12th August 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (12th August) is International Youth Day.
• The first International Youth Day was observed on 12th August 2000 by United Nations.
• The purpose of this day is to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding youth.
• Theme of International Youth Day 2016 : "The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production"
  
• Today (12th August) is World Elephant Day.
• This is an international annual event, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants.
• The Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju is on a visit to Indonesia.
• During this visit, he will attend the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism which is being held in Bali, Indonesia.
• 20 Countries along with International and regional organizations including UN, Interpol and ASEAN are participating in this meeting. 
• India, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia were represented at Ministerial level.
• Theme of this Meeting : “Countering Cross Border Movement of Terrorism”

National Affairs

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has today approved construction of over 37,000 houses for the urban poor in Haryana and Karnataka with central assistance of Rs 569 crore.
• The total investment in construction of these houses would be to the tune of about 1,491 crore.
• Over 36,000 houses for the economically weaker sections would be constructed in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 1,468 crore and 759 houses would be built in Haryana at a cost of Rs 23 crore.
• Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has inaugurated the state's first 'Sewa Kendra' where people will be able to avail 243 services under one roof.  
• These centres would act as a catalyst to help people in getting their routine administrative works done in a speedy manner.
• A total of 6 new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will be set up in places like Jammu and Tirupati as President Pranab Mukherjee gave his nod to a law in this regard.
• President Pranabh Mukherjee gave nod to the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2016. 
• This Act will help setting up of 6 new IITs in places. They are, 
• Jammu,
• Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), 
• Palakkad (Kerala), 
• Goa, 
• Dharward (Karnataka), 
• Bhilai (Chhattisgarh).
• Important Note : The law has also brought the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad under its ambit. 
• The ISM will now be called Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad.
• The Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang has today announced that it is going to grant 33 per cent reservation to women in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). 

Recent Committees in News

• A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee on Capacity Building, has recommended that Banks should identify specialized areas for certification of staff manning key responsibilities.
• RBI had constituted this committee in July 2014, with the objective of implementing non-legislative recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), relating to capacity building at banks and non-banks, streamlining training intervention and suggesting changes thereto in view of ever increasing challenges in the banking and non-banking sector. 
• The Committee has made a number of recommendations for certification of staff.
• This Committee was headed by : G Gopalakrishna (former executive director) 

Business & Economy

• The autonomous apex statutory body Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has imposed Rs 35 lakh fine on Bharti Axa General Insurance Co Ltd for violation of various norms including outsourcing activities and corporate governance guidelines.

New Appointments

• American multinational technology company Microsoft Corporation has today announced the appointment of Sri ram Rajamani as new Managing Director of its India lab.
• He will replace Chandu Thekkath, who was the managing director of the lab for two years.

Awards & Honors

• The United Nations is going to issue a stamp in honour of carnatic music legend, M S Subbulakshmi, on her birth centenary on August 15th, coinciding with the celebrations of India's 70th Independence Day.

Science & Technology

• NASA has selected six US companies to develop deep-space-habitat prototypes.
• Each company has up to 24 months to develop ground prototypes and/or conduct concept studies. 
• The models will be used to support integrated systems testing, human factors, and operations testing, as well as help define overall system functionality.
• The selected partners are :
• Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Nev.
• Boeing of Pasadena, Texas
• Lockheed Martin of Denver, Colo.
• Orbital ATK of Dulles, Va.
• Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.
• NanoRocks of Webster, Texas

Note : Due to Health Issues, I was unable to update Current Affairs and few more regular features of Gr8AmbitionZ.com from last 8 days. Will try to sort things out as soon as possible. You will be getting all regular updates from tomorrow's morning. 

- Admin

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