7 August 2015 Important Current Affairs Updates

1) PM Modi declares August 7 National Handloom Day:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 August 2015 announced August 7 as National Handloom Day to mark the 1905 Swadeshi movement.

--> Modi also launched the 'India Handloom' brand at a function in Chennai.

--> The PM also called for increased use of handloom products, saying a 5% increase in comsumption will increase revenues by 33% for the sector.

--> It was on August 7, 1905 that the formal proclamation of the Swadeshi Movement was made in a meeting at the Calcutta Town hall.

--> The movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic products and production processes. 

2) Hiroshima marked 70 years since atomic bomb:

--> Residents in the Japanese city of Hiroshima had commemorated the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped by a US aircraft.

--> The bombing - and a second one on Nagasaki three days later - is credited with bringing to an end World War Two.

--> But it claimed the lives of at least 140,000 people in the city.

3) EPFO hits stock market through ETF route:

--> Retirement fund body EPFO kickstarted the process of investing in the stock market on 6 August 2015 with an initial corpus of around Rs 5,000 crore through ETFs in the current fiscal.

--> Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said that state provident funds will invest via SBI Nifty exchange-traded fund (ETF) and SBI Sensex ETF.

--> The Ministry had notified new investment pattern for Employees' Provident Fund Organsiation (EPFO) in April allowing the body to invest minimum of 5 per cent and up to 15 per cent of its funds in equity or equity related schemes.

4) Indian-American Atul Keshap appointed as US Ambassador to Maldives and Sri Lanka:

--> Indian-American Atul Keshap has been appointed as the United States (US) Ambassador to Maldives and Sri Lanka.

--> With this appointment he became the second Indian-origin US diplomat to be posted as Ambassador to the region after Richard Rahul Verma (US Ambassador to India).

5) Egypt launched Suez Canal expansion:

--> Egypt has launched a major expansion of the Suez Canal.

--> It was inaugurated by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a lavish ceremony held at port city of Ismailiya ( located on west bank of canal).

6) Lok Sabha passed Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015:

--> Lok Sabha has passed Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill 2015 by a voice vote.

--> The bill seeks to amend The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 in order to make cheque-bounce filing of cases more convenient for check payees (person who receives the cheque).

7) Zhanna Nemtsova awarded with Solidarity Prize 2015 of Poland:

--> Russian journalist and social activist Zhanna Nemtsova was awarded with Poland’s Solidarity Prize 2015.

--> She was bestowed with this award for championing (promotion and protection) democracy and human rights.

8) Airtel commercially launched India’s first 4G services across 290 cities:

--> India’s telecom giant Airtel has commercially launched the high-speed 4G services across 296 towns across India on 6 August 2015.

--> In April 2012 Bharti Airtel had first launched its 4G service in Kolkata and from then conducted trials in 51 cities.

--> For the 4G devices Airtel has join hands with mobile handset maker Samsung to develop and provide 4G-enabled handsets in affordable price.