Current Affairs Daily Updates: 4th and 5th August 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 4th and 5th August 2017
APPOINTMENTS
AIFF names Banerjee as Chairman of Transfers Dispute Committee
  • The All India Football Federation( AIFF) appointed senior advocate Ushanath Banerjee as the chairman of a special committee. It will deal with the players’ transfer disputes’.
  • The Committee assigned the Chairman to make a detailed and reasoned paper based on the review of the rules and regulations for consideration of the members.
Mohammad Mustafa appointed as CMD of SIDBI
  • Senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mustafa appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
  • He is a 1995 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and at present Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services.
  • The Appointments Committee of the cabinet approved his appointment to the post for three years, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Harmanpreet Kaur appointed as DSP by Punjab Government
  • The Punjab State Government appointed Harmanpreet Kaur to the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the state police.
  • She got a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh cheque.
  • Chief Minister Amarinder Singh directed the state Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora to complete the necessary formalities for her appointment.
Walmart India appoints Devendra Chawla as EVP and COO
  • Wal-Mart India a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Wal-Mart Stores company appointed Devendra Chawla as chief operating officer and Executive Vice President.
  • He will lead merchandising, marketing and omni channel functions for Walmart India's cash and carry business.
  • He was CEO of the Future Consumer Limited (FCL) and Group President Food, FMCG, Brands Future Group.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Veteran Actress Sharada Selected For ‘Prem Nazir’ Award
  • Film Actress Sharada has been selected for this year’s Prem Nazir Award.
  • The award will be presented to Sharada by Kerala state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran at a function at Chirayankeezhu on August 15, 2017.
  • Actor T P Madhavan will also be presented Rs 50,000 cash award announced by Chirayankeezhu Panchayat.
BANKING AFFAIRS
Karnataka Bank to offer 5% for savings bank deposits over Rs 1 cr
  • Karnataka Bank has raised interest rates on savings bank account for large balance above Rs 1 crore to 5% while for small balances below Rs 1 lakh, the bank has reduced it to 3%.
  • Earlier the private bank was charging 4% irrespective of the amount in the account.
  • Karnataka Bank has said that the bank will offer 4% on deposits in savings account between Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 1 crore. For deposits between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50 lakhs, the bank will offer 3.5%. The reduction in rate will be with immediate effect.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
India signs loan agreement with AIIB for Financing of US$ 329 million for Gujarat Rural Roads Project
  • The Government of India/ Government of Gujarat signed US$ 329 million Loan and Project Agreements with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for or Gujarat Rural Roads Project.
  • The objective of Gujarat Rural Roads Project is to improve the rural road connectivity and accessibility by providing all weather road connectivity to 1,060 villages in all the 33 districts in Gujarat.
  • This project will benefit nearly 8 million people in Gujarat.
National Company Law Tribunal approves Airtel-Telenor merger
  • The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the proposed merger between Bharti Airtel and Telenor India.
  • Airtel covers its spectrum in all seven circles namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.
  • It also covers Telenor India’s outstanding spectrum payments of some Rs1,650 crore and other operational contracts, including tower leases with Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers.
IRCTC Launches Book Now, Pay Later Scheme For Tatkal Tickets
  • Customers can book their Tatkal railway ticket and choose to pay later under the new scheme announced by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC).
  • The users can use 'pay on delivery' option to save payment time, increasing their chances of booking a confirmed ticket under the Tatkal quota.
  • Till now, this service was available only for General reservations.
Patanjali Teams Up With FB, Google for Digital Push
  • Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., the herbal products manufacturer founded by yoga guru Baba Ramdev collaborates with Google and Facebook, Patanjali is for the first time investing in advertisements tailored for online audiences.
  • By June, views for Patanjali on YouTube climbed to 15 crore from 30 lakh, according to the official. Searches for Patanjali products on Google have gone up 11 times in the past four years and three-fold over the past three years.
  • The live interactions, promotional campaigns, and reducing the 30-second ad duration to six seconds for the Facebook audience paid off for the company as it received more than 80 per cent favourable response from the youths in Karnataka, Odisha, and Punjab.
MCX, Mahindra Agri sign MoU for agriculture related price information
  • Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) and Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide agriculture related price information.
  • This information will be available on their recently launched mobile application- ‘MyAgriGuru’, which is available for free on Google play store.
DEATHS
Santosh Mohan Dev, former Union minister, dies at 83
  • Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev has passed away in Silchar, Assam. He was the son of freedom fighter Satindra Mohan Dev.
  • Santosh served as the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises under the UPA-1 government led by Manmohan Singh. He was the Minister of State for Communications from 1986-1988 and Minister of State for Home from 1988 to 1989.
  • The seven-time Congress MP is survived by his wife and four daughters, including Sushmita. Dev was first elected to the Parliament in 1980. Out of the seven term as the Lok Sabha MP, he represented Silchar, Assam, five times and twice from Tripura.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Prabhat Kumar as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan
  • Shri Prabhat Kumar presently Ambassador of India to Colombia appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
  • Prabhat Kumar, prior to his appointment as Ambassador of India to Columbia was Director General, in-charge of the Energy Security and Investment and Technology Promotion Division in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.
  • He served in the Indian Embassies of Nepal, Croatia, and Spain.
Hassan Rouhani sworn in as Iran’s president for a second term
  • Hassan Rouhani officially was sworn in as the President of Iran for a second term.
  • As per Iran’s Election Law, a President Elect is required to get the Leader’s approval before being sworn-in before the Parliament.
  • Rouhani won the re-election in May 2017, after securing 57% of the votes. He defeated his main contender Ebrahim Raeisi.
Qatar to become first Arab state to offer permanent residency to some non-citizens
  • Qatar’s Cabinet approved a draft law making permanent residency available to some non-citizens of the country.
  • Under the new law, Residency permits will be granted to children of Qatari women married to foreigners.
  • Gulf Arab countries have a high number of expatriate workers but do not allow naturalization of foreigners except in rare cases.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Mughalsarai to be Renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Railway Station
  • The Centre recently approved the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Government’s proposal to rename the Mughalsarai railway station after the Jan Sangh leader as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) station.
  • It comes as the part of the state government’s attempt to revive the legacy of Upadhyaya who died in 1968.
  • The proposal pointed to the mysterious death of Upadhyaya at the Mughalsarai station as one of the primary reasons to rename the station.
Union Government to Develop Green Airports in Andhra Pradesh
  • Union Government launched green airports, two airports in Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati and Vijayawada are going to go completely green.
  • Airport Authority of India (AAI) commenced installation of the 1MegaWatt solar power plant at Tirupathi and Vijayawada Airports.
  • The basic capacity of installed solar power plants at 29 airports/locations with a total capacity of 12.84 MWp.
First Meeting of Japan-India Coordination Forum held in New Delhi
  • The first meeting of the Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for Development of North-Eastern Region was held in New Delhi.
  • The 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.
  • The areas of cooperation identified by Indian side including Connectivity and Road Network Development, especially inter-State roads & major district roads; Disaster Management; Food Processing; Organic Farming and Tourism were discussed in the meeting.
WCD Ministry launches contest for logo design for ‘Women of India Festival’
  • The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched a contest for designing a logo for the ‘Women of India Festival’, which is scheduled to be held at Dilli Haat in New Delhi in October 2017.
  • The festival is being organised and fully funded by the Ministry as a part of their major initiative of economic empowerment of women. The festival lays a platform for designers who aspire to see their creation displayed on a National platform.
  • Details of the contest have been made available on the official social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) of the Women and Child Development Ministry. The last date to submit entries is 21 August 2017.
Lok Sabha Passes Bill to Raise NABARD’s Capital to Rs 30,000 crores
  • The Lok Sabha passes a bill to enable exit of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from National Bank For Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and increase authorized capital of the development institution six times to Rs 30,000 crores.
  • The Bill substitutes references to provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 under the NABARD Act, 1981, with references to the Companies Act, 2013.
  • The Bill replaces the terms ‘small-scale industry’ and ‘industry in the tiny and decentralized sector’ with the terms ‘micro enterprise’, ‘small enterprise’ and ‘medium enterprise’ as defined in the MSME Development Act, 2006.
Govt inks MoA to set up IRRI’s regional centre in Varanasi
  • The Agriculture Ministry signed a Memorandum of Association (MoA) for setting up a regional centre of the global rice research institute IRRI in Varanasi to develop high- yielding rice varieties.
  • The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which has offices in 17 countries, is known for its work in developing rice varieties that contributed to the green revolution in 1960s. IRRI’s South Asia Regional Centre will be set up at the campus of National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC) in Varanasi.
  • The MoA was signed between Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Patnaik and IRRI Director General Matthew Morell.
Second Agri UDAAN Program Launched in New Delhi
  • The Union Government launched the 2nd AGRI-UDAAN Program in New Delhi.
  • The program focuses on catalyzing scale-up stage food and agribusiness start-ups through rigorous mentoring, industry networking and investor pitching.
  • The 6-month program is a unique platform for scale up stage innovators, entrepreneurs and startups in the Food and Agribusiness sectors.
Union Parliament passes IIIT (Amendment) Bill, 2017
  • The Union Parliament passes Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
  • The Bill modifies the composition of the search-cum-selection committee which recommends names to the Central Government.
  • It permits the Board of Governor of Institutes to appoint Assistant Professors and all the posts above that level as well.
Maharashtra Government launches two online portals MahaDBT, MahaVASTU
  • Maharashtra Government launched two online portals MahaDBT and MahaVASTU to streamline the process of direct benefit transfer (DBT).
  • It is the first state in the country to launch such a system that will provide direct benefits with Aadhaar authentication.
  • MahaDBT portal: It is an Aadhaar-authenticated electronic mechanism that will enable direct transfer of benefits for over 40 schemes currently implemented.
  • MahaVASTU portal: It is an online building permission management system, through which construction approvals will be sanctioned with full transparency.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
India’s first private missile production facility unveiled in Hyderabad
  • India’s first private sector missile sub-systems manufacturing facility Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) plant inaugurated near Hyderabad.
  • It has been established a line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative and Government’s policy to encourage private sector participation in defense product.
  • It has invested in designing, developing and manufacturing of weapon systems including Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) systems and remote weapon.
ISRO, NASA working towards completion of NISAR mission by 2021
  • The Indian Space Research Organistaion (ISRO) is working along with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite in the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission 2021.
  • The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used for remote sensing purposes, to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth.
  • In the joint mission, NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be responsible for the design & development of L-band SAR, a 12m unfurlable antenna & its deployment elements, GPS system and data recorder.
  • ISRO will be responsible for the design & development of S-ban SAR, Spacecraft Bus, data transmission system, Spacecraft integration & testing, launch using GSLV and on-orbit operations.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
Manju won bronze at Junior World Wrestling in Tampere, Finland
  • India's Manju Kumari won the bronze medal in women's 59kg category of the Junior World Wrestling Championship in Tampere, Finland.
  • She defeated Aleksandrina Nikolaeva Kashinova of Bulgaria.
  • Divya Tomar (44kg), Nandini Salokhe (51kg) and Pooja Devi (67kg) missed the medal.