8th February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia does not plan to wage war on anyone and going to cooperate with all.
• The comments were the first from Mr. Putin since he met French President Francois Hollande & German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the crisis in the Ukraine.
• Mr. Putin said there is clearly an attempt to restrain the development of Russia with different means.

National Affairs

• Prime Minister Modi chaired 1st meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog in New Delhi today.

• He discusses with Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors the flagship schemes and infrastructure projects.
• Modi, has announced that the NITI Aayog would constitute three sub groups: of Chief Ministers on the following themes:
1. Sub-group to study the 66 Centrally Sponsored Schemes and recommend which to continue, which to transfer to states, and which to cut down.
2. Sub-group to recommend how NITI Aayog can promote skill development and creation of skilled manpower within states.
3. Sub-group to decide on institutional mechanisms to be evolved, and technological inputs, for ensuring that commitment to Swachh Bharat becomes a part of our life in perpetuity.
• The Prime Minister also asked all states to create two task forces under the aegis of the NITI Aayog One task force would focus on poverty alleviation, and the other would focus on future development of agriculture in the state, and how the Centre can assist the state in this regard.
• The Election Commission today ordered re-polling in two polling stations in Delhi where voting took place yesterday.
• Voting will take place tomorrow at polling station number 31 in Delhi Cantonment and polling station number 132 in Rohtas Nagar Assembly constituency.
• The decision was taken after scrutiny by election observers.
• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a ban on roadside shops and eateries along the animal corridors near Assam's Kaziranga National Park among a slew of directions in the wake of increasing wildlife casualties due to vehicular movement on the adjacent highway.
• Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar today said it is an honour that the state was getting global recognition as a "safe tourism destination" as he hailed the recent announcement by a media conglomerate that placed Goa at the sixth spot in 'Top 10 Nightlife Cities' list.
• Important Note : Goa has been positioned sixth in the list of top 10 nightlife cities in the world by 'National Geographic'.

MOUs

• Maharashtra government today signed an MoU worth Rs 949 crore with engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for setting up CCTV based surveillance in the city.
• As per the MoU signed by the company and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai, 6,000 CCTVs will be installed across the metropolis and suburbs by September 2016.

Science & Technology

• In Uttar Pradesh, Dashashwamedha and Sheetala, two main Ghats of Ganga in Varanasi have been equipped with WiFi facility today.
• Visitors at these Ghats will get free WiFi connectivity in the vicinity of around seven hundred metres.
• Inaugurating the service in Varanasi, Union IT and Telecommunication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that eight more Ghats of the city will be equipped with WiFi connectivity in the coming months.

Deaths

• Veteran Marathi theatre artiste and film actor, Atmaram Bhende (91), considered the doyen of Marathi experimental theatre, passed away.
• He was the first to introduce the revolving stage concept in Marathi theatre way back in the early 1960s.

Business & Economy

• The Reserve Bank is likely to increase the investment limit for foreign portfolio investors in government securities by $5 billion, once the Budget is announced.
• Telecom subscriber base of the country reached all-time high of 97 crore at the end of December 2014.
• The latest report of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said the number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 964.20 million at the end of November, 2014 to 970.97 million at the end of December, 2014.
• The report also said the Teledensity in the country, which means connection per 100, reached 77.58.
• The mobile or wireless subscriber base in country is now already at all-time highs after it crossed 93.53-crore mark at the end of October 2014.

Sports

• Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri today claimed the Malaysian Open 2015, biggest victory of his career.

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