Current Affairs 19th July 2016

National News:

• Pema Khandu  of Congress Party was sworn in as the 10th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh,he became the youngest Chief Minister in the country
• The Supreme Court accepted major recommendations of the Lodha Committee on reforms in BCCI including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 years of age from becoming its members
• To prevent a clique from dominating the official cultural space, the Culture Ministry has decided to rate Indian artists and writers, on the basis of which they will be sent to represent India
• The Ministry of Railways developed the TRI-NETRA system on locomotives for enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather. TRI-NETRA stands for Terrain imaging for diesel dRiversINfra-red, Enhanced opTical&Radar Assisted system
• The Centre, has released Rs.28,022.87 crore to states under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
• The Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad launched Transforming India website
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched the free bus pass scheme for school and college students for 2016-17
• To reduce paperwork in the day-to-day functioning of the Parliament, LokSabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan launched an e-portal enabling online interaction with various branches of the Secretariat
• Biker group Soaring Eagles Moto Club launched a campaign to create awareness about traffic rules in Pune, which began with a song and dance
• Inter-exchange calls on all telephone connections, except mobile services of BSNL, have been suspended in the valley due to the prevailing law and order situation

International News:

• China will conduct a 3-day military drill in South China Sea from tomorrow, state-run media quoting the Maritime Safety Agency
• Art collective teamLab opened a digital art exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, which allows visitors to engage with interactive artworks

New Appointments:

• Turkish musician Kudsi Erguner was appointed as the UNESCO Artist for Peace by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova
• BJP MP Navjot Singh Siddhu today resigned from the Rajya Sabha. He was nominated to the Upper House in April this year

Awards & Honours :

• A six-year-old Bengaluru boy skated under 35 cars parked next to each other on Sunday to set the Guinness World Record for farthest distance limbo-skating under cars
• Nineteen-year-old Welshman Aneurin Donald hit a 123-ball double century in an English county match to equal Ravi Shastri’s record for the fastest double ton in first-class cricket
• Travel guide Lonely Planet has published its ‘Best in Asia’ list, ranking the Japanese island of Hokkaido the best destination in Asia

Banking :

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has filed for an initial public offering of shares, a draft prospectus released, which will be India’s first insurance sector IPO

Business & Economy :

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) trimmed its 2016 growth forecasts for developing economies in Asia-Pacific region to 5.6% as against the earlier estimate of 5.7%

Science & Technology :

• SpaceX launched its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station, carrying a key piece of equipment that was lost in 2015 due to rocket explosion

Sports :

• Dipika Pallikal, Karthik, Saurav Ghosal clinches 73rd Senior National Squash Championship
• Pakistan registered their first Test victory at Lord’s after a gap of 20 years, with their 75-run-win over England
• Wrist spinner Yasir Shah has scaled the number 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings, becoming the first Pakistani bowler to do so since Mushtaq Ahmed achieved the feat in December 1996
• Himachal Pradesh won the champion trophy in the 41st All India Electricity Board Kabaddi tournament held at Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu