Current Affairs - August 15, 2017 Current Affairs

TAL Manufacturing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, has launched 'Robo Whiz', an education cell designed for universities and polytechnics. Robo Whiz will provide students hands-on experience and help develop skills needed for effective use and management of Robotics and Automation Technology.

Union Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, launched 'Gaj Yatra' in Karnataka, a nationwide campaign to protect elephants on the occasion of World Elephant Day (12 August).

Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has launched 'Namo Yuva Rojgar Kendra' on August 14, 2017 to provide job opportunities to unemployed youth in Mumbai. Under this initiative, there are various schemes like farmers weekly market, farmers mobile market and mother's tiffin. These products will be made available with the help of mobile vans all over Mumbai and the information about the location of the vans is made available through an app.

Indian Ocean Naval Symposium's (IONS) maiden International Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (IMMSAREX) will be held in November 2017 in the Bay of Bengal. The ships and aircraft of the members and observers of the IONS including China, India and Pakistan will participate in the exercise. The IONS is a regional forum of Indian Ocean littoral states launched by India in February 2008.

The Indian duo of Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Rashmmi Rathore has won a gold medal in the skeet mixed team event at the 7th Asian Championship Shotgun in Astana, Kazakhstan on August 13, 2017. With this, India finished the championship with a total of 8 medals. Earlier, Ankur Mittal had won a gold in the men's double trap and had also helped India bag the team gold in the event. Kynan Chenai won a bronze in the men's trap and also partnered Shreyasi Singh to claim the trap mixed team bronze. Maheshwari Chauhan clinched a bronze in the women's skeet, along with team silver in the event before the men's skeet team picked up another bronze.

Tata Motors announced the appointment of finance professional P.B. Balaji as the group's new Chief Financial Officer from November 2017. Balaji is a global finance professional with over two decades of experience in the corporate sector.

China, Indian Navy would join the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in a maiden maritime search and rescue exercise to be chaired by Bangladesh at the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in November this year. The IONS is a regional forum of Indian Ocean littoral states, represented by their Navy chiefs, launched by India in February 2008. It presently has 23 members and nine observers.

A limited edition silver coin on Lord Krishna will be released on Janmashtami on August 15 by the Republic of Chad in commemoration of the 5,244th birth anniversary of the Hindu God. This full-dimensional 3D coin weighs 100 grams and has been made of pure silver, numismatist Alok K Goyal, the designer of the coin.

The 2nd World Congress of Optometry to be held in Hyderabad International Convention Centre during September 11-13. The Congress will not only highlight and raise awareness of issues, but will also further the important strides made in India to improve both access to vision care and reduce avoidable blindness. The conference theme is 'Accessible, quality vision and eye health'. It ties into WHO's Universal eye health: A global action plan 2014-19, which aims to reduce the prevalence of avoidable visual impairment by 25 per cent by 2017.

Santosh Sharma was today appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Coper Limited (HCL). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved his appointment to the post for a period of five years. He is at present working as Director and Chief Executive Officer of IIFCL Asset Management Company Ltd.