Top 20 Current Affairs of 19 July,2013

1. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani today resigned from all posts in the party, a day after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was appointed as the chief of the party’s election campaign committee.

2. The Reserve Bank on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5 crore on HDFC Bank and Rs. 1 crore on ICICI Bank for violation of Know Your Customer KYC norms and anti-money laundering guidelines after inquiring into charges leveled by a online portal Cobra post.

3. In Assam, BPL families are availing medical benefits under the Centre’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna,RSBY. The scheme is being implemented in 24 districts. Remaining 3 districts will also be covered soon.

4. Railways have decided to launch an SMS-based service for immediate response to passenger complaints regarding housekeeping service in coaches.

5. Upadhyayula Suryanarayana Murty, Chief Scientist and Head-Biology Division of CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad has been awarded with the ICMR prize for biomedical research conducted in underdeveloped areas for the year 2010.

6. Carnatic vocalist Ranjani Hebbar Guruprasad passed away yesterday in her hometown Udupi, after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was suffering from cancer.

7. K Srikanth became the latest badminton sensation to emerge from India as he lifted his maiden men’s singles title with a stunning straight-game triumph over top-seeded local favourite Boonsak Ponsana at the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold in Bangkok on Sunday.

8. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the Canadian Grand Prix, defeating Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in Montreal on Sunday, meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the third and second position simultaneously.

9. Rafael Nadal won his 8th Men’s Singles Tittle of the French Open Tennis Tournament. Serena Williams won the Women’s Singles title of French Open Tennis tournament by defeating Maria Sharapova in straight sets by 6-4, 6-4. Top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won their record 14th major doubles title by defeating Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in the French Open men’s doubles final.

10. Global Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has upgraded its credit outlook for the United States government to “stable” from “ negative” today saying that these is less than one in three chances of a downgrade for the world’s largest economy. It has maintained its credit rating at “AA+”, one notch lower than top most rating of “AAA”.

11. Justice P Sathasivam has been sworn in as the new Chief Justice of India. President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Sathasivam in a ceremony held at Rashtrpati Bhawan.

12. US President Barack Obama nominated Nisha Desai Biswal, an accomplished Indian-American administrator, to head the South Asia bureau in the US state department.

13. Finance Ministers from the G-20 Group of leading economies are meeting in Moscow. They are expected to discuss the global economic outlook, as well as efforts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion.

14. Union Sports Ministry has recommended hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand's name for highest civilian honour - Bharat Ratna.

15. The Supreme Court has ruled that there can be no reservation in appointment for faculty posts in specialty and super specialty courses in medical colleges including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, AIIMS.

16. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has finalised its report on Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will be tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session beginning August 5.

17. India trumped Israel, the United States, and China as the most promising location for tech innovation to flourish, according to a KPMG global survey.

18. Former South Africa player Dave Staniforth has been appointed as goalkeeping coach and strategic analyst of the Indian senior and junior men's teams, Hockey India announced on Thursday.

19. Mizoram Minister for Information and Communication Zdintluanga today said that Software Technology Park would soon be established at the Mizoram University Campus near Aizawl.

20. Around 2,000 people who have worked at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant face a heightened risk of thyroid cancer, its operator said Friday. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said 1,973 people — around 10% of those employed in emergency crews involved in the clean-up since the meltdowns— were believed to have been exposed to enough radiation to cause potential problems.