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The partnership envisages the creation of Eco/Banking/RBI joint research capability at TAU, supported by Wipro to pursue core as well as applied research in fast-developing technologies in ECONOMY the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space. JULY 01 : The Competition Commission has given JULY 05 : China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment approval for telecom major Bharti Airtel's Bank (AIIB) said its board has approved spectrum deals with Videocon and Aircel USD 329 million loan to build access announced last year. The regulator said roads to 4,000 villages in Gujarat. that it "approves acquisition by Airtel of Videocon’s Right to Use of Spectrum in This project will construct and upgrade 1800 MHz band". district and farm-to-market roads for the villagers and provide approaches JULY 01 : The Reserve Bank said the ongoing to educational institutions, schools and accelerated reform initiatives like GST and hospitals. continuing political stability will push the economic growth scale to 7.3 per cent in JULY 06 : Wipro Infrastructure Engineering terms of GVA in the current fiscal year. (WIN) and Israel's largest aerospace and defence firm Israel Aerospace Industries The Financial Stability Report 2017, bases (IAI) announced a strategic alliance for its optimism to the lower fiscal deficit at manufacturing composite aero structure 3.2 per cent for this year down from 3.5 per parts and assemblies. cent in 2016-17. WIN, part of Wipro Enterprises (P) Ltd, JULY 04 : Asian Development Bank (ADB) committed will set up a manufacturing facility in USD 220 million for improving road India in partnership with IAI to meet the connectivity as well as transport efficiency requirements of global aircraft OEMs and and safety on state highways of Rajasthan. Tier-1 suppliers. The loan is the first tranche of the USD JULY 06 : Technical textile manufacturer Garware- 500 million Rajasthan State Highways Wall Ropes Ltd (GWRL) has signed Investment Programme, approved by the an agreement with Israel’s Aero-T to ADB Board in May this year that will manufacture and supply advanced aerostats upgrade about 2,000 kilometers of state for Indian Defence. highways and major district roads to two- lane or intermediate-lane standards to meet The intended cooperation will entail road safety requirements. GWRL establishing an aerostat envelop production facility and Aero-T providing JULY 04 : National Multi Commodity Exchange the technology for aerostat development (NMCE), India’s first demutualised online and production. national multi-commodities exchange will merge with Indian Commodity Exchange Aerostats are tethered balloons and are (ICEX). The merged entity will create capable of operating at an altitude of India’s third biggest commodity exchange. 15,000 feet. Augmented with radars, The largest commodity exchange by aerostats have proved very effective for volume is the Multi Commodity Exchange low-level ground surveillance. (MCX) followed by National Commodity JULY 06 : Indian economy is expected to recover and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX). in the coming quarters and the country is In the merged entity, the ICEX will hold expected to clock a real GDP growth of 6.9 a 62.8% stake, while NMCE shareholders per cent in this financial year. will own the rest. According to a report by BMI Research, It will also offer the world’s first diamond India's growth is expected to pick up futures contract, which has already following the negative ramifications from received in-principle approval from the the demonetisation drive in November market regulator SEBI. 2016, but weak public banks will likely cap the recovery. JULY 05 : Software major Wipro Limited and Ramot, the Business Engagement Centre at Tel The economy to continue to recover over Aviv University, announced a partnership the coming quarters. The forecasting of for joint research in emerging technologies. real GDP growth to come in at 6.9 per cent in 2017-18. www.mahendraguru.com [2] www.mahendraguru.com

JULY 07 : Private life insurance company Canara This Partnership will accelerate trade HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life relations between India and the South Insurance entered into a tie-up with Kerala- American continent. based Dhanlaxmi Bank. JULY 12 : Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) According to the agreement signed, all e inked a pact with the defence ministry life insurance products of Canara HSBC for production of a range of aircraft for Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance the armed forces in the current fiscal, and would be made available to customers of set a revenue target of Rs 17,900 crore Dhanlaxmi Bank and would be sold by for the year. The annual Memorandum licensed staff of the bank. of Understanding was signed between As part of the agreement, the bank will be a Secretary, Defence Production, Ashok Corporate Agent for three years. However, Kumar Gupta and HAL chairman and both aim to continue this relationship for managing director T Suvarna Raju. long term. The MoU outlines targets on various JULY 07 : Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and performance parameters for the company Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd (KSSL) during the financial year. The revenue from signed a deal for setting up a facility in operations has been targeted at Rs 17,900 Hyderabad for maintenance of advanced crore, the highest ever. air defence systems. The two companies JULY 13 : India’s largest digital payments startup have also agreed on expanding their joint Paytm has acquired a majority stake in operations for development, manufacturing online ticket booking platform Insider.in and marketing of precise ammunition as it looks to take on the country’s largest systems. events and movie ticket booking service, In February 2017, IAI had inked an MoU BookMyShow. with Kalyani Strategic Systems to set up This partnership would enable its 218 a joint venture to manufacture air defence million registered customers to discover systems for the Indian Air Force. a wide range of events and book them JULY 08 : All India Council for Technical Education instantly. The financials of the deal or (AICTE) has entered into a Memorandum of Paytm’s overall holding in Insider.in were Understanding (MoU) with Telecom Sector not disclosed. Skill Council (TCSS) for complementing JULY 13 : Global IT research firm Gartner further the skills imparted by the vocational system lowered its 2017 global IT spending growth and its affiliated institutions and colleges in estimate to 2.4 per cent from the 2.7 per order to match the need of Prime Minister’s cent earlier on worries on digitisation. ‘Skill India Mission’. The firm had first predicted for a 3 per cent Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) is an growth in worldwide IT spends, which got industry led apex body and committed to revised down to 2.7 per cent in January this ensure adequate skilled manpower to boost year. growth and productivity in Telecom sector. JULY 14 : Tata Motors and global auto component JULY 11 : Tata Steel's Noamundi mine became the major MAHLE have joined hands to country's first iron-ore mine to have solar develop a prototype Secondary Loop Mobile plant for reducing carbon footprint. Air Conditioning System (SL-MAC) using The project, executed by Tata Power Solar environment-friendly refrigerants. MAHLE will help in reducing carbon emission by and Tata Motors, along with the Institute for about 3,000 tonnes per annum. Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD), which is coordinating the project, Noamundi mines is open cast iron-ore mine received funding for developing SL-MAC of Tata Steel and located in Jharkhand. system from the Climate and Clean Air JULY 12 : Axis Bank has entered into a collaboration Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate with Inter-American Investment Pollutants (CCAC). Corporation (IIC) to facilitate trade with JULY 15 : Tata Steel has entered into long-term tariff Latin America and the Caribbean. contract (LTTC) with railways, becoming It is the first Indian bank to participate in the first company in the steel sector to sign the Trade Finance Facilitation Programme such pact. as a confirming bank. www.mahendraguru.com [3] www.mahendraguru.com

LTTC has been introduced by Indian JULY 22 : Ahmedabad-based Fincare Small Finance Railways to establish long-term contracts Bank has commenced operations as a with customers with guaranteed Small Finance Bank. incremental revenue for Indian Railways, Disha Microfin, small finance bank licence adding that the contract can be for a recipient by RBI in 2015, is part of the Fincare duration of three to five years. Group which comprises of two NBFCs -- JULY 15 : According to the global research firm Disha Microfin and Future Financial. Ipsos, Patanjali Ayurveda has been featured JULY 22 : "India, the sub-region's largest economy, is among the top 10 most influential brand in expected to achieve previous growth projections India along with electronic major Samsung of 7.4 percent in 2017 and 7.6 percent in and Reliance Jio. Besides, Google has been 2018, primarily from strong consumption," ranked at the top slot while Microsoft and the supplement of Asian Development Bank Facebook were ranked at number two and (ADB) Outlook 2017 said. three, respectively. JULY 24 : Fertiliser major IFFCO has signed an State Bank of India (SBI) being the only agreement with Sikkim government to financial institution that made to the list, explore business opportunities in organic moved up four ranks to take the fifth position. food market with an initial investment of JULY 18 : Auto major Tata Motors rolled out the Rs 200 crore. "The initial investment for country's first bio-CNG (bio-methane) bus. the project will be around Rs 200 crore, The company said the bio-methane engines which will be increased to Rs 500 crore in (5.7 SGI & 3.8 SGI) will be available on phases," the co-operative said. light and medium buses. JULY 25 : Standard Chartered Bank has launched The company displayed three models, a 'Multicurrency Forex Card' that offers including the lead model Tata LPO 1613 customers the convenience of loading up with 5.7 SGI NA BS-IV IOBD-II compliant to 20 widely used currencies on one card. bus. The buses were showcased at the Urja The card comes with an online reload Utsav organised by oil ministry. facility during overseas travel and is JULY 18 : India's largest commercial bank SBI has designed to offer travellers a secure way to launched a dedicated portal SBI Realty that carry money when travelling abroad. will help home buyers to choose flats from its JULY 25 : Yatra Online Inc, India’s second-largest 3,000 approved projects across the country. online travel operator, has acquired SBI Realty will help customers to choose corporate travel services provider Air their dream home from 3,000 SBI approved Travel Bureau (ATB). projects, which are spread across 13 states Under the terms of the deal, Yatra has and Union Territories covering 30 cities. agreed to acquire all of the outstanding JULY 19 : Reliance Communications' Unlimit shares of ATB and assume its debt. announced a strategic alliance with JULY 25 : According to IMF's World Economic Chinese telecom gear maker Fibocom Outlook Update, India's growth is projected to design and manufacture modules for to accelerate to 7.7 per cent in 2018-19, wireless communications and develop from 7.2 per cent forecast for 2017-18. internet of things (IoT) solutions. India, however will continue to grow faster Unlimit said the number of connected than China in 2017 as well as 2018. devices in India is projected to rise from JULY 26 : Wipro Limited partnered with Hewlett 200 million to 3 billion by 2020, and Packard Enterprise (HPE) to offer IT nearly every part of the economy will be infrastructure solutions in a consumption- positively impacted by IoT. based or pay-per-use business model for JULY 21 : Export-Import Bank of India has extended enterprises. USD 17.5 million of line of credit (LoC) to As part of the alliance, Wipro will leverage Guyana for up-gradation of three hospitals HPE Flexible Capacity to offer flexible in the country. and scalable IT infrastructure services in With this LOC agreement, Exim Bank so a consumption-based IT model, accelerate far has extended eight LoCs to Guyana, growth and enable digital transformation taking the total value of LOCs extended to for its customers, Wipro said in a statement. USD 109.88 million. www.mahendraguru.com [4] www.mahendraguru.com

JULY 26 : In its battle against pirated content, acquire payments wallet Freecharge for Rs Facebook has acquired a US-based startup 385 crore in an all-cash deal. Source3 to help it weed out pirated videos It is worth noting that Snapdeal bought and other content that users share without FreeCharge in April 2015 at an estimated permission. cost of $ 400 million. The startup builds technology to detect JULY 27 : Ride-hailing app Ola and restaurant intellectual property that has been shared discovery platform and food ordering by Internet users without permission. platform Zomato have announced a JULY 26 : Leading bourse BSE joined hands with strategic partnership to offer a range of Egyptian Exchange (EGX) for cooperation integrated exclusive offerings to their in exchange of information across business customers. areas. Zomato will integrate Ola APIs into their The exchanges signed a memorandum of app, enabling easy access to mobility understanding (MoU), through which they for customers looking for restaurant and have created possibilities for a range of eating-out options on their app. opportunities to be studied and explored JULY 29 : National Thermal Power Corporation has for the development of their businesses, formalised a loan agreement for Rs 6,608 products and markets and to share crore to finance capital expenditure of a knowledge and build on both bourses 1,320 mw power project being set up in strategies to strengthen international Uttar Pradesh. "Meja Utpadan Nigam Pvt. connectivity. signed a loan agreement for Rs 6,608 crore JULY 26 : Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary Reliance to finance capital expenditure of the power Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) project consisting of two units of 660 mw announced the launch of its first two Naval being set up at Meja near Allahabad, Uttar Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) at their Pradesh. shipyard in Pipavav, Gujarat. Meja Utpadan Nigam is a 50:50 JV The two NOPVs -- 'Shachi' and 'Shruti' -- between the countrys largest power are among five ships being constructed by producer and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut RDEL under the P-21 project of the Indian Utpadan Nigam. Navy. JULY 29 : National Payments Corporation of India JULY 27 : State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) (NPCI) has received final approval from and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance have the Reserve Bank to function as the Bharat signed an agreement for the distribution of Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) insurance products through the branches. and operate Bharat Bill Payment System Under this agreement, Bajaj Allianz (BBPS). General Insurance will offer personal The total number of Bharat Bill Payment lines of insurance products such as health, Operating Unit (BBPOU) certified by personal accident, home, motor and travel NPCI now stands at 24. along with commercial line of insurance JULY 30 : The World Bank has approved a total products such as property, marine and of USD 570 million for two projects in engineering insurance, etc to the banks Bangladesh to improve health, nutrition, customers. and population services and strengthen the JULY 27 : Tech giant Microsoft has officially launched country’s public procurement. 'Kaizala', a productivity app that has been JULY 31 : Some of the largest investors, designed to enhance the collaboration intermediaries and issuers in Asia and communication experience for Indian Pacific are confident of India's stable enterprises. economic growth in the region of 6.5 The product will make it possible for per cent and 7.5 per cent over the next organisations to interact with people 12-18 months. within the organisation as well as outside According to the global credit rating like partners and vendors in a seamless agency Moody's, the views were gathered manner. in a poll conducted jointly with its Indian JULY 27 : Country's third largest private sector lender affiliate, ICRA Ltd. Axis Bank entered into an agreement to www.mahendraguru.com [5] www.mahendraguru.com

National & State News of JULY 09 : President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of Guru Purnima launched the Month four major digital initiatives in to push e-education. JULY 03 : CISF security services at the Indira They are Swayam, Swayam Prabha, Gandhi International (IGI) airport has been National Academic Depository and adjudged as the best security service across National Digital Library. the country by an independent body called All these digital initiatives are operational the World Quality Congress (WQC). under Union Ministry of Human Resource The WQC is an independent, not-for-profit and Development. organisation and it will hand over the JULY 11 : A new tax payer service module ‘Aaykar decoration to the CISF later this week in Setu’, was launched by the Union Finance Mumbai. Minister, Arun Jaitley. To enhance mobile JULY 07 : India is ranked a high 23rd out of 165 access experience, a mobile responsive nations in a global index that measures the android version was also released along commitment of nations across the world to with the desktop version. Jaitley stressed cybersecurity. on the Government’s commitment The second Global Cybersecurity towards continuously upgrading tax payer Index (GCI) is released by the UN services. He said that this e-initiative telecommunications agency International would help in reducing physical interface Telecommunication Union (ITU). between assesses and tax assessing authorities and thereby minimizing the The index has been topped by Singapore chances of any tax harassment. with a 0.925 score. JULY 13 : India, for the first time, will be host to JULY 07 : The government declared the country free the Theatre Olympics since the events from Avian Influenza, commonly called as inception in 1993, the Ministry of Culture bird flu. in association with National School of The outbreak of bird flu, an infectious Drama (NSD) announced. viral disease of birds, was reported at Running from February 17 to April 8, the various epicentres in nine states and eighth edition of the international event Union Territories during October 2016 and will see over 500 plays and 700 ambience February 2017. performances by artists from across the JULY 09 : India will soon get a seat on the Global globe. Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), JULY 13 : In a significant IT initiative, the Railways a newly-constituted forum of central launched 'RailCloud' - a virtual server bankers and experts working towards with an inbuilt security system to optimise promotion of a robust and transparent server usage and faster connectivity. forex market. Cloud computing is the emerging The committee has been set up under the technology for faster and on-demand guidance of the Bank for International commensurate deployment of server Settlements (BIS), an international financial resources which result in reduced costs. organisation owned by 60 member central banks, representing countries from around JULY 13 : The Centre approved the signing of a the world. pact between India and Palestine for cooperation in the field of health and JULY 09 : The government has merged the ministries medicine. of urban development, and housing and urban poverty alleviation involved in Several pacts and proposals were policy making in urban areas to form the approved ex-post facto at a meeting of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including a Joint The two ministries, headed by Union Declaration of Intent (JDI) signed between minister Venkaiah Naidu, have a long India and Germany on cooperation in the history of mergers and de-mergers. field of health.

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The cabinet approved to enhance the age Tomar is currently the Union Minister for of superannuation of general duty medical Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and officers of the Central Armed Police Forces Irani is the incumbent Minister for Textiles. and Assam Rifles from 60 to 65 years. In a Cabinet reshuffle in 2016, both the JULY 14 : The Governor of Maharashtra and Tamil Union Ministers lost their portfolios. Irani Nadu CH Vidyasagar Rao and Chief was replaced by Prakash Javedekar as the Minister of Maharashtra Devendra HRD Minister and Piyush Goyal replaced Fadnavis released the book 'Marching Tomar and was given additional charge of with a Billion', analysing Narendra Modi's Minister of Mines. Government At Midterm. JULY 18 : T.M. Bhasin, Vigilance Commissioner in The release event took place at the Raj the Central Vigilance Commission, has Bhavan in south Mumbai, a Raj Bhavan received a Doctorate Degree Certificate spokesperson said. from the University of Madras for his research work on the "Impact of Banking The book, authored by senior journalist Uday on Inclusive Growth". Mahurkar, analyses the performance of the Modi government's three years in office. The Doctorate Degree was conferred on him by Tamil Nadu Governor C. JULY 15 : Raipur's Swami Vivekananda Airport has Vidyasagar Rao at the Annual Convocation been ranked first in customer satisfaction function in the University. in a survey carried out by the AAI across 49 airports in the country. JULY 21 : An engineering student from Jammu and Kashmir has won a global digital skill The airport in the Chhattisgarh capital was competition held in Singapore. followed by those at Udaipur, Amritsar and Dehradun, according to a statement issued Prince Sumberia, a student of Model by Airports Authority of India (AAI). Institute of Engineering and Technology, beat finalists from six other countries JULY 15 : Indian Railways launched first solar- Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, powered DEMU (diesel electrical multiple Thailand, Bhutan and Vietnam, to win the unit) train from the Safdarjung railway Asia Digital Skills Challenge. station in Delhi. The train will run from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in JULY 22 : The Union Finance Ministry has launched Haryana. A total of 16 solar panels, each Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana producing 300 Wp, are fitted in six coaches. (PMVVY), a pension scheme exclusively for senior citizens aged 60 years and above. The cost of these solar panels, manufactured under 'Make in India' initiative, is Rs 54 lakh. Under this scheme, senior citizens will get This is the first time in the world that solar a guaranteed interest of 8% for 10 years panels are being used as grid in railways. depending upon the investment made by them. JULY 15 : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched This PMVVY scheme will be available from an integrated mobile application 'Rail May 4, 2017 to May 3, 2018. Life Insurance Saarthi' to cater to various passenger Corporation of India (LIC) has been given requirements, including ticket booking, the sole privilege to operate the scheme. enquiry, on-board cleaning and ordering JULY 24 : India will host Global Conference on Cyber meal on a single platform. Space (GCCS) 2017, the world’s largest Currently there are multiple mobile app conference on cyber space and related by the Railways. To use different services, issues in New Delhi in November 2017. users need to search and download each This is for the first time GCCS is taking application separately. place outside Organisation for Economic JULY 18 : With Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu Co-operation and Development (OECD) resigning from Prime Minister Narendra nations. It will be the fifth edition of the Modi’s Cabinet, Smriti Irani was given conference. additional charge of the Information The theme for the GCCS 2017 is & Broadcast Ministry and Narendra ‘Cyber4All: An Inclusive, Sustainable, Tomar was made the Minister for Urban Developmental, Safe and Secure Development. Cyberspace‘. www.mahendraguru.com [7] www.mahendraguru.com

JULY 24 : The Women and Child Development The ‘Sagar Vani’ will now serve the coastal ministry launched an online platform to community, especially the fishermen enable women employees of the central community with the advisories and alerts government to file complaints related to towards their livelihood as well as their sexual harassment at the workplace. safety at Sea. The WCD minister also instructed officials JULY 28 : The Lok Sabha took up discussion on the to make the 'SHe-box' (sexual harassment Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2017 electronic box) as "interactive" as possible. that aims at giving the premier institutes JULY 26 : The Union Government introduced a more autonomy and will enable them to mobile app Aarambh for road maintenance. grant degrees. The app was launched by Narendra Singh The IIM Bill declares 20 existing Indian Tomar, Union Minister for Panchayati Institutes of Management as institutions of Raj, Rural Development, Drinking Water national importance and confers on them & Sanitation, and Deborah Greenfield, the power to grant degrees. Deputy Director General (Policy) of the JULY 29 : Defence Research and Development International Labour Organization (ILO). Organisation (DRDO) has developed an JULY 26 : A Case Study on the birth of the Goods and unmanned, remotely operated tank which Services Tax (GST) in India – “The GST has three variants - surveillance, mine Saga: A Story of Extraordinary National detection and reconnaissance in areas with Ambition” was released by the Union nuclear and bio threats. Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. It is called Muntra. This case study accordingly captures STATE the entire journey of GST right from its JULY 01 : In the presence of some of India’s finest ideation in the Kelkar Task Force Report athletes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2003. inaugurated 'The Arena', one of the JULY 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated most advanced integrated multi-purpose a memorial dedicated to former president stadiums in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. APJ Abdul Kalam at Peikarumbu near The Arena, one of the most advanced Rameswaram on his second death integrated multi-purpose stadiums. It is anniversary. a public-private partnership between the While the first phase of the memorial government of Gujarat and TransStadia. was inaugurated, its second phase was JULY 03 : Union Minister of State for Skill scheduled to be completed in another 18 Development and Entrepreneurship months. It would then house a library, Rajeev Pratap Rudi and Madhya Pradesh planetarium and auditorium. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan JULY 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged laid the foundation stone of the country’s off a weekly train linking the pilgrimage biggest Global Skill Park in Bhopal. centres of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and 37 acre land has been allotted in Narela Rameswaram, saying both are linked to Shankari area of Bhopal for the Global Lord Rama. Skill Park. The park will be constructed at The train will be known as the "Shraddha a cost of 645 crore rupees. Sethu Express". JULY 08 : Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur JULY 28 : Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Badal laid the foundation stone of a Rs Sciences and Environment, Forests & 123.7 crore mega food park with focus on Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan maize processing in Kapurthala district, launched an app “Sagar Vani” on the Punjab. occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earlier, the permission to set up a mega Earth Sciences in New Delhi. food park was denied because the district The ‘Sagar Vani’ is a software platform was declared a dark zone because of slow where various dissemination modes will desertification and over-exploitation of be integrated on a single central server. water due to cash crops.

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The park is being developed by Sukhjit It includes improved road connectivity Mega Food Park and Infra Limited at village within the industrial estate, street lighting, Rehana Jattan. It will boost job opportunities upgraded facilities for unit holders and and environment conservation. visitors and other facilities. JULY 11 : To strengthen the blood transfusion services JULY 15 : President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated in West Bengal and the surrounding areas, the Satya Bharti School that aims to the Union health ministry joined hands provide quality education to students with with the state government for setting up a main focus on girls belonging to weaker centre for transfusion medicine at Kolkata. sections of society. A Memorandum of Understanding The Satya Bharti School Programme (MoU) was signed between the Ministry was started in 2009 in nine villages of and the state government, under which Murshidabad district. Rs 200 crore would allocated by the JULY 19 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Centre for equipment, manpower and dedicated to the nation the state's longest running costs while state will provide bridge and named it after Netaji Subhas land free of cost. Chandra Bose. The 2.88 km bridge over JULY 11 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister the river Kathajodi will connect the state Mehbooba Mufti inaugurated several capital of Bhubaneswar with Cuttack key development projects including an reducing the distance between the two Entrepreneurship Development Institute cities by 12 km. and upgraded a traffic system. JULY 24 : Union Minister of State for Home Kiren To be built over a cost of Rs 82.89 crore, Rijiju has inaugurated the Research the campus would be completed in four Institution of World Ancient, Traditional, years and have facilities like incubation Culture & Heritage (RIWATCH) Museum centres, hostels and libraries for budding at Roing in Arunachal Pradesh. entrepreneurs. Later, on the sideline of his visit to Roing, The chief minister inaugurated the Rijiju also inaugurated the 235-meter long upgraded SIDCO (State Industrial Chimari Bridge, which would serve as a Development Corporation) complex, being life line between the National Highway 52 developed at a cost of Rs 35.90 crore. of Roing-Tezu.

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International News of in-depth talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. the Month A Memorandum of Understanding JULY 01 : India has contributed USD 500,000 to the (MoU) was signed for setting up of USD UN Peacebuilding Fund, expressing hope 40 million worth India-Israel Industrial that more funding by nations will boost Research and Development (R&D) and efforts by the world body to build and Technical Innovation Fund. sustain peace. In the water sector, two agreements India has been a member of the were signed to increase cooperation on Peacebuilding Commission since its water conservation and state water utility inception in December 2005 and has reform in India. so far contributed USD 5 million to the In the agriculture sector, the two Peacebuilding Fund. The fresh contribution countries have agreed for India-Israel of USD 500,000 to the fund will be effected Development Cooperation - a three-year over the coming days. work programme in agriculture from JULY 05 : An Indian-American student in the US 2018 to 2020. has won this year’s National Speech and They also agreed for cooperation Debate Tournament, considered to be the regarding cooperation in atomic clocks. most prestigious high school competition Separate MoUs were also signed on in the country. cooperation in GEO-LEO optical link J J Kapur, a Sikh, composed his own and cooperation in Electric Propulsion persuasive speech titled Lets Dance for small satellites. addressing a social issue. JULY 07 : India has slipped by one spot to become JULY 06 : The Malabar naval exercise involving the fourth-largest foreign investor into the Indian, American and Japanese navies UK.. will kick start on July 10 in the Bay of The US remains on the top, investing Bengal, amid China's growing military in 577 projects in the UK, with China assertiveness in the disputed South China (including Hong Kong) remaining in Sea. second place with 160 projects. The aim of the Malabar exercise is to JULY 08 : Nepal and China have signed an achieve deeper military ties and greater agreement to set up a border law interoperability among the three navies in enforcement centre to manage and curb the strategically-important Indo-Pacific border related crimes while respecting region. each other’s sovereignty. India and the US have regularly conducted The agreement to establish the Nepal- the annual exercise since 1992. China Border Law Enforcement JULY 06 : India and Israel launched a five-year Cooperation (Keyrong) Joint Action technology fund, reminiscent of a fund that Centre was signed by Chief District boosted the Jewish state's ties with US over Officer of Rasuwa Chomendra Neupane four decades, and agreed to holds talks for and Local Security Officer of Zilong an investment protection treaty in a bid to County of China Colonel Gao Huihai. boost trade and business ties. JULY 12 : The United States and Qatar signed The two nations agreed to put USD 4 an agreement aimed at combating the million a year for five years into the financing of terrorism, as US Secretary of Israel India Innovation Initiative Fund, State Rex Tillerson visited Doha to try to or I4F, after Modi's talks with his Israeli end a month-long rift between Western- counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. allied Arab states. JULY 06 : India and Israel signed seven agreements Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab to increase cooperation in key sectors like Emirates and Egypt imposed sanctions on space, agriculture and water conservation Qatar last month, accusing it of financing after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held extremist groups and allying with the

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Gulf Arab states' arch-foe Iran, allegations The deal allows Japan to export nuclear Doha denies. technology to India, making it the first JULY 12 : The US military has conducted a successful non-NPT signatory to have such a deal test of a missile intercept system, as with Tokyo. tensions soar following North Korea's Other nations who have signed civil test launch of an intercontinental ballistic nuclear deal with India include the US, missile that could potentially reach Alaska. Russia, South Korea, Mangolia, France, The test of the Terminal High Altitude Namibia, Argentina, Canada, Kazakhstan Area Defense (THAAD) system saw a and Australia. ballistic missile target air-launched from JULY 25 : The world's first full-scale floating an Air Force C-17 over the Pacific Ocean wind farm - with turbines taller than the north of Hawaii. Britain’s Big Ben - is being built off the JULY 19 : American President Donald Trump coast of Scotland. The wind farm, known nominated experienced diplomat and as Hywind, is a trial project which will former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as bring power to 20,000 homes. country's new ambassador to Russia. JULY 28 : Tax authorities of the five BRICS America's top think-tank Atlantic Council countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China chief Huntsman has previously been the and South Africa) signed a landmark US Ambassador to China and Singapore. document (BRICS Taxation Cooperation Memorandum) to establish a mechanism JULY 19 : India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum for taxation cooperation. of Understanding (MoU) to develop a village in Anuradhapura District (in Sri The BRICS Taxation Cooperation Lanka) at a cost of 30 crores Sri Lankan Memorandum, signed at the fifth meeting rupees. of BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities, is the bloc’s first document that elevates taxation The village in the name of a famous cooperation to the institutional level. Buddhist monk Sobitha Thero envisages construction of 153 new houses, a multi- The authorities also agreed to cooperate on purpose community building, internal taxation information exchange, improve water supply system and renovation of consultation procedures efficiency, boost monk’s quarters & library. taxation capacities and plan paths for coordination of taxation policies and tax JULY 21 : American President Donald Trump has collection. nominated John R Bass, currently serving as the US ambassador to Turkey, to be his JULY 29 : Sri Lanka signed a USD 1.1 billion deal envoy to Afghanistan. to sell a 70-per cent stake of the strategic Hambantota port to China, amid concerns JULY 21 : A landmark civil nuclear cooperation deal over the massive debt the island nation between India and Japan that provides incurred in building the port. for collaboration between their industries in the field came into force, eight months Under the 99-year lease agreement, after it was sealed. CMPort is to invest up to USD 1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

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India's fate was going to be determined by Sports News of the Advani's partner Rawat's form and he did Month not disappoint. JULY 06 : The Indian football team rose to the 96th JULY 02 : Jehan Daruvala of Sahara Force India spot in the latest FIFA rankings, its best- Academy created history by becoming the ever in the last two decades and the second first Indian to win in the FIA F3 European best overall. Championship. As far as Asia is concerned, India are the Jehan's victory in race 3 comes 18 years 12th highest ranked team in the continent, after Narayan Karthikeyan won in the while Iran lead the chart at the 23rd spot. British F3 Championship. JULY 07 : Virat Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's JULY 03 : Joachim Loew has hailed Germany's next record for most hundreds in chases during generation of stars after beating Chile in the fifth and final One-Day International Confederations Cup final -- but says the against West Indies in Jamaica. challenge is to defend the World Cup next year. While The Little Master took 232 innings to score 17 hundreds, he has taken just 102 Lars Stindl's simple tap-in was enough innings to score 18 ODI tons while batting to seal Germany's victory in final in St second. Petersburg as the youthful world champions lifted the Confed Cup for the first time. Tendulkar has 18,426 runs from 463 ODIs while the Indian captain has amassed runs Germany's captain Julian Draxler was voted so far from 189 matches. the Confed Cup's player of the tournament and striker Timo Werner finished as the top JULY 08 : India's Harinder Pal Sandhu beat Rhys scorer in Russia with three goals and two Dowling of Australia in the final to lift assists. South Australian Open squash title. JULY 05 : Tyre manufacturing company Ceat has Sandhu was down 1-7 after winning the come on board for Ultimate Table Tennis first game comfortably as the Australian (UTT) competition as title sponsor. fought back strongly. The tournament consisting 24 Indian and It was Sandhu's eighth title at the PSA 24 International paddlers will start from level. July 13 and the semi-finals and final will JULY 09 : In a stunning show of dominance, India be held here from July 26. clinched five gold to top the medal tally for Each club in the meet will have eight first time in the history of Asian Athletics players four men and four women with an Championships, pushing China to second equal mix of overseas and Indian players, spot, in their most successful campaign in apart from a foreign and an Indian coach. the continental flagship event. JULY 05 : India paddlers continued their good run China ended this edition on second and won a bronze medal for the country position with 8 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze. when Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja JULY 12 : Former cricketer Ravi Shastri has been Sahasrabudhe lost in the women’s doubles appointed the head coach of the Indian semifinals at the Seamaster 2017 Australian cricket team. Along with this, Zaheer Open at Gold Coast. Khan has been appointed as the bowling Suthirtha and Pooja has defeated crowd coach and Rahul Dravid as the batting favourites Miao Miao and Jian Fang Lay consultant. of Australia 3-1 (11-9 12-14 8-11 9-11) to Shastri replaced Anil Kumble, who exited enter the last four round. after a much publicised difference of JULY 06 : India's leading cueist Pankaj Advani opinion with Captain Virat Kohli. teamed up with Laxman Rawat to demolish Making for a star-studded coaching team, Pakistan in the final of the Asian Team former speedster Zaheer Khan took over as Snooker Championship. the bowling coach while Rahul Dravid was Advani drew first blood by putting on a sterling handed over additional responsibility of a performance against Mohammad Bilal. batting consultant on specific overseas tours. www.mahendraguru.com [12] www.mahendraguru.com

JULY 13 : Indian captain Mithali Raj created a world India's other bronze medal was bagged by record by becoming the first player to cross Paramjeet of Haryana in the boy's below 6000 runs in the history of women's ODI 90kg category. during the ICC World Cup match against JULY 16 : India's Harinder Pal Sandhu continued his Australia. fine run by winning a second title in two The Indian team now have two current weeks, beating top-seed Rex Hedrick of world record holders with pacer Jhulan Australia in a 77-minute final of Victorian Goswami being the leading wicket-taker in Open squash, a PSA Tour event, in 50-over cricket. Melbourne. Against Australia, Mithali surpassed former Third-seeded Sandhu, who had won England captain Charlotte Edwards's the South Australian Open last week, 5992 runs when she reached 34, thereby stepped up to win the second game 11-3 becoming the highest scorer in ODIs. using an attacking game to keep his Mithali now has 6028 runs from 183 rival at bay. games. He had beaten Piedro Schweertman of the JULY 15 : Damneet Singh grabbed a silver in boys' Netherlands to reach the final. hammer throw event to give India their JULY 17 : Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the first medal on the third day of the IAAF consecutive fourth British Grand Prix. World U-18 Athletics Championships. With this victory, Hamilton has made the Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine won the difference between the top-ranked Vettel gold with a best throw of 82.31m while and him to just one point. Raphael Winkelvoss of Germany took the JULY 18 : India's Amit Kumar Saroha clinched a bronze by clearing a distance of 71.78m. silver in men's club throw F51 competition JULY 15 : Sundar Singh Gurjar has opened India's in World Para Athletics Championships. account at the World Para Athletics Saroha's best throw of 30.25m, which came Championships by clinching gold in the in his third attempt, fetched him a silver men's javelin throw event. In the F46 medal. In the process, the para-athlete category, Sundar recorded his personal from Haryana set a new Asian record in best effort of 60.36m on the very first this event. night of the tournament and took the top honour. Serbia's Zeljko Dimitrijevic retained his title with a world record throw of 31.99m. Dinesh Priyantha Herath of Sri Lanka emerged second with 57.93m, followed JULY 18 : Mumbai's Neel Joshi and Ananya Dabke by defending champion China's Guo bagged the under-15 boys and girls titles Chunliang with a season best of 56.14m. respectively in the Dutch Open Junior Squash Championship in Amsterdam, JULY 16 : Karnataka's Manudev defeated Alok Netherlands. Kumar of PSPB by four frames to one in the final to win the title in the first National Top seed Joshi beat Khalil Alhassan of Masters snooker tournament. England in the boys final, while Dabke, win over second seed Serena Daniel of Kumar, a former national men's champion, the US in the corresponding girls title had been in fine form coming into the round. summit clash, but found Manudev a tough proposition. JULY 18 : The International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced that the Russian city JULY 16 : India bagged three medals, including a gold of Kazan and Hungarian city Budapest in the just-concluded Asian Cadet Judo have been chosen to host the 2022, 2024 Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Short Course Swimming Championships Thangjam Tababi Devi of Manipur won the respectively. yellow metal for India in the girl's below FINA took the decision about the host cities 44kg weight category, while Haryana's for both events in a meeting at Budapest, Simran clinched a bronze in the girl's the venue of the 2017 World Aquatics below 40kg division. Championships.

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On the other hand, the Chinese city of champion Parupalli Kashyap in an all- Hangzhou is set to host the Short Course Indian final to clinch the USD 120,000 US Swimming Championships in 2018, while Open Grand Prix Gold. Abu Dhabi will be the venue in 2020. JULY 24 : Former Bayern Munich man Philipp Lahm JULY 19 : Bharat Arun was appointed as the new has been named Germany's Footballer of bowling coach of Team India by the Board the Year for 2017. of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). JULY 24 : Indian weightlifter Konsam Ormila Devi The decision was announced during a has bagged a gold medal at the Asian Youth press briefing held by the newly appointed and Junior Weightlifting Championships Indian team coach Ravi Shastri after in Kathmandu, Nepal. meeting the four-member BCCI panel. JULY 25 : India skipper Mithali Raj has been chosen JULY 19 : India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as the captain of the ICC Women's World slipped a place to take the third position Cup 2017 team by the International Cricket in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test Council. bowlers. Besides Mithali, Harmanpreet Kaur and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath has Deepti Sharma were the other two Indians climbed to second position after grabbing included in the ICC's team. his eighth 10-wicket match haul and JULY 25 : In a historic first for Indian boxing, helping win the one-off Test against the country will host the men's World Zimbabwe in Colombo by four wickets. Championship for the first time in 2021 Apart from defeating Ashwin to second besides next year’s women’s World place, Herath has limited the difference Championship, shaking off the last between Ravindra Jadeja, who runs remnants of administrative turmoil that himself and the top, to 32 points. once plagued the sport. JULY 21 : Karan Jaiswal won a double gold in men's After analysing the presentations, the and junior men's 10m air rifle event while AIBA Executive Committee unanimously Kapila Dabas and Pooja Rastogi won gold awarded the 2019 women’s World and silver respectively in women's 10m air Championships to Trabzon, Turkey. The rifle event at the 33rd Delhi State Shooting AIBA 2018 Congress was awarded to the Championship. Russian capital city of Moscow. JULY 22 : India’s Karamjyoti Dalal has won JULY 27 : Indian wrestlers won a gold and two bronze bronze medal at the World Para Athletics medals in the 23rd Summer Deaflympics Championships 2017 in the discus-throw. at Samsun in Turkey. In the women’s F55 category of discus- Virender Singh clinched the gold in 74kg throw, she managed a throw of 19.02 m. freestyle event as he beat Chakvetadze S Earlier, Sundar Singh Gurjar had opened (Georgia) by 18-9 points in the final bout. India’s account at the 2017 World Para Ajay Kumar beat Babayan A (Armenia) Athletics Championships by winning gold by 10-0 points in 65kg freestyle to earn a medal in the men’s javelin throw event. bronze medal. JULY 24 : India turned up in a manner befitting the JULY 28 : Seram Nirupama Devi won three bronze occasion and stopped England at 228 for medals in the 19th Asian Youth (Boys & seven in the final of the ICC Women's Girls) Weightlifting Championships in World Cup, leaving themselves with a Kathmandu. realistic chance of doing what seemed unreal at the start of the tournament. The weightlifter from Manipur produced a total lift of 178kg (79kg snatch + 99kg The coin landing in the opponents' favour clean and jerk) to win the gold in the 69kg at the toss was hardly a deterrent as India youth girls category. went about the task in a professional manner. JULY 29 : India finished sixth in the girls team event of the 2017 WSF-World junior JULY 24 : HS Prannoy notched up a thrilling three- squash championship in Tauranga, New game win over Commonwealth Games Zealand.

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JULY 30 : Mumbai's Aditya Patil and Suhaani Lohia With this title win, Vettel has strengthened have clinched bronze medals at the Asian his position at the top of the world School Chess Competition in China. championship race. In the race, Vettel JULY 30 : Indian boxers packed quite a heavy punch maintained his lead from the start and at the 48th Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem, won the title by defeating his own team's clinching five gold, two silver and one bronze Finnish player Kimi Raikkonen. This is medal at the event in the Czech Republic. 46th F-1 title of Vettel's career. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland finished JULY 30 : The Indian women's basketball team defeated third. Kazakhstan 75-73 in a thrilling contest to climb to Division-A of the FIBA Asia Cup 2017. JULY 31 : John Isner claimed his fourth ATP Atlanta title, saving a set-point in both sets en route JULY 31 : Ferrari's Formula One racer Sebastian to win over Ryan Harrison. Vettel won the Hungarian Grand Prix title.

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enhanced range from 60-70 kilometres and flight maneuverability. Science News of the Month JULY 07 : Physicists have discovered a particle that is doubly charming. JULY 04 : A team of scientists have developed the Researchers reported that in debris flying world’s sharpest laser costing 44 million out from the collisions of protons at the euros. Named as 'Super Laser', it is 10 CERN particle physics laboratory outside times more powerful than any other on the Geneva, they had spotted a particle that planet and has the potential to revolutionize has long been predicted but not detected engineering in aeronautics, power and until now. automotive industries. The new particle, awkwardly known as Xi- This laser was developed within the scope cc++ (pronounced ka-sigh-see-see-plus- of a nearly 10-year-long joint project with plus), could provide new insight into how researchers from Physikalisch Technische tiny, whimsically named particles known Bundesanstalt (PTB) and JILA, a joint as quarks, the building blocks of protons institute of the National Institute of and neutrons, interact with each other. Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder in the US. JULY 12 : Space agency ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ISTRAC has JULY 04 : India successfully test-fired indigenously designed and developed a Ship Borne developed quick reaction surface-to-air Transportable (SBT) Antenna Terminal to missile (QR-SAM) off the Odisha coast. meet the launch vehicle telemetry tracking This short range missile with a strike and command requirements. range of 25 to 30 km was test fired from a The 4.6 meter Ship Borne Antenna System truck-mounted canister launcher from the has been built indigenously, fulfilling Integrated Test Range at Chandipur. all specifications and has established JULY 04 : North Korea claimed that it successfully in-house capability for meeting future test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic requirements. missile (ICBM) 'Hwasong -14'. JULY 14 : A team of Indian astronomers has The Hwasong-14 missile was fired from discovered an extremely large supercluster North Pyongan province and it reached an of galaxies as big as 20 million billion altitude of 2,802 km and flew 933 km for suns which they have named Saraswati, about 40 minutes before hitting a target in Pune-based Inter University Centre for the East Sea. Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) The US military characterised it as a "land- said. based, intermediate-range" missile. This is one of the largest known structures The North American Aerospace Defence in the neighbourhood of the universe, Command (NORAD) assessed that the 4,000 million light-years away from Earth missile launch from North Korea did not and roughly more than 10 billion years pose a threat to North America. old, IUCAA said. JULY 06 : Pakistan successfully test fired short- Its mass extends over the scale of 600 range surface-to-surface ballistic missile million light years, it said. Nasr, which army chief Gen Qamar Javed JULY 19 : United States Navy successfully tested the Bajwa said has put "cold water" on Indian world’s first-ever active Laser Weapons military’s "Cold Start" doctrine. System (LaWS). Nasr is a high-precision weapon system In the test, the LaWS deployed aboard with the ability to be deployed quickly, the the USS Ponce amphibious transport ship army said. was able to destroy a drone in flight and Pakistan Army has conducted a series moving targets on the Persian Gulf. of training launches and tests during USS Ponce is first ship in the world to be the current week for validation of new deployed with such advanced weapons technical parameters of NASR with system.

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JULY 28 : Iran successfully tested a satellite-launch Since the potential moon is probably about rocket 'Simorgh'. the size of Neptune, the team nicknamed it The launch vehicle, named Simorgh after "Neptmoon." a bird in Iranian mythology, was capable JULY 31 : The world's smallest spacecraft were on of propelling a satellite weighing 250 23 June 2017 successfully launched into kilograms to an altitude of 500 kilometres low-Earth orbit by Indian rocket Polar above earth. Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Known JULY 29 : Astronomers have potentially discovered as 'Sprites', these tiny satellites are just the first known moon beyond our solar 3.5cm x 3.5cm and carry radios, sensors system, orbiting a giant planet around a and computers, and each device is powered star about 4,000 light-years away. by sunlight and weighs just four grams. It orbits a planet slightly larger than The Sprites were constructed by researchers Jupiter around a star about 4,000 light- at Cornell University and transported into years away. space as secondary payloads by the two larger German satellites Max Valier and Venta.

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JULY 05 : Priyanka Chopra is one of the newest Miscellaneous News members the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) and the of the Month actress has praised the ongoing push for racial and gender equality. MISCELLANEOUS Apart from Priyanka, other Indian JULY 01 : Arnav Sharma, an 11-year-old Indian-origin stars who have been invited to join the boy in the United Kingdom, secured the top Academy and vote in the Oscars include possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test. the likes of, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Sharma secured two points higher than Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, physicist Albert Einstein and astrophysicist filmmakers Goutam Ghose, Buddhadeb Stephen Hawking, making him one of Dasgupta, Salman Khan, Irrfan Khan and the brainiest children in the country. The Deepika Padukone. Indian-origin boy passed the infamously JULY 07 : A wax statue of actor Ranveer Singh was difficult test a few weeks back with zero unveiled at the Grévin wax museum in preparation. In fact, he had never seen what Paris. Ranveer is the third Bollywood a typical paper looked like before taking it. celebrity after Shah Rukh Khan and JULY 03 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi released Aishwarya Rai to get a statue at the a photo book titled 'President Pranab museum. Wax statue has been unveiled Mukherjee - A Statesman'. This book is a on Ranveer Singh's 32nd birthday. compilation of pictures and articles related JULY 08 : Oscar winning composer A.R.Rahman to President Pranab Mukherjee's tenure. is delighted that his music from the film JULY 03 : India has slipped to 88th place in terms of "Viceroy's House" has been shortlisted money parked by its citizens with Swiss for the World Soundtrack Awards, a banks, while the UK remains on the top. public choice award. All soundtrack India was placed at 75th position in 2015 and film music fans worldwide can and at 61st in the year before that, though it cast their personal vote for what they used to be among top-50 countries in terms consider the best soundtrack of the of holdings in Swiss banks till 2007. The past 12 months. The soundtrack that country was ranked highest at 37th place in gets the highest number of votes will the year 2004. receive the World Soundtrack Public JULY 04 : Realty firm Signature Global, which is into Choice Award 2017. development of affordable homes, has roped JULY 08 : Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, in Bollywood actress Vidya Balan as brand Rajkummar Rao, badminton ace P.V. ambassador. Signature Global has launched Sindhu and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar 9 affordable housing projects, comprising Sharma have been named in a list of the about 9,300 units in a price range of Rs 15- 50 Most Influential Young Indians of 25 lakh, in Gurgaon in the last three years 2017 by GQ India magazine. of operations. All projects are under the The GQ Power List was celebrated with Haryana Affordable Housing scheme. the announcement of 50 most influential In May, Signature Global received Rs 200 Indians under the age of 40 from a diverse crore funding from private equity player range of backgrounds and professions – KKR, while it raised Rs 150 crore from business and entrepreneurship, politics, ICICI Prudential last year. fashion, design, media, food and drink, JULY 04 : Hyundai Motor India has extended its 19-year entertainment, sports, and real estate to old association with Bollywood superstar name a few. Shah Rukh Khan for another two years. JULY 10 : Ahmedabad became the first Indian city to The fresh mandate as the brand ambassador get UNESCO World Heritage City tag. starts from April 21, 2017, till April 20, 2019. The declaration of six-hundred year old According to Hyundai, SRK is one of the Ahmedabad as a world heritage city by the first Hyundai family members and has UNESCO was hailed by Prime Minister played a key role in the success of Santro Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and since our inception in India. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. www.mahendraguru.com [18] www.mahendraguru.com

JULY 11 : Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar by the UK, Saudi Arabia, France, Canada, Pathak has compiled the journey of Prime Germany and South Africa. Minister Narendra Modi into a coffee table The study is based on international survey book. The book titled "The making of a data by the Gallup World Poll. legend" was released by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. JULY 14 : The citizens of India trust their government and the country is "at the very top of The coffee table book has images and text the governmental confidence league", depicting Modi's journey, his struggles and according to the latest report by the several initiatives taken by him since he took Organisation for Economic Co-operation oath as country’s prime minister in 2014. and Development (OECD). JULY 11 : According to a report by United The international organisation, which Nations and Organisation for Economic works with governments to understand Cooperation and Development (OECD), their economic, social and environmental India, projected to be the most populous changes, in its report said 73 per cent country over the next decade, will be the Indians have faith in Prime Minister world’s largest milk producer by 2026 and Narendra Modi's government, the highest will account for the biggest increase in in the world. wheat production globally. JULY 19 : According to the International Migration The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook Outlook 2017 report on Organisation for 2017-2026 said the world’s population Economic Co-operation and Development will increase from 7.3 to 8.2 billion over (OECD) member countries, Indians are the course of the next decade with India among top asylum-seekers in other countries and Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 56 such as New Zealand, Australia, Finland, % of total population growth. Japan, Latvia, Slovak Republic, United India’s population will grow from 1.3 Kingdom and the United States of America. billion to 1.5 billion, an increase of almost JULY 24 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s 150 million. India will overtake China ambassadorship for UNICEF has been and is projected to be the most populous extended for another two years. country in the world by 2026. The World Health Organisation also JULY 14 : According to the 'SDG Index and appointed Bachchan as its goodwill Dashboards Report', India is ranked ambassador for hepatitis in South-East 116 out of 157 nations on a global Asia region to boost awareness and index that assesses the performance of intensify action to arrest the epidemic. countries towards achieving the ambitious sustainable development goals (SDGs). JULY 29 : Bengaluru may be India's Silicon Valley This report has been produced by the but ranks at the 40th spot among the top Sustainable Development Solutions 50 global cities that foster high-potential Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann women entrepreneurs, according to a Stiftung. report by tech giant Dell. The only other Indian city in the top 50 tally is Delhi, that Sweden leads the list, followed by Denmark at the 49th spot, just ahead of Jakarta. and Finland. Among the G7 countries, only Germany and France can be found among New York ranked numero uno in the list, the top ten performers. The United States followed by Bay Area, London, Boston ranks 42nd on the Index, while Russia and and Stockholm. China rank 62nd and 71st respectively. JULY 29 : India is the world's third-biggest exporter JULY 14 : India has the second highest number of beef and is projected to hold on to that of adults planning to migrate to other position over the next decade, according countries with the US and the UK among to a report by the Food and Agriculture the most favoured destinations, according Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation to a report by the UN migration agency. for Economic Cooperation (OECD). The most popular destination for those In the report, Brazil has been named the planning to migrate is the US followed world's top beef exporter and Australia is ranked second. www.mahendraguru.com [19] www.mahendraguru.com

Appointments of the N Chandrasekaran : Tata Global Beverages Ltd. appointed Tata Month Sons' head Natarajan Chandrasekaran as KK Venugopal : the Chairman of its board with immediate Senior advocate KK Venugopal is the effect. new Attorney General for India. President Chandrasekaran will succeed Harish Pranab Mukherjee has approved his Bhat, who was appointed in place of appointment. Venugopal will succeed former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry Mukul Rohatgi. in November last year. Venugopal had served as the Additional The company has also appointed Siraj Solicitor General in the Morarji Desai Azmat Chaudhary as a non-executive government. He assisted the Supreme independent director. Court in a number of cases and was Mahesh Senanayake : amicus curiae in the 2G spectrum scam case. Lt General Mahesh Senanayake, a battle- hardened officer who played a key role R K Pachnanda : in defeating the Tamil Tigers during the R K Pachnanda, IPS took charge as the new brutal civil war, will be Sri Lankas new Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border army commander. Police (ITBP). Krishna Chaudhary, DG Senanayake was appointed by Sri Lankan who retired on superannuation, handed President Maithripala Sirisena as the over the customary baton to Pachnanda in country’s new army commander after a function held at the Force HQ at CGO being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Complex. Pachnanda is the 29th Chief of General. the ITBP. Sanjay Kumar : AK Jyoti : Achal Kumar Jyoti, a 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Himachal Pradesh DGP Sanjay Kumar Gujarat cadre, became the next Chief has been appointed as the new chief of Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. the National Disaster Response Force Jyoti took charge from incumbent Nasim (NDRF). Zaidi. The post of NDRF Director General Zaidi retired from his post on 6 July 2017. (DG) fell vacant after incumbent R K He took over as the CEC on 19 April Pachnanda was appointed as the chief of 2015. the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Sino-Indian border guarding force. Achal Kumar Jyoti was the Election Commissioner of India along with Somesh Goyal : O P Rawat. He took over as the Somesh Goyal, a 1984-batch IPS officer Election Commissioner of India in of Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been May 2017. appointed as the state's director general of An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years police (DGP). in office or till he or she attains the age of He replaces Sanjay Kumar who has 65 years, whichever is earlier. been appointed as director general of Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor : the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was on 1 July 2017 sworn in as the Chief Executive Kewal Handa : of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Kewal Handa was appointed as non- Region (HKSAR). Lam took her oath executive chairman of Union Bank of India. before President Xi Jinping, who oversaw The Appointments Committee of the swearing-in ceremony. the Cabinet has approved Handa's With this, Lam became Hong Kong's fifth appointment as non-official director/non- Chief Executive since 1997 and the first executive chairman of the bank. He has female to hold the post. been appointed for 3 years. www.mahendraguru.com [20] www.mahendraguru.com

John Joseph : A key intelligence agency tasked with The ILO, which is the only tripartite checking evasion of Goods and Services body of the United Nations Organisation, Tax (GST) has got its new chief. was set up with a mandate of working Senior bureaucrat John Joseph has been towards global social justice. It works appointed Director General of Goods with the objective of maximizing the and Services Tax Intelligence (DG organization’s influence in promoting GSTI). decent work opportunities for all. He is at present posted in Mumbai and ILO comprises of 56 members, including expected to take the new charge soon. 14 members from the employer, 14 from the trade union and 28 members from the Vijay Sinha : DHFL General Insurance has appointed government. Vijay Sinha as its managing director and chief executive officer. Aarthi Subramanian : DHFL General Insurance is a general Tata Sons, the holding company of salt- insurance venture promoted by to-software Tata Group has appointed Wadhawan Global Capital, which is Aarthi Subramanian as the group’s Chief a core investment company with its Digital Officer. flagship brand being the listed housing Subramanian, who is currently the finance entity, Dewan Housing Finance Executive Director at Tata Consultancy Limited (DHFL). Services (TCS) will report to Chairman Subhash Garg : of Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran and will take up her new role in August this Senior bureaucrat Subhash Chandra year. Garg assumed charge as secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Subra Suresh : in the finance ministry. Subra Suresh, an eminent Indian- origin He succeeds Shaktikanta Das, who scientist in the US has been named as retired after an extended tenure on May the President of Singapore’s prestigious 31. Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Nanyang Technological University. Ray was given additional charge of DEA Suresh, 61, will begin his term as the secretary after Das exit. fourth president of the NTU on January 1, Thomas Kuehl : 2018, taking over from current president Bertil Andersson. Japanese auto major Nissan has appointed former Skoda Auto India brand head, Prof Suresh joins NTU from Carnegie Thomas Kuehl as president of its Indian Mellon University (CMU) where he was operations. President for the last four years. He will replace Guillaume Sicard, who Mukesh Kumar Jain : stepped down recently to take up a new Mukesh Kumar Jain has been appointed post with Alliance partner Renault as as the managing director and chief Vice President, Sales and Marketing, executive officer of Oriental Bank of Asia Pacific and MD, South Asia. Commerce. Kuehl will take charge of his new He is at present the executive director in assignment from October one, 2017 and Punjab and Sind Bank. will be responsible for both Nissan and The Appointments Committee of the Datsun brands. Cabinet has approved Jain's appointment Rajeev Dubey : to the post for a period of three years. Group president of HR & Corporate Subhash Chandra Garg : Services at Mahindra & Mahindra, The Government has nominated the Rajeev Dubey has been elected to the Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash governing board of the International Chandra Garg to the central board of Labour Organisation (ILO) in directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Geneva. He will replace Shaktikanta Das.

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The nomination of Garg is effective July Fayaz Kaloo : 12, 2017, and until further orders. Chief Editor of Greater Kashmir Fayaz The Reserve Bank's affairs are governed Ahmad Kaloo has been elected as the by the central board of directors, which is first president of Kashmir Editors Guild appointed by the government. (KEG). Editor of daily Kashmir Images Lilly Singh : UNICEF appointed Indian- origin Bashir Manzar was elected as general Canadian YouTube star Lilly Singh as its secretary of the guild which was formed newest Global Goodwill Ambassador at a in December last year. special event. S C Garg : The government has appointed Economic The YouTuber, famous as 'Superwoman', Affairs Secretary S C Garg as Alternate said she would come up with few Governor on the Board of Governors of videos in Hindi and would try to put Asian Development Bank (ADB). Hindi subtitles in her English videos Garg has been appointed in place of to increase the reach of her vlogs and Former Secretary Shaktikanta Das. channel. Anand Sahai : Patrik Riese : Volkswagen Finance, the financial arm Budget carrier GoAir has appointed of the Volkswagen Group in India, has Anand Sahai, the former Vodafone appointed Patrik Riese as the Managing business head for East India, as its chief Director and Chief Executive Officer. Riese commercial officer (CCO) ahead of its has taken charge from Andreas Kutzner. plans to launch international operations Preet Kaur Gill : later this year. Britain's first woman Sikh MP Preet Kaur Nitish Kumar : Gill has been elected to an influential Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister cross-party panel in the UK Parliament of Bihar for the sixth time and Sushil that examines the workings of the Home Modi took oath as the Deputy Chief Office. Minister of Bihar. BJP leader Sushil Gill has also been chosen to lead the All Kumar Modi was also administered the Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for oath by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi. British Sikhs. Harsh Chitale : Ram Nath Kovind : Philips Lighting announced top level Giving India its second Dalit president, reshuffle by elevating its South Asia former Bihar Governor Ram Nath head Harsh Chitale to global role, as Kovind won the presidential election with the CEO of its b2b arm Business Group a comfortable margin against Opposition Professional. Chitale, currently South nominee Meira Kumar. Asia CEO, would be succeeded by Sumit Incumbent Pranab Mukerhjee's last day Joshi, Head of Marketing Excellence of as president was on July 24 and Kovind Philips Lighting. took oath as India's 14th president on the Sunil Singhania : next day. Reliance Capital has elevated chief Anil Kumar Raturi : investment officer of its mutual fund arm Anil Kumar Raturi took charge as the Sunil Singhania as a global head of the new Director General of Police (DGP) of company’s equity business. Uttarakhand. He took charge on July 24. Manish Gunwani will be the new CIO Raturi replaced DGP MA Ganapathy, who for equity division at Reliance Nippon will join as additional director general of Life Asset Management (RNAM), better police (ADG), Central Industrial Security known as Reliance Mutual Fund. Force (CISF). www.mahendraguru.com [22] www.mahendraguru.com

Golden Peacock environment management award : Awards of the Month Climate and energy efficiency solutions company Danfoss India has been conferred with the ‘Golden Peacock Award’ for Audience Award at the annual London Indian Film Environment Management. Festival (LIFF) : Acknowledging its commitment towards 'A Billion Colour Story', produced by the environment, the company has been Bollywood filmmaker Satish Kaushik and recognised for its LEED Platinum rated directed by Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy, constructed manufacturing facility in won the Audience Award at the annual Chennai. Ravichandran Purushothaman London Indian Film Festival (LIFF). is the present President of Danfoss "It's incredibly special for us that 'A Billion India. Colour Story' resonates with audiences Best foreign film award in the Hollywood CineFest : across countries and continents. It continues to vindicate our faith that people and their Filmmaker Bidyut Kotoky's 'Xhoihobote hearts are the same across cultures and Dhemalite' (Rainbow Fields) had won the horizons," the filmmakers said in a statement. best foreign film award in the Hollywood CineFest. Great Immigrants Award : This film was selected for the world's Indian-Americans, Adobe chief Shantanu biggest film festival for children and also Narayen and former US Surgeon General given a 4.5 star rating. Vivek Murthy, are among 38 immigrants honoured with the 'Great Immigrants award' This film offers an inside look at children for their role in helping advance the country's growing up during a violent period in Assam society, culture and economy. and shows how they are affected. Narayen and Murthy were honoured with Queen's Enterprise Award : the prestigious Great Immigrants annual Prominent Indian-origin businessman, award on US Independence Day on July 4. Yusaffali M A has received the prestigious Indian of the Year Award : Queens Enterprise Award 2017 for his food processing plants role in boosting Writer Preeti Shenoy was honoured with the UK’s position as an investor friendly the Indian of the Year Award at a function destination. organised in New Delhi. Shenoy was awarded by Brands Academy, one of the He said the recognition for his Birmingham- most reputed branding companies in India. based Y International (UK) Ltd will spur his Abu Dhabi headquartered Lulu Group The Award is given to recognise the International to further expand business achievements of personalities who have interests in the UK. contributed towards building up the reputation of the country. Indira Gandhi Prize : PM’s trophy for best Integrated Steel Plant : Science journalist Pallava Bagla has been awarded with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Tata Steel Ltd has bagged Prime Minister’s Prize for popularisation of science. trophy for ‘Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant’ in the country for the performance Bagla is the Science Editor with the NDTV years 2014-2015 and 2015- 16. and a science columnist with the Press Trust of India (PTI). Tata Steel has bagged the award for the third consecutive year. The Indira Gandhi Prize for popularisation of science was established by the INSA in Overall, the company has been recognised as 1986 to encourage and recognise public the best integrated steel plant for 12 times awareness of science. and has won the PM’s Trophy 10 times.

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She was also part of Hindi movies like Eulogies of the Month "Guddi", "Aashirwad" and "Mere Apne". She acted in over 30 Bengali films, including the Dilip Kumar starrer Ravinder Randev : "Sagina Mahato" in 1971. Veteran journalist Ravinder Randev Mangesh Tendulkar : passed away. He was 82. Renowned cartoonist Mangesh After serving in the Himachal Pradesh Tendulkar died. He was 83. Education department for more than a decade, Randev joined the Vir Pratap Tendulkar displayed various aspects of daily newspaper as a staff reporter in daily life through his cartoons. He was 1972. socially active for the last several years and he had created awareness on traffic Nirupam Sen : Nirupam Sen, India's former Permanent issues through his cartoons. Some of his Representative to the UN, passed away. cartoons were also used by the traffic He was 70. department. Succeeding Vijay K. Nambiar, Liu Xiaobo : China's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Sen served as India's Permanent Xiaobo died. He was 61. Representative from September 2004 to March 2009. Liu was arrested in 2008 after co- writing Charter 08, a bold petition that After retirement, Sen was appointed called for the protection of basic human Special Senior Advisor to the UN rights and reform of China's political General Assembly President. He also system. served as India's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bulgaria and Norway. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009 for "subversion". At Madhukar Toradmal : the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo Veteran Marathi playwriter, actor, in 2010 he was represented by an empty director, translator Madhukar Toradmal chair. died. He was 85. Nar Bahadur Bhandari : His famous Marathi play was tarun Nar Bahadur Bhandari, an obscure Turk mhatare ark, which performed school teacher, who rose to become one 5,000 shows. of the longest-serving chief ministers of He also acted as rustic, rural politician Sikkim, died. He was 77. in famous Marathi movie Simhasan. Bhandari was a three-term former chief Naresh Chandra : minister. Former Indian Ambassador to the US He was also a former president of Naresh Chandra died. He was 82. Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee. Chandra had served as the Cabinet Maryam Mirzakhani : Secretary from 1990-92 and was the Maryam Mirzakhani of Iran, the first Indian Ambassador to the US from woman recipient of the Fields Medal for 1996 to 2001. mathematics, died. She was 40. He was awarded India's second highest Created in 1936, the Fields Medal, civil awards, the Padma Vibhushan, in popularly known as the "Nobel Prize 2007. for Mathematics", is awarded every Sumita Sanyal : four years to a maximum of four Veteran actress Sumita Sanyal passed mathematicians under the age of 40. away. She was 71. In 2014, Mirzakhani became both the Sanyal was best known for her role first woman and the first Iranian to in super hit Bollywood flick "Anand" receive the honour, in recognition of starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh "her outstanding contributions" in the Khanna. area of complex geometry. www.mahendraguru.com [24] www.mahendraguru.com

Udupi Ramachandra Rao : Dharam Singh : Former chief minister of Karnataka Eminent space scientist and former Dharam Singh passed away. He was 80. Indian Space Research Organisation He was the 17th Chief Minister of (ISRO) Chairman Udupi Ramachandra Karnataka from 2004 to 2006. Rao died. Rao was 85. Inder Kumar : Actor Inder Kumar, known for his Rao also became the first Indian work in Bollywood films like Masoom, space scientist to be inducted into the Wanted and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, prestigious 'Satellite Hall of Fame' in died. He was 44. Washington DC on March 19, 2013, Inder Kumar worked in over 20 films in and the 'IAF Hall of Fame' in Mexico's a career spanning nearly twenty years Guadalajara. John Morris : John Morris, a celebrated US-born Yash Pal : Famous Indian scientist and editor who commissioned and published academician Yash Pal who Known for some of the most iconic photographs of his contribution to the study of cosmic the 20th century, died. He was 100. rays, died. He was 90. He also witnessed first-hand the Yash Pal was awarded the Padma assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Los Angeles in June 1968. Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, in 2013. Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar : Kubersingh Saklecha : Eminent classical singer Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar, who is credited with Veteran freedom fighter and social keeping the Dhrupad tradition of Indian worker Kubersingh Saklecha passed classical music alive, died. He was 78. away. He was 94. Considered as the one of the oldest style Mervyn Rose : Mervyn Rose, who won two grand of classical singing of North Indian slam titles and a pair of Davis Cups for music, Dhrupad was known to be on top Australia before coaching some of the during the period of Tansen. greats of the game, has died at 87. B.B Shivappa : Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu : Veteran Karnataka BJP leader B B World-renowned indigenous singer, Shivappa passed away. He was 89. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, died. He was 46. Australians hailed his Shivappa, who joined BJP in 1981, contributions to music. served as its state president for five years from 1983 to 1988.

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www.mahendraguru.com IMPORTANT DAYS September 23 International Day of the Deaf September 26 World Contraception Day September 05 National Teacher’s Day (Dr. September 27 World Tourism Day Radhakrishanan’s Birth Day)/ Sanskrit Day September 28 World Rabies Day September 07 World Forgiveness Day September 29 World Heart Day September 08 World Literacy Day ABBREVIATIONS September 10 World Anti-Suicide Day September 14 Hindi Diwas or Hindi Day/ World First ACTA Anti-counterpart Trade Agreement Aid Day ACS Automated Clearing System September 15 International Day of Democracy/ ASHA Accredited Social Health Activist International Engineer’s Day BIFR Board For Industrial And Financial September 16 World Ozone Day Reconstruction September 21 World Peace Day/ International Day for CCEA Cabinet Committee On Economic Peace and Non-violence (UN)/ World Affairs Alzheimer’s Day CCI Competition Commission Of India September 22 World Cancer Free Day

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SPECIAL FEATURES Ram Nath Kovind: The 14th President of India Ram Nath Kovind who was born on 1 October 1945 is the 14th and current President of India. He served as the 35th Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kovind was nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling NDA coalition and won the 2017 presidential election. He is the 2nd Dalit leader ever to be elected to the post. He assumed office on July 25th, 2017. Before entering politics, he was a lawyer for 16 years and practiced in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court until 1993. On 8 August 2015, the President of India appointed Kovind as Governor of Bihar. On 16 August 2015, the acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Iqbal Ahmad Ansari, administered the oath to Kovind as the 35th Governor of Bihar. After nomination for the post of 14th President of India, he resigned from his post as Governor of Bihar, and President of India Pranab Mukherjee accepted his resignation on 20 June 2017. He won election on 20 July 2017. Ram Nath Kovind received 65.6% of the valid votes, against former Speaker of the Lok Sabha- Meira Kumar, the presidential candidate of the Opposition who received 34.35% of the total votes. China unveils World’s first train that runs on Virtual Tracks China has unveiled the world's first ‘railless train’ that runs on a virtual track making use of a sensor technology instead of metal rails. This Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) has been developed by China's CRRC Zhuzhou Institute. It is a part of China's attempts to develop an ‘intelligent rail express system’. The company also makes key parts for high-speed railways. Special features ## The 30-metre long train at present has three carriages and can carry around 300 passengers. ## It has rubber wheels, which can be automatically guided without rails. ## The train is also non-polluting and environment friendly, as it is battery powered. ## While it can travel a distance of 25 km by just charging for 10 minutes, on a full charge, it can travel for distances up to 40 km. ## It is capable of moving at a maximum speed of 70 km/hr. ## It will be launched out for public use in 2018 in the Chinese city of Zhuzhou to help deal with the traffic in the area. Another Feather in ISRO's Cap : GSAT-17 ISRO has successfully launched GSAT-17 communication Satellite onboard the Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center at French Guiana on June 28. GSAT-17 will be the ISRO’s third satellite that is launched within a span of three months. Salient Highlights ## The 3,477-kg GSAT 17 communication satellite will be placed in the geostationary orbit and will have a mission life of 15 years. ## The satellite will be an addition to the current fleet of 17 Indian communication satellites that are already providing services from space.

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## Apart from providing communication services, the satellite will provide meteorological and satellite-based data to help rescue services which were earlier provided by geostationary satellites called Indian National Satellite System (INSAT). ## GSAT-17 will provide continuity of services of operational satellites in C, extended C and S bands Once launched, ISRO’s Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh will take over and place the satellite in geostationary orbit. ## GSAT-17 was designed and assembled at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru. ## In addition, GSAT-17 will also launch communication satellite Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat. ## Hellas Sat 3 will provide directly to home television and telecom services across Europe, West Asia and South Africa. ## Inmarsat is set to provide in-flight Internet facilities for European airlines. 2017 IIFA Awards The 18th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards was announced on 15 July 2017 at MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On the occasion, the Hindi films of 2016 were awarded by the International Indian Film Academy. Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor bagged the Best Actors for Udta Punjab, where as the best film award went to Neerja. List of the awards and awardees ## Best Film: Neerja ## Best Actor in a Leading Role: Shahid Kapoor for Udta Punjab ## Best Actress in a Leading Role: Alia Bhatt for Udta Punjab ## Best Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury for Pink ## Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Anupam Kher for M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story ## Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Shabana Azmi for Neerja ## Best Performance in a Comic Role: Varun Dhawan for Dishoom ## Best Performance in a Negative Role: Jim Sarbh for Neerja ## Best Music Direction: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil – Pritam Chakraborty ## Best Lyrics: Channa Mereya from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil – Amitabh Bhattacharya ## Best Male Playback Singer: Amit Mishra for "Bulleya" – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ## Best Female Playback Singer: Tulsi Kumar for "Soch Na Sake" – Airlift and Kanika Kapoor for "Da Da Dasse" – Udta Punjab ## Best Debut (Male): Diljit Dosanjh for Udta Punjab ## Best Debut (Female): Disha Patani for MS Dhoni: The Untold Story ## Best Sound Design: Pranav Shukla – Mirzya ## Best Background Score: Pritam Chakraborty - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ## Best Action: Larnell Stovall, Parvez Shaikh, `ANL` Arasu - Sultan ## Best Choreography: Adil Shaikh - Kapoor & Sons

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## Best Costume Design: Manish Malhotra – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ## Best Editing: Bodhaditya Bandyopadhyay – Pink ## Best Production Design: Aparna Sud & Anna Ipe - Neerja ## Best Sound Mixing: Anuj Mathur – Sultan ## Best Special Effects: Red Chillies VFX – Fan ## Best Cinematography: Anil Mehta, ISC & WICA - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ## Best Dialogue: Ritesh Shah - Pink ## Best Makeup: Greg Cannom - Fan ## Best Screenplay: Ritesh Shah – Pink ## Best Sound Recording: Shadab Rayeen for Deewani Mastani – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ## Woman of the Year (in a special category): Taapsee Pannu for Pink The 2017 Wimbledon Championships The 2017 Wimbledon Championships is a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 2017. The 2017 tournament was the 131st edition of the championships, the 50th in the Open Era and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. It is played on grass courts, organised by the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the International Tennis Federation Date : 3–16 July Edition : 131st Category : Grand Slam (ITF) Prize money : £31,600,000 Surface : Grass Venue : All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Category Winner Runner up

Men’s Singles Roger Federer Marincilic (Croatia) (Switzerland) Women’s Single Garbine Muguruza Venus Williams (USA) (Spain) Men’s Doubles Lukasz Kubot (Poland) & Oliver Marach (Austria) & Mate Pavic (Croatia) Marcelo Melo (Brazil) Women’s Ekaterina Makarova Hao-Ching Chan (Taiwan) and Monica Niculescu (Romania) Doubles (Russia) & Elena Vesnina (Russia) Mixed Doubles Jamie Murray (Scotland) Heather Watson (UK) & Henri Kontinen (Finland) & Martina Hingis (Switzerland)

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