31st August 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

August 31, 2015 Share Like Labels: gr8

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International Affairs

The tallest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley (20,000 feet ), is to be renamed.
- For more than a century, this mountain was named after the 25th U.S. president, William McKinley.
- Now, in honor of Alaska's indigenous Athabascan people, who had always called it "Denali," US President Barack Obama is changing it back.
India will host the 3rd India Africa Forum Summit in Delhi in October this year to further strengthen its political, economic and diplomatic links with the African continent.
- The five-day event will take place between 26th to 30th October 2015.

National Affairs

10th World Hindi Conference (WHC) will be organized from 10th to 12th September 2015
in Bhopal by the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Prime minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the conference and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan will be the chief guest on the last day of the conference.
- External affairs minister : Sushma Swaraj
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released special digitally restored recording of epic Ramcharitmanas, as a set of digital CDs produced by All India Radio (AIR).
Law commission has recommended abolition of death penalty for all crimes other than terrorism related offences and waging war against the state.
- Chairman of the Commission : Justice A P Shah

New Appointments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed senior IAS officer (Rajasthan cadre) Rajiv Mehrishi as Union home secretary today.
- He is going to replace incumbent LC Goyal who took premature voluntary retirement today, barely months after being appointed to the post.
- Note : Rajiv Mehrishi became the Third Home Secretary to be appointed by the Modi government in the past one year. Mr. Mehrishi replaces L.C. Goyal,
- A 1978 batch IAS officer, Mr. Mehrishi was to retire as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs today.

Awards & Honors

Whistleblower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi and founder of NGO Goonj Anshu Gupta were conferred the Magasaysay Award for the year 2015.

Business & Economy

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) names country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and biggest private lender ICICIBank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs).
- This move will put them under tougher monitoring to avoid any collapse.
- Note : SIBs are perceived as banks that are ‘Too Big To Fail’
- SBI Chairman - Arundhati Bhattachary
- ICICI MD & CEO - Chanda Kochhar
Public Lender Indian Bank has launched IndPay, a mobile application service that enables its customers to operate bank accounts from anywhere, anytime.
- IndPay can be operated through smartphones compatible with Android, Windows and iOS mobile operating systems.
- Customers can do transactions like enquiries, getting mini statements and transferring funds to any account.
- Indian Bank MD and CEO : M K Jain

Sports

US Open 2015, season's fourth and final Grand Slam begins today.
- Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Marin Cilic to play their first round matches today.
About US Open 2015 :
- It is the 135th edition of the US Open, the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year 2015.
- Founded in : 1881
- Will be held from : 31st August 2015 to 13th September 2015
- Venue : USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York
- Prize Money : $42,253,400