Daily Current Affairs Updates: 21 July 2014

1) India claims historic test win at Lord’s against England: Ishant Sharma claimed seven wickets to bowl India to a 95-run victory over England in the second test at Lord’s on Monday, their first overseas win since 2011. Ravindra Jadeja ran out James Anderson in the 89th over of the innings to seal the win. India’s second victory at home of cricket and first since 1986 continued England’s miserable year after series defeats by Australia and Sri Lanka. The third test will start at Southampton on Sunday.

2) Katju sparks controversy, Congress says why rake up issue now: Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju's allegations of corruption in judiciary snowballed into a major controversy Monday with parties demanding a probe into the matter as well as questioning the timing of the disclosure. The issue also rocked both houses of parliament. The Congress tried to distance itself from the controversy, asking why the issue was being raised now, but former law minister H.R. Bhardwaj admitted that UPA-I was under pressure from DMK to grant extension to a Madras High Court additional judge, Justice Ashok Kumar.Katju in his blog had said that an additional judge of the Madras High Court was appointed during the UPA regime despite an Intelligence Bureau report revealing charges of corruption against him.

3) Centre notified rules for govt. staff under Lokpal Act: The Centre has notified new rules on declaration of assets and liabilities of its employees under the Lokpal Act. As per the new rules, government employees have to file returns with details of cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among others. The employees also to have to give details of their immovable properties along with statement of debts and other liabilities on first appointment or as on March 31 of every financial year.

4) Steven Gerrard announced retirment from International Football: Steven Gerrard has announced his retirement from international football following the dismal World Cup campaign in Brazil that saw England knocked out at the group stages in their worst ever performance in the prestigious tournament. The FA confirmed the news via their website, with Gerrard bringing the curtain down on an international career that saw him amass 114 caps and 21 goals for the Three Lions.

5) Shooter Vijay Kumar to be India’s flag-bearer at CWG opening ceremony: London 2012 silver medallist Vijay Kumar will be the Indian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games at Glascow, Scotland on Wednesday. It was a toss-up between Vijay Kumar and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt after Beijing 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra declined to do the honours as his event was to take place on Thursday. Vijay Kumar was the best shooter at the London Olympics, winning silver in the rapid-fire pistol event. The Indian team for the Games will comprise of 221 athletes, including 101 women, besides 83 officials. In all, the effective strength of the contingent in Glasgow will be 304. India will be participating in 14 of the 17 disciplines in which competitions are to be held. The events left out are netball, rugby sevens and triathlon.

6) TRAI recommends sharing of all telecom spectrum: In a move that could help companies significantly reduce cost of mobile services, telecom regulator TRAI on Monday recommended allowing sharing of all categories of airwaves held by operators including spectrum allocated at old price of Rs 1,658 crore or assigned without auction. At present, telecom operators have been allocated airwaves frequency in 800 megahertz (CDMA), 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz (3G), 2300 Mhz and 2500 Mhz (4G) for wireless telecom services.