23rd July 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• The Salzburg Festival began in the Austrian town of Salzburg, which was the birthplace of late composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 
• Established in 1920, the festival will run through August and feature numerous concerts as well as opera and theatre performances. 
• Over 2.5 lakh people attend the festival annually.
• The United Nations Department of Field Support has announced that India has become the first country to contribute to a trust fund set up in support of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. 
• The $100,000 contribution comes after the UN Secretariat requested voluntary contributions to the trust fund while establishing it in March.

National Affairs

• Today (23rd July) is National Broadcasting Day‬.
• On this day in 1927, India got its first radio station.
• Note : The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) was inaugurated at Bombay by the British Viceroy of India Lord Irwin on 23rd July 1927.
  
• Minister for Information & Broadcasting - Venkaiah Naidu
• Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting - Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore
• Nation remembered freedom fighters Chandra Shekhar Azad and Lokmanya Tilak, on their birth anniversaries today.
• Indian nationalist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak's 160th birth anniversary. 
• Popularly called 'Lokmanya', meaning 'accepted by the people', Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 in Maharashtra. 
• The pioneer of the Swadeshi Movement, he is also widely known for his quote 'Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it'.
• Indian revolutionary Chandra Shekhar Azad, popularly known as 'Azad', was born on this day (23rd July) in the year 1906.
• He fought for the Indian independence struggle till the age of 24 years, before shooting himself to keep his pledge of never being caught alive.
• Andhra Pradesh government today announced that it is gong to open 'MeeSeva' centres in all Panchayats to provide public services to citizens in a transparent manner.
• The initiative incorporates the vision of the National eGov Plan – "Public Services Closer to Home". 
• The objective is to provide smart, citizen-centric, ethical, efficient and effective technology facilitated governance.

Awards & Honors

• The International airport in Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo's hometown, Madeira, is set to be renamed after the footballer. 
• The announcement, made in recognition of Ronaldo’s achievements and contributions to football, was made today by Miguel Albuquerque, President of the regional government. 
• Note : Ronaldo led the national team to its maiden European Championship title in July.
• All the five Indian students who participated in the International Physics Olympiad 2016, held in Switzerland's Zurich city last week, have won medals — three golds and two silvers. 
• The students have been felicitated at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. 
• Note : A total of 398 students from 84 countries had taken part in the Olympiad.
• Apple has regained the status as the world's favourite company on FutureBrand's annual 'Global Top 100 Companies' list after losing it to Google last year. 
• Microsoft and Samsung were ranked second and third respectively. 
• The list also includes Facebook, Amazon, Nike and Intel.
• The Indian team is the most followed cricket team in the world on social media, with a following of 30 million across all platforms. 
• The team has over 26 million likes on Facebook, 2.67 million followers on Twitter, and 1.4 million followers on Instagram. 
• Team India is followed by the Bangladesh cricket team, which has a following of 10 million.
• Kerala Tourism has won two Gold Gongs at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Awards in the categories of Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media and E-Newsletter.

New Appointments

• BJP LokSabha member Ganesh Singh was appointed the new Chairperson of the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Land Acquisition Bill.
• Singh replaced S SAhluwalia, who became Minister of the State for Parliamentary Affairs in reshuffle of the council of ministers on 5th July 2016.

Business & Economy

• The Corporation Bank today launched a new facility called “Green PIN,” an online module for generation of PIN for credit card holders. 
• The facility enables credit card users to generate the Personal Identification Number (PIN) online.
• SBI launched an updated version of mobile wallet State Bank Buddy today allowing direct payments for Railway tickets, and for shopping at Madura Fashion and Lifestyle. 
• The bank also has tie-ups with 2,500 educational institutions and government agencies.
• Japan-based Funai Electric, the last-known videocassette recorders (VCR) manufacturer, recently announced that it will cease VCR production in July.
• The company once peaked at 15 million units annually, but sold only 750,000 last year. 
• Note : VCRs were first introduced in 1950s and became widely popular in 1970s when tech giants like Sony and Philips entered the domain.

Deaths

• Modern Indian artist Syed Haider Raza (94) passed away.
• An internationally acclaimed painter, he was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1981 and was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Academy in 1983. 
• He had also been conferred with France's highest civilian honour, the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour), in 2015.

Sports

• The Lodha Committee has confirmed that office-bearers of the BCCI and state cricket associations who have completed nine years in office, stand disqualified. 
• The committee recommended a maximum of three three-year terms, with a cooling-off period in between. 
• Note : The Supreme Court on July 18 ordered for a reformation of BCCI and state associations as per the Lodha Committee recommendations.
• Renuka Yadav, a former milk seller from Rajnandgaon, Chattisgarh, has become the state’s first female Olympian, after being selected in the women’s hockey team. 
• Note : The Indian women’s hockey team will be competing at the Olympics after 36 years.

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