Current Affairs Update – 23rd July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 23rd July, 2015. These are Important for the 2nd Phase of RBI Assistant 2015 Exams.

• With the total power generation from nuclear reactors at 5308
  MWe, India is ranked 12th in the world in terms of power generation from
  nuclear sources.
• This was revealed by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of
  State for Atomic Energy and Space in a reply to an unstarred question in Lok
  Sabha on 22 July 2015 though the data with respect to this was published by
  Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) of International Atomic Energy Agency
  (IAEA) in May 2015.
• Further, in terms of number of nuclear reactors in
  operation, India was ranked at 7th position with 21 reactors.
• The released data further said that there are 31 countries
  including India in the world that generate electricity from nuclear source.
• Moreover, with 437 nuclear reactors in operation in world,
  the total power generation from nuclear stood at 377986 MWe.

1. United States of America 99 98639 MWe
2. France 58 63130 MWe
3. Japan 43 40290 MWe
4. Russia 34 24654 MWe
5. China 21 23025 MWe

• Renewable energy company SunEdison today announced that it
  has signed a power purchase agreement with Tata Power Delhi Distribution, for
  supplying electricity from a 180 MW solar plant that it would build in Madhya
  Pradesh. SunEdison will sell electricity to Tata Power for 20 years.
• SunEdison will sell the power at two tariffs–Rs 6.49 and
  Rs. 6.52.
• The plants are projected to generate 375,000 MW hours per
  year while and eliminating the emission of approximately 300,000 tonnes of
  carbon dioxide per annum.
• Maintenance of the plants will be carried out by SunEdison
  Services.
• This is said to be the largest private power purchase
  agreement between a renewable energy producer and a power distributor.
• SunEdison, which has its headquarters in the US, operates about
  250 MW of wind and solar projects in India, and has plans to build or acquire
  1,000 MW more.

• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in the third week of July
  2015 signed an Implementing Agency Agreement with REC Power Distribution
  Company Ltd. (RECPDCL) for the operationalisation of Partial Risk Guarantee
  Fund for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE).
• RECPDCL signed the agreement with BEE on behalf of the
  consortium between RECPDCL, REC Limited and Energy Efficiency Services Limited
  (EESL).
• The Agreement was signed by Secretary of BEE Sanjay Seth and
  Chief Financial Officer of RECPDCL Somya Kant in the presence of Dr. Ajay
  Mathur, Director General, BEE.

• Pearson PLC, the owner of the Financial Times, said it has
  agreed to sell FT Group to Nikkei Inc. for 844 million pounds ($1.3 billion),
  payable in cash.
• John Fallon, chief executive of Pearson, said the company
  has been a proud proprietor of the Financial Times for nearly 60 years, but it
  is time for the business daily to change hands.
• Nikkei Inc. is the largest independent business media group
  in Asia, with flagship newspaper Nikkei as its core.
• Pearson, which considers educational products and services
  its core business, acquired the salmon-colored Financial Times in 1957. The FT
  Group includes the Financial Times, FT.com, a 50 percent stake in The Economist
  Group, and a joint venture with Vedomosti, a Russian business newspaper.
• The deal with Nikkei does not include FT Group’s London
  headquarters or Pearson’s stake in The Economist, Pearson said. The transaction
  is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close before the end of
  the year.

• The Entertainment Network (India) Ltd (ENIL) on 22 July 2015
  received the approval from the Union Information & Broadcasting (I&B)
  Ministry to purchase 104.8 FM Oye FM radio station of TV Today Network (TVTN)
  that runs in four cities Amritsar, Jodhpur, Patiala and Shimla.
• The purchase will be subjected to the fulfilment of
  conditions specified by I&B Ministry that is execution of relevant
  documents with TVTN and completion of all other relevant formalities.
• Earlier, ENIL had signed the non-binding Memorandum of
  Understanding (MoU) with TV Today Network to purchase seven radio stations.
• However, on 13 February 2015 and on 8 May 2015, I&B
  Ministry declined its approval on the grounds that the proposed sale by TVTN
  and proposed purchase by ENIL is not in conformity with the FM Radio
  Guidelines.

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 21 July 2015 approved a Home Ministry proposal
  to extend the deadline for implementation of Crime and Criminals Tracking
  network and Systems (CCTNS) project till March 2017.
• CCEA also approved additional five years phase for operation
  and maintenance of the CCTNS up to March 2022.

• Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more
  transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.
• Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through
  effective usage of ICT.
• Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with
  tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and
  detection of criminals.
• Improve Police functioning in various other areas such as
  Law and Order, Traffic Management etc.

• In less than a month since the launch of the ‘Smart City’
  Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Puducherry has emerged as the first
  city to send its nomination to the Centre for the ambitious programme.
• The Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital
  city for inclusion in the 100 Smart Cities Mission launched on June 25.
• Chief Secretary of Puducherry has forwarded the nomination
  along with all the forms and documents including the details of evaluation of
  all the five urban local bodies (ULBs) in the Union Territory as required in
  the Stage-1 of ‘City Challenge’ competition.
• These ULBs include Puducherry, Oulgaret, Kariakal, Mahe and
  Yanam.
• According to a senior ministry official, Urban Development
  Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has complimented the Puducherry government for being
  the first to send Smart City nomination and urged the Chief Minister N Rangaswamy
  to keep up the momentum.
• The High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted as
  per the Mission Guidelines and headed by Chief Secretary has overseen the
  process of first stage intra-state competition.

• Nobel laurate R.K. Pachauri, who is facing sexual harassment
  allegations from a woman employee, has been removed as Director-General of
  TERI.
• Ajay Mathur, Director-General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency,
  has been appointed as the Director-General of TERI.
• The decision was taken at the Governing Council meet of
  TERI, held on Thursday.
• Dr. Mathur holds a Ph D and a Master of Science from the
  University of Illinois. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering from the
  University of Roorkee. He began his career at TERI in 1986.
• TERI i.e The Energy and Resources Institute.

• Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, was on 21
  July 2015 named as the World Book Capital for 2017 by United Nations
  Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO). The decision was made
  by an international committee of experts on 30 June 2015 during a meeting.
• The selection committee singled out Conakry for the quality
  and diversity of its programme, in particular for its focus on community
  involvement as well as for its well-structured budget and clear development
  goals with a strong emphasis on youth and literacy.
• With this, Conakry becomes the 17th city to be designated as
  World Book Capital, after Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003),
  Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008),
  Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok
  (2013), Port Harcourt (2014) Incheon (2015) and Wroclaw (2016).

• Super 30 initiative of mathematician Anand Kumar was in news
  in July 2015 as it will now feature in a 90-minute film The Big Day made by
  famous French director Pascal Plisson. The initiative helps students of
  deprived section to crack the prestigious IIT entrance examination.
• The Big Day is ready to hit the screens in August 2015 and
  its clips are being shown on TV and YouTube.
• The film comprises of four special stories from across the
  globe. One of the four stories is a story of a girl named Nidhi Jha, a student
  of Super 30, who at present is studying at ISM, Dhanbad. Nidhi cracked JEE
  (advance) in 2014.

• Book titled Ghosts of Calcutta authored by Sebastian Ortiz
  was released on 23 July 2015. Sebastian Ortiz is the pen name of French
  Consul-General of India Fabrice Etienne.
• The book translated from French and published by the
  Kolkata-based Sampark was launched by French Ambassador in Delhi François
  Richier.
• The book is the result of Fabrice search for the ghosts of
  British Raj-era in Kolkata. However, the book not only tells about the ghosts
  only but also about other characters like friends, associates, passer-bys, who
  were around him.

• Book titled R.D. Burman: The Prince of Music authored by
  Khagesh Dev Burman was released on 27 June 2015, the day when the music world
  celebrated the 76th birth anniversary of Rahul Dev Burman.
• The author through the book has tried to look into almost
  every aspect of R.D Burman like his childhood in Kolkata, his failure in
  studies, his beginning as an assistant to his father SD Burman as well as his
  rise as a musician. It also looks into his downfall due to ill-health and some
  bad decisions.

• 61st edition of the Fortune 500 list for the year 2015 was
  released on 22 July 2015. In 2015, Fortune 500 companies account for 12.5
  trillion US dollars in revenue, 945 billion US dollars in profit and 17
  trillion US dollars in market value and employ around 26.8 million people
  worldwide.
• The list has been topped by retail giant Walmart and is
  followed by petroleum refining giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron at 2nd and 3rd
  place. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway comes at 4th place followed by Apple
  Inc at 5th place.
• In 2015 Fortune 500 companies list, 7 Indian companies finds
  the mention. The list is topped by Indian Oil at 119th rank with revenues of 74
  billion US dollars and is followed by Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, State
  Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and Oil and Natural Gas
  Corporation (ONGC).

• National Broadcasting Day was observed on 23 July 2015
  across the country. It is on this day in 1927, the Indian Broadcasting Company
  started radio broadcasting from Bombay station.
• To mark the day, All India Radio (AIR) organized a symposium
  on the subject Creation of New India and Broadcasting Medium in New Delhi.
• Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Minister of State
  for Information and Broadcasting, speaking at the symposium, highlighted the
  role of Prasar Bharati in taking news of public interest to the length and
  breadth of the country and said that government is committed to the autonomy of
  Prasar Bharati.

• Indian-American boy Amitoj Chhabra on 11 July 2015 won the
  Junior Title at the US Powerlifting Association National Championships 2015
  that was held at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.
• He lifted a total of 1383 pounds in Las Vegas to win the
  junior title. Chhabra squatted 485 pounds, bench pressed 325 and dead-lifted
  573. He has added 100 pounds to his dead-lift in the 2014 championship.
• Chhabra began powerlifting in December 2013 and began
  competing in May 2014. Presently, he is getting training with Adam Lauritzen of
  Silverback Strength and Conditioning in Reno.

• Tom Moore, the cartoonist who brought to life the escapades
  of Riverdale residents in Archie comics has passed away. He was 86.
• Moore, who began drawing cartoons while in the US Navy
  during the Korean War, died early Monday morning while in ospice care in his
  hometown of El Paso, his son Lito Bujanda-Moore told The Associated Press
  yesterday.
• He said his father was diagnosed with throat cancer within
  the past week and chose not to undergo treatment.
• Moore drew Archie Andrews and his friends on and off from
  1953 until he retired in the late 1980s. Annual sales of the comic regularly
  surpassed half a million during the 1960s, according to the El Paso Times.

Regards

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