Current Affairs

NSE, SGX get regulator’s nod for joint F&O products at GIFT City

SGX, the Singapore bourse, and the NSE have buried the hatchet. Both the exchanges on Tuesday received approval from SEBI to operate jointly in Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City, the international finance city under the proposed programme ‘connect’. Simply put, Nifty index, which is trading on SGX in Singapore, will be traded on a joint platform between the NSE and the SGX in GIFT City.

“The Connect model, which is subject to further approvals from relevant local authorities, will enable SGX and NSE IFSC members to access Nifty products in GIFT while managing their exposures through their respective clearing corporations,” the NSE said.



RBI slashes repo rate by 35 basis points

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut repo rate by 35 basis points to 5.40 per cent to give a fillip to the economy. This is the fourth consecutive time that the Monetary Policy Committee has reduced the rates. In the earlier three policies, RBI had reduced repo rate by 25 basis points each. 

Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility stands revised to 5.15 per cent, and the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65 per cent. In its third bi-monthly policy announced today, RBI has decided to maintain the accommodative stance of monetary policy.



PM Modi describes passing of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 as momentous occasion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the passing of landmark bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament, with overwhelming support. 

Saluting the courage and resilience of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, Mr Modi, in a series of tweets, said, a better tomorrow awaits them. He stated that the Bills pertaining to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will ensure integration and empowerment. 

Earlier, Parliament had adopted the resolution revoking the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, with Lok Sabha approving it last evening. The Rajya Sabha had adopted a similar resolution on Monday. 



Veteran BJP Leader, Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passes away

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passed away in New Delhi last night after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. She was 67. AIIMS sources said, the senior BJP leader was brought to the hospital around 9:30 last evening. They said, a team of doctors attended to her but could not revive her. 

Sushma Swaraj had a kidney transplant in 2016 and had opted out of contesting Lok Sabha polls earlier this year for health reasons. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President and Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders have expressed condolence over the demise of Sushma Swaraj.



Former DMK Minister Jennifer Chandran passes away

Former Fisheries Minister S. Jennifer Chandran died of renal failure on Tuesday.

The 61-year-old, who served as a Minister in the DMK government from 1996-2001, passed away at a private hospital in Madurai.

She won from the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency in 1996 and contested unsuccessfully in 2001. She switched over to the AIADMK, where she served as joint secretary of the fisheries wing.

For a brief period, she worked as the district in-charge of the AIADMK, but was removed from the post in 2010. In 2011, she was declared a candidate for the Thoothukudi Assembly constituency, but the decision was changed subsequently. She rejoined the DMK shortly before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.



Educationist Mrs. YGP passes away

Renowned educationist and founder of the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) Group of Schools, Mrs. Y.G.Parthasarathy, passed away at a city hospital on Tuesday afternoon. She was 93.

Her son and actor and theatre personality Y. Gee. Mahendra, said that she had been taken to the hospital on Monday after she complained of breathlessness. “She was stable and talking to us. In the afternoon, she asked for something to eat, but then just collapsed. It was a cardiac arrest,” he said.



Artificial Intelligence used to detect fast radio bursts

FRBs are mysterious and powerful flashes of radio waves from space, thought to originate billions of light years from the Earth, said researchers from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. 

They last for only a few milliseconds or a thousandth of a second and their cause is one of astronomy's biggest puzzles. The system, described in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal

Astronomical Society, has already identified five bursts -- including one of the most energetic ever detected, as well as the broadest. 

Wael Farah from Swinburne University of Technology trained the on-site computer at the Molonglo Radio Observatory in Australia to recognise the signs and signatures of FRBs, and trigger an immediate capture of the finest details seen to date. 

The bursts were detected within seconds of their arrival at the Molonglo Radio Telescope, producing high quality data that allowed the researchers to study their structure accurately, and gather clues about their origin. 

FRBs can potentially be used to study matter around and between galaxies that is otherwise almost impossible to see, Farah said. "It is fascinating to discover that a signal that travelled halfway through the universe, reaching our telescope after a journey of a few billion years, exhibits complex structure, like peaks separated by less than a millisecond," he said. 

"Molonglo's real-time detection system allows us to fully exploit its high time and frequency resolution and probe FRB properties that were previously unobtainable," said Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and project leader Professor Matthew Bailes. 



Dale Steyn retires from Test cricket

South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn on Monday announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect, Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed.

However, Steyn confirmed that he is still available for selection in limited-overs games.

“Today I walk away from a format of the game I love so much. In my opinion Test cricket is the best version of this game. It tests you mentally, physically, emotionally,” Steyn was quoted on CSA's Twitter account.



NASA satellite uncovers 'first nearby super-Earth'

Washington: Scientists have characterised the first potentially habitable world outside our own solar system located about 31 light-years away.

The super-Earth planet — named GJ 357 d — was discovered in early 2019 owing to NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a mission designed to comb the heavens for exoplanets, according to the research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"This is exciting, as this is humanity's first nearby super-Earth that could harbour life — uncovered with help from TESS, our small, mighty mission with a huge reach," said Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University in the US and a member of the TESS science team.

The exoplanet is more massive than our own blue planet, and Kaltenegger said the discovery will provide insight into Earth's heavyweight planetary cousins.



Udaipur set to host India's largest education Brainstorm

New Delhi: The third edition of India's largest education brainstorming event, the ScooNews Global Educators Fest (SGEF) will be held on August 09 and 10 in Udaipur- the City of Lakes.

It will bring together over 500 educators to discuss the way towards establishing India as the next global education powerhouse.

The theme for this year's fest is 'Education for Sustainability: Moving on from conformity to creativity'.

Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur Royalty is the patron of this year's edition. "We are delighted to be part of The Educators Fest 2019. I strongly believe in passion leading the growth of education in the country. I also salute the hard work, countless hours, and innovation being put to work by the Educators fraternity to scale learning prowess amongst students of the 21st century India", Lakshyaraj said.

"Education should be sustainable, nurture independent thinking, promote creative thought process, prompt life building and character development skills, not just in the classroom but outside for-life too. A lot of India, Indian-ness is in the capable hands of our teachers, school administrators and education policymakers. My best wishes to all the educationists attending the ScooNews Global Educators Fest 2019", said His Excellency VP Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab and Administrator of UT.

"Global Educators Fest 2019 is a Celebration of Education, its leaders, international wisdom, best practices et al. Now in its third year, it has become a most attended, most recognized and most awaited global event of and for educators. Whether it is Teacher Warriors, Jewels of India, Global Education Awards or the overall fest, our focus is to celebrate the good work and ideas with the educator fraternity and provide a fertile ground for ideation and discussion. I am honoured and thankful to our advisory board, participants and patrons for making this India's Largest Education Brainstorm", said Ravi Santlani, CEO, ScooNews.