Current Affairs 21st July 2016

A bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha which aims at bringing six new IITs as well as the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad under the ambit of the IIT Act
India will host the BRICS Policy Planning Dialogue on 26th of this month at Patna in Bihar
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said, government is making all efforts to boost the Housing Finance Sector to ensure that the goal of affordableHousing for all by 2022 is met
Rajya Sabha has passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2012
An international team of scientists has successfully sequenced the genes of 6,000-year-old barley seeds, making it the oldest plant genome to be reconstructed
A Tamil Nadu court has ordered a pay hike of up to 30% for garment manufacturing firms’ workers in the state
The IIT-Indore has banned all social media websites including Twitter and Facebook on its campus as its PhD scholars were using the platforms to protest against the recent fee hike

China has banned highway testing of self-driving cars until the rules governing the testing of autonomous cars go into effect
In France, the National Assembly has voted to extend the state of emergency for six months
China will expand its railway network to 150,000 kms by 2020. The National Development and Reform Commission also said, as part of the country’s 13th five-year plan, China’s high-speed rail network will increase to 30,000 kms by 2020
A Brazilian judge ordered phone carriers to block access to Whatsapp, following the company’s refusal to comply with a previous court order to reveal user information

A Brazilian judge ordered phone carriers to block access to Whatsapp, following the company’s refusal to comply with a previous court order to reveal user information

Rohit Khandelwal became the first Indian to win the ‘Mr World’ title at this year’s male beauty pageant held in Southport, England
Nigerian journalist Didi Akinyelure wins BBC World News Komla Dumor Award
The 2016 edition of the Annual World Snail Racing Championship was won by a snail named Herbie

State Bank of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada-based Brook field Asset Management Inc to form a joint venture which will independently evaluate and invest in various stressed assets in the country

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed India’s growth forecast by 0.1% to 7.4% for both 2016-17 and 2017-18, reflecting “sluggish investment recovery” in the economy. This figure is lower than the 7.6% growth registered in 2015-16
The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts has been voted ‘The World’s Best Hotel Brand’ for the second year in a row by the readers of the Travel + Leisure magazine
Online fashion retailer Myntra is buying a majority stake in actor Hritik Roshan’s clothing and shoes brand HRX

A Hong Kong government-sponsored institute has collaborated with the City University of Hong Kong on a project aimed at turning waste food into fabric
China has surpassed the US and Japan to become the number one country in iOS games revenue, according to a recent report by market researcher App Annie.
The record for the world’s smallest motorcycle is held by ‘Smalltoe’, which weighs 1.1 kg, as per Guinness World Records
American golfer and the current World number six, Gerry Lester “Bubba” Watson and California-based sports equipment manufacturer Oakley recently introduced what they claim is the world’s first golf cart jetpack

Filmmaker Garry Marshall, director of the Richard Gere and Julia Roberts starrer ‘Pretty Woman’, passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 81
Mohammed Shahid, who was a part of the 1980 Moscow Olympics gold-winning Indian hockey team, passed away at the age of 56 in Gurgaon
Mohammad Hashim Ansari (95), the oldest litigant in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid dispute, died today due to heart-related ailments