Important Days
World Brain Day: July 22
The World Federation of Neurology (WFN) celebrates World Brain Day every July 22, focusing on a different theme each year.
Many public awareness programs and educational & social media activities are promoting the movement to stop multiple sclerosis, commencing July 22, 2021, & continuing until October 2022. The theme for this World Brain Day is “Stop Multiple Sclerosis”.
World Brain Day advocates early diagnosis of this condition that can help improve the quality of life of the patient.
National Broadcasting Day celebrated on 23rd July
National Broadcasting Day is observed on 23rd July every year, to celebrate the radio, which has been an important part of people’s life in India, both as an easy medium of entertainment along with the news.
On this day in 1927, the first-ever radio broadcast in the country went on the air from the Bombay Station under the Indian Broadcasting Company.
The first radio broadcast was made on July 23, 1927, from Bombay Station. The station was then owned by a private company called the Indian Broadcasting Company.
The Government took over the broadcasting on April 1, 1930, and renamed it as Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS).
It was initially on an experimental basis. Later it permanently came under government control in 1932.
On the 8th of June, 1936, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio. Currently, AIR is one of the largest public broadcasting organizations in the world.
Aaykar Diwas (Income Tax Day) was celebrated by CBDT on July 24
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) observed the 161st Income Tax Day (also known as Aaykar Diwas) on 24 July 2021.
In India, the Income Tax Day is celebrated every year on July 24, as it was on 24 July 1980 that Income Tax was introduced for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson.
The purpose of this tax was to compensate for the losses incurred by the British regime during the first war of independence against British Rule in 1857. July 24 was first celebrated as Income Tax day in 2010.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman: Jagannath Bidyadhar Mohapatra;
- Central Board of Direct Taxes Established: 1924;
- Central Board of Direct Taxes Headquarters: New Delhi.
National
UNESCO: Historic Urban Landscape project launched for Gwalior, Orchha
In the state of Madhya Pradesh, the cities of Orchha and Gwalior have been selected by UNESCO under its ‘Historic Urban Landscape Project.’ This project was started in the year 2011.
UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape project for the cities of Orchha and Gwalior was launched through video conferencing by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Six cities of South Asia, including the Indian cities of Varanasi and Ajmer, are already involved in this project. Gwalior and Orchha have been included as the 7th and 8th cities of South Asia.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Governor: Anandiben Patel.
Appointments
FinMin Joint Secretary Rashmi R Das appointed to UN Tax Committee
The joint secretary of the Finance Ministry, Rasmi Ranjan Das has been appointed to the UN tax committee as a member for the term period 2021 to 2025.
Das is among the tax experts from around the world who has been appointed as a member of the UN tax committee. She is Joint Secretary – (FT&TR-I), Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
Formally known as the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, this committee helps the countries’ efforts to advance stronger and forward-looking tax policies which are adapted to suit the realities of a digitalized economy, globalized trade, and investment and the ever-worsening environmental degradation.
It assists countries in their efforts to prevent double or multiple taxations as well as non-taxation, broaden their tax base, strengthen their tax administrations, and curb international tax evasion and avoidance.
Banking
RBI allows loans up to Rs 5 cr to other banks’ directors
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has overhauled rules for extending loans to directors of other banks and relatives of directors.
As per the amendments, the central bank has allowed banks to extend personal loans up to ₹5 crores to directors of other banks and directors’ relatives other than spouses without board approval. The earlier limit for such loans was ₹25 lakh.
The regulations apply to directors, including the Chairman/Managing Director, of other banks, any firm in which they are interested as a partner or guarantor, or any company in which they hold substantial interest or is interested as a director or as a guarantor.
Personal loans refer to loans given to individuals and consist of consumer credit, education loans, loans given for the creation or enhancement of immovable assets like houses, and loans given for investment in financial assets, such as shares, debentures, etc.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.
Business
Max Bupa Health Insurance rebrands itself as Niva Bupa
The standalone health insurer Max Bupa Health Insurance has rebranded itself as ‘Niva Bupa Health Insurance. This development comes after the company’s promoter, Max India, which owned 51 percent of the insurer sold its stake to True North in February 2019 for Rs 510 crore.
With the entry of private equity firm True North, it was decided that the use of the “Max” brand will be phased out over a period of two years and replaced with a suitable name, to create a new brand identity. Niva Bupa targets to become a Rs 2,500 crore company by FY 2021-22.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Max Bupa Health Insurance CEO: Krishnan Ramachandran;
- Max Bupa Health Insurance Headquarters: New Delhi, India;
- Max Bupa Health Insurance Founded: 2008.
Defense
Rajnath Singh flags-in Indian Army’s Skiing Expedition “ARMEX-21”
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has flagged in the Indian Army’s skiing expedition that was conducted in the Himalayan mountain ranges between March 10 and July 6.
The expedition, called ARMEX-21, was flagged off at Karakoram Pass in Ladakh on March 10 and culminated at Malari in Uttarakhand on July 6 covering 1,660 km in 119 days.
The ARMEX-21 was conducted in the mountain ranges of the Himalayan region to promote the adventure activity in the country and the Indian Army,”.
During the expedition, the team traveled through several passes at a height of 5,000-6,500 meters and through glaciers, valleys, and rivers.
Ranks and Reports
India sees significant improvement in UNESCAP score
India has scored 90.32 percent in the 2021 UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. India’s score was 78.49 percent in 2019.
The overall score of India is found to be greater than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland.
India is the best-performing country when compared to the South and South-West Asia region (63.12%) and the Asia Pacific region (65.85%). The overall score of India is even greater than the average score of the EU.
Summits and Conferences
G20 Environment Ministers’ Meeting 2021
The G20 Environment Ministers’ Meeting 2021 is one of the ministerial meetings organized as part of the G20 Leaders Summit 2021, which will be hosted by Italy in October 2021.
The 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, Prosperity.
Within these pillars, the G20 aims to take the lead in ensuring a swift international response to the COVID-19 pandemic – able to provide equitable, worldwide access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines – while building up resilience to future health-related shocks.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.
Agreements
U GRO Capital & Bank of Baroda in tie-up for MSME co-lending
U GRO Capital, a non-bank financier, and state-owned Bank of Baroda have partnered for co-lending to the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
Under the co-lending program Pratham, Bank of Baroda, and U GRO will together disburse loans worth Rs 1,000 crore to MSMEs.
The aim is to dispense the entire amount by the end of this financial year. The loan amount ranges from ₹50 lakh to ₹2.5 crores to be offered at an interest rate starting from 8% with a maximum tenure of 120 months.
The program is accessible to MSMEs across U GRO’s over 200 channel touchpoints around nine locations in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Bank Of Baroda Headquarters: Vadodara, Gujarat, India;
- Bank Of Baroda Chairman: Hasmukh Adhia;
- Bank Of Baroda MD & CEO: Sanjiv Chadha;
- U GRO Capital’s Managing Director: Shachindra Nath.
Dvara E-Dairy partners with IFFCO Tokio General Insurance for AI-led tag
Dvara E-Dairy Solutions, a portfolio company of Dvara Holdings has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) led digital tag ‘Surabhi e-Tag’ to identify cattle based on muzzle identity.
This will be used for cattle insurance products offered in partnership with IFFCO Tokio General Insurance. Muzzle images of the cattle are collected through the Surabhi mobile application and stored in hi-resolution images as a unique digital identity.
The artificial intelligence-driven mobile application of Dvara E-Dairy captures muzzle images with the mobile phone, compares the cattle’s unique digital identity stored in a secured cloud server, and retrieves the results in less than 60 seconds.
Conventional methods like polyurethane ear tags (PU ear tags) can be easily tampered with and are prone to duplication and fraud.
Also, Injectable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are considered expensive and require specialized skills.
On the other hand, muzzle printing or nose printing is a unique identifier because it perceives patchy traits on the muzzle of cattle, just like human fingerprints.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- IFFCO Tokio General Insurance CEO: Anamika Roy Rashtrawar;
- IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Headquarters: Gurugram;
- IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Founded: 2000.
Awards
Sandesh Jhingan named AIFF men’s Footballer of Year
Senior India defender, Sandesh Jhingan was named the AIFF men’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21 season. It is the first time that the towering central defender has received the AIFF Player of the Year award, having won the Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2014.
While midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam was picked as the Emerging Player for the year award for 2020-21.
The 20-year-old Suresh, who made his Blue Tigers debut earlier this year against Oman, was part of the Indian side that competed at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- All India Football Federation President: Praful Patel.
- All India Football Federation Founded: 23 June 1937.
- All India Football Federation Headquarters: Dwarka, Delhi.
Ngangom Bala Devi named AIFF ‘Women’s Footballer of the Year’ 2020-21
Indian Women’s National Team Forward, Ngangom Bala Devi has been named as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Women’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21. Bala currently plays for Rangers Women’s FC in Scotland.
She made her debut for the team in February 2020 and created history as she scored her first competitive goal for the side in December last year. She is the first Indian woman footballer to sign a professional contract with an overseas club in Europe.
Bala was a part of the Manipur U19 team that took part in the Under-19 Women’s Championship in Assam in 2002, where she was declared the best player. She has also represented the Manipur Senior Women’s Football Team in the India women’s football championship.
Science and Technology
IIT-K launches technology innovation hub to find cybersecurity for drones
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has launched the first technology innovation hub to find cybersecurity solutions for anti-drones technologies, intrusion detection systems, block-chain, and cyber-physical systems.
As many as 13 start-ups and 25 research and development principal investigators were selected after a rigorous application process.
The presence of cutting-edge technology in cybersecurity is accompanied by an increasing need to protect digital assets and deploy solutions for the common public as well as government and industry.
IIT Kanpur’s C3i hub will focus on safeguarding cyberspace including critical infrastructure.” The government is promoting Make-in India cybersecurity solutions to counter rising threats from neighboring countries, particularly China.
Sports
Madhya Pradesh Para Shooter Rubina Francis bags gold at Peru event
Madhya Pradesh shooter, Rubina Francis has set a world record at the ongoing Para Sport Cup in Peru. She has won gold in the 10-meter air pistol para-event for women. Scoring 238.1 points, she went past the world record of Aysegul Pehlivanlar of Turkey. This win also secured her the quota for India at the Tokyo Summer Paralympics 2020.
Over the years, she has earned more than 15 medals from national and international events.
Presently, Rubina is training under the guidance of Jaspal Rana, former shooter, and coach of the Junior Indian Pistol Shooting Team.
Tokyo 2020: Mirabai Chanu wins Silver in weightlifting
Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal and became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the Women’s 49kg category.
China’s Zhihui Hou won the gold medal in the women’s 49-kg weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics, lifting a total of 210 kg, while Indonesia’s Windy Cantika Aisah won the bronze medal.
Chanu managed to lift a total of 202 kg in the women’s 49kg category to become the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to win an Olympic medal. A new Olympic record was registered by Mirabai Chanu with a successful lift of 115kg in clean and jerk.
IOA ropes in Adani Group as sponsor for Tokyo Olympics
The Indian Olympic Association has roped in Adani Group as a sponsor for the Indian contingent at the ongoing Tokyo Games. IOA secretary general Rajiv Mehta, who is in Tokyo, announced the development.
The IOA had earlier entered into sponsorship deals with various private entities, including dairy giant Amul, mobile gaming platform MPL Sports Foundation, JSW Sports among others.
IOA had inked the deals after dropping Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning as the Indian team’s official kit sponsor for the Tokyo Olympics and stating that the country’s athletes will wear unbranded apparel during the Games.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Indian Olympic Association President: Narayana Ramachandran;
- Indian Olympic Association Founded: 1927.
Obituary
India’s oldest student Bhageerathi Amma passes away at 107
Bhageerathi Amma, the oldest woman in India to take the equivalency exams, has passed away due to age-related ailments. She was 107-years-old.
Amma, who hailed from the Kollam district of Kerala, decided to continue her education at the age of 105.
Amma had quit formal education in class three when she was 9 years old. The centenarian was felicitated with the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar by the central government for her exceptional contribution towards women’s empowerment.
Miscellaneous
World’s first 3D-printed steel bridge opened in Amsterdam
The world’s first 3D-printed steel bridge was opened to the public in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was developed by MX3D, a Dutch robotics company, in collaboration with a consortium of experts, and represents a major milestone for 3D-printing technology.
After four years of development, the bridge was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. It was installed over one of the oldest canals in Amsterdam’s city center – the Oudezijds Achterburgwal.
The 12-meter-long steel structure will be a ‘living laboratory’ that will capture and transmit data on its health in real-time to show how it changes over its lifespan.
The length of the bridge is nearly 40 feet. It is a 6-ton stainless steel structure.
The smart sensor network was designed and installed by a team from The Alan Turing Institute.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Netherlands Capital: Amsterdam; Currency: Euro.
UNESCO removes Liverpool from world heritage list
The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO has voted narrowly to remove Liverpool’s waterfront from its list of world heritage sites, citing concerns about overdevelopment, including plans for a new football stadium.
At committee talks chaired by China, 13 delegates voted in favor of the proposal and five against, just one more than the two-thirds majority required to delete a site from the global list.
Those against delisting Liverpool included Australia, whose own listing for the Great Barrier Reef is threatened in this year’s UNESCO deliberations.
Others opposing included Brazil, Hungary, and Nigeria, arguing any step should be deferred a year to give the UK and Liverpool authorities more time.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- UNESCO headquarters: Paris, France.
- UNESCO Head: Audrey Azoulay.
- UNESCO Founded: 16 November 1945
- Daily Current Affairs in English 11 Sep 2022 – Useful for all Competitive Exams
- Hindu Editorial with Vocabulary: Sep Month – Day 10
- 11 Sep 2022 Daily Current Affairs in Hindi – सभी प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं के लिए महत्वपूर्ण
- 10 Sep 2022 Daily Current Affairs in Hindi – सभी प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं के लिए महत्वपूर्ण
- Hindu Editorial with Vocabulary: Sep Month – Day 9
- Daily Current Affairs in English 10 Sep 2022 – Useful for all Competitive Exams
