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Current Affairs Update: 6th & 7th August 2017

Current Affairs Update: 6th & 7th August 2017

Current Affairs Update: 6th & 7th August 2017

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Do You Know?
Venkaiah Naidu elected 13th Vice-President of India.
  • NDA nominee and former Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the 13th Vice President of India after comfortably defeating Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the Vice-Presidential election on Saturday. 
  • While Naidu secured 516 votes in his favour, Gandhi managed to get only 244 votes. Reflecting on his thumping win, Naidu said, “I am very humbled. I am also thankful to the Prime Minister and all party leaders for their support.”

New Appointments: National
AIFF names Ushanath Banerjee as chairman of Transfers Dispute Committee
  • The AIFF today named senior advicate Ushanath Banerjee as the chairman of a special committee that will be dealing with players' transfer disputes. 
  • "The Committee entrusted the Chairman to make a detailed and reasoned paper based on the review of the rules and regulations as mentioned above for consideration of the members for a decision thereafter," an AIFF press release stated.

Government appoints Rajiv Kumar(Economist) as the new vice chairman of Niti Aayog
  • Economist Dr Rajiv Kumar was tonight named as the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, five days after the incumbent Arvind Panagariya announced that he would quit to return to academics. 
  • The government also appointed Dr Vinod Paul, a pediatrician at the AIIMS, as a member of the NITI Aayog, an official spokesman said. 




New Appointments: International
S. Aparna appointed Executive Director, World Bank (Headquartered at Washington DC)
  • S. Aparna, an IAS officer from Gujarat cadre has been appointed as Executive Director, World Bank to represent the constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years.
  • A 1988-batch IAS, she is currently Principal Secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. At the World Bank, she will replace Subhash Garg, who was recently appointed Economic Affairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance.

Prabhat Kumar as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan (Capital: Astana).
  • Shri Prabhat Kumar, (IFS: 1991), presently Ambassador of India to Colombia has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly .

Paul Kagame wins third term as Rwanda president
  • Rwanda's longtime president Paul Kagame has easily won a third term in office in what he had called "a formality". He faces another seven years leading the small East African nation praised for its economic performance but criticised for its silencing of opponents.
  • Electoral authorities overnight said Kagame had won more than 98 percent of the vote with 80 percent of the votes counted, with no major change expected when final results are announced later Saturday. He had faced two challengers.
  • Kagame addressed jubilant supporters at party headquarters and urged Rwandans, including those who hadn't supported him, to work together.

Brand Ambassador
Akshay Kumar Appointed as The Brand Ambassador of Swachh Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh
  • Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced superstar Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the state. Noteworthy, Akshay’s upcoming movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha focuses on building toilets in villages and ending open defecation in India. During a cleanliness drive programme in Lucknow, Adityanath said, “The message which has been given through the film is an inspiration for all. The film will give a new sensitivity to the society and help remove the ills”.

Banking/Economic Affairs
Punjab National Bank customers to pay higher charges for non-credit services
  • Come September, PNB customers will have to pay charges for depositing cash above Rs 5,000 in a non-base branch even if it is located in the same city. Currently, the customers of Punjab National Bank (PNB) are levied charges only for depositing cash over Rs 25,000 at a non-base branch within the same city. 
  • “It has been decided to revise the non-credit related charges (exclusive of GST) with effect from September 1, 2017 for cash deposit above Rs 5,000 at other than base branch within the same city,” PNB said in a communication to customers.
  • A customer will have to pay Re 1 per Rs 1,000 for above Rs 5,000 cash deposit or part thereof with a minimum of Rs 25 per transaction. At an outstation branch, cash deposit up to Rs 5,000 will be free of cost from September 1, which at present is limited for Rs 25,000. While, for above Rs 5,000 cash deposit at outstation branch, the bank will levy Rs 2 per Rs 1,000 or part thereof with a minimum of Rs 25 per transaction. The bank has also revised upwards the cheque returning charges for a payment of above Rs 1 crore to Rs 2,000 for first cheque and Rs 2,500 for subsequent bounces.

National Affairs
Tirupati and Vijayawada airports soon to take the ‘go green’, India's First Green Airport.
  • As part of the Green airports initiative taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, two airports in Andhra Pradesh are soon going to turn into Green Airports. Airport Authority of India (AAI) stated that the installation of 1 Mega Watt solar power plant at Tirupati and Vijayawada airports has commenced on Thursday.
  • However, officials of Vijayawada airport said that installation works of solar power plant have not yet commenced at the airport. Speaking to Express, G Madhusudhan Rao, Director of Gannavaram Airport said, “Till now, we have identified six acres of land for the installation of the solar power plant. As the project has been taken up by AAI, they are taking care of this project. As on   date, installation works have not yet begun. When it happens, we would start it on a grand scale.”

HeliTaxi services from Bengaluru Airport to Electronic City launched
  • Thumby Aviation, a private helicopter service provider, and Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) have partnered to launch HeliTaxi services from Bengaluru Airport.
  • The helicopter service will initially be launched from Bengaluru Airport to Electronic City and gradually expanded to other parts of the city.
  • Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, speaking after launching the service said the government is working towards making the convenience of air travel accessible to as many Indians as possible.”
  • Karnataka minister for large, medium industries and infrastructure R. V. Deshpande welcomed the initiative and said “Bengaluru is on the growth path, there is a need to lay a strong foundation for improving connectivity to the airport.”

India’s shooter Shapath Bhardwaj is now the youngest athlete to feature in government’s Target Olympic Podium scheme.
  • India’s shooter Shapath Bhardwaj is now the youngest athlete to feature in government’s Target Olympic Podium scheme. Fiveteen-year old Shapath from Meerut has made his name among 45 elite athletes who have been selected for the government scheme. The list of athletes also includes Olympic medallists PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Saina Nehwal.
  • Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, who is heading TOP Scheme Elite Athletes Identification Committee in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, evaluated each athlete’s performance in terms of international standards and then selected the athletes for the scheme.

Motorbike ambulance service launched in Mumbai (Maharashtra)
  • The Maharashtra government has launched a motorbike ambulance service to provide swift medical assistance to patients.
  • Designed as an emergency first responder medical service, the ambulances, available through `108 free helpline, have teams of paramedics providing treatment, especially in places inaccessible to larger ambulances, to patients during the golden hour.
  • As part of a pilot project, 10 motorbike ambulances were launched at Marine Drive in south Mumbai yesterday by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

International Affairs
Neymar(Brazilian Footballer) signs world record deal with PSG (Paris St Germain) signing a five-year deal with the French club after they triggered his €222 million ($263 million) release clause.
  • The 25-year-old Brazil forward, who will be presented to fans on Saturday, is committed to PSG until June 2022, the club said in a statement. Media reports have said he could earn around €550,000 per week.
  • “Today, with the arrival of Neymar Jr, I am convinced that we will come even closer, with the support of our faithful fans, to realizing our greatest dreams, said PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
  • Both Barcelona and Spain's La Liga questioned whether the move complied with UEFA's financial regulations, with the club saying they would report the deal to European football's governing body.

Pakistan gets its 1st full-time Foreign Minister since 2013
  • Khawaja Asif has been appointed as the new Pakistani Foreign Minister, the first full-time leader to hold the post since 2013. Asif, a former banker and an ally of recently-ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, earlier served as the Minister of Defence and Minister of Water and Power in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017.

Defence & Railway
Govt nod to rename Mughalsarai railway station as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
  • The centre on Friday approved a proposal to rename the Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a home ministry official said.
  • The proposal was given by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to revive the legacy of Upadhyaya, who died in 1968 at the junction itself.
  • Minister of state for home affairs Hansraj Ahir cleared the proposal on?Friday, the home ministry official said.

L&T signs Rs.1,050 crore EPC contract with railways
  • For the first time, the Railways Ministry has signed nine EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contracts for electrification of railway lines at a cost of Rs.2,800 crore.
  • This is part of a strategy to speed up the electrification of railway lines(only 42% of the lines are currently electrified). Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target to double this in five years and this year’s Budget had announced the Railways would tap the EPC route for expediting electrification projects.

India’s first private missile production facility unveiled at Hyderabad.
  • India’s first private sector missile sub-systems manufacturing facility, a joint venture between the $2.5 billion Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd., was inaugurated near Hyderabad on Thursday.
  • To begin with, the Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) plant will make anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) Spike and the production is expected to begin in a few weeks, Kalyani Group chairman Baba N. Kalyani said. Besides supplying to the Indian Army, the plan is to export to South East Asian countries, he added.

Agreements (MoU)
India signs USD 329 million loan pact with AIIB for Gujarat road project
  • India today signed a loan agreement with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for financing of USD 329 million for Gujarat Rural Roads Project, a finance ministry statement said. 
  • The agreement was signed by Joint Secretary (MI) in the Ministry of Finance, Sameer Kumar Khare, on behalf of India and Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, AIIB, D J Pandian on behalf of the AIIB. 

Isro will sign an MoU with the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory for time and frequency traceability services
  • Seeking to make desi GPS - indigenous regional positioning system named as Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) - independent from the US clock system, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will on Friday sign an MoU with CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for time and frequency traceability services.
  • The move will help the desi GPS get formally synchronized with the Indian Standard Time (IST) which is being maintained by the Delhi-based NPL - the timekeeper of India.
  • The step will help in making the desi GPS fully operational in the market for commercial purposes as time synchronisation is essential for all kinds of services - be it financial transactions, stock handling, digital archiving, time stamping, national security or prevention of cyber crimes.

Govt merges National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) with Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD)
  • The three-decade old National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been merged with another central police organisation -- the BPRD by the government recently with an aim to improve efficiency of development works related to policing.
  • The Union home ministry on August 4 issued an order on the merger in order to "improve administrative efficiency and optimal utilisation of resources." 
  • The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) chief Meeran C Borwankar said the merger will boost crime data collection and research efforts of the two organisations.
  • The BPRD Director General (DG) will be the head of the merged new entity, where the NCRB Director, an Additional DG rank post will report to the former.
  • "It is a constructive idea.It will give proper back up of crime collection work done by the NCRB to the research work done by the BPRD," DG Borwankar told PTI.

Summit /Conference / Events / Host
First meeting of Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for Development of North-Eastern Region held in New Delhi.
  • The first meeting of the Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for Development of North-Eastern Region was held here today. Secretary, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), Shri Naveen Verma led the Indian side while the Japanese delegation was led by the Japanese Ambassador to India, Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu. Senior Officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Department of Economic Affairs, and line Ministries of Government of India including Road Transport & Highways, Agriculture, Power besides Resident Commissioners of the eight States of the NER participated in the meeting. The Japanese delegation included Mr. Kenko Sone, Minister, Economic Affairs, Embassy of Japan, besides representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and Japan Foundation.

Goa prepared to host Defence Expo next year: CM Manohar Parrikar
  • Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that though the government is ready to hold Defence Expo 2018 in the state next year, it has not yet decided whether to make Naqueri-Quitol as its permanent venue. He added that the decision would be made only after taking locals into confidence.

Awards & Honours
Veteran actress Sharada (Not Sharada Kapoor) selected for Prem Nazir award
  • Veteran actress and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this years Prem Nazir Award.   The award, carrying a purse of Rs 75,000, a statuette and a citation, was instituted by people of Chirayankeezhu, Nazirs home town in the district, in memory of Keralas evergreen actor. It will be presented to Sharada by state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran at a function at Chirayankeezhu on August 15, a press release said here today. 
  • Sharada had won three national awards with the first being for her performance in 1968 tragedy film "Thulabharam", which was remade in Tamil also. She has acted in several Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films.   Actor T P Madhavan will also be presented Rs 50,000 cash award announced by Chirayankeezhu Panchayat. 

Sports: Awards & Honours
Ankur Mittal(Indian Shooter) wins gold in Asian Shotgun Championship
  • Indian shooter Ankur Mittal clinched the individual as well as the team gold medal in men's double trap at the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
  • Mittal shot 71 in the six-man final to finish at the top of the podium.
  • With scores of Sangram Dahiya (43) and Mohammad Asab (34) added to Mittal's final total, India managed to bag the top prize in the team event too.
  • In the individual event, Dahiya finished fourth, while Asab had to be contend with the fifth position.

Vijender Singh beats Zulpikar Maimaitiali to claim WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title
  • Indian star Vijender Singh defeated Zulpikar Maimaitiali of China by a unanimous decision in a tough 10-round contest here on Saturday to retain his WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title and take over his opponent's WBO Oriental Super Middleweight crown.
  • The Haryana pugilist thus extended his winning streak in the professional arena to nine bouts. It was the first defeat of Zulpikar's professional career.

IAAF World Championships: Mo Farah(British athletics) Wins 10th Successive Global Title, win the 10,000 metres world crown at the London Stadium where he won Olympic gold in 2012.
  • British athletics legend Mo Farah won his 10th successive global title on Friday winning the 10,000 metres world crown at the London Stadium where he won Olympic gold in 2012.
  • The 34-year-old, who will bid to add a third successive world double in the 5000m later in the championships, had a narrow escape from disaster on the final lap when he was clipped twice but somehow kept his balance to prevail.
  • Ugandan youngster Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda took silver and Paul Tanui of Kenya claimed bronze with Farah having once again foiled their respective nations' tactics. 

Justin Gatlin beats Usain Bolt in Jamaican's last solo race (100m)
  • There was to be no triumphant end to Usain Bolt's final individual race.
  • The great Jamaican will retire after the IAAF World Championships in London, bringing the curtain down on an incomparable career.
  • But in the 100m final on Saturday he had to settle for bronze as the controversial American Justin Gatlin secured a surprise victory in a season's best 9.92 seconds.
  • Fellow American Christian Coleman (9.94) took silver, with eight-time Olympic champion Bolt, still the reigning 100m and 200m world record holder, in bronze, clocking 9.95 seconds.

Miscellaneous
Japan has marked the anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing in Hiroshima, 72 years on.
  • A sombre memorial ceremony in the city was led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
  • “Here in Hiroshima city, I renew my pledge to do my utmost to bring about a nuclear free world and eternal peace. And I also pray for the peace of the atomic bomb victims and the bereaved families, those attending here as well as the citizens of Hiroshima city,” he said.


Source: The Hindu|The Hindu Business Line|TOI|NDTVInshorts|New Indian Express|Economics Time|Live Mint|India Today|Hindustan Times|Indian Express|PIB|Business Standard|DNA India|First PostOthers National / International Official News Portal Only.
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