RBI panel moots change in timings for foreign exchange market
NATIONAL NEWS
India
to host 14th conference of Parties, 197 countries expected to participate
- India is set to host the 14th
conference of the parties (COP) from September 02 to 13. The global
conference will be hosted at India Expo Mart Limited in Greater Noida.
As many as 197 countries are expected to participate in the conference.
- “The 14th session of COP will stress on
three crucial issues-desertification, land degradation and drought,”
- Ahead of COP-14, Minister also launched “Bonn
Challange”, a maiden project to lay emphasis on India’s capacity for forest
landscape restoration.
FACTS
National Museum of Indian Cinema launched NMIC Bulletin
- The National Museum of Indian Cinema
launched a fortnightly bulletin named “NMIC Bulletin “
- It is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- It brought out by the Films Division with
veteran filmmaker Jahnu Barua.
- It is helpful to have a physical document
to cherish and get relevant information for several educational institutions
and students of media studies who visit Museum regularly.
- The Museum which made cinema possible as
well as about narrating untold stories behind those cinemas.
- This museum will give several educational
institutions and students of media studies.
- It was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime
Minister of India on 19th January 2019
- It is at the Films Division Complex,
Pedder Road, Mumbai.
- The Museum is housed in two buildings –
the New Museum Building and the 19th-century heritage building, Gulshan Mahal –
both at the Films Division complex.
- The Museum showcases the history of India
Cinema and has ample artifacts, digital elements including kiosks, interactive
digital screens, information-based screen interfaces.
Worker
safety code Bill gets Cabinet approval
- A Bill that seeks to merge 13 labour laws
into one code on occupational safety, health and working conditions that would
apply to all establishments with 10 or more workers was approved by the Union
Cabinet, paving the way for its introduction in Parliament.
- The Code on Occupational Safety, Health
and Working Conditions Bill, 2019, which would impact “40 crore unorganised
workers”, was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
- While the code will be applicable to all
trades, including IT establishments and service sector, where more than 10
workers are employed, it will be applicable to mines and docks that employ even
one worker.
- The code makes it mandatory for employers
to provide free annual medical check-ups and issue appointment letters to all
employees. The multiple committees under five labour Acts would be replaced by
the National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board.
- The code also framed rules for women
workers working night shifts.
- “Women permitted to work beyond 7
p.m. and before 6 a.m. subject to the safety, holidays, working hours or any
other condition as prescribed by appropriate government in respect of
prescribed establishments. However, only after taking their consent for night
work (sic),”.
Human
cell atlas: An initiative for holistic understanding of human body
- A new human atlas initiative has been
launched to create a unified database of molecular network of all the tissues
in the human body and to derive a holistic picture of working of human body.
- The project named Manav has been
launched by the Department of Biotechnology and Persistent Systems, a
biotechnology company.
- This mega project will collate and
integrate molecular information on human tissues and organs that currently lies
hidden in research articles in an unstructured and disorganized form.
- The project would utilize large
biological community, both students and scientists, for extracting and adding
the information from scientific literature at the level of cells and organs.
- The database would eventually help
researchers in identifying gaps in current knowledge and help in future
projects in diagnostics and disease biology.
India’s first cow sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh to be privatised
- Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya in Agar Malwa, 190 km north west of Bhopal,
was developed by the MP Gau Samvardhan Board by spending about Rs 32 crore.
- Around 4,000 cows are living in the
sanctuary which is spread across 472 hectares. The decision of privatisation is
being taken due to financial crises.
- Soon, the department will issue a
notification to invite interested organisations, said a higher officer of the
Animal Husbandry department.
STATE NEWS
Madhya
Pradesh to produce its own seeds soon
- In Madhya Pradesh, along with
distribution and marketing of certified and high-quality seeds to farmers, the
Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Seed Federation will produce seeds too. The
decision has been taken in a Board of Directors’ meeting held under the
chairmanship of the Minister for Cooperatives Govind Singh in Bhopal.
- The brand name of seeds will be ‘Sah-Beej’. A plan has been made to produce seeds from
the next Rabi season. A large number of seed committees present in the state,
which will be linked to the seed federation and these committees will help in
the marketing of seeds.
FACTS
Capital-Bhopal
Chief minister- Kamal Nath
Governor-Anandiben Patel
ECONOMIC AND FINANCE
RBI
panel moots change in timings for foreign exchange market
- An internal committee of the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI), which was set up to review timings of different financial
markets, suggested that the foreign exchange market could function from 9 am
to 9 pm At present, the currency market works from 9 am to 5 pm.
- “Calibrated extension of market hours,
and to begin with, revised market timings of 9 am — 9 pm, may be considered to
gauge demand and potential benefits,” the draft report of the committee said.
- The report noted that there are mixed
views on the benefits of extension of market timing.
FACTS
RBI 25th Governor- Shaktikant Das
Headquarters-Mumbai
India
Inc's FDI down over two times to $820 million in June, shows RBI data
- India Inc's foreign direct investment in
June fell by over two times from a year ago to $820.36 million, data from the
Reserve Bank of India showed Wednesday.
- The outward
foreign direct investment (OFDI) by the Indian firms stood at $2.29 billion
in the year-ago same month, according to the RBI data on OFDI.
- In May, the Indian firms had invested
over $1.56 billion in their overseas ventures.
DEFENCE
Indian
Naval Ship Tarkash arrives in Morocco for 3-day visit
- Indian Naval Ship Tarkash arrived at
Tangier, Morocco for a three-day visit. The visit is part of an ongoing
Overseas Deployment by the Indian Navy to the Mediterranean Sea, Africa and
Europe. The visit seeks to strengthen the bonds of friendship between India
and Morocco.
- INS Tarkash, commanded by Captain Sathish
Vasudev, is a state-of-the-art stealth frigate of the Indian Navy, equipped
with a versatile range of weapons and sensors capable of addressing threats in
all three dimensions.
- The ship is a part of the Indian Navy's
Western Fleet and is under the operational Command of Flag Officer
Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command.
- During the port call, various dignitaries
and government officials of Morocco including senior naval officers are
scheduled to visit the ship. The ship would also take part in numerous
professional, social and sporting interactions planned with the Royal Moroccan
Navy.
- On departing the port, INS Tarkash will
carry out a Passage Exercise at sea with ships of the Royal Moroccan Navy.
FACTS
Chief of the Naval Staff- Karambir Singh
APPOINTMENT
Arun
Kumar appointed as DGCA chief
- Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved appointment of Arun Kumar,
Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, to Union Ministry of Civil Aviation
as the new Director General (DG) in Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) in rank and pay of Additional Secretary.
- He is 1989 batch IAS officer of Haryana
cadre. He is currently serving as additional secretary in Union Ministry of
Civil Aviation and will now be holding full-time charge as Chief of aviation
regulator DGCA.
- He was heading DGCA as an additional
charge between 31 May 31 and 9 July 2019.
- He will succeed B S Bhullar who was
appointed as full-time DGCA chief in December 2016. He is an IAS officer of
Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre. In between June 2016 and December 2016, he was also
heading DGCA as additional charge. During his tenure, his main role was as
additional secretary in Ministry of civil aviation.
AWARDS
Global excellence award for Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and Mastercard Chief Ajay Banga
- Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and Mastercard
Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga would be honoured with the global
excellence award for their contribution to strengthening economic ties
between the US and India,
- “Premji and Banga will receive the 2019
global excellence award at the second annualleadership summit of the
US-India Strategic Partnership Forum in Washington on July 11 for their
significant contribution to strengthening the economic ties between the two
countries,”
- US President’s senior adviser Jared
Kushner will present the awards to Premji and Banga at the summit.
- “Premji’s work to transform the Indian IT
industry into a global powerhouse is a well-known fact. Our award recognises
his philanthropic efforts, which reflect his mission to change lives through
education,” said Forum board Chairman John Chambers in the statement.
- Banga had been a champion of the
US-Indian partnership, advancing the bilateral ties across multiple
transitions.
SPORTS
Dutee
Chand wins 100m gold in World Universiade
- National record holder Dutee Chand became
the first Indian woman track and field athlete to clinch a gold medal in the 30th Summer Games in Naples,
Italy after she won the 100m dash event in Napoli.
- The 23-year-old Dutee clocked 11.32
seconds to win the gold as she led the race from start to finish.
- Running at lane number 4, Dutee was the
first one out of the eight athletes to blast off the starting blocks and she
made most of it to fend of a late challenge from Del Ponte (11.33) of
Switzerland.
- The Odisha runner, whose national record
stands at 11.24 seconds, thus became the first Indian to win a 100m gold in a
global event.
- She has now become only the second Indian
sprinter to win a gold in a global event after Hima Das, who clinched the top
spot in 400m in the World Junior Athletics Championships last year.
- Dutee, who had a silver each in 100m and
200m in the 2018 Asian Games, is also only the second Indian track and field
athlete to win a gold in the World Universiade. Inderjeet Singh had clinched
the top spot in men’s shot put event in the 2015 edition.
Commonwealth
Senior Weightlifting Championship
- 4 Gold medals for India in Commonwealth senior
Weightlifting Championships.
Mirabai Chanu |
Won Gold in the Senior Women’s 49 kg
event |
Jhilli Dalabehra |
Won Gold in the Senior Women’s 45kg event |
SoroikhaibamBindyarani Devi |
Won Gold in the Senior Women’s 55 kg
event |
MatsaSantoshi |
Won Silver in the Senior Women’s 55 kg
event |
Rishikanta Singh |
Won Gold in the Senior men’s 55kg
event. |
34th
edition of Sailing Championship 2019 concluded in Telangana.
- The 34th edition of the national level
sailing championship 2019, ‘Hyderabad Sailing Week’ was concluded at
Secunderabad Club, Telangana.
- Event was held between July 2-July 7,2019
and it was jointly hosted by the EME Sailing Association, the Secunderabad
Sailing Club and Laser Class Association of India.
Winner |
Trophy |
Rammilan
Yadav of NSS Bhopal |
Laser 4.7 open trophy and
Laser 4.7 boys under 18 trophy |
Ritika
Dangi of NSS Bhopal(National Sailing School). |
Laser 4.7 girls under 18
years trophy |
Gitesh of
AYN(Army Yatching Node) |
Rolling Trophy & Laser
Radial trophy |
Nethra
Kumaram of TNSA(Tamil Nadu Sailing Association). |
Laser Radial Women trophy |
IMPORTANT DAYS
World
Population Day 2019-July 11
- Every year, July 11 is observed as World
Population Day to draw urgent attention towards the growing population.
Established by the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, World
Population Day finds its inspiration from the interest raised by ‘Five Billion
Day’ on July 11, 1987 — the day population reached five billion.
- The United Nations recognises World
Population day as an important event to spread information regarding
population-related issues across the globe.
- Unlike every year, this year there is
no specific theme but the day aims to draw attention towards maternal
health.