Here are the top News Headlines of 8 August 2019 for all competitive examinations of India.
National Current Affairs
- Parliament passes bill increasing the number of judges in Supreme Court from 31 to 34 including the Chief Justice of India
- Former External Affairs Minister and Delhi’s ex-Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj dies in New Delhi at the age of 67
- Producer Director J. Om Prakash dies in Mumbai at 93
- ISRO announces launch pf Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award in Space Science, Technology and Research
Economy & Business Current Affairs
- BSE Sensex: 36,691 (–286), NSE Nifty: 10,856 (–93)
- India signs United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements (UNISA)
MONETARY POLICY REVIEW
- RBI cuts repo rate to 5.4% from the current 5.75%
- Reverse repo rate under liquidity adjustment facility stands revised to 5.15%
- Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate reduced to 6%
- Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decides to maintain the ‘accommodative’ stance
- All members of MPC voted to reduce the policy repo rate
- MPC members: Ravindra Dholakia, Michael Debabrata Patra, Bibhu Prasad, Shaktikanta Das, Chetan Ghate and Pami Dua
- GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 lowered to 6.9% from 7% earlier
- GDP growth forecast in 1st half of 2019-20 in the range of 5.8 to 6.6%
- GDP growth forecast in 2nd half of 2019-20 in the range of 7.3% to 7.5%
- Consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation forecast at 3.1% during July-September 2019 and at 3.5-3.7% in October-March 2019-20
International Current Affairs
- Pakistan expels Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria, downgrades diplomatic ties with India
- India contributes USD 5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees
- Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea has the highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages in the world (840)
Sports Current Affairs
- Indian Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly wins Belt and Road China Hunan International chess tournament in China
- Badminton player P. V. Sindhu is the only Indian in the list of 15 Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2019 released by Forbes
- India (150/3 in 19.1) beat West Indies (146/6) by seven wickets in the third T20 International at Providence, Guyana, to complete a 3-0 sweep; Deepak Chahar (3/4) is Man of the Match and Krunal Pandya is Man of the Series
- South African bowler Dale Steyn retires from test cricket at 36 after picking 439 wickets in 93 Tests at an average of 22.9
- Germany’s Fiona Kolbinger wins the mixed annual 4,000km cycling Transcontinental Race (Bulgaria: July 27–France: August 5), becoming the first woman to do so