IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF AUGUST 5th, 2017

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF AUGUST 5th, 2017

1. Venkaiah Naidu Is New Vice President of India 

i. Venkaiah Naidu is going to succeed Hamid Ansari as the new Vice-President of India. Naidu’s victory was a foregone conclusion, the NDA candidate having the support of a majority of MPs who ally with the BJP.

ii. The Election Commission said that 771 votes were polled, of which 760 were valid and 11 were valid. Venkaiah Naidu secured 516 and Gopalkrishna Gandhi 241 votes. This means, that Venkaiha Naidu will become the 13th Vice President of India.

2. Government to Develop Green Airports in Andhra Pradesh

i. As a part of Government of India’s initiative to develop green airports, two airports in Andhra Pradesh- Tirupati and Vijayawada are going to go completely green. AAI has commenced installation of 1MWp solar power plant at Tirupathi and Vijaywada Airports.

ii. It has also completed installation of solar power plants at 29 airports/locations with a total capacity of 12.84 MWp.

3. MobiKwik Partners Bajaj Finance for Larger Financial Services Pie

i. Mobile wallet major MobiKwik has entered into a strategic partnership with Bajaj Finance to transform itself into a financial services app from a payments app at present.

ii. Under this partnership, Bajaj Finance has picked up 10.83 per cent equity stake in MobiKwik for about ?225 crore and offer its lending (purchase finance, credit card, mortgage loans and personal loans) and insurance products to be sold through the MobiKwik app.

4. Air Marshal Hemant Narayan Bhagwat Appointed as Air Officer-in-Charge Administration of IAF

i. Air Marshal Hemant Narayan Bhagwat took over as Air Officer-in-Charge Administration (AOA) of Indian Air Force at Air Headquarters in New Delhi.

ii. Air Marshal Bhagwat, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) and Vayu Sena Medal (VM) awardee, was commissioned in Administrative branch of the Indian Air Force in June 1981. After serving for seven years as an Air Traffic control Officer in three different operational bases of the IAF, he qualified as Parachute Jump Instructor and served in instructional capacity for fifteen years.

5. India Signs USD 329 Million Loan Pact With AIIB for Gujarat Road Project

i. India signed a loan agreement with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for financing of USD 329 million for Gujarat Rural Roads Project.

ii. The objective of the project is to improve the rural road connectivity and accessibility to 1,060 villages in all the 33 districts in Gujarat state benefiting about 8 million people. The project will also benefit the service providers such as public transport operators, educational institutions, hospitals, local markets and traders.

6. Veteran Actress Sharada Selected for 'Prem Nazir' Award

i. Veteran actress and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this year's Prem Nazir Award.

ii. Sharada had won three national awards with the first being for her performance in 1968 tragedy film "Thulabharam", which was remade in Tamil also. She has acted in several Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films.

7. JK Rowling: World’s Highest Paid Author by Forbes

i. Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been named the world's most highly-paid author with earnings of £72.2m ($95m).

ii. It is the first time that Rowling has topped Forbes’ list of the 10 highest earners in the global industry for the first time in almost 10 years. Other authors included in the list were Paula Hawkins and EL James.

8. India’s First Private Missile Production Facility Unveiled

i. India’s first private sector missile sub-systems manufacturing facility, a joint venture between the $2.5 billion Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd., was inaugurated near Hyderabad.

ii. The Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) plant will make anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) Spike.  Besides supplying to the Indian Army, the plan is to export to South East Asian countries.

9. Prabhat Kumar as The Next Ambassador of India to The Republic of Kazakhstan

i. Shri Prabhat Kumar, (IFS 1991), presently Ambassador of India to Colombia has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

ii. Prabhat Kumar was Director General, in-charge of the Energy Security and Investment and Technology Promotion Division in the Ministry of External Affairs Kumar was earlier posted to the Permanent Mission of India to the conference of disarmament in Geneva. He also served in the Indian Embassies of Nepal, Croatia and Spain.

10. AIFF Names Banerjee as Chairman of Transfers Dispute Committee

i. The AIFF has appointed senior advocate Ushanath Banerjee as the chairman of a special committee. It will deal with the players’ transfer disputes’.

ii. The Committee entrusted the Chairman to make a detailed and reasoned paper based on the review of the rules and regulations as mentioned above for consideration of the members for a decision thereafter.

11. Maharashtra Government Launches Two Online Portals MahaDBT, MahaVASTU

i. Maharashtra Government has launched two online portals MahaDBT and MahaVASTU to streamline the process of direct benefit transfer (DBT) and to bring in more transparency in construction sector.

ii. MahaDBT portal: It is an Aadhaar-authenticated electronic mechanism that will enable direct transfer of benefits for over 40 schemes currently implemented.

iii. MahaVASTU portal: It is an online building permission management system, through which construction approvals will be sanctioned with full transparency.

12. Mughalsarai to be Renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Railway Station

i. The Centre recently approved the Adityanath-led UP government’s proposal to rename the Mughalsarai railway station after the Jan Sangh leader as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) station.

ii. This comes as the part of the state government’s attempt to revive the legacy of Upadhyaya who died in 1968. The UP government in its proposal pointed to the mysterious death of Upadhyaya at the Mughalsarai station as one of the primary reasons to rename the station.

13. Delhi Police Ties Up with Uber for Women Safety

i. Passengers can now access the Delhi Police's women safety mobile application 'Himmat' via cab aggregator Uber's application while travelling in taxis.

ii. This is Delhi Police’s first partnership with a technology company to intensify its focus on the safety of women in the city. With this partnership, Himmat will now be accessible to lakhs of women riders in one go. Uber also aims to act as a force multiplier and expand its access to all of its women riders.

14. Akshay Kumar Roped in as Brand Ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh

i. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today announced the appointment of Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the state.

ii. The chief minister also announced to make the film tax-free in the state. The chief minister also released the film’s toilet anthem, ‘Karle Toilet Ka Jugar’, which has been sung by the actor himself