23rd August 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• United States has announced 138 million dollar new aid to South Sudan. 
• US Secretary of State John Kerry said the aid is meant for food, water, and medicine for those in need.

National Affairs

• Maharashtra became the first state in the country to draft its own internal security legislation The Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA), 2016. 
• It gives special emphasis on maintaining law and order and combating terrorism, insurgency, caste-related violence and communalism in the state.
• In a major administrative revamp, the two-year-old Telangana government has issued draft notification on rearranging district borders to create 17 new districts. 
  
• After the completion of the process, the number of districts in the State will go up to 27 from the present 10. 
• The new districts will come into being in October.
• The Chhattisgarh Assembly unanimously ratified the Goods and Service Tax (GST) constitution amendment bill becoming the fifth state to pass the bill.
• First four states to pass the bill are, 
• Himachal Pradesh, 
• Assam, 
• Jharkhand 
• Bihar
• Andhra Pradesh became the first state in the country to launch DNA Index System (DIS) for DNA (Deoxyribonucleac acid) profiling of criminals. 
• The system uses the latest DNA technology tool (also known as RapidHIT DNA System) developed by IntegenX of United States.

New Appointments

• Justice Manjula Chellur was today sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
• Former CCI head Ashok Chawla will take over as Non-Executive Part-time Chairman of YES Bank from October as the lender has received approval from the Reserve Bank for this appointment.
• Currently, he is the Chairman of NSE and chairs the governing council of The Energy and Research Institute (TERI).
• Chawla’s appointment is for a period of three years, with effect from the date of joining the bank.
• Banwarilal Purohit sworn in as Governor of Assam.
• Purohit is going to replace Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, Governor of Nagaland who was Governor in-charge of Assam.
• Prof. Jagdish Mukhi assumed office as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Awards & Honors

• Hindi scholar and writer Sunita Jain was conferred with the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman 2015. 
• She was bestowed with this prestigious literary award for her poetry collection Kshama (published in 2008).

Deaths

• The Indian-origin former Singapore President S.R. Nathan (92) passed away.
• Note : He was the sixth and longest-serving President of Singapore. 

MOUs & Agreements

• India and Germany have signed an agreement on vocational training that aims to foster conditions to create and improve workplace-based vocational training in India’s industrial clusters. 
• The agreement was signed between the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and German International Cooperation (GIZ).
• India’s premier container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, has signed an agreement with State Bank of India and Development Bank of Singapore for External Commercial Borrowing to the tune of USD 400 Million at a very competitive" interest rate to improve the infrastructure required for doubling.
• Maharashtra and Telangana states have signed agreement for three irrigation projects to be constructed on Godavari, Pranahita and Painganga rivers. 
• These agreements were signed in presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Sports

• The 31st Summer Olympics (2016 Rio Olympics) hosted by Brazilian City, Rio de Janeiro ended after 16 days of sporting spectacle. 
• The games had seen participations of nearly 11,000 participants from 205 countries, including a first-ever refugee team featuring in 306 events of 42 sporting disciplines. 
• Check Highlights of these Olympics from here
• The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be hosted in Ahmedabad, Gujarat during 7th to 22nd October 2016, the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) announced today.
• The event will see 12 Kabaddi teams from around the world including India, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya, representing all the five geographies of the Olympic Games.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

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