Current Affairs Update – 13th July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 13th July, 2015. These are very Important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains 2015 and RBI Assistant 2015 Exam.

Finance/Banking/Industry –
SBI partners with
bankbazaar.com
  • State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in India, has
    partnered online financial product aggregator ‘bankbazaar.com’ along with the
    bank’s subsidiary SBI CAP Securities.
  • “Under this arrangement, the bank will be able to display
    its home loan products on bankbazaar.com, generate leads and provide door-step
    delivery, thus improving the response time. Bankbazaar.com offers end to end
    solutions to the home loan seekers from getting the customised quotes,
    comparison of the offers and submission of online application to SBI,” SBI said
    in a statement.
  • This partnership will help the bank to provide yet another
    online platform to the prospective tech savvy home loan borrowers to apply for
    SBI Home Loans online. The tie up with bankbazaar.com also highlights SBI’s
    strategy to augment its Home Loan portfolio by leveraging digital channels and
    increasing its presence in the digital/online space, it added.

Retail inflation up
at 5.4% in June

  • Retail inflation rose to eight-month high of 5.4 per cent in
    June on costlier food items, fuel, housing, clothing and footwear even as
    prices of sugar and confectionery items eased during the month.
  • The retail inflation measured in terms of Consumer Price
    Index (CPI) was at 5.01 per cent in May. The rate of price rise was at 6.77 per
    cent in June last year.
  • Prices of pulses rose by 22.24 per cent in June over the
    same month last year, as per the data released by Central Statistics Office
    (CSO) on Monday.
  • The overall food inflation also increased to 5.48 per cent
    during the month under review, from 4.8 per cent in May.
  • However, it was lower than food inflation of 7.21 per cent
    in June last year.
  • The inflation for fruit and vegetables was 3.51 per cent and
    5.37 per cent, respectively, in June.
  • Among others, milk and its products were costlier by 7.18
    per cent in June over the same month last year.
  • Prices of protein-rich items such as ‘meat and fish’ rose by
    6.99 per cent, while spices turned costlier by 9.71 per cent in the month.

HCL Tech to acquire
assets of U.S.-based Trygstad
  • Country’s fourth largest software services firm HCL
    Technologies has said it will buy certain assets of Trygstad Technical Services
    in an all-cash deal.
  • Trygstad is a U.S.-based IT consulting services and solutions
    firm and has deep expertise in areas of core engineering, Internet of Things,
    embedded systems and Intelligent Systems.
  • The financial value and terms were not disclosed.

Flipkart offers Rs.
50,000 allowance to employees for adoption

  • After relaxing maternity and paternity policies, e-commerce
    major Flipkart is now offering an allowance of Rs. 50,000 to employees looking
    to adopt children.
  • The “adoption allowance”, effective July 10, can be used
    towards legal, agency, regulatory costs or any other expenses that may arise
    during the adoption process, a Flipkart spokesperson told PTI.
  • According to data from Central Adoption Resource Authority
    (CARA), 1,368 children found new homes in the January-March quarter of 2015.
    The adoption rates have been dismal in the country even though India has one of
    the largest population of children who are abandoned, deserted or are in
    institutional care.
  • According to the new policy, Flipkart will allow its female
    employees adopting a child below the age of 12 months the same benefits as
    under maternity leave policy, i.e., six months paid leave along with four
    months of flexible working hours.

PM
Visits –
India, Tajikistan
inked 2 agreements to strengthen bilateral relations

  • India and Tajikistan on 13 July 2015 signed two
    agreements/Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) to further strengthentheir
    defence cooperation which is a strong pillar of strategic partnership between
    both the friendly nations.
  • The agreements were inked during the two-day visit of Prime
    Minister Narendra Modi to Tajikistan from 12 July to 13 July 2015.

Agreements signed
include
  • Programme of Cooperation (POC) in the field of Culture for
    the years 2016-18: It envisages cooperation in the field of culture through
    exchange of expertise in protection, preservation and promotion of cultural
    heritage in both countries, exchange of information and experts and
    organization of cultural days in each other’s countries for greater cultural
    understanding between the countries.
  • Exchange of Note Verbale (NV) on setting up of Computer Labs
    in 37 Schools in Tajikistan: The Note Verbale conveys the intention of Indian
    side to set up computer labs in 37 schools in Tajikistan for supporting
    Government of Tajikistan’s human resource and skill development efforts. The NV
    also outlines responsibilities of both sides in implementing the project.

The two leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President
of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon also agreed to promote the International North South
transport corridor (INSTC). The INSTC is the ship, rail, and road route for
moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.
India
India test-fires Nag
anti-tank missile from helicopter platform

  • In fresh trials, India has test-fired its indigenously
    developed Nag anti-tank guided missile, which can hit a target upto seven km,
    from a helicopter at a firing range in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
  • Three-round trial of helicopter-launched Nag (HeliNa)
    missile was conducted yesterday at the Chandhan firing range.
  • HeliNa is a helicopter-launched version of Nag and has been
    developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the
    Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
  • The missile was aimed at hitting targets at varied distances
    of upto 7 km.
  • While Nag missile has a maximum range of 4 km, the IIR
    seeker proved to be accurate only up to 2.5 km in extremely hot conditions in
    the trials conducted earlier.
  • Sources said the problem with the Nag was its range.
  • Once inducted in the Armed Forces, the HeliNa missile will
    be integrated with the weaponised version of the Advanced Light Helicopter
    (ALH) Dhruv, the light combat helicopter produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
    (HAL).

CBI constituted 40
members team to probe multi-crore Vyapam scam
  • Vyapam scam was in news in July 2015 as Central Bureau of
    Investigation (CBI) on 12 July 2015 constituted a special team of 40 officers,
    under a Joint Director level officer, to probe the multi-crore Vyapam scam of
    Madhya Pradesh.
  • Vyapam scam is an admission and recruitment scam involving
    politicians, senior officials and businessmen in Madhya Pradesh. The scam
    involved a collusion of undeserving candidates, who bribed politicians and
    MPPEB officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.
  • The CBI constituted the team following the direction of
    Supreme Court (SC) of India. SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu
    on 9 July 2015 transferred the probe of all cases related to Vyapam scam to the
    CBI. It also asked the agency to file its report before it on 24 July 2015.
  • Earlier, the case was being handled by a Special Task Force
    and was monitored by the High Court.

Union Government
appointed lawyer Rodrigo Oreamuno to arbitrate Vodafone tax case
  • The Union Government on 12 July 2015 appointed international
    lawyer Rodrigo Oreamuno to arbitrate with the UK telecom major Vodafone in the
    20000 crore rupees tax case on its behalf. Oreamuno replaces former Chief
    Justice of India RC Lahoti, who recused himself in May 2015.
  • Vodafone already named Yves Fortier of Canada as its nominee
    on the panel. Now, Oreamuno and Fortier would name a third arbitrator, who will
    act as a chairman of the tribunal for the case.
  • The Union Government and Vodafone had earlier decided to
    appoint Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the International Court of Justice as the
    third arbitrator. However, he declined to be part of the three-member panel in
    June 2015.

Awards
& Honors –
Shreya Ghoshal
Receives Sera Sera Bangali Award in Houstan

  • Popular Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal was
    presented with the Sera Sera Bangali award (the Best of the Best Bengali
    honour) at Houston North American Bengali Conference 2015.
  • The 31-year-old playback singer considers it one of her most
    “special” awards.
  • Shreya was here to attend the 35th Banga Sammelan that is
    underway at GRB Convention Center, which was attended by over 6000 North
    American Bengalis from all over USA and various other artists from India.
  • The singer is touring US for the fifth time, which kicked
    off yesterday here.
  • She is scheduled to perform in Washington, today. Los
    Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Cincinnati and Tampa will be her other stops.

Tata Steel’s West
Bokaro Division conferred with Golden Peacock Environment Management Award
2015
  • Tata Steel’s West Bokaro Division was on 11 July 2015
    conferred with the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award (GPEMA) 2015 in
    New Delhi.
  • It was presented by the Union Environment, Forest and
    Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar to Sanjay Rajoria, General Manager of
    West Bokaro, Tata Steel of Jharkand.
  • Tata Steel won the coveted award for its responsible
    environmental practices and resource management while upgrading the skills of
    employees through training as new technologies evolve.

Sports
Paes-Hingis won mixed
doubles final at Wimbledon

  • Seventh seed Indo-Swiss pair of Leander Paes and Martina
    Hingis on 12 July 2015 won mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. In the final
    clash, the duo defeated the fifth seed Austrian-Hungarian team of Alexander
    Peya and Timea Babos 6-1, 6-1.
  • It was Paes’ 16th Grand Slam trophy and eighth mixed doubles
    title. Overall it was 18th Major title for the Swiss and third in mixed
    doubles.
  • This was second mixed double win for Paes and Hingis
    together. They had won the Australian Open in February 2015.

Indo-Vietnamese pair
Sumit Nagal-Nam Hoang Ly won 2015 Wimbledon Boys’ Doubles title
  • The Indo-Vietnamese pair Sumit Nagal-Nam Hoang Ly on 12 July
    2015 won the 2015 Wimbledon Boys’ Doubles title by defeating Opelka and Akira
    Santillan in the final match held in London.
  • The eighth seeded pair defeated the fourth seeded
    USA-Japanese pair 7-6 (4) 6-4.
  • With this win, the 17-year- old Sumit Nagal became the sixth
    Indian to win a Grand Slam junior title.
  • Ramanathan Krishnan (1954 Wimbledon), Ramesh Krishnan (1979
    French Open and Wimbledon), Leander Paes (1990 Wimbledon and 1999 U.S. Open),
    Sania Miraza (2003 Wimbledon Girls Doubles) and Yuki Bhambri (2009 Australian
    Open) are the other junior Grand Slam singles champions from India.

Appointments
LG Electronics India
appoints Kim Ki-Wan as MD
  • LG Electronics has appointed Kim Ki-Wan as the new Managing
    Director of its India operations effective August 1. He is currently the
    Executive Vice-President of LG’s Home Entertainment Overseas Sales &
    Marketing Group, the company said on Monday.
  • Kim, who has been with LG for over 30 years, has held
    various positions. He will replace Soon Kwon who will take over as the global
    head of LG’s Information Display business. Kwon, who held the position of MD of
    the India operations for the past five years, will relocate to LG’s Korea
    headquarters.

Books
& Authors –
Green Signals:
Ecology, Growth, and Democracy in India written by Jairam Ramesh
  • The book Green Signals: Ecology, Growth, and Democracy in
    India was in news in the second week of July 2015. It was written by former
    Union Environment and Forest Minister (Independent Charge) Jairam Ramesh.
  • It unveils the story of environmental policy making in India
    from the perspective of a pivotal decision maker.
  • It chronicles India’s environmental decision-making since
    the 1991 movement, telling the story of how, for the first time, the doors of
    the environment ministry were opened to voices, hitherto unheard, into the
    policy-making process.

Obituaries
Nintendo’s Iwata Dies
at 55

  • Satoru Iwata, who led Japanese video game company Nintendo
    Co through years of growth with its Pokemon and Super Mario franchises, died on
    Saturday after a lengthy illness, prompting emotional tributes from game fans and
    industry rivals. He was 55.
  • The company’s statement today said Iwata died of a bile duct
    tumor.
  • There was a torrent of sorrow online for Iwata as a person
    dedicated to entertaining others. On Twitter, fans thanked him for childhood
    memories and for bringing families together. On some Internet sites, an image
    of the flag in the Super Mario game was flying at half-staff.
  • Nintendo America announced it was suspending social media
    activity for the day “in remembrance” of Iwata.
  • Iwata led Nintendo’s development into a global company, with
    its hit Wii home console and DS handheld, and also through its recent troubles
    caused by the popularity of smartphones.

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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:17 am