Current Affairs 25th August 2015

Current Affairs 25th August 2015 - Important Points

• Which city will host the 2015 FIH Hockey World League Final - Raipur

• Who is appointed as Chairman of India's Oscar jury - Amol Palekar

• Postal stamp on Ashoka were released by - Union Government

• Who is appointed as a full-time federal judge by Obama - Indian-American Vince Chhabria

• Who has been awarded with Peter Mackler Award 2015 - Syrian woman Journalist Zaina Erhaim

• Who has sworned-in as Lokayukta of Maharashtra - Justice ML Tahaliyani

• An MoU on cooperation in fields of education, training and research was signed between - India and Australia

• Expert group to draft Model Land Leasing Law was set up by - NITI Aayog

• 105-year-old Urdu copy of Ramcharitmanas was found at - Hauz Khas in New Delhi

Current Affairs 25th August 2015 - Details

Which city will host the 2015 FIH Hockey World League Final - Raipur

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, Between 27th November and 6th December 2015, the 2015 FIH Hockey World League (HWL) Final will be hosted by Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre made this announcement in the third week of August 2015. The league will be carrried out at the 3000 capacity Raipur International Hockey Stadium.

The teams which will participate int the league are Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, India and Argentina.

Who is appointed as Chairman of India's Oscar jury - Amol Palekar

Among the important appointments, On 24th August 2015, Veteran actor and director Amol Palekar was appointed as the Chairman of India's Oscar jury Film Federation of India (FFI). He will replace Hriharan and Goutam Ghose as the chairman of the committee.

From 17th September to 24th September 2015, he 17-member jury that will select the country's official entry in the best foreign film category of the 88th Academy Awards will be headed by him which will be held on 28th February 2016 in Los Angeles.

About Amol Palekar

• He is an Indian actor and a director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema.
• In the year 2005, his directorial film Paheli was chosen as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.
• National Award-winning films like Dhyaas Parva and Quest were direccted by him.
• At present he is seen on the TV show Ek Nayi Ummeed- Roshni.

Postal stamp on Ashoka were released by - Union Government

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 24th August 2015, Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad released a commemorative postal stamp of 5 rupees on emperor Ashoka during a Bharatiya Janata Party function to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ashoka.

About Ashoka

Between 269 BCE to 232 BCE, Ashoka Maurya was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost the entire Indian subcontinent. He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of Mauryan dynasty.

Who is appointed as a full-time federal judge by Obama - Indian-American Vince Chhabria

Among the important appointments, On 24th August 2015, Indian-American Vince Chhabria was appointed as the full-time federal judge of California court by President Barack Obama. He is the first Indian-American federal judge of Bay Area.

10 other people are also elevated by Obama as the full-time judge in the third largest US state California.

About Vince Chhabria

• He graduated with honours from University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
• Earlier, he worked in the private sector, first as an associate at Keker & Van Nest and later at Covington & Burling.

Who has been awarded with Peter Mackler Award 2015 - Syrian woman Journalist Zaina Erhaim

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 22nd August 2015, 2015 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism was awarded to Syrian woman journalist Zaina Erhaim. She was honoured with this award for her efforts to train citizen reporters in her war-ravaged country.

She has trained about 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately one third of them are women, in print and TV journalism for over the last two years.

She is the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), which is an international organization that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition.

Do You Know

• This award was founded in June, 2008 to honor the memory of Peter Mackler, a Brooklyn-born thirty-five year veteran journalist who championed ethical journalism and freedom of expression.
• The award is presented to those journalists who fight courageously and ethically to report the news in countries where freedom of the press is either not guaranteed or not recognized.

Who has sworned-in as Lokayukta of Maharashtra - Justice ML Tahaliyani

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 24th August 2015, Justice Madanlal Laxmandas Tahaliyani, was sworn-in as the new Lokayukta of Maharashtra. The oath of office to Justice Tahaliyani at Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan’s Darbar Hall in Mumbai was administered by Governor Vidyasagar Rao.

He is also known as the Gree Judge due to his passion for nature. He has administered over several high-profile trials, including the the money laundering case involving businessman Hasan Ali, 26/11 attacks and Gulshan Kumar murder.

About Justice Tahaliyani

Prior to his appointment as the Metropolitan Magistrate in 1987 at the Bandra Metropolitan Court, he studied law in Nagpur.

In 1997, he was appointed as Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai, in 1994. Some other posts held by him included

• Principal Judge Bombay City Civil Court in 2010
• He was elevated a as High Court Judge on 18 March 2011
• 2nd Additional Principal Judge, City Civil Court, Mumbai, in 2009
• 1st Additional Principal Judge in 2009
• Registrar (Inspection) High Court of Bombay in 2008
• Judge of Bombay City Civil Court in 1997

An MoU on cooperation in fields of education, training and research was signed between - India and Australia

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 24th August 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the fields of education, training and research was inked between India and Australia. Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Education and Training, Australia and Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Human Resource Development signed the Mou.

The MoU will help in strengthening existing partnerships between India and Australia in higher education & research, including technical and professional education, schools, vocational education and training and will open up new and innovative areas of cooperation.

Objectives of this MoU

• Encouraging twinning arrangements between institutions of higher learning and organisation of joint research programmes and publications.
• Sharing best practice education materials including research materials, publications, and educational literature.
• Supporting skills development through joint conferences, seminars, policy dialogue and technical cooperation in national standards development.
• It will develop bilateral programmes between institutions of educational excellence in technical, vocational, schools and higher education, subject to availability of funds.
• It will improve credit transfer arrangements and work towards qualifications recognition between Australia and India.
• Supporting and organizing professional development programmes for subject experts, educational administrators, faculty members and teachers.
• Expansion of Australia India Education Council membership from time to time to ensure appropriate representation from academia, policy makers and industry.
• Strengthening of the policy dialogue and exchange in areas of mutual benefit, including qualification and quality frameworks and standards for education, research and training.
• It will support mobility of students and faculty members through formal exchange programs, internships and other modalities.

About Australia-India Education Council (AIEC)

It was established in 2011 as a commitment by the Education Ministers of India and Australia to guide the strategic direction of the education, training and research partnership.

Expert group to draft Model Land Leasing Law was set up by - NITI Aayog

On 24th August 2015, an experts committee to prepare a model land leasing law, which can be adopted by states as per their local needs was decided to be set up by NITI Aayog.

The representatives of the states generally agreed that land leasing, updating of land records and land titling would be win-win steps for all affected parties and expressed keen interest in making progress on them in the months to come.

Highlights

• A committee of experts to prepare a model land leasing law that the states can adopt to suit their local needs will be appointed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson.
• The NITI Aayog in discussion with the Department of Land Resources will accommodate the interested states in moving forward with updating and digitising land records in accordance with the best practices.
• Land related issues such as land leasing, updating and digitisation of land records and land titling are important state issues in need of a fresh look and possible actions by the states.

The Aayog said, in most cases, the states enacted land-leasing laws post-independence. However, due to one or other reasons these laws heavily discouraged leasing and sub-leasing of land. It said, in the longer run, the laws ended up affecting both landowners and tenants adversely.

105-year-old Urdu copy of Ramcharitmanas was found at - Hauz Khas in New Delhi

105-year-old Shri Ramcharitmanas(Urdu Copy) was found from a scrap market at Hauz Khas in New Delhi. In 1904, the book was written by Shiv Brat Lal who was a resident of Bhadohi district. In 1910, it was printed at Lahore’s Half-Tone press. It was found in a pile of torn books three years ago.

Sankat Mochan temple priest family bought this book for 600 rupees. The copy contains a preface of 20 pages and has four hand-drawn photographs, in which one photograph not only carries the pictures of Lord Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman but also of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.

While searching for an ancient manuscript of Sri Ramcharitmanas, which was stolen along with other precious articles related to Goswami Tulsidas from the Sankat Mochan temple at Tulsi Ghat, the family of the priest discovered the Urdu copy of the book. The team from the Sankat Mochan temple was searching for the manuscript after it was stolen from the temple.