National 1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prohibited the foreign direct investment (FDI) in

manufacturing of tobacco products.

This prohibition will be in case of manufacturing of cigars, cigarillos,

cheroots and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes. Henceforth

with this FDI restriction, other activities related to these products will be

governed by the sectoral restrictions laid down in the FDI policy.

2. Nationwide mobile number portability (MNP) has become operational from 3rd

July 2015. It became operational after major private mobile operators like

Vodafone, RCom, Airtel, Uninor and Idea Cellular along with state-run BSNL and

MTNL issued statements to launch MNP.

3. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized a record created in

Madhya Pradesh on ‘World Hand washing Day’ in 2014.

4. State run telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched pre-

paid card linked mobile wallet service ‘Speed Pay’. It was launched by Union

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi. This service was launched by

BSNL has launched the service in partnership with IT company Pyro.

5. Maharashtra-government-appointed committee submitted its 12-page report

to the Bombay High Court. The report says that over 58 percent of students below

10 years of age who carries heavy school bags are suffering from orthopedic

ailments in Maharashtra.

6. Software major Microsoft agreed to develop Smart MIDC (industrial colony)

and support Digital Village in Maharashtra.

7. Union Government has launched a web portal for online submission of

applications for environment clearance by State Environment Impact Assessment

Authorities (SEIAA) for Category B projects.

8. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on 2 July 2015 launched the state

Portal ePMS (Electronic Projects Management System) to fast track infrastructural

development.

9. India launched online registration system named eMigrate system

(www.emigrate.gov.in) for foreign employers (FEs) who wants to recruit Indian

workers, including nurses. Under the system, FEs will have to register in the

eMigrate system.

10. The Union Cabinet approved the institutional framework for the National Skill

Development Mission 2015.

The Mission will provide a strong institutional framework at the Centre

and States for implementation of skilling activities in the country.

11. Passengers will be able to log on to the Wi-Fi service at prominent railway

stations of South East Central Railway zone, including Raipur, with the facility

likely to be installed at these places by next year.

12. Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Narendra Modi approved Pradhan Mantri

Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) or PM’s Agriculture Irrigation Scheme.

13. Union Cabinet has approved setting up of an Online National Agriculture

Market that will provide more options to farmers for selling their produce.

14. The population of elephants has increased to 1,954 in Odisha as per revealed

in 2015 Elephant Census report.

15. Madhya Pradesh government has initiated the facility of e-registration of

property documents in all the districts of state.

The e-registration of property documentation will be done through

software named Sampada.

Under this facility, people can obtain e-stamp through internet banking

or service provider.

16. Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the Integrated Security

System (ISS) at 6 railway stations in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

17. The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development adopted the ‘Digital

Guddi-Gudda Board’ as a Best Practice under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)

scheme. It was named as the best practice on the occasion of Digital India Week

that is being observed from 1 July to 7 July 2015.

18. The Haryana Government launched the Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon scheme,

aimed at providing 24 hour uninterrupted power supply to rural domestic

consumers in a phased manner with their active participation.

19. Maharashtra Government’s program Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan that was

launched with an aim to make Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019 was in

news in first week of July 2015.

The Abhiyan came in news as Rajasthan government is planning to

replicate the program in the state.

20. To provide security to those devotees taking part in the 59-day-long annual

Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Army launched Operation Shiva.

The Yatra started on 2 July 2015.

International 1. Greece has become the first developed nation to default on International

Monetary Fund (IMF) debt. It has defaulted on a 1.7 billion dollars payment to

IMF.

2. A 15-year-old boy named Byron Wake has become Britain’s youngest ‘cyborg’

i.e. part-human, part machine.

He achieved this feat after inserting xNT microchip under the skin using

hypodermic syringe. The chip is the size of a grain of rice and is encased in

bio-safe glass.

3. Facebook has changed its logo, now this might seem as a big news but the

visual change is not that apparent. On the other hand, WSJ has reported that the

change signifies a huge shift within the company.

4. China’s state-run power company, Three Gorges Corporation (CTG), is keen to

participate in a financing consortium to fund up to $50 billion of hydroelectric

power projects in Pakistan.

Sports 1. Chile won South America’s most prestigious football trophy, the Copa America

title 2015 for the first time. It is Chile’s first ever international trophy in Football.

2. Defending champions India have retained the South Asian Basketball

Championship (SABA) title. It was the 4th edition of the Championships.

3. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won 2015 British Grand Prix of

Formula One (F1). This was his fourth victory of the season and his second of

British Grand Prix.

4. India won the South Asian Basketball (SABA) Championship title. In the final

played at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, Karanataka, India defeated Sri

Lanka 93-44.

5. Former world junior champion and Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won the 19th

Commonwealth Chess Championship.

Mergers & Acquisition 1. Mahindra Defense Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra Group and Airbus

Helicopter have inked pact to form a joint venture (JV) company to produce

helicopters in India.

2. Leading mobile wallet MobiKwik tied up with books and stationary retailer

WHSmith India to enable offline shopping at all its retail stores.

With this tie-up, WHSmith India stores will also serve as MobiKwik

Nodes where users can load money on their MobiKwik wallet.

3. E-commerce giant Flipkart today announced a strategic partnership with three

of the country’s largest home retail brands–Home Town (Future group),

HomeStop and @Home.

The tie-ups will introduce a whole new range of products from these

retail brands, adding to Flipkart’s existing portfolio of 1000 plus brands

with seven lakh home products.

4. Online payment firm PayPal will acquire digital money transfer services

provider Xoom for about $890 million in an all cash deal as it eyes to enter the

burgeoning global money remittances market.

Awards & Recognition 1. Four Indian-Americans have been honored with prestigious Great Immigrants,

The Pride of America award 2015.

They are among 38 distinguished personalities from more than 30 countries

around the world who have been honored with this year’s award.

4 Indian-Americans are Preet Bharara:

US Attorney, Southern District of New York.

Rakesh Khurana: Dean of Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor

of Leadership and Development.

Madhulika Sikka: Vice President and Executive Editor of .Mic.

Abraham Verghese: Physician, Professor and Author.

2. Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh has been named as the winner of the 2015

World Food Prize.

He is founder and chairman of Bangladesh-based non-governmental

organisation (NGO) BRAC (originally known as Bangladesh Rural

Advancement Committee) which is world’s largest NGO.

3. R Paul Singh, Indian-American professor has been selected for 2015 World

Agriculture Prize laureate.

4. Darshan Jain, an Indian-American teacher has been selected for prestigious

Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

5. Prof. Sanjeev Galande has been selected for the prestigious G D Birla Award for

Scientific Research 2014.

He has been selected for his significant contribution and his pioneering

research in the field of Epigenetics and Molecular Cell Biology.

About G.D. Birla Award

Established: 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation in the honour of

philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla.

The award is given Indian scientist below the age of 50, living and

working in India for his outstanding scientific research, mostly during the

past 5 years.

Cash Prize: It carries a cash prize of 50 lakh rupees and a citation.

Appointments 1. Commodore C D Balaji (Retd) took charge as the Director of the Aeronautical

Development Agency (ADA) and Program Director of the Light Combat Aircraft

(LCA).

2. Jasper InfoTech, which owns and operates online marketplace Snapdeal.com,

has named Amit Choudharyas its senior vice-president – Corporate Finance, the

New Delhi-headquartered.

3. Takema Sakamoto will head the India operations of Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA) as its Chief Representative for the country.

4. BNP Paribas named Joris Dierckx as Country Head for India and Chief Executive

of BNP Paribas SA, Indian branches.

5. Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

of India’s biggest auto maker Tata Motors’ Group with immediate effect.

6. The board of Housing.com sacked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-

founder Rahul Yadav with immediate effect.

7. U P Singh was appointed as the Interim Chairman and Managing Director

(CMD) of state-run Oil India Limited.

8. Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan Women Judges Association and a former

juvenile court judge, was nominated as the first ever female Supreme Court judge

of Afghanistan.

9. Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates online marketplace Snapdeal.com,

has named former Bharti Airtel senior executive Govind Rajan, as its chief strategy

officer, the New Delhi-headquartered company announced on Monday.

10. London-based steel baron L N Mittal has joined the governing board of St

Xavier’s College in Kolkata where from he had done his graduation.

11. KV Kamath has relinquished his position as non-executive chairman of ICICI

Bank to take over as the head of BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB).

12. Twitter India has appointed Mahima Kaul its Public Policy head.

Economics 1. World Bank has approved an additional loan of 650 million dollars for India’s

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project.

2. National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey has pegged literacy rate in the

rural areas at 71 per cent and 86 per cent in the urban areas in year 2014.

3. The cost of printing one rupee note, which was recently re-introduced after a

gap of 20 years, is Rs 1.14, more than its value, an RTI query has revealed.

Science & Technology 1. The death toll from Ebola virus in Liberia is on the rise once again after three

new confirmed cases were reported. Earlier in May 2015, the World Health

Organization (WHO) had declared the West African country Ebola free after no

new cases were reported.

2. Scientists discovered that the Interleukin-21 (IL-21) protein plays an important

role in limiting replication of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) in infected

humans.

3. For the first time scientists have identified two promising drug candidates for

the treatment of deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus.

About Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)

MERS belongs to the family of coronaviruses which includes large family

of viruses such as common cold and Severe acute respiratory syndrome

(SARS).

It was discovered in 2012 and was mostly centred in Saudi Arabia.

Source: MERS is a beta coronavirus derived from bats.

Camels have shown to have antibodies to MERS, but the exact source of

infection in camels has not been identified.

Transmission: It can be transmitted from infected person to others after

close contact via a respiratory route.

It spread’s in droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms: fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.

Treatment: Till date there is no vaccine available to prevent it. However

intensive medical care can help patient to breath.

Death 1. Pakistani Urdu novelist Abdullah Hussain passed away in Lahore due to blood

cancer. He was 84.

2. Renowned US actress and model Diana Douglas passed away in Los Angeles

due to cancer. She was 92.

3. K P P Nambiar, founding Chairman of Kerala State Electronics Development

Corporation Limited (Keltron) died due to age-related illnesses. He was 86.

4. Finnish telecom engineer and father of messaging service (SMS) technology

Matti Makkonen passed away following serious illness. He was 63.