Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 14th to 16th August 2019. These are important for the upcoming Exams. Candidates those who were preparing for the examination can use these current affairs and also you can download the same as PDF.
Current Affairs Today – 14th to 16th August 2019
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
World Organ Donation day observed on August 13
- Organ donation day is observed on 13 August.
- This day mainly aims to motivate people to donate their healthy and precious organs after death to save lives.
- Organ donation day tries to spread information and make people aware of organ donation and to eliminate the myths and fears people have in their minds about organ donation. Organ donation can be life-changing.
BANKING CURRENT AFFAIRS
RBI launches regulatory sandbox for Fintech companies
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the final framework for regulatory sandbox (RS) for the startups, banks and financial institutions.
- The Fintech companies can now set up their own RS for live testing of innovative products in areas like retail payments, digital KYC and wealth management.
- The framework aims to enable innovations in the financial technology space.
- It will encourage innovations that are intended for use in the Indian market in areas where there is absence of governing regulations.
- Fintech companies including startups, banks, financial institutions and any other company partnering with or providing support to financial services businesses.
- A regulatory sandbox refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment. The regulators can permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
Extra Shots:
RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, N S Vishwanathan
State Bank of India and BoB to link home loan product to RBIs repo rate
- Bank of Baroda (BoB) planned to linked its home loan product to RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India (RBI) repo rate after State Bank of India (SBI).
- Home loans at BOB will be available at repo rate linked interest rate starting at 8.35%
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Bank of Baroda: Bank of Baroda is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company. It is owned by Government of India.It is second largest public sector bank in India
Headquarters: Alkapuri, Vadodara
CEO: P. S. Jayakumar
State Bank of India: Founded on: As 2 June 1806 (Bank of Calcutta), 15 April 1840 (Bank of Bombay), 1 July 1843 (Bank of Madras), 27 January 1921 (Imperial Bank of India), 1 July 1955 (State Bank of India)
- Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Chairman: Rajnish Kumar
- SBI is the largest commercial bank and the largest mortgage lender across the country.
- SBI has 22,010 branches and 58,000 ATM/CDM across India.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Centre introduces scheme for NBFCs and HFCs
- Centre has announced a partial guarantee scheme in the budget for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs).
- The scheme will allow the Public Sector Banks to purchase their assets.
- AIM: to provide liquidity support to the NBFCs and HFCs.
- For the implementation of the scheme, the government has planned a mechanism which will elicit information on a real-time basis.
- NBFCs that registered with RBI and HFCs registered with National Housing Bank can take benefit under the scheme.
WhatsApp finally brings fingerprint authentication to Android beta users
- WhatsApp’s Messenger most awaited features, fingerprint authentication, is finally rolling out to Android users.
- The feature is currently available to those who have registered in WhatsApp’s beta programme for Android.
- The Fingerprint authentication has been around on the platform since last year to iOS users.
Extra Shots:
WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service owned by Facebook. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.
- Owner: Facebook
Air India New Delhi-San Francisco flight to fly over North Pole
- The Air India (AI) announced its inaugural passenger flight over the North Pole region from August 15 between New Delhi and San Francisco.
- The first commercial service will be operated by Captain Rajneesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh It marked the “maturing of civil aviation in India as another frontier is crossed.
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
RPF launched Operation Number Plate
- Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Indian Railways launched Operation “Number Plate”, a Special Drive to curb unidentified vehicles.
- The operation was launched under the direction of DG/RPF, Sh.Arun Kumar.
- All Local Police and Commercial Department of Railways showed their active interest in the operation.
- The unidentified vehicles pose a serious threat to the security and safety of passengers and other stake holders of railway.
Extra Shots:
RPF: The Railway Protection Force is a security force, established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957; enacted by the Indian Parliament for “the better protection and security of railway property”.
- Founded: 27 July 1872
- Motto: यशो लभस्व (Sanskrit); “Attaining honor”
- Zones: 18
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Governing body: Ministry of Railways (India)
State of Art Gallery at National Crafts Museum inaugurated
- A Textiles Gallery at National Crafts Museum was inaugurated in New Delhi.
- It was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani.
- AIM: The collection aims to help people explore, enjoy, and rediscover the world of Indian textiles through design and technology.
- The Gallery consists of more than 230 different types of textiles collections more than 30
- Traditions
BCI imposed 3 years ban on opening new law colleges
- The Bar Council of India (BCI) imposed a temporary ban of 3 years on opening new law colleges.
- BCI requested all the State governments and varsities to stop unfair means and ensure that vacancies of law teachers in all the colleges are filled within four months.
- BCI also said that it can open any model institution of Legal Education, like the National Law School of India University it opened in Bengaluru.
Extra Shots:
BCI: The Bar Council of India is a statutory body established under the section 4 of advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India.
- Founded: 1961
- Headquarters: New Delhi
Central Government launches Swachh Nagar app
- The Central Government launched a mobile application named Swachh Nagar app.
- OBJECTIVE: people will be able to get their household waste picked up by urban municipal bodies.
- The people have to pay to civic bodies to avail the service through Swachh Nagar app. They can track the waste-collection vehicle on the app.
- The main aim is to ensure the accountability of municipal corporations.
Indian Railways to get CORAS
- Ministry of Railways and Commerce & Industry launched Commando for Railway Security (CORAS) of Indian Railways.
- It was launched by Shri Piyush Goyal.
- The induction of CORAS was planned in RPF. The Ministry also plans to install a new network of CCTV cameras at every station.
Extra Shots:
Indian Railways: Indian Railways is India’s national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre and total track length of 121,407-kilometre as of March 2017.
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Customer service: 139
Jal Jeevan Mission scheme to be launched
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government is to launch the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme.
- The scheme aims to bring piped water to households.
- The estimated cost of the project is more than Rs.3.5 lakh crore.
- The scheme functions under the Jal Shakti Ministry. It aims to work with state governments to ensure Har Ghar Jal to all rural households by 2024.
PM announced the creation of CDS post
- The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the creation of post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on 15 August.
- The rank of CDS will be a first among equals.
- It will be a fourth four-star officer who will be senior to the three other service chiefs.
- It is the most significat reform in the defence.
- The creation of the post aims to make the Indian defence forces even more effective.
- It will also ensure the better coordination between the three defence services.
Extra Shots:
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will act as the single-point advisor to the Government. The CDS officer will be advising the Army, Navy and Airforce on matters related to all the three services. The officer concerned will make the Country’s armed forces integrated.
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Rajasthan bagged the Best innovation and initiative leadership award
- Rajasthan bagged the Best innovation and initiative leadership award 2019 in the 14th elets World Education Summit (WES) held at New Delhi.
- The award was received by the Minister of State for Higher Education Bhanwar Singh Bhati.
- The State was award for promoting higher education with the emphasis on inculcating ethical values among the students and developing their skills to face competitive exams.
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Rajasthan: Capital City(Jaipur) CM(Ashok Gehlot) Governor(Kalyan Singh)
Karnataka government launches E-Step, a programme for student entrepreneurs
- The Department of IT, BT and S&T in Karnataka through Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS)launched the E-step
- The main aim is to promote an initiative to empower student start-ups.
- The E-Step focuses on boot camps, mentoring and training programmes which cover various aspects of entrepreneurship. E-Step, an initiative from Start-up Cell, is specially crafted for students/start-ups/entrepreneurs to understand the basics of entrepreneurship from experienced trainers.
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Karnataka: Capital City(Bengaluru) CM(B S Yediyurappa) Governor(Vajubhai Vala)
Uttarakhand gets full member status in the BCCI by CoA
- Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) granted full membership in the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India).
- This is done by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on August 13, 2019.
- It is the full member with amendments that are required to be communicated by CoA.
Extra Shots:
Uttarakhand: Capital City(Dehradun) CM(Trivendra Singh Rawat) Governor(Baby Rani Maurya)
AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED
Indian Navy signed MoU with CIAL
- Naval Air Enclave (NAE), Kochi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) in a formal function held at CIAL.
- The agreement was signed by Captain Satish Kumar S, Officer-in-Charge, NAE and Shri ACK Nair, Airport Director CIAL.
- The MoU was aimed with the commencement of naval air operations from the NAE, a naval aviation facility at CIAL in Nedumbassery.
MoHUA launched Swachh Survekshan 2020
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Swachh Survekshan 2020.
- It is the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey conducted by the Ministry.
- The scheme was launched by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, the Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs.
- THEME: Cleanliness is Our Right
- NOTE:The Ministry also launched Swachh Survekshan 2020 Toolkit, SBM Water plus Protocol and Toolkit, Swachh Nagar Mobile App and AI enabled mSBM App.
- Swachh Survekshan 2020 Toolkit contains contains the detailed survey methodology and component indicators with scores. It aims to help the cities to prepare themselves for the final survey which will be released on January 2020.
- SBM Water plus Protocol and Toolkit aims to ensure that no untreated wastewater is released into the environment thereby enabling sustainability of the sanitation value chain.
- Swachh Nagar Mobile App have features to track waste collection by ULBs through route and vehicle monitoring, notify citizens, online collection of user fee for waste collection and an effective grievance redressal mechanism
- AI enabled mSBM App is a mobile aplication developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). It will help the beneficiary to get approval from the ULB nodal officer to verify and approve the application. It will reducing the processing time for applicants.
SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS
P.T. Usha appoints in AAAs Athletes Commission
- Legendary Indian sprinter P.T. Usha, one of India’s greatest athletes.
- She is appointed as a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s (AAA) Athletes Commission.
- This is the 2nd time she is appointed as member .P.T. Usha appointed a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s Athletes Commission
Aishwarya Pissay is the first Indian to claim a World Title in Motorsports
- Aishwarya Pissay created history becoming the first Indian to claim a world title in motorsports. She is 23-year-old lifted the FIM World Cup in the women’s category after the final round of the championship in Hungary.
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
GRSE launches fifth FPV for Coast Guard
- Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) launched a fifth Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
- The name of the coast guard is Kanaklata Barua.
- The coast is named after a freedom fighter from Assam.
Jamia Millia Islamia to unveil model of INS Kolkata on 15 August
- Jamia Millia Islamia, the public central university, at New Delhi is to unveil a model of the Indian naval ship INS Kolkata at the University on 15 August, the Independence day.
- The ship model is installed outside the University’s Centre For Information Technology.
- It will be unveiled by Professor Najma Akhtar, the University’s vice-chancellor.
- The ship model will be cased in a thick glass.
- The steel ship model costs around Rs.12 lakh.
AWARDS
Priyam Chatterjee becomes first Indian chef to receive Chevalier de lOrdre du Merite Agricoleto
- Government of France conferred the Indian Chef Priyam Chatterjee with ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mrite Agricoleto’ in New Delhi.
- Chatterjee becomes the first Indian from Kolkata to receive this honor in recognition of his great contribution towards reinventing the gastronomic scene in India.
Service and Gallantry Medals for 946 police personnel
- A total of 946 police personnel have been awarded Service/Gallantry Medals on the occasion of the Independence Day, 2019.
- The awards were approved by the President of India.
- Awardees:
- Among the awardees 72 are from CRPF, 61 are from J&K police, 23 are from Odisha, 9 are from Chhattisgarh and the remaining from the other States/UTs and CAPFs.
- President Police Medals for Gallantry (PPMG) – 3 personnel
- Police Medals for Gallantry (PMG) – 177 personnel
- President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service – 89 personnel
- Police Medal for Meritorious Service -677 personnel
180 Gallantry awards:
Among the 180 gallantry awards:
- 114 personnel – For their action in Jammu & Kashmir
- 62 personnel – For their left wing extremism affected areas
- 4 personnel – For their action in the north-east region
Abhinandan Varthaman to be awarded Vir Chakra
- Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be awarded the Vir Chakra gallantry medal on Independence Day.
- He Vir Chakra award is an Indian gallantry award for acts of Bravery on the battlefield.
Police Personnel were awarded the Union Home Minister Medal for Excellence in Investigation
- The Union Home Minister Medal for Excellence in Investigation for the year 2018 have been awarded to 101 Police personnel belonging to 25 States/UT/ Central Investigating Agencies.
- The aim of medal of Excellence in Investigation is to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime.
Awardees:
The Police personnel receiving the Awards about:
- 11 are from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra Police each
- 8 are from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh police
- 7 are from Tamil Nadu police
- 9 are from CBI
- Rest are from the other States/UT and Central Investigating Agencies
- The awardees include twelve women police officers also
The investigation team who solved the Gauri Lankesh murder case are also awarded. The state government had also awarded the team with price amount of Rs.25 lakhs prize for their exemplary work during the probe.
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