30 july 2015 important current affairs / GK / GA : Former President APJ Abdul Kalam laid to rest with full state honours, including a 21-gun salute at his native island town, Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu on Thursday afternoon.
- PM Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Chief Ministers of neighbouring States, Union Ministers, and State Ministers were among thousands who took part in the funeral.
- After a guard of honour given by the tri-forces, the Prime Minister laid a wreath and paid his last respects to the 11th President of the country.
- He was followed by Mr. Rosaiah, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar Parikkar and MoS Pon. Radhakrishnan.
Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, executed at Nagpur Central Prison. He was convicted for 1993 Serial Blasts in Mumbai.
- State Govt decided to hand over his body to his relatives , after completion of formalities.
- His execution was carried out about two hours after his lawyers’ last-gasp plea, to get the death warrant stayed. This plea was dismissed by the three-judge bench comprising Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant in an unprecedented hearing that began in the wee hours today and ended at dawn.
- Earlier, the President Pranab Mukherjee and Maharashtra Governor rejected Memon’s mercy petition on 29 July 2015 after which, his lawyers moved the apex court again late last night seeking stay of his hanging.
- Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant with profession was accused for planning the Mumbai blasts that occurred on 12 March 1993. The 1993 bomb blasts led to death of 257 people and injured at least 712 people.
Eminent musician Vasundhara Komkali passes away on 29 July 2015 at her residence in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. She was 85.
- She is one of the prominent Indian classical vocalist.
- She received training in Indian classical music by Pt. Kumar Gandharva (her husband) and Dr. BR Deodhar.
- She was also recognised with several awards, including prestigious Padmashri award.
Indian writer Anuradha Roy’s ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015.
- Her book ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ that tells the story of Nomi and is set in Jarmuli – a city of temples and a centre of healing on the edge of the ocean has made it among the 13 books selected for the £50,000 literary prize.
- It was announced by a panel of five judges who picked 13 books from over 150, the longlist also features Man Booker Prize-winning Irish author Anne Enright and the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Anne Tyler, among others.
- The shortlist of six books will be revealed on September 15 and the final winner on October 13.
David Taylor becomes new CEO of Procter & Gamble (P&G) replacing A G Lafley on 29 july 2015.
- The world’s largest household products maker P&G has appointed new CEO in wake of sluggish sales in developed countries. And recently has also announced to sell off its 40 brands to the perfume maker Coty Inc for USD 12.5
- David Taylor is with the P&G for last 35 years, who had joined in 1980. He has been the group president for global health & grooming business since 2013 and has served the company as in managerial role across the globe.
Cyclone Komen, a new tropical cyclone formed over Northern Bay of Bengal. The cyclone is expected to make landfall on the coast of Odisha and West Bengal.
- Komen currently lies centred at about 95 km southwest of Chittagong in Bangladesh and about 300 km southeast of Kolkata.
- Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted heavy to very heavy rains with isolated extremely heavy rains in Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha of India.
- The cyclone is expected to attain the wind speed reaching 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph.
- The cyclone after making landfall in Bangladesh will move west-north-westwards and weaken gradually.
India’s Kalyani Group partnered with Israel’s Rafael to produce Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) in India.
- This joint venture is considered to deepen India-Israel strategic cooperation.
- The manufacturing JV will be as per the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) guidelines which means that the 51% ownership stake in JV will hold by the Kalyani Group.
- FDI proposal in this regard was cleared by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in October 2014 which was chaired by then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
- FDI deal was worth 3,200 crore rupees and comprises order of 300 plus launchers and 8,000 plus Spike ATGM missiles.
- About Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM): It is a 3rd generation, man-portable, fire-and-forget, anti-tank missile. Designed and developed by Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
‘Kotak Bharat’ , mobile banking app launched by Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) with an objective to provide mobile banking services to customers in the remotest regions of India.
- It is an android based android app designed to provide banking service to customers in the under-banked and un-banked regions with provision to use service in their preferred language.
- Initially the service will be provided in Hindi and English language and would also be available in Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada in few months.
- Customers can manage their savings/current accounts and credit cards through this app. Initially will be launch in prominent Hindi belt centre starting from Lucknow and will spread its service in other state in few months.
- The app is compatible on SMS banking keyword process platform where customers could download the app on their registered mobile number without any separate registration process.
Attempt : IBPS Clerk 2015 prelims mock test
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation placed on top in the list of the world’s wealthiest private foundations established by living ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals, according to a Wealth-X report.
- With total assets of USD 43.4 billion, the Gates Foundation accounts for more than half of the combined assets of the 10 charitable foundations on the list, the global wealth intelligence and prospecting firm has said.
- Li Ka Shing Foundation, founded in 1980 by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing, ranked second with USD 8.1 billion in assets followed by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (USD 6.4 billion) and Bloomberg Philanthropies (USD 5.4 billion) in the third and fourth place, respectively.
- Collectively, the 10 foundations have total assets of USD 83.1 billion, equivalent to 29.7 per cent of combined net worth of the UHNW individuals who established them.
SEBI cancelled the Certificate of Registration of Sahara Mutual Fund on 28 July 2015.
- The licence would stand cancelled after 60 days from the date of the order.
- The market regulator in its order said that the company is not fit and proper entity to carry out the business of mutual fund.
- It also directed Sahara Mutual Fund or Sahara Asset Management Company Private Limited (Sahara AMC) not to take any new subscription from the investors including existing investors in Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) or Systematic Transfer Plans (STP) and also not to levy any penalties on the investors for not depositing the installments.
Indian Art house, an exclusive online store offering sellers a platform to promote regional products launched by Flipkart on 30 July.
- With over seven million artisans, India is globally known for its unique artifacts and traditional products.
- India Art House aims at bringing products from artisans under one roof and offer them access to a wide set of customers across geographies.
- With over 10,000 hand-made and traditional handicrafts products in the store, customers will now be able to browse and shop for skilled crafts from specific regions of their choice.
Mobile marketplace and payments site Paytm bags the title sponsorship rights of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for Rs. 203 crore.
- Shankar Nath, Senior Vice-President, Paytm told Business Line that the sponsorship rights were acquired for all the 84 series India will play till 2019.
- Paytm will pay Rs. 2.42 crore for every international match hosted by BCCI. The first home series will be against South Africa starting September.
- The Alibaba-backed company, owned by One97 communications and founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, won the bid against home-grown mobile handset maker Micromax, which paid Rs. 2.02 crore per match.