National 1. United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a resolution 2231

(2015) that establishes a monitoring system for Iran’s nuclear program.

This adoption of the resolution will clear path for removal of all nuclear-

related sanctions against Iran. It also guarantees that the International

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will continue to verify Iran’s compliance with

its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of

Action (JCPOA).

2. Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas

Paswan launched the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan, a countrywide campaign, to

create mass awareness and capacity building for safe and hygienic food.

3. SC rejected curative petition of Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub

Memon.

Curative Petition is last legal recourse for a convict seeking reconsideration

of punishment which is usually decided by judges in chamber.

4. SC rejected Union Government’s review plea seeking OBC status for Jats.

5. Union Government extended Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) to Public Sector

Banks (PSBs), private sector commercial banks, rural regional banks (RRBs),

cooperative banks and NABARD.

It was extended to ensure availability of crop loans of up to 3 lakh rupees to

farmers at 7 percent per annum.

6. After failing to get Centre’s approval, the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on

Wednesday passed a bill to amend 15 labour laws.

With this, Madhya Pradesh has become the second state to pass its

own labour law amendments in the Assembly after Rajasthan under the

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Companies in the state employing up to 300 people (up from 100 in the

present provision) will be allowed to retrench workers or shut the

establishment without government approval.

Workers in Madhya Pradesh will get the benefit of earned leave after 6

months of service and in the same calendar year.

This will apply to a factory with at least 10 workers if it has no power

connection or at least 20 with one. At present, employees who have

worked for at least 8 months are entitled to annual leave, being able to

avail of these in the next calendar year.

The process of registration or grant of licenses for establishments will also

be expedited under the Contract Labour Act, Inter State Migrant Workers

Act, Motor Transport Workers Act and Building & Other Construction

Workers Act.

Builders in the state will have to pay a considerably reduced cess for their

construction work.

7. Union Government has launched a national campaign Surakshit Khadya

Abhiyan in a bid to create awareness and capacity building on Safe and Hygienic

food for all.

8. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that Haryanavi

film ‘Pagdi: The Honour’ will be free from tax.

9. The Supreme Court of India allowed state governments to exercise its power of

remission to release life convicts with a rider.

The decision was given by five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief

Justice HL Dattu.

10. Maharashtra Cabinet approved Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas

Scheme.

Its objectives are to reduce the man-animal conflict and achieve sustainable

development of these villages. The scheme also aims at reducing the

dependence of villagers on the forest.

11. The Entertainment Network (India) Ltd (ENIL) received the approval from the

Union Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to purchase 104.8 FM Oye FM

radio station of TV Today Network (TVTN) that runs in four cities Amritsar,

Jodhpur, Patiala and Shimla.

12. Maharashtra Cabinet has approved Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas

Scheme for for development of villages around tiger reserves. The scheme will be

launched on project basis from 2015-16 to 2019-2020 and has been proposed by

State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

13. Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) proposed draft Food Safety

and Standards Regulations, 2015.

International 1. Global aircraft maker Boeing will build a big maintenance base in central China

where 12 planes can be repaired simultaneously.

The aircraft repair center at Zhengzhou, capital city of central China’s

Henan province, is expected to be put into use at the end of 2016.

A total of 12 Boeing 737 planes can be maintained at the same time in the

centre.

2. The New Development Bank (NDB) created by Brazil, Russia, India, China and

South Africa (BRICS) nations formally started its operations from its headquarters

in Shanghai, China.

3. The Japanese Cabinet approved the Defense White Paper for the year 2015. In

the White Paper 2015, the cabinet described the security situation surrounding

Japan as increasingly tough.

The defense white paper for 2015 examines a range of global threats.

Sports

1. France`s tennis legend Amelie Mauresmo was inducted into the International

Tennis Hall of Fame by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). She is a two-

time Grand Slam winner viz. Australian Open (2006) and Wimbledon (2006).

2. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced the venues in

India that will host the men and women ICC World Twenty20 that will be hosted

between Match 11 and April 3, 2016.

BCCI said that Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamshala, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur

and New Delhi will be the venues along with Kolkata, which will also host

the final of the event.

3. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 20 July 2015 constituted a

working group to study the verdict of the Supreme Court appointed RM Lodha

Committee relating to the IPL 2013 scandal.

The four member group includes IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI

secretary Anurag Thakur, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Choudhury and former

India captain Sourav Ganguly.

4. 10-year old Shubham Jaglan won the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf event in

Las Vegas. Jaglan is the son of a milkman from rural Haryana, India.

He shot a three round score of 106 winning by a five-stroke margin, ahead

of two Americans Justin Dang and Sihan Sandhu and Thailand’s Pongsapak

Laopakdee for the Boys 9-10 years category title.

5. First All Women Trans Continental Road Expedition from Delhi to London was

flagged off on 23 July 2015.

The three woman participants, namely Nidhi Tiwari, Rashmi

Kopparand Soumaya Goel, will reach United Kingdom in 55 days.

6. India's ODI cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the ninth

most marketable sportsperson in the world ahead of the likes of football

superstar Lionel Messi and sprint king Usain Bolt in a power list prepared by

London School of Marketing.

7. 20 year old Indian-American Amitoj Chhabra has won the Junior Title at the US

Powerlifting Association National Championships 2015.

8. The Union Government on 24 July 2015 constituted All India Council of Sports

as an advisory body for the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The advice

rendered by the council will be duly considered by the government, but it will not

be binding and obligatory on the government.

Awards & Recognition

1. Pamarthy Shankar, a cartoonist working with the prominent Telugu Daily

newspaper Sakshi, won the Grand Prix World Press Cartoon 2014 Award for

sketching Nelson Mandela.

2. Film-maker Benoy Behl won the Best Documentary Producer award at Madrid

International Film Festival. He was awarded for producing and directing a

documentary film titled Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism.

3. Noted Canadian author Naomi Klein has won the 36th edition of American

Book Award 2015.

She has won this award for her environmental work This Changes

Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate published in 2014.

4. Seven Indian companies have found their place in 2015 Fortune 500 Global

Companies list compiled by Fortune Magazine.

They are –

Indian Oil: ranked 119th with revenues of 74 billion dollars.

Reliance Industries: ranked 158th with revenues of 62 billion dollars.

Tata Motors: ranked 254th with revenues of 42 billion dollars.

State Bank of India (SBI): ranked 260th with revenues of 42 billion dollars.

Bharat Petroleum: ranked 280th with revenues of 40 billion dollars.

Hindustan Petroleum: ranked 327th with revenues of 35 billion dollars.

Oil and Natural Gas: ranked 449th with revenues of 26 billion dollars.

Top 5: Walmart (1st) of US, Sinopec Group (2nd) of China, Royal Dutch Shell

(3rd) of Netherlands, China National Petroleum (4th) and Exxon Mobil (5th)

of US.

About Fortune 500 Global Companies list

It is an annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest companies, compiled and

published by the American business magazine Fortune and published

globally by Time Inc. In this list, companies are ranked by total revenues for

their respective fiscal year which has ended on or before March 31, 2015.

5. United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) has

named Conakry, the Capital city of the Republic of Guinea as the World Book

Capital for year 2017.

With this selection Conakry become the 17th city in the World to be

designated as World Book Capital.

6. India has been placed at 12th position among the 31 countries in the world in

terms of power (electricity) generation from nuclear source.

7. Puducherry city has emerged as the first nomination to be received by the

Urban Development Ministry for a Smart City Mission.

8. Union Government has announced that 14 States and Union Territories (UTs)

have achieved or exceeded the literacy rate of 80 percent.

14 States and UTs are: Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Goa, Tripura,

Daman and Diu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, NCR of Delhi, Chandigarh,

Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.

9. Noted Canadian author Naomi Klein has won the 36th edition of American

Book Award 2015. She has won this award for her environmental work This

Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate published in 2014.

10. The Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 list of the year 2015 was released on 22nd July

2015. The Fab 50 list is an annual honor roll highlighting some of the brightest

stars in the Asia Pacific.

The Indian companies on the list are:

Aurobindo Pharma

HCL Technologies

HDFC Bank

Lupin

Motherson Sumi Systems

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Motors

Tech Mahindra

Titan

11. Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs won the world’s oldest scientific

prize, the Royal Society’s Copley Medal.

12. Indian-American boy Amitoj Chhabra won the Junior Title at the US

Powerlifting Association National Championships 2015 that was held at the

Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.

13. Veteran mountaineer Nalini Sengupta is set to become the first Puneite to

have a Himalyan peak christened in her honor.

14. Historian Ramachandra Guha was on 24 July 2015 chosen for the Fukuoka

Asian Culture Prize 2015 in the Academic Category.

Economics

1. The Union Railways Ministry and the Odisha Government signed Memorandum

of Understanding (MOU) for implementation of Dasapalla-Bolangir segment

of Khurda Road-Bolangir New Broad Gauge Railway Line on cost sharing basis.

2. India and Singapore signed Technical Agreement (TA) on sharing white-shipping

information to enhance maritime cooperation between the two navies.

3. India has earned about US 100 million dollars by launching 45 commercial

foreign satellites from 19 countries. The revenue was earned by Antrix, the

commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

4. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group’s Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering

(PDOE) inked a multi-crore agreement with Russian firm Zvyozdochka, JSC Ship

Repairing Centre.

5. World Trade Organization (WTO) members on 24 July 2015 struck a deal to add

more than 200 products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free

trade.

In value terms, the deal cuts tariffs on 1 trillion US dollar worth of

information technology (IT) products, which is equal to global trade in iron,

steel, textiles and clothing combined.

Appointments

1. Union Government has appointed Bhanu Pratap Sharma as Chairperson Food

Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

2. Pankaj Munjal was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of

Hero Motors Group.

3. R K Pachauri, accused of sexual harassment by an employee working under him

in Teri, has taken back charge as director-general of the environmental NGO, even

as the police investigation in the matter continue and cases are being tried in the

court.

4. Former McKinsey director Ananth Narayanan was appointed as the Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) of the Flipkart-owned fashion store Myntra.

5. Hisao Tanaka resigned as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of

Toshiba. He will be succeeded by Masashi Muromachi, who is presently the

Chairman of Toshiba.

6. White House economic adviser Maurice Obstfeld was appointed as Chief

Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

7. President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed 2 members of Anglo-Indian

Community to Lok Sabha as per the provisions of Article 331 of Indian

Constitution.

Nominated Persons are – Professor Richard Hay, George Baker.

8. Ajay Mathur has been appointed as Director-General (DG) of The Energy and

Resources Institute (TERI).

9. Ashok Kumar Balyan, former chief executive of Petronet LNG Ltd, has joined

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group as CEO of its Oil & Gas Business.

Mergers & Acquisition

1. Passengers used to stale fare on Indian trains may finally get some relief as

some of the top fast-food chains in the country are boarding the band wagon.

After pizza maker Domino’s, American chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried

Chicken (KFC), has tied up with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

Corporation (IRCTC) to serve consumers on trains.

2. Indian drug company Lupin acquired US generics company GAVIS

Pharmaceuticals and Novel Laboratories (GAVIS) for 880 million US dollars to

strengthen its presence in the United States.

Science & Technology

1. A new species of cyprinid freshwater fish named Puntius Dolichopterus has

been discovered in Kerala’s Kayamkulam city.

It was discovered by Mathews Plamoottil, head of the department of

zoology in Baby John Memorial Government College of Kollam district.

2. Union Government has launched National Career Counselling Portal in a bid to

modernize all government-run employment exchanges.

The web portal will be a one-stop platform for both job providers and job

seekers where registration can be done online. It will provide basic

platform for searching and applying for jobs on the portal.

3. An indigenously designed and developed Visibility Measuring System DRISHTI

was installed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi.

The system will be used for reporting the runway visual range, which is a

critical parameter for safe landing and take-off of aircraft in poor visibility

conditions.

4. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully tested India’s first

indigenously designed and developed High Thrust cryogenic rocket engine

generating a nominal thrust of 19 tons at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri.

The rocket was hot tested for duration of 800 seconds, which is

approximately 25% more than the engine burn duration in flight.

The engine will be used for powering the Cryogenic stage (C25), the upper

stage of the next generation GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle of ISRO, capable of

launching four tonne class satellites.

It was discovered by Mathews Plamoottil, head of the department of

zoology in Baby John Memorial Government College of Kollam district.

5. ISRO has successfully test-fired Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

Mark III project’s high-thrust cryogenic rocket engine.

It is India’s first indigenously designed and developed high-thrust cryogenic

rocket engine capable of generating a nominal thrust of 19 tones.

7. The world’s first malaria vaccine called RTS,S/AS01 or Mosquirix got approval

from European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The vaccine was licensed for use on babies aged between 6 weeks and 17

months in Africa, which is at the highest risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

8. Earth-like exoplanet Kepler 452b was discovered by Kepler Mission. The

discovery of it was made public during the NASA press conference on 23 July

2015. It resides in a year-long orbit in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star in the

constellation of Cygnus some 1400 light-years away.

Important Dates 1. Every year July 23 is observed as National Broadcasting day. On this day in

1927, Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) began organized radio broadcasting

from Bombay station.

Death 1. Tom Moore, the cartoonist who brought to life the escapades of Riverdale

residents in Archie comics has passed away. He was 86.

2. Famous Hollywood actor Olaf Pooley passed away due to congestive heart

failure. He was 101.

3. Acclaimed United States novelist Edgar Lawrence Doctorow passed away in

New York due to lung cancer. He was 84.

4. Former Governor of Kerala and Bihar R S Gavai died this afternoon after a

prolonged illness at a private hospital here. He was 86.