Important Current Affairs 31st July 2018

Important Current Affairs 31st July 2018

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: NATIONAL NEWS

Start-up India tour begins in Chhattisgarh
 
●        Startup India Tour was inaugurated on 30th June in Raipur.
●        A large number of students have registered themselves for the first boot camp to be organized in Raipur.
●        Today, on 31st July, the Government Engineering College will visit Bilaspur for the second boot camp.
 
 
The old Jaipur city of Rajasthan is the next place proposed for recognition for UNESCO World Heritage
●        The old Jaipur city of Rajasthan in India is the next place proposed for recognition as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
●        According to Operating Guidelines 2017, only one place name may be proposed by the states each year.
●        It benefits the local economy, which promotes domestic and international tourism, thereby increasing employment opportunities.
 

CSC will register the beneficiaries of Ayushman India
●        In the presence of Ravi Shankar Prasad and Jagat Prakash Nadda, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed to implement the Ayushman Bharat Scheme through three lakh general service centers spread across the country.
●        Ayushman is a National Health Security Scheme, which will provide cover to more than 100 million poor poor families by providing coverage up to five lakh rupees for recruitment in secondary and tertiary hospitals.
 
 
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology signed MoU
 
●        Under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the National Health Agency has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for providing information and expertise services to the beneficiaries especially with the same service centers.
●        The signing of this MoU was signed by Dr Dinesh Tyagi, CEO of National Institute of Health (NHA), Dr. Indu Bhushan and CSC-SPV.

Amendment of the Bill for the merger of five associate banks with SBI passed in Parliament
 
●        The Parliament passed the State Bank Resolution and Amendment Bill on July 30, 2018, for the merger of its associate banks in State Bank of India.
●        After the approval of the Lok Sabha on the amendments suggested by the Rajya Sabha in the State Bank Resolution and Amendment Bill, 2017, the bill has now been passed in Parliament.
●        This bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 21, 2017 by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
 
Guidelines for implementing strategic partnership models were approved
 
●        The Government has approved the guidelines relating to the implementation of the strategic partnership model brought with the aim of promoting the private sector in the creation of state-of-the-art weapon systems.
●        A meeting of the Defense Purchase Council was held in the chairmanship of Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 30, 2018, in which these guidelines were approved.
●        With this, self-reliance in the defense sector will be increased and weapons can be supplied to the Armed Forces in a timely manner.

Coal India to buy 13,000 crore mining equipment in 3 years
 
●        Public sector company Coal India Limited will buy the mining equipment for around 130 billion rupees in the next 3 years through global tenders.
●        In view of increasing demand, the company is going to take this step to increase coal production.
 

Tech Mahindra profits down by 30%
 
●        Mid-sized IT company Tech Mahindra posted profits of $ 13.18 million in June quarter, down 29.9% from the previous quarter.
●        With the increase in cost of telecom segments and expenditure on salary-visas items, the increase in operation cost has put pressure on the company.
●        Tech Mahindra earnings dipped 1.6 percent to $ 1.2 billion on quarter-on-quarter basis.

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: SCHEMES

Prime minister crop insurance scheme
●        Due to its specialties, the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme became quite popular and 27 states and union territories of the country adopted it in one or more seasons.
●      This scheme was implemented in 2016-17, during which the monsoon rainfall was quite good, but despite that, the average of insurance claims under this scheme was 73 percent higher than that year.

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: RANKING

India is among top 100 countries in the United Nations e-Governance index
 
●        India has joined the top 100 countries in the United Nations e-Governance index.
●        In the United Nations e-Governance index, India has jumped 22 points during the last 4 years, of which 11-digit jump has been done in the last two years.
●        India was 118 points in this index in 2014, but she has now jumped to 96th rank.
 

ATP ranking: First place remains with Nadal
 
●        Spain's star player, Rafael Nadal , remains on top in professional tennis association ranking.
●        Nadal is in first place, while Roger Federer of Switzerland remains in second place.
●        Germany's top player Alexander Zverev is third, Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro fourth and South Africa's Kevin Anderson are at number 5.

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: GLOBAL NEWS

America, Pakistan pledged to restore bilateral relations
 
●        The US and Pakistan have agreed to restore bilateral relations.
●        In the meeting between US Defense Secretary James Matisse and Islamabad's Ambassador Ali Jahangir in Washington, a resolution was made in this regard.
●        In the meeting, both discussed the relations between their countries and the regional security of South Asia.

Indian-American Seema Nanda became Democratic Party CEO
 
●        Indian American seema Nanda has been appointed as the CEO of Democratic Party of opposition parties.
●        After assuming the office, Nanda vowed to work for the country and ensure the election of Democratic Party candidates in all corners of America.
●        Nanda is the first Indian American to hold the post of the Democratic and Republican CEO of the National Committee.
●        Nanda took charge of DNC CEO on July 23.

US enhances India's level of control in the export control system
 
●        On 30 July 2018, the US gave India the status of Tactical Trade Authority-1 and granted exemption in export control for the sale of high-tech products.
●        India is the only South Asian country, which has been included in this list.
●        In the year 2016, India has been granted STA-1 status after getting recognition as America's 'Chief Defense Associate'.

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: SPORTS

javelin Throwing Athlete Amit Kumar suspended
 
●        Amit Kumar, the talented athlete of the National Interstate Javelin throw, was found guilty of consuming banned substance during a visit to Finland last month.
●        The Indian Athletics Federation has kept quiet about this matter but closest sources of the athlete confirmed that he has been temporarily suspended.

Current Affairs 31st July 2018: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP

America enhanced India’s strategic partner status
 
●        On Monday, the US gave India the status of Tactical Trade Authority-1, giving India a concession in export control for the sale of high-tech products.
●        India is the only South Asian country, which has been included in this list.
●        After getting recognized as India's 'Chief Defense Associate' in 2016, it has earned STA-1 status.