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.

Finance/Industry
India’s
Holding of US Government Bonds Touch $114 Bn in May
  • 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.

ONGC
to invest $8.8 billion in KG oil and gas finds
  • 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).

China’s
Leyard to invest Rs 125 cr in MIC Electronics
  • 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.

India
Government
approves Rs 1,000 crore for India-Bangladesh rail link

  • 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.

Govt
Orders Blocking Websites Inciting Religious Intolerance
  • 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).

Appointments
Anand
Krishnamurthy appointed CEO & MD of CSB bank

  • 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.

Nigerian
National Arunma Oteh Appointed World Bank Treasurer

  • 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.

Days
Nation
Remembers Martyrs on Kargil Victory Day

  • 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.

Awards
& Honors –
PM
awards journalists at ICAR function

  • 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.

Sports
Sri
Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan completes 10,000 ODI runs

  • 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.

Obituaries
Former
Union Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique Dies
  • 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.

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This post was last modified on November 27, 2017 9:00 am