2nd July 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (1st Saturday of July) is International Co-operative Day / International Day of Co-operatives.
• Aim : To increase awareness on co-operatives and promote the movement's successes and ideals of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace.
• Theme of the year 2016 : Co-operatives: The power to act for a sustainable future
• Today (2nd July) is World Sports Journalists Day.
• This day was established by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) in 1994 to mark the 70th anniversary of its foundation.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on 4 African Nation visit (Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya) from 7th to 11th July 2016. 
• During this visit, Modi will meet the Presidents of the four countries and strengthen bilateral ties during the visit. 
• Note : South Africa is one of the few countries that didn't favour India’s entry into the NSG.

National Affairs

• The government has changed the tagline of Aadhaar from ‘Aam Aadmi ka Adhikar’ to ‘Mera Aadhaar, Meri Pehchaan’. 
•  The 1st Women's University of India is celebrating 100 years.
• The Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, the 1st Women's University in India, started on July 2, 1916, with the enrollment of five students. 
• It was established by Dr Dhondo Keshav Karve, with the objective of educating more women. 
• Around 15,000 women graduated from the university this year, which has campuses in both Mumbai and Pune.
• The Maharashtra government today planted two crore saplings across the state with the help of public participation. 

Places in News

• India's first Commercial Court and Commercial Disputes Resolution Centre has been inaugurated today at Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
• Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh along with Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur dedicated to the people the Commercial Court complex in Naya Raipur.

Awards & Honors

• President Pranab Mukherjee today presented the Dr BC Roy national awards for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 
• These awards were presented on the occasion of National Doctors’ Day observed on July 1 to pay honour and tribute to India’s most famous physician Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.
• Award Winners for the year 2010 : 
• Nikhil C. Munshi, 
• O.P. Kalra, 
• Tejinder Singh, 
• Subash Gupta, 
• Amrinder Jit Kanwar, 
• Rajendra Prasad 
• Glory Alexander. 
• Award Winners for the year 2009 :
• H. Sancheti, 
• Renu Saxena, 
• Atul Kumar, 
• A.K. Kriplani, 
• Kanan A. 
• Yelikar, 
• H.S. Bhanushali, 
• G.V. Rao, 
• Moti Lal Singh, 
• C.N. Purandare 
• C.V. Hari Narayan. 
• Award Winners for the year 2008  :
• Rajeshwar Dayal, 
• Mammen Chandy,
• Neelam Mohan, 
• Rohit V. Bhatt, 
• Mohan Kameswaran, 
• Harsha Jauhari, 
• Gopal H. Badlani 
• Yash Gulati

Business & Economy

• India ranked 35th among 160 countries in the recently released bi-annual Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016 of World Bank Group. 
• The index was published in the World Bank bi-annual report ‘Connecting to Compete 2016: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy’. 
• German has topped the list for the 3rd time.
• Top 5 countries in the list are
• Germany
  
• Luxembourg
• Sweden
• Netherlands
• Singapore
• Today is 61st State Bank Day (formation day of SBI). 
• SBI was founded on this day (2nd July) in the year 1806 [The initial name was Bank of Calcutta]
• The government is set to sign a new Tax Treaty with Cyprus, a prominent low-tax jurisdiction, aimed at preventing investors from defaulting on paying taxes in India. 
• The Double Taxation Avoidance agreement will allow the government to prevent treaty abuse, tax evasion, and round-tripping of funds. 
• It will also remove Cyprus from the government's blacklist for not providing information.

New Appointments

• Veteran economist Indrajit Coomara Swamy has been appointed as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
• He is going to replace ArjunaMahendran, whose tenure, marked by controversies on the issuance of bonds, came to an end.

Recent MOUs & Agreements

• Telecom-to-energy conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) and India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) have signed Subscription and Shareholders’ Agreement to set up payments bank. 
• As per the agreement, RIL will be the promoter with a 70 per cent equity contribution in the payments bank and SBI as joint venture will have 30 per cent equity contribution. 
• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has inked a MoU with Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) to check misleading advertisements in the food and beverages sector. 
• This partnership between FSSAI and ASCI will put in place a mechanism to monitor misleading advertisements. 
• It will also lead to streamlining advertisements effectively through structured guidelines and appropriate action.

Sports

• Indian footballer  Gurpreet Singh Sandhu became the first Indian to start in a Europa League match, when he appeared for Stabæk against Wales’ Gap Connah’s Quay in the first qualifying round in Wales yesterday. 
• Indian dairy cooperative, Amul is going to sponsor the Indian contingent for the Rio Olympics, with the company paying ₹1 crore to the Indian Olympic Association as sponsorship fee. 
• The dairy brand released an ad announcing the sponsorship, captioned "Breakfaster. Higher. Stronger." 
• Important Note : Amul had sponsored the Indian contingents at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Asian and Commonwealth Games.

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