Important Current Affairs 8th August

• RBI Governer’s last monetary policy
  • RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan in his last monetary policy tomorrow may keep interest rate static as retail inflation continues.
  • This is going to be the last bi-monthly monetary policy to be decided by the central bank Governor.
  • In conjunction with naming its 3 members on the Monetary Policy Committee, the government is also likely to name a successor to Dr. Rajan sometime this month.
• Lodha Panel rejects BCCI’s request
  • The Lodha panel declined the request of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to defer the scheduled meeting on Tuesday on implementation of reforms within the next six months.
  • BCCI official said that the move was a deliberate delaying tactics which BCCI wanted to employ with an aim of getting a stay order on the July 18th verdict.
  • RM Lodha panel was formed to revamp the BCCI structure.
• Iran executes nuclear scientist
  • Iran executed a nuclear scientist convicted of spying for the United States, an official said on Sunday.
  • Shahram Amiri defected to the U.S. at the height of Western efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program.
  • This comes as an acknowledgment for the first time that the nation secretly detained and tried a man who was once heralded as a hero.
• Blast in Pakistan’s hospital in Quetta
  • At least 55 people were today killed in a powerful bomb blast through a government-run hospital in Quetta in Pakistan.
  • The blast came hours after unidentified gunmen shot dead president of Balochistan Bar Association Bilal Anwar Kasi
  • A heavy contingent of Frontier Corps and police arrived and cordoned off the area.
• Iranian athlete makes history at Rio
  • Archer Zahra Nemati became the first woman to lead the Iran contingent at the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Games.
  • Arriving at the stadium in a wheelchair, wearing a green head covering, Nemati was the flagbearer for a team made up mostly of men.
  • She will also represent Iran in the World Paralympics next month.
• Abhijeet Keeps Crown
  • Grandmaster and former World junior champion Abhijeet Gupta has added another feather to his cap by retaining the Commonwealth Chess championship crown in Colombo
  • All the medals won in the senior category were won by Indian players.
  • Grandmasters S.L. Narayanan and Deep Chakkravarthy got the silver and bronze medals in the open section.
• Karnataka emerges as investors favourite
  • Gujarat was ranked first among all States in 2015 for attracting maximum ‘investment intentions’ in value terms.
  • It has lost its position to Karnataka halfway through this calendar year.
  • The investment intentions received by Karnataka in the first six months of 2016 was more than what Gujarat had attracted in the whole of 2015.
• India to attend SAARC conference
  • A three-member Parliamentary delegation would be travelling to Islamabad to attend the first SAARC Young Parliamentarians Conference (YPC)
  • The theme of the conference is ‘Peace and Harmony for Development’ and would be held from August 16 to 18 in Islamabad
  • The YPC intends to offer young Parliamentarians’ narrative as a prelude to the 19th SAARC Summit that Pakistan will be hosting in November
• Word on Mercury’s Volcanoes
  • A new research has shown that most volcanic activity on Mercury stopped around 3.5 billion years ago
  • Due to unavailability of physical samples from Mercury, researchers used photographs of the solar system’s inner-most planet’s surface, taken by NASA’s Messenger mission
  • The research gives planetary scientists further insight into the effects of planets cooling and contracting.
• NASA releases HDR video
  • NASA has released a rocket motor test video in extreme slow motion
  • The video offers a spectacular view of QM-2 test by company Orbital ATK
  • It was captured using a High Dynamic Range Stereo X camera (HiDyRS-X)
  • NASA has planned to use the SLS rocket to launch its new Orion spacecraft to send astronauts on deep-space voyages to an asteroid, Mars and beyond.
• TRAI to issue proposal on free data
  • TRAI is expected to issue its final recommendations in a month’s time on the issue of free data, which has been opposed by telecom providers and some internet content providers.
  • It is said that the exercise was aimed to increase the overall consumption of data among telecom subscribers expanding the pie of data use in the country.
  • TRAI stands for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
• Djokovic knocked out of Rio Olympics
  • World number one Novak Djokovic was shocked after losing to Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro
  • The Serbian faced an exit from Rio Olympics after the first round 7-6(4) 7-6(2) loss to Argentinian.
  • Djokovic has dominated the men’s game in recent years and had made it a priority to win an Olympic gold medal.
• GST bill in Lok Sabha today
  • GST Bill which was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday will be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
  • BJP has cracked the whip on its MPs to be present in the House to ensure its smooth passage.
  • The Bill is expected to sail through the Lok Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA has a commanding majority.
  • The GST is aimed at bringing uniform tax regime in the country.
• Phelps clinches 19th Olympic gold medal
  • Michael Phelps continued his legacy as he clinched his 19th Olympic gold medal after leading his country to a thrilling 4x100m freestyle relay win at Rio Olympics.
  • The 31-year-old American is the most decorated Olympian in history.
  • Phelps has now extended his medal tally to staggering 23 medals, which includes two silvers and two bronzes.
• Dipa Karmakar qualifies for vault finals
  • Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar scripted history as she became the first Indian to make the cut for the individual vault finals in her debut Olympic Games.
  • Country’s first woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics managed to perform her much-appreciated ‘Produnova’ vault cleanly to secure 14.850 points.
  • Dipa hails from Tripura.
• China ‘Out-Of-Place’ on THAAD: Korea
  • South Korea urged Beijing to play a stronger role against North Korea’s provocations on the peninsula.
  • China had criticised Seoul’s move to host a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit with the U.S. military.
  • South Korea and the United States began discussions to deploy a THAAD unit in the South after the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch
• Russians banned from Paralympics
  • International Paralympic Committee on Sunday expelled Russia from its Games for disabled athletes owing to the massive doping scandal.
  • Russia said within minutes of the announcement that it would be appealing against the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, sport’s highest court.
  • 2016 Paralympic games are scheduled to be held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in September.
• Referendum in Thailand
  • Thais are voting for the first time since the army grabbed power in 2014, in a referendum on a new military-drafted constitution.
  • This new constitution will be Thailand’s 20th since absolute monarchy was abolished in the early 1930s.
  • Thai constitutions tend to get torn up and rewritten whenever the power balance shifts.
• Japan and China tensed on East China Sea
  • Japan has raised objections after Chinese government vessels intruded into what Tokyo considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
  • Chinese activity near the Senkaku and Diaoyu islands has heated up prompting repeated Japanese protests.
  • The incidents come amid tensions after an arbitration court invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea
• Tropical Storm off Mexico’s coast
  • Tropical Storm Javier formed in the eastern Pacific on Sunday and was expected to bring heavy rains and high winds to southwestern Mexico
  • The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Javier was about 80km southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.
  • A second tropical storm, Ivette, also was swirling in the eastern Pacific.