09th July 2021 Current Affairs in English

July 10, 2021
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Latest Current Affairs Daily Update

National

Cabinet Reshuffle: 43 leaders take oath as ministers

The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expanded its council of ministers. The names in the cabinet reshuffle include several new entrants as well as existing ministers who will be reassigned.

The swearing-in ceremony of 43 Ministers was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 7, 2021. In total, 15 Ministers were inducted into the Union Cabinet and 28 Ministers were inducted as Ministers of State. This is the first cabinet reshuffle since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power in 2019.

The Union Cabinet can have 81 members, as per the rule. There were 53 ministers in PM Modi’s cabinet but a series of them, including Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, resigned hours before the names were announced.

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International

Haiti President Jovenel Moise assassinated at his home

Haiti President, Jovenel Moise was assassinated and his wife wounded in an attack at their home, the interim prime minister announced an act that risks further destabilizing the Caribbean nation beset by gang violence and political volatility.

The president faced steep opposition from swathes of the population that deemed his mandate illegitimate, and he churned through a series of seven prime ministers in four years. Most recently, Joseph was supposed to be replaced this week after only three months in the post.

Useful notes for all competitive exams:

  • Haiti Capital: Port-au-Prince;
  • Haiti Currency: Haitian gourde;
  • Haiti Continent: North America.

Appointments

N Venudhar Reddy takes charge as Director General of All India Radio

N Venudhar Reddy, an Indian Information Service, IIS Officer of 1988 batch took charge as Director General of All India Radio. Currently Working as Principal DG of News Services Division, All India Radio, he was given additional charge of AIR, upon the approval of the Appointments Committee of the cabinet. All India Radio, officially known since 1957 as Akashvani.

Reddy brings with him vast experience in media planning and management, administration, and newsgathering. He has also served in various capacities earlier with All India Radio News and Doordarshan News.

Useful notes for all competitive exams:

  • All India Radio Founded: 1936;
  • All India Radio Headquarters: Sansad Marg, New Delhi.

Indian Army names firing range after Vidya Balan

The Indian Army has named one of its firing ranges in Kashmir after Bollywood actress Vidya Balan. The Vidya Balan firing range is situated at Gulmarg in the Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir.

The decision was taken in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. Earlier in the year, the actress and her husband Siddharth Roy Kapoor had attended the Gulmarg Winter Festival organized by the Indian Army.

Agreements

Razorpay partners with Mastercard to launch ‘MandateHQ’

Razorpay has partnered with Mastercard to launch ‘MandateHQ’. It is a payment interface that will help card-issuing banks to enable recurring payments for their customers.

It must be noted that the Reserve Bank of India had issued a framework for processing e-mandates on recurring online transactions. The product by Razorpay is a step in this direction.

The MandateHQ solution can be fully integrated with any bank within seven days. Razorpay’s Mandate HQ is an API-based plug-n-play solution that reduces the go-live time for any card issuing bank that wishes to enable recurring payments for its customers.

MandateHQ will also enable businesses, especially subscription-based businesses, to get access to a wider customer base, who use debit cards, as recurring payments were mostly supported via credit cards previously.

Useful notes for all competitive exams:

  • Razorpay Founded: 2013;
  • Razorpay CEO: Harshil Mathur (May 2014–);
  • Razorpay Headquarters location: Bengaluru;
  • Mastercard Headquarters: New York, United States.
  • Mastercard President: Michael Miebach.

Bajaj Allianz General ties up with the Bank of India to offer insurance products

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Bank of India have entered into a corporate agency agreement for the distribution of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance’s products through the bank’s network of 5084 branches.

As a part of this agreement, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance will be offering a bouquet of personal lines of products such as motor insurance, health insurance, home insurance, travel insurance along with a commercial line of products like engineering insurance, marine insurance to bank’s customers.

Useful notes for all competitive exams:

  • Managing Director of Bajaj Allianz: Tapan Singhel; Headquartered: Pune, Maharashtra.
  • BOI Headquarters: Mumbai; MD and Ceo of BOI: Atanu Kumar Das.

Economy

Government includes Retail and Wholesale Trade in MSME sector

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has decided to include Retail and Wholesale trade as MSMEs but only for the limited purpose of Priority Sector Lending.

This means that these segments of businesses can now take loans under the Priority Sector Lending arrangement under the MSME category.

According to the Retailers Association of India (RAI), this will give retail micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) the support they need to survive, revive and thrive.

These Retail and Wholesale traders can now register on Udyam Registration Portal. It is a portal by the Government of India for the registration of MSMEs.

The registration will be allowed under three categories:

  • Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.
  • Wholesale trade except for motor vehicles and motorcycles.
  • Retail trade except for motor vehicles and motorcycles.

Fitch Ratings projects India GDP growth for FY22 at 10%

Fitch Ratings has revised its GDP growth projection for India in 2021-22 (FY22) to 10%. Earlier it has projected the same at 12.8%.

The reason for this cut is the slow recovery post-second wave of COVID-19. Fitch believes that rapid vaccination could support a sustainable revival in business and consumer confidence; however, without it, economic recovery would remain vulnerable to further waves and lockdowns.

Defense

Indian Army Inaugurates War Memorial of Capt Gurjinder Singh Suri

On the occasion of the birthday of Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri, who died during the operation “Birsa Munda” in 1999, the Indian Army inaugurated a war memorial in memory of Captain in Gulmarg near the Line of Control (LOC).

Lieutenant Colonel (Col), Tej Prakash Singh Suri (Retd), father of Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri, MVC (Posthumous) was also present on the occasion. Gurjinder Singh Suri was later awarded Maha Vir Chakra (Posthumous).

Operation Birsa Munda was a punitive raid conducted against a Pakistani post by a Bihar battalion of the Indian Army, in the month of November 1999.

This was the time when Operation Vijay had drawn to a close, but the Line of Control was still active with sporadic incidents of trans Line of Control violence. In a swift and meticulously planned operation, the entire Pakistani post was destroyed, killing 17 Pakistani soldiers.

Awards

Kaushik Basu awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Award

Indian economist Kaushik Basu has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award for Economics. The award was conferred on him by Professor Dr. Hans-Bernd Schäfer of Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany.

A former chief economist of the World Bank, Basu is currently a professor of Economics at Cornell University. He also served as the Government of India’s chief economic advisor from 2009 to 2012. Basu is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.

The prestigious award is sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and awarded to as many as 100 recipients each year.

The Humboldt Research Award honors scientists and economists from across the world for their work. The award entails prize money of 60,000 euros and an offer to carry out research projects at a scientific institution in Germany for up to 12 months.

Sports

Mumbai, Pune to host 2022 women’s Asian Cup

Women’s Asian Cup in India will be held in Mumbai and Pune after the Asian Football Confederation dropped Bhubaneswar and Ahemdabad as venues to minimize the traveling time for participants and ensure an “optimum environment” for a bio-secure bubble.

The Mumbai Football Arena at the Andheri Sports Complex and the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune have been chosen as the new venues.

The decision was taken after considering the existing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and as part of efforts to minimize the traveling time for teams and officials between the venues, whilst ensuring the optimum environment to implement the biomedical bubble for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Obituary

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh passes away

Senior Congress leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, has passed away. The veteran politician was the 4th and longest-serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

He served as the Chief Minister of the state six times, from April 8, 1983, to March 5, 1990, December 3, 1993, to March 23, 1998, March 6, 2003, to December 29, 2007, and then for the sixth time from December 25, 2012, to December 26, 2017.

Apart from this, Singh also served as union deputy minister in Tourism and Civil Aviation, Minister of State for Industries, Union Minister of Steel, and Union Minister of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME).

Olympic gold-winning hockey legend Keshav Datt passes away

Two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Keshav Datt passed away. He was part of India’s historic feat at the 1948 Olympics where they beat home team Britain 4-0 at the Wembley Stadium in London to win the first gold post Independence.

Before the 1948 Olympics, Datt had toured East Africa under the leadership of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand in 1947. An integral part of the Indian team, Datt also captained the Mohun Bagan hockey squad from 1951-1953 and again in 1957-1958.

Miscellaneous

DMRC launches India’s first UPI-based cashless parking

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has launched India’s first FASTag or Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based parking facility to reduce the time for entry and payment.

The facility was launched at the Kashmere Gate metro station. As part of the Multi-Model Integration (MMI) initiative, dedicated Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes for autos, taxis, and r-Rickshaws were also inaugurated at the station.

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