4 August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download
1. On
August 21, India will host the heads of 14 island nations at the Forum
for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), in what is seen as a
first step towards greater engagement with the region, which is
important from an economic and geostrategic standpoint. The upcoming
summit in Jaipur is expected to pave the way for agreements in
agriculture, food processing, fisheries, solar energy, e-networks for
coordination in telemedicine and tele-education, space cooperation and
climate change.
2. Ved
Prakash Mahawar took over as Director (Onshore) of state-owned Oil and
Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). As Director (Onshore), a board level position,
he will be directly looking after all the onshore operations spread
across the country which significantly contribute towards ONGC's overall
physical performance. He replaces Ashok Verma, who superannuated.
3. The
executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved
the disbursement of about USD 1.7 billion to Ukraine. The IMF has
pledged USD 17.5 billion in total financial assistance over four years.
Thus, the total amount of financing of Ukraine from the Fund will reach
6.68 billion. This financing is aimed at restoring the country's
economy, empowering public finance system and maintaining financial
stability.
4. Indian
women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Rimil
Buriuly won a silver medal at the World Archery Championships in
Copenhagen, Denmark. In the Summit clash, the Indian trio lost the World
Championship final to top seeded Russians 4-5. The Russian team that
defeated the Indian trio was comprised of Inna Stepanova, Ksenia Perova
and Tuyana Dashidorzhieva. It is India's second silver in the ongoing
World Archery Championships where compound archer Rajat Chauhan opened
the account with a historic individual medal.
5. CERN
announced to formally confer its associate membership to Pakistan. With
this Pakistan received a huge boost for its nuclear programme. Pakistan
thus became the first member of CERN among Asian countries and the
first non-European member of this prestigious organization. The
associate membership will open a new era of cooperation that will
strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani
scientific community.
6. South
Sudan became the latest and the 206th member of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) at committee’s ongoing annual meet at Kuala
Lumpur (Malaysia). The significance of its inclusion is that this was
done despite the ongoing fighting in the South Sudan. With the country
now officially part of the IOC, it can send a team to next year’s Rio
Summer Olympics who can compete under its own flag.
7. Kochi
(Kerala) naval harbour of Indian Navy became the first in the country
to get the Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System
(IUHDSS), an automated system capable of detecting, identifying,
tracking and generating warning for surface and underwater threats.
IUHDSS is a state-of-the-art naval defence system which will enable
operators to foresee, and respond to, surface and sub-surface threats to
vital assets along the harbour and warships in the quay. It was
designed by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI).
8. According
to data released from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey
(NSS) on fuel used for cooking and lighting, the percentage of rural
population in the country still used firewood for cooking in 2011-12 was
67.3%. The data relate to a survey conducted by the NSSO on a
nationally representative sample during 2011-12. According to the survey
Tamil Nadu had the highest use of LPG among rural households during
2011-12.
9. Golfer
Ranveer Singh Saini created history by becoming the first Indian to win
a Gold medal at the Special Olympics World Games. The 14-year-old
autistic golfer achieved the feat in GF Golf-Level 2 Alternate Shot Team
Play event. Ranveer and his partner Monica Jajoo were nine shots clear
of joint second-placed teams from Hong Kong (Tsz Leung Chung-Ka Kit Lam)
and Nippon (Takefumi Hiyoshi-Tadatoshi Sakai).
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| 4 August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download |
10. Indian
squash champion Joshna Chinappa won the women’s squash title in the
15000 US Dollar Victorian Open WSA Event in Melbourne, Australia. In the
final clash, Chinappa defeated second seeded Line Hansen of Denmark
11-5, 11-4, 11-9. This was tenth WSA title for 28-year-old Joshna, the
last being the Richmond Open title win in April 2014.
11. Ganga
Ram Agarwal, an officer of the Indian railway services of electrical
engineering (IRSEE), has been posted as the new secretary of the railway
board. He takes over from P.C. Gajbhiye, who superannuated. Prior to
this, Agarwal was working as chief electrical engineer, central railway.
