Current Affairs 8th Aug 2017

Current Affairs 8th Aug 2017 - Important Points

• New Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog - Rajiv Kumar
• Who has been elected as next Vice-President of India? - Venkaiah Naidu
• Who has been appointed Executive Director at World Bank?- Senior bureaucrat Aparna
• Ravindra Jadeja ranked No 1 Test all-rounder on - 8th August 2017
• National Handloom Day observed across India to promote welfare of weavers on - 7th August 2017
• Coconut regains tree status in Goa as Assembly passes bill on - 7th August 2017

Current Affairs 8th Aug 2017 - Details

New Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog - Rajiv Kumar

The Union government appointed noted economist Rajiv Kumar as the new Vice- Chairman of NITI Aayog on 5th August 2017. Kumar succeeded Arvind Panagariya, who recently announced his resignation in order to return back to the field of academics. He holds a doctorate in economics from Oxford University and Lucknow University. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research (CPR), a public policy think-tank plus author of several books on the Indian economy and India’s national security.
More about Rajiv Kumar

• He is the Chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics in Pune and the founding director of Pahle India Foundation which is also a non-profit research organisation that specializes in policy-oriented research and analysis.
• Before serving at CPR, he was the Secretary General of the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry).
• He has also served as the Director and Chief Executive of the ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations) and chief economist of the CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) previously .
• He has also held various high rank positions with the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.
• He is also a board member of many  national and international institutions including the State Bank of India, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and Asia in Jakarta, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
• He also served as a member of the Government of India's National Security Advisory Board between 2006 and 2008.

Who has been elected as next Vice-President of India? - Venkaiah Naidu

BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Vice-Presidential candidate M Venkaiah Naidu has won the Vice Presidential election on 6th August 2017.  With this election, Naidu will be serving India as the 13th in person Vice President of the country and 15th overall. With this victory, Naidu will be succeeding Mohammad Hamid Ansari whose term will come to an end on 10th August 2017. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Hamid Ansari have served twice the country as its Vice President.

 Venkaiah Naidu who is 68 years old has won the Vice Presidential election by defeating the opposition candidate and former West Bengal Governor and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson
Gopalkrishna Gandhi. During the election, Naidu received total votes of 516; while Gandhi got 244 votes out of total 771 parliamentarians who actually voted for the same.
After his sworn-in, Naidu will also serve as the third vice-President of India from Andhra Pradesh. The other two Vice Presidents from Andhra Pradesh were Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and VV Giri, later on both of them became President.

Who has been appointed Executive Director at World Bank?- Senior bureaucrat Aparna

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s Principal Secretary, S Aparna who is a senior IAS officer has been appointed as the Executive Director at the World Bank in the United States for three years.
The 1988- batch IAS officer would be representing four nations- India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka at the prestigious international body.  The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) shared this information.
More about Aparna

• The 53-year-old has a vast amount of experience in the field of public finance and economic affairs. She has done Infrastructure Development and Financing course from IIM-Bangalore.
• Her efficient administration handling led her to be retained by Vijay Rupani as CM’s Principal Secretary when he took over the post in 2016.
• She has worked with the State finance department on various assignments in her three-decade-long career.
• She also served as the collector of Valsad and Bharuch districts following which she was brought back to Gandhinagar where she was first posted in the home department.
• She then served the finance department between January 2001 and March 2002.
• She was then deputed for service under the Central government, where she served the textile and urban development ministries until 2007.
• After that, she was appointed as the Surat Municipal Commissioner in Gujarat, which further gave her the opportunity to execute several exemplary projects and public works.

Ravindra Jadeja ranked No 1 Test all-rounder on - 8th August 2017

Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja edged past Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan to become the number one all-rounder in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings 2017 on 8th August 2017.
This honor adds to his already existing top rank in the test bowlers chart. Jadeja has a seven pointer lead with 438 points over Shakib who has 431 points among the all-rounders.

Key Highlights

• Coming to the batting rankings, Steve Smith and Joe Root retained their rank at Number 1 and 2.
• India’s Cheteshwar Pujara gained a position to be at the 3rd position with 888 points, while Indian skipper Virat Kohli has also maintained his stand at the 5th position with 813 points.
• The only other two Indians to feature in the top 10 are Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin, Whereas Rahane moved up five positions to be placed 6th in the Test Batting rankings with 776 points, Ashwin is placed 3rd in Test Bowling Rankings and Test All-Rounder Rankings both with 842 and 418 points respectively.
• Unfortunately, the match that landed Jadeja at the top spot also led him to get suspended for one test.
• While Jadeja’s knock of 70 not out and seven wickets helped India to sail through the second Test against Sri Lanka, beating the nation by an innings and 53 runs.
• He breached the ICC’s Code of Conduct that got him suspended from India’s upcoming third and final test match.
• Jadeja was found guilty to breach article 2.2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel.
• During the third day’s play in the Colombo Test against Sri Lanka on 5th August, Jadeja, after fielding off his own bowling on the final delivery of the 58th over, threw the ball back at the batsman who did not even leave his crease.

Vows taken by North Korea to retaliate against the US over - UN sanctions

North Korea has vowed to retaliate against the United States for drafting fresh UN sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons program.
It warned US to pay the price for its crime thousands of time, Pyongyang said that the sanctions, which were unanimously passed by the UN on 5th August 2017, were a strong violation of its sovereignty.
The country further stated that it would not put out their self-defensive nuclear deterrent on the negotiating table while it faces threats from the US.

While speaking to the media, North Korean spokesman Bang Kwang Hyuk at a regional forum in Manila which is the capital of Philippines, said that the worsening  situation on the Korean peninsula and the nuclear issues, were being caused by the United States. “We affirm that we'll never be placing our nuclear and ballistic missiles program on the negotiation table and won't budge an inch to strengthen nuclear armament,” Hyuk said.

 The UN has imposed sanctions on North Korea with an aim to minimize its export revenues by a third in response to Pyongyang's long-range ballistic missile tests done last month.
The new measures target North Korea's primary exports including coal, iron, seafood and attempt to cut off its additional revenue streams by targeting  some of its banks and joint ventures with foreign companies. South Korea in its own statement said that the North has rejected its offer to restart talks, dismissing it as insincere.

National Handloom Day observed across India to promote welfare of weavers on - 7th August 2017

The 3rd National Handloom Day was observed across nation on 7th August 2017, in order honor the handloom weavers and promote indigenous creations of the country. The main focus of this day is to highlight the handloom contribution to the socioeconomic development of the nation and promote handlooms to boost the income of  weavers and also to bring their hard work and undying skills out in the limelight.
Smriti Irani, the Union Textiles Minister addressed a gathering to mark the occasion at Ahmedabad.
Various programs were held in schools, universities and other institutions as well. The main function to observe the day this year was held at Guwahati and it was presided over by Ajay Tamta, Union Minister of State, Textiles. The Minister spoke on the occasion that the Government of India is taking various initiatives for the welfare of handloom weavers.

He continued saying that he not only appreciates but also salutes the handloom weavers for their dedication, commitment and skill. He also added that the handloom weavers should be able to earn due value for their produce and that the Government is working in this direction.

Coconut regains tree status in Goa as Assembly passes bill on - 7th August 2017

Goa Legislative Assembly passed Goa, Daman and Diu, Preservation of Trees Act, 1984 on 7th August 2017. The bill also seeks to reclassify coconut as a tree and ensures legal protection to it.
The bill has been passed to regulate falling of coconut trees and reclassify it as a tree on the last day of the Monsoon session of the state.

Goa Forward Party which is a partner in the Manohar Parrikar-led government has also promised to reclassify coconut as a tree. The previous Laxmikant Parsekar-led government had changed this classification of the coconut tree to a palm.
The bill was needed as the previous BJP-led coalition government in Goa was accused to amend the Goa Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees act 1984 in 2016 and to drop the tree status granted to the coconut tree. They accused that the action took quick action on real estate and industrial development at the cost of environment. Green activists have claimed that it would make it easy to cut down coconut trees in the coastal state indiscriminately as it would need no formal permission.