Current Affairs Update – 21st July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 21st July, 2015.

• The Union Railways Ministry and the Odisha Government on 20
  July 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for implementation of
  Dasapalla-Bolangir segment of Khurda Road-Bolangir New Broad Gauge Railway Line
  on cost sharing basis.
• The agreement was signed by Ved Parkash Dudeja, Executive
  Director (Works) Ministry of Railways and Sanjay Rastogi,
  Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Commerce & Transport Department, Odisha
  Government.
• Khurda Road-Bolangir (289 km), new broad gauge line project,
  was taken up by Indian Railways at an anticipated cost of 3050 crore rupees. To
  complete this project, Odisha Government consented to provide land free of cost
  and sharing 50 percent of the construction cost for Dasapalla to Bolangir line.

• India and Singapore today signed an agreement on sharing
  white-shipping information to enhance maritime cooperation between the two
  navies as visiting Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan held talks with top defence
  officials here.
• Dhowan, who is on his maiden visit to Singapore from July 20
  to 23, called on Singapore’s Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen.
• He also held talks with Chief of Defence Force Lt-Gen Ng
  Chee Meng and Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral (RADM) Lai Chung Han after inspecting
  a Guard of Honour at Ministry of Defence.
• He visited the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN)’s
  Information Fusion Centre and the Changi Naval Base, where he and RADM Lai
  signed a Technical Agreement (TA) on sharing white-shipping information, which will
  enhance maritime information sharing between the two navies, said the Ministry
  of Defence in a statement. White-shipping refers to commercial shipping
  information about movement of cargo ships.
• The RSN and the Indian Navy conduct the Singapore-India Maritime
  Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) together annually and this year’s SIMBEX, held in
  May, was the 22nd in the series.

• Union Government on 20 July 2015 launched National Career
  Counselling Portal to modernize all government-run employment exchanges. The
  portal was launched under the aegis of National Career Service (NCS) project of
  Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• The portal aims to bring on board around 20 million job
  seekers already registered with employment exchanges across India. It also
  aspires to bring 900000 establishments and companies on the portal.
• NCS project aims at transforming all the government-run
  employment exchanges.

• The web portal will be a one-stop platform for both job
  providers and job seekers where registration can be done online.
• It will offer registration for job aspirants and employers
  for free. But to avoid misuse, job seekers will be required to link their
  Aadhar number when registering with the website.
• The companies and organizations will need to submit their
  society registrations or company registration certificate copies while getting
  empanelled on the job portal.
• It will provide basic platform for searching and applying
  for jobs on the portal.

• An indigenously designed and developed Visibility Measuring
  System DRISHTI was installed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport,
  New Delhi on 20 July 2015.  The CAT III B
  IGI Airport, New Delhi, is now the first Airport in the country to have 10
  indigenous systems operating in all its three runways.
• The system developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories
  (CSIR-NAL), Bengaluru will be used for reporting the runway visual range, which
  is a critical parameter for safe landing and take-off of aircraft in poor
  visibility conditions (<25 to >2000 meters).
• It is very cost-effective and is a mandatory system required
  at all airports as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and
  World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
• Earlier, CSIR-NAL and India Meteorological Department (IMD)
  signed a partnership agreement to jointly execute a mega project for
  installation of nearly 70 Drishti systems, at various Airports of the country.

• People travelling in trains can now enjoy KFC’s meals on
  board as the fast food chain has tied up with IRCTC to start a delivery system
  for passengers.
• Now a person travelling on train can order KFC meal, while
  booking ticket through IRCTC from July 20 onwards, under e-catering service
  initiatives, KFC said in a statement.
• Presently, this facility is available only on 12 trains
  passing through New Delhi railway station.
• However, it will be expanded to Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad
  (Kacheguda) and Bengaluru (Yeshwantpur) stations over the next 10 days, the
  statement added.
• Consumers will have to visit the IRCTC website or call on
  18001034139 (Toll Free) to place their order. A password will then be sent by
  KFC to the consumer’s mobile phone which will have to be mentioned at the time
  of delivery.
• The service will initially be limited to trains which do not
  have pantry cars and subsequently would be expanded to trains like Rajdhani and
  Duronto.
• E-catering service is a joint effort from KFC and IRCTC to
  provide fresh food to the passengers on trains.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 16 July 2015
  successfully tested India’s first indigenously designed and developed High
  Thrust cryogenic rocket engine generating a nominal thrust of 19 tonnes at ISRO
  Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri.
• The rocket was hot tested for duration of 800 seconds, which
  is approximately 25% more than the engine burn duration in flight.
• The engine will be used for powering the Cryogenic stage
  (C25), the upper stage of the next generation GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle of
  ISRO, capable of launching four tonne class satellites.
• This cryogenic engine of C25 Stage operates on Gas Generator
  Cycle using extremely low temperature propellants – Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) at 20
  Kelvin (-253 deg C) and Liquid Oxygen (LOX) at 80K (-193 deg C).

• White House economic adviser Maurice Obstfeld was on 20 July
  2015 appointed as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with
  effect from 8 September 2015. 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.
• Maurice Obstfeld is a professor at the University of
  California, Berkeley. However, he was on leave from Berkeley since mid-2014 to
  serve on the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

• Bhanu Pratap Sharma was on 20 July 2015 appointed as
  Chairperson of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) with effect
  from 3 July 2015. Sharma is an IAS officer of 1981 batch from Bihar cadre.
• Sharma was given this additional charge of FSSAI for three
  months or till the appointment of a regular incumbent. Currently, he is the
  Secretary of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• FSSAI is a nodal statutory agency responsible for protecting
  and promoting public health in India through the regulation and supervision of
  food safety.

• Pamarthy Shankar, a cartoonist working with the prominent
  Telugu Daily newspaper Sakshi, on 11 July 2015 won the Grand Prix World Press
  Cartoon 2014 Award for sketching Nelson Mandela. He was presented the award at
  Cascais in Portugal by World Press Cartoon Director Antonio Antunes.
• A Nelson Mandela caricature drawn by Shankar after the death
  of the iconic South African anti-apartheid leader in December 2013, fetched him
  the award for the year 2014. Shankar’s caricature was displayed at a World
  Press Cartoon exhibition at Cascais in Portugal along with the top 50 works by
  other cartoonists in 2014.

• Alfredo from Argentina, who won the second prize for
  sketching late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
• Iranian cartoonist Yaser Khanbarai, who won the third prize
  for sketching US President Barack Obama.

• Film-maker Benoy Behl in fourth week of July 2015 won the
  Best Documentary Producer award at Madrid International Film Festival. He was
  awarded for producing and directing a documentary film titled Indian Roots of
  Tibetan Buddhism.
• Bhel shot the documentary for XPD Division of the Ministry
  of External Affairs, which was released by Ministry of External Affairs in
  February 2014.
• The film is shot extensively in Tibet, Kalmykia in European
  Russia, Ladakh, Spiti, Arunachal Pradesh, Nalanda, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and
  Karnataka.

• China has begun building the world’s largest amphibious
  aircraft, a media report said.
• The assembly of the domestically developed AG-600 seaplane
  started in Zhuhai city on July 17, the People’s Daily reported on Tuesday.
• The AG-600’s overall specifications, such as the maximum
  takeoff weight and flight range, are better than other amphibious planes in the
  world. Some countries with many islands, such as Malaysia and New Zealand, have
  expressed interest in the AG-600.
• The aircraft can carry 50 people during a maritime search
  and rescue mission.

• China is expected to become the world’s third largest
  nuclear generating nation around 2017, pushed by its national target against
  climate change, said U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
• To fight against climate change, the Chinese government set
  a goal to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy
  consumption to 15 percent by 2020, according to the China National Plan for
  Climate Change (2014-2020) released last year, reported Xinhua.
• China is expected to surpass South Korea and Russia in
  nuclear generating capacity by the end of 2015, overtake Japan around 2017 and
  to be behind only after the U.S. 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, said the EIA.

• The Japanese Cabinet on 21 July 2015 approved the Defence
  White Paper for the year 2015. In the White Paper 2015, the cabinet described
  the security situation surrounding Japan as increasingly tough. The defence
  white paper for 2015 examines a range of global threats.
• The annual paper was approved after the ruling Liberal
  Democratic Party rejected a draft version as it had failed to contain any
  reference to China’s construction of offshore platform in the East China Sea.

• Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will host the final of the ICC World
  T20, to be held in India from March 11 to April 3, next year, across eight cities,
  the BCCI announced today.
• Matches will take place across Bengaluru, Chennai,
  Dharamsala, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi and Kolkata, which gets to host
  the summit clash at the iconic Eden Gardens.
• The popular ground had missed out on hosting big ticket
  games during 50-over World Cup held in India four years ago.
• The India versus England game was shifted to Chinnaswamy
  Stadium in Bengaluru after ICC found that Eden Gardens’ renovation work was not
  complete.
• However, Eden Gardens have organised marquee matches in the
  past, notably the 1987 Reliance Cup final and 1996 World Cup semi-final, which
  India forfeited the match to eventual champions Sri Lanka due to a crowd disruption.
• BCCI said the chosen venues will have to meet the prescribed
  requirements.

 

• The Bollywood actor and model just made the country proud by
  successfully completing the Ironman Triathlon held in Zurich, Switzerland on 19
  July.
• 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’.
• 50-year old Milind Soman completed the triathlon in 15 hours
  and 19 minutes.

• The BCCI’s domestic programme will start with the Ranji
  Trophy on October 1.
• While the league phase of 108 matches would be completed in
  the first week of December, the knockout will begin in the first week of
  February 2016.
• In all 900 matches will be played and the 2015-16 season
  will end with the Irani Cup match scheduled to be held from March 6, 2016.
  However, the inter-zonal Duleep Trophy has been dropped for the season.
• The BCCI’s Tour Programmes and Fixtures committee has also
  taken into account the ICC under-19 World Cup to be played in Bangladesh and
  hence the BCCI has introduced a three-team under-19 Challenger.
• The Deodhar Trophy will be played between the Vijay Hazare
  Trophy winning team and two more teams that will be picked by the senior
  National selection committee.
• The BCCI is also set to start new tournaments for women in
  the form of an inter-State, an inter-zonal one-day under-23 and a three-day
  senior women’s inter-zonal tournament.

• 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 today.
• Addressing on the occasion, the Vice President said that he
  is fully delighted to read such a valuable book which is in fact a chapter of
  North Indian history on Qasbahs.
• History should be recorded as to why the institution of
  Qasbah has suddenly started declining and has almost disappeared. Reason is
  purely Economic as people had to leave their place for their livelihood. He
  congratulated the author for bringing out such a valuable book.
• 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.
• Through this book the author, an Associate Professor,
  Department of History, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
  USA has explored why locales remain major identity-markers and what makes
  Qasbahs continue to evoke memory and nostalgia.

Regards

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