18 July 2015 current affairs / GA / GK : Annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra began on 18 July 2015 at Puri, Odisha.
- 9 day long Rath Yatra will see congregation of more than 50 lakh devotees from India and abroad.
- The 2015 celebration of Rath Yatra is theMillennium’s first Nabakalebar Rath Yatra, where all the Lords of Puri Jagannath Temple get new avatar after nineteen years.
- The nine-day yatra is taken out to worship the 12th century shrine of Lord Jagannath.
- The Odisha government has made all effort to ensure a smooth conduct of the grand festival.
- PM Narendra Modi extended his greetings on the occasion of Lord Jagannath’s 138th Rath Yatra.
- During the Rath Yatra, Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra will be brought out of the temple and will be taken to Gundicha temple, the place of their aunt’s house, which is the feminine creative aspect of divinity.
2nd Sohra Marathon-2015 was held in Meghalaya on 17 July 2015. The marathon was flagged off at Mawkdok in East Khashi.
- The marathon, named after theCherrapunji’s historical name Sohra,started and ended at Mawkdok crossing through 13 destinations.
- Winners of the Marathon
- First three winners of the Full Marathon in the male category : Vikas Kumar, Jomsingstar Ramsiej and Honton Rynjah
- First three winners of the Full Marathon in the female category : Shyamilee Singh, Darishisha Iangjuh and Habari Warjri
- The event was jointly organized by Department of Sports & Youth Affairs and Department of Art & Culture under theChief Minister’s Youth Development Scheme along with sponsorship from many agencies including the State Bank of India.
India and Myanmar announced plans to strengthen their defence cooperation during a joint consultative commission (JCC) meeting held in New Delhi.
- This meeting was chaired by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
- Both countries to work together on effective border management especially on the issue of cross-border insurgency and terrorism.
- India has reaffirmed to provide defence assistance program as part of its Goodwill Diplomacy to Myanmar in order to modernise their Armed Forces.
Centralized Delhi Police Railway Helpline number 1512 launched on 17th July 2015 by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary on 17 July 2015.
- This helpline will serve as a very useful mechanism for rail passengers.
- Now Passengers can file complaints and make suggestions from moving trains without deboarding through this helpline.
- An FIR will be lodged on fax or email and copy of the FIR will be sent to the complainant through fax/email/post.
Kutchi New Year of Kutchi community in the Kutch region in Gujarat was observed on 18 July 2015.
- The day is associated with beginning of rains in Kutch, which is largely a desert area.
- Kutchi community observes this New Year on the second day of shukla paksha or waxing phase of moon in Ashada month – Ashadhi Beej or Dwitiya.
- Kutchi New Year is celebrated in a traditional way by organizing satsangs, musical competitions and other cultural programmes in Kutch region.
- Ganesha, Goddess Lakshmi and other regional deities are worshipped on the day.
European Union (EU) approves a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros to Greece after it was backed by the 28 member states.
- This loan will allow Greece to pay its huge debt to European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) till new bailout plan is ratified.
- The loan will be given through the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) which is a rescue fund set up during the first time bailout of Greece in 2010. But presently it covers the whole of the 28 EU member nations and not just the 19 eurozone members.
- This loan fund will be officially for three months, but looking at present debt crisis of Greece it can be sustained until 20 August 2015.
CCI on 17 July 2015 give its approval for the proposed deal related to a Joint Venture Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company where Religare Enterprises will now exit this joint venture.
- Under this deal, Religare Enterprises will sell its entire holding in the life insurance joint venture while existing shareholders including the Netherlands-based Aegon and Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) will hike their stakes.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed a special currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBS).
- Sri Lankan bank can draw up to 1.1 billion dollars for a maximum period of 6 months under this agreement.
- It was signed with an intention to mitigate the possible currency volatility in the spirit of strengthening bilateral relations and economic ties of India with Sri Lanka.
- Earlier in March 2015, RBI had signed similar Currency Swap Agreement with Sri Lankan bank for 400 million dollars under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework within the overall limit of 2 billion dollars.
- This Currency Swap Framework is signed between SAARC member countries. It seeks to provide a backstop line of funding to member countries in order to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises.
Prashant Pathrabe appointed as Interim Director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on 17th July 2015.
- His appointment was approved by Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
- He will also continue to serve as the Director of Press Information Bureau (PIB) unit in Pune.
- Pathrabe succeeded incumbent Director DJ Narain who superannuated the office on 4 July 2015.
- Pathrabe is Maharashtra-based senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer of 1992 batch.
India’s first air freight station in the private sector will open from August 1 at Irungattukottai near Chennai.
- The first AFS in the country was set up in 2007 inside Central Warehousing Corporation in the city.
- It is set up by the city-based Indev Logistics at a cost of Rs.50 crore.
- AFS will reduce congestion at the gateway airports and the carrier operators can choose the AFS as a final destination for cargo delivery.
- The major advantages of the AFS include faster evacuation of cargo from the major gateway airports; an integrated supply chain, minimised transaction logistics cost; and tracking of the mobility and movement of the cargo.
Veteran Telugu playback singer Vissamraju Ramakrishna passes away due to cancer. He was 68.
- He had sung many memorable songs for legendary south Indian actor turned politician N T Rama Rao and other top stars.
- He had sung about 5,000 songs in his nearly 4 decades long career.
- His debut movie song as playback singer was “Vayase Oka Poolathota” in Vichitra Bandham (1972).
- He was also has sang number of popular devotional songs.
- His famous songs are in Andala Ramudu, Mutyala Muggu and Alluri Sitarama Raju films. His songs in N T Rama Rao’s film, Pothuluri Veerabrahmendra Swamy Charitra were a runaway success.
CCI slaps a penalty of Rs 671 crore on four public sector insurance companies-National Insurance Co, New India Insurance Co, Oriental Insurance Co and United India insurance company for indulging in anti-competitive practices.
- The competition regulator these insurance companies guilty of rigging a tender floated by the Government of Kerala in 2009 for selecting insurance service provider for implementation of the ‘Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna’.
- The case was taken up by the Commission suo moto pursuant to an anonymous information alleging cartelization by four public sector insurance companies in relation to a tender issued by the Government of Kerala for the implementation of RSBY and CHIS schemes.
French Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi died, nine months after suffering severe head injuries in a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
- Bianchi, 25, had been in a coma since crashing his Marussia into a recovery vehicle at October’s rain-hit race.
- He is the first F1 driver to die from injuries sustained in a Grand Prix since Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna was killed at Italy’s Imola circuit in 1994.
- Bianchi made his F1 debut with Marussia in 2013 and was also a member of the Ferrari young driver academy after previously working as a test driver for the team.
