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Click here to Download GK Eduwrap Weekly (18th July to 23rd July 2016) in PDF FormatNational – Across the India:
1. Ministry of Railways, Railway Board has initiated a proposal to install TRINETRA systems on locomotives.
This is for enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather.
TRI-NETRA stands for – Terrain imaging for diesel dRivers INfra-red, Enhanced opTical &Radar Assisted system.
2. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has launched the facility of virtual and digital classrooms across 32 ITIs in the state on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day.
3. Kerala started observing Ramayana month in the temples.
In Malayalam it is termed as the Ramayana Masam. The Ramayana Month starts with the commencement of Malayalam month ‘Karkidakam’.
During this month the temples and homes of the state recites Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippattu written by medieval devotional poet Thunjath Ezhuthachan for the 30 days. Ezhuthachan is regarded as the father of Malayalam literature.
Karkkidakam (July – August) is the last month of Malayalam calendar and is considered as month of rain and scarcity (Panjamaasom).
4. India’s first e-court (paperless court) was opened at High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad which is the common high court for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
It was inaugurated by Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur who heads the e-Committee of the Supreme Court.
5. Majority of glaciers in India including Gangotri are retreating (melting) at varying rates ranging from 5 to 20 metre per year due to global warming.
It was announced by Minister of State (independent charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Lok Sabha in a written reply.
6. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for construction of a new dry dock within the existing premises of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
7. The cabinet approved the establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
It was decided under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), said an official statement.
According to the cabinet, the cost of the project will be Rs 1,011 crore.
8. Indian railway is likely to start voluntary passenger insurance scheme from September by charging a minimal premium of less than Rs 10 per ticket from travelers for an insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh in case of death or permanent disability caused in train accident.
9. The Cabinet Committee has given its approval for construction of a new dry dock within the existing premises of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
This big sized dry dock is a critical requirement of CSL to promote ship building and is a step in the direction of “Make in India” initiative of the Government.
10. The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that launch of National Electoral Roll Purification (NERP) 2016 programme across the country.
11. India has been ranked a low 110th out of 149 countries on Sustainable Development index (SDI).
Top 10 Countries are Sweden (1st), Denmark (2nd), Norway (3rd), Finland (4th), Switzerland (5th), Germany (6th), Austria (7th), Netherlands (8th), Iceland (9th) and United Kingdom (10th).
International – Across the Globe:
1. 
listed Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex and Sikkim’s national park home to the world’s third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga among its World Heritage Sites, approving all three nominations linked to India this session.
India now has 35 sites in the prestigious UNESCO list.
2. Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kirch have arrived at Port Kelang on a four day visit, as part of deployment of the Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea and Western Pacific.
3. Researchers from Laval University based in Quebec City, Canada are going to conduct the world’s first Zika vaccine test on humans.
They are first international researchers team in the world to complete all of the steps in the regulatory process for the test.
The development of the Zika vaccine has been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada.
Until now, vaccines have been tested on mice.
4. According to latest UNCTAD estimates, globally, the electronic commerce, or ecommerce, market is worth around $22.1 trillion.
China is the world’s largest business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce market, both in terms of sales and in number of online shoppers, followed by the US and Japan.
India, the 10th largest market in terms of buyers, was ahead of Brazil and Russia in per capita ecommerce spend, the report said.
5. Seven Indian companies have made it to the latest Fortune 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations in terms of revenue with the retail giant Walmart topping the global rankings.
The seven companies are:
Indian Oil Corp – 161st position
RIL – 215th position
SBI – 232nd position
Bharat Petroleum – 233rd position
Hindustan Petroleum – 234th position
Tata Motors – 226th position
Rajesh Jewelers – 423rd position
The overall list was topped by retail giant Walmart with revenue of $482,130 million.
6. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the country.
The emergency was declared in response to the failed coup that happened on 15 July 2016.
Sports:
1. Vijender Singh, the boxing star from India clinched the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title at the Thyagraj Stadium, New Delhi.
To win the title he defeated former WBC European champion Kerry Hope.
2. 
The Court of Arbitration for Sport today dismissed a Russian appeal against a ban imposed by athletics governing body the IAAF over state-run doping, barring the country’s track and field team from the Rio Games.
The International Olympic Committee had said the CAS ruling will help shape its decision on whether to ban Russia entirely from the Rio Games.
Awards & Recognition:
1. Nigerian journalist and presenter Didi Akinyelure has won the second BBC World News Komla Dumor Award.
As part of the award, she will start a three-month placement at the BBC in London in September 2016.
It will provide her opportunity to gain skills and experience by attending a course with BBC Academy.
2. Indian actor, model, television personality Rohit Khandelwal won the prestigious 2016 Mr. World title.
With this he became first Indian and first Asian to win the Mr. World title.
Fernando Alberto Alvarez Soto (Puerto Rico) was named the first runner-up and Aldo Esparza Ramirez (Mexico) was named the second runner-up.
3. 
Kerala Tourism has secured two Gold Awards at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) awards in recognition of its trendsetting marketing initiatives.
The two gold medals for ‘Marketing Media’ are in the categories of ‘Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media’ and ‘E-Newsletter’, which were clinched by the successful ‘Visit Kerala’ television commercial campaign and the popular Kerala Tourism E-Newsletter respectively.
Appointments & Resignations:
1. Pema Khandu was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh at Raj Bhawan in Itanagar.
Governor Tataghata Roy administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy to him.
2. Malcolm Turnbull was sworn as Prime Minister of Australia for second term after a narrow victory in the federal election.
He became the 29th Prime Minister of the country.
He was administered oath to the office by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Australia.
3. Senior IAS officer Guruprasad Mohapatra was appointed as Chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Prior to this appointment he was working as Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce from the past two years.
4. Senior IAS officer A. B. P. Pandey was today appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
UIDAI issues Aadhaar, a 12-digit unique identification number that serves as a proof of identity and address anywhere in the country.
Economics & Banking GK:
1. The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to exchange up to 20 pieces of soiled currency notes with a maximum value of Rs. 5,000 over the counter free of charge in an effort to improve customer service.
However, if the number of notes to be exchanged is more than 20, banks can levy service charge.
2. The fourth tranche of the Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) scheme opened for subscription.
It is government securities denominated in grams of gold that offers an alternative to holding gold in physical form.
3. According to Standard & Poor’s (S&P), an International credit rating agency, the growth rate for India in the next two years will be 8%.
This is much higher than forecast of other international agencies.
IMF has forecast 7.4% growth in the next two years.
4. The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has named 5,610 willful defaulters, who collectively defrauded public sector and private sector banks in India of a staggering amount of Rs. 58,792 crore as on March 2016.
Bills – New & Amendments:
1. The Parliament has passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016.
It was passed to provide statutory status to the existing Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad, Haryana.
2. The Supreme Court has accepted major recommendations of Lodha Committee on reforms in BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), the world’s richest cricketing body.
3. The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012.
4. The Bill seeks to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to widen the scope of the law against child labour and stricter punishments for violations.
5. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for introducing amendments to the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU):
1. The Union Cabinet has approved the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016.
It will protect transgenders from discrimination.
Through this Bill the Union Government has evolved a holistic mechanism for the social, economic and educational empowerment of marginalized transgenders community.
2. The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has signed Statement of Intent (SoI) with tech giant Intel India to set up Atal Tinkering laboratories (ATL) under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
The aim of Atal Tinkering laboratories is to cultivate adaptive learning and innovation skills among young minds in the country.
3. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed seven unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers to reduce tax litigation.
The Union Cabinet has approved signing of the Air Services Agreement between India and Mozambique.
4. The Union Cabinet has apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Tunisia for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Digital Economy.
5. The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post-facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Switzerland for cooperation in skill development.
6. India and Japan have signed a Social Security Agreement (SSA) and will come into force on 1 October 2016.
The SSA will benefit Indian and Japanese professionals and skilled workers working in each other’s country and will also boost bilateral business linkages.
7. Federal Bank has signed an agreement with Reliance Jio Money for one-click payment service.
This arrangement will help customers retain cash in their account and use it only when a transaction is made unlike other instances where a wallet will require the user to maintain balance exclusively in the wallet.
8.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has joined hands with the State Bank of India.
The agreement was to chalk out a detailed plan for promotion of rail ticketing activities, including internet ticketing and unreserved ticketing system.
Science & Technology:
1. The Union Commerce Ministry has launched an e-marketplace portal for online purchase of goods and services by various central government ministries and departments.
It was launched by the Union Minister of State (MoS) Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.
2.
Social networking giant Facebook’s Internet drone named ‘Aquila’ has passed first full-scale test.
This was the first time using the full-scale drone.
The flight test was undertaken in Yuma, Arizona (US) and was only meant to last for 30 minutes.
But the test went so well that the plane was kept flying for up for 96 minutes.
Important Dates:
1. Nelson Mandela International Day was observed across the world on 18 July 2016 to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela (1918-2013).
The day is aimed at inspiring individuals to take action to help change the world for the better.
Death:
1. Noted Indian hockey player Mohammed Shahid passed away due to multiple organ failure in Gurugram, Haryana. He was 56.
Mohammed Shahid was a member of the V Baskaran-led Indian team that won a Gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
His biggest contribution to the game of Hockey was the ‘half push- half hit’.
It was a stroke he used to hit the ball using the same grip used to dribble the ball.
He also received Arjuna Award (1981) and Padma Shri (1986).
2. Legendary playback singer Mubarak Begum passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra after a prolonged illness. She was 80.
She is known for her singing scores of songs, duets and ghazals for Bollywood,mainly during the 1950s-1970s.
3. Former French cyclist Dominique Arnaud has died at the age of 60, after a hard-fought battle with cancer, his family announced.
Arnaud took part on 11 occasions in the Tour de France and won three stages of the Vuelta a Espana, reports Efe.
Important Abbreviations used in the Article
| Abbreviation | Full Form |
| TRI-NETRA | Terrain imaging for diesel dRivers INfra-red, Enhanced opTical & Radar Assisted system |
| CCEA | Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs |
| AIIMS | All India Institute of Medical Sciences |
| CSL | Cochin Shipyard Limited |
| ECI | Election Commission of India |
| SDI | Sustainable Development index |
| AAI | Airports Authority of India |
| UIDAI | Unique Identification Authority of India |
| SGB | Sovereign Gold Bonds |
| AIBEA | All India Bank Employees’ Association |
| NITI | National Institution for Transforming India |
| CBDT | Central Board of Direct Taxes |
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