Current Affairs: July 2015

Friends,here we are sharing review of important events of july 2015.Hope this "current affairs july 2015" will be helpful in coming bank exams.

July1

• National Sample Survey Office (NSSO): Literacy rate in the rural areas at 71 per cent and 86 per cent in the urban areas in year 2014.
• The last minute of June 2015 was kept one second longer, for a process known as leap second. The leap second and leap years are added as basic ways to keep the clock in sync with the Earth and its seasons.Leap second was last observed in june 2012.
• State Bank of India (SBI) announced its tie-up with MakeMyTrip.com with an objective to boost e-commerce and m-commerce ecosystem.
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa won the R.K Nagar by-election with a huge margin of 1.51 lakhs.
• Union Government during June 2015 completed the construction of a memorial for a former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao at Delhi’s Ekta Sthal Memorial Complex. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 launched the Digital India Week, as part of the Digital India initiative to give India a big push in digital technology.
• Cuba became the first country to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to baby as announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 1 July 2015.
• Matti Makkonen (Finland) passed away.He was known as the father of short messaging service (SMS) after developing the idea of sending messages via mobile networks.

July2

• Bharti Airtel became the third-largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscribers as disclosed in the latest data published by World Cellular Information Service (WCIS). China Mobile and Vodafone Group occupied the first and second spots respectively.
• Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on 1 July tabled a proposal in the State Assembly to lift the ban on sale and manufacture of liquor.
• World Bank has approved an additional loan of 650 million dollars for India’s Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project.DFC Project aims at the faster delivery of goods between the northern and eastern parts of the country.
• Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Narendra Modi approved Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) or PM’s Agriculture Irrigation Scheme. PMKSY is central scheme that aims at providing irrigation facilities to every village in the country by converging ongoing irrigation schemes implemented by various ministries.
• Greece has become the first developed nation to default on International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt. It has defaulted on a 1.7 billion dollars payment to IMF. The deadline for debt payment was missed by Greece after Eurozone Finance Ministers refused to extend its bailout.
• Union Cabinet has approved setting up of an Online National Agriculture Market that will provide more options to farmers for selling their produce. Decision in this regard was taken at a Union Cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. For online national agriculture market, an online platform will be set up. On this platform farmers will be able to sell and buy vegetables, fruits and other produce from across the country.
• Moving away from the tradition ,the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remained opened on 1 July 2015 so as to facilitate settlement of public and market transactions. Normally, RBI remains closed for public transactions on every year’s 1 July due to annual closing of accounts on this day. RBI’s accounting year is from July to June.

July3

• Indian economy crossed $2-trillion mark during 2014 as disclosed in the data released by the World Bank in Washington on 2 July .
• Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh has been named as the winner of the 2015 World Food Prize. He is founder and chairman of Bangladesh-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) BRAC (originally known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) which is world’s largest NGO. Since its formation, BRAC is being credited for helping more than 150 million people out of poverty.

July4

• Chile created history by winning the Copa America tournament for 2015 on 4 July 2015. The host team defeated the much-fancied Argentina by 4-1 on penalties to win the prestigious tournament. This was the first Copa America title for Chile. Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 in the play-off match to finish the tournament at third place.
• Union Government has launched mobile App to know gram panchayats assets. It was launched by Union Rural Development and Minister Ch Birender Singh. It was launched on the occasion of Digital India Week in New Delhi.
• Nationwide mobile number portability (MNP) has become operational from 3 July 2015. It became operational after major private mobile operators like Vodafone, RCom, Airtel, Uninor and Idea Cellular along with state-run BSNL and MTNL issued statements to launch MNP.
• Mahindra Defence Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra Group and Airbus Helicopter have inked pact to form a joint venture (JV) company to produce helicopters in India. In this regard, both entities have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture.
• Ira Singhal topped the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination to select IAS and IPS officers, the results for which were declared on 4 July 2015.
• State run telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched pre-paid card linked mobile wallet service ‘Speed Pay’. It was launched by Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi.

July5

• Greek voters voted overwhelmingly to reject the terms of a bailout by European entities in a referendum held on 5 July 2015. Much-awaited referendum was held to decide whether or not Greece was to accept the bailout conditions in the country’s govt.
• Corporation Bank on 4 July 2015 became the first in the country to launch the MUDRA Card, under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) scheme. The card facilitates the withdrawal and use of the working capital finance by micro entrepreneurs.
• The United States won FIFA Women’s Football World Cup 2015 on 5 July 2015 The final was played between the U.S. and Japan on 5 July 2015 at BC Place, Vancouver.

July6

• Kruti Tiwari, an IIT-JEE topper from Indore, was nominated as the brand ambassador of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project Digital India.
• Software giant Microsoft has agreed to develop ‘digital villages’ and a ‘smart MIDC’ (industrial colony) in Maharashtra under state’s flagship ‘Make In Maharashtra’ initiative.
• Fiji broke the record for the biggest win in international football with a 38-0 victory on 5 July 2015 in their match against Micronesia in Pacific Games 2015.

July7

• In an important ruling, the Supreme Court on 6 July 2015 ruled that an unwed mother can be the legal guardian of a child without the consent of the father. The current law requires that a notice has to be sent to the child’s father for his consent when there is a petition for guardianship.
• World Champions Australia defeated Belgium by 1-0 in the finals of the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-Final tournament. Thus Australia claimed gold medal while hosts Belgium got the silver medal in the tournament. HWL Semi-final was hosted at the KHC Dragons Stadium in Antwerp (Belgium). The tournament’s final will be played in Mohali (India) during December 2015.india finished Fourth in the tournament.
• World Boxing Organization (WBO) has stripped of the Welterweight World title 2015 won by Floyd Mayweather in May 2015. Decision in this regard was taken by WBO after Mayweather failed to pay the 200,000 dollar sanctioning fee to WBO prior to the deadline of 3 July 2015.
• India signed a historic uranium deal with Kazakhstan on 6 July 2015 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit of Kazakhstan. Under the deal, India will receive 5,000 metric tonnes uranium from Kazakhstan.

July 8

• India and Kazakhstan launched the first exploratory drilling at Satpayev oil block owned by India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Kazakhstan company KazMunaiGaz. It was jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan premier Karim Massimov in Astana, Kazakh capital. Satpayev oil block is an offshore field located in the Northern Caspian Sea. It has potential reserves estimated at 1.8 billion barrels crude oil and natural gas.
• World Bank has ranked the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) as the world’s largest public works programme. It was revealed in recently released World Bank Group’s report titled ‘The State of Social Safety Nets 2015‘. Report Highlights MGNREGA (under Ministry of Rural Development) provides social security net to 182 million beneficiaries i.e. almost 15 per cent of the India’s population.
• Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai became the first in the world to have manufactured 50 thousand railway coaches, It primarily manufactures railway coach for Indian Railways but also exports railway coaches to other countries.
• Jin Liqun former Finance Minister of China was named as the first Chief of the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is being established as an alternative financial entity to the U.S. and Europe-dominated banking institutions.
• Indian captain Mithali Raj made history on 6 July 2015 by becoming the first Indian and second in women’s ODI history to complete 5000 runs.
• Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways on 7 July 2015 became the newest aviation company to receive flying licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation regulator.It will operate under brand name Trujet.

July9

• Indian Railways launched a mobile ticketing application for unreserved tickets for commuters in Western Railway. It was launched by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. This mobile ticketing service will cover 35 stations between the 123 km long Churchgate -Dhauroad and facilitate a hassle free travel for lakhs of daily passengers in Mumbai.
• eMudhra Limited, a leading certifying firm in the country for digital signatures launched first of its kind eSign services in the country as part of the Digital India Vision. eSign is an online electronic signature service legally valid and secure under the Information Technology Act, 2000. It will facilitate an Aadhaar holder to digitally sign a document within seconds.
• Vadodara district of Gujarat and China’s Xinjinag province has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of twin cities.
• Notable Urdu poet, critic and orator Bashar Navaaz passed away in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He was 80 years old. He was known as an Indo Pak shayar as his gazals are popular in India as well as Pakistan. 
• India and United States have signed inter-governmental agreement to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It was signed by Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and US Ambassador to India Richard Verma in New Delhi. The agreement will promote transparency on tax matters and curb offshore tax evasion by exchange of information between the two countries.
• Sriram Kalyanaraman was appointed as Managing Director and CEO of National Housing Bank (NHB). NHB is the regulator of India’s housing finance sector. Sriram Kalyanaraman became the first person from the private sector to head a public sector financial institution when he was appointed MD and CEO of NHB.At present, Kalyanaraman is Director-Business Development, Equifax Credit Information Services.

July10

• Indigenously developed supersonic surface-to-air Akash Missile has been inducted in Indian Air Force (IAF). The Akash missile was inducted by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a function held at Maharajpur Airbase in Gwalior after he handed over the symbolic key of Akash defence system (ADS) to Air chief Marshal Arup Raha.
• Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings. The first system has been installed in its capital Dehradun which will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur.
• The 2-day 7th BRICS Summit was concluded on 9 July 2015 at Ufa (Russia). The Summit comprised the heads of state of 5 BRICS countries – Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Narendra Modi (India), Xi Jinping (China) and Jacob Juma (South Africa).
• Ashok K. Lahiri, a former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), was named as the first Chairman of Bandhan Bank. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh will be the MD and CEO of the bank. The bank will start its operations from 23 August 2015.
• Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan: launched by the former President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam on 9 July 2015 .Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan(RAA) primarily seeks to develop a natural sense of passion towards learning of Science and Maths in school students of the country. Under this initiative, government schools will be mentored by Institutes like IITs/ IIMs/ IISERs and other Central Universities.
• National Floor Level Minimum Wage/ minimum daily wage for workers (NFLMW) raised by Rs.23 to reach Rs. 160 per day.
• In an important step, Union Government on 8 July 2015 allowed seven state-owned entities(National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), NTPC, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC)) to raise Rs. 40,000 crore in the current fiscal through tax-free bonds.

July11

• India and Pakistan were given membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 10 July 2015. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is political, economic and military organisation that was founded in 2001 by 6 countries in Shanghai – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
• ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-28 has successfully put five satellites of United Kingdom into designated orbits. They were successfully put designated into orbit after its lift off from first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh With the overall mass of five satellites is about 1,440kg, this launch became the heaviest commercial mission ever undertaken by ISRO.
• Indian-origin Sunita Williams is among four veteran astronauts chosen by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to fly the first commercial space vehicles. Other three astronauts are Robert Behnken,Eric Boeand  Douglas Hurley.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 9 July 2015 allowed mass transit system (MTS) operators like Mumbai Metro, Delhi Metro, Indian Railways, etc. to issue pre-paid cards to their customer. The customers can easily transfer money to these cards that can be swiped on machines instead of standing in long queues to purchase travel tickets.
• State-run National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has set a target of providing 30,000 crore rupees as credit to farmers for irrigational purpose. It was announced by Bank’s Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala in Mumbai on the occasion of 34th Foundation Day of NABARD. This credit will be provided over the next three years i.e. till 2018 and for this NABARD already has sanctioned 1,000 crore rupees.
• In Indian Super League (ISL) Players Auction Indian captain Sunil Chhetri bagged the highest bid, at Rs. 1.20 crore at the auctions. He was bought by Mumbai City FC.

July12 

• Sania Mirza of India created history on 11 July 2015 when she won the Wimbledon women’s doubles title with her Swiss partner Martina Hingis to become the first female player from the country to win a women’s doubles Grand Slam trophy.
• Wimbledon 2015 winners: Men’s Singles Title: Defending Champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the 2015 Men’s Singles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, he defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland by 7-6(7-1), 6-7(10-12), 6–4, 6-3 score. It is Djokovic’s 3rd Wimbledon Title (2011, 2014 and 2015) overall 12th men’s single Grand Slam title. Women’s Singles Title: Serena Williams of United States has won Women’s Singles Wimbledon title at 2015. In the final match played she defeated Garbine Muguruza of Spain by 6-4, 6-4 score. It is Williams’ sixth Women’s Singles Wimbledon title (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015) and overall 21th Grand Slam title. Women’s Doubles Title: Sania Mirza (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) pair won the 2015 women’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, they defeated Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina by 5–7, 7–6 (7–4), 7–5 score. Men’s Doubles Title: Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) and Horia Tecău (Romania) pair won the 2015 men’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match they defeated Jamie Murray (UK) and John Peers (Australia) pair by 7–5, 6–4, 6–4 score. Mixed Doubles Title: Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) pair won the 2015 Mixed Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, they defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) and Tímea Babos (Hungary) pair by 6-1, 6-1 score. Boys’ Doubles Title: Sumit Nagal (India) and Lý Hoàng Nam (Vietnam) pair won the 2015 Boy’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match they defeated Reilly Opelka (US) and Akira Santillan (Japan) pair by 7–6(7–4), 6-4 score.
• Operation Talash:name of the search operation for the Indian Coast Guard’s Dornier aircraft that went missing off the Tamil Nadu coast on 8 June 2015. Debris were located some 1,000 metres under the sea on 10 July 2015
• The foundation stone for an international Internet gateway was laid by Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Tripura’s capital Agartala on 11 July 2015. This Internet gateway is being established in an effort to create a hassle-free and potent Internet link for the northeastern states through Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Agartala will become the third international Internet gateway in India after Mumbai and Chennai.

July13

• ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ film has won the best original screenplay in a Foreign Language award at the Madrid International Film Festival. The film is a political satire directed by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri.
• India and Georgia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of election management and administration. The MoU was signed by Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India and Ms. Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson, Central Election Commission of Georgia in New Delhi.
• Haryana became the first state in the country to initiate state-wide birth defect surveillance in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

July14

• History was made on 14 July 2015 as NASA spacecraft ‘New Horizons’ made a flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto some 4.8 billion kilometers from Earth.It was launched from Cape Canaveral on 19 January 2006. During April it sent the first-ever colour image of Pluto and its largest moon Charon.
• Iran and P5+1 countries signed a comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. According to this deal Tehran that would allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties of nuclear programme. In return Iran will get relief from economic sanctions that have been imposed for decades.(P5+1 group : five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, plus Germany).
• Union Government has launched GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system, for aviation navigation. It was launched by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in New Delhi. GAGAN is a joint venture by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Airports Authority of India (AAI). It will provide augmentation service for GPS over the India, Bay of Bengal, South-east Asia and Middle East along with expansion up to Africa.
• Indigenously developed Nag anti-tank guided missile was successfully tested from a helicopter platform.

July 15

• Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu on 14 June 2015 inaugurated newly constructed broad-gauge railway-line Gandhidham- Tuna Tekra Port Rail Line (Gujarat)which is the first Non-Government Railway Project of Indian Railways.
• Eminent music composer Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was 87. The veteran musician had composed music for over a thousand films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and was fondly called as the King of Light Music (Mellisai Mannar in Tamil).
• Two major Indian Premier League teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals were suspended from IPL for two years. Decision in this regard was taken by a Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha. Both of the teams were banned in regards to betting activities of their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the 6th edition of i.e. 2013 season of IPL.
• Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have discovered a new class of exotic subatomic particles called the Pentaquarks. The discovery was made by the scientist’s after watching the decaying of a subatomic type particle known as the Lambda B baryon.
• World’s largest religious congregation Sinhastha Kumbh Mela has begun at Trimbakeshwar, Nashik district of Maharashtra.It is being held after every 12 years on Godavari River.

July16

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Skill India Mission on 15 July 2015 on the occasion of the World Youth Skills Day.
• Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh has been awarded Golden Peacock environment management award for its achievements and initiatives in the field of environment.
• Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and US-based aircraft maker Boeing have signed a strategic framework agreement for aerospace and defence manufacturing. The agreement was signed by Sukaran Singh, MD & CEO of TASL and Shelley Lavender, President of Boeing Military Aircraft in lines with Make in India in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• The city of Varanasi was recently chosen as City of Music by UNESCO under the Creative Cities Network.
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay and Nehru Science Centre have launched a pilot project Internet for All in its Mobile Science Exhibition Bus in Mumbai. It was launched under the Union Government’s flagship ‘Digital India’ campaign.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a committee to prepare a 5 year action plan to spread the reach of financial services across country to unbanked population. The committee will be headed by RBI executive director Deepak Mohanty.
• The Union Cabinet on 16 July 2015 gave its approval for redevelopment of 400 railway stations in the country under ‘As is where is’ Model. Under ‘As is where is’ model, interested parties coming through open bids would develop the stations with their designs and business ideas while commercial development of real estate would be allowed by the Zonal Railways.

July17

• The government committee on the issue of Net Neutrality submitted its report to the govt. on 16 July 2015. Among its important recommendations, the committee proposed to regulate domestic calls made using Internet-based calling applications and opposed projects like Facebook’s Internet.org. Committee was headed by A K Bhargava, Adviser, Technology and Department of Telecommunication.
• INS Astravahini, indigenously built torpedos launch and recovery vessel was decommissioned after its service for almost 31 years to the nation.
• Mindtree has acquired two companied from United States and United Kingdom. Acquired companies are BlueFin Solutions Ltd of UK and Relational Solutions Inc of US.
• Finance ministry has relaxed rules for foreign investment in companies.Now Indian banks can raise capital up to a foreign ownership limit of 74%.
• India has inked a financing agreement with World Bank (WB) to raise US 250 million dollars financial assistance for Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP).
• Shuangjiankou Dam :China recently started construction of a 314-metre (1,030-ft) high dam across tributary of Yangtze River .It will be world’s tallest dam when completed.
• State Bank of India (SBI) on 17 July 2015 announced its proposal of sharing 3% profits with its employees as part of an initiative for talent retention and motivation.
• India’s first defence industrial park will be set up at Ottappalam in Palakkad district of Kerala. In this regard, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of Union Government has approved a proposal for this defence park forwarded by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.
• Reserve Bank of India has signed a special currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBS). Under this agreement, Sri Lankan bank can draw up to 1.1 billion dollars for a maximum period of 6 months. 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.

July18

• Leading mobile wallet service Paytm recently requested RBI to hike the limit on money that can be kept in a mobile wallet to Rs. 25,000.Current limit is Rs.10,000.
• European Union (EU) has approved a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros to Greece after it was backed by the 28 member states.

July 20

• For the first time since severing ties in 1961 US and Cuba reopened embassies in each other’s capitals.
• Kerala Tourism has won 2015 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) award in the ‘Heritage & Culture’ category for its Muziris Heritage Project. The award bestowed in recognition project efforts which aim at restoring and conservation of historical and cultural significance of the ancient town and its uniqueness and impact on local community located in stretches from Ernakulam to Kodungalloor in Thrissur district of Kerala. Ancient Muziris was an ancient seaport and urban centre which dates from at least the 1st century BC and located at the mouth of the Periyar River in present south Indian state of Kerala.
• PM on july 20 launched the National Career Service (NCS) Portal as part of an endeavour to modernise all government-run employment exchanges.
• Union Agriculture Ministry has launched 3 agricultural-portals namely Soil Health Card (SHC) portal, Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and Fertiliser Quality Control System portal (FQCS). These portals seek to make the process of fertilisers’ quality checking, organic farming certification and issuance of soil health cards more transparent and accountable.
• The official nationality preference survey in recently swapped 162 enclaves on India- Bangladesh border under the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) has ended. The survey was conducted by the Enclaves Exchange Co-ordination Committee (EECC) of both countries for ascertaining the nationality preference of over 50,000 enclave-residents. On Bangladesh’s side it is found that 1,027 out of around 37,369 had opted for Indian nationality from the recently swapped 111 Indian enclaves now located in Bangladesh. In case of India’s side, over 14,000 residents in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves transferred to India have opted to relocate to Bangladesh.
• Drishti is the name of the indigenously designed Visibility Measuring System that has been designed and developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bengaluru. It is primarily used for reporting the runway visual range, which is a critical parameter for safe landing and take-off of aircraft in poor visibility conditions.
• India defeated New Zealand in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group-I tie on 19 July 2015 advanced to World Group Play-offs.
• BCCI on 20 July 2015 scrapped five-decade old Duleep Trophy from its calendar due to packed schedule.

July21

• 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.Bank’s first President K V Kamath from India attended the opening ceremony.
• 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 tonnes.
• Paul van Ass (Netherlands), Indian hockey coach was removed from his post almost unceremoniously on 20 July 2015 just 5 months after he was appointed.

July 22

• Union Government has announced that 14 States and Union Territories (UTs) have achieved or exceeded the literacy rate of 80 percent. It was announced by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. 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.
• 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. It was launched by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan in New Delhi.
• Iconic physicist Stephen Hawking launched the biggest-ever search project for alien life in the universe that is being funded by Russian Internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner. This10-year project would cost $100 million.Name give to this project is Breakthrough Listen.

July23

• Nischal Narayana has became youngest Chartered Accountant (CA)in the country at an age of 19.
• Seven Indian companies were listed among the world’s 500 largest companies in the Fortune Global 500 list for 2015. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) 119th on the list, with revenues of about US$ 74 billion, Reliance Industries (158th) with revenues of $62 billion, Tata Motors with revenues of $42 billion (254th), State Bank of India with revenues of $42 billion (260th), Bharat Petroleum with revenues of $40 billion (280th), Hindustan Petroleum with revenues of $35 billion (327th) and ONGC with revenues of $26 billion (449th).Wal-Mart ranked first.

July 24

• Significant quantity of uranium reserves were discovered recently in forest area of Andhra Pradesh. This discovery was made by Hyderabad-based Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) and Osmania University in Srisailam forests of Andhra Pradesh recently.
• Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) launched a new chain of retail outlets called Nexa to sell its premium products.
• 10-year old Shubham Jaglan from Delhi won the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf event in Las Vegas . Just 5-days back he had won Junior World Golf Championships in California.

July25

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted banking licence to IDFC Ltd.
• World Trade Organization (WTO) members on 24 July 2015 finalized a deal worth almost $1 trillion associated with IT products. Under this deal WTO members updated organisation’s 18-year-old Information Technology Agreement (ITA) by adding more than 200 products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free trade.
• World’s first-ever malaria vaccine has been developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. European Union (EU) gave their nod to the malaria vaccine (Mosquirix).

July26

• Kepler-452b Earth-like planet discovered recently by NASA’s Kepler telescope. Kepler-452b is about 60% bigger than Earth and is located about 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus
• Ajay Mathur appointed as the new Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on 23 July 2015 after R.K. Pachauri was finally sacked from his post.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) in Patna with an objective of Facilitating 24×7 supply of power in rural areas of the country.
• The report of the committee on levy of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) was submitted to Union Finance Ministry . Justice AP Shah headed this committee.
• The 14th Special Olympics Games (Summer) were inaugurated on 25 July 2015 in Los Angeles (United States).

July27

• Global online retail company Amazon.com’s market capitalization crossed the market-cap of US retail giant Walmart.
• Roelant Oltmans was appointed as the Chief Coach of the Indian hockey team.

July28

• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India and a pioneer of the country’s space and missile programmes, passed away on 27 July 2015. He passed away after collapsing during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong (Meghalaya).
• A terrorist attack took place at Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district of panjab on july 27 resulting death of 7 people.
• Medak of Telengana came into news after the discovery of numerous burial sites belonging to the Megalithic period. 30 megalithic burials, believed to be dated between 1,000 B.C. and 200 A.D. were unearthed here.
• Chris Froome of Britain won the Tour de France 2015.
• According to recently disclosed information for a right to information (RTI) application Yamuna Expressway has emerged as the deadliest in the country in last few years.

July29

• In a major development in Nepal, country’s political parties during July 2015 agreed to remove the word secularism from the new constitution. The political parties were forced to take a U-turn after millions of people, in their suggestions and feedback on the new constitution, called for the removal of the word secularism. Nepal was declared a secular country in 2007.
• Maharashtra’s first Indian Institute of Management (IIM) was inaugurated at Nagpur.
• R. S. Sharma was appointed as the new Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by the Union Govt. R. S. Sharma, an engineering post-graduate from IIT Kanpur and a 1978 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre. He succeeded Rahul Khullar who retired from post on 14 May 2015.
• Rajesh Exports Limited an indian gold jewellery entity came to news recently for acquiring world’s largest precious metals refining company Valcambi.
• Bengaluru will become first indian city to launch online police verification for passport.
• Former South Africa cricket captain Clive Rice passed away on 28 July 2015 at the age of 66.

July30

• Ramon Magsaysay Award: Sanjeev Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta from India were among the 5 winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2015 as announced by the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.
• Microsoft launched ambitious new operating system Windows 10 around the world, including India.
• India’s capital market regulator SEBI cancelled the registration of Sahara Mutual Fund . SEBI felt that Sahara is no longer ‘fit and proper’ to carry out the business of Mutual Fund in view of numerous violations of the MF regulations by the group.
• Nepal banned animal sacrifice in Gadhimai Festival .This festival is held every 5 years at Nepal’s Gadhimai Temple.
• Dr. Suniti Solomon passed away- She had led the team that was the first to document evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986.

July31

• Former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s mortal remains were cremated at Rameshwaram with full state honours on 30 July 2015 as thousands gathered to bid final farewell.
• Project Insight-A project launched by union govt. which aims at widening the tax base by catching tax evaders using technology. It will primarily track the Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) being quoted on financial transactions and tally them with income tax filings.
• Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the lone convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was executed at Nagpur Central Prison on 30 July 2015 morning.
• Indian author Anuradha Roy was among 13 international authors long-listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize as announced by the Booker Prize Committee. Anuradha Roy was picked for her third novel Sleeping on Jupiter. British-Indian Sunjeev Sahota was also among the 13 long-listed authors for his book The Year of the Runaways.

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