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National
Mumbai – Nagpur Super Communication Expressway
- a detailed plan for the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, a 706-km link that seeks to connect 24 districts and improve access from rural communities in the east to commercial hubs in the west.
- total length of this highway is700 km from Nagpur to Mumbai, excluding the portions of NH 7 and NH 3 it covers at Nagpur-Butibori and Ghoti-Kalyan-Mumbai sectors respectively.
- will have at least three lanes on each side, will reduce travel time between the two cities from 12-16 hours.
- Rs 46,000-crore project, formally called ‘Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor’, also involves construction of agricultural centers, warehouses and other facilities that the state hopes will lead to creation of thousands of new jobs.
Task force in the International Arbitration BROCS Conference
- creation of a task forceof experts and officials to deliberate on the challenges in international arbitration in the BRICS countries and put in place institutional mechanisms to establish arbitral centers in these nations has been suggested by India.
- suggestion comes at a time when there is greater push for reforms in the lawto ensure dispute resolution happens quicker and there is ease of doing business.
- necessary to make enforcement of awards largely free from the interference by domestic courts. This was imperative as many countries fear that the arbitral awards are loaded against the emerging countries.
- emerging economies, predominantly the BRICS nations, would have to shoulder the responsibility of driving global growth
- the BRICS nations would have to evolve and put forth a common agenda for growth, and the key is to develop local capabilities to deal with the challenges that lie ahead.
India’s first Textile University to be opened in Surat, Gujarat
- India’sfirst textile university at Surat with an investment of about Rs 800 crore to be setup in Gujarat
- ultimate aim of the university is to provide all kind of support including technology, research and development (R&D), skilled manpower.
- Gujarat government will provide funds worth Rs 800-900 crore for the development of the textile university.
- university will build on over250 acre land in Surat and it is expected to get operational in the next one and a half years.
22nd edition of ‘Delhi Book Fair’ starts on Sunday August 28
- Fair organized by Indian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) in association with Federation of Indian Publishers will last 9 days i.e. up to September 4 from 27 August 2016.
- 22nd edition of the Delhi Book Fairhas kick started to promote literacy and higher education among children and the youth
- Book Show intended to highlight initiatives undertaken by the central government for its ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’ flagship program to inculcate better reading habits among the younger generation.
2016 Mountain Echoes Literary Festival
- seventh edition of the Mountain Echoes Literary Festival 2016Kicked off in the capital city of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Thimbu on 26 August 2016.
- aims to provide a platform for the greatest literary minds to engage in a cultural dialogue. In this edition it will focus on climatechange, women’s voices and travel writing.
- three-day long Festival is an initiative of the India Bhutan Foundation, in association with Siyahi, powered by the Rajasthan government’s Department of Tourism.
International
First Asian Science and Technology (S&T) Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
- first Asian Science and Technology (S&T) Conferencefor Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR 2016-DRR) was organized by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (UNISDR AP)held at Bangkok in Thailand.
- event saw a discussion on Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 about shifting managing disasters to managing risks.
- In the conference there was a discussion about the key issues, challenges, needs and opportunities in application of science in policy making and share good practices from the region.
19th SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad on November 9 and 10
- 19th Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit will be held in Islamabad on 9 and 10 November
- Saarc summit cell is headed by ambassador Amjad Sial, who is a senior diplomat and Pakistan’s nominee for the next Saarc secretary general.
- The Saarc summit cell will closely work with all stakeholders and concerned authorities in Pakistan. It will also liaise with the member states, Saarc observersand the Saarc secretariat for organisation of the summit.
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) is comprised of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Business and Economy
DIPP to launch a Nationwide Awareness Campaign on Intellectual Property rights
- Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, DIPP, will launch a nation-wide awareness campaign on Intellectual Property Rights
- It will be taken forward by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management(CIPAM) in collaboration with the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) and Industry Associations.
- CIPAM, a professional body under DIPP, has already conducted a pilot round ofawareness road shows across 18 states of the country over June-July 2016, in partnership with industry associations.
- industry associations have extended their full support to the campaign and gave various ideas on how to take the awareness campaign forward for all IPRs.
- Discussions were held on the mode of dissemination of information and promotional content at various levels – schools, college and industry.
People in News
Punit Misra named CEO of Zee Entertainment domestic broadcast business
- Mumbai Zee Entertainment Enterprises has appointed Punit Misra as Chief Executive Officer for domestic broadcast business.
- Misra’s appointment will come to effect from October 1 will report to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Punit Goenka.
- Misra was Executive Director-Sales and Customer Development at Hindustan Unilever and joined HUL as a management trainee in 1996.
- He had several stints in leadership roles across customer development, brand building, brand development and general management within the FMCG major at customer development team of Unilever in the domestic and international scale.
Sharmila Tagore appointed as a new member of the BCCC
- Sharmila Tagore, theatre activist Arundhati Nag and film studies academician Ira Bhaskar have been appointed new members of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), the self-regulatory body which hears complaints against TV content.
- Sharmila Tagoreis an Indian film actress known for her works predominantly in Hindi cinema
- She has received two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards for her performances.
- She led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011. In December 2005 she was chosen as an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
- She was one of the International Competition’s Jury Members at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
- In 2013, she was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.
- Tagore began her career as an actress in Satyajit Ray’s 1959 Bengali film Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), as the ill-fated bride of the title character.
- She later appeared in Shakti Samanta’s Kashmir Ki Kali in 1964. Samanta cast her in many more films, including An Evening in Paris (1967), in which she became the first Indian actress to appear in a bikini.
Awards
Lalita Babar chosen for SJAM’s sports woman of the year award
- Steeplechase specialist Lalita Babar, who finished a creditable 10th in the Rio Olympics, have been chosen for the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai’s(SJAM) Golden Jubilee Annual Awards 2016.
- Chess GM Shardul Gagarewill receive the Sportsman of the year award and Lalita Babar will be the Sportswoman of the year award.
- Lalita Babaris an Indian long-distance runner. She predominantly competes in the 3000 metres steeplechase and is the current Indian national record holder and the reigning Asian Champion in the same event.
- other awardees include Mumbai and India middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane has been chosen for the International Cricketerof the Year award.
- Rohit Sharma for a special awardfor making the highest ODI score at Kolkata in 2014 while Shardul Thakur and Shreyas Iyer would share the Ranji Trophy Cricketer of the year award.
Science and Technology
‘Dark’ Milky Way-sized galaxy discovered
- Astronomers have found a galaxy as big as the Milky Way that consists almost entirely of dark matter
- 99 percent of the stuff in this galaxy that can’t be seen.
- Scientists consider that dark matter exists because they can see the effects of its gravityon other things in space.
- The galaxy named Dragonfly 44, is located in the nearby Coma constellation was first detected in 2015, through the use of the Dragonfly Telephoto Array in New Mexico
Japanese scientists detect rare deep-Earth tremor S wave microseism
- Japan researchers found a tremor known as an S wave microseism, using seismic equipment on land and on the seafloorthat usually detects the Earth’s crust crumbling during earthquakes.
- Microseism S waves are so faint that they occur in the 05 to 0.5 Hz frequencyrange
- The elusive S waves, or secondary waves, are slower, and move only through rock, not liquid. Humans feel them during earthquakes.
- finding will help the experts to learn more about the Earth’s inner structure and improve detection of earthquakes and oceanic storms.
Environment and Ecology
US to create world’s largest protected marine area off Hawaii
- US Government has created the world’s largest marine protected area by expanding an existing ocean reserve off Hawaii to cover 582,578 square milesthat will provide critical protections for more than 7,000 marine species.
- move multiplies the size of the Papahānaumokuākea marine national monumentfour times, which was declared a World Heritage site in 2010.
- monument which has cream of Spices a quarter of them found nowhere was is now double the size of Texas, stretches outward from the north-western Hawaiian islands and includes Midway Atoll.
Sports
Task Force to prepare India for next three Olympics
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said about constituting a task force,which will make various suggestions to the roadmap for the next three quadrennial Games 2020 (Tokyo), 2024 and 2028.
- PM announced that the task will be announced over the next few days at a meeting of the Council of Ministers held in New Delhi.
- Task Force will comprise of members who are in house experts as well as those from outside members intended to put a strategy for sports facility, training, selection procedure and other related matters.
- In Rio India staged 118 athletesand finished 67th in the medal standings with a silver won by PV Sindhu in badminton and a bronze by Sakshi Malik in wrestling.