1. India and UK Air Exercise concluded
(i) Indo – UK bilateral Air Exercise – Indradhanush, has been concluded between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and British Royal Air Force (RAF).
(ii) The 10 day exercise began in Britain on 21st July 2015, with the Indian Air Force contingent operating from separate Royal Air Force bases.
(iii) The objective of this exercise was to enhance mutual operational understanding between the IAF and RAF.
2. DIPP gives nod to ADB and JICA proposed industrial corridors
(i) The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has given its nod to the Asian Development Bank’s conceptual development plan report on Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC).
(ii) The Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, further added that the master plan report on the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), developed in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has also been accepted.
(iii) The objective behind the development of CBIC to augment development and industrial growth in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
(iv) Furthermore, the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) is planned from Kolkata (in West Bengal) to Tuticorin (in Tamil Nadu), the first phase of which focuses on Vizg- Chennai section.
3. Kotak Mahindra launches Kotak Bharat
(i)
With
the view to create an inclusive banking app, Kotak Bank has developed a mobile
app called Kotak Bharat to help customers in underbanked and unbanked regions
of the country.
(ii)
Some
of the features include access to savings account and credit cards from
anywhere, linking Aadhar Card to the bank account, access the government
schemes, etc.
4. HDFC Bank launches Dhanchayat film
(i)
The
HDFC Bank launched ‘Dhanchayat’, a film aimed at raising awareness among people
borrowing money from unorganised sources.
(ii)
The
film has been launched under the idea of, “Swachh Banking”-HDFC’s corporate
social responsibility (CSR) initiative.
(iii)
As part
of this, the motor vans airing the movie would across the country covering
thousands of villagers across India.
5. Youth Renaissance Day Award to be observed on the birthday of APJ Abdul Kalam
(i) The Tamil Nadu government announced that an award would be constituted in the name of former President A P J Abdul Kalam and his birthday would be observed as, ” Youth Renaissance Day”, in the state of Tamil Nadu.
(i) In addition the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa said that an award would be constituted as the, ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award’ which will be conferred on every independence day to those individuals who strive towards promoting scientific growth, humanities and students’ welfare.
6.Mumbai -Nagpur expressway to be completed by 2019
(i) Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the state government will construct the expressway connecting Mumbai with Nagpur by September 2019.
(ii) With the completion of this expressway the distance between Mumbai and Nagpur will be reduced to mere 10 hours — almost half the time it takes at present. This will be the second expressway in Maharashtra, first being the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
(iii) The new expressway is to connect four major cities of Maharashtra , namely –Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad, and Nagpur.
7.Kochi gets India’s first integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS)
(i) The Naval Harbour of Kochi has become India’s first harbour to get top notch defence system-the Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS).
(ii) This system will help detect, identify, track and generate warning from surface and underwater threats.
(iii) Other than Kochi, the naval harbours of Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair are set to be equipped with the system as a force protection measure.
8.BHEL signs three strategic MoU’s with Kazakhstan in Power industry
(i) BHEL has signed three MOU’s with Kazakh companies during PM Modi’s visit to Kazakhstan.
(ii) The MoU’s were signed with three companies namely, JSC Samruk Energy, the national power utility of Kazakhstan, KUS, and KAZNEX INVEST.
(iii) Kazakstan remains the important player in BHEL Central Asian operation, with regional office in Almaty.
9. Indian women’s recurve archery team settle for a silver at world Archery Championship
(i) Indian women’s recurve archery team lost to Russia in the World Championship final at Copenhagen, 4-5 score, clinching a silver medal.
(ii) The Russian team comprising Inna Stepanova, Ksenia Perova and Tuyana Dashidorzhieva clinched the contest in a nerve-wrecking tie-breaker against the Indian team of of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly, which ended 28-27 in Russia’s favour.
(iii) The world championship was held in Denmark.
10.Indian off- spinner R Ashwin presented with Arjuna Award
(i) Indian Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin was conferred with Arjuna Award by the Union Sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal in New Delhi, on Saturday.
(ii) Ravichnadran Ashwin, is an Indian cricket team bowler, who has to his achievements 124 wickets in 25 Tests, 139 in 99 ODIs and 26 wickets in 25 T20 internationals.
(iii) On the day of the farewell game of Sachin Tendulkar at Wankhede stadium, he achieved the feat of completing 100 wickets in his 19th test, making him the fastest bowler in 80 years.
Other News:
* Japan’s media group Nikkei buys Financial Times from Britain Pearson for $1.3 billion deal.
* The Central Government in July 2015, declared that 7th August, will be celebrated as the first National Handloom day starting August 2015.
* The world’s biggest animal sacrifice event held at the Nepal’s Gadhimai temple, witnessed every five year has been banned in Nepal. The decision was taken by the Gadhimai Temple Trust, Nepal.
* China has set up the world’s largest mosquito factory to fight dengue in Northwestern Guangzhou province. In releasing one million sterilised mosquitoes in the wild every week with the objective to dilute the population of the infected mosquitoes, China is experimenting innovative ways to combat dengue.This has been the first trial test and has proved to be very successful, helping to reduce the mosquito population by almost 90%.
* Sky lovers had a view of a beautiful blue moon on Friday night. This is the second full moon in a calendar month , this occurrence is known as a “Blue Moon.” It is estimated that the next blue moon may occur in 2018. The rare occurrence of the blue moon has resulted in the often used phrase, “once in a blue moon”.
* India’s Prabhroop Sekhon won two golds in special olympic games held at world summer games in Los Angeles, US. Prabhroop is an Autistic player who won medals in 300 m and 500 m Roller Skating event.
* With the view to protect the natural habitats of Gharials, which have been listed as critically endangered under the criterion A2 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), punjab government has announced creation of Beas belt near Harike Patan to conserve the habitats of Gharials.
* 30th July 2015 was internationally observed as the day against Trafficking in Persons. To mark this day the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched the global campaign #IGiveHope to create awareness and shed light on the plight of trafficked individuals.
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