Current Affairs Update – 26th July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 26th July, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming second phase of RBI Assistant 2015.

• India increased its exposure to US
  government securities by USD 31 billion in the first five months of the year,
  taking the overall holdings to USD 114 billion in May.
• This is also the highest level of holding
  by India in more than a year.
• Latest data from the US Treasury Department
  shows that China continued to have the maximum exposure to American government
  securities with May holdings touching USD 1.27 trillion.
• In May, India’s holding climbed to USD 114
  billion from USD 110.3 billion in April. The total exposure has surged by 31
  billion in the first five months of 2015.
• Last December, the holding stood at just
  USD 83 billion, according to the data.
• Since May last year, the country has been
  steadily raising its exposure to the American government securities.
• Interestingly, the US economy has been
  sluggish in recent months and its GDP contracted for the 2015 March quarter.

• State-owned Oil and Natural Gas (ONGC)
  plans to invest over $8.8 billion in bringing to production its much-touted
  KG-basin oil and gas discoveries by 2018-19.
• The 7,294.6 sq km deepsea KG-D5 block has
  been broadly categorised into Northern Discovery Area (NDA – 3,800.6 sq km) and
  Southern Discovery Area (SDA – 3,494 sq km).
• ONGC plans to develop the discoveries in
  the block in three clusters – 14.5 million standard cubic meters per day of gas
  for 15 years from Cluster-1 comprising of D&E finds of NDA in KG-D5 block
  and G-4 find in the a neighbouring area.
• Cluster-2A mainly comprises of oil finds of
  A2, P1, M3, M1 and G-2-2 in NDA which can produce 75,000 barrels per day (3.75
  million tonnes per annum).

• MIC Electronics Ltd on Sunday said its
  Board has approved China’s Leyard Optoelectric Co Ltd’s proposal to invest Rs
  125 crore in the company through purchase of equity shares and convertible
  preferential share warrants.
• It further said: “The Board of Directors
  after examining all aspects related to the offer given by Leyard have
  unanimously decided to recommend to the members of the company to accept the
  offer.”
• The company said that the synergy between
  Leyard and MIC is expected to create a strong design and manufacturing base of
  LED (light emitting diode) product in India.

• The Indian government has sanctioned around
  Rs.1,000 crore for a 15-km India-Bangladesh railway project, an official said
  on Sunday.
• The union government on Saturday
  communicated to Tripura that it had sanctioned Rs.580 crore to lay the rail
  tracks and acquire required land in Tripura, Transport Secretary Samarjit
  Bhowmik said.
• The external affairs ministry earlier
  agreed to provide Rs.400 crore to lay the new tracks and to acquire land in
  Bangladeshi territory.
• Union cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha
  is looking after the execution of the project after Prime Minister Narendra
  Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina discussed it during Modi’s Dhaka
  visit June 6-7.
• Union cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha
  is looking after the execution of the project after Prime Minister Narendra
  Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina discussed it during Modi’s Dhaka
  visit June 6-7.

• In the wake of terror groups using Internet
  to incite religious intolerance, the government has ordered blocking of at
  least 40 webpages with inflammatory content relating to a minority community,
  including posts on social media and popular video-sharing platforms.
• “Government has issued order under
  Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking Access of
  Information by Public) Rules 2009 to block some…Videos that could incite
  minority community,” an official source said.
• The order to block the online videos, dated
  June 29, was issued to all Internet service providers, who have now blocked
  most of such posts. However, a few of them are still accessible and the
  Internet service providers claim these can not be blocked totally as they have
  been posted through a ‘secure Internet protocol’.
• “We can not block all videos and
  websites because they are on https (secured) website. The DoT is well aware of
  the technical issues regarding this,” a top official at one of the
  Internet service providers said.
• The DoT issued another order on July 8,
  directing the ISPs to block the social media accounts and posts, as well as
  videos posted on popular video-sharing platforms, which were found to be
  containing content aimed at inciting a particular minority community in the
  neighbouring country Myanmar.
• In December also, the government had
  ordered blocking of 32 websites on national security concerns, as they were
  allegedly carrying anti-India material from terror groups such as ISIS (Islamic
  State of Iraq and Syria).

• The board of directors of Catholic Syrian
  Bank has appointed Anand Krishnamurthy as the new Managing Director & Chief
  Executive Officer of Catholic Syrian Bank.
• Krishnamurthy has been associated with the
  bank for the past one year and was previously responsible for corporate
  banking, SME business and the integrated treasury operations of the Bank as its
  Head of Wholesale Banking and Treasury.
• Krishnamurthy replaced Rakesh Bhatia who
  had quit earlier this year citing personal reason. After this, the board of
  directors had sent a panel of three names to Reserve Bank of India out of which
  they had maintained that Krishnamurthy was the first choice.
• Recently, CSB had filed for an Initial
  Public Offering for Rs 400 crore. Apart from CSB, RBL has also filed for an
  IPO. Both the lenders have been advised by the Reserve Bank of India over the
  past few years to gear up for an IPO.
• The P J Nayak committee report on
  governance issues of banks, which came out last year, had said the two lenders
  must list by December 2014.

• World Bank President Jim Yong Kim today
  announced the appointment of Arunma Oteh as Vice President and Treasurer of the
  World Bank.
• Ms. Oteh, a Nigerian national, was most
  recently the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of
  Nigeria. Appointed to a five-year term by the President of Nigeria in 2010, she
  led the transformation of the country’s capital markets industry into a major
  global presence. She was a member of the Board of the International
  Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Chairperson of the
  Africa Middle East Regional Committee of IOSCO.
• Prior to joining the Securities and
  Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Ms. Oteh was Group Vice President,
  Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). In this role
  she oversaw a number of departments, including human resources, information and
  communications technology, and institutional procurement.
• From 2001 to 2006 she held the role of AfDB
  Group Treasurer, where she led AfDB’s fundraising and capital market activities
  across the world. Earlier roles at the AfDB, which she joined in 1992, included
  trading room management, investment portfolio coverage, and public sector
  lending. She also held other positions in capital markets and lending during
  the course of her career at the AfDB.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today led an
  indebted nation in paying tributes to the martyrs and heroes of the 1999 Kargil
  war, saying it was not only fought on the border but every village and city
  contributed to the fight against the enemy.
• “In Kargil, each of our soldiers
  proved more than a 100 of the enemy. I salute the brave soldiers who thwarted
  the evil designs of the enemy without caring for their own lives. The Kargil
  war was not fought only on the border but every village, every city contributed
  to it,” the Prime Minister said in his radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’,
  coinciding with the 16th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Divas being celebrated
  today.
• Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army
  Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy Vice
  Chief P Murugesan also paid tributes to the martyrs by laying wreaths at the
  Amar Jawan Jyoti in the national capital.
• As the nation paid solemn tributes to 490
  jawans and officers who laid down their lives in the line of duty during the over
  two month-long conflict, the Army sought to assure the citizens that with its
  capabilities having grown “exponentially” since the Kargil war, it
  was confident of protecting the country’s frontiers.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today
  presented journalist Gargi Parsai and five others with Chaudhary Charan Singh
  Award for Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural Research and Development,
  2014 at Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s 87th foundation day
  celebrations held here.
• Parsai, currently working as Associate
  Editor with “The Hindu” newspaper has been writing on agriculture,
  food security, water resources and rural development in a career spanning 37
  years.
• The ICAR citation said she has brought to
  light various issues related to farm research and development, environment and
  food sector that have made a difference.
• She had previously won several awards
  including the Prem Bhatia Award and was invited by former Prime Minister H D
  Deve Gowda for her views on agrarian crisis.
• The other journalists who received the
  award from Modi are Rajya Sabha TV Assistant Editor Arvind Kumar Singh,
  Economic Times Special Correspondent Madhvi Sally, ETV senior producer Jai
  Prakash Singh, Dainik Jagran Deupty Bureau Chief (national bureau) Surendra
  Prasad Singh and Hindustan Principal Correspondent Arvind Kumar Singh, ICAR
  officials said.

• Tillakaratne Dilshan Sunday became the 11th
  batsman and the fourth Sri Lankan to compile 10,000 runs in one-day cricket,
  achieving the feat against Pakistan in Hambantota.
• The flamboyant 38-year-old reached the
  landmark in his 319th match when he took a single off Shoaib Malik to move to
  55, before being run out on 63.
• Dilshan now has 10,008 runs, joining
  compatriots Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene in a
  coveted list headed by Indian great Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 18,426 ODI
  runs.

• Former Union Minister and a six-time Lok
  Sabha member from Assam, Bijoy Krishna Handique died today at a hospital here.
• Handique, 82, who was admitted to Jorhat
  Medical College and Hospital for heart-related problems only yesterday and
  shifted to ICU, died this afternoon, a hospital spokesman said.
• The veteran Congress leader, who was born
  in 1933, leaves behind his wife and three daughters.
• Handique was the Minister for Mines and
  Development of North Eastern Region in the UPA-II government.
• He also held the portfolios of Union
  Minister of State for Defence, Parliamentary Affairs, Mines, and Chemicals and
  Fertilizers during the tenure of the UPA-I government.

Regards

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