July 3-4th, 2018

1. Jharkhand Plans To Set Up India’s 1st Khadi Mall

  • The first ‘Khadi Mall’ of India will be opened in Jharkhand. It was announced by Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das.
  • The land in the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) campus will be made available to the Khadi Board to develop the country’s first Khadi mall.
  • The artisans would be provided technological aid for value addition in their products, while rural, urban and tourism ‘haats’ will provide the markets for their goods.
  • Jharkhand|Capital: Ranchi|Governor: Draupadi Murmu

2. India To Host IUFoST 2018.

  • The International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), the global voice of food science and technology in association with Indian National Science Academy (INSA) as adhering body, announced the 19th edition of its prestigious global event to be held in Navi Mumbai, India from October 23-27, 2018.
  • The five-day event will bring together researchers, academicians, professionals, policymakers and industry leaders from across the globe to showcase innovation, exchange breakthrough ideas and drive policy issues.
  • The focal theme for this edition of the prestigious congress is 25 Billion Meals a Day by 2025 with Healthy, Nutritious, Safe and Diverse Foods.

3. Artist Anjolie Ela Menon conferred the Kalidas Award

  • Noted artist Anjolie Ela Menon, 78 received the National Kalidas Samman for visual arts from the Madhya Pradesh government.
  • The award was conferred in recognition of her insightful and sensitive portrayal of the identity and spirit of women through her meaningful paintings in a variety of media.
  • Artist A. Ramachandran was also conferred with the Kalidas Award.

4. Himachal Pradesh gets a national award for best performance under ‘PMSMA’.

  • Himachal Pradesh has been adjudged first among states for its performance under the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritav Abhiyan (PMSMA) in the country.
  • Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda conferred the award upon the state which was received by Additional Chief Secretary, Health, BK Agarwal.

5. Dravid, Ponting, Taylor inducted in ICC Hall of Fame

  • Former India captain Rahul Dravid and Australian legend Ricky Ponting have been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame for their stupendous achievements in international cricket.
  • Along with Dravid and Ponting, retired England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor was also named in the ‘Hall of Fame’ during a ceremony in Dublin.
  • Dravid became only the fifth player from India to be named in the elite list. The other four Indians are former skippers:
    Bishan Singh Bedi
    Sunil Gavaskar
    Kapil Dev
    Anil Kumble
  • Ponting is the 25th Australian to get the honour.
  • Taylor is the seventh woman and the third female player from England to join the greats.

6. Saraswati Prasad Assumes Charge As SAIL CMD

  • Senior bureaucrat Saraswati Prasad has taken over the additional charge as chairman and managing director of steel PSU Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
  • Mr Prasad succeeds PK Singh who retired recently.
  • SAIL Headquarters- New Delhi, Founded in- 1954.

7. PK Shrivastava Appointed DG Of Ordnance Factory Board

  • PK Shrivastava took over the reins of the Ordnance Factory Board as its new Director-General and Chairman. Shrivastava was earlier the additional director general of ordnance factories and member at OFB.
  • He was also in-charge of OFB’s Armoured Vehicles headquarters at Avadi in Chennai. Shrivastava joined Indian Ordnance Factories’ Service in 1982.
  • Ordnance Factory Board Headquarters in Kolkata, West Bengal.|OFB is the oldest and largest industrial setup which functions under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence.

8. Max Verstappen Won Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton Retires

  • Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix 2018 title in Austria. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in the second spot.
  • Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished in the third spot. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton retired from the race due to a mechanical issue in his car.
  • Austria:- Capital: Vienna, Currency: Euro.

9. Asia’s 1st Patent Arbitration Centre To Open In Tokyo

  • Asia’s first arbitration centre specialised in intellectual property is slated to open in Tokyo to resolve the growing number of disputes in the region.
  • The International Arbitration Centre in Tokyo (IACT) is set to have around a dozen arbitrators from around the world, who would try to resolve disputes within a period of one year.

10. Tata Steel And Thyssenkrup Joint Venture Approved

  • The Tata Steel board gave the green flag to the joint venture with German steel giant ThyssenKrupp.
  • This deal will see both steel majors combine their European businesses to form a 50:50 joint venture.
  • The resultant entity, which will be called Thyssenkrup Tata Steel BV, will be the second-largest steelmaker in European steel sector after Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal.
  • The steelmaking joint venture aims to produce 35,000 million tonnes of cold rolled grain oriented steel every year from its expanded factory, instead of the earlier capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum.
  • Thyssenkrup:- Headquarters: Essen, Germany

11. Shri Ravi Thapar Appointed As The Next Ambassador Of India To Costa Rica

  • Shri Ravi Thapar (IFS: 1983), presently Ambassador of India to Panama, has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Costa Rica.
  • He is an Indian foreign service officer (IFS) of 1983 batch.
  • Costa Rica|Capital: San José|Currency: Costa Rican colón.

12. Union Home Minister felicitates medal winners of 17th World Police & Fire Games-2017

  • The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh felicitated the medal winners of the 17th World Police & Fire Games held at Los Angeles, California, the USA from August 7-16, 2017.
  • He was the chief guest in the function organized by All India Police Sports Control Board (AIPSCB) to felicitate the medal winners.
  • The 101-member Indian Police contingent returned with a record-breaking haul of 321 medals from the 17th World Police & Fire Games.
  • The contingent bagged 151 Gold, 99 Silver and 71 Bronze medals in the seven events they participated in the Games.
  • It is a rarest of the rare occasion where each team member won a medal irrespective of individual or relay events in which they participated.

13. Behdienkhlam Festival Concludes In Meghalaya

  • The Behdienkhlam Festival of the Raij Tuber, one of the most colourful and the biggest festivals in the Jaintia Hills region concluded. It is celebrated by the Pnar (Jaintia) tribal community.
  • The celebration was held at the sacred place called the ‘Bear’ situated in the heart of Tuber village which is about 25 kilometres from Jowai.
  • On the occasion, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Dr Mukul Sangma laid the foundation stone for the construction of the VIP and Public viewing Gallery at Tuber Kmai Shnong to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.50 crores from the Tourism Department.

14. NITI Aayog To Organise India’s First Global Mobility Summit

  • NITI Aayog, in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners, is organising ‘MOVE: Global Mobility Summit’ in New Delhi in September 2018. This Summit will help drive Government’s goals for vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean energy economy.
  • PM Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Summit, which will be the first Global Mobility Summit of its kind, with over 1,200 expected participants from across the world. The Summit will constitute three designated components – The Conclave, the Expo and the Featured Events.
  • NITI Aayog:- NITI- National Institution for Transforming India|Vice-Chairman- Rajiv Kumar|CEO- Amitabh Kant.

15. KVIC Launches E-Marketing System

  • The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched its first in-house single umbrella e-marketing system that can be accessed from anywhere in India for sale and purchase of its products. It is named as Khadi Institution Management and Information System (KIMIS).
  • The earlier software was a third-party software, with its headquarters in Bengaluru, on which the KVIC had no control in stock and accounts.
  • The in-house software will not only give a real-time data of sales, it will also give the updated status of stocks of Bhawans and godowns.

16. Delhi Government Launched ‘Happiness Curriculum’

  • The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the “Happiness Curriculum” for students of the nursery to Class 8 in government schools. The curriculum was launched in the presence of the Dalai Lama.
  • According to the state government, the new subject was designed and prepared by a team of 40 Delhi government teachers, educators and volunteers over a period of six months.
  • Students across schools can expect a ‘happiness’ period of 45 minutes. Each class will begin with a five-minute meditation session. The happiness period will also include value education and mental exercises.

17. IndiaFirst Ties Up With Oxigen

  • The IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd (IndiaFirst) has entered into a tie-up with Oxigen Services India Pvt Ltd to establish the distribution of its insurance products at Oxigen retail outlets.
  • Through this tie-up, IndiaFirst Life will offer PoS Insurance Khata, a unique product that allows a customer to increase his life cover and create savings in a manner that suits his budget.
  • IndiaFirst Life is a joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK).
  • IndiaFirst Life Insurance and Oxigen Services aim to establish access to customers in the remotest areas of the country.
  • Oxigen|Headquarters: Gurugram|Executive director: Sunil Kulkarni

18. UNESCO Inscribed 4 Sites In World Heritage Sites List

  • The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Manama was held under the chair of Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, inscribed two cultural sites in Germany and Turkey as well as two mixed (i.e. both cultural and natural) sites in Canada and Colombia.
  • The new World Heritage sites, in order of inscription, are:
  • Cultural sites: Gobekli Tepe (Turkey)|Naumburg Cathedral (Germany)
  • Mixed sites: Pimachiowin Aki (Canada)|Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar” (Colombia)

19. Vishwas Patel Appointed Payments Council Of India Chairman

  • The Payments Council of India (PCI), an apex body representing companies in payments and settlement system, has appointed a new Chairman Vishwas Patel.
  • Patel, who is Director at Infibeam Avenues, has been associated with PCI since its inception in 2013 and was serving as the co-Chairman of PCI.
  • He takes over from Naveen Surya, who has been elevated to the post of Chairman Emeritus.
  • PCI has also announced the appointment of Loney Antony, Managing Director, Hitachi Payment Services, as its new co-Chairman.

20. T Latha Takes Charge As MD And CEO, Dhanlaxmi Bank

  • The Dhanlaxmi Bank has appointed T Latha as Managing Director and CEO. Her appointment is for three years with effect from July 2, 2018.
  • Latha has replaced G. Sreeram, who retired on July 1, 2018, on completion of his tenure.
  • Dhanlaxmi Bank|Headquarters: Thrissur, Kerala.

21. India Clinched The Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018

  • India thrashed Iran to emerge champions of the six-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai, in Dubai.
  • The Indian captain Ajay Thakur scored nine points and youngster Monu Goyat got six points, leading the raid charts.
  • The six-nation invitational tournament was organised by International Kabaddi Federation in association with Star Sports and Dubai Sports Council.

22. Rajat Sharma elected as DDCA president

  • Senior journalist Rajat Sharma beat the World Cup winning Indian cricketer Madan Lal by 517 votes to become the new president of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association.
  • Sharma’s group swept the elections, winning all 12 seats.
  • Sharma got a total of 1,531 votes while former Test cricketer Lal could only poll 1,004 votes.

23. Former Navy chief J.G. Nadkarni passes away

  • Former Indian Navy chief, Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni passed away. He was 86.
  • Nadkarni, the 14th Chief of Naval Staff (December 1987 – November 1990), breathed his last at the naval hospital INHS Asvini.
  • He was an avid maritime historian and was a founding member of the Maritime History Society.

24.  RBI Licences Bank of China To Operate In India

  • The Reserve Bank of India licensed Bank of China to operate in India. This decision comes as part of the commitment made by PM Modi to the Chinese leadership. Bank of China will now have operating offices in India. This will be the second Chinese bank to be operating in the country.
  • As on 1st January, 2018 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd was operating in India along with 45 other foreign banks. The United Kingdom’s Standard Chartered has the highest, 100 branches in India as of now.
  • Urjit Patel- 24th Governor of RBI, Headquarters- Mumbai, Established on- 1st April 1935, in Kolkata.
  • Bank of China (BOC) headquarters in Beijing|BOC was formally established in February 1912|Chen Siqing is the Chairman of BOC.