World UFO Day: 02 July
The World UFO Day (WUD) is held on July 2 every year globally. It is a day dedicated to the existence of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) by the World UFO Day Organization (WUFODO). WUD aims to raise awareness about the existence of UFOs and encouraging people to think about the possibility of us not being alone in the Universe. Initially, the day was observed on June 24. Later, WUFODO established on July 2 to commemorate the day.
World Bank expands Coronavirus Vaccine Funding to $20 billion
The World Bank has announced additional funding of $8 billion for Covid-19 vaccines, for developing countries. With this, the total financing available for the Covid-19 vaccine reaches $20 billion. Earlier the World Bank had announced $12 billion for the same. This funding will be used over the next 18 months till 2022 end.
World Bank Group President David Malpass has also called on countries with surplus doses to release it for use by developing countries and requested vaccine manufacturers to prioritise the available doses for such developing countries that urgently need them. Further, the Bank also provided over $4 billion for the purchase and deployment of Covid vaccines for 51 developing countries, half of which are in Africa.
Flipkart launches Shopsy to enable over 25 mn online entrepreneurs
Flipkart has launched Shopsy, an app that will enable Indians to start their online businesses without any investment. Flipkart aims to enable over 25 million online entrepreneurs by 2023 with the help of Shopsy. Users of Shopsy will be able to share catalogues of a wide selection of 15 crore products offered by Flipkart sellers.
These users can share catalogues with potential customers via popular social media and messaging apps, place orders on their behalf and earn commissions on the transactions. These range across fashion, beauty, mobiles, electronics and home, with potential customers via popular social media and messaging apps. Shopsy’s objective is to power e-commerce for communities and third-party channels where these users spend time/trust.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Flipkart headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka.
- Flipkart CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy.
India records current account surplus of 0.9% in FY21
According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, India reported a current account surplus of 0.9% of GDP in FY 21. In FY 20 there was a current account deficit of 0.9%. The reason for the Current Account Surplus in FY21 is a sharp contraction in the trade deficit to US$ 102.2 billion from US$ 157.5 billion in 2019-20. India has seen a Current account surplus for the first time in 17 years.
Current Account Surplus/Deficit is the difference between Export and Import.
- Current Account Surplus implies that Export from India was more than Import into India.
- Current Account Deficit implies that Import into India was more than Export from India.
Government keeps interest rates on Small Savings Schemes unchanged for Q-2
The government of India has announced that the rate of interest on Small Savings Schemes for the second quarter (July-Sept) of 2021-22 will remain unchanged as the last quarter (April-June) of 2021-2022. It must be noted that the Government notifies the Interest rates for small savings schemes on a quarterly basis.
Various Interest Rates for Quarter-2 (July-Sept) of 2021-22 are listed below:
| Sl. No. | Small Savings Scheme | Interest Rate |
| 1. | Post Office Savings Account | 4% |
| 2. | 5-Year Post Office Recurring Deposit (RD) Account | 5.8% |
| 3. | Post Office Time Deposit (TD) Account – One Year | 5.5% |
| 4. | Post Office Time Deposit Account (TD) – Two Years | 5.5% |
| 5. | Post Office Time Deposit Account (TD) – Three Years | 5.5% |
| 6. | Post Office Time Deposit Account (TD) – Five Years | 6.7% |
| 7. | Post Office Monthly Income Scheme Account (MIS) | 6.6% |
| 8. | Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) | 7.4% |
| 9. | 15-Year Public Provident Fund Account (PPF) | 7.1% |
| 10. | National Savings Certificates (NSC) | 6.8% |
| 11. | Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) | 6.9% |
| 12. | Sukanya Samriddhi Account | 7.6% |
State Bank of India celebrates 66th Foundation Day
The oldest commercial bank in the country, State Bank of India, SBI, is celebrating its 66th year on 1st July. SBI descends from the Bank of Calcutta founded in 1806 through the Imperial Bank of India.
The Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks, the bank of Calcutta and the bank of Bombay to form the Imperial Bank of India which in turn became the State Bank of India on this day in 1955.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- SBI Chairperson: Dinesh Kumar Khara.
- SBI Headquarters: Mumbai.
- SBI Founded: 1 July 1955.
Rafael unveils Sea Breaker AI missile with 300 km range
Israeli defence electronics company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled Sea Breaker, a 5th generation long-range, autonomous, precision-guided missile system, which can precisely target sea and land targets up to a range of 300 kilometres. Sea Breaker features an advanced imaging infra-red seeker, which can engage stationary or moving targets in a diverse range of land and marine environments.
Sea Breaker can be launched from naval platforms, varying in size, and from fast attack missile boats to corvettes and frigates. The land version is a central part of the shore defence, based on Rafael’s highly mobile SPYDER launchers. The battery architecture supports standalone launchers, or operation as an integrated solution, with a command and control unit (CCU) and various sensors, based on customer requirements.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Israel Prime minister: Naftali Bennett;
- Israel Capital: Jerusalem; Currency: Israeli Shekel.
Indian Navy warship conducted military drill with South Korean vessel
Indian Navy warship conducted military drill with South Korean vessel in the East China Sea. The Navy partnership exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability and facilitating the exchange of best practices with partner navies in the maritime domain. Indian Navy’s indigenous ASW Corvette INS Kiltan undertook the exercise with Republic of Korea’s Ship ROKS Gyeongnam, a Daegu-class frigate, on June 28.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh.
- Indian Navy Founded: 26 January 1950.
India’s 1 indigenous drone defence dome‘Indrajaal’ developed by Grene Robotics
India’s 1st indigenous drone defence dome ‘Indrajaal’ has been developed by Hyderabad-based Grene Robotics. As per the company, the drone defence dome – ‘Indrajaal’ is capable of autonomously protecting an area of 1000-2000 sq km against aerial threats. It protects the area by assessing and acting on aerial threats such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and Low- Radar Cross Section (RCS) targets.
The company said that cutting-edge technologies such as UAVs, Smart Swarms, etc. have been for the first time used in India to drop explosives next to the Mi-17 hangar at Jammu Air Base.
Salient features of India’s 1st indigenous drone defence dome – ‘Indrajaal’
- Real-time situational awareness;
- Integrated and Intelligent meshed network;
- Synergic combination of 9-10 technologies;
- 24×7 persistent and autonomous monitoring, action and tracking.
Researchers discovered Black-bellied Coral snake in forests of Uttarakhand
For the first time in history, a team of researchers have discovered Black-bellied Coral snakes in the forests of Bhadraj Block of Benog Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) in the Mussoorie Forest Division, Uttarakhand. The snake belongs to the Elapidae family and Sinomicrurus genus, namely S. nigriventer. There are currently almost 107 species of coral snakes found in the world. In India, only 7 coral snake species are found.
According to the 2015 report of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on the management of snakebite, there are more than 2000 species of snakes in the world. About 300 of these species are found in India, of which 52 are venomous. The venomous snakes found in India belong to three families ‘Elapidae’, ‘Viperidae’ and Hydrophidae’ (sea snakes).
Further, all snakes are protected by the law. Cobra, Rat snakes, and Checkered keelback are protected in Schedule II of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the rest are protected by Schedule IV.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Chief Minister of Uttarakhand: Tirath Singh Rawat;
- Governor of Uttarakhand: Baby Rani Maurya.
Andhra CM launches ‘YSR Bima’ scheme
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched the ‘YSR Bima’ scheme with new guidelines, where the government itself will directly pay the insurance amount to the family of the deceased to make the insurance claims easier.
In order to support 1.32 lakh families through the YSR Bima scheme, the State government allocated Rs 750 crores for the year 2021-22. In the last two years, the State government had spent Rs 1307 crore for YSR Bima.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy; Governor: Biswa Bhusan Harichandan.
Digital India completed 6 years of journey on July 1
Digital India has completed its 6 years of journey on July 1, 2021. Digital India is a government’s flagship scheme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. This unique flagship programme of the Government of India was launched on 1 July 2015 with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
It started as an attempt to improve access to critical Government services by making the country digitally empowered through improved infrastructure and connectivity. The programme has been enabled for several important Government schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India and Standup India, industrial corridors, etc.
With the help of Aadhaar, Government has provided digital identity to 129 crore people of India. Jandhan bank Accounts, mobile phones, and Aadhaar (JAM) helped the government in providing benefits of the different schemes through digital platforms.
The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas:
- Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen
- Governance & Services on Demand
- Digital Empowerment of Citizens
Former India footballer Prasannan passes away
Former Indian footballer M Prasannan has passed away. A gifted midfielder of the 1970s, he shared the dressing room with stalwarts of Indian football like Inder Singh and Doraiswamy Natraj. He played for Kerala, Maharashtra, and Goa in Santosh Trophy National Football Championship.
ICICI Bank launches ‘Salute Doctors’, banking solution for doctors
ICICI Bank has launched India’s most comprehensive banking solutions for medical doctors. Titled as ‘Salute Doctors’, the solution offers customized banking as well as value-added services for every doctor, beginning from a medical student to a senior medical consultant to an owner of a hospital or a clinic.
The solutions, are mostly digital and instant, designed to cater to the professional, business, lifestyle and wealth banking requirements of doctors and their families. The initiative is powered by ICICI STACK, a digital banking platform with nearly 500 services that helps customers of the Bank to avail the services digitally and seamlessly.
‘Salute Doctors’ provides doctors with an array of innovative services.
- One, a range of premium savings and current accounts for personal and business banking.
- Two, a specially curated suite of loans for home, auto, personal, education, medical equipment, setting up clinic or hospital and business.
- Three, industry-first value-added services, which are offered in association with partners, to help doctors fulfil their lifestyle needs, manage clinic/hospital better and digitally, get updates on latest medical developments, take care of accounting needs, expand and procure medical supplies.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- ICICI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- ICICI Bank MD & CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi.
- ICICI Bank Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka.
HDFC Bank launches ‘Salaam Dil Sey’ initiative
HDFC Bank launched a SalaamDilSey initiative to show gratitude to doctors for their tireless service during the pandemic, to pay tribute to doctors across the country. SalaamDilSey encourages one and all to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of doctors and provides a platform to show their gratitude to doctors, who are bravely fighting the pandemic, at the risk of their own lives.
As part of this initiative, the bank has created a web platform www.salaamdilsey.com wherein the general public can logon on to the microsite and share the thank you message for doctors which can be immediately shared via e-mail, social media, and WhatsApp.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Headquarters of HDFC Bank: Mumbai, Maharashtra;
- MD and CEO of HDFC Bank: Sashidhar Jagdishan;
- The tagline of HDFC Bank: We understand your world.
