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  • Current Affairs 29th July 2015

    Updated : 29-Jul-2015

    Current Affairs 29th July 2015 - Important Points

    Current Affairs 29th July 2015 - Details

    Which firm has tied-up with Eros Group to develop housing project - Bharti Realty

    On 27th July 2015, Bharti Realty to arise a housing project at Surajkund associated with Eros Group. According to the association, a smart residential project will be developed by Bharti Land which is a development wing of Bharti Realty.

    The firm will develop more than 2000 apartments in this project, covering expanse of about 5.2 million sq ft. Eros group which is into hospitality, education businesses, entertainment and real estate owns the land size of about 50 acres.

    The project includes a school, a renowned healthcare facility, a neighbourhood shopping area along with other social amenities like clubs, sports facilities, etc.

    About Bharti Realty

    It is a subsidiary of Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises, and has a control of around 3 million sq ft of Grade-A commercial real estate space. Presently, another 4 million sq ft of commercial real estate office space across prominent cities in the country are also developing.

    The Bharti Group is into telecom, agri-business, financial services, retail and real estate among others.

    162th member of WTO - Kazakhstan

    On 29th July 2015, Kazakhstan has been declared as the 162th member of World Trade Organization. In the year of 1996, talks were initiated for Kazakhstan to become a member of WTO as its accession and finally ended after its long wait of 20 years.

    Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev and WTO Director General Robert Azevedo at Geneva signed the agreement of elevation.

    On 31st October 2015, after the approval of the membership agreement by Kazakhstan Parliament, the final succession will be done.

    Who has imposed a fine on Hyundai for anti-competitive practices - CCI

    On 27th July 2015, a fine of 420 crore rupees was enforced on the local unit of Hyundai by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

    Similarly other car producers like Premier Ltd and Mahindra Reva Electric Car Company were also found in violation of competitive practices but CCI havn't charged fine on them.

    A notification of 60 days has been sent to Hyundai by CCI to deposit the penalty and other three car makers are warned to take corrective measures.

    Anti-competitive practices: CCI had found in its investigation that Premier, Reva and Hyundai are limiting access to genuine spare parts and diagnostic tools in the market which manipulated the fair competition and results in more expensive repairing and servicing of cars for customers.

    Competition Commission of India (CCI)

    MRTPC (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission) was the predecessor of CCI, a quasi-judicial statutory body.

    In 2003, it was inveterated as per the contingency of The Competition Act, 2002 and in 2009 became fully functional.

    It was initiated with an aim to end up anti-competitive practices that negatively affect competition in different industries/areas and protect interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade and also to give opinions to statutory authorities.

    Which South African cricketer has passed away - Clive Rice

    On 28th July 2015, Clive Rice, former South African cricketer passed away in Johannerburg, South Africa at the age of 66.

    He was counted among the best all-rounders of his time alongside Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and his county team-mate Richard Hadlee.

    He started his cricket career with Transvaal in 1969. From 1975 to 1987, most of the times he has played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and was captain of the club from 1979 to 1987.

    South Africa had won County Championship title twice in 1981 and 1987 under his command. He has a average of 22.49 in bowling and 40.95 in batting in his first class cricket career.

    E-tourist visa to Chinese nationals from - July 30, 2015

    On 28th July 2015, Union Government has announced to roll out e-tourist visa facility to Chinese nationals from 30th July 2015. Along with Chinese citizens, Hong Kong and Macao nationals will also be provided with e-tourist visa facility.

    This decision was taken in because of the promised made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to China in May 2015.

    About e-tourist visa

    In November 2014, Union Government had launched this scheme as ‘tourist visa on arrival (VoA)’ for more than 40 countries and in April 2015 it was extended to 36 more countries.

    It is a electronic travel authorisation given to foreigners foregoing to travel. Applicant receives an email approving him/her to travel to India. The visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities in India who will in turn allow them to enter into the country.

    RBS’ bullion financing business is acquired by - IndusInd Bank

    On 27th July 2015, the jewellery and diamond financing business and related deposit portfolio of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was acquired by Indusland Bank for 4,100 crore rupees.

    ABN AMRO Bank which is the oldest bullion financing was acquired by RBS in 2008 and started in bullion financing in India through RBS Mumbai branch.

    The motive of RBS is to exit banking operations from India and to stabilize its business in Western Europe and UK.

    Earlier to this decision RBS' had shut down its 23 out of 31 branches in India and had also sold off its credit card business, commercial banking portfolios and mortgage business to Ratnakar Bank Ltd (RBL) Bank.

    Name the pioneer of HIV/AIDS research and treatment in India who has passed away - Dr Suniti Solomon

    On 28th July 2015, Dr Suniti Solomon, pioneer of HIV/AIDS research and treatment in India passed away.

    In 1986, her team was first to document evidence of HIV/AIDS infection in India and had successfully led research into the treatment of the deadly virus.

    Her first voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counselling centre named as Y R Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education. She had also served as the President of the AIDS Society of India.

    Many research papers broadly on HIV epidemiology, care, prevention, support and gender related issues had been published by her.

    She had been honoured with National Women Bio-scientist Award in 2009, Lifetime Achievement Award for Service on HIV/AIDS in 2012 and DMS (Honoris Cusa) in 2006.

    Name the IPS Officer who has been honored in San Diego - Manish S. Sharma

    On 28th July 2015, A senior IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has earned a rare significance with the mayor of San Diego, California, declaring 20th July 2015, as “Manish S. Sharma Day” in remembrance of his benefaction towards enhancing the relation between India and U.S.

    Sharma was in the U.S. on a two-year merit based fellowship programme on public policy, international security and counter terrorism at the University of California in San Diego.

    During the fellowship, he was invited to join the Board of Directors of the World Affairs Council. He was also awarded “The Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition” of the United States of America’s House of Representatives.

    Mr. Sharma has held several important posts including director and CEO of the West Asia and North Africa region of Indian Tea Board, director-Security of the AAI and IG Intelligence and Railways in MP. He was also contributory in training the Bosnian Police and in the setting up of the National Police Academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    With whom did India signed a Loan Agreement for National Urban Health Mission - ADB

    On 28th July 2015, a loan agreement has been signed between India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) of 300 million US dollars for its flagship programme National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). The objective of the NUHM is to enhance the health status of urban population of the country.

    On behalf of ADB, M. Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission and Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of India signed the agreement.

    The title of the loan agreement is Supporting National Urban Health Mission. Apart from this it will concentrate on nourishing primary health care and also assist better coordination between health and urban sectors and opportunities for public-private partnerships.

    Committee constituted for Re-drafting National Sports Development Code of India - Justice Mahajan Committee

    On 28th July 2015, Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports constituted a Working Group on re-drafting National Sports Development Code of India (NSDCI). The aim of constituting the working group is to make the NSDCI more relevant from both sports governance and legal angles.

    The nine-member Working Group will be headed by Justice CK Mahajan (retd.), Former Judge of Delhi High Court.

    Terms of Reference of the Committee

    • To supervise the existing NSDCI from both sports governance and legal angles and fine-tune/revise the same with the purpose of making it more precise and succinct.
    • Assembling of Electoral College and streamlining of State/District bodies.
    • The revised draft of the NSDCI is to be submitted by the commitee within three months.

    Name the Ramon Magsaysay Awardees for the year 2015 - Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Anshu Gupta, Kyaw Thu, Kommaly Chanthavong, Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa

    On 29th July 2015, the Ramon Magsaysay awardees for the year 2015 were declared by the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF).

    Sanjiv Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta are the two Indians among the five awardees who will be conferred with the so-called Asia’s Nobel Prize.

    On 31st August 2015, the awards will be presented at Manila, Philippines.

    List of Awardees

    • Sanjiv Chaturvedi (India) : Chaturvedi is being recognised for "his exemplary integrity, courage and tenacity in uncompromisingly exposing and painstakingly investigating corruption in public office, and his resolute crafting of program and system improvements to ensure that government honourably serves the people of India." as said by the Foundation.
    • Anshu Gupta (India) :The Foundation said that, Gupta is recognized for "his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India, his enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable development resource for the poor, and in reminding the world that true giving always respects and preserves human dignity"
    • Kommaly Chanthavong (Laos)
    • Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa (Philippines)
    • Kyaw Thu (Myanmar)

    About Ramon Magsaysay Award

    • The Award was initiated in 1957 and is the Asia’s highest honour and is widely regarded as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
    • The Award is presented to those individuals whose lives are distinguished by selfless service which impacts the lives of the greater many.
    • A certificate and a medallion is presented to the awardees bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize.
    • In 1958, the first award was presented and till date a total of 307 have received it.

    International Tiger Day is observed on - 29th July

    On 29th July 2015, International Tiger Day was observed across the world. Since 2010, the day is observed every year to encourage the protection and expansion of the wild tiger habitats.

    The world has lost around 97% of all wild tigers in the last 100 years. The tiger count is falling rapidly from 100000 in 1913 to 3274 in 2013 to 3200 in 2014.

    The reason for the loss is the expansion of cities and agriculture by humans which results in 93% loss of their natural habitat. Apart from this, climate change and human-wildlife conflict is also responsible for fall in tiger population.

    India has the highest no of 2226 tigers among the 13 tiger-range countries. Malaysia is at second place with 500 tigers whereas Bangladesh at third with 440 tigers.

    To protect the tiger from becoming extinct, this day was founded at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010 in Russia.