11th August 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Prime Minister ‎Narendra Modi‬ will pay a two-day visit to ‎United Arab Emirates‬ beginning 16th of this month.
• This is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Gulf nation in 34 years.
• Mr Modi will meet with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai during this visit.

National Affairs

• Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs launched a new Central Sector Scheme – "Nai Manzil" in Patna.
• This scheme will address educational and livelihood needs of minority communities in general and muslims in particular as it lags behind other minority communities in terms of educational attainments.
• The scheme aims at providing educational intervention by giving the bridge courses to the trainees and getting them Certificates for Class XII and X from distance medium educational system and at the same time also provide them trade basis skill training in 4 courses :
• Manufacturing
• Engineering
• Services
• Soft skills
• Supreme Court today stated that Aadhar card is not mandatory for availing welfare schemes of government.
• It also ordered government to keep personal information of the holders of such cards safe.
• The Public Distribution System in Haryana would be digitalized and consumers would be informed about arrival of foodgrains at the depots and time of their distribution through SMS on their mobile phones. 
• This would soon be started as a pilot project in Panchkula.
• Haryana Food and Supplies Minister : Karan Dev Kamboj
• Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council, with the Kerala Tourism Department accepting the Council's invitation to join its league of leading tourism cities across the world.
• Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has launched new train services in the Northeast after the completion of North Lakhimpur-Murkongselek and Balipara- Bhalukpong sections into broad-gauge. 
• He launched the service through video-conferencing from New Delhi.

People in News

• International Crimes Tribunal awards death sentence to Razakar Sheikh Sirajul Hoque for his crimes against humanity during 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

New Appointments

• India-born Sundar Pichai has been named CEO of Google as part of a surprise corporate overhaul that saw the search giant forming a new parent company called Alphabet Inc.
• Recent Appointments of Indian Americans as Heads of Famous Organizations
• Satya Nadella - CEO of Microsoft
• Shantanu Narayen - CEO of Adobe
• Nikesh Arora - President and COO of  SoftBank

Business & Economy

• China devalues its currency the Yuan by 2% to nearly three year low.
• Google has unveiled a surprise restructuring, creating a new parent company called Alphabet Inc.
• Under the re-branding, Google will retain its best-known businesses, such as search, apps, YouTube and Android.
• Some of the newer entities, such as the investment and research divisions, the "smart-home" unit Nest, and the drone arm will be run under Alphabet.
• Google founder : Larry Page 
• ICICI Bank today announced a new home loan proposition, ‘ICICI Bank Saral-Rural Housing Loan’, with a special interest rate. 
• Applicants from rural areas including women borrowers as well as seekers from weaker sections can now avail home loans at the ICICI Bank Base Rate (“I-Base”) which is currently at 9.70%. 
• Note : An eligible borrower can take up to Rs.15 lac under the ‘ICICI Bank Saral-Rural Housing Loan’.

Awards & Honors

• The Government of Kerala has announced the State film Awards for Last year's (2014) Malayalam movies. 
• Best Film : 'Ottaal' - Directed by Jayaraj 
• Best Director : Sanalkumar Sasidharan. Film- 'Oralpokkam'
• Best Actors : 1. Nivin Pauly (Bangalore days, 1993) and Sudev Nair (My life-partner)
• Best actress : Nazriya Nazim (Om Shanti Oshaana, Bangalore days)
• Best Popular movie : 'Om Shanti Oshana'
• Best Music Director:  Bijibal

Sports

• Sports Ministry awards committee has recommended Wimbledon 2015 doubles champion ‪ ‎Sania Mirza‬ for the coveted ‎Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna‬ award and Rohit Sharma and sixteen others for Arjuna awards.

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