Current Affairs Update – 15th July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 15th July, 2015. These are Important for SBI PO Mains 2015 and RBI Assistant 2015 Exams.

• Union Government on 13 July 2015 decided to cap the subsidy
  payout on kerosene at 12 rupees per litre.
• At present, kerosene is sold through public distribution
  system at 14.96 rupees per litre against the actual cost of 33.47 rupees. The
  difference of 18.51 rupees per litre is termed as under-recovery or revenue
  loss.
• Now, the government has finalised the formula for meeting
  this under-recovery, under which the Union Finance Ministry will pay 12 rupees
  per litre in cash to state-owned fuel retailers from the Budget and any
  unbridged gap between the retail selling price and the cost of production will
  be borne by upstream companies.
• For domestic cooking gas LPG, the government has decided to
  fully bear the under-recovery.
• The Budget for 2015-16 has provided for 22000 crore rupees
  towards LPG subsidy and another 8000 crore rupees on kerosene.

• Global aircraft maker Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems on
  Wednesday signed a pact to collaborate in aerospace and defence manufacturing
  as well as to tap into integrated systems development opportunities, including
  unmanned aerial vehicles.
• The companies, under the memorandum of understanding, intend
  to access markets jointly for products and platforms developed together by
  Boeing and TASL.
• The collaboration, which is in line with the government’s
  Make in India initiative, will not only work in the domestic market but will
  also be for international markets, sources said.
• The agreement was signed by Shelley Lavender, President of
  Boeing Military Aircraft and Sukaran Singh, managing director and chief
  executive officer of TASL.
• TASL is already on contract to manufacture aero structures
  for Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook and AH-6i helicopters.

• Pushing ahead with his ambitious Skill India Mission, Prime
  Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a number of initiatives aimed at
  developing skills and promoting entrepreneurship among Indian youth.
• These include a redesigned Model Skill Loan Scheme, Skill
  Card for persons certified under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the
  new National Policy for Skill Development.
• We have started a war against poverty and we have to win,
  said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while launching ‘Skill India’ Mission.
• The government has set a target of skilling 40.2 crore
  people by 2022 and the initiatives are aimed at realising this objective.
• The Prime Minister today formally launched the National
  Skill Development Mission, unveiled the new National Policy for Skill Development
  and Entrepreneurship 2015 and rolled out on all-India flagship scheme, Pradhan
  Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
• The mission will have a three-tiered, high powered decision
  making structure, with its governing council being chaired by the Prime Minister.
• The new National Policy for Skill Development policy is the
  country’s first integrated national scheme for developing skills and promoting
  entrepreneurship at a large scale and was recently approved by the Union
  Cabinet. It acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of
  entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy.

• Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu on 14 July 2015
  inaugurated the broad-gauge railway-line between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port
  in Gujarat by flagging off a goods train.
• The rail line is India’s first railway-line built with
  private sector participation under Non-Government Railway (NGR) Policy 2012 of
  Indian Railways.
• The rail line has been built at a cost of approx 185 crore
  rupees for M/s Kandla Port Trust (KPT) to bring about better and faster rail
  connectivity to Port of Tuna & Tekra.
• The rail-line between Gandhidham, a town in Kutch district
  of Gujarat, and Tuna-Tekra Port, a port 20-km west of Kandla in Gulf of Kutch,
  was funded by M/s Kandla Port Trust (KPT) and Western Railway Zone of Indian
  Railways coordinated and pioneered it.
• The project, approved by the Railway Board in October 2013,
  was completed in a record time of 12 months in May 2015 and was executed in two
  parts. The first part, viz., 11-km Gandhidham- Tuna Rail line was executed by
  Western Railway Zone as deposite work while the second part, viz., 6-km
  Tuna-Tekra line was executed by M/s Kandla Port Trust.

• Union Ministry of Urban Development on 14 July 2015 launched
  the National Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) for 12
  cities in the country from Amritsar in Punjab.
• The scheme seeks to preserve and rejuvenate the rich
  cultural heritage of the country in the selected 12 cities in the country,
  including Amritsar.
• The scheme was launched by Union Minister of Finance,
  Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley in the
  presence of Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu and Chief
  Minister of Punjab Singh Badal among others.

• It seeks to promote an integrated, inclusive and sustainable
  development of heritage sites, focusing on maintenance of monuments and on
  advancement of the entire ecosystem.
• In the initial phase of HRIDAY, 12 heritage cities have been
  identified which will be rejuvenated and developed. Union Government will
  provide 500 crore rupees to these 12 cities.
• Physical, institutional, economic and social infrastructure
  developed as part of the scheme in the identified cities.
• It will be completely funded by the Union Government to
  create infrastructure and provide facilities around the heritage sites to
  attract more tourists.

• The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 14 July
  2015 launched the #100Women Initiative in collaboration with Facebook to select
  100 women achievers of India.
• The initiative is aimed at recognizing and acknowledging
  women who are making a difference in their communities across the country.

• To select 100 women achievers, a contest will be held
  through public nominations via social media.
• Nominations are accepted between 15 July 2015 and 30
  September 2015 on the Facebook page of the Ministry.
• Voting will begin on 27 November 2015 on the top 200 entries
  as determined by an esteemed jury.
• Winners will be announced in December 2015 and invited to
  join a reception organized by the Ministry around the Republic Day.

• Defence Acquisition Council on 14 July 2015 approved defence
  proposals worth over 30000 crore rupees for buying four more P81 long-range
  maritime patrol aircraft for the Indian Navy and to replace Indian Army’s
  vintage air defence guns of 60s.
• The Council was chaired by Union Defence Minister Manohar
  Parrikar.

• Acceptance of necessity (AON) to replace L70 and Zu 23mm
  guns for Indian Army’s air defence under Buy-and-Make category. Now, army will
  buy 428 guns at a total cost of 16900 crore rupees. It will now pave the way
  for issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP).
• Acquisition of 4 more P81 aircraft at a cost of 4380 crore
  rupees. These aircrafts are based on the Boeing next-generation 737 commercial
  airplane. It is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon used by the US Navy.
• Upgradation of weapon and sensor suite of the Delhi and
  Talwar class ships at a cost of 2900 crore rupees.

Moreover, Six ships will see new surface-to-air missile
system that would be bought from Russia, besides new radars.

• Modern Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza, has been conferred
  with the highest French civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur
  (the Legion of Honour) for his peerless achievements.
• The award was bestowed by ambassador Francois Richier at a
  function at the French Embassy here late last evening to mark celebrations of
  the French National Day.
• The French honour was conferred on the 93-year-old artist in
  acknowledgment of his “peerless achievements transcending all boundaries,
  the lasting ties he has forged between France and India, and his continuing
  artistic quest straddling nations, cultures, religions and philosophies.”
• Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the award is given
  for outstanding service to France, regardless of recipients’ nationality.
• A bilingual autobiographical account of the Raza entitled
  “Un Itineraire” (Itinerary) written originally in French in 2003 and
  now translated into English was also released on the occassion.

• Frost and Sullivan, a US-based Growth Partnership Company,
  on 14 July 2015 recognised Make in India initiative of the Department of
  Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India.
• In this regard, it presented the DIPP with the 2015 Asia –
  Pacific Economic Development Innovation: Policy and Program Implementation
  Excellence Award in Manufacturing.
• The award was received by Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP from
  Aroop Zutshi, Frost & Sullivan’s Global President and Managing Partner in
  New Delhi.
• The award was given in recognition of its outstanding
  contribution to nurture India’s economic and industrial transformation through
  simplifying the regulatory framework, reinforcing connectivity and
  incentivising investments.
• The Make in India initiative scored the highest score among
  the 100 countries in the GIL-100 Index: Manufacturing Index for 2015 on
  Manufacturing Excellence which was prepared by independent global experts
  through a detailed 10-step process.

• State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) today walked away with top
  honours at the annual Petrofed Awards, bagging the Leading Oil & Gas
  Corporate of the Year award for the fourth time in eight years.
• It also bagged the Oil & Gas Marketing Company of the
  Year and the Human Resources Management Company of the Year awards which were
  presented by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan here today.
• The Innovator of the Year – Team award was bagged by the
  eight-member team of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) for their indigenous
  development and commercial application of cost effective gasoline sulphur
  reduction catalyst additive for Fluid Catalytic Cracking using spent FCC
  catalyst in refineries.

• Prominent Indian-origin scientist Professor Kamal Bawa was
  in news in the first week of July 2015 as he was elected, along with other two
  Indian-origin scientists, to the Royal Society of London on 30 April 2015.
  Other two scientists were- Ajay Sood and John Kuriayn.
• The three scientists were elected for life to the society
  through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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