Current affairs : August 23, 2016
The Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assemblies on Monday unanimously ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST.
- Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has become the fourth and fifth after Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand to ratify the Bill.
Government set to ban cash transactions over Rs 3 lakh
The government is set to ban cash transactions over Rs 3 lakh as it seeks to clamp down on black money in the economy following recommendations from the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.
- The government, however, is yet to decide on the SIT's other proposal to bar cash holdings over Rs 15 lakh due to opposition from trade and industry.
- The Rs 3 lakh-limit is aimed to ensure that transactions are made using credit or debit cards, cheques or drafts which can be easily tracked.
- The government has already initiated several steps, including banning cash advance of more than Rs 20,000 for property transactions.
Centre notifies Good
Samaritan SOPs
The Centre has issued a notification ensuring that the affidavit
of “Good Samaritan”, a person who voluntarily declares himself to be an
eyewitness, shall be treated by the investigating officer as a final statement.
EC to now review
national, State status of political parties every 10 years
Election Commission (EC) has amended rules, whereby it will now
review the national and state party status of political parties every ten years
instead of the present five.
- Recognition as a national or a State party ensures that the election symbol is not used by any other political entity in polls across India.
Maharashtra to have
own law for internal security
Maharashtra Government has proposed an internal security act to
deal with the challenges of terrorism and communal and caste violence. The
proposed legislation, ‘Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act, 2016,’
would be the first such state-level act for internal security which will give more
power to the police department if implemented.
China launches first Tibetan-language search engine
China has launched its first Tibetan-language search engine 'Yongzin'.
- The search engine will serve as a unified portal for all major Tibetan-language websites in China.
- It has eight sections for news, websites, images, videos, music, encyclopedia, literature and forums
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition – August 23
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, August 23 of each year, the day designated byUNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade.
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, August 23 of each year, the day designated byUNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade.
Person in News:
1.S R Nathan:
S R Nathan (that’s Sellapan Ramanathan, for those of you who don’t know) passed away peacefully on August 22.
- Aside from being the longest serving President (he served 2 terms in the Istana), his life pretty much came straight out of a movie.
2.Sunita Jain:
She is a Hindi scholar and writer, who recently received the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman2015 for her poetry collection Kshama.
- The award instituted by the K K Birla Foundation carries a cash prize of 2.50 lakh rupees. It is given annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen.
3. Brajendra Navnit,
V Sheshadri:
Senior IAS officers
Brajendra Navnit and V Sheshadri have been appointed as Joint Secretaries in
PMO as part of massive mid-level reshuffle.
- As many as 22 new Joint Secretaries have been appointed in different central govt departments. Of these, 18 are from Indian Administrative Service.
Sports:
Ahmedabad to host
2016 Kabaddi World Cup
The Kabaddi World Cup
will be held in Ahmedabad from October 7 to 22.
Gujarat will play host
to 12 kabaddi teams from USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya, besides hosts India.
The matches will be
held in Ahmedabad's The Arena stadium.
National Sports Awards 2016 announced
The Union Government has announced the National Sports Awards for the year 2016. National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports.
Awardees:
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: P.V. Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai.
- Dronacharya Award: Bishweshwar Nandi, Nagapuri Ramesh, Sagar Mal Dhayal, Raj Kumar Sharma, S. Pradeep Kumar and Mahabir Singh.
- Arjuna and Dhyanchand awards have also been announced for various sportspersons.
