Current Affairs Today – July 21 2015

Dear Readers, We cover some important news in Current Affairs Today Section, which are not covered in Daily Detailed News, More Current Affairs coverage will help you to Score Good Marks in Competitive Exam.

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Indian Affairs 

Union Government launches National Career Counseling portal

• Union Government has launched National Career Counseling Portal in a bid to modernize all government-run employment exchanges.
• It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the aegis of National Career Service (NCS) project of Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• The web portal will be a one-stop platform for both job providers and job seekers where registration can be done online. It will provide basic platform for searching and applying for jobs on the portal.
• It will also provide candidates career-related counseling either by its helpline numbers or visiting these centres along with other facilities like job posting, aptitude assessment, job matching, training providers, skill courses and guidance on self-employment and entrepreneurship.
• It should be noted that NCS project aims at transforming all the government-run employment exchanges.

International Affairs 

• India, Singapore sign key agreement to boost maritime

Milind Soman just completed the world’s toughest triathlon – Ironman

• Bollywood actor, model and a national level swimmer for India Milind Soman is just made the country proud by successfully completing the Ironman Triathlon held in Zurich, Switzerland .
• The triathlon is considered one of the world’s toughest races and had 2,000 participants which included seven Indians.
• The triathlon includes a 3.8-km swim, a 180.2-km cycle ride and 42.2-km run raced in that order without a break which the participants are required to complete within 16 hours to win the title of ‘Ironman’.
• Milind Soman, who took part in the race for the first time, took 15 hours and 19 minutes to finish it very few Indians have achieved this feat.

China to be world’s 3rd largest nuclear energy generating country: EIA

• China is expected to become the world’s third largest nuclear generating country by 2017 surpassing South Korea and Japan, said US energy information administration (EIA).
• Chinese government has set a goal to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to 15 per cent by 2020 to fight against climate change, according to the China National Plan for Climate Change (2014-2020) released last year.
• To help achieve this target, China plans to increase nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts (GW) and to have 30 GW of capacity under construction by 2020,” the EIA said.
• China is expected to surpass the Republic of Korea and Russia in nuclear generating capacity by the end of 2015, overtake Japan around 2017 and to be behind only after the US and France, said the EIA.
• Since the beginning of 2013, China has added 10 reactors totalling more than 10 GW, pushing China’s net installed nuclear capacity to 23 GW at present.

Awards

• Naomi Klein wins 2015 American Book Award
• Pamarthy Shankar won Grand Prix World Press Cartoon 2014 Award

Benoy Behl won the Best Documentary Producer award at Madrid International Film Festival

• Among the Important Awards, Best Documentary Producer award at Madrid International Film Festival was bagged by Film-maker Benoy Behl for producing and directing a documentary film titled Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism.
• He shot this documentary for XPD Division of the Ministry of External Affairs and this documentary was released by Ministry of External Affairs in February 2014.
• The film traces the foundation of Tibetan Buddhism to its roots in ancient India’s Nalanda University and the hundreds of year-old spiritual relationship that India share with Tibet.

Appointments 

• Bhanu Pratap Sharma appointed as Chairperson of FSSAI

Maurice Obstfeld appointed as Chief Economist of IMF

• White House economic adviser Maurice Obstfeld was on July 20, 2015 appointed as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Obstfeld will succeed outgoing IMF economist Olivier Blanchard.
• He will be responsible for handling the IMF’s huge, troubled rescue programs for Greece and Ukraine while keeping a close eye on the slowdown in the global economy. He will take charge with effect from September 8, 2015.

Banking & Finance 

BRICS bank opens for business in China

• The New Development Bank (NDB) floated by the BRICS nations, including India, to step up infrastructure funding in the emerging economies formally started its operations at its headquarters Shanghai.
• Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong and the bank’s President K V Kamath attended the opening ceremony held in a hotel in Shanghai.
• The New Development Bank was agreed to by BRICS leaders at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa on 27 March 2013

Environment

• Puntius Dolichopterus,new fish species discovered in kerala

Sports

BCCI announced venues for ICC World Twenty20

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 21 July 2015 announced venues for the Men and Women ICC World Twenty20. The World Twenty20 will be hosted by India from the 11 March to 3 April 2016.
• BCCI in its press release said that finals of the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket tournament will be held at iconic Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata.
• Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi will be the other venues along with Kolkata.

Sangram Singh becomes the first Indian to win WWP Heavyweight Championship

• Sangram Singh became the first Indian in history to win the World Wrestling Professionals (WWP) Commonwealth Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
• Sangram Singh made the country proud by defeating Canada’s Joe Legend to win the WWP Commonwealth Championship held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in South Africa.
• He had signed the death contract that clearly stated no owning up by organizers if either of the two fighters are fatally hurt in the process.
• During fight with Joe Legend, (Canadian wrestler) Sangram Singh was nearly died as his opponent was on top of him for over 10 minutes and Sangram nearly suffocated to death
  Sangram Singh is the brand ambassador of People for Animal and Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre
• Sangram Singh was awarded the World’s Best Wrester of 2012 by WWP. He was selected for the award among the other 118 wrestlers

Obituary

Noted Hollywood actor Olaf Pooley passed away

• Olaf Pooley passed away at the age of 101. He was a noted hollywood actor.
• He was very famous for his role as villainous scientist Professor Stahlman in Doctor Who show, which he starred in during the 1970s.
• He was also a guest director at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and directed Anthony Hopkins in The Waltz of the Toreadors.

Books & Authors

Vice President Releases the book Locale, Everyday Islam and Modernity

• The Vice President of India Shri M.Hamid Ansari released a book entitled Locale, Everyday Islam and Modernity authored by Shri M. Raisur Rahman at a function.
• Dissolving the distinctions between centre and periphery, this book presents the Qasbahs of colonial India as vital and vibrant centres of intense intellectual and cultural activity.
• The book demonstrates that the emergence of modernity among Muslims was a process during their colonial encounter in which Qasbah residents were active agents, and the Islam that emerged was that of everyday living.