Daily Current Affairs Updates–8th August 2016:
Daily Current affairs News Updates about the National and International events were listed here. Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other competitive exams can use this.
PM launches 'Mission Bhagiratha' phase-1 in Telangana to provide piped drinking water to every household in the state
· Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched phase-1 of 'Mission Bhagiratha', a flagship project of Telangana government aimed at providing piped drinking water to every household in the state.
· Modi unveiled a plaque in Medak district's Komatibanda village under Gajwel constituency, represented in the Assembly by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, and formally turned on a water tap on the premises to mark the occasion.
· This is the Prime Minister's maiden visit to Telangana after formation of the state in June 2014.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launches ‘Baristha Bunakar Sahayata Yojana’ pension scheme for weavers
· Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched ‘Baristha Bunakar Sahayata Yojana’, a pension scheme for weaver community in the state.
· He announced the scheme, under which the state government would provide Rs 500 pension to the weavers, on the occasion of National Handloom Day.
· The beneficiary must have worked at least preceding 20 years in the weaving profession and attained 60 years to avail the benefits under the pension scheme, said Patnaik, adding weavers, who have attained 80 years of age, would get Rs 700 pension per month.
Karnatka ranked first for attracting maximum‘investment intentions’
· Gujarat, which was ranked first among all states in 2015 for attracting maximum ‘investment intentions’ in value terms, has lost its position to Karnataka halfway through this calendar year.
· Gujarat received investment intentions worth only Rs.21,309 crore during January-June 2016, while Karnataka — which topped the list — received over thrice that amount, or Rs.67,757 crore, during the same period, government data showed.
· The Centre, which is co-ordinating efforts to rank states on ‘ease of doing business’, also maintains a State-wise break-up of investment intentions in terms of Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda filed for de-licensed sector, Letters of Intent issued and Direct Industrial Licences granted.
Tamil Nadu Government launches online service for power consumers
· In an e-governance initiative aimed at the common man in the power sector, the Tamil Nadu government has launched an online service for consumers to apply for low-tension service connections.
· Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa launched the initiative on Friday, the government said on Sunday.
· Accordingly, consumers can now apply online to secure a new low-tension (LT) service connection, upload all necessary documents on the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) website and also make payment for this purpose, an official release said.
GIPCL signs pact with SECI for solar projects in Gujarat
· Gujarat Industries Power Company (GIPCL) said it had entered into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Solar Energy Corporation of India for solar power projects in Gujarat.
· “GIPCL has signed PPAs with Solar Energy Corporation of India for 2x40 MW Solar Power Projects in Gujarat Solar Park, Village Charanka, District Patan, under National Solar Mission (NSM) Phase-II, Batch IV,” the company said in a filing to BSE. PPA is a contract to buy electricity generated by a power plant.
BANKING NEWS:
Syndicate Bank launches new products
· Syndicate Bank has launched new products to ease customer transactions.
· Arun Shrivastava, MD & CEO, Syndicate Bank, launched fund transfer based on ‘Aadhaar Number through NUUP’, using an ordinary mobile phone without internet connection.
· The bank also launched ‘Fund Transfer through IMPS’ at any branch for instantaneous credit to any bank account.
ICICI Bank aims facilitating 3 million transactions through e-toll plazas by March 2017
· ICICI Bank is aiming to facilitate three million transactions through its inter-operable electronic toll collection facility on national highways by March 2017.
· Electronic toll collection (ETC) enables vehicles to pay highway tolls electronically without stopping at toll plazas.
· The country's largest private sector lender, also the first bank to have rolled out the facility, is also planning to issue 400,000 tags to motorists to allow them a hassle-free passage through toll plazas on the national highways.
· ETC tags enhance convenience for motorists to avoid congestion at toll booths as drivers don't have to stop and pay the fee, saving their time.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY NEWS:
IRCTC signs MoU with Manipur govt to provide hospitality & tourism services
· Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the Manipur government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which seeks to provide improved hospitality and tourism services to their customers by making 'joint use of their capabilities and facilities'.
· The MoU entails upon both the parties to identify areas of cooperation and draw up detailed plans for development of joint tourism products and opening and managing various catering and hospitality outlets, budget hotels and handicrafts shops at railway as well as non-railway locations.
Japan records biggest current account surplus in first half of this year since 2007
· Japan recorded the largest current account surplus in the first half of this year since 2007 with reduced imports amid lower crude oil prices and rising revenue from tourism, the government said on Monday.
· The current account balance which quantifies the international trade of goods, services and investments in and out of the country, marked a surplus of 10.63 trillion yen ($104 billion) in the period of January to June, up 31.3% from a year earlier, said the Finance Ministry in a preliminary report.
· Japan has been highly dependent on energy imports since Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, which led to shutdown of most commercial reactors in the country with heightened safety concerns from the public, Xinhua news agency reported.
Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen to set up technology centre in Hyderabad
· German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen AG is setting up its first technology centre in India in Hyderabad, which will be dedicated to software and mechanical engineering.
· The centre will support ZF’s global development teams while enabling the company to accelerate local product development, a company statement said.
· It will be fully operational by 1 January 2017 and is expected to have a workforce of 2,500 engineers by 2020.
Minimum pension of retired central govt staff goes up by 157%
· Retired central government employees will now get a minimum pension of Rs 9,000, up 157.14% from the current Rs 3,500, following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations.
· The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has notified acceptance of pay panel's recommendations for the pensioners.
· The ceiling of gratuity has also been enhanced from the existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
· The Commission had also recommended the ceiling on gratuity to be raised by 25% whenever Dearness Allowance rises by 50%, a proposal which has been accepted by the government.
Government's divestment kitty to higher by Rs 16,000 crore
· With at least one buy-back announcement from PSUs every month, the government is expected to garner over Rs 16,000 crore in its disinvestment kitty over the next couple of months.
· Besides the usual OFS (offer for sale) route for disinvestment, the newly created Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has nudged PSUs to buy back shares if they have extra cash which are not put to use for capital expenditure.
· The board of five PSU’s
APPOINTMENTS:
Sitaraman Shankar appointed Network18 Managing Editor
· Network18 has appoints Sitaraman Shankar as Managing Editor - Special Projects.
· Shankar will work across all digital and TV news properties.
· In the new assignment, Shankar will work closely with Network18’s television news editors in multiple areas, and drive the scaling up of the flagship digital brand moneycontrol, thereby expanding it to newer areas.
· Shankar will also serve as Group Training Editor and manage the content quality.
KK Khurana appointed new head for BHEL Corporate R&D
· KK Khurana, General Manager in-charge, has taken over as Head of BHEL Corporate R&D with effect from August 4, 2016.
· Prior to the elevation as GM I/C of Corporate R&D, he was involved in Project Engineering Management (PEM), Technical service among other areas in the company.
· He has wide experience in thermal power plant projects, according to a statement from BHEL.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
Iran executes nuclear scientist who returned to country from US
· An Iranian nuclear scientist, whose disappearance in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and subsequent return to Tehran a year later from Washington was shrouded in mystery, has been executed in his home country.
· The family of Shahram Amiri, an expert in radioactive isotopes at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, which is affiliated to Iran’s ministry of defence, told two overseas Persian-language TV networks at the weekend that he had been executed earlier in the week at an unknown location.
Over 1,000 dancing robots set Guinness world record
· A new Guinness world record for the most robots dancing simultaneously has been set in China where 1,007 robots shimmied in unison, nearly double the previous record.
· Each of the 43.8 cm tall dancing machines at the Qingdao Beer Festival were controlled using just one mobile phone and they had to dance for a full minute in order to count towards the record total, the Guinness World Records said.
· A few robots were disqualified because they did not dance or fell over, but the majority of the mechanical dance troupe completed the 60 second routine in perfect unison.
SPORTS NEWS:
Dipa Karmakar vaults into history, becomes first Indian to enter apparatus finals at an Olympics
· India’s Dipa Karmakar created history on Monday after she became the first Indian to qualify for the apparatus finals of artistic Gymnastics at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
· Karmakar, who hails from Tripura, finished eighth in the qualification event of the Vaults and scored 14.850 to qualify.
· She could not repeat her performance in three other events, namely uneven bars, balancing beam and floor exercise.
· Though Karmakar was sixth before the final round, a strong performance from Canada saw her slip to eight but that was the last position to qualify.
Lodha panel rejects BCCI request of deferring key meeting
· The Supreme Court appointed Justice Lodha panel on Monday declined the request of Indian cricket board to defer the scheduled meeting on Tuesday on implementation of reforms within the next six months.
· The request came a day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI's) newly appointed legal advisor Justice Markandey Katju told BCCI to file a review petition against the apex court verdict to a bigger bench and not meet the committee, terming the recommended reforms "null and void".
· "Ajay Shirke (BCCI secretary) finally wrote to the Committee late last night requesting that the meeting on Tuesday with him and Anurag Thakur be deferred. The request has been declined," a source close to the panel told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
· It is learnt that both Thakur and Shirke may face contempt of court if they don't meet the panel on Tuesday at the proposed time of 11 am.
Michael Phelps clinches 19th Olympic gold medal in Rio Olympics
· American swimmer Michael Phelps continues to cement his legacy as he clinched his 19th Olympic gold medal after leading his country to a thrilling 4x100m freestyle relay win at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
· The 31-year-old, who is the most decorated Olympian in history, gave the USA ahead with a scintillating second leg before Nathan Adrian finished 0.61 seconds ahead of ahead of France and third-placed Australia, Sport24 reported.
For More Daily Current Affairs Updates - Click Here
No comments:
Post a Comment