4th August 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Tariq Khosa, former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) tasked with probing the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has admitted for the first time that the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26, 2008 were launched from the Pakistani soil.
• In an article published in Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Tariq Khosa has said that "Pakistan has to deal with the Mumbai mayhem, planned and launched from its soil."
• Note : Ten Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai from the sea in November 2008 and massacred 166 Indians and foreigners in an attack that almost brought the two countries to war.
• One of those terrorists, Ajmal Kasab, was caught and later hanged in India.

National Affairs

• Lok Sabha passes Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes prevention of atrocities amendment bill.

• The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014 aims to prohibit the commission of offences against members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) and provides for establishing special courts for the trial of such offences and the rehabilitation of victims.
• Joint Committee of Parliament on Land Acquisition Bill has agreed to withdraw six key amendments brought out by the NDA government in 2013 Act.
• Important Points to Know about Land bill
• The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 seeks to Amend the Act of 2013 (LARR Act, 2013).
• The Bill creates five special categories of land use: 1. defence, 2. rural infrastructure, 3. affordable housing, 4. industrial corridors, and 5. infrastructure projects including Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects where the central government owns the land
• The Bill exempts the five categories from provisions of the LARR Act, 2013 which requires the consent of 80 per cent of land ownersto be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent of land owners for PPP projects.
• The Bill allows exemption for projects in these five categories from requiring Social Impact Assessment be done to identify those affected and from the restrictions on the acquisition of irrigated multi-cropped land imposed by LARR Act 2013.
• The Bill brings provisions for compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement under other related Acts such as the National Highways Act and the Railways Act in consonance with the LARR Act.
• The Bill changes acquisition of land for private companies mentioned in LARR Act, 2013 to acquisition for ‘private entities’. A private entity could include companies, corporations and nonprofit organisations.
• President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a new Science and Innovation Museum called 'Navachara Kaksh' at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today.
• Kerala's First IIT Started Functioning at Palakkad
• The IIT-Palakkad campus was opened by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani addressing the students through video conferencing.
• Note : The official opening ceremony of the campus would be held later this month.

Awards & Honors

• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical Information System.
• The award ceremony was held recently at the annual Esri International User Conference in San Diego and presided over by Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of Esri.

MOUs

• NTPC and the Jharkhand government have signed a memorandum of understanding for expansion of the Patratu thermal power station and increase in power production.
• This came nearly three months after the two sides signed a pact to form a JV.
• Union Finance Director I G Kapoor from NTPC and Principal Secretary S K G Rahate of the government of Jharkhand signed this MoU.

New Appointments

• German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has announced that Roland S. Folger will take over as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive of its India operations from October 1st.
• Folger, who is currently the president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia will replace Eberhard Kern, who will assume a new managerial role in the European market.

Business & Economy

• The Ministry of Tourism has decided to award the duties of its Incredible India account to the global advertising agency network McCann. 
• The account was earlier handled by Ogilvy.
• HSBC India is planning to launch ’Green Bonds’ this year to enable fund raising for investments in projects with environmental benefits, the private sector bank’s Chairman Naina Lal Kidwai said on Monday.
• Reserve Bank of India has kept its key policy rates unchanged in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review today.

Current RBI Rates

S. No	Rates / Reserve Ratios	%
1	Bank Rate	8.25 %
2	Repo Rate	7.25 %
3	Reverse Repo Rate	6.25%
4	Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)	4.00%
5	Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)	21.50%
6	Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)	8.25 %

Sports

• Ace Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched the women’s vault bronze medal at the 6th Senior ART Gymnastics Asian Championships in Hiroshima.
• Gold - Yan Wang (Chines)
• Silver - Sae Miyakawa (Japanese)
• Bronze - Dipa Karmakar (India)
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) fully recognized the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), ultimate frisbee’s governing body, during its 128th session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
• This means ultimate frisbee is eligible for IOC funding and can compete with other sports for inclusion in future Olympic games.

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