Important Current Affairs 8th May 2017

Important Current Affairs 8th May 2017

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important Current Affairs 8th May 2017 with Free PDF in English and Hindi, which will update you with latest headlines, news from various domains i.e: National News, Sports, Business, Awards & recognition. It is useful for the preparation of competitive exams like: SSC, SBI, IBPS PO, Clerk, Railways & Various other Entrance examinations.

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Current Affairs 8th May 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

India unanimously elected to head UN-Habitat, the United Nations’ Human Settlements Programme

India has been unanimously elected as the President of the UN-Habitat, an organ of the United Nations’ Organisation (UNO) that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements across the world, after 10 years. 
●    UN-Habitat reports to the United Nations General Assembly. 
●    Further to today’s election, Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu will chair the four day meeting of the 58 member Governing Council of UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya from today. 
●    Shri Naidu will preside over the deliberations of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat for the next two years.  
●    Since the UN-Habitat came into being in 1978,  It is only the third time that India has been  elected to lead this important organization after 2007 and 1988. 
●    As an intergovernmental policy making and decision making body, the Governing Council of UN-Habitat seeks to promote integral and comprehensive approach to human settlements, assist the countries and regions in addressing human settlement problems and strengthen cooperation among all countries on human settlement issue. 

DIPP & WIPO to set up Technology and Innovation Support Centers 

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)have signed an agreement to establish Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC)
●    WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) program provides innovators in developing countries with access to locally based, high quality technology information and related services, helping them to exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect, and manage their intellectual property (IP) rights.
●    Services offered by TISCs may include:
●    Access to online patent and non-patent (scientific and technical) resources and IP-related publications;
●    Assistance in searching and retrieving technology information;
●    Training in database search;
●    On-demand searches (novelty, state-of-the-art and infringement);
●    Monitoring technology and competitors;
●    Basic information on industrial property laws, management and strategy, and technology commercialization and marketing.

NAFED procures more than 8.76 Lakh MTs of Pulses in 2016-17

NAFED, a National Level Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, has set a record of procurement of Pulses and Oilseeds during the year 2016-17. 
●    NAFED has emerged as the leading agency of the Government of India for undertaking procurement of Pulses and Oilseeds in the country. 
●    During the financial year just ended, it has achieved procurement of more than 8.76 Lakh MTs of Pulses (Gram 0.20 Lakh MTs, Masoor 0.03 Lakh MTs, Moong 1.29 Lakh MTs, Urad 0.59 MTs and Toor 6.65 Lakh MTs) and more than 2.20 Lakh MTs of Groundnut, Copra and other oilseeds and benefitted the farming community at large by providing them remunerative price for their produce and helping the country in creating buffer stocks and stabilizing the prices of Pulses and Oilseeds. 
●    NAFED has also started disposal of the buffer stocks. A substantial quantity would be supplied to Para-military forces and Defence Sector and also State Government as per their requirements under PDS and other such schemes. 
●    NAFED has undertaken procurement of various commodities to the tune of Rs 5916.00 Crore approximately in this year and earned tentative profit of Rs. 106.00 Crore before interest which is the highest in the last decade and helped turn around financially. 
●    The Federation has strongly positioned itself as the “Pulse Arm” of the Government.

Gadkari inaugurated country’s 1st bio refinery plant

Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways inaugurated India’s first biorefinery plant that produces ethanol from a variety of biomass in Pune on 7 May 2017.
●    Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari stated that such projects will help stage a great revolution in India’s agriculture sector. 
●    The project is located at Rahu, a village in Daund Taluka in Pune District of Maharashtra.
●    The newly set up plant is capable of producing one million litres of ethanol per annum by processing a variety of agricultural residue including rice and wheat straw, cotton stalk, cane trash, corn cobs with superior product yields.
●    It is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, heat, and value-added chemicals from biomass.
●    The concept is similar to today’s petroleum refinery, which produces multiple fuels and products from petroleum.
 

Current Affairs 8th May 2017: RANKINGS AND REPORTS

Hinduja brothers top UK's 2017 list of the richest people

The Hinduja brothers have topped the 2017 list of the richest people in the UK with an estimated fortune of 16.2 billion pounds, a massive 3.2 billion pound hike in their fortunes over the previous year.
●    Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, aged 81 and 77, lead an elite group of 134 UK-based billionaires in the list and have made their fortune from investments in industries such as oil and gas, automotive, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare sectors.
●    Their latest 350-million-pound project is converting the Old War Office in London into a five-star hotel and luxury apartments, the newspaper notes.
●    Another set of India-born entrepreneurial brothers, David and Simon Reuben, who had topped the list last year have moved down to third place with a fortune of 14 billion pounds and steel tycoon Lakshmi N.
●    Mittal is at fourth with 13. 2 billion pounds.

Current Affairs 8th May 2017: RANKINGS AND REPORTS

Sachin Tendulkar conferred with Fellowship Award in UK

India's cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar plans to support charities and various initiatives to help the underprivileged people in the second innings of his life.

●    Tendulkar, 44, made the remarks here while receiving the Fellowship Award at the 7th annual Asian Awards last night.
●    He said playing for India for 24 years was a memorable journey and winning the world cup was icing on the cake.
●    Now in the second chapter of his life he plans to support charities and various initiatives to help the underprivileged people. 
●    Providing solar lights to poor people in India was one of them, Tendulkar said.
●    He called on the stage 8-year-old Hollywood star Sunny Pawar and said, "when I was his age, my dream was to play cricket for India."
●    Hollywood child actor Pawar earlier won the Rising Star award for his role in the film 'Lion'.
●    The ceremony, which celebrates excellence in the global Asian community, also paid tribute to Indian actor Om Puri.
●    The award for outstanding achievement in Cinema was posthumously conferred on Om Puri who died earlier this year at the age of 66.
 

Current Affairs 8th May 2017: SPORTS

Asian Boxing Championship: Shiva Thapa clinches silver

Fourth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) became the first Indian boxer to clinch three consecutive Asian Championships medals, while Sumit Sangwan (91kg) notched up his maiden podium finish as both boxers settled for silver medals at the continental showpiece in Tashkent on Saturday.
●    Shiva, up against second seed and local favourite Elnur Abduraimov, lost in a split verdict after a head-butt from his opponent resulted in a cut above his right eye.
●    It was in the final few seconds of the opening round when Shiva sustained the cut, forcing a stoppage by the referee.
●    Sumit, on the other hand, lost to Kazakhstan's top-seeded Vasiliy Levit in a unanimous verdict. Levit is the silver- medallist from last year's Rio Olympic Games.
●    For Shiva, it was a historic milestone as the silver is his third successive medal at the continental showpiece after a gold in 2013 and a bronze in the 2015 edition.

Jitu Rai, Heena Sidhu win gold in 10m Air Pistol mixed team event at Shooting World Cup

India finally got their first gold medal at the on-going Shooting World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range as the duo of Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu beat Japan in the final on Monday. 
●    However, the mixed event is a test-only event which means there are no official World Cup medals and no official scores added to the shooters’ accolades.
●    ISSF has introduced mixed events to add a certain bit of drama to the sport which has been an individual sport so far with men and women competing in different events based on the categories. 
●    The world body hopes that the new event can add unpredictability to the sport where despite one shooter’s good performance, the other one could bring the score down.
●    The mixed event got its start with the 10m Air Rifle event at the World Cup on Saturday with China winning the gold medal over Japan.