Important Current Affairs 19th July 2016

Fitch Retains India Sovereign Rating BBB

1. Global rating agency Fitch has retained India’s sovereign rating at “BBB-the lowest investment grade,with stable outlook.
2. It cautioned that risks to the current rating could arise if high public-debt burden worsened further.
3. It forecast GDP growth to slightly accelerate from 7.6% in FY16 to 7.7% in FY17.
4. Sovereign credit ratings tell investors level of risk associated with investing in a country.

Tax Department Signs 7 more APAs

1. The tax department has signed seven more unilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs).
2. It aims to reduce litigation by providing certainty in the domain of transfer pricing.
3. The 7 APAs signed were pertaining to various sectors of the economy like banking,IT & automotives.
4. APA was introduced in the Income Tax Act &is a pact between a taxpayer and the tax department on a transfer pricing procedure.

ADB Projects 7.4% Growth for India

1. The Indian economy is on track to meet its projected growth target of 7.4% in 2016-17.
2. Growth in the Indian economy will be supported by brisk consumer spending & an uptick in the rural economy.
3. The bank also said a favourable monsoon is likely to boost agriculture & rural demand
4. Growth in 2016& 2017,the report noted will be led by South Asia & India in particular.

ICICI Prudential Files for First IPO

1. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co Ltd has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares.
2. ICICI Bank owns nearly 68 % of the insurer & is selling up to 18.3 crore shares in the IPO.
3. It plans to raise estimated Rs 4,500-5,000 crore from the IPO.
4. ICICI Pru Life’s IPO is the biggest IPO since Coal India Ltd’s market debut in 2010.
5. It is the first ever IPO for an Indian insurance company.

Kerala Launches Incubator for Student

1. Kerala has launched the world’s first online incubator – SV.CO, for start-ups by college students.
2. SV.CO will function as an online university that aims to cut through boundaries.
3. It is designed to help thousands of college-goers make an early start in entrepreneurship.
4. With SV.CO, Startup Village will scale up by reaching out to five million students in 3,500 engineering colleges.

.P. Govt. inks MoUs with Netherlands

1. Uttar Pradesh govt has signed a MoU with the government of Netherlands.
2. The MoUs are related to sectors such as skill development, recycling and dairy industry.
3. The MoU was signed by Dutch Ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga & UP Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal in presence of CM Akhilesh Yadav.
4. The Skill Development Centre established under this MoU aims to improve the cultivation skills of farmers.

Playback Singer Mubarak Begum Dies

1. Legendary Singer Mubarak Begum has passed away.
2. Mubarak Begum is remembered for singing scores of songs, duets & ghazals for Bollywood, mainly during the 1950s-1970s.
3. Her career as a playback singer began in 1949 with the Hindi-language film Aaiye.
4. A major hit in her career was the song Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Yun for film Hamari Yaad Aayeg.
5. She has sung a total of 178 songs for Hindi films.

Pak Yasir Shah becomes No.1 Test bowler

1. Pakistan leg spinner Yasir Shah has become number-one ranked bowler in Tests.
2. Yasir was ranked at the fourth position,but a 10-wicket haul against England helped him seal the numero one spot.
3. He is the first Pakistan bowler since Mushtaq Ahmed who achieved the honour of being the top ranked bowler in Tests.
4. He also became the first wrist spinner since Shane Warne to achieve this position.

SC Accept Lodha Panel Suggestion on BCCI

1. The Supreme Court has accepted most of the recommendations by Justice Lodha panel on BCCI.
2. The SC ruled that no minister and civil servant can become a member in the BCCI.
3. A bench led by Chief Justice T S Thakur also said that one state-one vote rule shall henceforth apply to all state associations.
4. Further, the court fixed the upper age limit at 70 years for holding posts in the BCCI.

WADA Recommends Banning Russian Athletes

1. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has recommended banning all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympic Games.
2. The move comes after the release of a WADA report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that says Russia used a complex state-supported doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
3. WADA also wants Russian government officials to be denied access to international competitions.

Parliament Passes Biotechnology Bill

1. Parliament has passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016, after the Rajya Sabha cleared it.
2. The Bill sought to set up a regional centre of biotechnology to promote education & research.
3. It will act as a mentor institution and focus on training of skilled manpower as well as work on research and development.
4. Lok Sabha had already passed the bill in April this year.

NGT Blocks 10-year-old Diesel Vehicles

1. The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Govt to cancel the registration of all diesel-powered vehicles that are more than 10 years old from plying in the city.
2. An estimated 400,000 diesel passenger vehicles of 10 years vintage could go off Delhi roads upon implementation of the order
3. Thousands of commercial vehicles will also be impacted.
4. It aims to address pollution in the Capital.

Sidhu Resigns from Rajya Sabha

1. BJP leader & nominated Rajya Sabha member Navjot Singh Sidhu has resigned from the House.
2. Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari informed the House that Sidhu had put in his papers & that his resignation had been accepted.
3. Mr. Sidhu had been given a Rajya Sabha seat through the nominated category.
4. His departure comes at a time when the countdown to the 2017 assembly elections in the state has begun.

Guruprasad Appointed as Chairman of AAI

1. An Odisha-born bureaucrat has been appointed the chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
2. Senior IAS officer Guruprasad Mohapatra was appointed as Chairman of AAI.
3. Prior to the recent posting, he was posted as Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce.
4. He had also served as Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad.
5. He was involved in the comprehensive reforms in the power sector.

Indian Railways to Install TRI-NETRA

1. Indian Railways has initiated a proposal to install TRI-NETRA systems on locomotives.
2. The system will help in enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather.
3. The system shall be made up of high-resolution video camera,high sensitivity infra-red video camera & a radar-based terrain mapping system.
4. These three components of the system shall act as three eyes of the Locomotive Pilot.

Nelson Mandela International Day

1. Nelson Mandela International Day, also known as Mandela Day, is held on July 18 each year.
2. The day remembers Mandela’s achievements in working towards conflict resolution, democracy, human rights, peace & reconciliation.
3. The UN General Assembly declared 18 July “Nelson Mandela International Day” in Nov 2009.
4. The day hopes to inspire people to embrace the values that Mandela shared.

Easy Extradition between Bdesh & India

1. Bangladesh Cabinet has approved a proposed amendment to an existing extradition treaty with India.
2. The amendment aims at easing legal formalities to repatriate wanted criminals in their respective countries.
3. The amendment would ease the extradition process.
4. It would now just require a warrant to be issued by any court or tribunal of either of the countries which seek to get a suspect back home.

North Korea Fires 3 Ballistic Missiles

1. North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast.
2. The missiles were launched from the Hwangju region & flew about 500km to 600km.
3. The US said the first two were believed to be short-range Scuds while the third was presumed to be a mid-range Rodong.
4. North Korea is barred by UN sanctions from any test of nuclear or ballistic missile technology.

WB Appoint Paul Romer as Chief Economist

1. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has announced that American economist Paul Romer will succeed Kaushik Basu as Chief Economist & Senior Vice President of the World Bank.
2. Romer is currently a professor at New York University & director of NYU’s Marron Institute of Urban Management.
3. His appointment will be effective from September this year.

SpaceX Launches Docking Port into Orbit

1. SpaceX has sent a new-style space station docking port into orbit en route to the International Space Station.
2. An unmanned Falcon9 rocket was launched carrying 2267kg of supplies in the Dragon space capsule along with the new docking port.
3. This is SpaceX’s second attempt at delivering the docking port for NASA.
4. Nasa needs the new docking set-up at the space station before Americans can fly there.