Places in News in Current Affairs: August 2016
Bhubaneswar for Make in India Conference December 2016
The “Make in India” conference will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha in December 2016. The conference would be organized by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to attract investment in the state as well as in the country.
Islamabad for SAARC Home Ministers’ Conference
Islamabad was the venue for the Home Ministers’ conference of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The focus of the conference was to strengthen networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and increase information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. It also focused on issues relating to putting up a coordinated fight against terrorism, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and small arms. From India, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh participated in the conference.
First SAARC Youth Parliamentarians Conference
The first South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Youth Parliamentarians Conference on `Peace and Harmony for Development’ was held in Islamabad. Lok Sabha MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo led the three member Indian delegation. The goal of the conference is to build bridges between the future leaders of South Asia on a platform that supports continued engagement and cooperation.
19th SAARC Summit
19th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit will be held in Islamabad (capital city) and Murree on November 9 and 10, 2016. It will be the meeting of the head of states or head of government of the eight SAARC countries. Besides, nine observers of SAARC have also been invited to attend the Summit. The 18th SAARC Summit was held in Kathmandu, Nepal in November 2014.
Gunabara Bay for Olymipics
The 2016 Olympics games took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 5 to 21 August 2016. It is officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. It is for first time the summer Olympics will be held in South American Continent and Brazil is hosting it for the first time.
Gunabara Bay was the venue for the Rio 2016 Olympic sailing events. It made news after the UN advised the sailors and spectators to spend as little time as possible in the water owing to the unsanitary conditions and pollution in the bay. Since the bay was filled with sewage and garbage, it was considered to pose a great risk to the health of sailors.
Jaipur for BRICS women parliamentarian’s forum
The meeting of BRICS women parliamentarian’s forum was held in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The two day meeting was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. A total of 43 delegates from member countries participated in the meeting.
Ahmedabad for 2016 Kabaddi World Cup
The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) has announced that 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be hosted in Ahmedabad, Gujarat between October 7 and 22, 2016. The event will see participation of 12 Kabaddi teams from around the world. These 12 teams are India, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Iran, Australia, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan and Kenya.
Dharwad for new IIT
The Union Human Resource Ministry has formally launched Indian Institute of Techonogy (IIT) Dharwad in Karnataka. The institute has already started functioning from this academic year from a temporary structure.
Bara Hoti for PLA incursions
Land and air incursions by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were reported in the demilitarised zone of Bara Hoti on July 22 and July 25 respectively. However, the Chinese troops withdrew from the place the same day. This was the second such violation in the past two years. Bara Hoti is a disputed patch of pasture of several square kilometres. ITBP has sent a report to the home ministry about the incursions. Bara Hoti is one of three border posts where ITBP personnel are not allowed to carry their weapons as per the unilateral decision taken in June 2000 by the then government.
