Current Affairs - August 2014

Miscellaneous 

• General Dalbir Singh became the 26th Chief of the Indian Army after succeeding General Bikram Singh. 
• Books In News
• One Life is Not Enough - Natwar Singh.
• Children who changed the world - Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad ’s correspondents
• It features the stories of 20 children across the world who fits the title of the book.
• One of its chapter is about one Indian girl named Rekha.
• Rekha Kalindi a girl from Purulia of West Bengal studying class 10 presently. When she was 10 years old, had resisted marriage which inspired other girls from her locality. She was also conferred National Bravery Award in 2010.
• Awards
• Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot - persons of Indian origin won the International Mathematician union Awards
• Major Mukund Varadarajan - has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest gallantry award in India.
• A hairline crack was found on the embankment of the 150 year old Sharanabasaveshwar tank in Gulbarga of Karnataka.

Polity

• Kamla Beniwal, the governor of Mizoram was removed from office after an order issued by the President.
• K. Sankaranarayanan, the Governor of Maharashtra has resigned after his transfer from Maharashtra to Mizoram.
• The Tamil Nadu Entry into Public Places (Removal of Restriction on Dress) Bill, 2014
• was introduced in Tamil Nadu State legislative assembly.
• It overrules any law of a club/trust/company/society denying entry to men wearing dhoti.
• It also has provisions for cancellation of the license of the club violating any provisions of the law.
• The Union cabinet has approved the draft proposal to bring amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act
• The age of a juvenile to be lowered from 18 to 16 years.
• Judicial Appointments Bill passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The bill should be ratified by 50% of the state legislatures before it is submitted for the President's Assent.
• A six member commission to replace the collegium system.
• The Six member commission comprises of
• Chairperson - The Chief Justice of India
• Two Senior most Judges of Supreme court
• Union law Minister
• Two eminent Persons - nominated by PM, the Chief Justice of India and the Lok Sabha Opposition Leader.
• The Women's Reservation Bill lapsed under the Article 107(5).
• The bill seeks to provide 33% reservation of seats for women in parliament and legislative assemblies.
• Rajini Razdan has been appointed as the new UPSC Chairman after succeeding the former chairman D.P. Agarwal.  
• Supreme court declared that all the coal allocations made since 1993 to 2011 as illegal and arbitrary. The bench also declared that allocation on recommendations given by the screening committee and the government dispensation route suffered from the vice of arbitrariness and legal flaws.
• Four New governors has been appointed by the President.
1. Kalyan Singh as Governors of Rajasthan
2. Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala as Governors of Karnataka
3. Ch. Vidyasagar Rao as Governors of Maharashtra 
4. Mridula Sinha as Governors of Goa
• Sheila Dikshit, The Governor of Kerala (also former Chief Minister of Delhi) resigned by writing to the President of India. 
• Former CJI P.Sathasivam to become the first retired CJI to be appointed as the governor (The Governor of Kerala succeeding Sheila Dikshit). 
• Vidyasagar Rao was appointed as the Governor of Maharashtra.

World

• PM Modi's Nepal Visit 
• PM Modi made a two day visit to our neighboring country Nepal.
• Nepal to get $ 1 Billion as line of credit for various development projects.
• Scholarships for Nepal Students studying in India will be increased.
• Typhoon Halong attacked western Japan with the wind speed up to 162 Kmph.
• PM Modi's Japan Visit
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Kyoto state.
• A Partner city agreement between Khasi and Kyoto was signed, which seeks cooperation in the fields of  heritage conservation and city modernization.

Economy

• Sub Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) chaired by RBI Governor reviewed India's macro economy and the risks faced by the financial systems
• Expenditure Management Commission(EMC)
• PM Narendra Modi set up the commission.
• The Commission will be headed by Former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan
• Members: Former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose & Former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana - a new financial inclusion scheme launched by PM Narendra Modi which helps the poor people to open bank accounts. They will be provided a debit card and an insurance cover of 1 lakhs. Over 1.5 Crore accounts has been opened on the first day of its launch. 
• The rate of interest for the Employees Provident Fund has been fixed as 8.75% for the financial year 2014-2015. 
• The Union cabinet removed the monthly cap of one cylinder per month for domestic consumers. So that a consumer can book as many cylinders in a month. But the annual cap of subsidized cylinder remains the same 12 cylinders, it is not changed.

Science and Tech

• IndARC - India's First ocean moored observatory which was deployed in the Kongsfjorden fjord of the Arctic. The observatory is designed and developed by scientists from the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).
• Easy Travel Information Planner - a new app developed by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) which helps its users to find the best possible ways, fares, bus timings, file complaints, etc.,
• Four new vaccines 
1. Rotavirus, 
2. Rubella 
3. Polio and 
4. Japanese Encephalitis
• to be introduced in the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

Environment

• Rhodiola
• A herbal plant found in the cold highland climate was claimed to be the modern day Sanjeevani.
• The Local name of Rhodiola in Ladakh region is Solo.
• It has the ability to enhance immune system to adopt different environmental conditions and also to reduce the harmful effects of gamma radiation.

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