Daily Current Affairs 17th July 2022

RBI, Banking and Economy

• RBI, Bank Indonesia agree to expand cooperation in payment systems
  • The Reserve Bank of India and Bank Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand cooperation in payment systems, digital financial innovation, and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT).

• Govt allows insurers to invest in GIFT IFSC
  • The government tweaked provisions of the Insurance Act to allow Indian insurers to invest in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT city, Gujarat.
  • A notification by the finance ministry has replaced sub-sections 27A, 27B, 27C, 27D and 27E with a new Section 27 that does not talk about prohibition of overseas investment by Indian insurers as was done by the earlier Section 27E.

• Hindustan Zinc Will Invest $1 Billion Over Next 5 Years In Climate Change Initiatives
  • Hindustan Zinc will invest $1 billion in next five years to make its mining operations environment-friendly.
  • HZL is a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, which owns a 64.9% stake in the company, while the government holds a 29.5% stake. HZL currently holds around 80% share in India’s primary zinc market.

STATES

• Maharashtra government gives approval to renaming of cities
  • The Maharashtra Cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde gave its approval to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively.
  • The decision to rename these cities was taken at the last Cabinet meeting of the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on June 29.

• Assam, Arunachal sign pact to resolve border dispute
  • Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, signed the “Namsai Declaration” – an agreement to reduce the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86.
  • The 800-km-long inter-state border has been the site of many conflicts over the years.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• NASSCOM PGA Labs Tech Start-Ups: Quarterly Investment Factbook
  • NASSCOM and PGA Labs co-published a report “Tech Start-ups: Quarterly Investment Factbook”.
  • It is NASSCOM’s quarterly funding update on Tech start-ups highlighting key trends and facts about the Indian tech start-up ecosystem during the quarter.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Cargo Dragon supply mission to the ISS launched
  • SpaceX launched its 25th cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 14,2022, carrying more than 5,800 pounds (2,630 kilograms) of supplies, along with equipment for NASA climate change research.
  • The supply mission, named CRS-25, blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

DEFENCE

• US House approves CAATSA waiver for India over S-400 deal with Russia
  • The US House of Representatives has passed by voice vote a legislative amendment seeking to exempt India from a law that sanctions nations for purchasing military hardware from Russia.

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• Prestigious J.C. Daniel Award for filmmaker K.P. Kumaran
  • Filmmaker K.P. Kumaran has been chosen for the prestigious J.C. Daniel Award for 2021.
  • The award, conferred by the Kerala government annually in recognition of an individual’s contributions to Malayalam cinema, carries a purse of ₹5 lakh, a statuette, and a citation.
  • Mr. Kumaran was one of the first filmmakers from the State to win an international award when his short film The Rock fetched the gold medal at the Expo film festival in Tokyo in 1972.