i. India and Russia have signed Saint Petersburg Declaration as a roadmap to enhance cooperation after the 18th annual bilateral summit.
ii. The Declaration was signed following the annual bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both the leaders have signed 12 agreements including the Saint Petersburg Declaration.
iii. Both the countries had agreed to interact closely on various fields including economy, manufacturing, energy etc.
Static Takeaways-
i. India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a test range in Odisha as part of a user trial by the Army.
ii. The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out using a mobile launcher of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha.
Static Takeaways-
- DRDO was formed in 1958
- Dr S Christopher is the current Chairman of DRDO
- Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island is located in Odisha.
i. The Telangana Government has launched a digital wallet, named T-Wallet, which doesn’t charge transaction fee from consumers.
ii. T-Wallet is bi-directional in nature. While consumers use it for public and private transactions, the government can use it to make payments to various beneficiaries. It also can be used over the web version.
iii. One can top up the wallet using credit or debit cards, Internet banking or through cash at Mee Seva centres. It allows a maximum transaction of Rs1 lakh for e-KYC (know your customer) users. For non-KYC users, the limit is set to Rs20,000.
Static Takeaways-
- Telangana was formed on 2 June 2014 and its CM is Sri K.Chandrashekar Rao
- Governor of Telangana is Sri ESL Narasimhan.
i. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched a web portal 'Mahaswayam' that will cater to job seekers, employers, entrepreneurs, and training institutes who can avail details regarding skill development and employment.
ii. Earlier, the state government ran three different portals- Maharashtra State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) portal for Skill Development, 'Maharojgar' for employment and 'Mahaswayamrojgar' for entrepreneurship.
iii. These three have now been merged into 'Mahaswayam', making it easier for all beneficiaries as well as the state to keep a track of the demand and supply of workforce.
Static Takeaways-
- Governor of Maharashtra is C.Vidyasagar Rao.
- Sanjay Gandhi National Park is situated at Mumbai in Maharashtra.
i. The first Mega Food Park in the state of Odisha MITS Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. at Rayagada has been inaugurated by Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing Industries.
ii. To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.
Static Takeaways-
- India's First mega food park 'Srini' was opened at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.
- List of five important National Parks and WLS in Odisha
- Chilika Wildlife Sanctuary
- Kotagarh Wildlife Sanctuary
- Hadahgarh Wildlife Sanctuary
- Nandankanan Zoological Park
- Simlipal National Park.
i. Minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has launched 'INAM PRO+'. It is an e-commerce platform for construction and infrastructure raw material for government and private procurement.
ii. The website 'inampro.nic.in' launched by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL).
iii. INAM PRO+ is an updated version of the INAM portal, which was launched by the ministry of road transport and highways in 2015, to procure cement. The INAM portal has already done sales worth Rs32 crore in two years.
Static Takeaways-
- National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDC) is a fully owned company of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India.
- Shri Sanjay Mitra is the Chairman of NHIDC.
- Headquarter of NHIDC is in New Delhi.
i. Reserve Bank of India has appointed S. Ganesh Kumar as Executive Director. His appointment is consequent upon voluntary retirement of Chandan Sinha.
ii. The central bank currently has 11 Executive Directors. Prior to being promoted as ED, Ganesh Kumar was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology in the Reserve Bank.
Static Takeaways-
- Urjit Patel is the 24th governor of RBI
- RBI was nationalized in 1949 and its headquarter is in Mumbai.
i. Sanjiv Singh has taken over as the Chairman of the country’s biggest company Indian Oil Corporation. He replaces B Ashok.
ii. Prior to his elevation, Mr.Singh was Director (Refineries) on the IOC board since July 2014. Concurrently, he will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) and Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL), a joint venture company set up to revive the fertilizer plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni.
Static Takeaways-
- IOC was established in 1959 and its headquarter is in New Delhi.
i. The UN General Assembly elected Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak to be the next president of the 193-member powerful body.
ii. Lajcak was elected by acclamation as President of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly at a special session. The 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly will commence from September 12, 2017.
Static Takeaways-
- 9th Secretary-General of United Nations is Antonio Guterres and its headquarter is in New York City, USA.
i. India has ranked 137th out of 163 countries on Global Peace Index 2017 published by The Institute of Economics and Peace. This is the eleventh edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI). ii. Iceland has been named the world's most peaceful country, topping the Global Peace Index for the tenth consecutive year followed by New Zealand and Portugal at second and third position while Syria has been named the least peaceful country.
Static Takeaways-
- The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations and regions peacefulness across the world.
i. Nirupama Rao has been appointed as the public policy fellow of Sino-India ties a top American think-tank based in Washington.
ii. She was India's first woman ambassador to china and also served as India's foreign secretary from 2009 to 2011.
Static Takeaways-
- Donald Trumph is the current and 45th President of USA
- The Capital of USA is Washington, D.C and its Currency is US Dollar
i. Jet Airways has announced the appointment of Vinay Dube as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). ii. The appointment is subject to receipt of all requisite government /regulatory approvals, including his security clearance. Mr. Dube is currently senior vice-president, Asia Pacific, Delta Air Lines.
Static Takeaways-
- Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju is the Union Minister for Civil Aviation
i. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), has received Asia Pacific Quality Network Award 2017 for International Co-operation in Quality Assurance.
ii. The award was received by NAAC Adviser Dr. Jagannath Patil in a special ceremony held in Moscow, recently. APQN Quality Award is among the most prestigious International Awards in quality assurance of higher education.
Static Takeaways-
- The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India
- The NAAC was established in 1994 with its headquarters at Bangalore
- Prof. Ved Prakash is the President - General Council of NAAC.
i. Defence public sector BEML Ltd has bagged the Raksha Mantri’s Award for Excellence for design and development of 180-tonne electric hydraulic excavator BE1800E.
ii. Deepak Kumar Hota, CMD, BEML received the award from Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
Static Takeaways-
- BEML full form is Bharat earth Movers Ltd
i. Japan launched a satellite to help build a high-precision geolocation system that will complement the US-operated GPS.
ii. A 'H-IIA' rocket blasted off from the Tanegashima space center in southern Japan carrying the 'Michibiki' No.2 satellite. The Michibiki system is capable of covering the Asia-Oceania region and works with the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS).
Static Takeaways-
- PM of Japan is Shinzo Abe
- The Capital of Japan is Tokyo and its Currency is Yen.
