CURRENT AFFAIRS OF 16th JULY, 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS OF 16^th JULY, 2023

1. Indian diplomat and Indian Foreign Service Officer of batch 2003, Devesh Uttam has been appointed as the next ambassador of India to Lithuania.
2. The Tamil Nadu State Agriculture Marketing Board and NABARD Madurai Agribusiness Incubation Forum have awarded a Geographical Indication (GI) certificate to the Authoor betel leaves from Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu.
3. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the regional office of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kuala Lumpur to facilitate close defence industrial collaboration between India and Malaysia.
4. Adani Transmission Limited has received ‘Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2023 (GPEMA)’ in the Power Transmission Sector from Institute of Directors.
5. With the aim of fostering digitalization in the maritime domain, Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, launched ‘Sagar Sampark’, an indigenous Differential Global Navigation Satellite System (DGNSS).
6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the first Indian Prime Minister to have been conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian and military honour, by French President Emmanuel Macron.
7. Sikkim has topped the northeastern states in addressing public grievances, followed by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in second and third place respectively.
8. Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, on 12 July 2023, launched a new campaign for banks under Agri Infra Fund named BHARAT (Banks Heralding Accelerated Rural & Agriculture Transformation).
9. Mumbai-based used car platform CarTrade Tech will acquire online marketplace OLX India’s auto sales business for Rs.537 cr.
10. The East-West Center’s Board of Governors has elected Dr Samir Saran, Head of India’s leading think tank, Observer Research Foundation, as one of the board’s five international members.
11. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has elevated Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) from its previous Schedule B classification to the esteemed status of a Schedule A CPSE.
12. National award-winning filmmaker-writer Vinod Mankara’s new book, ‘Prism: The Ancestral Abode of Rainbow’ was released from the rocket launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.  
13. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation approved Tamil Nadu’s first Flight Training Organisation (FTO).
14. On 13 July 2023, Google Pay introduced its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Lite payment (on-device wallet) feature to allow users to make small payments upto Rs. 200 without entering the UPI personal identification number (PIN).
15. Marketa Vondrousova beat last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur in the final and become Wimbledon champion, the first unseeded player to do so in the Open Era.  
16. Marathi actor Ravindra Mahajani passed away at the age of 77.