DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : Jul 18, 2020

Daily Current Affairs (Jul 18 2020) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz : Jul 18, 2020 now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

Current Affairs Quiz – Jul 18, 2020

Important Days:

International Nelson Mandela Day-18 July:

International Nelson Mandela Day is celebrated in honour of Nelson Mandela & is marked on July 18, which is his birthday. United Nations General Assembly officially declared the day in November 2009. It is a day to highlight the work he did for 67 years.

National News:

NABARD Approves Rs 795 Crore To Rebuild Infrastructure Damaged By Amphan In West Bengal:

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 795 crore for reconstructing infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Amphan that ripped through West Bengal in May, an official from the agency.
The state government had sought Rs 1,028 crore from NABARD for repairing impaired embankments under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

West Bengal:

Capital: Kolkata
Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar.

NABARD launches development projects in Andaman & Nicobar Islands worth Rs. 44 lakhs:

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched development projects in Andaman & Nicobar Islands worth Rs. 44 lakhs.
These projects aim at strengthening the concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat through rural entrepreneurship. The projects by NABARD will include the formation and development of Self-Help Groups (SHG).

Andaman and Nicobar Islands:

Capital: Port Blair
Governor: Devendra Kumar Joshi

Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat Inaugurated ‘Smriti Van’ on Harela festival:

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated ‘Smriti Van’ at Asthal village of Dehradun district in memory of late Jeet Singh Negi, famous folk singer of the state on the occasion of Harela festival.

Uttarakhand:

Capital- Gairsain(summer capital), Dehradun (winter capital).
Chief Minister:Trivendra Singh Rawat
Governor- Baby Rani Maurya.
National Parks- Corbett NP, Gangotri NP, Govind PashuVihar NP, Nanda Devi NP, Rajaji NP, Valley of Flowers NP.

International News

India and Israel sign agreement to expand cooperation in cyber security:

India & Israel have signed an agreement to further expand collaboration in dealing with cyber threats amid rapid digitization due to the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed the vulnerabilities of the virtual world. India’s Ambassador to Israel- Sanjeev Singla.

Israel:

Capital:Jerusalem
Currency:Israeli Shekel
Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
President: Reuven Rivlin

India-Bhutan open new trade route to facilitate connectivity between two countries:

India and Bhutan have opened a new trade route between Jaigaon in West Bengal and Pasakha in Bhutan to facilitate connectivity between two countries in COVID-19 times. Ruchira Kamboj is the Ambassador of India to Bhutan.

Bhutan:

Capital: Thimphu.
Currency: Ngultrum.
Prime Minister: Lotay Tshering

Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing inaugurated:

Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal addressed the opening session of Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing which was held virtually. Under the 2-day event, conferences, trade fair & B2B meetings are being held.

Italy:

Capital: Rome.
President: Sergio Mattarella.
Prime Minister: Giuseppe Conte.

Banking and Economy:

Indian economy to contract by 9.5% in 2020-21; ICRA:

Rating agency ICRA has revised India’s real GDP growth projection for 2020-21 to minus 9.5 per cent from minus 5 per cent estimated earlier.
The ratings agency expects the Indian economy to have contracted by a sharp 25 per cent during April-June 2020.

Acquisitions & Mergers

UNICEF India partners with SAP India to improve the employability of young people:

UNICEF India announced partnership with SAP India to provide career counseling to young people in India to improve their employability skills in a COVID & post COVID era.
UNICEF will collaborate with YuWaah (Generation Unlimited) under this initiative. The main Goal is to Impact one million young people by the end of 2022.

L&T Tech Services to Acquire 100% Stake in Orchestra Tech for about Rs 187 Crore:

L&T Technology Services (LTTS), the engineering services arm of Larsen and Toubro Group, informed that it will acquire a 100 % stake in Texas-based Orchestra Technology.
The acquisition is an all cash deal of USD 25 million (Rs 187 crores).

Science and Technology:

IIT Madras-incubated startup develops portable hospital to treat COVID-19 patients:

Indian Institute of Technology Madras incubated start-up Modulus Housing, has developed a portable hospital unit that can be installed anywhere within two hours by four people.
Called ‘MediCAB,’ it aims to decentralize the approach to detect, screen, identify, isolate and treat COVID-19 patients in their local communities through these portable microstructures.

IIT Kanpur-incubated startups develop device to monitor water quality india:

IIT Kanpur Incubated Start-ups i.e Earth-face Analytics Pvt Ltd and Kritsnam Technologies Pvt Ltd have built up a gadget, for dissecting and observing water quality through simple to utilize colorimetric test-strip, in view of advanced mobile phone innovation that screens numerous significant water quality boundaries in less than two minutes.

Appointments:

SAP appoints Kulmeet Bawa as president and MD of Indian subcontinent:

German technology major SAP appointed Kulmeet Bawa as president and managing director for SAP Indian Subcontinent, effective 20 July. Bawa replaces Deb Deep Sengupta.

Gabon Appoints Ossouka Raponda As Its First Woman Prime Minister:

Former Defense Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda has been promoted to Prime Minister, making her the First Woman to hold the role in Gabon’s history. She will succeeding Julien Nkoghe Bekale, On 16 July 2020. She is the sixth PrimeMinister under Bongo’s Presidency since 2009.

Gabon:

President: Ali Bongo Ondimba
Capital: Libreville
Currency: Central African CFA franc

RBI approves reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as Federal Bank MD & CEO:

Reserve Bank of India approved the reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as the managing Director and Chief Executive officer of Federal bank Limited with effect from September 23, 2020 till September 22, 2021.

Federal Bank:

Headquarters: Aluva, Kerala.
Tagline: “Your Perfect Banking Partner”
MD & CEO: Shyam Srinivasan.

Awards and Recognitions:

Kate Winslet to be honoured with Tribute Actor Award at Toronto International Film Festival 2020:

The Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet will receive the honour during the virtual event of the 45th edition of Toronto International Film Festival 2020 (TIFF). gala following her latest film, Francis Lee’s Ammonite in which she played a fossil hunter Mary Anning. She will receive the honour in the virtual gala on 15th September 2020.

Rankings:

India Ranks Third In Global Manufacturing Risk Index: Cushman & Wakefield Report:

India ranks 3^rd in the list of most-suitable locations for global manufacturing among 48 countries in terms of cost competitiveness and operating conditions, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
China and the U.S. retain the top two positions, while India has moved one place higher to rank third.

India among top ten nations in intellectual property filings:

As per World Intellectual Property Indicators-2019 Report, India has emerged as the top tenth nation in the ranking of the total (resident and abroad) Intellectual Property (IP) filing activity.
The overall ranking has been topped by China. China was followed by United States, Germany, Japan and Republic of Korea as the top five nations in the list.

Obituary News:

Acharya Shree Purushottam Priyadasji Swamishree passes away:

Acharya Shree Purushottam Priyadasji Swamishree, head of Swaminarayan Sanstha – a spiritual, cultural, and social welfare centre headquartered in Ahmedabad, has passed away.He was the fifth heir in the lineage of ascetic acharyas.

Former Para-badminton player Ramesh Tikaram dies at 51:

Arjuna awardee, para athlete and para-badminton player, Ramesh Tikaram passed away at 51 due to coronavirus in a Bengaluru hospital. He organized the World Cup for Para badminton in Bengaluru in 2002. He was the 1st Indian Para Badminton Arjuna Awardee.