Current Affairs in English – July 19 2022

July 19 , 2022

National Events:

Assam & AP:

• Assam & Arunachal Pradesh on 15 July 2022 signed the ‘ Namsai Declaration ‘ in a step toward resolving their 7 – decade – old boundary dispute .
• It was signed at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh between chief minister Pema Khandu and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma .
• They agreed to restrict the number of contested villages to 86 instead of 123 . The two states share an 804 – km long boundary .

JNP:

• Jawaharlal Nehru Port has become the first major port of the country to become 100 % Landlord port . JNP is one of the leading container ports of the country and is ranked 26th among the top 100 global ports ( as per Lloyds List Top 100 Ports 2021 Report ) .
• Currently , five container terminals are operated at JNP , of which only one is port owned .

ITBP:

• The Indo – Tibetan Border Police ( ITBP ) has created its first mountain – warfare training centre in northeast India , its second overall . The new centre has been established in Dombang , abutting the LAC .
• The facility has come almost after five decades of the establishment of its first such school called mountaineering and skiing institute ( M & SI ) during 1973-74 at Auli near Joshimath .

RattanIndia Power:

• RattanIndia Power has appointed Brijesh Gupta as Managing Director . He has held leadership positions in Adani Enterprises , Essar Group , Welspun and Atha Group .
• RattanIndia Power is a private power generation company , with installed capacity of 2,700 MW thermal power plants at Amravati and Nashik ( 1,350 MW at each location ) in Maharashtra , with investments of Rs.18,615 cr ( US $ 2.5 billion ) .

Lt. General ( Retd ) Shri Raj Shukla:

• General ( Retd ) Shri Raj Shukla took the Oath of Office and Secrecy as Member , UPSC on 18 July 2022 .
• He commanded an Infantry Brigade in Counter Insurgency Operations , the Baramulla Division along the Line of Control in the Kashmir Valley and a Pivot Corps along the Western Borders . He was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal on Republic Day 2021 .

Committee on Minimum Support Price:

• The Centre has formed a Committee on Minimum Support Price under the chairmanship of Former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal .
• The panel will comprise Member ( Agriculture ) in NITI Aayog Ramesh Chand , Agricultural Economist CSC Shekhar , etc. The panel will look at ways to strengthen the Agricultural Marketing System as per the changing requirements of the country .

IndusInd Bank:

• IndusInd Bank board has approved a proposal to raise Rs 20,000 crore in debt to fund business growth . The board approved raising funds through debt securities in any permitted mode on a private placement basis .
• Recently in July , RBI imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on IndusInd Bank for non – compliance with certain Know Your Customer ( KYC ) norms . IndusInd Bank CEO : Sumant Kathpalia.

India’s GDP:

• Brokerage firm Morgan Stanley reduced its forecast for India’s GDP growth estimate by 0.4 per cent to 7.2 per cent for the Financial Year 2023 due to slower global growth . RBI has also estimated the GDP growth rate at 7.2 percent for the current fiscal .
• Morgan Stanley further said the growth will further slow down to 6.4 per cent in the FY24 , which is 0.3 % lower than the earlier forecast .

Raigad Sahakari Bank:

• RBI imposed several restrictions on Mumbai – based co – operative bank Raigad Sahakari Bank . A withdrawal cap of Rs 15,000 per customer is placed and it will remain in force for a period of six months .
• RBI also imposed a penalty of Rs 6 lakh on Shri Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Urban Co – operative Bank , for contravention of provisions related to ‘ Frauds – Classification and Reporting.

ISASMA – CD ( Intelligence Self – Administered Self Monitored Automatic Chemical Dosing ):

• In a first , Delhi Jal Board ( DJB ) has developed an Al technology to treat water in its sewage treatment plants .
• This technology , called ISASMA – CD ( Intelligence Self – Administered Self Monitored Automatic Chemical Dosing ) , has been introduced at four DJB plants in Delhi .
• Running with Al software , it shares real – time data & monitors the health of the plant as well as machines and equipment .

NTPC & Indian Oil Corporation:

• NTPC & Indian Oil Corporation signed an agreement for the formation of a joint venture ( JV ) company for meeting the power requirements of upcoming projects of Indian Oil refineries .
• IndianOil plans to meet the additional power requirement of its refineries using renewable energy to the tune of 650MW by December 2024 through this JV . NTPC Chairman : Gurdeep Singh . Indian Oil Chairman : Shrikant Vaidya.

‘ National Action Plan for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem – NAMASTE ‘:

• The Union govt has formulated a ‘ National Action Plan for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem – NAMASTE ‘ scheme for cleaning of sewers and septic tanks .
• It aims to achieve outcomes like zero fatalities in sanitation work in India & providing all Sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers alternative livelihoods . This scheme will be rolled out from 16 August 2022 across the 500 cities in India .

Repos Pay:

• Union Minister of Micro , Small , & Medium Enterprises Narayan Rane launched ‘ Repos Pay – a ‘ Mobile Electric Charging ‘ platform on 15 July 2022 . He launched it at the ‘ Fuelling India 2022 ‘ event in Mumbai .
• ‘ Repos Pay ‘ is a platform where one can order a Mobile Electric Charging Vehicle on app & charge their vehicles . Mr Rane also launched ‘ Phy – gital ‘ – a Fintech Platform at the same event.

Ola Electric:

• Ola Electric is investing $ 500 million in a cell research and development facility in Bengaluru .The facility would house advanced labs and high – tech equipment for battery innovation .Ola recently unveiled its first Li – ion cell NMC 2170 .
• The company was recently also allocated 20GWh capacity under the ACC PLI scheme by the government for developing advanced cells in India .

International Events:

Forbes world’s richest list:

• Gautam Adani now holds the fourth rank on the Forbes world’s richest list , surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates .
• Bill Gates has worth of an estimated $ 102 billion on Forbes ‘ Real – Time Ranking of the World’s Billionaires , whereas Gautam Adani has net worth of over $ 114 billion , as per Forbes . On the Forbes ‘ list , Elon Musk is the richest person with $ 230 billion net worth.

13th Petersberg Climate Dialogue:

• The 13th Petersberg Climate Dialogue began on 18 July 2022 in Berlin . The two – day informal ministerial meet is being chaired by Germany and Egypt , hosts of 2022’s annual climate meet ( COP – 27 ) .
• Since its inception in 2010 , the Petersberg Dialogue has served as a forum for ministers to build political consensus that help resolve differences on issues holding up progress in negotiations .

India & Fiji:

• The fifth round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Fiji was held on 18 July 2022 in Suva .
• The Indian side was led by Secretary ( East ) in Ministry of External Affairs Saurabh Kumar and the Fijian side was led by Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Fiji Yogesh Karan .
• The next round of consultations will be held in New Delhi .

India & Sri Lanka:

• India has emerged as the top lender to Sri Lanka , extending $ 376.9 million worth of edit compared to $ 67.9 million by China in the first 4 months of 2022 .
• After India , Asian Development Bank came in as the 2nd largest lender with $ 359.6 million .India’s full package of foreign assistance for Sri Lanka since the beginning of 2022 is worth $ 3.8 billion .

Sports Events:

Ninth FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup:

• The Netherlands clinched ninth FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup by beating Argentina 3-1 in the final on 17 July 2022 . Australia won the 3rd place match by defeating Germany to claim their first World Cup medal as well .
• India finished at 9th place in the World Cup . It was the 15th edition of the Women’s FIH Hockey World Cup . It was held from 1 to 17 July 2022 in Spain & the Netherlands .