- National:
- On 25th July 2023, Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the 5th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit (Heli Summit 2023) in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.
- On July 26, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The complex is named Bharat Mandapam and was developed at a cost of about 2,700 crore.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a growth rate of 6.1% for India in 2023, which is a 0.2 percentage point upward revision compared with the April projection.
- The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently approved the Guidelines for Institutional Development Plan (IDP) for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). These guidelines have been designed with specific aims and objectives in mind to enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of higher education in India.
- According to the Social Justice Ministry, a total of 530 districts across the country had so far reported themselves to be free of manual scavenging with the rest yet to do so.
- Banking:
- On 13th July 2023, the World Bank issued an official approval for the Bank of Israel to join the International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR)1. The ICCR, coordinated by the World Bank with support from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is a worldwide committee on credit reporting.
- Canara Bank topped the list of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) with the highest lending of Rs 187,813 crore in FY23 to Corporations and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) of States and Union Territories (UTs) for the 5th consecutive time.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed restrictions on The National Cooperative Bank in Bengaluru due to its worsening financial condition. The bank is now only permitted to disburse Rs 50,000 to depositors across all accounts.
- Appointments:
- Ritesh Chauhan (IAS) has been given the additional responsibility of the Managing Director (MD) post of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED).
- Economy:
- U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate for the 11th time in 17 months on Wednesday, leaving the door open to another increase as the central bank shows how serious it is about getting inflation back to two per cent.
- Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the 3rd Edition of Summit on “Global Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs in India” (GCPMH 2023) on July 27, 2023 at New Delhi.
- Awards:
- The 169-year-old Byculla railway station in Mumbai, which is one of the oldest living railway stations in India, has received UNESCO’s Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation award of merit for restoration work carried out over the last three years.
- Obituary:
- Milan Kundera, the Czech-French author who is among the world’s most translated authors, passed away on July 11, 2023 in his Paris apartment at the age of 94. He was a reclusive literary giant and the author of ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’.
- World:
- UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report 2023, titled ‘Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms’ has endorsed banning smartphones in schools in situations where “technology integration does not improve learning or if it worsens student well-being”.
- The UK has launched the India Young Professionals Scheme which allows Indian citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 to live and work in the UK for up to 2 years
- Singapore’s former Indian-origin minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has formally launched his presidential campaign on Wednesday.
- Sports:
- Aditya S Samant, a 17-year-old chess prodigy from Maharashtra, became India’s 83rd chess Grandmaster on Wednesday. He achieved his third and final GM norm at the Master Tournament (MTO) in the Biel International Chess Festival.
- Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal won the Tampere Open title in 2023. He beat Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic in straight sets to clinch the title. This was Nagal’s fourth ATP Challenger title and his second crown this year.
- India finished 2nd on the medals tally at the recently concluded ISSF Junior Shooting World Championships 2023 in Changwon, South Korea. Indian shooters bagged 17 medals, which include 6 Gold, 6 Silver, and 5 Bronze.
- Important Days:
- The International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem is celebrated each year on July 26 to raise awareness of the importance of mangrove ecosystems as “a unique, special and vulnerable ecosystem” and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation, and uses.
Questions:
Q.1 When did Milan Kundera pass away?a. July 11, 2022
b. July 11, 2023
c. June 11, 2023
d. June 11, 2022
Q.2 When is the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem celebrated?
a. July 26
b. August 26
c. September 26
d. October 26
