Important Current Affairs 16th July 2017

Important Current Affairs 16th July 2017

Current Affairs 16th July 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

Raipur Airport Ranked First in Customer Satisfaction Index Survey

Raipur’s Swami Vivekananda Airport was once again ranked first in Customer Satisfaction among 49 airports in the country. 
●    Raipur Airport achieved 4.84 score on a five point scale index in the latest CSI survey conducted by an independent agency for the period of January-June 2017,  followed by Udaipur, Amritsar and Dehradun airports which have scored 4.75, 4.74 and 4.73 respectively.
●    Airport Authority of India makes continuous efforts to improve the services and passenger facilities at its airports, and this has placed it amongst the best service providers in the world. 
●    Customer Satisfaction is one of the key performance objectives of AAI which is evaluated through Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by an independent agency commissioned by AAI.  
●    The survey covers a wide range of parameters like transportation, parking, passenger facilities and cleanliness etc. The integrated terminal building of Raipur was inaugurated in 2012. 
●    High level maintenance of infrastructure and passenger facilities, the green ambience, state-of -the- art technology and courteous staff ensuring passenger satisfaction has resulted in Raipur getting this recognition for the third consecutive time in the past two years.

India builds military road to China border

On the near-vertical slopes of the eastern Himalayas, workers are blasting and cutting treacherous rock faces to build a top-priority military asset: a 34-mile road to the country’s disputed border with China.
●    Far away in the capital New Delhi-a six-day journey by foot, road, rail and air-Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office is monitoring their progress as he doubles down on a billion-dollar infrastructure plan in this contested region to strengthen India’s hand against its powerful neighbor.
●    India is accelerating work on strategic roads to be able to move troops and supplies to the border faster and deploy sophisticated weapons if armed conflict breaks out. 
●    China already has extensive infrastructure on its side. “It’s not business as usual,” a senior official overseeing the project said. “We have shifted gear.”
 

Current Affairs 16th July 2017: BANKING

SBI waives charge on IMPS fund transfer of up to Rs 1,000

Country’s largest bank SBI has waived charges for fund transfer of up to ₹1,000 through its IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) to promote small transactions.
●    State Bank of India had been charging ₹5 along with the applicable service tax for IMPS fund transfer of up to ₹1,000. 
●    IMPS is an instant interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones as well as internet banking.
●    “In order to promote small ticket size transactions, SBI has waived off IMPS charges for transfer up to ₹ 1,000,” the bank said while informing about the revised IMPS transfer charges under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
●    For IMPS, charge will be ₹5 along GST for fund transfer in the range of ₹1,000 to ₹1 lakh. 
●    The charge will go up to ₹15 for transactions of ₹1-2 lakh. GST at the rate of 18 per cent is applicable on all financial transactions.

Current Affairs 16th July 2017: GLOBAL NEWS

Biggest iceberg broken off in Antarctica

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded has broken free of Antarctica. 
●    A crack in an Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf is responsible for calving the colossal new iceberg, which is roughly the area of Delaware state and the volume of Lake Michigan.
●    Researchers noticed the distinctive rift in Antarctica’s ice in 2010, which has grown rapidly since 2016. 
●    The iceberg calved between July 10 and July 12, researchers said.
●    “Breaking news! The iceberg has fully detached from Larsen C – more details to follow soon,” Martin O’Leary a glaciologist at Swansea University, wrote in a tweet early Wednesday morning for Project MIDAS.
●    A NASA Earth-observing satellite called MODIS was among the first to photograph the colossal ice block freed of Antarctica’s grasp. 
●    It appears the iceberg has largely stayed intact.

Current Affairs 16th July 2017: SPORTS

Mathews steps down as Sri Lanka captain

Angelo Mathews has stepped down as Sri Lanka captain in all three formats, following his side’s 3-2 ODI series loss to Zimbabwe. 
●    Mathews, who called the defeat “one of the lowest points” of his career and said in its aftermath that he would discuss his captaincy future with the SLC selectors, conveyed his decision to the selectors on Tuesday.
●    Mathews has led Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, 98 ODIs and 12 T20Is, having taken the reins at the age of 25, in 2013. 
●    Though Sri Lanka have been modest in limited-overs cricket through the latter half of his tenure, they have, on his watch, tasted rare success in the Test format. 
●    In 2014, Mathews had personally played a pivotal role in the Test series triumph in England. 
●    Last year, Sri Lanka had also whitewashed Australia – a side they had won only one Test against previously.
●    There have also been significant lows under Mathews, however. Sri Lanka’s campaigns in the 2015 World Cup, the 2016 World T20 and the 2017 Champions Trophy were disappointing, and even in the Test format, they suffered two 0-2 whitewashes in New Zealand, and a 0-3 result in South Africa. 
●    All told, Mathews has 13 Test victories to his name as captain, against 15 losses. On the batting front, Mathews had an outstanding 2014, in which he scored 1,317 runs at an average of 87.8, but his form had since fallen away, though his average as captain still remains 50.94. 

Current Affairs 16th July 2017: SPACE SCIENCE

NASA's Juno Mission reveals Jupiter's deep secrets

The first science results from Nasa's Juno Mission were revealed on 25 May 2017 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
●    Juno captured the images which portray Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant.
●    The images show that both of Jupiter's poles are covered in Earth-sized swirling storms that are densely clustered and rubbing together.
●    Another finding came from Juno’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR) data which indicates that Jupiter’s iconic belts and zones are mysterious as the belt near the equator is penetrating all the way down, while the belts and zones at other latitudes seem to evolve to other structures.