Current Affairs Today – July 10 2015

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Indian Affairs 

• Uttarakhand gets India’s first earthquake early warning system
• eMudhra launches first eSign services

Bharat Electronics-made Akash inducted into Indian Air Force

• Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) made Akash has been inducted into Indian Air Force.
• BEL which is the nodal agency and supplies major sub-systems handed over the missile system at a ceremony held at Air Force Station, Gwalior.

About Akash Missile

• Akash is an indigenously developed Surface to Air Missile (SAM).
• It has been jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ordnance Factories Board and Bharat Electronics (BEL).
• Range: 25km

BHEL commissions 500 MW unit of Tuticorin thermal power plant

• BHEL has commissioned the second 500 MW unit at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TPS) in Tamil Nadu.
• The first 500 MW unit of the project was commissioned on March 10.
• Tuticorin Thermal Power Station was set up by NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), a joint venture of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO).

Tata Motors bags order for 1,200 trucks from Indian Army

• Tata Motors has bagged an order worth over Rs 900 crore to supply 1,200 multi-axle trucks to the Indian Army.
• This is the single largest order by Indian Army to an Indian Company in land systems.
• The order is for 1,200 units of high-mobility 6X6 multi-axle trucks which will be used for loading-unloading and transportation of ammunition pallets, spares and other operational equipment.

IAS topper to be brand ambassador for disability

• Ira Singhal, who topped this year’s UPSC examination, could be the brand ambassador for the programmes of department of empowerment of persons with disabilities.
• Social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said the young topper would be an appropriate brand ambassador for the disability department. Her achievement shall inspire a whole generation of youth to come forward and achieve glorious heights.

International Affairs 

• India, US sign FATCA to fight tax evasion
• India gets full membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
• Raising goverment tobacco taxes can have control over tobacco Epidemic:WHO
• Modi meets Afghan President Ghani; discusses bilateral ties

PM’s Gift to President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan

• The Prime Minister today presented President Nursultan Nazarbayev a set of books relating to religions born in India. President Nazarbayev has held the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions every three years at the Palace of Peace and Accord in Astana since 2003.
• The presentation set includes an English translation of Guru Granth Sahib, as also specially commissioned reproductions from the manuscripts collection of National Museum, Delhi.
• The reproductions include one of Jainism’s most revered texts, Bhadrabahu’s Kalpasutra (15th century AD) in Prakrit; one of Buddhism’s most important scriptures Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (12th century AD) in Sanskrit; and a Persian translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana (18th century AD) in nastaliq script.

Appointments 

• CIBIL appoints Satish Pillai as MD and CEO

Housing.com appoints Rishabh Gupta as interim CEO

• Housing.com has appointed Rishabh Gupta as interim CEO, after it fired co-founder and ex-CEO Rahul Yadav last week.
• Rishabh Gupta is currently working as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Housing.com.
• Last week the company’s board sacked the CEO Rahul Yadav stating that his behaviour towards investors and media was not befitting of a CEO.

Bandhan Bank appoints Ashok Lahiri as Chairman

• Bandhan Bank, the first bank to be set up in West Bengal after Independence, plans to go for an IPO in 2018,inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee on August 23, 2015.
• Bandhan Bank has appointed former chief economic advisor to the finance ministry Ashok Kumar Lahiri to head its 10-member board.
• The bank would start its journey with a Rs 3200-crore strong loan book but now nearly Rs.10000 core and company has 67 lakh micro finance borrowers.
• The logo of the bank was designed by O&M and adding the number of branches would go up to 1,000 in two years’ time.

Banking & Finance 

• RBI released Final Guidelines on PPI for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS)
• RBI issues Rs 100 notes with new numbering pattern

Exim, BRICS member development banks ink MoU with NDB

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has signed a multilateral agreement to cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other member development banks of BRICS nations.

Aims of the MoU:

• Sharing of knowledge, information and best practices.
• Capacity building of personnel, including project development skills.
• Promotion of joint events, research and programmes.
• Development of effective and sustainable financing solutions for projects of mutual interest.

Exim Bank also signed a cooperation agreement with Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

Business

Essar Oil signs pact to sell 49% stake to Russia’s Rosneft

• Russian oil firm Rosneft will buy 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil, the firm that owns India’s second biggest oil refinery, for an undisclosed amount, the Ruia-owned firm said on Thursday.
• The proposed transaction is conditional upon various factors such as due diligence, determination of the transaction price, execution of definitive transaction documents and receipt of requisite approvals
• Also, a Long Term Crude Oil Supply Agreement by the two firms in was signed in Ufa, Russia for import of 10 million tonnes a year of crude oil for a period of 10 years.
• This contract has been signed in pursuance to the Key Terms executed between the two companies in December 2014 at New Delhi.

Environment

1,000-year-old corn cobs, kernels found at US site

• 1000 year old corn, cobs ,kernels found near Thomsen Center Archeodome at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, which has been the place of research for Archaeologists .
• The place has been considered as National Register and National Historic Landmark site.
• Students from the University of Exeter in England and Augustana College in Sioux Falls work on this site every year.
• According to Augustana archaeology Professor Adrien Hannus research says people belonging to this place weren’t exactly primitive. It was a successful village of farmers, hunters and foragers and had a diverse diet.
• The discovery was made through cache pits, which were large holes used to store things like food and tools found inside soil.

Sports 

India drop 15 spots to 156th in latest FIFA rankings

• India dropped 15 places to be 156th in the latest FIFA rankings.
• The list has been topped by Copa America’s runner up Argentina, followed by Germany and Belgium.
• After two consecutive defeats in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, India went down from 141^st to 156^th position in the latest FIFA rankings.

Top 5 teams are:

1. Argentina
2. Germany
3. Belgium
4. Columbia
5. Netherlands

Obituary

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet James Tate Dies At 71

• The poet and longtime English professor James Tate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has died at71.
• Tate was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1992 for “Selected Poems”, National Book Award for the 1994 Worshipful Company of Fletchers and a National Institute of Arts and Letters award for poetry.
• A celebration of Tate’s life and his poetry would be held in New York City in the fall, said Jennifer Jacobson, associate director of the university’s MFA program

Indo Pak shayar Bashar Navaaz passes away

• Noted Urdu poet and critic Bashar Navaaz passed away on 9 July 2015 Maharashtra. He was 80. He was known as an Indo Pak shayar as his poetry is popular in India as well as in Pakistan.
• Books Rayagan, Ajanabee samandar were amazing and popular books.His famous gazal is Jaane vafaa, Bazaar, Tere Shahar me and so on.

He received the following awards

• Maharashtra State Urdu Academy Award.
• Galib Award of Galib Academy New Delhi.
• Iftekhaar E Adab Award.
• Prestigious “Pulotsav Samman” for his amazing contribution to the Urdu literature.

Legendary Actor Omar Sharif Dies At 83

• Omar Sharif,Egyptian-born actor has died on July 11 at 83 due to heart attack in Cairo.He soared to international stardom in two classics,”Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago”.
• He won international fame and an Oscar-nomination for best supporting actor for his role in the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia” with Peter O’Toole.
• Sharif became a Hollywood heartthrob and played a variety of roles, including a Spanish priest in Behold a Pale Horse (1964), a Yugoslav wartime patriot in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) and the Mongolian conqueror in Genghis Khan (1965).