National & International Affairs
1. India, Bangladesh to jointly inaugurate Petrapole checkpost
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated Petrapole Integrated checkpost, the biggest land port in South Asia, through video conferencing.
- According to PM Modi Petrapole checkpost will not only promote bilateral trade but also help in economic growth of both countries.
- Eight such integrated check posts along Indo-Bangladesh border to be set up.
- Petrapole-Benapole land border crossing is an important one for India and Bangladesh as 50 % of the trade passes through Petrapole.
- The Petrapole checkpost will also serve to foster greater economic integration and connectivity between both countries.
2. Turkey declares three-month state of emergency
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency after a failed military coup.
- The decision was made following a meeting with cabinet ministers and top security advisers in Ankara.
- More than 50 thousand state employees have been rounded up, sacked or suspended in the days since the coup attempt.
- It allowed officials to set curfews, issue search and arrest warrants and restrict gatherings as the security forces fought Kurdish rebels in the region.
- Earlier, Turkey had imposed martial law-like emergency rule in the southeast of the country in 1987.The emergency rule was gradually lifted by 2002.
3. Cabinet approves establishment of new AIIMS at Gorakhpur
- The cabinet approved the establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).
- The cost of the project for the establishment of the new AIIMS in Gorakhpur shall be Rs. 1011 crore.
- AIIMS shall have a hospital with a capacity of 750 beds which will include Emergency/Trauma Beds, AYUSH Beds, Private Beds and ICU Speciality & Super Speciality beds.
- This institute will also conduct research on prevalent regional diseases and other health issues and provide for better control and cure of such diseases.
- Earlier under the PMSSY scheme, AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli is in progress.
- Also, three AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani(West) and Mangalagiri in Guntur (A.P) have been sanctioned in 2015.
4. IIT Council to provide opportunity to foreign students to study in IITs
- The Indian Institute of Technology Council has decided to provide opportunity to eligible foreign students to study in the IITs.
- The focus will be on the neighbouring countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia.
- Under this initiative, the advanced joint entrance examination will be held in these countries to pick up eligible students for admission.
- According to Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar ,IIT Bombay is to facilitate the visit of IIT teams to these countries in association with the Indian diplomatic missions.
- This initiative will be operational from the academic year 2017-18.
Books & Authors
5. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable: Amitav Ghosh
- Noted writer Amitav Ghosh’s latest book “The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable” is an extended essay of sorts on climate change.
- The book addresses the challenges of representing the complexity of climate change in literature and the responsibility of writers to document the extreme reality humans are now facing.
- Ghosh examines the inability at the level of literature, history and politics to grasp the scale and violence of climate change.
6. Aadhaar Must For Getting UGC Fellowship Or Scholarship
- The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked applicants to provide Aadhaar number while applying for any UGC fellowship or scholarship.
- Aadhaar will be used as an identifier for availing benefits of the UGC scholarship/fellowship schemes.
- Applicants who have already submitted the online applications for the year 2017-18 have been requested to update their application forms.
Science & Defence
7. NASA announces discovery of 104 new planets outside solar system
- NASA has announced the discovery of 104 new planets outside our solar system including four that could have Earth-like, rocky surfaces.
- Scientists discovered the exoplanets in Hawaii using Kepler space telescope.
- The unmanned Kepler mission has been scanning 150,000 stars in the Cygnus constellation for signs of orbiting bodies, particularly those that might be able to support life.
Obituaries
8. Oldest and last Babri litigant Hashim Ansari passes away
- The oldest litigant of Babri Mosque Ram Janmbhumi dispute of Ayodhya, Mohammad Hashim Ansari (96-year) has passed away.
- He was ailing for sometime due to heart-related ailments, breathed his last at his house in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh).
- Ansari’s father was a tailor who owned a shop in the Shringar Haat area.
- He had been associated with the Babri mosque dispute case since December 1949 but had filed the case in December, 1961 along with six others about the disputed matter.
Sports
9. BCCI conducts English language and communication skills
- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has organised a course for umpires on English language and communication skills.
- The first batch took place from July 12 to 16 and the second is scheduled from July 19 to 23 in Mumbai.
- The course has been designed by the British Council along with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
- It has been customized for the umpires by adding the language and communication skills required for umpires during the course of a match to the curriculum.
10. India women’s hockey team beats hosts USA 2-1 in Manheim, Pennsylvania
- India women’s hockey team fought valiantly to register a 2-1 come from behind win over hosts USA in their second game of the America tour in Manheim, Pennsylvania..
- India had earlier lost 2-3 to USA in the first game of the tour, their final preparation before flying out to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics, starting August 5.
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GK Quiz (for previous day’s news only)Take the quiz below to find out how well-versed you are with current affairs. You can also go through the Daily GK Update: 20th July 2016_before attempting the quiz.
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