8th August, 2022 Current Affairs

8th August, 2022 Current Affairs

NATIONAL
LokSabha recommends Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to Parliamentary Standing Committee for further examination

• The LokSabha has recommended the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for further examination.
• The Electricity (Amendment) Bill enables competition in retail distribution of power by allowing use of other distribution licensee’s network. It permits the entry of private companies into the electricity distribution sector, with the objective of enabling competition, enhancing efficiency of distribution licensees for improving services and ensuring sustainability of the power sector.  
• The members from Opposition parties opposed the introduction of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, accusing the Centre of encroaching upon the powers entrusted with the states in the concurrent list.
• The Electricity Bill is against the federal set-up. The bill allows infrastructure developed with the public money to be handed over to the private players. 

LokSabha scheduled to take up The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 & New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill

• The LokSabha is scheduled to take up The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
•  The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is scheduled to be introduced in the Lower House.
•  A discussion is also scheduled in the LokSabha today on the need to promote sports in India and steps taken by the Government in this regard.
• The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is scheduled to be taken up for discussion in the RajyaSabha.

INTERNATIONAL
Gustavo Petro sworn in as Colombia's first leftist President

• In Colombia, the first leftist President was sworn into office.
• Gustavo Petro was a former member of Colombia's M-19 guerrilla group, won the Presidential Election in June by beating conservative parties.
• He promised to fight inequality and help heralding a turning point in the history of a country haunted by a long war between the government and guerrilla groups.
• The new President also announced that Colombia will stop granting new licenses for oil exploration and will ban fracking projects, even though the oil industry makes up almost 50 per cent of the nation's legal exports.

IAEA raises concern about shelling at nuclear power plant in Ukraine

• The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) has raised grave concern about shelling at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. In a statement, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that the Ukraine- Russia conflict has settled into a war of attrition.
• The fighting over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the south, captured by Russian forces in the opening stage of the war but still run by Ukrainian technicians, has raised the prospect of a wider disaster. Ukraine's state nuclear power company Energoatom blamed Russia for the damage while Russia's defence ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant.

ECONOMY
Value of counterfeit notes detected in banking system reduces to Rs 8 crore 26 lakh in 2021-22

• The government today claimed that the value of counterfeit notes detected in the banking system has reduced from 43 crore 47 lakh rupees in 2016-17 to eight crore 26 lakh rupee in 2021-22.
• The value of fake currency seized in the year 2017 was 28 crore 10 lakh rupees and in 2020 it was 92 crore 18 lakh rupees.
• The number of counterfeit banknotes has come down 7,62,000 pieces in 2016-17 to over 2,90,000/- in 2020-21 post decision of the government to cancel the Legal Tender Status of one thousand rupees and five hundred rupees denomination currency notes on 8th November 2016.
• The decision of demonetisation had several objectives including curbing of circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes.

SEBI constitutes 15-member committee to attract foreign investment; Former Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian appointed Chairman

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has constituted an expert group of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to boost overseas flows into the country.
• The FPI Advisory Committee (FAC) will be chaired by former Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian and consists of 14 other members representing foreign banks, stock exchanges depositories and RBI.
• The FAC has been tasked with advising on issues related to investments and operations of FPIs in the financial markets, including measures to facilitate ease of doing business by FPIs in India.
•  The committee will review investment avenues available for FPIs and to advise on the feasibility of new investment avenues. It will also suggest measures required to encourage FPI participation in the bond market.

SPORTS
Commonwealth Games 2022: NikhatZareen wins Gold in Boxing

• NikhatZareen wins the Gold medal at Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. She defeated McNaul of Northern Islands in the finals, by 5-0 in women’s light-fly 48kg-50kg Boxing.
• With NikhatZareen’s gold medal at Commonwealth Games 2022, India gets a total of 17 golds and 48 total medals. NikhatZareen again proves her dominance in the world of boxing.

Indian chess legend ViswanathanAnand becomes FIDE deputy president

• Indian chess legend, ViswanathanAnand was elected deputy president of the International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation (FIDE), the sport’s world governing body. While incumbent president ArkadyDvorkovich was re-elected for a second term. Five-time world champion Anand was part of Dvorkovich’s team.
• The elections to the world chess body were held during the FIDE Congress which is being conducted here alongside the 44th Chess Olympiad. In the elections held here, DvorkovichpippedAndriiBaryshpolets, a Ukrainian Grandmaster, by a landslide scoreline of 157-16 votes. A third candidate, French BacharKouatly, withdrew his candidature after giving his speech before voting began.

Chess prodigy V Pranav becomes India’s 75th Grandmaster

• The Chennai-based chess prodigy V Pranav became India’s 75th Grandmaster by winning a tournament in Romania. The Chennai-based Pranav won the Limpedea Open in Baia Mare, Romania to secure his third and final GM norm and attain the Grandmaster title.
• Pranav is the 27th Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu, a list that includes the legendary ViswanathanAnand and teen sensations D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa among others. A student of Velammalschool here, he has won the state championship thrice and won the bronze medal in the world rapid event in 2021. A student of Velammalschool in Chennai, he has won the state championship thrice and won the bronze medal in the world rapid event in 2021.

Published date : 08 Aug 2022 06:32PM