Important Current Affairs August 2017 Capsule with PDF
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Important Current Affairs August 2017 Capsule with PDF Awards & Honours Mahabaleshwar receives Saraswati Samman o The prestigious literary award, the Saraswati Samman for 2016 was awarded to Konkani writer Mahabaleshwar Sail. o He was awarded for his novel “Hawthan" that captures the lives of the potter community in Goa. o Sail reflected on how Konkani language and literature had been subdued and how it took a resurgence after Goa’s independence to give the language its rightful place. Reliance Foundation awarded o Reliance Foundation was awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award for its contribution in promotion of sports during national sports awards ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan. o Foundation focuses on using sports as a medium to encourage learning & breed leadership among youth in rural areas. o The foundation also backs Indian Super League, which has now become India's premier football tournament. Niti Aayog awards 12 women o Union minister Smriti Irani & Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya awarded 12 women to recognise the transformational impact of work undertaken by them across India's villages, towns & cities. 1 | P a g e o 'Women Transforming India Awards' was launched by Niti Aayog last year in partnership with UN in India & MyGov. o The awardees included Sunita Kamble, Raji Borthakur, Safeena Husain & Arunima Sinha Winner of Miss Transqueen India 2017 o Nitasha Biswas, a trans woman who hails from Kolkata, was crowned Miss Trans Queen India 2017, winner of the first beauty pageant for transwomen in the country. o Loiloi Haorongbam from Manipur became the 1st runner-up, while Ragasiya from Tamil Nadu, was the 2nd runner-up. o Nitasha will now represent India at the Miss International TransQueen in Thailand in March 2018. Cristiano Ronaldo wins award o Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lieke Martens were named the UEFA Players of the Year 2017. o Lieke Martens was named UEFA Women’s Player of the Year after leading the Netherlands to the 2017 Women’s Euro title this summer on home soil. o The awards ceremony was held in Monaco Pogba wins Player of the Season award o Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has been named the Europa League Player of the Season for 2016-17. o Pogba was part of the United side that won the Europa League for the first time in the club's history with a 2-0 win over Ajax in May. o United colleagues Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were also shortlisted for the award but Pogba came out on top. Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence o Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik conferred Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence for the year 2016 to Prof Digambar Behera. 2 | P a g e o Behera is senior professor & Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, PGIMER in Chandigarh. o The award is given to an Odia Scientist working any where in India or abroad each year for his/her lifetime research contributions in field of science & technology. Ronaldo wins UEFA Player of the Year o Cristiano Ronaldo has won his 3rd UEFA men's player of the year award in 4 seasons, beating Lionel Messi and Gianluigi Buffon to get the trophy. o He is the first footballer to receive the honour thrice. o Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals last season. o UEFA Men's Player of the Year award is based on players' performances during 2016/17 season in all competitions. National Sports Awards o National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize & reward excellence in sports. o Devendra Jhajharia & Sardar Singh have been selected for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. o Harmanpreet & P. N. Prakash are among 17 sportsmen who will be given Arjuna Awards. o 7 persons have been chosen for Dronacharya Awards for producing medal winners at International sports events. Oinam Bembem Devi wins Arjuna Award o Oinam Bembem Devi, flag bearer of Indian women’s football over the past 2 decades has been named as the winner of Arjuna Award. o Bembem becomes the 2nd Indian woman footballer to win the award, the first being Shanti Mullick in 1983. 3 | P a g e o Bembem, nicknamed ‘Durga of Indian Football, made her international debut in 1995, bowed out on a high after winning SAF Games Gold Medal in Shillong in 2015. Agriculture Leadership Award o Telangana CM, K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been selected for Agriculture Leadership Award-2017 given by ICFA. o Award is recognition of the efforts taken by him for development of agriculture through innovative irrigation projects taken up in the State. o National awards committee of organisation headed by M.S. Swaminathan nominated Rao for Agriculture Leadership Award in policy leadership category FICCI’s Healthcare Personality award o Dr Nanda Kumar Jairam, CEO, Chairman & Group Medical Director, Columbia Asia Hospitals, India, has been awarded ‘Healthcare Personality of the Year’ award. o He was given the award at 9th Healthcare Excellence Awards instituted by FICCI. o The Healthcare Excellence Awards by FICCI is an attempt to recognise the contributions of those who have set benchmarks of excellence in the healthcare space. Govt removes 1 from Dronacharya nominees o Sports Ministry has dropped para-sports coach Satyanarayana from the list of this year's Dronacharya awardees. o Satyanarayana's name was chucked off the list due to a criminal case pending against him. o Satyanarayana has coached Mariyappan Thangavelu, who won a gold in Rio Paralympics. o Dronacharya Award is annual sports coaching honour of India given by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. 4 | P a g e CSS Corp wins Silver Stevie o CSS Corp was named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award in Best New Product or Service of the Year - Software - Platform as a Service category at 14th Annual International Business Awards 2017. o CSS Corp was conferred the recognition for its proprietary AI platform, Yodaa. o The International Business Awards are the world's premier business awards program. 990 personnel awarded Police Medals o 990 personnel have been awarded Police Medals on the occasion of the Independence Day this year. o President’s Police Medal for Gallantry has been awarded posthumously to Chhattisgarh Police's STF Platoon Commander Shankar Rao. o Center honoured 2 CRPF commandants with Kirti Chakra and conferred 40 of the 190 police gallantry medals to J&K police & CRPF/BSF personnel deployed in the Valley. George bags first Kesari Media Award o Veteran journalist T J S George has been chosen for the first Kesari Media Award, instituted by the Kesari Memorial Journalist Trust. o The award comprises a purse of Rs 50,000, citation and a statuette designed by renowned artist Bhatathiri. o George is a writer and biographer who received a Padma Bhushan award in 2011 in the field of literature and education. The Obelisk Gate' wins Best Novel 2017 o Hugo Award for Best Novel 2017 was given to Nora K. Jemisin, an American writer for her work The Obelisk Gate. o She landed the prestigious science fiction prize for 2nd year running, a year after she became the 1st black person to win the Hugo award for best novel. 5 | P a g e o The awarded book was the 2nd in the trilogy that started with The Fifth Season which won Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2016. Dev Patel selected for Asia Game Changer o British Indian actor Dev Patel has been selected for the prestigious Asia Game Changer award in recognition of him using celebrity to place a spotlight on India's poor. o The awards recognize those making a transformative and positive difference for the future of Asia and the world. o Patel's #lionheart campaign has raised over $250,000 in support of India's millions of homeless children. Indian philanthropist honoured o Indian businessman & philanthropist in UAE, Firoz Merchant was honoured with UAE's prestigious Community Service Medal. o He has spent over $4mn to free prisoners languishing in jails due to non- payment of debts o This is the first time any expatriate community member has been given this award. o Award was given to him in recognition of his efforts to serve the community in the country & beyond Prem Nazir Award for actor Sharada o Veteran actor and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this year's Prem Nazir Award. o Also known as Urvasi Sharada, she made her acting debut with the Telugu film Kanyasulkam in 1955 in a minor role. o Apart from the National Awards, she has been bestowed with several prestigious awards such as the Kerala State Film Awards, Filmfare Awards South, and Nandi Award. East Bengal honours Dhanraj Pillay 6 | P a g e o Former India hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay was honoured by East Bengal football club on its foundation day with its highest award, Bharat Gaurav. o He made his debut in 1989 with the national team and in a career spanning over 15 years he made 339 appearances and scored 170 goals. o He currently serves as the manager of the team and is a member of ad hoc committee of Indian Hockey Federation. Books & Authors World Book Fair to begin in Dehradun o The World Book Fair 2017 will begin in Dehradun from August 28, with the state government offering discounts on books based on the lives of national figures. o The fair is being organised with the primary aim of inculcating a habit of reading among students. o The theme of the world book fair would be ‘Padega Uttarakhand, Badega Uttarakhand’.