Current Affairs Update – 8th July, 2015

• India will contribute $18 billion to the $100 billion
  foreign-exchange reserves pool that is being set up by five nations of the
  BRICS grouping to help each other “in case of any problems with dollar
  liquidity”.
• Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have signed an
  agreement to set up the $100 billion pool, with maximum $41 billion coming from
  China.
• India’s contribution of $18 billion to the Pool will be same
  as that of Brazil and Russia. South Africa would chip in $5 billion.
• “The central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and
  South Africa have signed Operational Agreement on July 7, 2015 in Moscow. The
  Agreement outlines the terms of mutual support for member states in the
  framework of the Agreement on BRICS Pool of Conventional Currency
  Reserves,” the Russian Central Bank said in a statement.
• The fund will be an “insurance instrument” that
  members nations could draw on if they experience problems with their balance of
  payments.
• The Pool will go into force on July 30.

• In a significant step in economic cooperation, Russia’s
  Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) today signed an MoU with India’s Infrastructure
  Development Finance Company (IDFC) for funding of hydro-generation projects.
• RDIF Director General Kirill Dmitriev told the BRICS
  Business Council meeting here that his company signed an MoU with its partners
  in the BRICS member-states to work with sovereign funds, with the BRICS Bank
  and invest in the equity of infrastructure projects in these countries.
• Highlighting cooperation with India and China, he said, the
  BRICS initiative is already seeing practical negotiations on specific projects.
• Dmitriev said the funds are forming together the IFI to work
  with sovereign funds, with the BRICS bank and invest in the equity of
  infrastructure projects.

• HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private sector bank,
  launched Watch Banking application for Apple Watch in the first week of July
  2015.
• With this, HDFC became the first bank in India to offer the
  service of Watch Banking. In order to avail this service, customer will not be
  required to download a separate app but they just need to activate it from an
  upgraded version of HDFC Bank’s mobile banking app itself.
• The Apple Watch app will work via Bluetooth on iPhone 5 and
  above versions. The application will allow customers to make around 10 banking
  transactions, like account information (on savings, current, fixed deposits),
  credit cards, mobile and DTH recharge, request account statements and cheque
  books.

• Country’s second largest IT services firm Infosys has signed
  a multi-million euro deal with Deutsche Bank.
• Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Infosys will
  provide services like development, application maintenance, digital and
  mobility, package implementation and testing services across the Deutsche Bank
  Group, Infosys said in a statement on Wednesday.
• The Bengaluru-based firm will also be a strategic partner
  under Deutsche Bank’s Supplier Partnership Programme, it added. The programme
  was launched in June 2014 to concentrate the most strategic vendors based on
  business impact across all categories of the bank, it said.

• India and Uzbekistan on 7 July 2015 signed three agreements
  to deepen bilateral cooperation between the two nations. The agreements were
  inked during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uzbekistan
  from 6 July to 7 July 2015.

• Intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of
  tourism
• Protocol on Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign
  Affairs, Uzbekistan, and Ministry of External Affairs, India was inked.
• Agreement on Intergovernmental Programme of Cultural
  Cooperation for 2015-17

Besides, during his first visit to Central Asian countries,
Modi met with President Islam Karimov and Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoev of
Uzbekistan.

• India and Kazakhstan on 8 July 2015 signed five agreements
  during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kazakhstan. The
  agreement was signed in the presence of PM Modi and Kazakh President Nursultan
  Nazarbayev in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
• Narendra Modi is on an eight-day visit to five Central Asian
  states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan from 6
  July to 13 July 2015.

1. Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons
2. Agreement on Defence and Military – Technical Cooperation
3. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation on Physical
   Cultural and Sports
4. MoU on Technical Cooperation in the field of Railways
5. Long term contract between Department of Atomic Energy,
   India and KazAtomProm for sale and purchase of natural uranium concentrates

• In addition to above agreements, a MoU between JSC «Kazxnex
  Invest» and JSC «Invest India», which includes a Road Map on Trade, Economic
  and Investment Cooperation was also signed during the visit. The roadmap would
  identify concrete projects in various sectors and assist in efficient
  implementation of projects in both the countries to activate bilateral trade and
  economic relations.
• Besides, the two leaders also issue a joint statement title
  Tej Kadam highlighting the continuation of strategic partnership between the
  two nations that was established in 2009 and a shared desire for regional and
  international peace and stability.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan Prime Minister
  Karim Massimov on 7 July 2015 jointly launched the first exploratory drilling
  of the Satpayev oil block by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and KazMunaiGaz of
  Kazakhstan.
• OVL, the overseas arm of the state-run Oil and Natural Gas
  Corp (ONGC), had picked up 25 percent stake in Satpayev oil block in the North
  Caspian Sea in 2011 and committed to invest 400 million dollar in exploration
  in the block.
• The Satpayev oil block is an offshore field (1582 sq km) in
  the Northern Caspian Sea, in water depths of 6-8 m. It has a potential reserves
  estimated at 1.8 billion barrels crude oil and natural gas.  ONGC Videsh has estimates a peak output of 2
  lakh 87 thousand barrels per day from the Satpayev structures.

• The Centre has declared entire Nagaland as a “disturbed
  area” as it finds that a “dangerous condition” prevails in the
  state and armed forces should assist the civil administration in maintaining
  law and order.
• In a gazette notification, the Home Ministry said that it
  was of the opinion that the whole state of Nagaland is in such a disturbed or
  dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of civil power is
  necessary.
• “Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by
  Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, the central government
  hereby declares that whole of the said state to be a disturbed area for a
  period of one year with effect from June 30, 2015 for the purpose of the
  Act,” Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry Shambu Singh said in the
  notification.
• The decision came almost a month after NSCN-K, the dominant
  Naga rebel group, attacked an army convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district and
  killed 18 soldiers.
• Subsequently, army commandos carried out an attack in the
  camps of militants inside Myanmar.

• India will begin to supply up to 500 MW additional power to
  Bangladesh as soon as the work on SAARC grid is accomplished in the next one
  year or so, said Power System Operation Corporation Executive Director V K
  Agrawal.
• India will also draw considerably higher volumes of hydro
  power from nations such as Bhutan and Nepal, Agrawal said at a conference
  organised by the PHD Chamber.
• The participants suggested that the government should bring
  in legislation empowering right to electricity in view of massive capacity
  additions and set up a statutory mechanism to regulate state electricity
  boards.

• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on 7 July 2015
  launched a mobile application named Pashu Poshan that will boost dairy farmers’
  income by raising milk yield and cutting feed cost. The app will recommend a
  balanced diet for cows and buffaloes.
• The mobile application was launched by the Union Agriculture
  Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
• The application will be available on both web and android
  platforms. It can be accessed by registering on the INAPH portal inaph.Nddb.Coop.
• To use this application, the farmer needs to provide
  complete animal profile including breed, age, milk production, fat content in
  milk apart from food items being currently fed to the animal along with the
  cost in order to formulate the balanced ration formula.

• Telangana Government on 6 July 2015 signed a Memorandum of
  Understanding (MoU) with transportation facilitation app Uber.
• The MoU is aimed at creating thousands of jobs and
  entrepreneurship opportunities, foster technical innovation and research into
  smart city initiatives and a commitment to make significant investments to
  expand its operations in Hyderabad.

• Uber will collaborate with The Telangana Academy for Skills
  and Knowledge (TASK) to identify and train around 2000 candidates by the end of
  2016 who will then drive on the Uber platform. The focus of this initiative
  will be on women and poor people.
• Uber will invest upwards of 50 million US dollars into
  Hyderabad to establish a state-of-the-art facility that will house hundreds of
  new employees. With this, India will have Uber’s second-largest employee pool
  after the USA.
• Uber will engage with T-Hub and the government and explore
  synergies to foster the smart cities initiative and technological innovation in
  the city using big data analysis.

• Hilliard Energy Limited has expressed its intent to set up a
  multi-phase 650 MW solar and wind energy project in Anantapur district of
  Andhra Pradesh.
• Sterling Hilliard, Director of Hilliard Energy India, part
  of the US company, in a letter of intent submitted to Palle Raghunath Reddy,
  Information Technology Minister of Andhra Pradesh Government, has expressed the
  company’s interest to set up 150 MW of wind power and 500 MW of solar power
  with a possible deviation of 10 per cent either side.
• The letter of intent submitted to Reddy, who is now in the
  US, by Hilliard Energy Director, has been circulated to the media here.
• According to the letter of Intent submitted to the Minister,
  Hilliard has indicated that the project cost could be about $ 600 million.
• The company said that they look forward to following this
  intent with specific information on the location, power purchase agreement etc
  before closing the deal.
• Hilliard has a history of renewable energy acquisition and
  green filed developments totalling 2800 MW in the US and other locations.

• Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh
  today launched an Online Learning Portal (OLP) for MGNREGA, and expressed
  confidence that it will help both the government officials and beneficiaries of
  the rural job flagship scheme.
• The OLP will build capacities of technical functionaries and
  help in developing qualitative and sustainable assets.
• The governmnet said that it is expected to ensure flow of
  knowledge and skill from the brains of MGNREGS field functionaries through to
  the hands of MGNREGS unskilled labourers on to the ground, to result in
  qualitative and sustainable assets with enhanced livelihoods.
• All the field functionaries like Gram Rozgar Sevak,
  technical assistants, junior engineer, engineering consultants and others can
  take use this OLP.

• University Grants Commission (UGC) on 2 July 2015 accorded
  special Heritage Status on 19 Colleges across the country. These include St
  Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Fergusson College, Pune among others.
• The Heritage status was granted to institutions across the
  country with an aim of conserving college campuses which are more than 100
  years old. The UGC also approved financial assistance for the improvement and
  upgradation of these 19 colleges.

1. St Xavier’s College, Mumbai (Maharashtra)
2. Ferguson College, Pune (Maharashtra)
3. Hislop College, Nagpur(Maharashtra)
4. Midnapore College (West Bengal)
5. St Xavier’s College, Kolkata (West Bengal)
6. Khalsa College, Amritsar (Punjab)
7. Kanya Mahavidyalya, Jalandhar (Punjab)
8. CMS College, Kottayam (Kerala)
9. Government Brennan College, Thalassery (Kerala)
10. Old Agra College, Agra (Uttar Pradesh)
11. Meerut College, Meerut (Uttar Pradesh)
12. St Joseph College, Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu)
13. St Bede’s College, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh)
14. Langat Singh College, Muzaffarpur (Bihar)
15. University College, Mangalore (Karnataka)
16. Cotton College, Guwahati (Assam)
17. Government Medical Science College, Jabalpur (Madhya
    Pradesh)
18. Gandhi Memorial Science College, Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir)
19. DAV College, Ambala (Haryana)

• Bharti Enterprises on Wednesday appointed Rahul Bhatnagar as
  its new Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer.
• He will report to Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti
  Enterprises.
• Mr. Rahul takes over from Manoj Kohli, who has assumed the
  role of Executive Chairman, SBG Cleantech — a JV between SoftBank, Bharti and
  Foxconn for renewable energy, Bharti Enterprises said in a statement.
• In his new role, Mr. Rahul will build strategic business
  value proposition for Bharti’s non-telecom businesses, it said.
• He will be responsible for further strengthening the
  financial management processes and governance of these businesses and also lead
  new business development for the group, it added.

• PTC India Financial Services said on Wednesday that Ashok
  Haldia was appointed the company’s new Managing Director and Chief Executive
  Officer.
• Haldia has been a part of the company’s board as a
  whole-time director for the last seven years. Prior to joining PTC India
  Financial Services, Haldia served as a Secretary in the Institute of Chartered
  Accounts of India. He has also been a member of several Central Government
  committees.

• The first-ever female nominee for the supreme court in
  Afghanistan has failed to garner enough votes of approval from the parliament.
• Anisa Rasoli received 88 votes today, nine short of the 97
  needed for her nomination to pass. Zahir Qadir, the deputy parliament speaker
  who was chairing the session, asked.
• President Ashraf Ghani to bring forth another nominee.
• During the same session, Mohammad Yasuf Halim was approved
  for the supreme court and Khalilullah Sediq was approved as the governor of the
  central bank.

• Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka in the first week of July
  2015 entered Guinness World Records for spending most number of days in the
  space.  He achieved the feat by spending
  804 days on the International Space Station (ISS).
• He surpassed cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, also a Russian,
  record of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes in the space which Sergei
  achieved across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
• Padalka, who is also the commander of the crew on the ISS,
  is scheduled to return to earth in September 2015. It means he would have spent
  a total of 877 days in space by then.
• ISS is a space station that was launched in 1998. It is the
  largest artificial satellite body that orbits earth nearly 400 km above the
  surface and it can be seen with naked eye. ISS moves at a very high speed and
  it completes 15.54 orbits per day.

• Indian women produced a clinical performance to crush New
  Zealand by nine wickets in the fifth and final one day international cricket
  match and winning the series by 3-2 margin.
• The win also brought another piece of good news as BCCI
  announced a cash award of Rs 21 lakh for the team as they fought back valiantly
  from being 1-2 down to win the series.
• The final match turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts
  with New Zealand being shot out for 118 in 41 overs as seven of their batsmen
  failed to reach double digits.
• Suzie Bates top-scored with 42 while left-arm spinner
  Rajeswari Gayekwad had the best figures of 2/15. Jhulan Goswami with 2/17 was
  economical as ever while Deepti Sharma took 2 for 22.
• In reply, India surpassed the target in 27.2 overs with DT
  Thirushkamini scoring 62 off 78 balls with 13 boundaries.
• Deepti showed her all-round prowess scoring an unbeaten 44
  off 78 balls with 8 boundaries.

• Goa will host the fifth Youth Delphic Games in February 2016.
  The announcement was made in June 2015. The motto of the 2016 Games is
  Celebrating Arts and Cultures.
• Started a 100 years after the modern edition of the
  Olympics, the youth edition of the Delphic Games will be hosted in India for
  the first time from 1 February to 14 February 2016 in Goa.
• The Youth Delphic Games are held at every four years and
  invites participants of the age group of 15 to 25 years. The games will include
  competitions in six categories:

1. Musical arts and sounds (singing, instrumental music,
   electronic sounds)
2. Performing arts (dance, theatre, circus, puppetry)
3. Language arts (literature, poetry, moderation)
4. Visual arts (painting, graphics, sculpture, installation,
   fashion, photography)
5. Social arts (communications, Internet, media, pedagogic,
   didactic)
6. Ecological arts & architecture (urban planning,
   landscaping, preservation and conservation of nature, monuments)

• Book titled India Central Asia Relations: The Economic
  Dimension authored by Amiya Chandra came in news in second week of July 2015.
  It came in news during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to central
  Asian countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and
  Turkmenistan.
• The book focuses on the economic dimensions of the ties. The
  author through the book wants to say that India can compete with China if it
  focuses on quality instead of quantity and improves credit line. The book also
  says that for that purpose, India will have to seriously take forward the trade
  disputes.

• The book titled Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years was published on
  6 July 2015 by HarperCollins. It was co-authored by AS Dulat and Aditya Sinha.
• The book focuses on initiatives launched by the Vajpayee
  government between 1998 and 2004 to restore normalcy in India’s most beautiful
  but troubled state.
• The book includes firsthand account of AS Dulat, who was
  chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) during Vajpayee government, about
  the difficulties, successes and near triumphs in the effort to bring back
  Kashmir from the brink.

• The Film Society of Jodhpur was on 7 July 2015 conferred
  with the Pritiman Sarkar Award 2014-15 for the consequent fourth time for being
  the best film society in Northern Region in raising awareness and film
  appreciation.
• The award was presented by the Federation of Film Societies
  of India (North Region). The award was given in recognition of screening of a
  series of films by the society in 2014-15 in Jodhpur to mark 100 glorious years
  of Indian cinema under the Incredible Journey of Indian Cinema.
• The society screened 24 films of different times, culture
  and languages for Incredible Journey of Indian Cinema. These screenings
  included the films as old as Raja Harishchandra.
• The first Pritiman Sarkar Award in 1997-98 was also given to
  the Film Society of Jodhpur.

• Jerome Charles Weintraub, the legendary producer who
  produced Ocean’s Eleven, died on 6 July 2015 following cardiac arrest in a
  Santa Barbara hospital, California. He was 77. He is survived by his four
  children and his wife Susan Ekins.
• Weintraub got fame in the 1960s as a music manager and
  concert promoter. Later as a producer, he produced Nashville in the 1970s and
  other hits including Oh God!, The Karate Kid and the immensely popular caper-comedy
  series Ocean’s Eleven.
• Weintraub was an executive producer of HBO’s comedy show The
  Brink. He worked with everyone from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to Led
  Zeppelin and George Clooney.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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