8th August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to shift, merge or close branches in urban areas without seeking its prior permission. According to RBI banks can shift, merge or close all branches except rural branches and sole semi-urban branches at their discretion. Shifting, merging or closing a branch in a rural area or a sole branch in a semi-urban area would, however, continue to require prior permission from RBI. RBI took this decision to give extra freedom to banks.

2. Katie Ledecky picked up her fourth gold medal at 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia as the United States won the women's 4x200m freestyle title. Ledecky touched the wall in 7min 45.37sec. Italy won silver medal whereas China came third and won bronze medal.

3. Arvind Kumar Singh, senior journalist of Rajya Sabha TV has been awarded with top most award of Agricultural Journalism, the Chaudhary Charan Singh Award for Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural Research and Development, 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the award to Singh in electronic media category at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s 87th foundation day celebrations. Singh is a well known Hindi writer and journalist.

4. In a historic move, retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) kickstarted the process of investing in the stock market, with an initial corpus of around Rs. 5,000 crore to be invested through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in the current fiscal. It invested in the major shares of SENSEX and NIFTY. Next year this investment woud increase upto 15,000 crore rupees. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya announced the first investment.

5. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi opened a new USD 9 billion Suez Canal amid lavish celebrations as Egypt unveiled its 'gift to the world', the historic waterway that will run parallel to the existing one amid hopes of boosting the country's ailing economy.

6. India and Mozambique signed Memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector. The agreement was signed during the official visit of Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique to India. Moreover, both nations also agreed to intensify cooperation in maritime security and ocean economy as both the countries have large coastlines and are linked by Indian Ocean.

7. Amitava Ghosh was appointed as Vice President (Engineering) of e-commerce portal Snapdeal. As a Vice President-engineering, Ghosh will head company’s technology innovation centre in Bengaluru. Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at TaxiForSure. Earlier, he was serving as the Head of Indian engineering team of Tribune Digital Ventures.

8. Delhi Government reconstituted the Urdu Academy which will comprise of 19 Urdu poets, renowned academicians, and authors. Dr. Majid Deobandi was appointed as the Vice-Chairperson of the Academy. Deobandi is a very well known and popular figure in the Urdu Circle.

9. Federal Bank launched India’s first Mobile App for Bank Account Opening in Mumbai. Federal Bank has introduced this unique facility of Mobile based Bank Account Opening as an upgrade to FedBook, its e-Passbook App, launched two years ago. With the new avatar of FedBook, anyone having an Aadhaar Card and PAN Card can now open a Savings Bank Account and get their Account Number instantly using a mobile from anywhere at any time. Further, the account can also be funded with an initial remittance through online fund transfer up to a maximum amount of Rs. 10000.

10. Colonel Harwant Singh (retd), a World War-II hero, died at Patiala. He was 95. He was officer-in-charge of the flag hoisting ceremony on the first Independence Day of India in 1947. Commissioned in 2nd battalion of the Sikh Regiment in September 1941, Singh served in Iraq, Palestine, North Africa, Cyprus and Italy during World War-II for the British Army flag hoisting ceremony.