Current Affairs - August 3, 2017 Current Affairs

Peter O'Neill has been re-elected prime minister of Papua New Guinea by a newly elected parliament. Papua New Guinea's controversial Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has secured a second term after a troubled election process that took almost six weeks.

PayPal has unveiled its newest Innovation Labs at the Chennai and Bengaluru Tech centres. The lab is the first by PayPal in India and third after the U.S. and Singapore. The firm said the lab will serve as a platform to promote innovation which is a core value for PayPal globally.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the appointment of Dhirendra Swarup as the chairman of the board of directors of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He was the former Chairman of the Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

The Indian Army has developed a mobile application through which serving soldiers can track details like postings and promotions. An army official said that through the app named 'Humraaz', soldiers can also view their monthly salary slips and the Form 16. The Aadhar details will be verified with the Army database over National Information Centre cloud and Army personal will get a one-time-password on their registered mobile number.

The State Bank of India (SBI) and Samsung India announced the availability of Samsung Pay for higher variants of SBI debit card to advance Digital India. It is currently available on Samsung smartphones. It enables consumers to make offline payments without the need for a physical Card.

The Lok Sabha passed the Central Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017 and the Integrated Goods and Services Tax. The first bill provides for the extension of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 to Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media advisor and senior journalist Sanjaya Baru has been named new secretary general of industry chamber Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

American Internet giant, Google India said that it has reached a milestone of 100,000 villages with its Internet Saathi programme which was launched as a pilot in Rajasthan in July 2015 along with Tata Trusts. Google will also be expanding the program in two new states - Haryana and Bihar.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved doubling of tracks of three railway lines and their electrification in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the construction of an electrified second line between Vanchi-Maniyachchi-Nagercoil via Tirunelveli, Madurai-Vanchi and Maniyachchi-Tuticorin, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and Kanyakumari.

World Bank allowed India to construct Kishanganga hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

The State government has decided to include coconut palm as tree in the Goa, Daman and Diu (Preservation of Trees Act), 1984 to regulate felling of coconut trees under this Act," the Cabinet stated. The State Cabinet also resolved to declare the coconut tree as the "State tree".

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Spain on India-Spain Cooperation in renewable energy. The MoU was signed on 30th May, 2017 at Spain. The MoU will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries with the exchange of expertise and networking of information.

Former India hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay honored by East Bengal football club on its foundation day here with its highest award, Bharat Gaurav. Whereas Gurwinder Singh won the Footballer of the Year award.