Wednesday 31 August 2016

Daily Current Affairs For Competitive Exam - 31st August

International Affairs
India US sign LEMOA
India and US have signed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that will enable both countries to use each other’s bases for repair & replenishment of defence supplies.


Agreement was signed after Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar met his US counterpart, Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter in Washington.
Joint drills named Yudh Abhyas will take place in northern India on Sep’16.
India, Myanmar signed four agreements
India and Myanmar signed 4 MoU to enhance cooperation and bilateral relations.
Pacts were inked after delegation-level talks between PM Narendra Modi & visiting President of Myanmar U Htin Kyaw.
5 agreements signed include MoU on cooperation in the construction of 69 Bridges, construction / upgradation of the Kalewa – Yagyi Road Section, Renewable Energy & Traditional Systems of Medicine.
Pakistan foreign debt at Rs 74 trillion
Pakistan’s foreign debt and liabilities touched the highest ever figure of over Rs 74 trillion
It showed an increase of about Rs 11.15 trillion in the last four years.
Pakistan’s foreign debt and liabilities in July 2013 stood at $61.9 billion, which was the first financial year of the present government.
National Affairs
Haryana Assembly ratifies GST Bill
Haryana Assembly has unanimously ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The bill was introduced by state Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu.
Centre has set April 1, 2017 as target for rolling out GST, considered as the biggest tax reform.
GST Bill aims to have one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India a unified common market.
WB passes resolution for renaming state
West Bengal Assembly has passed a resolution for renaming the state as ‘Bangla’ in Bengali and ‘Bengal’ in English.
A proposal in this regard was put forward by CM Mamata Banerjee few weeks ago.
In 2011, the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre for renaming West Bengal as “Paschim Bango”, but that never got the green signal.
India: 77th on 2016 World Risk Index
India has been ranked 77th among the 171 countries in the 2016 World Risk Index (WRI).
World Risk Report 2016 released by the United Nations University Institute for Environment (UNUIE) & Human Security (UNU-EHS).
The index has assessed the disaster risk of countries through analysis of natural hazards such as floods, cyclones, or earthquakes & societal vulnerabilities.
Modi inaugurates Rs 12,000 cr project
Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avataran for Irrigation) project.
It will enable10 dams and reservoirs of Rajkot, Jamnagar and Morbi to be filled up with the water of Narmada river.
Project was announced in 2012 when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.
10,22,589 acres of farming land would get benefit by this project.
Awards & Honors
CRPF appoints PV Sindhu as Commandant
Olympic silver medal-winning Indian shuttler, PV Sindhu has been appointed as an honorary Commandant of the CRPF.
A Commandant rank in the CRPF is equivalent to the position of a Superintendent of Police (SP) and such an officer commands a battalion of about 1,000 personnel, when posted in field operations.
Sindhu will also be made the brand ambassador of the force.
Padma Sachdev gets Saraswati Samman
Poet and novelist Padma Sachdev (76) was awarded the prestigious Saraswati Samman for the year 2015 for her autobiography ‘Chitt-Chete’ in Dogri language.
She was felicitated by Delhi’s Lt Governor Najeeb Jung in New Delhi.
Novelist’s autobiography, published in 2007, was shortlisted from 22 works written in as many languages.
Born in Jammu, she is 1st modern woman poet of Dogri language.
Sports
US Open: Saketh Myneni loses 1st round
India’s Saketh Myneni posted an inspired display but was beaten 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 5-7 against Czech Jiri Vesely in the first round of the US Open tennis tournament.
The marathon match stretched for three hours and 47 minutes.
Myneni was the sole Indian in the men’s singles competition.
He is the first Indian since Yuki Bhambri to enter the main draw of a Grand Slam event.
Yogeshwar’s London bronze turns silver
Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt’s bronze medal from the London Olympics has been upgraded to silver.
The silver medallist from the 2012 Games – deceased Besik Kudukhov of Russia – has been stripped off his medal for using banned substance.
Official confirmation is still awaited from the United World Wrestling (UWW) and the International Olympic Committee.
Nico Rosberg wins Belgian Grand Prix’16
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes on 28 August 2016 won the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One.
It was Rosberg’s 1st ever win at Spa and 6th of the 2016 season. This win has narrowed the gap between Hamilton & him to 9 points in the championship standings.
Belgian Grand Prix is one of the most popular races of the F1 calendar, due to the scenic and historic circuit being favorite of drivers & fans.
Business & Economy
Centre raises Govt. employee min wage
Govt. has accepted the advisory board recommendations and raised the minimum wage from Rs 246 to Rs 350 for non-agricultural.
Arun Jaitley also announced that Central Govt. employees will get their 2years bonus.
Centre has doubled the minimum wage to Rs 18,000.
The trade unions have been demanding much higher than the figure proposed by the government.
EU orders Apple to pay $14.5 billion
E.U. antitrust regulators ordered Apple to pay up to €13 billion ($14.5 billion) in taxes to the Irish government.
Apple, has already said it will appeal the decision, paid a tax rate on European profits of between 0.005 and 1 per cent.
Ireland’s Finance Ministry said its position remained that the full amount of tax was paid and no favourable tax treatment to Apple.
Telangana ratifies GST Bill
Telangana Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council have unanimously passed a resolution giving their nod to the proposed Amendment to the Constitution to pass the GST.
Telangana has become the 12th State/UT to ratify the Bill.
The GST Bill was introduced by Deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari in the Council.
Amazon launches online Telugu book store
Amazon.in has announced the launch of a dedicated online Telugu book store with a wide-range of over 10,000 Telugu titles.
Readers can also get Telugu translations of English bestsellers in the store.
Telugu will be the eighth dedicated language book store on Amazon India. Currently, Amazon caters to Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati and Bengali languages.


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