ONE LINER OF THE DAY 31st July 2018

1.Actress Kangana Ranaut and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh launched a smartphone distribution scheme called 'Mobile Tihar' under Sanchar Kranti Yojna.The scheme includes distribution of smartphones to 45 lakh women and 5 lakh children and setting up of 556 new mobile towers.Balramji Dass Tandon is the present Governor of Chhattisgarh

2.Paytm Payments Bank CEO Renu Satti has resigned from the role and will now head Paytm's new retail initiative. 

3.Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and digital wallet company. It was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in August 2010 and is based out of Noida SEZ, India. Paytm is available in 10 Indian languages.

4.The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) announced the appointment of Surendra Rosha as Chief Executive Officer for HSBC India, subject to regulatory approvals.HSBC Headquarters in London UK. 

5.India's richest person Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) beat Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become the most valued company in India. 

6.The first Nepal-India Think Tank Summit has begun in Kathmandu to foster greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing among the think tanks of the two countries.Former Prime Minister of Nepal and Co-chairman of ruling Communist Party of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda inaugurated the summit. 

7.Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli is the current Prime Minister of Nepal.Bidhya Devi Bhandari is the current President of Nepal and commander in chief of Nepalese Army.The Nepalese Rupee is the currency of Nepal. 

8.The United States has eased export controls for high-technology product sales to India by elevating its status to a Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) country. The information was shared by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.With the move, the United States has granted India the same access as NATO allies, Australia, Japan and South Korea. 

9.Rajasthan Government signed an MoU with a private trust Sohanlalji Buladeviji Ojha Gaushala Samiti to build its first 'Cow Sanctuary', a shelter for 10000 cows.The cow sanctuary will be spread over an area of more than 220 hectares in Bikaner district. This will be the first cow sanctuary in Rajasthan and will be situated in Bikaner’s Napasar. 

10.The STA-1 ( Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 ) list currently comprises 36 countries in total.India is the only South Asian country to feature on the list. Other Asian countries designated as STA-1 include Japan and South Korea.

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 30th July 2018

1.World Day against Trafficking in Persons is organized across the world by the United Nations on 30 July to Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging Governments worldwide to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge.The theme for World Day against Trafficking in Persons is ‘Responding to the trafficking of children and young people’. 

2.A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in multiple ways, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions. In some cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant agreement. Whether a merchant enters into a merchant agreement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator, the agreement contractually binds the merchant to obey the operating regulations established by the card associations.

3.Mohun Bagan ‘Ratna’, the highest honour of Mohun Bagan club was awarded to former India international Pradip Chowdhury at its foundation day programme. Pradip Chowdhury is a former Mohun Bagan captain. 

4.Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was awarded the INFRA Icon Award in the ‘Global Energy’ category at the mid-day INFRA Icons Awards 2018, in Mumbai. The award was given away by Additional Metropolitan Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Pravin Darare.The theme of the event was: ‘Smart cities envisages to take infrastructure development to a next level’.

5.In Wrestling, Bajrang Punia has won his second consecutive international gold while Sandeep Tomar had to be content with a silver medal at the Yasar Dogu International in Istanbul, Turkey. 

6.A city college student, Prabhat Koli (19), who crossed the English Channel when he was 16, has become the first Asian to swim the choppy water from Jersey (an Island in the UK) to France in cold weather.The long-distance sea swimmer covered 25km in 6 hours and 54 minutes. 

7.Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is an instant real-time inter-bank electronic funds transfer system in India. IMPS offers an inter-bank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. Unlike NEFT and RTGS, the service is available 24/7 throughout the year including bank holidays.It is managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is built upon the existing National Financial Switch network. In 2010

8.What is the NRC?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the list of Indian citizens of Assam. It was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951. For a person’s name to be included in the updated NRC list of 2018, he/ she will have to furnish:

(i) The existence of name in the legacy data: The legacy data is the collective list of the NRC data of 1951 and the electoral rolls up to midnight of 24 March 1971.(ii) Proving linkage with the person whose name appears in the legacy data.

9.Assam released the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), seven months after it released the first draft on 1 January 2018, which included 1.9 crore names out of a total applicant pool of 3.29 crore. The recently released list, however, left our 40.07 lakh people wherein 2.89 crore people were found eligible out of 3.29 crore applicants.

10.Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), sometimes referred to as "Quick Codes" or "Feature codes", is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network.

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 29th July 2018

1.The two-day Unified Commanders’ Conference (UCC) for the year 2018 started at New Delhi. The Annual Conference provides a platform for discussions at the Apex Level on all ‘Joint Issues’ amongst the three Services & Ministry of Defence and enables stock-taking of the previous year and planning the way ahead for the next year. 

2.Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh launched the Meghalaya Milk Mission in Shillong. The mission will facilitate in achieving the Centre’s goal of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 through the promotion of milk business in the state.The amount sanctioned for the project is of Rs 215 crores through National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). 

3.The Indian Railways launched ‘Mission Satyanishtha’ and a programme on Ethics in Public Governance, in a first-of-its-kind event, at a day-long function held at National Rail Museum, New Delhi. The Union Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal administered the oath to the officers and supervisors at the programme.The first-of-its-kind event was inaugurated by Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board. The Satyanishtha mission aims to sensitise all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work. 

4.Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an integrated bill payment system in India offering interoperable and accessible bill payment service to customers through a network of agents of registered member as Agent Institutions (AI),enabling multiple payment modes, and providing instant confirmation of payment. Owner : NPCI , Formation : 2013.

5.Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of Indiafacilitating inter-bank transactions. The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.Owner : NPCI , Formation : 2016.

6.A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar.The payment gateway may be provided by a bank to its customers, but can be provided by a specialised financial service provider as a separate service, such as a payment service provider.

A payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile phone or interactive voice response service) and the front end processor or acquiring bank.

7.The National Green Tribunal formed a monitoring committee on the cleaning of the Yamuna River. The tribunal headed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson A K Goel directed the committee to develop an action plan on the same and submit it by September 2018 and submit a detailed report on the issue by December 31, 2018. 

8.The Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development &Entrepreneurship  Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation stone for permanent campus of National Skill Training Institute (NSTI) for Women at Mohali, Punjab. This is the first NSTI Institute for Punjab and only one of its kind in India which is exclusively for women.  

9.With a view to resolve the stress and revive such assets, the Government has decided to set up a High-Level Empowered Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Sinha with representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and the lenders having major exposure to the power sector.

10.International Tiger Day is being celebrated every year on 29 July to raise awareness about tiger conservation.As per latest tiger counting (in 2014), Madhya Pradesh has 308 big cats. India’s track record with tiger populations has been encouraging. India is home to 70% of tigers in the world. 

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 28th July 2018

1. July 28 marks World Hepatitis Day 2018, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of the disease and focus on how it can be treated, and eliminated.WHO will focus on the theme: "Test. Treat. Hepatitis" for World Hepatitis Day 2018 events. 

2.A National Viral Hepatitis control programme aimed at eliminating the deadly condition by 2030 was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.

3.Shivangi Pathak, who became the youngest Indian woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest, has added another feather to her cap by scaling Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro in 3 days.

4.The world's oldest person, a 117-year-old Japanese woman, has died. Chiyo Miyako died on 22nd July 2018. Her death was confirmed by the government of Kanagawa, her home state south of Tokyo, Japan.

5.Bandhan Bank Ltd. is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Bandhan, which started as a micro-finance company in 2001, received banking licence by Reserve Bank of India in 2014.

6.The IDFC Bank is an Indian banking company with headquarters in Mumbai that forms part of IDFC, an integrated infrastructure finance company. The bank started operations on 1 October 2015. IDFC received a universal banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in July 2015.

7.The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutionsworldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. SWIFT also sells software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet Network. Formation : 1973.

8.National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India,which aims to allow all Indian citizens to have unrestricted access to e-payment services.Founded in 2008, NPCI is a not-for-profit organisation registered under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.

9.BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is a mobile app developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at Digi Dhan mela at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on 30 December 2016. It was named after B. R. Ambedkar and is intended to facilitate e-payments directly through banks as part of the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation and drive towards cashless transactions.

10.RuPay is an Indian domestic card scheme conceived and launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on 26 March 2012.It was created to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) desire to have a domestic, open loop,and multilateral system of payments in India. In India, 90% of credit card transactions and almost all debit card transactions are domestic; however, the cost of transactions was high due to monopoly of foreign gateways like Visa and Mastercard. RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions.NPCI maintains ties with Discover Financial to enable the card scheme to gain international acceptance

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 27th July 2018

1.Insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 16-member committee to examine motor third party insurance pricing aspects and make recommendations on the premium rates for 2019-20.IRDAI Member P.J. Joseph has been appointed as the Chairman of the committee. This is for the first time IRDAI has formed such a committee. 

2.The 6th India-UK Science & Innovation Council (SIC) meeting held in New Delhi discussed a range of issues on S&T cooperation between the two countries.Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences & Environment, Forests and Climate Change, India and Mr. Sam Gyimah, Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, UK led the Indian and UK delegations respectively. 

3.Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Rs 300 crore Rukura Medium Irrigation Dam project in Sundargarh district.This project will irrigate 5,800 hectares of the agricultural field. Mr Patnaik stated that his promises to provide irrigation to an additional 10 lakh hectare of land ahead of 2014 elections, will be fulfilled by 2019. 

4.Indian women's compound archery team created history by becoming the world rank one side in the category. The team is six points ahead of the Chinese Taipei team. 

5.Four persons of India-origin, including three women, have been named by Fortune among 40 of the most influential and inspiring young people in business under the age of 40. Instagram Cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, both 34, are tied for first place on the Fortune '40 Under 40' list.The 4 people (with Rank) from India-Origin in the list are- Dhivya Suryadevara (4th), CFO of General Motors. Anjali Sud (14th), CEO of Vimeo. Baiju Bhatt (24th), Cofounder and Co-CEO of Robinhood. Anu Duggal (32nd), founding partner of Female Founders Fund.

6.According to the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report, Karnataka is the new national leader in renewable energy generation. It has surpassed Tamil Nadu that had for quite some time been India's best renewable market.Karnataka has a sum of 12.3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity installed till March 2018. IEEFA's report was titled as "Karnataka's Electricity Sector Transformation".

7.The heads of state and government of all five BRICS nations including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa convened for the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The theme of BRICS Summit 2018 was ‘BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for inclusive growth and shared prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution'. 

The summit saw the BRICS leaders come together and discuss various international and regional issues of common concern and adopted the 'Johannesburg Declaration' by consensus.The declaration comes as the United States and China remain deadlocked in a trade war over tariffs. 

8.Government of India has approved a new scheme namely Mahila Shakti Kendra for implementation during 2017-18 upto 2019-20 to empower rural women through community participation. The Scheme is implemented with cost sharing ratio of 60:40 between centre and states except for North East and Special Category States where the ratio is 90:10.

9.The Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee on data protection in India has suggested amendments to various laws including the Aadhaar Act to provide for imposition of penalties on data fiduciaries and compensations to data principals for violations of the data protection law.

10.All the 13 lakh employees of the Indian Railways will take turns to swear an oath publicly to “bring about integrity” and “eradicate corruption”.Termed “Mission Satyanishtha”, the program will involve railwaymen attending formal training course on probity and integrity in public life.

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 26th July 2018

1.The hotel named 'Hostess' was launched by Kerala Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran. A flagship project of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC). The hotel will come up within six months at the KTDC complex.Work on India's public sector hotel run entirely by women for women is claimed to be the first such in the country. 

2.The 19th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas is being celebrated on 26th July 2018. The day marks India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil War and remembers those who sacrificed their lives for the country.

3.R Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission and Arvind Gupta CEO, MyGov launched the “#InnovateIndia Platform”, a collaboration between the Atal Innovation Mission and MyGov, a citizen-centric platform of the Government of India.The #InnovateIndia MyGov-AIM portal creates the innovations platform for registering both grassroots and deep-tech innovators at a national level. 

4.The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik launched the 'Green Mahanadi Mission'.The CM launched the mission by planting a sapling on the bank of river Mahanadi during his visit to Boudh and Subarnapur districts in western Odisha.The main objective of the mission is to stop soil erosion on river banks and recharge the groundwater reserve. 

5.Invest India and Business France have signed an MoU to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between startups of India and France.The goal will be to facilitate direct foreign investment by providing practical investment information to enterprises and support the companies. 

6.Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment attended the Global Disability Summit held in London, UK. The motto of the Conference was to firm up the commitments of the country leaders towards the cause of persons with disabilities.

7.At an event, Oxigen and Fincare Small Finance Bank signed an agreement to roll out the Branchless Banking services, using Oxigen's flagship Point of Sale device called the Oxigen Micro ATM Super PoS. The event graced by Brand Ambassador Grand Master Viswanathan Anand.Oxigen has been marching forward on its financial inclusion agenda to offer Branchless banking services to India's rural unbanked/underbanked segments. 

8.Renowned historian and author of several bestselling books Ramachandra Guha has penned a new book titled "Gandhi: The years that changed the world (1914-1948)" on the father of the nation. 

9.West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi inaugurated the 18th International Children’s Film Festival in Kolkata in which 36 films from 17 countries would be screened.The festival was being organised by Cine Central, one of the oldest cine clubs of the country in collaboration with the UNICEF.

10.India captain Virat Kohli was presented with the International Player of the Year award for 2017-2018 by England’s Barmy Army .

ONE LINER OF THE DAY 25th July 2018

1.Myanmar which will host the next Asean Education Ministers Meeting (ASED) in October seeks to boost its education sector by cooperating with India, China and the US among others.

2.Ireland will hold an international conference of female parliamentarians in September.Organised by the Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus (IWPC) the conference will be held at Dublin Castle on September 9-10.

3.Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gifted 200 cows to villagers who do not yet own a cow, under the Rwandan Government's Girinka Programme.

4.The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched a contest, #Childline1098, inviting people to share images of the Childline 1098 logo that they spot at unique locations and send it with a tagline, to mark World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30.CHILDLINE is India's first 24-hour, free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance. At present, it is operational at 450 locations. 

5.An Indian Air Force contingent comprising of four Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft landed at Darwin Air Force Base, Australia for participating in the Exercise Pitch Black-2018.This is the first time that an Indian Air Force contingent is participating in this multinational air exercise in Australia. 

6.The 10th edition of BRICS Summit began in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a 3-day long summit and will be attended by all the BRICS leaders.The theme for this summit is ‘BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for inclusive growth and shared prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution'. Modi is likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. 

7.Canadian author Michael Ondaatje has again made the Man Booker Prize list with his latest novel “Warlight,” weeks after his book “The English Patient” was named the best work of fiction from the last five decades of the literary prize. 

8.National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) was established in 1969 by the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the Government of India, as an autonomous apex institution for research, training, education and consultancy in bank management. Its mandate is to play a proactive role of “think-tank” of the banking system.

9. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) was established by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as its wholly owned subsidiary on 3rd February 1995 with a view to augmenting the production of bank notes in India to enable the RBI to bridge the gap between the supply and demand for bank notes in the country.

10.The Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology is a unique institution exclusively focused on Banking Technology. Established by the Reserve Bank of India in 1996, the Institution works at the intersection of Banking and Technology.