Current Affairs Aug 2016 - Places in NEWS

News 1 - NMPB to launch National campaign on Medicinal Plants at Jaipur

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) of the Ministry of AYUSH launched a National campaign on Medicinal Plants on 20th – 21st August, 2016 at Jaipur.

The campaign was organized at State Institute of Agriculture Management (SIAM), Durgapura, in Jaipur. Approximately 500 farmers who are cultivating medicinal plants from across the country participated.

NMPB has been working for the growth and development of medicinal plants in the country since its inception in year 2000.

News 2 - Two-day meeting of BRICS women Parliamentarian's forum begins in Jaipur

A two-day meeting of BRICS women parliamentarian's forum began in Jaipur on 20th August. A total of 42 Parliamentarians from BRICS countries including 28 MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, are participating in the meeting where sustainable development goals are being discussed.

Out of the total of 42 delegates, 5 women parliamentarians are from Brazil, 3 from Russia, 28 from India, 2 from China and 4 from South Africa.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan inaugurated the two-day conference. BRICS is the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

News 3 - Maneka Gandhi inaugurate Animal Birth Control Centre in Dehradun

Union Minister for Woman and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, inaugurated the Animal Birth Control Centre at Kedarpuram in Uttarakhand.

The centre has 72 Dog kennels for housing dogs as well as their treatment & vaccination postsurgery. This facility also has provision of adopting the stray dogs post-surgery. Subsequently, the centres will be set up in Nainital and Mussoorie and other five municipal corporations in Haridwar, Haldwani, Kashipur, Haldwani and Roorkee. The government has sanctioned Rs 2 crore to set up the centres.

News 4 - BRICS women parliamentarians’ forum passed 'Jaipur Declaration'

BRICS women parliamentarians’ forum has passed unanimously the Jaipur Declaration in closing ceremony in Jaipur. In the Jaipur Declaration the parliamentarians have expressed concern over the climate change on ecological systems, biodiversity and food production.

The members have focused to work out integrated solutions to preserve and protect ecological systems and forests. The declaration has emphasized the need to inform, communicate and educate citizens about developmental schemes.

News 5 - 3-day Indian Panorama Film Festival 2016 organized in Shillong

The third edition of the three-day Indian Panorama Film Festival was organized in Shillong. Indian Panorama is a part of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the largest film festival in the country. The festival opened with the screening of Nitin Kakkar's unreleased feature film, Ramsingh Charlie. The 3 days event screened 13 films including 9 feature and 4 non feature films.

The film festival is being organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with the Government of Meghalaya.

News 6 - First Hydrocarbon Vision Technology meet 2030 held at Guwahati

The first technology meet under the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India held at Guwahati, involving various projects of Rs. 1,30,000 crore investment over next 15 years to double oil and natural gas output. The Technology Meet is a move of the sub- committee of upstream companies to expand existing refineries and set up new bio refinery.

During the meet, the upstream companies explained about the technical challenges in sustaining and increasing oil and gas production in the northeast and it was advised to allocate service providers who will offer technologies suitable for the region.

News 7 - Deepa Mehta to inaugurate 5th South Asian Film Festival 2015 in Washington

Indo-Canadian director-scriptwriter Deepa Mehta will inaugurate the fifth annual Washington DC South Asian Film Festival 2015 in Washington. The three-day annual film festival, which will kick-off on September 9, would screen movies and documentaries from South Asian countries.

Bengali filmmaker Suman Ghosh's romantic movie Mi Amor, starring Parambrata Chatterjee and Raima Sen, is the opening feature film of the fest. Kalki KoechlinNaseeruddin Shah starrer "Waiting", Juhi Chawla's, "Chalk N Duster" are among the other films to be screened at the event. Documentary Kaagaz ki Kashti, is the closing film.

News 8 - 2-day meet of ministers of Disaster Management from BRICS countries to be held in Udaipur

A two-day meeting of the ministers of Disaster Management from BRICS countries will be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The theme for the meeting is 'Flood Risk Management' and 'Forecasting of Extreme Weather Events in the context of Changing Climate'.

The objectives of this meeting are to share experiences on flood risk management, current systems in each country for forecasting extreme weather events and to identify opportunities for collaboration between institutions of respective BRICS countries in the area of flood risk management and extreme weather-related events.

News 9 - L&T assigned contract to develop Nagpur into smart city

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis selected Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to make Nagpur, a smart city. L&T will provide cutting-edge technology solutions, smart transport, solid waste management, smart lighting etc.

The company has earlier inked similar projects like intelligent traffic management for Gujarat, a management system at the Sabarmati jail, the smart city project in Jaipur. Similar projects are also under way in Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

News 10 - First National Conference of Investigating Agencies concluded in New Delhi

The first National Conference of Investigating Agencies was held from August 12 to 13, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates from States/UTs/Central Police Organizations.

The conference was organized by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in coordination with National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The agenda of the Conference was to: Discuss the latest laws and judgements and their implications for investigation and prosecution.
Adoption of latest technology in forensic sciences for professional and expeditious investigation.
Share best practices followed by different investigation agencies which could be implemented by others.

News 11 - Delhi Poised to get New Air Force Aerospace Museum

Delhi will soon have a sprawling new Aerospace Museum close to the international airport focused mainly on Nation’s rich aviation history. It will preserve the glorious tradition of the IAF and also create awareness in general public about India’s rich Aerospace heritage.

The proposal for new Air Force Aerospace Museum was cleared by Ministry of Defence and final financial sanction on the Detailed Project Report is awaited. It is expected to be ready within 3-5 years.

News 12 - South India's first Children's Court in Hyderabad

South India's first Children's Court was inaugurated at the Nampally Criminal Courts Complex in Hyderabad. Telangana thus became the third state after Goa and Delhi to have a child friendly court.

The court is sixth of its kind in the country with features like separate waiting rooms for children and a video camera trial for the accused, mandated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act2012. The project was facilitated by NGO Justice and Care in collaboration with the state government and the judiciary.

News 13 - 22^nd edition of Delhi Book Fair begins

The 22^nd edition of the Delhi Book Fair began at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on 27^th August. The nine-day event will focus on the initiatives undertaken by the government for its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan to inculcate better reading habits among the younger generation.

National campaigns launched in the past two years - including Make in India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India, Skill India and Startup India - will find place in the Theme Pavilion which will be transformed into a selfie station. The fair is being organised by ITPO in association with Federation of Indian Publishers.

News 14 - Mountain Echoes Literary Festival, 2016

The 7^th edition of the Mountain Echoes Literary Festival 2016 started in Thimpu, the capital city of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, on 26 August 2016. The festival was inaugurated by Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, (Royal Patron) which aims to provide a platform for the greatest literary minds to engage in a cultural dialogue.

The festival will also focus on the 400^th anniversary of the arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the first ruler to unite it as a single nation.

News 15 - India's first textile university to come up at Diamond City of Surat

Gujarat government is planning to set up India's first textile university at Surat with an aim to create a complete eco system for the textile industry in Gujarat and India. The state government will fund about Rs 800-900 crore for the university.

The university will build on over 250-acre land in Surat and it is expected to get operational in the next one and a half years. The main aim of the university is to provide all kind of support including technology, research and development (R&D), skilled manpower. etc.