13th July 2015 Daily GK Updates |Daily Current Affair Download

1. India and Turkmenistan signed 7 agreements for enhancing cooperation in a number of sectors during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fourth leg of his Central Asian tour to Turkmenistan. The agreements were signed in the fields of defence, supply of chemical products, foreign affairs, sports, science and technology, medicine and tourism.

2. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched five British satellites into space from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta. With the help of PSLV-C28, ISRO kicked off the biggest and heaviest commercial launch to date. These satellites are three identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites and two auxiliary satellites, viz., CBNT-1 and De-OrbitSail. All these satellites are built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and weigh 1440-kg.

13th July 2015 Daily GK Updates |Daily Current Affair Download

3. Cipla, the country's leading company in Pharma sector, has appointed Samina Vaziralli as Executive Director on its board. Vaziralli is the daughter of M.K. Hamied, Vice Chairman of the Board of Cipla. She is part of the core leadership team and has been with the company since 2011. Earlier, she worked at Goldman Sachs's investment management department. Vaziralli brings diverse experience of working in the US, the UK, and more recently India.

4. India and Pakistan were accepted as full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional grouping including China and Russia. This decision was taken at the 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Russia. India, which has had an observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become a member by next year after completion of certain procedures.

5. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed mass transit system (MTS) operators like Mumbai Metro, Delhi Metro, Indian Railways, etc. to issue pre-paid cards to their customer. This is expected to provide a huge relief to the commuters who face problems while purchasing tickets. RBI guidelines also say that the balance in the prepaid instrument issued by the MTS should not exceed Rs. 2,000 at any point of time. Also, MTS would not be allowed to refunds cash that is stocked in the pre-paid instruments (PPI). These PPIs will have a minimum validity of 6 months from the date of issue.

6. Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings. The first system has been installed in its capital Dehradun which will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur. The system is designed and manufactured by Italian firm, Space Dynamics which already has installed it in Japan, Italy and US. The second system will be established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region.

7. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar dedicated indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash Missile to the Air Force at Maharajpur Airbase in Gwalior. The anti-aircraft missile Akash has a strike range of 25 km and capability of carrying a warhead of 60 kg. The Akash can employ multiple air targets while operating in fully autonomous mode. 

8. The World Bank and Norway has approved an amount of 55 crore dollars for education sector in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Group has signed an agreement with Norway for result based financial help in the education sector. Under this agreement both states will get a separate loan of 55 crore dollars. Loan to the state of Bihar is sanctioned for capacity addition of Primary teachers in Bihar while Madhya Pradesh will get the financial help for higher education reforms. 

9. Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has signed a multilateral agreement to cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other member development banks of BRICS nations. New Development Bank (NDB) is promoted by the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The agreement was signed between Exim Bank Chairman and Managing Director Yaduvendra Mathur and Chairpersons or Presidents of other member development banks of BRICS in Ufa, Russia during the BRICS Summit 2015. 

10. NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has been appointed as the President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). He will replace Baroness Usha Prashar as she steps down, having served the maximum term of nine years. Hyderabad born Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer, is also the Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.