Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs from 20th to 22nd August, 2016. These are important for the upcoming RBI Grade B Phase I, Bank of Baroda and Bank of Maharashtra PO and IBPS PO VI Mains Exams.
Current Affairs at a Glance - 20th – 22nd August, 2016
Union Government on 20 August 2016 appointed Dr. Urjit R Patel as the 24th governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will be having tenure of three years with effect from 4 September 2016.
Former CCI head Ashok Chawla will take over as Non-Executive Part-time Chairman of YES Bank from October as the lender has received approval from the Reserve Bank for this appointment.
Amul Managing Director RS Sodhi has been appointed as independent director on the board of India Post Payment Banks (IPPB) - the payments bank arm of postal department.
The Union Ministry of Mines on 18 August 2016 launched a web portal for star rating of major mineral mines.
World Humanitarian Day was observed on 19 August 2016 with the theme One Humanity.
Badminton player P V Sindhu on 18 August 2016 won historic silver medal in women’s singles badminton event at Rio Olympics. With this, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to clinch a silver medal in Olympics.
The Sursagar Society of Dilli Gharana in third week of August 2016 announced that it will confer the annual Sangeet Martand Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award on santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.
N. Ramachandran, President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), on 21 August 2016 was awarded the Olympic Order for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement.
Hindi scholar and writer Sunita Jain was on 17 August 2016 awarded with the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman 2015 for her poetry collection Kshama. She received the award by West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi.
Intel on 16 August 2016 unveiled Project Alloy, an all-in-one virtual reality solution, in San Francisco, the USA. Alloy delivers a set of new and immersive experiences thanks to Intel’s RealSense technologies that are optimized for VR usages.
The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) on Monday announced that the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be hosted in Gujarat's leading city, Ahmedabad. The tournament is set to take place from October 7th and will conclude on 22nd of the same month.
Finance/Banking/Economy –
Union Government launches web portal for star rating of major mineral mines
The Union Ministry of Mines on 18 August 2016 launched a web portal for star rating of major mineral mines.
The portal was launched by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Mines, Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy.
A web enabled online system for evaluation of measures has been developed with the help of National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad.
The main objective of the system is to bring all mines to a minimum standard of Star Rating in the shortest possible time frame to adopt sustainable practices. A two layered system providing self-evaluation templates to be filled in by the mine operator followed by validation through Indian Bureau of Mines.
GAIL signs MoU with Bloom Energy for fuel cell power generation
State-run GAIL (India) Ltd on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with California-based Bloom Energy for developing natural gas-based fuel cell power generation.
The agreement was signed by GAIL chairman and managing director B C Tripathi and Bloom Energy chief executive K R Sridhar.
The new technology converts fuel into electricity through an electro-chemical process and the use of water is less too in this mode of power generation.
Appointments –
Urjit R Patel appointed as 24th Governor of Reserve Bank of India
Union Government on 20 August 2016 appointed Dr. Urjit R Patel as the 24th governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will be having tenure of three years with effect from 4 September 2016.
He will succeed the present RBI Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan, the former International Monetary Fund chief economist.
At present, Dr Patel is the Deputy Governor of RBI and is holding this assignment since 2013. With this appointment, he also becomes the eight Deputy Governor to be elevated as the Governor at RBI.
Ashok Chawla to take over as YES Bank non-executive chairman
Former CCI head Ashok Chawla will take over as Non-Executive Part-time Chairman of YES Bank from October as the lender has received approval from the Reserve Bank for this appointment.
YES Bank said Chawla’s appointment is for a period of three years, with effect from the date of joining the bank.
He was appointed as an independent director on the Board of YES Bank on March 5, 2016.
A career bureaucrat, Chawla served as the chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) post retirement.
Amul MD, RS Sodhi appointed on board of India Post Payment Banks
Amul Managing Director RS Sodhi has been appointed as independent director on the board of India Post Payment Banks (IPPB) - the payments bank arm of postal department.
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sells the Amul brand of milk products.
Sodhi is one of the five independent members to be appointed on the board IPPB, which is set to be operational in March 2017.
The board will have four in-house representatives.
IPPB came into existence after it received certificate of incorporation from the Registrar of Companies on August 17.
India –
BRICS women parliamentarians’ forum passes Jaipur Declaration
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) women parliamentarians’ forum on 21 August 2016 passed unanimously the Jaipur Declaration. The declaration was adopted by them on the concluding day of the BRICS Women Parliamentarians' Forum meet held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
The declaration has emphasized the need to inform, communicate and educate citizens about developmental schemes.
The Declaration mentions the need to address climate change and protection of ecological system and forest as well as food security, expeditious parliamentary approval of SDG related legislation and adequate budgetary resources.
It calls upon international financial institutions to extend support to developing and least developed countries and help them gain easier access to new and affordable technologies as envisaged under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement
Days –
World Humanitarian Day observed with theme One Humanity
World Humanitarian Day was observed on 19 August 2016 with the theme One Humanity.
The theme explains how our shared human experiences bind us across divides, and create a common responsibility to demand action for the most vulnerable and at risk of being left behind.
The digital campaign for the World Humanitarian Day 2016 was The World You’d Rather.
The day is dedicated to recognize humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the globe.
Sponsored
Sports –
Summer Olympics 2016 concluded at Rio de Janeiro
The 2016 Summer Olympics concluded on 21 August 2016 at ceremony held at the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
More than 11000 athletes from 207 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan and the Refugee Olympic Team, took part in the games.
The games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic programme in 2009.
The United States topped the medal table for the fifth time in the past six Summer Olympics, winning 46 gold medals and 121 medals overall. Great Britain and China finished in second and third respectively.
India at the Rio Olympics 2016
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had sent a total of 117 athletes, the nation's largest ever delegation in Summer Olympic history.
Indian bagged a total of two medals, one silver and one bronze, in the games, and stood at the 67th place in the medal tally.
Badminton player P V Sindhu won historic silver medal in women’s singles badminton event. With this, she became the first Indian woman to clinch a silver medal in Olympics.
Wrestler Sakshi Malik secured a bronze in the 58 kg category to become India's first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
India had qualified one artistic gymnast into the Olympic competition for the first time since 1964. Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian female ever to book an Olympic spot in the apparatus events and all-around event at the Olympic Test Event. She narrowly missed out in the bronze medal, finishing 4th in the finals of the event with a score of 15.066.
Abhinav Bindra came fourth in the Men's 10m Air Rifle singles event after losing a shootoff for the top 3 to Serhiy Kulish, who finally won the silver.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Indian long distance runner Lalita Babar scored a time of 9:19.76 in her heat, qualifying to the final. With this, she became the first Indian in 32 years to enter a final in any track event. At the final, she finished 10th with a time of 9:22.74.
Key highlights of the 2016 Summer Olympics
The opening ceremony took place in the Maracana Stadium on 5 August 2016.
The Games were officially opened by Acting President of Brazil Michel Temer.
These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach.
Rio became the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics.
The two new sports for 2016 Olympic Games were golf and rugby sevens.
Due to the European migrant crisis and other reasons, the International Olympic Committee allowed athletes to compete as Independent Olympians under the Olympic Flag.
Due to the suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait, participants from Kuwait were allowed to participate under the Olympic Flag as Independent Olympic Athletes.
The official mascot of the 2016 Summer Olympics was Vinicius. It is named after musician Vinicius de Moraes. The mascot represented Brazilian wildlife and carries design traits of cats, monkeys and birds.
P V Sindhu became the first Indian woman to clinch a silver medal in Olympics
Badminton player P V Sindhu on 18 August 2016 won historic silver medal in women’s singles badminton event at Rio Olympics.
With this, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to clinch a silver medal in Olympics. She also became the fourth Indian to win a silver at the Olympics after shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004, Athens) and Vijay Kumar (2012, London) and wrestler Sushil Kumar (2012, London). Moreover, she became the fifth woman player from India to win a medal in Olympics.
Sindhu lost to Carolina Marín of Spain in the final by a score of 19-21, 21-12, 21-15.
In her quarterfinal match, Sindhu defated World No.2 Wang Yihan by 22-20, 21-19.
Gujarat to host 2016 Kabaddi World Cup in October
The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) on Monday announced that the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be hosted in Gujarat's leading city, Ahmedabad. The tournament is set to take place from October 7th and will conclude on 22nd of the same month.
Gujarat will play host to 12 Kabaddi teams from around the world including India, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya. A special consideration of the IKF in inviting these countries is to make the Kabaddi World Cup representative of all the five geographies of the Olympic Games.
The Kabaddi World Cup matches will be held in Ahmedabad's upcoming state-of-the-art stadium, The Arena by TransStadia.
Awards & Honors –
Kamal Haasan chosen for France’s Chevalier de L’Ordre Arts et Lettres
The Minister of Culture and Communication, France, in the third week of August 2016 selected Kamal Haasan for the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Knight in the National Order Arts and Letters).
The distinction is in recognition of his high level of artistic excellence and his distinguished career achievements.
Haasan is the second Tamil star after thespian Sivaji Ganesan to be honored with the prestigious French award.
Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma to be conferred with Sangeet Martand Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award
The Sursagar Society of Dilli Gharana in third week of August 2016 announced that it will confer the annual Sangeet Martand Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award on santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.
The society has been felicitating stalwarts of Indian classical music and dance with the award since 1986 to recognise their contribution towards enriching the art forms.
In 2015, the honour was conferred upon Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj. Other recipients of the award include Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Abdul Haleem Jaffar Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and a centenarian Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan.
The award carries a cash prize of 50000 rupees, a memento and a citation.
IOA Chief N Ramachandran bestowed with the Olympic Order award
N. Ramachandran, President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), on 21 August 2016 was awarded the Olympic Order for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement.
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, formally presented the award to Ramachandran.
The Olympic Order is the highest award of the Olympic Movement which is awarded in recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport.
Hindi author Sunita Jain conferred with Vyas Samman award 2015
Hindi scholar and writer Sunita Jain was on 17 August 2016 awarded with the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman 2015 for her poetry collection Kshama. She received the award by West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi.
Jain, through her poetry, portrays the fine emotions between poet Tulsidas and his wife Ratnavalli in Kshama. She has managed to aptly convey the sentiment of forgiveness between Tulsidas and his wife using very fine language.
The award instituted by the K K Birla Foundation carries a cash prize of 2.50 lakh rupees. It is given annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen.
World –
Intel unveils Project Alloy device to create merged reality
Intel on 16 August 2016 unveiled Project Alloy, an all-in-one virtual reality solution, in San Francisco, the USA.
Alloy delivers a set of new and immersive experiences thanks to Intel’s RealSense technologies that are optimized for VR usages. It is a headset that uses the RealSense technology enabling people to use their hands to interact with elements of the virtual world. There is no need for cables to connect to the computer.
The device can be operated without cords dangling from the VR headset connecting to the computer. The computing power is located in the Alloy Head-Mounted Device (HMD), which allows the user to experience VR untethered.
The device uses Intel RealSense technology, which allows one to see elements from the real world. One can also use one’s hands to interact with elements of the virtual world, merging realities.
Obituaries –
Noted Odia actor Gobind Tej passes away
Noted Odia filmmaker, actor and director Gobind Tej passed away on 18 August 2016 following a brief illness in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He was 88.
In his career spanning over 50 years, he has contributed in many Odia feature films either as an actor, director or producer.
:: DOWNLOAD THE PDF ::
Regards
Team ExamPundit