29 July 2017 Current Affairs
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, interim PM of Pakistan
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League has selected Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to be the interim prime minister of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif had recently resigned as Pakistan Prime Minister after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office. The court disqualified Sharif under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
Union Govt launches Sagar Vani to alert coastal community
Union Minister of Science & technology Harshavardhan has launched Sagar Vani application on the occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences. The prtal was launched with an aim to alert the coastal communities. This Integrated Information Dissemination System (IDS) was developed by ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). It is aimed at disseminating the advisories effectively and timely, directly from the lab to the end user.
29 July: International Tiger Day
The International Tiger Day (also known as Global Tiger Day) is observed annually on 29 July to raise awareness for tiger conservation. This year’s International Tiger Day would be celebrated with the slogan ‘Fresh Ecology For Tigers’ Protection’. The goal of observance of the day is to promote the protection and expansion of the wild tigers habitats and to gain support through awareness for tiger conservation. Many international organisations are involved in the celebration of this day, including the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) etc. The International Tiger Day was founded in 2010 at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit. The summit had issued St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation with an aim to double the big cat population by 2022. The tiger is the largest of the world’s big cats with its distinctive orange and black stripes and beautifully marked face. It is has been founded that in the last century 97% of all wild tigers had disappeared, with only around 3,000 left alive.
NPCI gets RBI nod to operate Bharat Bill Payment System
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for all retail payment systems has received a final nod from the Reserve Bank of India to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). The final clearance from RBI comes almost a year after NPCI launched the BBPS pilot project to make payment of utility bills easier. The pilot started on 31 August 2016 with eight BBPS operating units that had received in-principle approval from RBI.
Niti Aayog clears six proposals for high-tech public transport
The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has approved 6 transport proposals of the transport ministry exploring options to improve public transport. It includes high-tech mass rapid transportation technologies such as metrino, hyperloop, pod taxis, stadler buses, hybrid buses and freight rail road. The proposals of the transport ministry were approved with a condition that the transport ministry conducts trial run of all these technologies and puts in place safety measures before starting operations commercially. Following the go-ahead from NITI Aayog, the transport ministry has formed a six member committee, headed by former top official of Railways, to study safety parameters associated with these technologies and their best global practices.
Six Scheduled Commercial Banks got Supervisory Colleges
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up Supervisory Colleges for six Scheduled Commercial Banks which have sizeable international presence. The six Scheduled Commercial Banks are State Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd., Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank Ltd. and Punjab National Bank. The objectives of the colleges are to enhance information exchange and cooperation among supervisors, to improve understanding of the risk profile of the banking group and thereby facilitate more effective supervision of internationally active banks.
Jhulan Goswami and Subrata Bhattacharya felicitated by Mohun Bagan
Mohun Bagan was conferred former club captain and coach Subrata Bhattacharya with prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna award at the club’s annual day programme in kolkata. The city football gaint also felicitated India Women’s cricket team veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami with a special award. On the other hand, former club striker Balwant Singh was awarded the Best Football Player of the Year prize. Debabrata Das was honoured with the Best Cricket Player of the Year award. Former Bengal batsman Shyam Sundar Mitra was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award.
IOB goes live with Bharat Bill Payment system
Public sector Indian Overseas Bank has offered Bharat Bill Payment System, introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India, for its customers. BBPS is an integrated bill payment system that offers inter-operable online bill payments to customers. The services include online payments of electricity, telecommunication, DTH, water and gas bills, the Chennai headquartered bank said in a statement. Indian Overseas Bank is one of the three public sector banks (apart from Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India) to get the approval from RBI for providing the service.