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Current Affairs 16 July 2021
Daily Current Affairs 16 July 2021: This post contains the latest current affairs for 16 July 2021 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
PM Modi inaugurates the International Cooperation and Convention Centre ‘Rudraksh’ in Varanasi
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Cooperation and Convention Centre -Rudraksh, in Varanasi on 15 July, 2021. The centre has been constructed with Japanese assistance.
- PM Modi is on a day-long visit to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 1,500 crore from the IIT-BHU ground.
- Public projects and works worth around Rs. 744 crores were inaugurated which included a 100 bed MCH wing in BHU, multi-level parking at Godauliya, Ro-Ro Vessels for tourism development on River Ganga and three lane flyover bridge on the Varanasi Ghazipur Highway.
- Similarly, foundation stones of several projects and public works were laid, worth around Rs. 839 crores. These included the Centre for Skill and Technical Support of Central Institute of Petrochemical Engineering and Technology (CIPET), 143 rural projects under Jal Jeevan Mission and mango and vegetable integrated pack house in Karkhiyaon.
Ladakh signs MoU with Sikkim to become organic entity by 2025
- Ladakh administration has signed a tripartite MoU with Sikkim State Organic Certification Agency (SOCCA) to convert the Union Territory of Ladakh into an organic entity by 2025.
- The MoU will facilitate the implementation of Prampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana and Mission Organic Development Initiative (MODI) in the Ladakh region.
- The main objective of this MoU is to get the organic certification for Ladakh after a tie-up with the Government of India.
- The initiative will be completed in three phases. In the first phase, 85 villages will be covered to convert 5000 hectares of land into organic, in the 2nd phase, 82 villages will be covered with an area of 10,000 hectares and in the final phase, 79 villages, covering the remaining areas have been identified.
India’s first ‘Grain ATM’ launched in Gurugram
- India’s first grain dispensing ATM has been installed at Farrukhnagar in Gurugram district of Haryana under a pilot project, with the objective to make ration dispersal hassle and complaint free for citizens.
- The machine is called Automated, Multi Commodity, Grain Dispensing Machine.
- These Grain ATMS are being installed under the ‘World Food Programme’ of ‘United Nation’.
- Once the pilot project is completed successfully, these Grain ATMs will be installed at all Government ration depots across the state.
- The ‘Grain ATM’ is equipped with biometric system with a touch screen, so that beneficiaries can use ration cards or fingerprints to use it.
- Consumers who wait in long queues to get their ration outside the shops will get relief using this machine .
- At the same time, all complaints regarding long queues, time and accurate measurement of ration from government shops will be resolved.
Agreement
IAHE inks pact with University of New South Wales to set up Centre for Advanced Transportation Technology and Systems (CATTS) in Noida
- The Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE), under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH), has signed an Agreement with University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia to set up a Centre for Advanced Transportation Technology and Systems (CATTS) at its headquarter in Noida.
- This CATTS will be a centre of excellence (CoE) to promote industries and startups from Australia and India in the transportation sector, and will also provide opportunities for innovation, research and development of advanced transport systems.
International
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Bhutanese Counterpart Lyonpo Namgay Tshering jointly launch BHIM–UPI in Bhutan
- Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and her counterpart, Finance Minister of Bhutan, Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, jointly launched BHIM–UPI in Bhutan on July 13, 2021 in a virtual ceremony.
- India and Bhutan have already enabled inter-operability in acceptance of Rupay cards in each other’s countries in two phases, i.e. acceptance of Rupay cards issued in India at Bhutan-based terminals in the first phase, and vice versa in the second phase.
- Now with BHIM-UPI, Bhutan has become the first country to adopt Unified Payment Interface (UPI) standards of India for its quick response (QR) code.
- Apart from this, Bhutan is also the first immediate neighbouring country of India to accept mobile-based payments through the BHIM App.
Banking
RBI bans Mastercard from onboarding new customers on its network from July 22
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred global card player Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd from onboarding new domestic customers on its network with effect from July 22, 2021, over non-compliance with local data storage regulations.
- This decision is set to affect the card issuing banks and credit card issuers that have co-branded credit cards with vendors on the Mastercard platform or exclusive tie-ups with the payment network for their own credit card issuance.
- Presently, only RBL Bank and YES Bank have exclusive tie-ups with Mastercard.
- However, following this decision, the RBL Bank has now entered into an agreement with Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited to issue credit cards enabled on the Visa payment network.
- RBL Bank is the fifth largest credit card issuer in the country, having approximately 5 percent market share.
