Daily updates 14 August 2019

National News

1. Centre launches Swachh Nagar app
i. Swachh Nagar app was launched by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. An app that will allow users to have waste — solid, wet or construction and demolition (C&D) — collected by their urban local bodies along with a new protocol on wastewater treatment that would become a part of cleanliness rankings of cities.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs: Hardeep Singh Puri.

2. “Operation Number Plate” Launched by RPF
i. Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Indian Railways launched a Special Drive with a Code Name "Operation Number Plate” to identify and verify all vehicles parked in Railway premises, circulating area, parking and even in the ‘No Parking’ areas for a longer duration.
ii. The unidentified vehicles are considered a serious threat to the security and safety of passengers and other stakeholders of railways.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal.

State News

3. J&K will host Global Investors Summit 2019
i. Jammu and Kashmir administration will host a 3 days global investors summit from October 12 in Srinagar.
ii. The summit will provide J&K with an opportunity to showcase its strengths, strategies and potential. It will also provide an opportunity to allay fears and apprehensions in the minds of outside trade and the business community.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Governor of Jammu & Kashmir: Satya Pal Malik.

4. ‘Panchamirtham’ of Palani temple gets GI tag
i. The Panchamirtham is an ‘abhishega prasadam’ of the Murugan temple has been bestowed with the Geographical Indication tag. 
ii. The Murugan temple is situated in Tamil Nadu. 
iii. The panchamirtham is a combination of five natural substances — banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardamom. Dates and diamond sugar candies are added for flavour. It is served in a semi-solid state.

Banking

5. Government rolls out scheme for liquidity support to NBFCs
i. The Central government has rolled out scheme for liquidity support to NBFCs. The partial guarantee scheme will allow state-run banks (PSBs) to purchase assets of non-banking and housing finance companies (NBFCs and HFCs).
ii. The partial guarantee scheme aims at providing liquidity support to avoid distress sale of assets in a sector facing a shortage of cash due to asset-liability mismatch. NBFCs will be able to sell 20% of standard assets, worth up to Rs 5,000 crore, as on March 31.
iii. The Department of Economic Affairs will provide government guarantee of up to 10% of the fair value of assets purchased by a bank from a stressed NBFC or HFC. The scheme is capped at Rs 1,00,000 crore and will be open for up to 6 months. The government will settle claims by banks within 5 working days. 
iv. The one-time guarantee on the pooled assets will be valid for 24 months from the date of purchase and can invoked in specified circumstances.

Agreement

6. Naval Air Enclave & CIAL inks MoU for air operations
i. The Naval Air Enclave in Kochi and Cochin International Airport Limited have signed a MoU for commencement of naval air operations from the NAE, a naval aviation facility at CIAL in Nedumbassery. 
ii. According to MoU, military aircraft will use the CIAL runway for take off and landing and the NAE taxy track for accessing the dispersal and aircraft hangar.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO/Clerk Mains:

• Chief of the Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh.

Appointments

7. P.T. Usha appointed as a member of AAA's Athletes Commission
i. Legendary Indian sprinter P.T. Usha, one of India’s greatest athletes, has been appointed as a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s (AAA) Athletes Commission. 
ii. This is the 2nd time P.T. Usha has been appointed a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s Athletes Commission
iii. P.T. Usha will be one of the six members of the AAA Athletes Commission, to be headed by 1992 Olympics gold medallist hammer thrower Andrey Abduvaliyev of Uzbekistan.

Awards

8. Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman to be honoured with Vir Chakra
i. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be honoured with the Vir Chakra on Independence Day. Wg Cdr Abhinandan became the face of a tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan when his MiG-21 was shot down during the aerial combat between Indian and Pakistani air forces on February 27 after the February 26 Balakot airstrike. Before his jet was hit, he downed an F-16 fighter of Pakistan.

9. Priyam Chatterjee becomes 1st Indian chef to win French honour
i. Priyam Chatterjee became the 1st Indian chef to be awarded the 'Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricoleto' by the government of France to recognise his contribution towards reinventing the gastronomic scene in India.
ii. Chatterjee is best known for revisiting the traditional dishes from his native state of West Bengal and giving it a French twist.
iii. 'Ordre du Mérite Agricole' (Order of Agricultural Merit) is a distinction bestowed by the French Republic for outstanding contributions, to agriculture, agro-food industry and gastronomy.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019 :

• President of France: Emmanuel Macron; Capital: Paris; Currency: Euro, CFP Franc.

10. Rajasthan bags award at World Education Summit 2019
i. Rajasthan wins the “best innovation and initiative leadership award” for its achievements in higher education in the World Education Summit-2019 held in New Delhi.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Chief Minister of Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot; Governor of Rajasthan: Kalyan Singh.
• Capital of Rajasthan: Jaipur.

Defence

11. Japanese Maritime Self Defence Ship visits Kochi
i. Japanese ship "JS Sazanami", visited Kochi on a 2 day goodwill visit. JS Sazanami, a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force Ship is a missile destroyer. 
ii. The visiting team was given a conducted tour of the Anti-Submarine Warfare School and the Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel, INS Sunayna. A visit of Indian Navy personnel was also conducted onboard JS Sazanami.

Science and Technology

12. Ola ‘acqui­hires’ AI start-­up Pikup.ai
i. Cab aggregator Ola announced acquihiring of Pikup.ai, an Artificial Intelligence start­up based in Bengaluru. 
ii. Acquihiring typically refers to a transaction in which the staff of the target company join the acquiring firm.
iii. Pikup.ai uses autonomous technologies like AI, computer vision and sensor fusion to provide seamless AI-powered solutions for businesses.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• CEO of Ola: Bhavish Aggarwal; Headquarter: Bengaluru.

Sports

13. Dutch Hero Wesley Sneijder announces retirement from Football
i. The Netherlands' most-capped player Wesley Sneijder announced his retirement from football. 
ii. He played 134 times for his country and his career included a World Cup runners-up medal as well as Champions League, La Liga and Serie A titles.

14. Women's Cricket at Birmingham CWG
i. Cricket will come back to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) roster for the 1st time since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, with the inclusion of women’s T20 for the 2022 edition in Birmingham.
ii. It will take place from July 27 to August 7, 2022, with 8 international teams playing cricket. 
iii. This decision was taken by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main :

• ICC Chairman: Shashank Manohar; Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

15. Simone Biles makes history with a “triple-double” twist
i. Simone Biles makes history with a never-before-seen “triple-double” floor exercise landing. She performed the landing featuring "two flips and three twists" in U.S. Gymnastics Championships held in Kansas City. 

Obituaries

16. Former Argentina footballer Brown passes Away
i. Argentina World Cup-winning team football player Jose Luis Brown has passed away. Brown made 36 appearances for his country, the most famous of which came in the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico

Daily updates 15 16 August 2019

National News

1. PM announces appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff
i. In his Independence Day address to the nation, Prime Minister has announced the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff. The Chief of Defence Staff will be above the three Service Chiefs. 
ii. The CDS is meant to be a single-point military advisor to the government who will coordinate long-term planning, procurements, training and logistics of the three services. The CDS will also act as the military advisor to the Prime Minister on nuclear issues.
iii. This is one the country's biggest higher level military reform to bring in jointness and tri-service integration. 
iv. In the absence of a CDS, presently the senior most of the three Chiefs functions as the Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa is the present chairman of COSC.

2. PM to be the chairman of the Inter-State Council
i. The Inter-State Council has been reconstituted with Prime Minister as its chairman and 6 Union ministers and all chief ministers as its members. Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the standing committee of the Inter-State Council.
ii. The Union ministers who will be members of the reconstituted council are Amit Shah (Home), Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), Rajnath Singh (Defence), Narendra Singh Tomar (Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj).

Banking News

3. RBI clarifies rules on ‘free ATM transactions’
i. The Reserve Bank of India has clarified rules on ‘free ATM transactions’ provided by banks to its customers. Banks provide certain number of free transactions at ATMs to their customers and beyond that impose charges.
ii. According to the Reserve Bank of India, the following transactions should not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the customer as the ‘free ATM transactions’:

• Transactions failed at ATMs due to technical reasons like hardware and software issues.
• Transactions failed due to non-availability of currency in ATMs.
• Use of ATMs for non-cash withdrawal transactions such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes, funds transfer.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Governor of RBI: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

Appointments

4. Harshad Pandurang Thakur appointed as NIHFW's director
i. Harshad Pandurang Thakur has been appointed as the director of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare. The proposal of appointment was approved by the appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister.
ii. The NIHFW is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It acts as an apex technical institute as well as a think tank for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country.

Awards

5. ISRO Chairman K. Sivan honoured with A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award
i. Tamil Nadu government has awarded K. Sivan with its Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award. K. Sivan is currently serving as the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC Mains:

• Tamil Nadu Capital: Chennai; CM: Edappadi K. Palaniswami; Governor: Banwarilal Purohit.

Sports

6. Liverpool beats Chelsea to win UEFA Super Cup
i. Liverpool defeated Chelsea in the finals to win UEFA Super Cup held in Istanbul. The match ended in draw with score 2-2 following the extra time. 
ii. Later in the penalties, Liverpool beats Chelsea by 5-4. This was the fourth time Liverpool have won this competition.

7. Deepak Punia wins Junior World Championship title
i. Deepak Punia won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships held in Talinn, Estonia. He defeated Russia's Alik Shebzukov to win the 86 kg junior freestyle title. With the victory, he has become the 1st Indian in 18 years to win a Junior World Championship title.
ii. Another Indian wrestler Vicky Chahar also won the bronze medal in the 92 kg category after beating Mongolia's Batmagnai Enkhtuvshin.

Obituaries

8. Veteran actor Vidya Sinha passes away
i. Veteran Bollywood actress Vidya Sinha passed away. She was renowned for her role in Basu Chatterjee's film "Rajnigandha". 
ii. She was a major figure in Bollywood in the 1970s-1980s. Her list of notable films includes Mera Jeevana, Chhoti Si Baat, Safed Jhooth and many others.

9. Former India cricketer V.B. Chandrasekhar passes away
i. Former India and Tamil Nadu cricketer V.B. Chandrasekhar passed away. He represented India in 7 ODIs. 
ii. V.B. Chandrasekhar was also a National selector from 2004 to 2006. He was a part of the last Tamil Nadu team which won the Ranji Trophy in 1988

Daily updates 17 August 2019

National News

1. India contributes $1 million to UN fund

i. India has contributed $1 million to the UN Special Purpose Trust Fund for the Resident Coordinator System. The Special Purpose Trust Fund (SPTF) is a specific fund housed within the UN Secretariat.
ii. The fund was established to receive, consolidate, manage and account for all contributions and financial transactions of the new Resident Coordinator system in a transparent and effective way.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Headquarters of United Nations: New York, USA; Founded: 24 October 1945.
• Secretary-General of the United Nations: Antonio Guterres.

2. High-level committee constituted to review Defence Procurement Procedure

i. Union government has constituted a 12-member high-level committee to revise and align the procedure of Defence procurement with the aim of strengthening the 'Make in India' initiative. The panel will be headed by the Director-General (Acquisitions).
ii. The panel has been tasked to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2006 and the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2009. The committee will revise and align the procedures with the aim of ensuring seamless flow from asset acquisition to life cycle support.

3. “Aadi Mahotsav” begins in Leh-Ladakh

i. National Tribal Festival “Aadi Mahotsav” has begun in Leh-Ladakh. The theme of the festival is “A celebration of the spirit of Tribal Craft, Culture and Commerce”.
ii. The 9 day Adi Mahotsav will showcase traditional art and handicrafts and cultural heritage of the country. 
iii. Tribal Affairs Ministry and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has jointly organized the festival.

State News

4. Tawlhlohpuan, Mizo Puanchei & Tirur betel vine gets GI tag

i. Tawlhlohpuan & Mizo Puanchei from Mizoram, and Tirur betel vine from Kerala has received the Geographical Indication tag. 
ii. GI is an indication used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. The Geographical Indication comes under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
iii. Some features of the products bestowed with the GI tag:

• Tawlhlohpuan: It is a medium to heavy, compactly woven, good quality fabric from Mizoram. It is known for warp yarns, warping, weaving & intricate designs that are made by hand.
• Mizo Puanchei: It is a colourful Mizo shawl/textile, from Mizoram and is considered as the most colourful among the Mizo textiles.
• Tirur betel vine: This product from Kerala is valued both for its mild stimulant action and medicinal properties. It has many industrial and cultural usages and is considered as a remedy for bad breath and digestive disorders. 

Economy News

5. India's forex reserves reaches life-time high of $430.57 bn

i. India's forex reserves has reached the highest ever valuation of $430.57 bn. As per the latest RBI data, India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.620 billion in the week to 9 August due to rise in foreign currency assets. 
ii. Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms includes the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Governor of RBI: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

Sports

6. Ravi Shastri appointed as Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team

i. Former all-rounder Ravi Shastri has been appointed as the head coach of Indian cricket team for another two years. 
ii. Cricket Advisory Committee led by former Indian Cricket captain Kapil Dev along with Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy conducted interviews of shortlisted candidates for Indian cricket team's head coach.

7. Indian cyclists win gold at World Junior Track Cycling Championships

i. Indian cyclists team have won the gold medal in the Team Sprint event at World Junior Track Cycling Championships held in Frankfurt, Germany. Indian team comprised of Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh and Rojit Singh.
ii. This is India's first ever gold medal in a global cycling competition. The Indian team defeated Australian team in the finals to won the gold medal.

8. India wins T20 Physical Disability World Cricket Series

i. India has won the inaugural T20 Physical Disability World Cricket Series 2019 held in England. India defeated England by 36 runs in the finals to win the title. 
ii. The 6-nation tournament was organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Obituaries

9. Padma Shri awardee Damodar Ganesh Bapat passes away

i. Damodar Ganesh Bapat from Chhattisgarh, a noted social worker and Padma Shri award winner, passed away. He was known for his social work in tribal areas in Chhattisgarh. He dedicated his life to the treatment and service of leprosy patients.
ii. For his service to the society, he was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of India i.e. Padma Shri award in 2018.

10. Bangladeshi novelist Rizia Rahman passes away

i. Renowned Bangladeshi novelist Rizia Rahman passed away. She had received the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1978 and was awarded Ekushey Padak in 2019. 
ii. Bong Theke Bangla , Rokter Okshor and Ghar Bhanga Ghar are among some of her well known novels.