Appointment
1. Senior IAS officer Rajiv Kumar appointed as new Finance Secretary
Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Rajiv Kumar(1984 batch- Jharkhand cadre) has been appointed as the new Finance Secretary.
The approval was given by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He succeeded Subhash Chandra Garg (1983 batch IAS- officer), who is currently the power secretary.
Currently, Mr Rajiv Kumar is serving as Secretary in the Department of Financial Services.
The Finance Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Finance and is the principal adviser to the Finance Minister on all matters of policy and administration within the Finance Ministry.
Source: AIR News
International Affairs
2. President Kovind reaches Gambia on the second leg of three-nation visit
President Ramnath Kovind has reached the Gambia on his second leg of his three Nations visit.
He was warmly welcomed by the Gambian President Adama Barrowwith military honour at the Banjul Airport.
Today the president will hold restricted and delegation-level talks with his counterpart
He will be addressing a special session of the National Assembly of Gambia.
He will also attend an event by the Indian community and inaugurate an exhibition on Mahatma Gandhiand Khadi.
National Affairs
3. Atal Innovation Mission to launch a new programme for Community Innovation
Union Ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Dharmendra Pradhanhave jointly inaugurated the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a new programme for Community Innovation in New Delhi.
The new initiative aims to encourage the spirit of innovation in the country.
The purpose of the programme is to make innovation eco-system socially inclusive as well as to ensure equitable distribution of infrastructure for innovation across the country.
The new programme has been specifically designed for underserved, unserved regions of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, Smart Cities, Aspirational districts, North-East, Jammu and Kashmir as well as rural and tribal regions of the country.
Note:
The Atal Innovation Mission is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country.
It has been created as an umbrella innovation organization to play an instrumental role in the alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes incentivizing the establishment.
4. Culture Minister announces to include Nepali, Santhali in fellowships for Artistes
Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patelhas announced to include Nepali and Santhali language in the Sub-Field of Field Literature in the scheme component ‘Award of Senior/Junior Fellowships to Outstanding Artistes in the Fields of Culture’.
The announcement was made by the Culture Minister during an interaction with media in New Delhi yesterday.
The fellowships are awarded for undertaking research-oriented projects.
5. 'Odisha Rasagola' gets GI tag
Odisha has finally won the much-awaited ownership rightgeographical indication (GI) tag from the Registrar of Geographical Indication over its Rasagola.
The Chennai-based Registrar of Geographical Indications issued the ownership certificate registering the sweetmeat as ‘Odisha Rasagola’ under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
The certificate will be valid until 22 February 2028.
Both Odisha and West Bengal have been contesting the origin of Rasagola and West Bengal had got GI for “Banglar Rasagola” in 2017.
Note:
Geographical Indication (GI) tag for its Rasagola, recognises the product as distinctive to a particular locality or region.
Obituaries
6. Former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn passes away
Noted economist and former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Vithal Gokarn (59-years) passed away.
Gokarn served as the Deputy Governor of the RBI between 2009and 2013, during the tenure of Governor D Subbarao.
Gokarn was also Chief Economist of Standard & Poor’s Asia-Pacific and Chief Economist of CRISIL.
In 2015, he was appointed asExecutive Director on the board of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
Banking and Finance
7. RBI relaxes External Commercial Borrowing norms for corporates, non-banking lenders
The Reserve Bank has liberalised the end-use stipulations for the External Commercial Borrowings both for corporates as well as liquidity starved non-banking lenders.
According to The central bank, liberalisation will be applicable to ECBs taken for working capital, general corporate purpose loans or repayment of rupee loans.
Corporate borrowers will be able to avail of ECBs to repay rupee loans taken for Capital expenditures if they are into manufacturing or infrastructure building and classified as Special Mention Account, SMA-2 or Non-Performing Asset, under any one-time settlement arrangement with lenders.
The RBI also issued a revised circular for bankers capturing the changes.
Source: AIR News
8. RBI slaps Rs 26 lakh fine on Mobikwik and Hip Bar
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a fine of about 26 lakh rupees on two online payment solutions providers for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.
According to Reserve Bank of India, Mobikwik Systems Private Limited has been slapped a fine of 15 lakh rupees while Hip Bar Pvt Ltd faced a fine of 10.85 lakh rupees.
These two prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers were levied a monetary penalty for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.
Source: AIR News
Important Days
9. Birth anniversary of Premchand being celebrated
Today is the birth anniversary of a great novelist and celebrated storyteller Munshi Premchand.
He was born on 31st July 1880 in Lamhi Village near Varanasi, Uttar Padesh.
Premchand's stories confront the truth of this society underlining the importance of truth, justice and loyalty.
He has voiced various social issues including poverty and exploitation.
His stories 'Kafan', 'Namak Ka Daroga', 'Panch Parmeshwar', 'Poos Ki Raat', 'Budhi Kaki', 'Idgah' and novels 'Godan', 'Seva Sadan', 'Rangbhoomi' are timeless and ever relevant.
Source: AIR News
10. Karnataka govt cancels Tipu Jayanti celebrations
The Karnataka State Governmenthas cancelled the birth anniversary celebrations of Hazrat Tipu Sultan.
Tipu Sultan ruled Mysore in the 18th century.
In an order, Kannada and Culture department has stated that Hazrat Tipu Sultan Jayanti being celebrated since 2016 in the state is cancelled with immediate effect.
Note:
Tipu Sultan (or Tiger of Mysore) was born on 20th November 1750 at Devanahalli, (Currently in Bangalore Rural district).
Tipu Sultan was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and a pioneer of rocket artillery.
Sports
11. Indian Army team to compete Sniper Frontier Competition 2019
A nine-member Indian Army teamhas left for Belarus to compete in the Sniper Frontier Competition as part of the International Army Games (from 3rd to 17th Aug 2019).
It is a 13 days intense sniper competition and encompassing flexibility of mind, physical fitness along with firing.
The competition is likely to have over 23 participating countries including Russia & China.
Source: PIB
12. Dalilah Muhammad shatters Women's 400m hurdles world record
American sprinter Dalilah Muhammad (29-years) has broken the world 400m hurdles record at the US Championships.
She clocked 52.20 seconds on the final day of action of the championships to achieve the feat.
The Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad was 0.14 seconds faster to Russia's Yuliya Pechonkina, who had set the previous world record (52.34sec) on 3rd August 2003.
13. Khelo India Youth Games to be held in Guwahati next year
According to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, the third edition of ‘Khelo India Youth Games’ will be held in Guwahati next year from 18th January.
It will see the participation of more than 10,000 athletes and officials.
It will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association, School Games Federation of India & Assam as host State.
The inaugural edition was held in New Delhi, while Pune hosted the second one this year.
Note:
Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) are the national level multidisciplinary Grassroot games in India held for two categories, namely under-17 years school students and under-21 college students.
Every year best 1000 kids will be given an annual scholarship of INR 5,00,000 for 8 years to prepare them for the international sporting events.
14. BCCI suspends Prithvi Shaw for doping violation
Indian Test opener Prithvi Shaw(19-years) has been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a doping violation till 15th November 2019.
According to a BCCI release, Shaw had inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups.
Mr Shaw had provided a urine sample as part of the BCCI's anti-doping testing program during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match on 22nd February 2019 in Indore.
His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline.
Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In & Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances.
Note:
Prithvi Shaw became the second-youngest Indian after Tendulkar to make a Test century and the youngest Indian to do so on Test debut.
Source: AIR News
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