IPCI Info

16 July

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16 Jul

International News Affairs

  • The US House of Representatives has voted for three legislative amendments to impose tougher conditions for reimbursement of defence funding to Pakistan.
    • The amendments make it conditional for Pakistan to show satisfactory progress in its fight against terrorism.

 

National News Affairs

  • Matunga suburban railway station in Mumbai has become the first station in India to be run by an all-women staff.
  • Union Minister MJ Akbar today said that the government is working towards setting up a passport centre every 50 kilometres in the country.
  • The Mumbai railways is going to introduce a software which will help commuters book tickets through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) 
    • The software will make use of SMS services, which will allow commuters without smart phones to book tickets.

 

New Appointments

  • Indo-Canadian YouTube personality Lilly Singh, also known as Superwoman, has been named UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador.

 

Banking, Business & Economic News

  • ICICI Lombard General Insurance, a joint venture of ICICI Bank and Fairfax Financial Holdings, has filed draft prospectus for its IPO.
    • This makes it the first non-life insurance company in India to file for IPO.
    • Important Note : This is the second insurance company from ICICI group to go public.
  • Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank, has appointed search firm Egon Zehnderto look for a new CEO to succeed Shikha Sharma, who is set to step down next year.
  • Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved has been featured among the Top 10 most influential brands in India along with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, according to research firm Ipsos.
    • Important Points to Note :
      • Google has been ranked at the top, while Microsoft and Facebook are ranked second and third, respectively.
      • The State Bank of India (SBI), the only financial institution on the list, moved up four ranks to the fifth position.

 

Awards & Honours

  • Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt won the Best Actor and Best Actress awards respectively for the film ‘Udta Punjab’ at the 2017 IIFA Awards.
    • Sonam Kapoor’s ‘Neerja won the best picture award.
    • Music composer AR Rahman was honoured for 25 years of his musical contribution.
    • Check complete list of IIFA Award Winners from HERE
  • San Miguel de Allende in Mexico has been named the World’s Best City in a survey by Travel and Leisure magazine.
    • India’s Udaipur has been ranked 14th in the list.
    • Top 5 in the List :
      • San Miguel de Allende (Mexico)
      • Charleston (US)
      • Chiang Mai (Thailand)
      • Kyoto (Japan)
      • Florence (Italy)
    • The Tamil Nadu government has announced the State Film awards for six consecutive years from 2009-2014.
      • Winners of Best Picture Category
        • Pasanga (2009)
        • Myna (2010)
        • Vaagai Sooda Vaa (2011)
        • Vazhakku En 18/9 (2012)
        • Ramanujan (2013)
        • Kutram Kadithal (2014)

 

Science & Technology

  • US-Russia research collaboration at Harvard has created the world’s most advanced quantum computer with 51 quantum bits, or qubits– the fundamental unit of information in a quantum computer.
    • Note: A classical bit can store data in 0 or 1 state whereas a qubit can store both simultaneously.

 

Obituary

  • Maryam Mirzakhani(40), the world’s first woman as well as the first Iranian to win the Fields Medal for mathematics died today of breast cancer.
    • Mirzakhani, who was a professor of mathematics at Stanford, was awarded the medal nicknamed “Nobel Prize for Mathematics” in 2014.

Current Sports Affairs

  • Spain’s Garbine Muguruza has today won the Wimbledon Women’s singles title.
    • With this she became only the second Spanish women’s player in the history of tennis to win the wimbledon single’s title.
  • Indian women’s cricket team today defeated New Zealand to book a spot in the Women’s World Cup 2017 semi-finals.
    • Indian captain Mithali Raj recorded the joint-highest 50-plus scores in women’s ODIs after smashing her 55th such score in the form of her sixth ODI hundred.
    • With the win, India have joined England, Australia and South Africa in the semis.
  • Indian hammer thrower Damneet Singh won a silver medal in the boys’ hammer throw eventto give India their first medal at the IAFF World U-18 Athletics Championships in Nairobi today.
  • Former India captain Sourav Ganguly today inaugurated an 8-foot tall bronze statue of himself at the Balurghat Stadium in West Bengal.
    • The statue has been installed by the South Dinajpur District Sports Association as a tribute to the former player.