Current Affairs Update – 30th July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 30th July, 2015. These are Important for the IBPS RRB Exam 2015.

India
Nation Bids Tearful
Adieu to Kalam

  • In a spontaneous outpouring of grief, thousands of people
    bid an an emotional farewell to former President APJ Abdul Kalam who was today
    laid to rest with full state honours in his home town here amid chants of
    “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
  • The body of Kalam was buried in the middle of a 1.5 acre
    piece of land earmarked for the purpose at Peikarumbu here after being brought
    from his family mosque where special prayers were offered.
  • The “People’s President” was accorded full
    military honours, including gun salute and playing of the Last Post as the
    members of his family and local Jamath lowered his mortal remains into a trench
    as slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” rent the air.
  • The funeral of the “Missile Man” was attended by a
    galaxy of leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who placed a wreath,
    offered his final salute and stood in silence in front of Kalam’s body that was
    draped in national flag. He also went around the casket with folded hands.

Assam to Set Up Dr
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Centre for Innovation
  • Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today announced that the
    state government would soon set up a centre for innovation named after late
    former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who passed away on Monday.
  • Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Centre for Innovation would help engage
    the young minds of the state and the North East as a whole in entrepreneurship,
    innovation and creativity, Gogoi said in a statement here.
  • This, in turn, will help to transform the lives of the
    common man and bring smiles on their faces, he said.

India to become most
populous nation by 2022: UN World Population Prospects
  • United Nations (UN) on 29 July 2015 released the report
    title World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision at the UN Headquarters in
    New York.
  • According to the report, India will surpass China to become
    the most populous nation in the world by 2022. In the forecast issued by UN in
    2013 India was expected to surpass China’s population by 2028.
  • India’s population prospects
  • It is projected to retain the top spot till 2100 and its population
    is projected to grow for several decades after 2022. It is forecasted to grow
    to 1.5 billion in 2030 and 1.7 billion in 2050.
  • On the other hand, the population of China is expected to
    remain fairly constant until the 2030s, after which it is expected to slightly
    decrease.
  • At present, India’s population is approximately 1.31 billion
    as compared to China’s population of 1.38 billion.

e-Tourist Visa scheme
extended to China, Hong Kong and Macau
  • e-Tourist Visa scheme was extended to China, Hong Kong and
    Macau with effect from 30 July 2015. The facility was extended as per the
    decision of the 29 July 2015 of Union Government.
  • With the inclusion of these countries/territories, the total
    number of countries/territories covered under the e-Tourist Visa scheme will go
    up from 74 to 77.
  • The e-Tourist Visa scheme was launched by the Government of
    India on 27 November 2014. Till date, the scheme has been extended to 77
    countries/territories and will be extended to more countries/territories in a
    phased manner.
  • Under this scheme, tourists with e-Tourist Visas can arrive
    at nine designated airports namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Goa,
    Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai & Trivandrum.

Kalyani group ties up
with Rafael to make Spike missiles

  • In a move that will further deepen India-Israel strategic
    cooperation, Rafael of Israel and India’s Kalyani Group are forming a
    manufacturing Joint Venture (JV) to produce Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
    (ATGM) in India and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) will be the system
    integrator.
  • Spike is a third generation, fire-and-forget, man-portable,
    anti-tank missile. In all, about 40,000 missiles are required to equip the
    Army’s 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised regiments.
  • In October last year the Defence Acquisition Council chaired
    by then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had cleared the Spike ATGM deal worth Rs.
    3,200 crore deal for 8,000 plus missiles, 300 plus launchers and requisite
    transfer of technology to an Indian firm. The U.S. had lobbied hard for its
    Javelin missiles with offer of joint development and production of next
    generations missiles for use by both countries.

‘Visaarnai’ became
first Tamil film to enter Venice film festival
  • Actor Dhanush produced Tamil thriller ‘Visaaranai’ will have
    its world premiere in the competition section of the upcoming 72nd Venice
    International Film Festival. The festival is scheduled to take place between 2
    September and 12 September 2015.
  • With this, Visaaranai will become the first Tamil film to
    have its world premiere in the competition section of the upcoming at Venice
    International Film Festival.
  • Yet to be released, the film Visaranai written and directed
    by Vetrimaaran of Polladhavan fame is an experimental Tamil thriller movie. It
    is based on true events and is about police interrogation techniques and
    brutality.
  • The film stars Attakathi Dinesh, Anandhi and Aadukalam
    Murugadoss in the leading roles.

Finance/Banking/Industry
Kotak launches mobile
banking app for ‘un-banked’ regions

  • Seeking to provide mobile banking services to customers in
    the remotest of regions, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today launched a mobile
    banking app ‘Kotak Bharat’ which requires no internet connectivity.
  • The ‘inclusive digital banking’ app is primarily targetted
    to benefit customers in the under-banked and un-banked regions, who can access
    its services in their preferred language.
  • It is currently available in Hindi and English. The app would
    also be available in Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada in about a month,
    followed by other Indian languages.
  • Kotak Bharat will enable customers manage their
    savings/current accounts and credit cards, KMB Executive Vice President Deepak
    Sharma said at a conference call here.
  • The app is Android-based. It works on the existing SMS
    banking keyword process platform. The customers could download the app on their
    registered mobile number without any separate registration process.

SEBI cancelled
Certificate of Registration of Sahara Mutual Fund
  • The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 28 July
    2015 cancelled the Certificate of Registration of Sahara Mutual Fund. Its
    licence would stand cancelled after 60 days from the date of the order.
  • The market regulator in its order said that the company is
    not fit and proper entity to carry out the business of mutual fund.
  • It also directed Sahara Mutual Fund or Sahara Asset
    Management Company Private Limited (Sahara AMC) not to take any new
    subscription from the investors including existing investors in Systematic
    Investment Plans (SIPs) or Systematic Transfer Plans (STP) and also not to levy
    any penalties on the investors for not depositing the installments.
  • The regulator also asked the fund house to transfer
    activities of Sahara India Financial Corporation Limited (Sahara Sponsor) and
    Sahara Asset Management Company Private Limited (Sahara AMC) to a new sponsor
    and a SEBI approved asset Management Company at the earliest.

Paytm wins title
sponsorship rights for BCCI matches
  • One97 Communications, owners of Paytm, today acquired the
    title sponsorship rights for India’s domestic and international cricket matches
    at home for a period of four years with a bid price of Rs 203.28 crore.
  • The decision to award the rights to One97 Communications
    till 2019 was taken at the BCCI’s marketing committee meeting here.
  • The base price per match was Rupees 1.68 crore and the final
    price comes to Rs 2.42 crore per match. The amount per match is 40 lakh more
    than what Micromax, who were the only bidders in the 2014-15 season, gave the
    Board last year.
  • From now on, the domestic Ranji competition will be known as
    the ‘Paytm Ranji Trophy’.
  • There were only two bidders for the scheduled 84 matches
    (Tests, ODIs and T20Is) in India during the upcoming seasons as the rights have
    been awarded till 2019.
  • The bids were opened at the BCCI marketing committee meeting
    that lasted for around five hours.
  • BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said they were elated to have
    Paytm as their homes series title sponsors.

Books
& Authors –
Anuradha Roy’s
‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ shortlisted for Man Booker Prize

  • Indian writer Anuradha Roy’s latest work on the malaise of
    sexual abuse in India has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015.
  • Her book ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ that tells the story of Nomi
    and is set in Jarmuli – a city of temples and a centre of healing on the edge
    of the ocean has made it among the 13 books selected for the £50,000 literary
    prize.
  • The story is about Nomi, a young girl who is taken from her
    family and finds herself in an ashram, overseen by a charismatic guru. But
    Guruji’s charm masks a predatory menace and the young girl faces danger.
  • Around 20 years later, Nomi returns to Jarmuli with a
    documentary film crew. All has changed in a town that she no longer knows, as
    tourists and market traders bustle, banter and chase their dreams amidst the
    temples of her youth.
  • The longlist includes American writer Bill Clegg’s ‘Did You
    Ever Have a Family’, Irish writer Anne Enright’s ‘The Green Road’, Marlon
    James’ (Jamaica) ‘A Brief History of Seven Killings’ and Tom McCarthy’s (UK)
    ‘Satin Island’.
  • Also shortlisted are British writer Sunjeev Sahota’s The
    Year of the Runaways and Kiwi writer Anna Smaill’s The Chimes.

Appointments
Procter & Gamble
names David Taylor to succeed Lafley as CEO
  • Procter & Gamble has named company insider David Taylor
    as president and chief executive effective Nov. 1. The executive, who heads
    P&G’s global beauty, grooming and health care division, succeeds A.G.
    Lafley, who will stay on with the Cincinnati company as executive chairman.
  • Procter & Gamble said Tuesday that Taylor will also join
    the board of directors. Taylor started with P&G in 1980 and has helped
    build many of the company’s core businesses and led global businesses.
  • It marks a major shift in leadership as Lafley served as CEO
    from 2000 to 2009 and returned from retirement to serve as CEO again in 2013.
    The company said that Lafley has played a key role in P&G’s success over
    the years.

Airtel appoints
Jinesh Hegde as CEO of Sri Lanka operations
  • Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Thursday said it has appointed
    Jinesh Hegde as Chief Executive Officer of its Sri Lanka operations. He takes
    on this role from Suren Goonewardene.
  • In his new role, Hegde will report to Ajai Puri, Director –
    Market Operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, the company said in
    a statement.
  • Suren Goonewardene has been re-designated as Non-Executive
    Chairman of Airtel Lanka.
  • Hegde has spent the past 14 years in the telecommunications
    industry, both in the consumer and enterprise space covering mobile, fixed line
    and enterprise business. Prior to joining Airtel, he has worked with Uninor (a
    subsidiary of Telenor Group – Norway in India).

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