*CURRENT AFFAIRS (13:08:2014)

1. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
( for 2010), Congress leader Karan
Singh (2011) and JD(U) President
Sharad Yadav (2012) are
conferred with 'Outstanding
Parliamentarian Awards' by the
President Pranab Mukherjee.
2. AIADMK leader Munisamy
Thambidurai is set to be elected
unopposed as the Deputy Speaker
of Lok Sabha.
- He was also the deputy speaker
of the lower house for the
1985-1989 period.
- He has been serving as the
leader of AIADMK in the Lok Sabha
since 2009.
3. No one gets 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna Award' this year; List of
Arjuna awardees for 2013-14.
4. Centre tables 'The National
Judicial Appointments
Commission Bill 2014' in Lok
Sabha.
- This is the 121st constitution
amendment bill presented in the
Lok Sabha so far.
- The bill seek to introduce
transparency into the currently
opaque process, called 'Collegium
system', of appointment and
transfer of judges in higher
courts.
- It will introduce a six-member
body called Judicial Appointments
Commission (JAC) to replace the
existing Collegium system where a
panel of judges is used to appoint
their owns.
5. 'Tata-Singapore Airlines' joint
venture in India will be known as
"Vistara".
- The new carrier will start
operations in October, subject to
approvals from the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
- Vistara will have 'Atithi Devo
Bhava' (Guest is our God) as its
philosophy.
- CEO of Tata-SIA Vistara - Phee
Teik Yeoh
6. The 3rd World Elephant Day
2014 is observed across the globe
on August 12.
- The day is dedicated towards
the preservation and protection
of the world's elephants as a
whole and Asian and African
elephants in particular.
- Both the species are part of IUCN
Red List of threatened species.
- African Elephants are in
vulnerable category while Asian
Elephants are considered
endangered.