NATIONAL NEWS

PM Modi Unveils Development Projects in Deoghar

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various developmental projects worth 16,800 crores rupees in Deoghar.

• He also inaugurated Deoghar Airport in Jharkhand on 12 July 2022. Jharkhand is getting its second airport.

• It has been constructed at cost of Rs 401 crore.
• He also inaugurated the revamped Baba Baidyanathdham temple area under PRASAD scheme of Ministry of Tourism.

Dwarka Expressway to Be First Elevated Highway in India

• Dwarka Expressway is being developed as the first elevated urban expressway in India.

• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that Dwarka Expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana will be operational in 2023.

• It is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000 crore and is a 16-lane access-controlled highway with the provision of a three-lane service road on both sides.
• Dwarka Expressway is India’s first elevated urban expressway. It also includes India’s longest and widest urban road tunnel.

IS4OM for Safe and Sustainable Space Environment

• In the presence of Union Minister Jitendra Singh, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization Mr. Somanath launched the IS4OM.

• According to ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), the IS40M system was built with a complete approach to ensure the safety and sustainability of the space environment while enjoying the advantages of sustainable use of space for national development.

• India has improved its capacity to safeguard its space assets independently with the aid of the ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operation and Management (IS4OM).

‘Earn with Learn’ for Dropout Students

• The Tripura government has launched a new scheme, ‘Earn with Learn’ as part of the Vidyalaya Chalo Abhiyan (Let’s go to school) to bring back those who had dropped out of schools following the outbreak of Covid-19.

• The government would pay Rs 500 per admission to each college student as an honorarium for identifying and bringing back such dropouts to school again and an estimated 10,000 volunteers would be required to implement the scheme.

• The third-year college students who are interested in voluntarily taking part in the survey may register their names in their respective colleges.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China Launches Global Naming Event

• The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has initiated a global name collection for the country's newest solar observatory, which will be launched into a sun-synchronous orbit in October 2022.

• The 888-kilogram observatory has a half-tonne precursor, "Xihe," a Chinese H-alpha Solar Explorer (CHASE), named after the sun goddess in ancient Chinese mythology.
• It was launched to study the violent and sudden physical processes behind solar flares.
• The newest Chinese solar observation satellite, the Advanced Space-Based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), is to help solar physicists study the relationships between the solar magnetic field, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

First I2U2 Leaders Virtual Summit

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the First I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA) Leaders’ Virtual Summit along with Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid, President of the UAE Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President of the USA Joseph R. Biden.
• The Leaders will discuss the possible joint projects within the framework of I2U2 as well as the other common areas of mutual interest to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment.
• The I2U2 Grouping was conceptualized during the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries held on 18 October 2021.
• I2U2 is aimed to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health and food security.

BANKING

AIIB to Establish an Interim Operational Hub

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved the establishment of an Interim Operational Hub, its first overseas office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), pending formal agreement to be finalized.
• India is the second-largest shareholder of AIIB after China.
• The hub will provide AIIB with a robust platform to enable effective supervision of its growing investment portfolio and strengthen its project monitoring and implementation services across the globe.

ECONOMY

Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB)

• The newly-constituted Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB), a single autonomous professional body will develop its own appropriate methodology to recommend persons for appointment as whole-time directors (WTDs) and non-executive chairpersons (NEC) in public sector banks (PSBs), public sector insurers (PSI) and financial institutions (FIs).

• FSIB has 11 members including the Chairperson, who will be nominated by the Centre. Bhanu Pratap Sharma, former Secretary of Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has been appointed as initial Chairperson of FSIB for two years.

• For each financial year, the funds to be contributed by each of the three categories of financial service institutions (namely, PSBs, FIs and PSIs) towards meeting expenditure by FSIB.
• It will also build a databank containing data related to the performance of PSBs, FIs and PSIs.
• FSIB will also help PSBs, FIs and PSIs in developing business strategies and capital raising plans.

SPORTS

Arjun Babuta Wins First Gold Medal at ISSF World Cup

• In Shooting, India’s Arjun Babuta have won his first gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage at Changwon in South Korea.
• He defeated Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Lucas Kozeniesky of the USA 17-9 in the final.
• This was India’s first medal under new national foreign rifle coach Thomas Farnik.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Mrs. Universe Divine Crown in South Korea

• Pallavi Singh from India won the Universe Divine Title at the competition’s Yeosu City in South Korea.

• She is an Indian who is from Kanpur and she has represented her nation admirably in this competition in which 110 nations took part.

• Pallavi Singh won the 2020 Mrs. India pageant held in Jaipur.
• She competed in the Mrs. Universe competition as the representative of Asia and India, winning the title.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

President of IFAD

• Mr. Alvaro Lario has been appointed as the 7th President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

• He will take office on 01 October 2022, for a four-year term.

• He succeeds Mr. Gilbert Houngbo who has led the organization since 2017.
• Lario served as Treasury Capital Markets Lead and Principal Portfolio Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group.
• He has 20 years of experience in the private sector, academia and international financial institutions.

CMD of Goa Shipyard Limited

• The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has approved the appointment of Mr. Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for five years.

• Presently, he is serving as Director (Operations) in the GSL.
• He started his career with GSL in 1991.
• Mr. Upadhyay is an Engineering Graduate (Electrical).
• GSL is a Miniratna Public Sector undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Defence.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA Releases First Full-Color Image

• The first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was released on 11 July 2022.
• It provides glimpses of what the early Universe looked like.US President Joe Biden presented the image at an event at the White House.
• It is the clearest image to date of the early universe, going back 13 billion years. The image showed thousands of galaxies and some of the faintest objects observed colorized in blue, orange and white tones.
• The James Webb Space Telescope is the next great space science observatory following Hubble, designed to answer questions about the Universe and make breakthrough discoveries in all fields of astronomy.
• The joint project between the American space agency NASA, and the European and Canadian space agencies (ESA, CSA) launched in December 2021.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Malala Day 2022

• World Malala day 2022 is celebrated and observed all over the world on 12 July.
• The 12th of July has been designated as World Malala Day by the UN in honor of the teenage activist Malala Yousafzai.
• Malala Day, which honors women’s and children’s rights all around the world is observed on the birth anniversary of Malala Yousafzai.
• Malala, who won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17 was the prize’s youngest-ever winner.
• She currently resides in Birmingham and continues to fight for women’s empowerment and education.

OBITUTARY

‘Father of Indian Internet’ B K Syngal

• Brijendra Kumar (BK) Syngal, former chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, (VSNL) passed away. He was at the age of 82.
• He was an Indian telecommunications executive who was referred to as the ‘Father of Internet & Data Services in India’.
• BK Syngal was born in 1940 in Ambala.
• As the Chairman of VSNL, he was unofficially known as the ‘bulldozer’ for his ability to push through bureaucratic hurdles.
• He also served as Chairman of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (London), Governor of INTELSAT Board at Washington DC and as a Councilor for the INMARSAT Council in London.