CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR IBPS RRB : 6th, AUGUST 2017-INDIA HOPEFUL OPERATIONS AT CHABAHAR PORT WILL START BY 2018

NATIONAL

Indian Railways signs first EPC contract with L&T to speed up electrification:   

With the aim of boosting its “Mission Electrification” plan, Indian Railways signed its first Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with L&T for large electrification projects. The contract valuing Rs 1,050 crore for electrification of 781 route kilometres (RKM) was awarded by Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) and Konkan Railways.

ISRO to sign MoU with CSIR-NPL to make desi GPS:

Seeking to make desi GPS – indigenous regional positioning system named as Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) – independent from the US clock system, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will on Friday sign an MoU with CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for time and frequency traceability services.

The move will help the desi GPS get formally synchronized with the Indian Standard Time (IST) which is being maintained by the Delhi-based NPL – the timekeeper of India.

India hopeful operations at Chabahar Port will start by 2018:

The Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that the government is keen on developing Chabahar Port in Iran and is hopeful of starting operations by 2018. Shri Gadkari is in Teheran, to represent India at the taking over of office by President Hassan Rouhani for the second term. The Indian Government has allocated Rs 6 billion for the development of the port. Out of this, tenders worth Rs 380 Crore for equipment have already been finalized.

About Chabahar Port:

Iran’s Chabahar port located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on the south-eastern coast is a port of great strategic utility for India. It lies outside the Persian Gulf and is accessed from India’s western coast. As per an MoU signed between India and Iran in May last year, India is to equip and operate two berths in Chabahar Port Phase-I with capital investment of USD 85.21 million and annual revenue expenditure of USD 22.95 million on a 10-year lease.

Iran

• Currency: Iranian rial
• Capital: Tehran
• President: Hassan Rouhani

INTERNATIONAL

UN Security Council imposes new sanctions on North Korea:

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea for its continued intercontinental ballistic missile testing and violations of UN resolutions. The UNSC unanimously approved tough new sanctions ban on coal and other exports worth over 1 billion dollars.

The measures would be the seventh set of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since it first carried out a nuclear test in 2006. The resolution prevents North Korea from increasing the number of workers it sends abroad.

North Korea

• Currency: won
• Capital: Pyongyang
• Leader: Kim Jong-un

USA    

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

APPOINTMENTS

Venkaiah Naidu elected as Vice President:

The ruling NDA candidate and former Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the next Vice-President of India.

He will replace Mohammad Hamid Ansari, whose second term ends. Mr. Naidu, former Union Minister was elected as the 13th Vice President, after he defeated the Opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi. 

Economist Rajiv Kumar to be new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog:

Economist Rajiv Kumar will be the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. He will succeed Arvind Panagariya, the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog. Mr. Panagariya had recently resigned from his post.

Earlier, he was Secretary General of the FICCI and had also served as Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. He has also served as the chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries and held senior positions in the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.

The government has also appointed Dr Vinod Paul, a pediatrician at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences as a member of the NITI Aayog. Dr Paul has done substantial work in public health.

NITI Aayog:

• Niti Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant
• Head Quarters: New Delhi

Indo-Canadian named Canada’s consul general in San Francisco:

Rana Sarkar, an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur, has been appointed as Canada’s Consul General in San Francisco as well as a member of the Canadian official team tasked with renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA with the US and Mexico. Sarkar was till recently national director for high growth markets at the Toronto-based multi-national KPMG. Sarkar is part of a 13-member group tasked with helping the Canada navigate the renegotiation of NAFTA.

Canada

• Currency: Canadian dollar
• Capital: Ottawa

SPORTS

Usain Bolt finishes 3rd in 100 meters Final at World Athletics C’ship:

Usain Bolt has been stunned as he finished third in the 100 meters Final of World Athletics Championship at London. In his farewell 100 meters, Bolt clocked a time of 9.95 seconds but was left behind by veteran American sprinter Justin Gatlin who clocked 9.92 seconds to claim Gold, his compatriot Christian Coleman came second with 9.94 seconds.

United Kingdom

• Currency: Pound sterling
• Capital: London

Vijender beats Zulpikar to win WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title:

Indian professional boxer Vijender Singh outslugged his Chinese opponent Zulpikar Maimaitiali to retain the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title and win the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title, Mumbai. 

 Ankur Mittal wins gold in Asian Shotgun Championship:

Indian shooter Ankur Mittal clinched the individual as well as the team gold medal in men’s double trap at the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship at Astana, Kazakhstan. With scores of Sangram Dahiya and Mohammad Asab added to Mittal’s final total, India managed to bag the top prize in the team event also. In the individual event, Dahiya finished fourth, while Asab had to be contend with the fifth position.

Kazakhstan

• Currency: Kazakhstani Tenge
• Capital: Astana 

Manish, Sajan enter bronze medal round in Junior World Wrestling:

Two Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers Manish (60kg) and Sajan (74kg) have entered the bronze-medal round of their respective weight categories in the Junior World Wrestling championships in Finland.

 Finland

• Currency: Euro
• Capital: Helsinki 

Tenth successive global title for fabulous Farah:

British athletics legend Mo Farah won his 10th successive global title claiming the 10,000 metres world crown at the London Stadium where he won Olympic gold in 2012.

Ugandan youngster Joshua Cheptegei took silver and Paul Tanui of Kenya claimed bronze with Farah having once again foiled their respective nations’ tactics.

Historic Events of the Day

Hiroshima Day: August 6^th:

This Hiroshima Day anniversary, 72 years after we dropped the first atomic bomb as a weapon of war, will be different.

Japan marked 72 years since the world’s first nuclear attack on Hiroshima, with the nation’s traditional contradictions over atomic weapons again coming into focus.

About Hiroshima

In the morning of August 6, 1945, the world witnessed the devastating impact of nuclear weapons for the very first time, when a U.S. plane dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Japan

• Capital: Tokyo
• Currency: Yen
• Prime minister: Shinzō Abe