09 August 2017 Current Affairs

Parliament special session marking 75th anniversary of Quit India movement

Both the Houses of the Parliament today will hold a special session to mark the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold the treasury bench of the Lower House while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will lead the treasury bench of the Upper House. The Parliament will suspend the Question Hour and Zero Hour to make way for this special session. All the parties are also expected to express their views on the same, with the discussion culminating into a resolution that will be passed in order to reaffirm their commitment to the nation. The Quit India Movement also known as the India August Movement in August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British Rule from India.


Justice Dipak Misra to be next Chief Justice of India

Justice Dipak Misra, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was appointed as the next Chief Justice of India. An official notification announcing 63-year-old Misra’s appointment was issued by the law ministry. He will be replacing incumbent Justice J S Khehar, who is set to retire on August 27. It was Khehar who had recommended Misra’s name to succeed him as the next Chief Justice of India.


Two massive earthquakes hit China

At least nine people were killed and 164 others injured in an earthquake that struck China. A seven magnitude earthquake jolted a remote but popular tourist destination in China’s southwest in which 100 people are feared dead and thousands injured. The condition o 30 hospitalized injured was stated to be serious. Five among the dead were visitors to the popular tourist destination of Jiuzhaigou national park.


8th meeting of Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process held in New Delhi

The eighth meeting of the Regional Technical Group of Confidence Building Measure on Trade, Commerce & Investment Opportunities under the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process was hosted by India in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by the Acting Director General, Economic Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, Mr. Hassan Soroosh, and Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. Deepak Mittal and attended by representatives of 17 participating countries and supporting international organisations, including Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UAE, Australia, Egypt, Germany, the UK, the US, the EU and the UN. The participants shared the view that Afghanistan acted as a natural bridge in promoting regional connectivity and economic integration.


Bajaj Auto ties up with Triumph to make mid-capacity motorcycles

Bajaj Auto and Triumph Motorcycles UK have announced a global partnership. This non-equity tie-up between Bajaj and Triumph will enable the former to build a range of mid-capacity motorcycles, building on the collective strengths of both companies. The aim of this partnership is to deliver a range of outstanding mid-capacity motorcycles. It will enable to offer a wide range of motorcycles within its domestic market and other international markets.


Actor Dev Patel gets Asian Game Changer Award

Indian-origin actor Dev Patel is to be honored by a leading educational organization for making a “transformative and positive” difference for the future of Asia and the world. London-born Dev Patel, who became popular with his debut film Slumdog Millionaire, will be felicitated with the Asia Society 2017 Asia Game Changers Award at a ceremony to be held at the United Nations, New York, in November 2017. The Aga Khan is also being honored this year with the Asia Game Changer Lifetime Achievement Award.


Hrithik Roshan signs Rs 100 crore deal with Startup Cure.Fit

Hritik Roshan has been signed as a brand ambassador by a health and wellness startup Cure.fit in a deal worth Rs 100 crore. The actor will be associated with the brand for five years. The deal also includes the actor’s equity stake in the company in lieu of cash investment, promotions and royalty from his personal brand HRX’s specialised workout plan. Cure.fit will soon be launched as a mobile app and is expected to rake in Rs 250-crore annual business in the coming years.


9th August: Nagasaki Day

The atomic age began with the US dropping the first atomic bomb dubbed “Little Boy” on August 6, 1945, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, after its July 16 pre-dawn birth in successful testing at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the second bomb – “Fat Man” – was dropped on Nagasaki, incinerating the city and its unexpecting inhabitants. Their combined devastation was unimaginable.


Flipkart Launches ‘Budding Star Programme’ for Staff

Flipkart has launched ‘Budding Star Programme’, an exclusive programme aimed at Flipkart employees to help them achieve their dreams by providing them financial assistance and paid leave. The programme will cover all national and international sports and non-sports competitors recognized by the govt. authorities. Flipsters who have completed six months with the company are eligible for the ‘Budding Star Programme’.


Indian American appointed US Dy Comptroller For Minority Affairs

Indian American Dilip Chauhan has been appointed as the Deputy Comptroller for Minority Affairs in New York’s Nassau county. He was nominated for the post by Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos. Chauhan had joined the Comptroller’s office in 2015 as Director for Community Affairs, South and East Asia. He has served as senior advisor to the Comptroller since early 2017.


ICICI Bank launches instant credit cards

The country’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, launched instant credit cards enabling its savings account customers to get a credit card instantly, in a completely digital and paperless manner. The bank has opened up this offering to a few lakh of pre-qualified customers who can apply for the card online and generate card details and start shopping online instantly. Currently, this facility to apply for a credit card in–a-flash is available through the Bank’s internet banking platform. It will also be available shortly on iMobile, the Bank’s mobile banking application.


IDFC Bank partners with Zeta for e-payments solution

Private sector lender IDFC Bank has partnered with digital payments company Zeta, to launch ‘IDFC Bank Benefits’. It is a payment solution for corporates that digitizes employee spends and claims, making the process simple, real-time and paperless. The end-to-end digital solution comprises an IDFC Bank Benefits Card and Zeta app which integrates the full suite of allowances and reimbursements offered by an employer into one preloaded card. Employees can also access the Benefits Card via the Zeta app on mobile or web. The Zeta app offers employees a real time view of spends, reimbursement limits and claims.


Syndicate Bank cuts lending rate by 5-10 bps

Syndicate Bank has pared its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 5-10 basis points in certain maturity buckets. MCLR for six months and one year will be 8.3 per cent (8.35 per cent now) and 8.5 per cent (8.60 per cent now), respectively, with effect from 10th August, 2017. MCLR for all other maturities have been left unchanged.


Sri Lanka Commissions an Offshore Patrol Vessel built in India

Sri Lankan Navy has commissioned an India-built state-of-the-art Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), the first-ever purchase from a foreign ship builder, to boost its search and rescue capabilities. Sri Lankan President and Armed Forces commander-in-chief Maithripala Sirisena commissioned the new patrol vessel “SLNS Sayurala”. It is the largest vessel built by an Indian ship builder for a foreign navy to date. Built at the Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) in India, SLNS Sayurala is the first-ever brand new platform purchased from a foreign ship builder. The 105.7 metre-long and 13.6 meter-wide vessel can also be used for external fire-fighting missions.


Axis Bank cuts interest rate on savings account by 50 bps points to 3.5%

Private sector lender Axis Bank reduced interest rate on savings bank accounts by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent for deposits up to Rs 50 lakh. However, the bank will continue to pay 4 per cent interest on deposits of above Rs 50 lakh. Axis Bank is the fourth lender to reduce the interest rate after market leader State Bank of India (SBI) begun the process of reducing interest rate on savings account. On 31 July, 2017, SBI slashed interest rate on savings account deposits by 50 basis points to 3.5% on balance of Rs1 crore and below.


PIO named Canada’s consul general in San Francisco

Rana Sarkar, an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur, has been appointed 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 Canada navigate the renegotiation of NAFTA.


Netflix Made its ‘First Ever’ Acquisition with Millarworld purchase

Online entertainment platform Netflix announced that it has acquired Millarworld, a comic book company. The acquisition was the first ever by Netflix. Together, the two companies will bring Millarworld’s portfolio of character franchises to life through films, series and children’s shows available exclusively to Netflix members. Millarworld was founded in 2004 by Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar who has created characters and stories like Kick-Ass, Kingsman, and Old Man Logan.


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