the cheque amount, may be paid under certain circumstances, including where the drawer pleads not guilty of the accusation within 60 days of the trial court’s order to pay the compensation.
  • The bill seeks do away with “unnecessary” litigation in cheque dishonour cases and reduce inordinate delays in cheque bounce cases faced by payees of dishonoured cheques.

Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog & MyGov launches “Innovate India Platform”

  • “#InnovateIndia Platform” has been launched by Shri. R Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM NITI Aayog) and Shri.Arvind Gupta CEO, MyGov.
  • “#InnovateIndia Platform” is a collaboration between the AIM NITI Aayog and MyGov, a citizen centric platform of the Government of India.
  • It is a innovation platform for registering both grassroots and deep-tech innovators at a national level. Citizens can share their/organizations/someone else’s innovation on the platform by login to the MyGov website.
  • AIM is NITI Aayog’s flagship initiative to promote culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

Odisha CM inaugurates Rs 300 crore Rukura Medium Irrigation Dam project

  • Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Rs 300 crore Rukura Medium Irrigation Dam project in Sundargarh district.
  • This project will irrigate 5,800 hectare of agricultural field. An estimated Rs 300 crore has been spent for construction of Rukura project.
  • Patnaik pointed out that while the budget for irrigation was only Rs 850 crore when he came to power in 2000, the amount has increased to Rs 10,200 crore in 2018.

50 lakh smartphones to be distributed under Sanchar Kranti Yojna of Chhattisgarh

  • President Ram Nath Kovind launched the Chhattisgarh government’s Sanchar Kranti Yojna at Jagdalpur in the Naxal-affected Bastar region. Under the scheme, 50 lakh smartphones will be distributed free of cost to the people. 
  • In this 45 lakh would be given to women and 5 lakh to students.

Deadline for filing tax returns extended till August 31

  • Government of India extended the date for filing income tax for salaried tax payers,by one month till August 31.
  • The earlier deadline for filing the returns for Assesment Year 2018-19 was July 31, 2018. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extends the due date from July 31 to August 31.

Government gives final nod to Vodafone-Idea merger

  • Department of telecommunications (DoT) giving its final approval to a proposed merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. The new merged entity will overtake Bharti Airtel as India’s largest mobile phone operator with 35 per cent market share and around 430 million subscribers.
  • Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, earlier this week, made joint payment of Rs 7,268.78 crore to the government. This included Rs 3,926.34 crore paid in cash and Rs 3,342.44 crore furnished as bank guarantees.
  • Vodafone will own 45.1 stake in the combined entity, while Aditya Birla Group will have 26 per cent and Idea shareholders 28.9 per cent. 
  • The combination will be known as Vodafone Idea.
  • Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, will be the non-executive chairman while Balesh Sharma, currently chief operating officer of Vodafone India, will be the CEO of Vodafone Idea.

Two Indians among Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners

  • Two Indians namely Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk are among the 6 winners of 2018 Ramon Magsaysay Award, regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. 
  • India’s Bharat Vatwani who is a psychiatrist was awarded for leading the rescue of thousands of mentally ill street paupers to treat and reunite them with their families.
  • Engineer cum Educator Sonam Wangchuk won the award for his contribution in harnessing nature, culture and education for community progress.
  • The other four declared winners of the award includes:Youk Chhang from Cambodia, Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz from East Timor, Howard Dee from the Philippines and Vo Thi Hoang Yen from Vietnam.
  • Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. The award is Asia’s highest honour and it celebrates the memory and leadership example of the seventh Philippine president after whom the award is named.

Global Disability Summit 2018 held In London

  • Global Disability Summit was held in London on 24th July 2018. Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment attended the event from India.
  • The motto of the Conference was to firm up the commitments of the country leaders towards the cause of persons with disabilities.
  • UK government co-hosted its first ever Global Disability Summit with the International Disability Alliance and the Government of Kenya.

Goal by Pavard voted FIFA 2018 Goal of the Tournament

  • FIFA has announced that the fans around the world have chosen Benjamin Pavard’s (of France) goal as the best of the tournament in an online poll conducted on the website of FIFA. 
  • Pavard’s outside-of-the-foot rocket for France against Argentina has been voted the Hyundai Goal of the Tournament.
  • Pavard becomes the first European player to win the Goal of the Tournament accolade since its creation in 2006.

India Observes 19th Kargil Vijay Diwas

  • India observed the 19th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26, 2018 to remember the success of Operation Vijay and pay homage to the Jawans who sacrificed their lives in the 1999 Kargil war against Pakistan.
  • This day is celebrated in the Kargil – Dras sector and the national capital New Delhi, where the Prime Minister of India, pays homage to the soldiers at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate every year with functions organized all over the country to commemorate the contribution of the Armed forces.
  • On 26 July 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders. The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days. The war ended with India regaining control of all the occupied territory.

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