Current Affairs July 13th 2023| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

IRDAI retains mandatory cession of business in favour of General Insurance Corporation of India at 4% for FY24

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has maintained the status quo on obligatory cession of business for the financial year 2023-24 at 4% in favour of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re).
• The government had notified the move recently saying that the entire Obligatory Cession is to be placed with GIC Re only. Obligatory cession refers to the part of the business that general insurance companies have to mandatorily cede to the national reinsurer GIC Re.

Key Highlights :

• Private general insurers are against any obligatory cession to GIC Re as it doesn’t give them any freedom to place the reinsurance business the way they like and with the reinsurers they like.
• The IRDAI was constituted a panel under Bhargava Dasgupta, MD of ICICI Lombard General Insurance, to suggest measures to phase out obligatory cession and the panel had suggested phase-out the obligatory business along with the right to first refusal by the GIC Re.
• Under the right to first refusal, GIC Re has the first right to choose the reinsurance business from the general insurers and then it can be placed with other reinsurers. The obligatory cession was reduced from 5 per cent to 4 per cent in FY23.
• The approximate size of the Indian reinsurance market is around Rs 70,000 crore in FY 2022-23.
• There are now over 10 foreign reinsurers who are operating in India.
• IRDAI had named LIC, GIC Re and New India Assurance as domestic systemically important insurers which are considered as “too big or too important to fail”.

Recent News :

• In June 2023, The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) introduced modifications to the existing ‘use and file’ procedure for life insurance products.
• In June 2023, IRDAI came out with draft guidelines for ‘Bima Vahaks (BV)’, which seeks to set up a dedicated distribution channel at the level of gram panchayats to enhance insurance coverage and create awareness.

About IRDAI :

• Established : 1999
• Headquarters : Hyderabad, Telangana
• Chairperson : Debasish Panda
• The IRDAI is a statutory body under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of India (GoI) and is tasked with regulating and licensing the insurance and reinsurance industries in India.

About GIC Re :

• Founded : 22 November 1972 under Companies Act, 1956
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Chairman-and-Managing Director : Devesh Srivastava
• GIC Re, is an Indian public sector reinsurance company.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

22 State Governments have received a total of Rs. 7,532 crore from the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, for their respective State Disaster Response Funds:

• The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has released an amount of 7,532 crore to 22 State Governments for the respective State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF).
• The amount has been released as per the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs
• The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has been constituted in each State under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• The fund is the primary fund available to State Governments for responses to notified disasters.
• The Central Government contributes 75% to the SDRF in general States and 90% in North-East and Himalayan States.
• The SDRF is to be used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims of notified calamities like cyclones, drought, earthquakes, fires, floods, tsunamis, hailstorms, landslides, avalanches, cloud bursts, pest attacks and frost & cold wave.
• Based on the 15th Finance Commission recommendations, the Central Government has allocated Rs. 1,28,122.40 crore for SDRF for the years 2021-22 to 2025-26. O
• out of this amount, the Central Government’s share is Rs.98,080.80 crore.
• The Central Government had already released Rs. 34,140.00 before the current release.
• With the current release, the total amount of Central share of SDRF released to the State Governments so far has gone up to Rs. 42,366 crore.

Recent News

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that Biparjoy will make landfall between Gujarat and neighbouring Pakistan’s Karachi, with wind gusts potentially reaching a maximum speed of 150 kilometres per hour.

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya to inaugurate Swasthya Chintan Shivir at Dehradun, Uttarakhand

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya will inaugurate the Swasthya Chintan Shivir on 14th July, 2023 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• The two-day Swasthya Chintan Shivir will be organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare.
• The event will be attended by the Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar and Prof. SP Singh Baghel.
• Health Ministers of various States and Union Territories as well as senior officials from the Health Ministry and States are expected to join this important event.
• The two-day event will begin with the tabling of the Action Taken Report of the 14th Convention of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare.
• It will be followed by sessions focusing on various facets of healthcare in India
• The sessions will highlight four aspects of Ayushman Bharat, including Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), Health and Wellness Centres, as well as Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission(PM-ABHIM).
• The thematic sessions will also focus on the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, the elimination of measles, rubella, and the implementation of the PCPNDT Act in India.
• The sessions will highlight the role of the Public Health Management Cadre, as well as the status of Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Education in the country.

About Uttarakhand

• Chief Minister: Pushkar Singh Dhami
• Capital: Dehradun
• Governor: Gurmit Singh

Recent news

• Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya launched the National Medical Device Policy 2023 at an annual conference on Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices in Delhi.
• Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the book titled Braving A Viral Storm: India’s Covid-19 Vaccine Story in New Delhi. The book is co-authored by Aashish Chandorkar and Suraj Sudhir.

The GST Council exempts medicines for rare disorders and cancer from tax:

• GST Council has decided to exempt cancer-fighting drugs, medicines for rare diseases, and food products for special medical purposes from GST tax.
• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 50th GST Council meeting in New Delhi.
• Addressing the media after the meeting, the Minister said a 28 per cent tax will be levied on online gaming, horse racing, and casinos and these will be taxed at full face value.
• She said the Council has also decided to exempt GST from satellite launch services by private operators.
• GST rates on uncooked, unfried extruded snack pallets have been brought down from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
• The rates on fish soluble paste have been bright down to 5 percent from 18 percent.
• Rates on imitation zari threads have been brought down to 5 percent from 12 percent.
• The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Finance Ministers of States and UTs, and senior officials.
• On this occasion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released a special cover and customized stamp.

About Goods and Services Tax (GST):

• The goods and services tax (GST) is a tax on goods and services sold domestically for consumption.
• The tax is included in the final price and paid by consumers at the point of sale and passed to the government by the seller.
• The GST is usually taxed as a single rate across a nation.
• The GST was launched on 1 July 2017 by the President of India and the Government of India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : INTERNATIONAL NEWzS

India-United States conduct ‘Operation Broader Sword’ to prevent illegal drugs shipment 

• The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) in collaboration with the Indian Government Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted ‘Operation Broader Sword’, a special bilateral multi-agency enforcement operation targeting illicit pharmaceuticals, devices, or precursor chemicals shipped using the international mail system.

Note :

• Operation Broader Sword was built upon the success of Operation Broadsword, which targeted mail parcels containing illicit medical products from India and was carried out in 2020, at Chicago IMF.

About ‘Operation Broader Sword’ :

• Operation “Broader Sword”, which was carried out in June 2023, targeted shipments of illicit, potentially dangerous, unapproved prescription drugs, combination medical devices, and synthetic drug precursors shipped through International Mail Facilities (IMF).
• The operation targeted packages entering the US from India through the New York (JFK International Airport) and Chicago (ORD International Airport) International Mail Facilities (IMFs) during June 12-23, 2023.
• In Operation Broader Sword, investigators examined more than 1,500 shipments originating in India and took action on approximately 500 products, including illegal medications intended to treat and or mitigate serious diseases.

About United States :

• President : Joe Biden
• Capital : Washington, D.C
• Currency : U.S. dollar

India & Tanzania started trade settlements in local currencies – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that India and Tanzania have started trade settlements in local currencies.
• This new initiative of India and Tanzania will help in promoting commerce between both countries
• India-Tanzania bilateral trade has seen very strong growth and stood at USD 6.4 billion in 2022-23.

History :

• In 2022, RBI and Indian Finance Ministry had instructed the top management of banks and representatives of trade bodies to promote export and import transactions in the rupee.
• 18 countries have opened special Vostro accounts with Indian banks.
• Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and Canara Bank are operating in Tanzania.

Other Initiatives :

• S Jaishankar also inaugurated a bust of Swami Vivekananda at India’s cultural centre in Dar es Salaam.
• India and Tanzania have agreed on a roadmap to further boost their ties in new areas of cooperation.
• IIT Madras will open its overseas campus with a batch of 50 undergraduate students and 20 master’s students in Tanzania.

About Tanzania :

• President : Samia Suluhu Hassan
• Prime Minister : Kassim Majaliwa
• Capital: Dodoma
• Currency: Tanzanian Shilling.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

The Climate Policy Initiative and the International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on sustainable finance:

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Climate Policy Initiative – India (CPI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for mutual assistance and cooperation to increase the mobilisation of global sustainable capital flows into India.
• The commencement of India’s G20 Presidency begins with the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
• Sustainable development is a key priority that runs across the priorities of G20 working groups. Mobilisation of sustainable finance is critical to achieving a transition to green and resilient economies.
• IFSCA has taken significant steps in accelerating global sustainable capital flows by creating a conducive regulatory environment, based on international best practices, focused especially on the needs of India and developing countries.
• With deep expertise in finance and policy, CPI is an analysis and advisory organization that works to improve the most important energy and land use practices around the world.
• CPI’s mission is to help governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change.
• It is against this backdrop that IFSCA and CPI are collaborating through a wide-ranging MoU, which includes research and joint convenings in the field of sustainable finance.

About IFSCA

• The IFSCA is a statutory authority established under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019 (“IFSCA Act”) with a mandate to develop and regulate the financial products, financial services, and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSC’).
• GIFT-IFSC is the maiden IFSC in India.
• The IFSCA aims to develop a strong global connection and focus on the needs of the Indian economy as well as to serve as an international financial platform for the entire region.

Recent News

• Senior bureaucrat and telecom secretary K Rajaraman will be the next chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). He will succeed Injeti Srinivas, who had taken over as the first chairman of the IFSCA in early July 2020 for a period of three years.
• IFSCA has constituted an expert committee to formulate a roadmap to onshore the Indian innovation to GIFT IFSC. This committee will be chaired by former Reserve Bank executive director G Padmanabhan, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA)

International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) inks MoU with IIML -EIC

• International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) and IIML-EIC, have signed a MoU at IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Lucknow EIC, Noida campus in Uttar Pradesh.
• This MoU aims to put in place a framework for cooperation and understanding between IFSCA and IIML-EIC to collaborate in supporting and facilitating FinTech and TechFin entities.
• The IFSCA is responsible for the development and regulation of international financial services, including that of the insurance sector, in the IFSC, which is treated as a separate international financial jurisdiction, distinct from the rest of India.
• IFSCA aims to develop a strong global connection and focus on the needs of the Indian economy as well as to serve as an international financial platform at the regional/ global level.
• The IIML -EIC IIML EIC is promoted by the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and supported by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (“NSTEDB”), Department of Science and Technology (“DST”), Government of India and Government of State of Uttar Pradesh.
• The IIML EIC is focused on providing speed and faster growth to new ventures for successful commercialization of technology/product through a combination of accelerator programme, seed capital, corporate venture capital funds, smart co-working space, corporate market access, mentoring and training programmes.
• This MoU will enable cooperation and collaboration on diverse initiatives regarding FinTech.
• FinTechs registered with IIML EIC may be facilitated to access IFSCA’s Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox and apply to the IFSCA (FinTech Incentive) Scheme, 2022.

About UP:

• Capital: Lucknow
• Governor: Anandiben Patel
• Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath
• NP: Dudhwa National Park & Tiger Reserve, Rajaji National Park, Nanda Devi National Park, Valley of Flowers National Park

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

Four Indian-origin biz leaders on 2023 Forbes’ 100 Richest self-made Women list

• Four Indian-origin women, including Jayshree Ullal and Indra Nooyi, have made it to the Forbes list of America’s 100 most successful self-made women, with a combined net worth of a whopping USD 4.06 billion.
• Building supply distributor Diane Hendricks, with a $15 billion net worth, retained the top spot for the sixth year in a row.
• This year’s list has eight entrants, including television producer Shonda Rhimes and Insitro CEO Daphne Koller.

About Jayshree Ullal

• Jayshree Ullal, president and CEO of computer networking firm Arista Networks, ranked 15th on the list, the highest among Indian-origin business leaders. Arista Networks, a publicly-traded company, recorded revenue of nearly $4.4 billion in 2022.

About Neerja Sethi

• Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of USD 990 million, has been ranked 25th on the list. Sethi, 68, along with her husband Bharat Desai, co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel in 1980. French IT firm Atos SE for $3.4 billion in October 2018 bought Syntel in 2018 and Sethi got an estimated $510 million for her stake.

About Neha Narkhede

• Narkehe, co-founder and former chief technology officer (CTO) of cloud company Confluent is ranked 50th on the list with a net worth of USD 520 million. The 38-year-old software engineer-turned-entrepreneur helped develop the open-source messaging system Apache Kafka to help develop LinkedIn’s massive influx of data. In 2014, she and two LinkedIn colleagues left to found Confluent, which helps organisations process large amounts of data on Apache Kafka.

About Indira Nooyi

• Nooyi, the former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, retired in 2019 after 24 years with the company, half of which she spent in the top job. The 67-year-old has a net worth of USD 350 million and is ranked 77th on the Forbes list. Her fortune stems from stock she was granted while working at PepsiCo.Nooyi, who grew up in India, received an MBA from Yale before becoming one of corporate America’s few female CEOs in 2006.

India’s ethanol program will cap future sugar exports: BMI Reports

• As per the BMI report, India’s ethanol program will cap future sugar exports.
• In recent years, India has emerged as the world’s second-largest producer and a major exporter.
• But, India going forward with the expansion of the government-led ethanol programme will have a smaller role in the sugar export market.
• As per the Asia Biofuel Outlook report prepared by BMI, India’s aim of increased ethanol blending in gasoline to cut the oil products’ import bill and reduce carbon emissions will support global sugar prices.
• In India, biofuel is made mainly from sugarcane.
• As more ethanol plants will start production, more of India’s sugarcane crop will be used to make the fuel, which will limit the amount of sugar produced.
• India’s ethanol blending reached 11.5%, while the government’s target is to reach 20% by 2025.
• As per the report, it is doubtful that India will be able to achieve its target by 2025 as the programme will cap exports of feedstocks used in ethanol production.
• BMI noted that Indonesia is also getting back to an ethanol blending programme with a 5% rate initially, and a target to get to 10 per cent by 2030.
• India needs to sharply increase sugarcane planting to reach the target.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

SBI Card appoints Abhijit Chakravorty as new MD & CEO for two years; succeeds Rama Mohan Rao Amara

• The country’s largest pure-play credit card issuer, zzSBI Cards & Payment Services (SBI Card), has appointed Abhijit Chakravorty as its new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• He will replace Rama Mohan Rao Amara, who will cease to be MD from August 11, 2023.
• Chakravorty’s appointment would be effective from August 12, 2023 for a period of two years.

About Abhijit Chakravorty :

• Abhijit Chakravorty started his banking career as a Probationary Officer with State Bank of India (SBI) in 1988.
• He has gained over 34 years of rich experience in retail and corporate banking, overseas operations, and the IT vertical of the bank.
• He managed the Bangladesh Operations of the Bank as CEO and Country Head.
• He also worked as Chief General Manager (Channels & Operations) at the Global IT Centre of the Bank.
• He is currently a Deputy Managing Director at SBI.

About SBI Card :

• Established : October 1998
• Headquarters : Gurgaon, Haryana

Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari steps down, Irina Ghose becomes New Managing Director

• Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari has resigned from his role after a stint of almost 7 years at the software company.
• Meanwhile, Microsoft has elevated company’s chief operating officer (COO) Irina Ghose to the role of Managing Director (MD) for India.
• As part of the leadership changes, Navtej Sigh Bal has been elevated to the Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Earlier, he was heading the government, public sector and education business for Microsoft in India.
• Venkat Krishnan, who was heading partnerships, has been promoted to head the government business unit.

About Anant Maheshwari :

• He joined Microsoft in 2016 and was responsible for the company’s overall presence and business in the country.
• He is also the chairman of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).
• He has served on various committees and councils of the S.-India Business Council (USIBC), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Aspen Global Leadership Institute.
• Prior to Microsoft, Maheshwari worked with Honeywell India as President, and also worked with McKinsey & Company.

About Microsoft India :

• Founded : 1990
• Headquarters : Hyderabad, Telangana, India

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

HDFC Bank to sell 2% stake in National Securities Depository Limited  through initial public offering

• HDFC Bank will sell a 2 per cent stake in the initial public offering (IPO) of National Securities Depository (NSDL).
• The lender holds a 8.95% stake in NSDL, which handles most of the securities held and settled in dematerialised form in the Indian capital market.
• In its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), the depository stated that the IPO will see sales of 3 million shares by its six shareholders.
• State Bank of India (SBI) proposes to sell 2% stake by offloading 40 lakh shares in depository organisation NSDL.
• SBI holds 5% stake in the NSDL while it intends to divest 2% in the Offer For Sale (OFS) subject to the terms of the proposed IPO.
• IDBI Bank will sell up to 22.2 million shares, while National Stock Exchange will sell 18 million shares it owns in the depository.
• Union Bank of India will sell 5.62 million shares, and State Bank of India, and Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) will sell 4 million and 3.4 million shares, respectively.
• The sixth shareholder participating in the IPO is HDFC Bank.
• As of March 2023, the company is the largest depository in India in terms of the number of issuers, number of active instruments, market share in demat value of settlement volume, and value of assets held under custody.

About NSDL :

• Established : August 1996
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• CEO : Padmaja Chunduru
• National Securities Depository Limited is an Indian central securities depository.
• It was established as the first electronic securities depository in India with national coverage.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

Spain’s Navantia and L&T sign an teaming agreement to bid for Indian submarine programme

• Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder Navantia and engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) signed a Teaming Agreement (TA) to jointly in Delhi bid for a ₹43,000-crore (4.8 billion euros) project to build 6 advanced submarines for the Indian Navy.
• This agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between L&T and Navantia earlier in 2023 in Madrid, Spain.
• The TA for submission of a techno-commercial bid for the P75-India submarine programme was signed by officials of the two firms in the presence of Spanish ambassador José Domínguez, L&T CEO SN Subrahmanyan and Augustin Alvarez Blanco, Navantia’s vice president for naval construction.

Key Highlights :

• Navantia will base the design on its S80 class of submarines, which have abundant space for indigenisation of equipment in line with Indian requirements, and the weapons complexes will be Indian.
• The first S80 submarine was launched in 2021 and is undergoing sea trials before its delivery to the Spanish Navy by the end of 2023.

About Project 75I :

• Project 75I requires an Indian bidder to tie up with a foreign collaborator and build 6 conventional submarines equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems, which allow vessels to remain submerged for longer periods.
• The first submarine must have a minimum of 45% indigenisation, with the indigenous content going up to 60% in the sixth.
• The AIP being offered is a third-generation system that runs on bio-ethanol and has lower operating and through-life costs.
• Apart from the S80 class, Navantia has been involved in the design and construction of the Scorpéne class of submarines together with DCNS (Now Naval Group) of France, which have been exported to Chile and Malaysia.
• Navantia has also been involved in the Scorpene submarines (Kalvari class) built in India including handholding of the Indian yard.

About Larsen & Toubro (L&T) :

• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : S. N. Subrahmanyan

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWSz

Nishad Kumar of India won silver at the current Para Athletics World Championships 2023.

• India’s Nishad Kumar has clinched a silver medal in the ongoing Para Athletics World Championships 2023.
• Paris will host the Para Athletics World Championships from 8 to 17 July at the Charlety Stadium.
• Over 1200 athletes from 107 nations are set to take part in this year’s competition.
• Nishad bagged this medal in the High Jump T47 Event.
• With this win, Nishad has become the second athlete at this event to grab a medal.
• The top-four ranked athletes at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in each of the individual medal events qualify for the 2024 Paralympic Games, also to be held in Paris.

About the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships

• The 2023 World Para Athletics Championships is an ongoing Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee.
• It is the 10th edition of the event and it is held in the Charlety Stadium in Paris, France, from 8 to 17 July 2023.

India wins four gold medals, leading the medal count in the 34th International Biology Olympiad:

• India topped the medals tally in the 34th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) by securing four gold me
• India has for the first time turned in an all-gold performance and topped the medal tally in IBO.
• According to Homi Bhabha Center for Science and Education (HBCSE), the winners are Megh Chhabda from Jalna district of Maharashtra, Dhruv Advani from Bengaluru in Karnataka, Ishan Pednekar from Kota, Rajasthan and Rahit Panda from Risali, Chhattisgarh.
• IBO was held in Al Ain in UAE this year between 3 to 11 July.
• 293 Students from 76 countries participated in IBO.
• Besides India, Singapore was the only one that secured four gold medals.
• In all, 29 gold medals were awarded.

Winners’ names and home states are listed.

1	Dhruv Advani	GOLD	Bengaluru, Karnataka
2	Megh Chhabda	GOLD	Jalna, Maharashtra
3	Ishan Pednekar	GOLD	Kota, Rajasthan
4	Rohit Panda	GOLD	Risali, Chattisgarh

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

Spain’s only Ballon d’Or winning player Luis Suarez Passed away

• Luis Suárez Miramontes, the so-called “Golden Galician” who is the only Spanish man to win soccer’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, has passed away at the age of 88 in Milan, Italy.

About Luis Suarez :

• Luis Suárez Miramontes was born on 2 May 1935, in Spain.
• He began his career at Deportivo La Coruna, before moving to Barcelona in 1954.
• Throughout seven seasons, he played a total amount of 253 matches for Barcelona, scoring 141 goals.
• He also won 32 caps for Spain and was part of the squad which won the European Championship in 1964, making 32 appearances for the national team.
• He won two La Liga trophies (1958-59 & 1959-60) with the Catalan giants.
• He moved to Inter Milan in 1961 for a world record fee and won 2 European Cups and 3 Serie A trophies as well as other silverware during the club’s most glorious era.
• He coached the Spanish National Team (La Roja) at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Awards & Honors :

• In 1960 Suárez became the first and only male Spanish-born player to win the Ballon d’Or.

About Ballon d’Or :

• The Ballon d’Or is an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football since 1956.
• The Ballon d’Or is generally regarded as football’s most prestigious and valuable individual award.
• Alexia Putellas Becomes First Spanish-Born Player To Win Ballon D’Or Twice in 2021 and 2022.

Daily CA One-Liner: July 13

• The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has released an amount of 7,532 crore to 22 State Governments for the respective State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF)
• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya will inaugurate the Swasthya Chintan Shivir on 14th July, 2023 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• GST Council has decided to exempt cancer-fighting drugs, medicines for rare diseases, and food products for special medical purposes from GST tax
• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Climate Policy Initiative – India (CPI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for mutual assistance and cooperation to increase the mobilisation of global sustainable capital flows into India
• International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) and IIML-EIC, have signed a MoU at IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Lucknow EIC, Noida campus in Uttar Pradesh
• Four Indian-origin women, including Jayshree Ullal and Indra Nooyi, have made it to the Forbes list of America’s 100 most successful self-made women, with a combined net worth of a whopping USD 4.06 billion
• As per the BMI report, India’s ethanol program will cap future sugar exports.
• India’s Nishad Kumar has clinched a silver medal in the ongoing Para Athletics World Championships 2023
• India topped the medals tally in the 34th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) by securing four gold medals
• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has maintained the status quo on obligatory cession of business for the financial year 2023-24 at 4% in favour of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re).
• The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) in collaboration with the Indian Government Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted ‘Operation Broader Sword’, a special bilateral multi-agency enforcement operation targeting illicit pharmaceuticals, devices, or precursor chemicals shipped using the international mail system.
• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that India and Tanzania have started trade settlements in local currencies.
• The country’s largest pure-play credit card issuer, SBI Cards & Payment Services (SBI Card), has appointed Abhijit Chakravorty as its new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari has resigned from his role after a stint of almost 7 years at the software company, meanwhile, Microsoft has elevated company’s chief operating officer (COO) Irina Ghose to the role of Managing Director (MD) for India.
• HDFC Bank will sell a 2 per cent stake in the initial public offering (IPO) of National Securities Depository (NSDL).
• Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder Navantia and engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) signed a Teaming Agreement (TA) to jointly in Delhi bid for a ₹43,000-crore (4.8 billion euros) project to build 6 advanced submarines for the Indian Navy.
• Luis Suárez Miramontes, the so-called “Golden Galician” who is the only Spanish man to win soccer’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, has passed away at the age of 88 in Milan, Italy.