Important Current affairs - 19th August 2015.

Important Current Affairs 19^th August 2015

·         On the issue of call drops “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)” announced new norms on 17 October 2015.
Under this, mobile users will get a compensation of Re 1 for every dropped call, subject to a maximum of three dropped calls a day. These norms were, however, vehemently opposed by the telecom operators. The norms are to come into effect from 1^st  January 2016.

·         Maharashtra became the second state after Karnataka to declare drought in the state in 20 of the 35 districts in the state, including all eight districts of the Marathwada region. the drought covers 34% of the state.

·         Aditya Birla Group launched abof.com, a new online fashion portal, on 17 October 2015. Abof stands for all about fashion. It will now compete with the likes of Myntra, a Flipkart unit, and Rocket Internet-backed Jabong.

·         Johor Cup men’s junior hockey tournament- India lost to Great Britain in nail-biting penalty shoot-out 3-4.

·         Olympic badminton champion Li Xuerui of China won the women’s singles title of Denmark Open defeating P.V. Sandhu in the finals.

·         Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi has been conferred with Harvard University's prestigious humanitarian award.
Satyarthi is the first Indian to win this award.

·         Industrialists from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal have set up the BBINF, (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal Investment Forum) to boost sub-regional trade and investment inspired by the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement.

·         Rajasthan government has issued a notification to provide 5% quota to Gujjars and other Special Backward Classes (SBC) for which the Assembly has passed a bill last month.

·         The Government has amended the Central Order under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 with immediate effect to increase availability and to prevent hoarding of pulses.

o    It will enable imposition of stock limits on pulses sourced from imports, stocks held by exporters, stocks to be used as raw-materials by licensed food processors and stocks of Large Departmental Retailers.

·         Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa arrived in Delhi today to hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. This is his First Foreign visit after assuming office