(Current Affairs For SSC Exams) In The News | August : 2014


Current Affair In the news

August-2014


Arvind Gupta

  • Former Indian Foreign Service officer Arvind Gupta was appointed as deputy National Security Adviser, a post which fell vacant following the resignation of Nehchal Sandhu. Mr. Gupta, a 1979 batch officer, will also be Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), an apex advisory body tasked with suggesting to the government on political, economic and strategic security concerns.

R K Singh

  •  Security of Parliament, which was targeted by terrorists 13 years back, is set to be strengthened further with a special committee being set up to suggest measures for it within a month.

  • The committee will be headed by former Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh and will include former Rajasthan DGP Harish Chandra Meena and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh.

Natwar Singh

  •  Unfazed by the attacks on him by the Congress leadership for his book which was sharply critical of Sonia Gandhi, Natwar Singh has decided to write a sequel “which will have many more disclosures”

  •  To be called ‘My irregular diary’, the sequel is expected to hit the market by next March, the former External Affairs Minister said in New Delhi .

Hari Gautam

  •  Finding the University Grants Commission (UGC) ill-equipped to address the challenges posed by the manifold increase in the number of universities — particularly private universities and deemed-to-be-universities — the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has set up a committee to restructure the apex regulatory body for higher education in the country.

  •  The four-member committee will be headed by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam and will have as its members C.M. Jariwala (former head and dean of law at Banaras Hindu University), Kapil Kapoor (former pro vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University) and the Joint Secretary in the Higher Education in the ministry as its members.

Arvind Apte

  •  The BCCI condoled the death of former Test player Arvind Apte, who passed away after fighting a prolonged battle with prostrate cancer.

  •  Arvind passed away in Pune. He was 79 and is survived by a daughter.

  •  Arvind, born in Mumbai in 1934 and younger brother of another former India cricketer Madhav Apte, was a reserve opener during India’s tour of England in 1959.

  •  An attacking opening batsman with a wide range of strokes, he played only one Test match for India when he was selected for the third Test against England at Leeds following an injury to Nari Contractor.

  •  He scored just eight and seven in both the innings of the match, his first and last for the national team.

  •  Arvind continued to play first-class cricket till the early 70s and finished with an aggregate of 2782 runs (33.51, including six centuries.)

Rajni Razdan

  •  Rajni Razdan has been appointed the next Union Public Service Commission chairman. She will take the oath of office, replacing Professor D.P. Agrawal.

  •  Ms. Razdan, a 64-year-old former Indian Administrative Service officer from the Haryana cadre, has been a UPSC member since April 19, 2010.

Justice Markandey Katju

  • In a fresh controversy, Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju blamed the former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, for pushing the elevation of a former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice as a Supreme Court judge.

  • Justice Katju, who did not name the judge, in an apparent reference to the collegium’s recommendation to elevate the former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice, P.D. Dinakaran, also found fault with another former CJI, S.H. Kapadia, for failing to prevent this despite being a member of the collegium.

B. S. Sidhu

  • Uttarkhand Director General of Police (DGP) B. S. Sidhu is involved in a legal battle over an alleged illegal purchase of forest land and the felling of 25 Sal trees on the land.

  • The case against Mr. Sidhu lies with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), where a hearing shall be held .

Smriti Irani

  • The controversy over Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani’s educational qualifications has taken a new turn with her assertion that she also has a degree from the prestigious Yale University in the United States.

  •  Ms. Irani (38) made the remark at the India Today Woman Summit 2014 here when asked to clear the “mystery” over her educational qualification.
     

U.R. Anantha Murthy (1932-2014)

  •  U.R.Anantha Murthy, the doyen of Kannada Literature and one of the pioneers of Navya movement in Kannada language is no more.

  •  A steadfast thinker who withstood many an assault, physical, verbal and virtual, gave a new thrust to Kannada literature and cinema, to move towards the 21st Century.

Arvind Subramanian

  •  The Modi Government is likely to name Arvind Subramanian, the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development as its Chief Economic Advisor (CEA).

B.K.S. Iyengar

  •  Legendary yoga exponent B.K.S. Iyengar passed away at a private hospital . He was 95.

  •  Mr. Iyengar, who was admitted to the Prayag Hospital last week, breathed his last at 3.15 a.m., doctors attending on him said. He has been on dialysis since Sunday after renal failure. Mr. Iyengar, who abhorred hospitals and clinics, failed to respond to the treatment owing to heart problems brought on by advanced age.

  •  Despite two massive heart-attacks in 1996 and 1998, Mr. Iyengar, with his near-legendary regimen and discipline, kept up a punishing teaching schedule, touring Russia and China in recent years.

Ravi Shastri

  •  In a damage-control move, the BCCI has appointed former Test all-rounder Ravi Shastri Director of Cricket in the Indian team for the five-match ODI series against England, beginning August 25.

  •  The Board’s dramatic action was a response to India’s disastrous 3-1 Test series defeat against England.

Irom Sharmila

  •  A local court ordered the release of rights activist IromChanuSharmila, under detention for attempting to commit suicide by fasting for nearly 14 years demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

  • Her agitation was a political demand through lawful means, the court said. Sessions Judge (Imphal east) A. Guneshwar Sharma said, “The petitioner may be released from custody if not required in any other case.”

R.N. Ravi

  •  Prime Minister NarendraModi-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau Special Director R.N. Ravi as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee for a period of three years.

  •  The Joint Intelligence Committee functions under the National Security Council Secretariat.

  •  Mr. Ravi, a 1976-batch Indian Police Service officer from Kerala, has been appointed in the pay and rank of Secretary to the Government of India. He retired as IB Special Director in 2012.

Ramesh Chand Tayal

  •  The ACC has also cleared the proposal for appointment of senior IPS officer Ramesh Chand Tayal as Central Reserve Police Force Special Director-General.

  •  The 1980-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer is presently posted as Additional Director-General of the SashatraSeema Bal.

New Governors for 4 States

  •  President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Kalyan Singh, VajubhaiRudabhaiVala, Ch. VidyasagarRao and MridulaSinha Governors of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, respectively.

  •  Manipur Governor Vinod Kumar Duggal will continue to hold charge of Mizoram.

Atul Verma

  •  Atul Verma won India its first Olympic archery medal — a bronze — at the Youth Olympic Games at Nanjing.

  •  The gold went to Korean Lee Woo Seok, who got the better of D’Almeida 7-3 in the final.

RaghavLakhanpal

  •  The Meerut Commissioner in his report on last month’s riots in Saharanpur has reportedly blamed the local BJP MP, RaghavLakhanpal, for fanning tensions, besides accusing district authorities of not controlling the rioting mob.

  •  The report of Meerut Commissioner Bhupendra Singh is almost identical to the findings of a Committee set up Chief Minister AkhileshYadav and headed by senior Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav that had come down heavily on the local MP and BJP workers for their role in the riots that left three dead and gutted hundreds of shops.

D.M. Spolia

  •  The Ministry of Home Affairs re-appointed D.M. Spolia as the Chief Secretary of Delhi to replace S.K. Srivastava who is currently holding the post.

  •  Mr. Spolia, a 1979 batch IAS officer, who was removed from the post by the AamAadmi Party government in January, will take over with immediate effect.

  •  He was working as Financial Commissioner of the Delhi Government since January.

BalrajPuri

  •  Veteran journalist Padma BhushanBalrajPuri passed away after prolonged illness at a Government Medical College here .

  •  Mr. Puri was conferred the Padma Bhushan for his contribution in the fields of Literature and Education in 2005 and also the Indira Gandhi award for national integration on October 31, 2009.

  •  He was an author and co-author of about 40 books and approximately 1,000 articles for various dailies in India and abroad.

Rona Fairhead

  •  The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Trust, the body overseeing the world famous news corporation, is set to get its first female head.

  •  Rona Fairhead, 53, a high-flying executive who sits on the boards of a number of blue-chip companies, announced as the prospective new chairperson of the BBC Trust.

  • SajidJavid, UK secretary of state for culture, is expected to officially announce Fairhead as government’s preferred candidate to fill the slot, replacing Lord Patten, who stepped down in May on health grounds.
     

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