CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR IBPS RRB 16TH AUGUST:Italy to host fall G-7 interior minister’s summit on security:

NATIONAL:

PM Narendra Modi Launches Website To Honour Gallantry Award Winners Since Independence:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a website to honour all the gallantry award winners since Independence.

“In remembrance of our heroes who have been awarded gallantry awards since Independence, launched the site http://gallantryawards.gov.in,” the Prime Minister said. If you have any information or photo that is missing and can be added to the portal, please share it through the feedback link on the site. 

India to host steering committee meeting of TAPI Gas Pipeline:

India will host the next steering committee meeting of the proposed 1,814 kilometre-long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, senior officials on both sides confirmed.

The decision was came during the sixth joint Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation.

ABOUT TAPI gas pipeline:

• The work on the long-awaited 1,814 km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, which will help ease energy deficiency in South Asia.
• Leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India performed the ground-breaking of the project in December 2015.

Afghanistan

• Currency: Afghan Afghani
• Capital: Kabul

Pakistan

• Currency: Rupee
• Capital: Islamabad
• Prime Minister: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Turkmenistan

• Currency: Turkmenistan manat
• Capital: Ashgabat 

Maharashtra CM inaugurates next gen projection mapping system:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the next generation projection mapping system at the iconic Gateway of India in south Mumbai.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, business tycoon Anand Mahindra, ministers Subhash Desai, Ram Shinde, Jaykumar Rawal were also present on the occasion.

Maharashtra

• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis
• Governor: Vidyasagar Rao 

Joint Indian Air Force-Border Security Force Women Camel Expedition:

Indian Air Force embarked upon an all women camel expedition along with Border Security Force from Utarlai (Barmer, Rajasthan) to Attari (Amritsar, Punjab). The expedition will conclude on 30 Sep 17. The team was flagged off from Air Force Station Uttarlai. The expedition is planned with a team of 10 Women Air Warriors of IAF and 10 Women personnel from BSF.

The team of 10 IAF women Air Warriors is led by Sqn Ldr Anioushka Lomas and is attempting this unique feat in desert areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. Earlier in the year 2011, IAF had created history by hoisting tricolour and IAF flag on top of the world during the all women Mt Everest Expedition.

 MOTTO:

Keeping the spirit of its motto ‘Touch the Sky with Glory’, IAF team is poised to explore this adventurous journey of approximately 1400 Km. During the expedition, the team will interact with civilians with an aim to spread awareness about ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’Abhiyan.

Rajasthan

• Capital: Jaipur
• Chief Minister: Vasundhara Raje
• Governor: Kalyan Singh

Punjab

• Capital: Chandigarh
• Governor: P. Singh Badnore
• Chief Minister: Captain Amarinder Singh

Uttarakhand secretariats main building to be named after Kalam:

The main building of the Uttarakhand secretariat will be named after former President A P J Abdul Kalam, an official release said. An announcement to this effect was made by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Independence Day.

The chief minister also announced that the block meant for secretaries at the secretariat complex will be named after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Similarly, the SBI building (West Block) will be named after Soban Singh Jeena and the FRDC building after Devendra Shastri, it said.

Uttarakhand

• Capital: Dehradun
• Chief Minister: Trivendra Singh Rawat
• Governor: Krishna Kant Paul 

India’s first railways disaster management centre to come up near Bengaluru:

India’s first railways disaster management village expected to come up near Bengaluru by December 2018.It will be used to replicate train accidents so that real time rescue operations could be carried out to improve such efforts.

The ministry has earmarked the 3.32-sqkm village of Hejjala, with a population of 3,483 people, to develop its Disaster Management Institute and Safety Village at a cost of Rs 44.42 crore, according to the blueprint accessed.

Karnataka

• Capital: Bengaluru
• Chief Minister: Siddaramaiah
• Governor: Vajubhai Vala

Lord Krishna-themed coin to be released by Chad on Janmashtami:

A limited edition silver coin on Lord Krishna will be released on Janmashtami on August 15 by the Republic of Chad in commemoration of the 5,244th birth anniversary of the Hindu God.

This full-dimensional 3D coin weighs 100 grams and has been made of pure silver, numismatist Alok K Goyal, the designer of the coin, said.

The Lord Krishna-themed coin has been decorated with more than 50 pieces of Swarovski crystals. It has a 3D figure of baby Krishna on a leaf. It is 65 mm in diameter and of 40 mm height. There will be 251 pieces made available for sale in the Indian market out of a total of 501. People who want to buy it have to do it online on www.headytail.com. The price has been kept at Rs 25,555 per coin with free shipping within India,” Goyal said.

Odisha: Special programme to prevent spread of malaria:

A special programme would soon be launched to prevent the spread of malaria in remote areas of Odisha’s Ganjam district. The programme has been christened as “Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran” (DAMON). The community health centres have been identified as Patrapur, Adapada, Badagada, Dharakote and Gallery (Ganjam).

People testing positive for malaria will be provided treatment under the programme. Besides other diseases like malnutrition among the children and complicancy among the pregnant women will also be identified in the camps and necessary treatment will be provided. Around 15,000 people would be covered under the programme.

INTERNATIONAL:

Melbourne ‘world’s most liveable city’ for seventh year:

Melbourne has been declared the most liveable city in the world for the seventh year running by the Economist’s annual global liveability survey, while Sydney remains in 11th place. It is the first time in the survey’s 15-year history that a city has held the No 1 rank in its own right for seven consecutive years.

Damascus, ranked the least-liveable city because of civil war in Syria, and Tripoli, ranked the third least-liveable city. All five Australian cities included in the survey are ranked inside the top 20: Adelaide at equal fifth place with Calgary in Canada; Perth ranked seventh; Sydney 11th, and Brisbane 16th. Cities in the US fared worse than Canada, which had three cities – Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary– in the third to fifth spot respectively. Auckland, Helsinki and Hamburg rounded out the top 10. 

Italy to host fall G-7 interior minister’s summit on security:

Italy will host a summit of Group of Seven Interior Ministers centered on security issues in the fall. Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti said, the meeting is being organised at the request of Italy’s G-7 partners- Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States.

Italy currently holds the rotating helm of the G-7 industrialised nations. Minniti says the G-7 summit would probably be held in October.

Italy

• Currency: Euro
• Capital: Rome

Nepal, China sign three pacts to boost their ties:

Nepal and China signed three pacts to further boost their ties in power and energy sectors. The pacts were signed to undertake a feasibility study to excavate natural gas and petroleum in the Himalayan country, including in the southern Terai plains.

Both the countries signed the deals after visiting Chinese vice premier Wang Yang held discussions with Nepal’s deputy prime ministers Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and Krishna Bahadur Mahara.

According to Nepal’s foreign ministry, the agreements signed cover economic and technological cooperation, oil and gas resources exploration, and promotion of investment.

Nepal

• Prime minister: Sher Bahadur Deuba
• Currency: Nepalese rupee
• Capital: Kathmandu 

China Announces $1 Mn Assistance to Flood-Hit Nepal:

China announced USD 1 million assistance to flood-hit Nepal as the country’s Vice Premier Wang Yang held talks with his Nepalese counterpart on ways to enhance bilateral ties.

Wang Yang made the announcement during the Nepal-China Deputy Prime Minister-level meeting he jointly chaired with Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, attended by other ministers of the cabinet.

China

• Currency: Renminbi
• Capital: Beijing
• Prime minister: Li Keqiang
• President: Xi Jinping

BANKING & BUSINESS:

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launches new website:

          ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new website ‘PlanYourGoal.com’ to help users plan their investments according to their future financial goals. The website guides the users to plan their big spends, tax investments as well as the corpus required during retirement. The website also provides recommendations based on calculations.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• CEO: Nimesh Shah 

Government slaps $264 million penalty on RIL, BP:

The government has imposed a new penalty of $ 264 million (about Rs 1,700 crore) on Reliance Industries Ltd and its partners for producing less than the targeted natural gas from eastern offshore KG-D6 fields in 2015-16. 

AWARDS:

Marconi Lifetime Award for Pune-born Stanford Prof:

The US-based Marconi Society has announced its Lifetime Achievement Award to Indian-born Stanford University professor Thomas Kailath, for his outstanding contributions to modern communications.

“Kailath is the sixth scientist to be honoured with our Lifetime Achievement Award for his research contributions, which advanced modern communications technologies over the last six decades”. The 82-year-old who was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2009, is currently the Hitachi American Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, at Stanford.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGN:

Marapana is Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister:

Tilak Marapana of the United National Party (UNP) assumed charge as Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister here, following his predecessor Ravi Karunanayake’s resignation.

 Srilanka

• Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
• Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
• Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe 

Santosh Sharma appointed Hindustan Copper CMD:

Santosh Sharma was appointed as chairman and managing director (CMD) of Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL). He is currently director (operations) in the same company.

The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has approved his appointment to the post for a period of five years.

Tata Motors appoints P B Balaji as CFO from November:

          Auto major Tata Motors announced the appointment of P B Balaji as its group Chief Financial Officer. He will replace C Ramakrishnan who retires at the end of his term on September 30.

Balaji started his career with Unilever in 1995 and worked in different corporate finance roles across Asia, Switzerland, the UK and India. 

Sandhu-Rojon appointed UN deputy representative for West Africa:

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appointed senior UN official Ruby Sandhu-Rojon as his new Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel.

Sandhu-Rojon succeeds Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, who completed her assignment this month. 

 Prasar Bharati chief Vempati given additional charge of Rajya Sabha TV:

          Shashi Shekhar Vempati, chief executive officer (CEO) at public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has been appointed as the chief of Rajya Sabha TV.

Vempati will replace Gurdeep Singh Sappal who has been serving as the CEO and editor-in-chief of Rajya Sabha TV since 2011.

CEOs quit Trump council over response to violence:

The chief executives of Intel Corp., Merck & Co. Inc. and Under Armour Inc. resigned from U.S. President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council, following Mr. Trump’s initially tepid response to weekend violence at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• Intel Chief Executive – Brian Krzanich
• CEO of Drugmaker Merck and an African-American – Kenneth Frazier.
• CEO of Under Armour – Kevin Plank

USA

• President of the United States: Donald Trump
• Currency: United States Dollar
• Capital: Washington, D.C.

OBITUARY

Australia’s Olympic champion Stephen Wooldridge dies at 39:

Australia’s former Olympic and world cycle champion Stephen Wooldridge died at the age of just 39. He was also a four-time world champion in the discipline and the 2002 Commonwealth Games champion.

Australia

• Capital: Canberra
• Currency: Australian dollar