11th August 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (11th August) is Daughters' Day.

National Affairs

• The Rajya Sabha today passed the Maternity Benefit Amendment Bill, 2016, that seeks to raise paid maternity leave for women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. 
• The Bill also provides 12 weeks of maternity leave to 'adopting' mothers and a mandatory crèche in organisations with over 50 employees. 
• The Bill will now be tabled in the Lok Sabha.
  
• An expert panel set up by the Indian government in 2013 has found that forests in the country are worth ₹115 lakh crore. 
• This reportedly is higher than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries like Russia and Canada. 
• Note : The panel was formed to evaluate the compensation to be paid by private companies for setting up projects on forest land.
• The government today announced that it has notified the national 'Early Childhood Care and Education' (ECCE) policy. 
• The policy aims to achieve holistic development and active learning capacity of children below six years of age by promoting free, universal and equitable opportunities. 
• Important Note : The ECCE is one of the six free services provided under the Integrated Child Development Services scheme.
• The Home Ministry is drafting a proposal for raising the salaries of the President, Vice President, and governors. 
• This follows the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission's awards which leaves their salaries less than that of the country's top-most bureaucrat. 
• Note : At present, the President gets ₹1.5 lakh per month, while the Cabinet Secretary gets ₹2.5 lakh per month.

Recent Committees in News

• The Union Government has set up a Committee to look at easing the policy regime for e-commerce players, including the rules for foreign direct investment (FDI).  
• This committee will be headed by : Amitabh Kant (CEO of NITI Aayog). 
• The other members in the panel will include officials from Union Commerce Ministry and Industry and Department of electronics and IT among others. 
• Representatives from four states including Maharashtra and Karnataka will also be the members of the committee.

Business & Economy

• Forbes today announced the '100 Richest Tech Billionaires in the World in 2016', with two Indians making it to the list. 
• Wipro Chairman Azim Premji is ranked 13th on the list with a net worth of $16.1 billion, while HCL Chairman Shiv Nadar is featured at number 17 with a net worth of $11.7 billion.
• Microsoft founder Bill Gates has topped  this list. 
• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ranked second and third with an estimated worth of $66.2 billion and $54 billion respectively.
• Jack Ma, Founder of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, is the richest Asian in the '100 Richest Tech Billionaires in the World in 2016' list.
• The Lok Sabha today approved a Bill to provide tax incentives to the garments sector amid attempts to make the industry more competitive, enabling it to contribute to job creation.
• Further, it seeks to raise customs duty on marble and granite to 40% in a bid to protect the domestic industry against import surge.
• The Union Cabinet has approved liberalization of foreign investment norms for the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) to improve the ease of doing business. 
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CEEA) has given its approval for the development of Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) technology for thermal power plants. 
• In this regard, CCEA has approved a one-time grant of 900 crore rupees spread over three years for an R&D project for the development of AUSC technology for thermal power plants. 
• The project was proposed by a consortium of three government entities to reduce coal consumption as well as Carbon di-oxide (CO2) emission. 
• They are,
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), 
• Indira Gandhi Centre of Atomic Research (IGCAR) and
• National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

MOUs & Agreements

• The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and South Africa for cooperation in the field of Tourism. 
• This MoU was signed in July 2016.
• Policy think tank Niti Aayog today inked a pact with the US Energy Information Administration to set up a portal which​ will constitute all data related to the energy sector. 
• Further, Niti Aayog has also inked an SOP with the US Agency for International Development and the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change for collaboration in energy research.
• The Union Cabinet today approved the signing and ratification of an agreement between India and Croatia on Economic Cooperation. 
• The two countries had earlier signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation in 1994 to promote bilateral trade and economic relations, that expired in 2009. 
• India's bilateral trade with Croatia during 2014-15 was $205.04 million.

Science & Technology

• China has successfully launched a new high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) dubbed as Gaofen-3.
• It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province on the back of a Long March 4C rocket. 
• This satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), under guidance of China Aerospace Sc

General Knowledge

• The 'Tsar Bomba' was tested on October 30, 1961 and is the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. 
• Developed by the Soviet Union as RDS-220, the 50-megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated in an island of the Arctic Sea. 
• Visible from 600 miles away and capable of destroying everything within a 15-mile radius, it could deliver third-degree burns within a 64-mile radius.
• Ima Keithel (Mother's Market) is a market in Imphal, Manipur where only women can own stalls and work, while men can enter as buyers. 
• It is believed to date back to the 16th Century, when men were often fighting wars and women began supporting their families​. 
• The market is believed to be the only one of its kind in Asia.

Deaths

• Former Pakistani cricket legend Hanif Mohammad (81) Passed away.
• Born in Junagadh, Hanif was widely regarded in cricket as the original 'Little Master'. 
• Hanif's 337-run innings in 1958, lasting 970 minutes, was the then highest Test score and is still ​the longest-ever innings in Test cricket's history.

New Appointments

• K M Hanumantharayappa has assumed charge as the new Chairman of Central Silk Board (CSB).
• He is the 25th Chairman of the Central Silk Board.
• He will be in this position for a period of three years. 
• He is going to replace N S Bissegowda. 

Sports

• Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte became the first woman from her country to win an Olympic swimming gold medal, after she won the 200-metre women's butterfly event today. 
• Her Rio win marks the first Olympic swimming victory for Spain in 24 years.
• Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura became the first man in 44 years to retain his Olympic gold medal in men's all-around gymnastics, when he won the Rio event today. 
• Uchimura, who won silver in Beijing 2008, is only the fourth man worldwide to achieve the feat, and the first since compatriot Sawao Kato, who did it in 1972.
• Indian badminton player PV Sindhu defeated Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-8, 21-9 to win her first pool match in the women's singles badminton event at the Rio Olympics today. 
• Playing in her first Olympic Games, the 12th-seeded shuttler will next face Canadian shuttler Michelle Li on August 14.
• Indian boxer Manoj Kumar defeated Olympic bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas, in his opening bout in the men’s light welter 64 kg category at Rio today. 
• Kumar has now qualified for the pre-quarterfinals, in which he will face fifth-seed Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov on Sunday.

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