Current Affairs 1st August 2015..

• Arjuna Award - Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian cricket team off-spinner bowler Ravichandran Ashwin has been awarded with Arjuna Award by Union Government. Ashwin is the 48th cricketer to receive the prestigious award.

• Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal presented him with the award in New Delhi at a special function.

• About Ravichandran Ashwin
• He has taken 26 wickets in 25 T20 internationals, 139 wickets in 99 ODIs and 124 wickets in 25 Tests till date.
• He is the 5th fastest bowler in Test history to bag 100 wickets and fastest Indian bowler to reach the 100 and 50 wicket mark in International Test cricket.
• For the 2012-13 season,

Arjuna Award was established in 1961.
It is presented to sportsperson for their outstanding achievement in National sports by Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The award accompanies Bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll and a monetary award of 5 lakh rupees.

•  India’s first Harbour Defence System commissioned - Kochi

India’s first Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) was commissioned in Kochi, Kerala.

It is a part of measure taken to nourish and beef up coastal security in the western coastline.Integrated Headquarters of Union Ministry of Defence contracted the system in 2012.

About Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS)

• It is Designed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
• It consists of sound navigation and ranging systems (SONAR), coastal surveillance radars and advance sensors.
• It has the ability of Capable of tracking, identifying, detecting and generate warning for all types of underwater and surface threats to harbour security.

• Between which two nations 162 enclaves under LBA - India and Bangladesh

162 enclaves/chitmahals located on Indo-Bangladesh are physically transferred between India and Bangladesh.

51 Bangladeshi enclaves affiliated with India, while 111 Indian enclaves from West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram affiliated with Bangladesh under the historic exchange.

In harmony to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and its Protocol of 2011 between both the nations, the transfer was executed. The exchange was carried after the instruments for accretion were approved by both the nations during the PM's visit to Bangladesh in June 2015.

This exchange has provided citizenship identity and access to all legal rights and civic amenities to over 52,000 people of either country. For the past 68 years, these people were living a stateless existence.

In order to give the choice of nationality to the residents a joint nationality preference survey was conducted under the LBA earlier. Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) are now verifying the data Data from the survey to smoothen the movement of residents before the specified deadline of 30th November 2015.

• award in name of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam - Tamil Nadu government

The state government of Tamil Nadu initiated a youth award in the name of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

• Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said in a statement issued in Chennai that "the annual Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award consisting 8 gram gold, 5 laks rupees in cash and a citation".
• On every Independence Day from 2015 onwards, the award would be given to a person from the state who works with exceptional merit in students welfare, humanities and science.
• Besides this she also declared that the Youth Revival Day will be celebrated in the memory of Dr Kalam’s birthday on 15th October.

• First National Handloom Day to be observed on - 7th August 2015

Union Government decided to declare 7th August as National Handloom Day every year beginning from year 2015 in the entire country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the day in Chennai on 7th August 2015 as National Handloom Day.

National Awards and Sant Kabir Awards for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 will be awarded and a new India Handloom brand for better market positioning of quality handloom products would be launched on this occasion.

According to the Handloom Census of 2009-10, persons engaged in handloom weaving and allied activities in country are more than 43 lakh. Therefore, this day will be observed to generate awareness about the importance of handloom industry and to increase income of weavers.

•  Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 2015 - Sania Mirza

Indian Tennis legend Sania Mirza has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award 2015 by Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Although, Awards Committee will take the final decision.

About Sania Mirza

• She was born on 15th November 1986 in Mumbai.
• She is at the world No. 1 rank in women’s tennis doubles.
• Along with her partner Martina Hingis (Switzerland), Sania has won 2015 women’s Doubles Wimbledon Title.
• 3 Grand Slam Mixed Doubles titles including US Open (2014), French Open (2012) and Australian Open (2009) was also won by her.
• She was awarded with Padma Shri and Arjuna Award in 2006 and 2004 respectively.

Do you Know :

• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award was established in 1991–92.
• It is the highest Honour of India for achievement in sports and is presented by Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

• Indian Army has given a order of Rs. 914-cr to - Tata Motors

Indian Army has given the single-largest order of high mobility vehicle (LMV) worth Rs. 914 crore to Tata Motors for delivering over 1,239 high mobility vehicles to army in upcoming two years.

Mahindra and Mahindra have also been ordered to supply more than 3,192 vehicles to the Army.

Details of the Deal:

• 6×6 multi-axle trucks that are mainly functional for loading and unloading ammunition will be supplied by Tata Motors.
• Tata Motor’s Safari Strom and Mahindra’s Scorpio will take place Mahindra Commander and Maruti Suzuki’s Gypsy in the army.
• Under the “Make in India” initiative Tata Motors has been short listed by the Government for making Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV).
• 80% will be funded by the government to Tata Motors for the research and development programme.
• Apart from this, about 1,400 Russian Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty (BMP), a infantry fighting vehicle will be replaced with 2,600 future indigenous infantry combat vehicles at a cost of over $10 billion as planned by the government.